The rest of that day and the next seemed to drag on endlessly. Harry, Ron, and Ginny wanted to play
Quidditch, but I hated flying. Thankfully, Luna showed up and agreed to play in my stead. Apparently she lived in the house across the field behind the Burrow. She had been hunting for Wrakspurts and decided to come see us while she was out. So, I got to stay inside with Fleur. We spent most of the afternoon playing Bezique, a French card game that I had fallen in love with on one of my trips to the country.
Still, despite the fun game the afternoonseemed to drag by. I waited with obvious anticipation for the evening, and after our third game Fleur finally asked me what I was waiting for.
"I have a date with George tonight," I answered, blushing a slight bit at how easily she noticed something was up. I had to get better at hiding my emotions.
"Really? Zat ees magnifique! W'at are you weareeng?" she asked, lighting up immediately.
I repressed a giggle at her obvious giddiness and shook my head. "I have no idea. I don't know where we are going so I don't know how to dress," I said, shuffling the cards. "I'd like to dress up, but I don't want to go overboard. Still, I'd like to look really nice for him." We'd be going back to Hogwarts in another week and a half and I didn't know when I'd get to see him again. I wanted to impress him: I wanted to look pretty for him.
"When ees 'e comeeng?" she asked, getting even more excited.
"Around dinner time, so another hour," I said, glancing briefly at the clock.
"Que?" (What?) she exclaimed, jumping out of the chair and grabbing my hand. She pulled me out of the chair and ran to the back door. She threw it open, sticking her head out the door.
"Geeny!" she called, sounding desperate. "Geeny!"
"What?" an echoing call came from the field.
"'Elp! We need your 'elp!" she called, already turning back towards the house. I heard a broom land and what sounded like a curse as Ginny ran into the house.
"What?" she demanded. She was sweating and her clothes were covered in mud. Must have been an exciting game.
"She ees going on a date een an 'our," Fleur said, indicating me. "Look at 'er! She needs our 'elp to get ready een time!"
Ginny's eyes grew wide and she turned towards me. "You're going on a date in an hour and you're dressed like that?" she asked, eyeing my blouse and shorts. I looked down at my clothes in worry. They were clean without any holes or anything. I had thought I looked okay.
"See?" Fleur said as though I had just proved her point. "She clearly needs our 'elp!"
"I actually agree with you," Ginny said, grabbing my other hand and heading up the stairs with Fleur following her.
"What are you going to do?" I questioned, beginning to feel worried as Fleur led me to my room. She set me down on the bed, ignoring my inquires and ran to the closet while Ginny started unbraiding my hair.
"Ees zis all the clozes you 'ave?" she questioned, looking through my dresser in obvious dismay.
"Yes, why?" I asked, feeling a little annoyed.
"Well zis simply weell not do," Fleur said decidedly. She stepped back from the closet and eyed me up and down. "Wait a minute, I 'ave just ze zeeng." She ran towards the door, stopping just before she left. She turned around, her hand on the door and glanced at Ginny. "Weell you do 'er 'air?"
Ginny stared at her for a moment and nodded her head. "Yep." Fleur smiled widely and disappeared. I felt Ginny give my hair a tug as she attempted to coerce a brush through the mass of curls. "What did you do to Fleur? Imperius? She's actually not being annoying." She paused for a moment and I cringed in pain as she pulled the brush through a particularly sensitive patch of hair. "She's not talking to me like I'm some two year old."
"Honestly," I said, feeling relived that Ginny wasn't mad at me. "I just talked to her. I found out she's really quite nice, just really lonely. She doesn't really know how to talk to English girls."
"Really?" Ginny asked as she grabbed her wand, mumbling some spell at my hair. "I never thought about that." She had to stop talking because Fleur had just arrived back with a maroon dress. It had a v neck, with see-through sleeves, a knee length skirt. The sleeves were shoulder length, but they were extremely billowy, and looked very soft. The dress was incredibly beautiful, and very feminine. It was the sort of thing I would have admired in a store, but never would have actually tried to buy. I wouldn't have thought I could pull it off.
"Put zis on," Fleur demanded, already pulling me up. I pulled the dress on, feeling extremely self-conscious, but loving the feel of the soft, silky material against my skin.
