Hermione had been confunded. That was the only explanation for it. It just wasn't possible that the universe had sent Lavender Brown, of all people, here to this castle where Hermione was currently staying. What were the odds?
"Oh, Hermione!" Lavender squeaked upon seeing her visitor. "I knew I would find you here! I read all about it in the papers. Can you believe it, we're going to be staying here together!"
Hermione slowly shook her head no. No, she could not believe it. Her eyes were wide and she had yet to say anything, so shocked was she to see her former-roommate standing before her.
"And Ginny, you're here too!"
Hermione jerked her head to the side to see who had said this. There stood Parvati Patil, looking as beautiful as ever.
"I should have known Hermione would choose you as her lady in waiting. Lav's brought me! Isn't it wonderful?"
Hermione chanced a glance at her friend. Ginny looked just as gobsmacked as Hermione felt. The two friends exchanged a bewildered look, before Ginny finally found her voice.
"Y-yes, it is is wonderful. But Lavender, I didn't know you would be here."
"I just found out this morning and they whisked me over a little while ago."
"But, we heard screaming," Hermione said faintly, feeling for a bench behind her legs and gratefully sitting down.
"Oh, that was just Lav getting excited," Parvati explained. "She peeked in her closet and saw all the dresses."
"And look," Lavender said, thrusting her face in front of Hermione's. Hermione jerked her backward in response. "The potion they gave me, it cleared up all my scars from that werewolf."
Hermione nodded and gave a weak smile. Sure enough, Lavender looked three times as beautiful as she had during their time at Hogwarts. If that was even possible.
Lavender moved away from Hermione and walked gaily toward her vanity, playing with the bottles resting on top of the table. Hermione watched as Lavender picked one up, spritzing a cloud of perfume in the air and then walking through it.
"Are you girls excited for the feast tomorrow?" Parvati asked as she began hanging silk scarves over a lampshade.
"Yes, we are, right Hermione?" Hermione turned at Ginny's question, shocked to remember there were other people in the room. Ginny was sitting on a tufted stool across the room making eyes at Hermione, as if to encourage her friend to say something.
"R-right," Hermione sputtered. "The feast. It's very exciting."
"Well that's an understatement!" Lavender said. Hermione noticed the blond girl had moved on to tying ribbons in her hair, checking her reflection appreciatively in the mirror. "The feast is the beginning of it all. It's what starts the whole trial!"
"Yes," Hermione said slowly. "But it's not all fun and games. It can be quite dangerous you know. There's no telling what the trial will entail."
"Oh that." Lavender waved her hand dismissively. "That's what you have a knight there for. To save you."
Hermione startled at that. It hadn't occurred to her that the purpose of the knight might be to save the helpless damsel. From everything she and Leopold had discussed, Hermione had come to understand the candidate's relationship with the knight as equal, that the two were partners.
"That's why it's so important to choose the right one," Lavender continued. "To make sure he's strong and brave and handsome…"
The girl trailed off, clearly lost to some romantic daydream.
"Lavender, you don't choose your knight," Ginny said, with more than just a little irritation in her voice. "And what does being handsome have to do with it all?"
"Anyway, Lav's got it figured out," Parvati interrupted. "Whoever you take to the feast will be your knight. It's only natural."
"I suppose that's possible," Hermione said hesitantly. It did seem a reasonable assumption. But if that was true, Hermione was in trouble. She didn't have anyone to take, not really. She couldn't hold George to his word if it actually meant he would have to be her knight. Remembering what Leopold had said, about the love and bond between the princess and the knight, she knew she could never have that with George.
"So…" Lavender said slowly, staring at Hermione through the reflection in the mirror. "Who are you taking?"
Hermione watched Lavender in the reflection, noticing Lavender had stilled her motions for the first time since they had entered the room. Apparently, Hermione's answer mattered very much to Lavender.
"I don't have anyone."
Lavender nodded at Hermione's response, standing up suddenly. The blond girl walked over to sit next to Hermione on the bench then reached over and took one of Hermione's hands in her own.
