Chapter Sixteen-Proposals. What's Next, Kids?
Luna's POV:
I stared at myself in the long mirror. Neville, Blaise, and Harry had invited me, Astoria, and Ginny on a date. It was a normal date, they said, except it would have three couples. So they had invited us on a triple date. I secretly questioned their motives but said nothing to them aloud. What if they had been infected by crumple-horned snorcacks?! When many people were in love, they tended to appear.
I look at myself in the large mirror in my room. Astoria and Ginny had come over so we could prepare for the triple date.
"Is this really necessary?" I ask Astoria who's doing Ginny's hair.
"Yes!" She exclaims, brushing a strand of Ginny's hair out of her face. "They told us to look nice!"
"GIRLS!" I hear Neville yell from downstairs. "ARE YOU ALMOST READY!?"
"WE'VE BEEN WAITING FOR LIKE FIFTEEN MINUTES!" Blaise adds.
"YES WE'RE ALMOST READY! YOU'RE THE ONES WHO SAID TO LOOK NICE!" Astoria snaps, finishing Ginny's hair.
"THIS IS YOUR OWN FAULT! NEXT TIME, LET US KNOW EARLIER!" Ginny appends.
I turn back to the mirror. I'm wearing a tie-dye dress that goes down to above my knees. It's a halter top and backless. It hugs my torso with ruffles and flares out below my waist, the silky fabric flowing smoothly. I look up at my face. Ginny's given me a mixture of greens, oranges, pinks, violets, and greys to create a tie-dye look. My lips are a shiny and bright pink, the colour of a stubborn-hoofed florfie! I took a step back but stumbled. I sighed, Astoria made me wear four-inch silver heels! I feel something on my shoulder but I smile. They were just the radish earrings that I've always adored! And I mean, who couldn't!? They were so adorable!
Ginny stands up. She's wearing a beautiful and simple maroon dress. It's plain maroon with no details, but at the same time, it's so sophisticated. It's strapless so it's pretty tight around her bodice. She wore a black leather belt with a lion on it that created contrast. Lion earrings dangled from her ears. She had a red and black smokey eye and dark red lipstick. She completed the looked with blacks flats. Why does she get flats when I have heels? I questioned silently.
"HURRY UP!" Harry screeched. "PLEASE!" He adds, probably horrified of what would have happened if he had't.
Not wanting to wait any longer, I tell Astoria that I'm going to go. "They've been waiting for a while, I'd really like to see Neville," I explain.
"One second..." Astoria murmurs. She's wearing a Slytherin Green cocktail dress. It's super tight and hugs her body, showing off her curves. She had black eyeshadow on with silver sparkles on the inner corner. She had blood-red lips and black pumps. "Ready!" She declares.
I loop my arm through Astoria and Ginny's and skip down the stairs. When our dates see us, their jaws drop.
"Oh," Harry says, open-mouthed.
"My-" Neville comments.
"God." Blaise finishes.
I blush and walk over to Neville. "Hey," I give him a toothy grin. I look over him. He's wearing a grey suit and a red tie. It sort of matches my dress. Then again, he's a Gryffindor so he may just be showing house pride...
Even though just a couple weeks ago I hadn't loved him, I quickly realized that I did. He protected me, no matter what. He was with me when I soared, but he didn't leave me when I fell. He always looked out for me, no matter what others said.
"You look...beautiful." He whispered, taking my hand. "Shall we?" He waves his hand at the door.
I giggled. "We shall!"
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The boys walked us over to the Black Lake. There was a large picnic blanket about fifteen feet from the shore of the Lake. There were three balloons. One said 'NL+LL' and there were two places to eat set beside it. To our right was Harry and Ginny, and across from us is Blaise and Astoria. To our right was a bunch of food and drinks. There were steaming steaks, chicken wings, plates of pasta, cakes, candies, wines, sodas, and juices.
"It's wonderful!" I gasped.
"You really did all this, for us?" Astoria whispers, nearly in tears.
"I didn't know you had it in you!" Ginny joked.