"Come 'ere," she said, holding her hands out to me. I went up to her and she pulled the sash around my waist so that it was tight; not so tight that I couldn't breath, but tight enough to show off my curves.
"Okay, zat looks good," she said, studying me.
Ginny stepped beside her and tilted her head, holding her chin in her hand. "What should we do with the hair?" she asked Fleur, studying me. "An updo or down?"
"Down I zink. She 'as suc' pretty 'air. If we can just tame ze curls." Wow, Fleur thought my bushy mane was pretty? She must be more desperate for a friend than I had thought.
"I agree," Ginny said, and they both stepped towards me with wicked grins. Oh dear.
Half an hour later I couldn't recognize myself. Fleur had done something to my hair so that it now hung in soft ringlets instead of the crazy frizz it normally was in. Ginny had then pulled some of it back into an intricate braid, leaving some of my hair hanging loose in the front. The overall effect was rather pretty, elegant yet not too fancy that I couldn't hang out at say, the Leaky Cauldron.
"Now, we just need ze shoes," Fleur said, glancing around the floor. "Do you not own anyzeeng but zese shoes?" she asked, holding up a pair of Mary Janes. I nodded my head and she grimaced.
"'Ermione, really…"
"I know!" Ginny exclaimed, rolling her eye at my apparent lack of fashion sense. "She never buys anything cute! Here," she said, handing Fleur a pair of black high heels, "let her wear these, they'll go with the outfit and their better than those."
"Zese will do," Fleur said, tossing my shoes aside with disgust. I slipped the shoes on and felt silly - I was going to trip in these things. Fleur pointed her wand at my feet and murmured a spell.
"Zer, now your shoes weel stick to ze ground more, so you weel not slip."
Wow, she thought of everything.
"Hermione!" a familiar, wonderful voice called from downstairs.
"He's here!" I exclaimed, feeling irrationally nervous. Fleur and Ginny laughed at my nervousness before squeezing me in a hug.
"Don't worry, you look great," Ginny exclaimed.
"George weel not know w'at 'it 'im," Fleur said smiling widely.
"Okay," I said, letting out a deep breath. "I think I'm ready."
"Go, here's your bag," Ginny said as they both guided me to the stairs. I walked forward nervously, amazed at the wonderful traction my shoes were getting. I walked down the stairs slowly, feeling oddly self conscious. What if he didn't like the new look? I hadn't even seen a mirror, did I look alright?
I didn't have to worry for long. George was waiting for me in the living room with Ron and Harry. I walked in the room and George was the first to look up. His mouth literally dropped open and his eyes bugged out. Harry and Ron stopped talking at his expression and turned towards me, their eyes growing equally as large.
"Wow!" Ron exclaimed. He got a mischievous grin and winked at Harry. "Hermione, you're a girl!"
That made me laugh and relax considerably. George hopped up from his seat and gave me a mock bow. "May I escort the lovely lady out?"
"Why of course, good sir," I said, curtsying. He took my arm and winked at Harry and Ron. "Don't wait up," he said, heading for the door.
"Wait!" Harry called, standing up and looking oddly tense. What was he wanting?
"I need to have a word with you before you leave." George raised his eyebrow at Harry but followed him out of the room. I turned to Ron, my hand on my hip.
"Do you know what this is about?" I questioned. He shrugged his shoulder and went back to resetting his chess board. I sat next to him on the couch and helped him reset the pieces, waiting impatiently for George and Harry to return. Finally, about two minutes later they reappeared. Harry was glowering and George appeared to be trying not to laugh. What had Harry just done?
I stood up from the couch and went to George, taking his hand and following him out to the Burrow's garden.
"What was that about?" I asked the minute we got outside. He laughed and squeezed me to his side.
"Harry just threatened to disembowel me if I hurt you in anyway, and if he found out that I nearly had your shirt off again." He let out a laugh as a look of utter disbelief filled my face.
"He what!"I exclaimed in horror. How could Harry do that? Oh Merlin, how humiliating.
And oddly sweet.
How terribly Harry, in other words.
"Don't be mad at him." George said smiling. "It was rather funny, but you don't have any brothers to do that for you," he explained. "I think Harry just felt it was his duty to give me the big brother talk."
