Cover Girl

Even though Ginny had told her the night before that they would not be starting until after breakfast, Hermione woke up the morning of the Yule Ball just as the sun was rising. Her stomach gurgled nervously as she thought about what would be happening in just a few hours. She was drained and anxious. Ginny had been so willing to help and yet she still felt that all the effort hadn't helped at all. Each day she looked at herself and didn't see a change. Could it be possible that it was all for nothing?

A long while later, Ginny bounded happily into the room. "Today's the day!" she sang out to no one in particular. She stopped for a moment and frowned at Hermione, her hands on her hips. "Sweet Merlin! Why are you crying?"

Hermione rolled over and swung her feet over the side of the bed. She sat up and looked at Ginny forlornly. "Are you sure I'm ready for this?" she asked pitifully. She sniffled sadly, rubbing her red, swollen eyes. I've just made it worse than ever, with these tear-stains and red eyes, Hermione thought despairingly.

Ginny's face flushed beet red and she gave Hermione a hard look. When she spoke, it was in the same deadly whisper Hermione had heard Mrs. Weasley use when pronouncing a particularly harsh warning. "I thought we'd been over all of this, Hermione Jean Granger. You don't have to cooperate, but understand this: You will be gorgeous and you will enjoy yourself this evening. Have I made myself clear?"

Struck by the absurdity of the moment, Hermione burst out laughing. And as she held her sides in pain, she felt all of the anxiety drain from her. She stood up, flicked back her hair and said, haughtily, in a good imitation of Phlegm, "Yes, dah-ling, you are perfectly clear."

Ginny grinned and said, "Well it's about time! Let's go get some food already. I'm starving!"

True to her word, Ginny let Hermione have the morning free, allowing her to spend some time outside watching the boys have a snowball fight. As soon as she returned to the girls' dorms, however, Ginny sent her straight to the shower with a large brown bottle, telling her to massage it into her scalp before she got out. As Hermione opened the bottle, she was surrounded by a delicious mixture of lavender, vanilla bean and cherry blossoms. She recognized it immediately as the smell she associated with Ginny. When she got out of the shower she found Ginny sitting on her bed painting her toes.

"Where do you get this shampoo?" she asked.

"It isn't shampoo," Ginny said. "It's just a hair rinse that I make myself. Those are my three favorite scents. Luckily they blend nicely together." She reached over to her bedside table and grabbed her wand. She made a few complicated waves and soon her toes were dry. She pointed at the chair and told Hermione to sit. Then she handed her the bottle of "Sleek-Eazy" and had her start applying it to her roots while Ginny worked on her toes.

When she had finished with her toes, and Hermione had thoroughly saturated her hair, Ginny had her lean back with cucumber slices on her eyes while she buffed the nails on her hands and trimmed her cuticles.

Soon it was time to apply her make-up. Hermione sat stick straight in the chair while Ginny flicked and swished brushes filled with various shades of powder over her face. She was also assaulted with different colored pencils and glosses until she could hardly breathe.

"OK, now go get dressed while I finish my hair and make-up, then I'll do your hair."

Hermione walked slowly over to the bed where Ginny had laid out her dress. It looked flat and dull and she wondered how on earth it was going to look good on her.

"You aren't getting dressed!" Ginny called over her shoulder as she pinned her hair up in large swirls.

Hermione obediently reached out and picked up the dress that immediately went limp in her hand, the layers of thin fabric folding over itself. She struggled with it for a long time until she found the top and wiggled into it.

"It looks great!" Ginny said enthusiastically as she came up behind her and fastened the back. "Now let me get these shoes on you and we can go to work on that hair."

Hermione sat in the chair submissively once again as Ginny pulled and pinned and tugged on her hair. Every now and then she would curse under her breath and Hermione would receive another sharp yank, first one way and then another.

Just when Hermione thought she couldn't handle one more minute of it, Ginny suddenly stopped tugging on her hair and backed away from her.

"OK," said Ginny. "Let me look at the whole thing. Stand over there."

Will this never end? Hermione thought miserably.