"Listen, I know we had our differences during sixth year."
Ginny snorted undaintily from her spot across the room.
"I can't pretend that I don't know why you were so angry at me. I knew you had feelings for Ron and I went after him anyway, didn't I?"
"Had feelings for Ron?" Hermione replied, grasping for words.
"It's all right. I just want you to know up front that I won't do that again."
Hermione nodded in response, letting out a breath she didn't know she had been holding.
"Go behind your back, I mean," Lavender explained. "From now on I want everything out in the open. So you should know, I'd like to invite Ron to be my escort to the feast."
Lavender looked steadily at Hermione then. The blond girl gave an encouraging smile, as if willing Hermione to say something.
"Invite Ron to be your escort to the feast?" Hermione was having trouble forming words. Why can I only repeat what Lavender's saying to me?
"Yes," Lavender replied. "Would that be okay?"
Hermione looked across the room to Ginny. Perhaps her friend could explain what was happening. Was Lavender asking her permission to date Ron? Again? From her tufted seat, Ginny made a hand gesture, prompting Hermione to speak up.
Hermione looked back at Lavender, who was still watching her with a smile. Images of Ron and Lavender glued to each other during sixth year ran through Hermione's head. She remembered how rejected she had felt, how rejected she was still feeling. It had been so many months since then and still Ron had a wall up to her. She had put herself on the line so many times and still, he had done nothing to show her he might feel for her as she did for him.
"Lavender," Hermione said calmly. "You have every right to ask Ron to be your escort. If he says yes, you're welcome to have him."
There was a beat of silence in the room before Ginny jumped up.
"Well this has been a lot of fun!" Ginny said loudly. The redhead crossed the room quickly, jerking Hermione to her feet with a tug of the arm. "We should be going though, right Hermione?"
Hermione stared dully back at Ginny. Ginny looked like she wanted nothing more than to get out of the room. Hermione felt exactly the same. The pair turned to exit, but was stopped as the door opened and a dark head of hair stuck through the open crack.
"Um, Hermione, are you in here?"
"Harry!" Lavender screeched loudly. "Come in, come in!"
Lavender quickly pulled a confused looking Harry into the room, gushing about how glad she was to see him and wasn't it so nice that they were all together again. Harry looked desperately toward Hermione and Ginny, clearly looking for an explanation. Ginny shrugged in response and Harry's face broke out into a grin as he noticed his girlfriend's bejeweled, dressing gown ensemble.
"Did you find them?" came another voice, just before Ron could be seen walking though the door. Spotting Hermione in the corner, a relieved expression came over Ron before he spoke again.
"Hey, we need to talk."
"Oh my God, Ronnie!"
Lavender released her hold of Harry and made a beeline for Ron, giving him an energetic kiss on each cheek. She had to stand on tiptoe to reach Ron and clapped her hands as she settled back flat on her feet.
"I'm so glad you're here," the blond continued. "We were just talking about you, weren't we girls?"
"Yep, it's been a barrel of laughs," Ginny replied. Her arms were crossed and she looked thoroughly unamused at the situation.
"You were talking about me?" Ron asked, confused. He pulled his arms from Lavender's grasp and looked to Hermione. Hermione immediately turned her head from him.
"Yes, we were talking about escorts for the feast," Lavender said sweetly. "Hermione thought it might be a good idea if you and I went together."
"She did?" Ron asked quietly, looking to Hermione for confirmation. Hermione allowed her eyes to move to Ron at that, anxious for his reaction. They held each other's gaze steadily and Hermione wondered if Ron knew that a test was before him.
"Ok-kaaay," Ron said slowly, drawing the last syllable out.
Hermione heard a gasp of breath come out of Ginny and a groan from the back of Harry's throat.
"Right," Hermione said with false bravado. "Now that we've got that sorted, I really need to go get ready for the evening."
With that said, Hermione spun on her heel to leave the room. She sensed Ginny rushing after her but Hermione didn't stop to check. She couldn't pause, couldn't slow down. Hermione knew it was only a matter of moments before the tears overtook her.