SATURDAY AFTERNOON CAME quickly, and Lavender Brown wasted no time in pulling apart Hermione Granger's bed hangings and disrupting her from her studies. The blonde pulled the girl from under her blankets and brought her over to Parvati's bed, where the brown-eyed girl was running a brush through her smooth black hair.

"Hermione, I thought we agreed to no studying today! It's a girls' day out, and we come back from breakfast to find you with your nose in a book... despicable." Lavender sighed, pushing the girl down to take a seat beside Parvati. "For your punishment, you have to allow us to give you a makeover."

The bushy-haired girl's eyes widened. "What? You guys didn't say anything about me studying before we go to Hogsmeade! It was only a couple of pages..."

"A couple of pages doesn't matter," Parvati said. "You're in the books every single day. You're missing out on so much!"

"Like what? Boys? Gossip? Neither of those are really my forte. If I'm ever going to get a job at the Ministry, I'm going to need to stay on top of my studies." Hermione claimed defensively, and it looked as though Parvati was swallowing whatever she wanted to say next, and let out a deep sigh.

"Just close your eyes and face me, will you?"

A half an hour later, the girls had succeeded in making Hermione's hair straight and pretty like it had been during the Yule Ball – minus the elegant knot – and had applied a light layer of eyeliner and mascara to her eyes, causing their color to pop. Lavender coated her lips in a subtle-colored lip gloss, and patted her cheek with pride once she'd finished. "You look beautiful!"

Parvati held a mirror up to her dorm mate's face, and Hermione's eyes widened at what she saw staring back at her. She touched her reflection, disbelieving of what she saw. While getting ready for the Yule Ball, the Gryffindor had admired her reflection fondly, proud of how nice her hair looked, but she hated how long it had taken to get it that way. These girls had succeeded in doing her hair in less than half an hour!

Lavender moved away from Parvati's bed and towards the trunk at the base of Hermione's bed, nose scrunching up as she saw the clothing inside. "These won't do," she decided, walking over to her own trunk and pulling out a pair of dark jeans and a cute pink sweater. "There. These should fit you just fine."

After Hermione had changed into the clothes – having to do so in front of the girls as Lavender insisted she didn't run off with a book or something – the girls cooed appreciatively.

"Look Lavender," Parvati remarked. "She's a girl after all!"

Hermione blushed again, eyeing herself in the mirror. The girls finished getting ready and graciously allowed the brown-haired girl to read while they did so. As soon as they were dressed: Lavender in an outfit similar to Hermione's only with a tiffany-blue colored sweater, and Parvati wearing a gold-colored jumper which made her skin color pop. They slid into their winter boots, put on heavier coats overtop their sweaters, and made their way out of the dormitory and towards the portrait hole.

Harry Potter came walking up to Hermione upon her descending the stairs, following the girls, but before he could get even a single word out to her, Lavender stuck her finger against his lips. "This is a girls only event, Potter."

The black-haired kid frowned, staring after the trio as they left through the portrait hole and descended the many stairs towards the Entrance Hall, where all students were supposed to gather before departing to Hogsmeade. Hermione glanced back towards Harry sadly: he was one of her best friends, after all, and she hadn't talked to him in weeks. Lavender and Parvati giggled over something they'd been talking about, approaching Padma Patil once she came down from Ravenclaw's Tower.

"Padma," Parvati smiled at her sister, "look who's joining us!" The other black-haired girl eyed Hermione up and down, eventually recognizing her — wow, that makeover must have made her look very different — and then smiled.

"Good to see you've come around, Granger."

Laughter rang from down the corridor and a group of Slytherins approached the slowly growing hoard of students. Draco Malfoy walked proudly in the lead, Pansy Parkinson on his arm and Crabbe and Goyle flanking them as though they were royalty. Theodore Nott trailed behind, and once again, Blaise Zabini was nowhere to be seen. When Pansy recognized the girls staring at them, and more specifically Hermione, her dark eyes widened and her pale cheeks reddened.