"Yeah..." Harry scratched the back of his neck.
"Uh...let's eat shall we!?" Neville sits down.
We sat down and laughed. We spent the next couple of hours eating, joking around, playing games and drinking. After about two hours, Neville proposed that we all went for a swim. I looked at him, confused.
"We didn't plan for this!" I exclaimed.
"Well, you are witches aren't you? You can fashion your dresses into bathing suits...right?" Harry asks.
Ginny, Astoria, and I shrug. "I guess so..."
"GREAT! We'll uh...go behind the tree and...get ready!" Harry squeaked.
The boys ran to the tree as us girls turned around and fashioned each other's dresses into two pieces bathing suits. Mine had a plain white top and a tie-dye bottom. It was one-shouldered and there were crisscrossed straps on the back. Astoria's was a plain green bikini. It was tight and revealing, but still super innocent. Ginny's was a strapless and high-waisted maroon two-piece. The top had a couple of ruffles too. We turned around and saw our dates on their knees, each holding out a box with a ring in it. I walked over to Neville, beaming.
"Luna Lovegood, you are the most beautiful, kind-hearted, unique, and smart girl I have ever met. You never fail to make me smile-" He began.
"YES YES YES YES!" I cut him off. I jumped on him, sending both of us splashing into the water. We came up, gasping for breath. He slid the ring onto my finger. It had a platinum band and an uncarved diamond in the center. I squealed and ran over to Astoria and Ginny. Ginny's was a gold band with a red heart-shaped diamond. Astoria's was a serpent band. The tail wrapped around the head. The serpent wore a crown with an emerald on top. The snake had diamond scales in random places.
I took Neville's hand and kissed his cheek once more. "Thank you, Neville." He blushed and squeezed my hand. Together, we ran up the hill and back to the castle.
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Hermione's POV:
I watched as the three happy couples marched back up to the castle and sighed. I wished I had that. I wished that I had somebody whom I loved and somebody who loved me. I wished that this whole law hadn't happened because I was perfectly happy with Ron! But we couldn't turn back, he was starting to find love with Lavender.
Draco laughed. "Tired, now are you?"
I yawned again. "Yeah...come on...life...CLASS!" I glanced at the clock. It was 11:45. "Who has a class at midnight!?" I groaned. For some very odd reason, Madame Hooch decided to host our class at midnight, even though we had classes the next day.
I fell off the couch and something inside of me clicked. I don't know what did, but the next thing I knew I was hugging Draco and pulling him along the corridors of the castle.
"What's-the-for?" Draco wheezed. I let go.
"Hmmm....I don't know!" I pulled the door to the classroom open. I saw everybody from my friend group already sitting there. Like a six-year-old child, I giggled and pulled Draco over to our seats. When I sat down, I was suddenly...tired...
My head bonked against the table and my eyes fluttered closed. A sharp pain came from my left elbow. "OW!" I exclaimed, rubbing the sore spot.
"You have to stay awake, Hermione" Astoria laughed. "It's just a pinch. Stay awake! Oh! Look!" She, Astoria, and Luna shoved their hands towards the middle of the table. I let out a squeal-well first I yawned actually-but then I squealed in delight. A couple of other couples shot me a glare, but I paid them no mind.
"YES! You all manned up and proposed!" I sighed in relief.
"Aha! You set that up didn't you!" Ginny exclaimed. "I knew they didn't set it up!" She pumped her fist in the air. "I was right!"
"Well, that was very kind of you, 'Mione. Thank you, so much." Luna squeezed my hand.
I smiled at her. "Anytime. OH! When are you all getting married? What dates were you looking at?" I smiled at the ceiling. Everything became fuzzy but I could hear myself saying, "Not New Year's Eve, that's my date."
Pansy looked at me, quizically saying, "Oh..I didn't know Draco proposed? Where's your ring?"
Draco coughed. "I didn't propose!"
"So...why can't we get married on New Year's Eve then...?" Ginny held Harry's hand.