"Still," I said, feeling mortified that George had just been threatened by Harry, as well as vastly amused. Harry, Merlin bless him, wouldn't stand a chance against George and Fred, because you couldn't fight one without fighting the other as well.
"Okay, so where are we going?" I asked. He had led us to the edge of the Burrow's yard. We were out of the protective fields now.
He grabbed my hand and looked down at me with a smile. "That's a surprise." I gripped his arm with a long suffering sigh and he twisted.
We landed in Hogsmeade, right outside a restaurant I'd never been in. It was a bit fancier than I usually was dressed for Hogsmeade weekends at Hogwarts. George led me inside, gently helping me into a table by the window. It was a cozy little booth and in a quiet darker corner. There was a spot at the front of the dinning room for dancing, and a soft, romantic melody was playing.
I ordered a plate of mushroom ravioli and George ordered a Salisbury steak. Once the waiter left George turned towards me, wrapping his arm around me and pulling me closer to his side.
"You look really beautiful, Hermione," he said softly.
I smiled nervously and lowered my eyes. "Thank you, George. Fleur and Ginny did a lot of work on me."
"They didn't have to," he said. He put his finger under my chin and turned it so I was facing him again. "You always look beautiful."
"Thanks for the flattery," I said softly, feeling oddly sad. He couldn't really mean it, I just wasn't that pretty.
He sighed and shook his head, looking like he couldn't understand me. "It's not flattery, Hermione. It's the truth, I'll swear to it."
"I'm not beautiful, George," I said softly, really not wanting to have this conversation right now. I had lots of questions I wanted to ask when we discussed this, but I really didn't want to ask them in a booth in a restaurant. "I'm not ugly, but I'm certainly not beautiful. I can't compare to Parvarti, Lavender, Cho, Ginny, or Fleur," I said quickly, naming the most beautiful women I knew, most of whom I had had to live with at one time or another.
"How can you be so smart and yet so clueless?" George asked, sounding genuinely surprised. "You're breathtaking. You have big chocolate colored eyes; long, curly, soft brown hair; a small, cute button nose; full, soft, pink lips; beautiful, soft, warm, freckled skin; and a figure to drive any man crazy." He was running his hand down my arm as he spoke and it was causing me to shiver. "You are beautiful Hermione. Those other girls can't compare to you. You're not only beautiful either, you're brilliant, confident, funny, and loyal as a Hufflepuff."
"You really see all that when you look at me?" I asked, feeling shocked and flattered. Still slightly disbelieving though. He held my eyes with his own, nothing but honesty in his blue eyes.
"One Mushroom Ravioli, and one Salisbury Steak. May I get you anything else?"
I jumped at the sound of the waiters voice and the clink of the plates hitting the table. I blushed brilliantly and scooted over so there was some space between George and me. The waiter was smirking at us, looking like he was trying not to laugh until he looked down and saw me. His eyes widened a wee bit and he looked me up and down.
Merlin, could I blush any harder? I shook my head so that my hair fell in front of me and blocked my face and covered up my dress.
"That will be all," George said forcibly, glaring at the waiter. The man got the hint and left. Really, why were people staring at me suddenly? Had I changed somehow? I mean, first I start getting attention from Ron, then George, then Terry, and now random waiters - what had happened?
I had spent the last few years of my life striving to get a boy to notice I was a girl, and now everyone seemed to be noticing it. Was George right? Was I really pretty? I'd always thought I was just not pretty. I was short, barely over five feet, I had average sized hips, a skinny stomach, and modest cleavage. My hair was long, sure, but it was crazy and frizzy - not as bad as it had been when I was younger, but still not as nice as it could have been. Maybe George was right, maybe I wasn't as ugly as I thought I was.
"You get it now, don't you?" George said quietly as I stuffed a ravioli in my mouth. I swallowed the bite, nodding my head slowly. Something had changed in the last few years. I'd actually started looking like a girl at some point - I'd started getting attention. Maybe it was when I changed my teeth…
We ate the rest of our meal with much less stress. We talked about the shop, Hogwarts, Order business, things like that. I was finished before I'd even realized it.
"Come on, lets dance," I said suddenly, hearing my favorite Weird Sister song. It was a love song, one about not needing to use Amortentia to keep me under your spell. George quickly obliged and within a few minutes we were twirling around on the dance floor.
Thanks to a ninja goldfish for betaing this.