Hermione frowned, but didn't attempt in thinking too much into it. The Slytherin hadn't bothered talking to her since the incident in Potions: something the brown-eyed girl was grateful for, and she didn't really expect her to speak up now. Why would she? It was obvious that whatever interest she'd taken in Granger had already subsided, as her attention remained fully on Malfoy now.

"Hermione," someone nudged her elbow. It was Parvati. "C'mon, the chaperones are leaving."

The Gryffindor followed her dorm mates through the Hogwarts grounds and towards the path that would lead them to Hogsmeade. Lavender and Padma were deep in discussion about something, leaving Parvati and herself to trail behind awkwardly. In the four years they'd been rooming together, she couldn't recall having had more than a small handful of conversations with her.

"So," the dark-skinned girl began. "You like butterbeer?"

"I do," Hermione agreed. "It's very tasty. Do you?"

"I do." They walked the rest of the way in silence, both sighing in relief as they entered The Three Broomsticks and their awkward silence was replaced by the amiable chatter of customers. Silently, Hermione prayed that the events of the day would move by quickly.

————— ↯ —————

Word had gotten around since the gathering in the Entrance Hall that Hermione Granger had overcome a makeover. This angered Daphne Greengrass greatly, as she believed she was supposed to be the most beautiful girl in Fourth Year — perhaps even in the whole school. As soon as she got to Hogsmeade, she pulled Pansy Parkinson away from Malfoy and pulled on the sleeves of Millicent Bulstrode, demanding them follow her into Zonko's Joke Shop.

She wanted to find some joke cosmetics and send them to Granger anonymously. That aught to teach her a thing or two about stealing the spotlight. However, Pansy found that she just couldn't play along in Daphne's cruelty, dismissing herself from the group to go and look at some Fanged Frisbees that really she held no interest in, but it was something to do. Fred and George Weasley made their way into the joke shop soon after, Lee Jordan in tow, and began heckling each other and talking avidly about the newest arrivals within the store. Bilton Blimes, the shop owner went over to the boys and chattered excitedly right alongside them.

With the newfound noise and commotion, the Slytherin found herself able to slip out of the shop and back down the road towards The Three Broomsticks. A hot chocolate sounded lovely, or perhaps a warm butterbeer: it all depended on what the others were drinking.

She walked through the door, shaking snowflakes from her black hair and surveyed the pub. Her gang of Slytherins were seated in a corner, various glasses displayed on the table half-drank or not even touched. Draco Malfoy clutched a mug of hot chocolate and was laughing about something Theo had said. She ordered a drink quickly from Madam Rosmerta and went to sit alongside her friends.

"Where'd you run off to?" Malfoy asked, blond eyebrows raised. "One minute you were with me, the next you were gone."

There was a jingling of a bell over the door to the pub, and a familiar-looking redhead and boy with circular glasses entered the room, each ordering butterbeer from Madam Rosmerta and taking a seat at a nearby table. Pansy frowned as she noticed that, yet again, Hermione Granger was no with her friends.

"Daphne." She explained, and this seemed like a solid enough answer to Malfoy as he shrugged and proceeded to talk to Theo. His voice carried just loud enough for those at nearby tables to overhear him and glance their way. She rolled her eyes; Draco Malfoy lived for the attention.

Pansy cradled her face in the palm of her hand, watching as the marshmallows in her hot chocolate melted into the drink. Eventually, it even lost the heat to it. Still, she didn't drink it. She was much too distracted.

Days ago, she had come out to Blaise about being gay. It had also been days since she'd seen the boy: he'd failed to show up to any of the classes they shared, and he was never in the Common Room. A part of her wanted to ask Draco what had happened to the boy, though she knew her friend too well and knew he wouldn't discuss something that didn't necessarily pertain to him. He was self-centered like that, yet another reason why she believed she never could've dated or married him.

"How long do you think Hermione's going to stay mad at us?" Pansy picked up a bit of conversation coming from Potter and Weasley's table. It had been Weasley who'd spoken, and she watched as both of their gazes trailed towards a table in the opposing corner of the room where the bushy-haired — scratch that, her hair was currently straight and very, very pretty-looking — girl was sitting with two other Gryffindors and a Ravenclaw.