As Blaise was about to ask me something, the doors burst open and Madame Hooch walked in. "Good whatever-time-it-is class!"
We all greeted her. "Hello, Madame Hooch." My eyes fluttered closed again. Another sharp pain zapped through me and I yelped. "I'm awake!" I looked around and saw Madame Hooch copying something on the board.
"Tonight, you will all be brewing a potion that will turn a doll into a real child for a week. The process takes three hours to complete once the ritual has finished, which is why we are meeting so late. While you are all in classes, there will be a daycare. This is so you can all practice being parents so when you have a real child, you will know what to do. Begin!"
I looked over the recipe.
Add Potion Base to the cauldron as well as sliced beetroot. Stir clockwise twice.
Add lacewing flies and boomslang skin. Let simmer for two minutes and sixteen seconds.
Add fluxweed and knotgrass. Stir counterclockwise until it turns orange.
Add powdered bicorn horn until blue.
Add the blood of each "parent".
Add three drops of the Draught of Living Death.
Stir three times clockwise or until creamy green.
Drink the potion, point to the object you wish to become alive (for a week) and mutter the incantation: "Ad Vitam".
Wait for about three hours for the process to finish.
I let out a giggle. "Harry!" I whispered. He turned around to look at me. "Sounds like Polyjuice potion! We should brew it with Myrtle!"
His face contorted to suppress his laughter. "I guess we should! Hey Ron!" He turned to Ron to whisper my message into his ear. We all shared a look, giggled, and returned back to our potions. Ginny and Lavender shared a confused look but didn't say anything.
"Slice the beetroot please," I asked Draco, already crushing the bicorn horn into a fine powder.
"Already done!" Draco responds, proudly showing me a handful of sliced beetroot. He dropped it into the cauldron of Potion Base-I had no idea what that was, it was just in a large jar. He took the ladle and stirred it twice clockwise. I dropped in the boomslang skin and lacewing flies. There was a loud hiss as the boomslang skin dissolved.
"Wow, somebody's cranky!" Draco joked.
I sneered. "Obviously." He gave me a confused look then pointed to the potion. "Oh!" I said, realizing he was in fact referring to the potion.
"RING! RING! RI-" The timer went off. I muttered, "Bombarda" and the timer exploded. Draco gulped.
"Well...fluxweed?" He picked up the fluxweed and knotgrass and dropped it in. I stirred the potion about ten times before it turned orange.
"Powered-" Draco began.
I picked up the bowl of powdered bicorn horn and slowly added it, about a spoonful at a time. After a couple of minutes, it turned blue.
"Blood of each 'parent'", Draco blushed.
I calmly held up a knife and pointed it towards him. He gulped and leaned away.
"Uh...so...should I go first?" He eyed the knife warily.
In one fluid motion, I sliced his palm open and held it over the cauldron, watching as his blood oozed into the liquid. I twirled the knife and cut my palm too, holding it over the potion.
"Just for your information," I murmured. "Our blood is the same." I held my hand next to his. "See? No mud." I placed the knife down as he spluttered.
"Hermione I'm sorry I-" He looked down. "I shouldn't have-"
I healed both our hands with the healing charm, cutting him off. "Episkey." I took a vial of the Draught of Living Death and observed as three small drops fell into the cauldron. I quickly put the stopper on the vial and stirred.
When it turned into the consistency of Polyjuice, I ladled it into two cups. "Bottoms up!" I said, cheerfully. I chugged my potion heartily. The consistency was definitely that of Polyjuice, but it tasted much better. It tasted like a pumpkin pastille, actually.
We raised our wands to the doll and said the incantation. "Ad Vitam!"
After ten minutes, the other couples had finished and we were about to make our way out.
"Class, you are not dismissed!" Madame Hooch yelled. There was a collective groan and we all sat back down. "Now, before your next class, which is in five days, you should have gone on a romantic date for at least three hours and have written two entries about the date in your Couples Diary."
I choked on nothing. I had to go on a three-hour date with Draco Malfoy?! This was not going to be good.
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