A Little Push

"I..."

"No."

"But..."

"Shush!"

Harry let out a little whimper and stood up a bit taller, looking at himself in the mirror over Ginny's shoulder. "Is this really necessary?" he asked, knowing the answer already.

"It's a very important part of our plan!" Ginny replied, rolling her eyes for the thousandth time that night.

After a few more long moments of staring at himself, he shook his head.

"...I disagree."

Ginny sighed and turned around to face the mirror, looking him up and down as well. Contrary to Harry, she had a very approving look on her face. "I think you look cute," she said with a smile and turned back around to fix his bow tie. Yes. Bow Tie.

Harry's shoulders slumped. "I hate that word."

"What word?" Ginny asked distractedly.

"Cute," said Harry, still scowling at his reflection.

"What's wrong with it?" Ginny moved towards his hair, then thought better of it and decided she wasn't up to that challenge quite yet.

"Babies are cute." Harry finally grunted and started pulling his shirt out of his pants. "Ginny, can't I just..."

The red-head slapped his hands away and he yelped. "Stop that! You are a baby."

----------------------------------------------------------------

Ron and Hermione stared as the famous Harry Potter walked awkwardly down the rows of house tables. In fact, the entire school was staring as Harry walked to his seat. That is, until some of the Slytherins started whooping and cat-calling.

"Hey Potter!" Malfoy called. "Your cummerbunds are showing!"

Harry just flexed his fingers and continued on down the row. Ginny had made it very clear that if he chickened out, she would hurt him in ways that Draco Malfoy could only dream about.

Finally, he made it over to Ron and quickly sat down, picking up a roll and focusing intently on buttering it.

Ron watched him for a while, then he leaned over with a confused frown on his face.

"Harry," he whispered.

"Hm? Yeah?" asked Harry, buttering harder.

"What are you wearing?"

Hermione, who'd been staring with her eyes wide open from the moment he walked into the room, suddenly let out a disbelieving laugh. "It's a tuxedo. Like dress robes for muggles. Harry... why are you...? I don't think you're aloud to dress like that. The robes are required."

Harry's roll was now just mashed-up bread and butter in his hands. Harry made a face and dropped it onto his plate. "I, um..." He took a deep breath. "I have a date."

Ron and Hermione's reactions were a two-part harmony of suppressed laughter and delighted squealing.

"With who?!" asked Hermione with a grin.

"And why do you need to wear a tostada?" Ron questioned, picking curiously at Harry's cufflinks.

Harry ground his teeth and decided not to answer Hermione's question. "It's a tuxedo, Ron. And... she happens to like it. Has this thing for formal wear or something."

Hermione looked like she was going to explode. "Who?!"

Harry looked at his watch. He'd had to stand this humiliation for four whole minutes. That should be enough to please Ginny. "Sorry. I'm late. See you." And he stood up, grabbing a few more rolls and an entire student body of staring eyes as he left.

"What was that?" asked Ron incredulously.

Hermione laughed and went back to her food. "I don't know, but it's sweet. I just wish I knew..."

"Sweet?!" Ron looked like she'd just called a dementor cuddly. "It's plain sad! Poor bloke. He just embarrassed himself in front of everybody! And for what?"

Who knew that anyone could so quickly turn a sweet smile into such a terrifying glair? Ron did a double take after he glanced up at Hermione and suddenly wished he was far, far away. "What?"

Hermione continued to glair daggers at him. "For what?" Her voice was very low... As if they were suddenly in a private conversation. That was never a good sign. "You know, maybe if you did something like that without any thought to how you looked, you might get a date too." When Ron didn't reply, she stood up and stormed out of the Great Hall

Ron's jaw dropped and he still couldn't get his mind to form a sentence as she left. "But..."

All over the hall, Hogwarts witches were talking about how dashing Harry Potter had looked in those muggle clothes and Hogwarts wizards were watching them, suddenly wondering where they could get some of those girl-magnet muggle clothes.

-To Be Continued-