"I dunno, Ron," Harry claimed. "You really set her off at the Ball. Why didn't you just ask her?"

"Because she's Hermione! I never actually expected she'd turn up with a date, let alone Viktor Krum... I mean, she doesn't even like Quidditch!"

Boys, Pansy thought, rolling her eyes.

"Maybe he's got some better qualities to him than just his Quidditch ability?" The green-eyed boy pondered aloud, and the ginger laughed.

"Yeah right! Krum's about as intellectually inclined as I am." Weasley claimed mockingly, taking a long sip of his butterbeer. Mellowly, he said, "but you don't think she'll come around?"

If I were her, I'd ditch your arses permanently.

"Hermione's a smart girl." Harry noted. "I doubt she'll be hanging around Lavender and Parvati much longer before throwing a fit."

"But have you seen what they've done to her?" Pansy saw it. In fact, she couldn't stop looking at the Gryffindor now that she knew she was in the room. She looked gorgeous in her pink sweater and dark jeans. The Slytherin had never seen her in anything except school robes and uniforms, and occasionally a ratty pair of jeans and ugly shirt: those clothes simply couldn't have belonged to her.

If Pansy ever worked up the courage to talk to the girl again, she would insist on taking her to buy some new clothes. Hey, she thought, that would make a perfect first date! She wanted to slap herself. Had she really just thought about dating the Gryffindor girl? Someone must've slipped something into her drink.

Suddenly, her dark eyes met Harry's green, and her gaze dashed away quickly, pretending she'd only glanced their way briefly and laughed out loud. This caught her friend group off guard. She'd been silent for about ten minutes now, and apparently Theo hadn't even said anything funny.

Oh Merlin, she thought, strike me dead now.

————— ↯ —————

Hermione Granger had never been so happy to get under her duvet in her entire life. The girls had managed to keep her very active and involved in the conversations going on in The Three Broomsticks, no matter how meaningless, and she enjoyed her brief moments of solitude as Lavender and Parvati said their goodbyes to Padma outside the portrait hole. She stripped out of Lavender's jeans and sweater and threw them towards the girl's bed, wanting nothing more to do with them. She remained in nothing but a tank top and underwear, and figured she'd better change before the girls get back and make her do some other tedious activity.

Her pajamas felt like heaven, and as she crawled back under her blankets, she fell into a deep sleep, completely skipping dinner — even skipping perfectly good study time. She was mentally drained.

The girls came into the room moments later: Lavender chattering as she always did and Parvati nodding along. Then, the brown-haired girl listened as the blonde said something that surprised her very much; she'd obviously already thought the eavesdropper to be asleep.

"Now that Hermione's out of the picture, do you think I stand a chance with Ron Weasley?"

Parvati gasped. "You like Ron? Padma went to the Ball with him! She said he was horrid."

"I do, and hey, you went with Harry." Lavender claimed defensively, stripping out of her clothing and revealing a rather frilly set of matching bra and underwear. She obviously held no shame when it came to her body: yet another thing so very different between the two girls.

"They both sucked as dates. I couldn't have been more excited when the boy from Durmstrang or Beauxbatons, I don't even remember anymore, asked me to dance."

"But perhaps Ron would've been better with someone he was comfortable with..."

"Like Hermione?"

"Or me! Weasley's totally into me."

Before any more could be said, the door to the girls dormitory opened and the girls' other roommate Fay Dunbar made her way into the room, a dazzling smile on her face. She'd obviously had a very good time at Hogsmeade with whomever she'd run off with.

Ron's not into you, Hermione thought somewhat bitterly, I'm starting to doubt he even knows what a girl is.

But a deeper feeling sunk into her stomach. The secret was out: Lavender Brown had a crush on Hermione's best friend, a friend she was currently arguing with. And even though she had conflicted feelings about him and romance in general, she knew she could not let this blonde witch steal him away from her. Tomorrow, things would be very different.