9.

After sending Ron off to change Hermione dragged Harriet up to her room. "As a girl it's always important to look your best on your first date," informed Hermione, "and that means dressing up. You don't have to go all the way formal but you want to look nice. You want your date to go WOW."

"Been on a lot of dates have we Hermione?"

"Shut up. Do you want my help or not," replied a now disgruntled Hermione.

"Sorry," came the sheepish reply.

Hermione opened Harriet's wardrobe and was shocked by the lack of contents. "You still haven't been down and bought clothes yet have you? I told you to go down to Gladrags and pick up a few things. You've still got the random stuff I gave you plus the girl's school uniform and that's it. You are seriously lacking in the clothes department. Come with me. I'm sure we can find something for you to wear." Harriet didn't even get a chance to reply before once again being dragged along, only this time they headed to the room Hermione shared with the other girls in the same class year, including Ginny. After checking that none of the other girls were in she dragged Harriet over to her area and told her to sit on the bed while she went over and started rummaging through her wardrobe.

This was the first time Harriet had ever been up to Hermione's room. While Hermione was busy searching for outfits and talking to herself. Harriet took the opportunity to glance around the room. It was certainly a lot cleaner in here than the boys' dorms had been but it was obvious which one is Hermione's. It was the one with all the books stacked neatly around.

After a few moments of digging around in her wardrobe Hermione pulled out a purple long sleeve sweater, a pair of nice black dress pants, a pair of matching black boots, a double buttoned overcoat and a purple scarf and set them all on the bed. "There you go. You can wear that tonight. It will look nice….unless you'd prefer a dress of course," Hermione teased.

"No thank you. This will be fine," Harriet said as she started gathering up the clothes.

"Where are you going? You can change here. Girls do it all the time and it's nothing I haven't seen before," Hermione said, reminding Harriet of how Hermione had been the one to help her through her adjustment to being a woman after the accident. She remembered all the trouble she had given Hermione about not wanting to wear the girl's uniform, much less girl's clothes at all.

"I suppose so," Harriet said as she started to change and put on the clothes that Hermione had given her. Funny enough almost everything fit her perfectly. It's like she had almost been cloned from Hermione. "Umm….Hermione….not to be a bother but um…it's a little tight across the chest."

Hermione stopped digging once again and turned to Harriet. "It's supposed to be that way to emphasize….stuff…plus it doesn't help that you're a bit larger in that area than I am," she added with a twinge of jealousy.

"Sorry…"Harriet mumbled embarrassingly.

"It's not your fault Harriet," she replied, "we're all different. Besides it's not like you asked for this to happen to you. It's taken a while but I think you're finally getting used to it plus you've got this new relationship. Besides it seems like things are getting back to normal. I'm happy for you." Hermione continued to dig through her wardrobe until she finally found something for her to wear. She pulled out a similar outfit to the one she had given Harriet, only her sweater was pink, her dress pants were tan, and her boots were brown. She pulled out a coat identical to black one only this one was grey in color. She pulled out a matching pink scarf and a pair of black wool caps for them. She tossed one to Harriet before beginning to change.

"Thanks," Harriet said turning away from Hermione while she changed out of a mix of embarrassment and politeness. "I'm glad you and Ron are finally together as well. I was wondering how long it would take the two of you to figure it out."

After she had finished changing she quickly fixed their hair and applied some light makeup to the pair of them with a flick of her wand. There was only minor whining from Harriet who had never worn makeup before. Her whining was quickly silenced by Hermione asking if she wanted to look nice for Luna before spraying them with different perfumes. Finally the pair was ready to go with 10 minutes to spare.

As they headed down the dorm room stairs Harriet spoke up. "I've been meaning to thank you Hermione. I couldn't have figured all this out or even gotten this far without you. You're a life saver." Hermione smiled, "that's what best friends do."

When they reached the landing they saw Ron looking up with his mouth open staring at them. "Blimey! You two could almost be twins!" Ron had actually managed to dress nice in something that didn't look like it had been a hand-me down which was rare for the Weasley family. He wore a nice brown sweater and a pair of dress slacks with a pair of brown boots. His winter coat was tossed over the arm of the couch. He stood up to greet them as they descended the stairs to the common room. "You look fantastic Hermione. You both do actually." Harriet wasn't used compliments much less from Ron which caused her to blush right alongside Hermione.

"Shall we get going," encouraged Hermione, "Don't want to keep Luna waiting. Ron and Harriet agreed. Ron put his coat on and took Hermione's hand as they left to meet Luna.