Turnaround

It was the first Potions class of the year, and I couldn't take my eyes off of him. In the row ahead of me and seated three places across, I could study him without him knowing a thing. I was mesmerized by his fiery red hair, mussed up, but not too much, just mussed up a little, like he had been running around outside. I wished he would turn around just so I could gaze into his eyes. I could gaze into his eyes forever. Forever and a day. I was in love with Ron Weasley.

I drifted off into a daydream. We were standing at the altar, him in a pure white tux and me in a flowing gown of white silk with a long beaded train. I had a veil held on by a headband decorated with rare pearls and diamonds, a gift from my beloved fiancée, of course. The dress was strapless, with elaborate beading all down the front. On my side stood the bridesmaids, in blue- no, wait- in lavender silk dresses with spaghetti straps and straight floor-length skirts. Ron's red hair, which had become darker with age and was now more scarlet, stuck out over his pure white tuxedo. Harry stood next to him, naturally the best man and Ginny next to me, naturally the maid of honor. We walked up to the altar hand in hand. Ron looked over at me, kissed my hand and said, "Are you sure you're ready for this?"

"Never been so sure about anything in my life." The minister opened his mouth and said, "Miss Granger? Miss Granger? Would you like to answer the question?"

"WHAT?!?!?!?!" I was suddenly jerked out of my wonderful daydream to find Professor Snape staring me in the face.

"As I was saying, Miss Granger, when you so delightfully chose not to pay attention in class, could you tell us the three most vital ingrediens in a Polyjuice Potion?" Slimy git. The ONE time I don't pay attention and he zeroes in on me. Of course, every other day in class I'm practically waving my hand in his face to get him to call on me. No, Miss Granger. Let someone else answer for once. Ten points from Gryffindor for being such a know-it-all.

I rattled off the answers, and then I guess thinking about something other than the red head in front of me finally got some sense knocked into me. What am I doing? Just becoming one of those space cadets like Crabbe and Goyle who don't even care about anything but what they're going to eat for their next meal? What if this ruins my chances at becoming Head Girl? Am I sabotaging my future just because of some boy? Honestly, Hermione, you really need to knock some sense into yourself and knuckle down. And are you talking to yourself again? Do you really want people to think you're a head case? I sighed and turned my full attention to Professor Snape.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Harry and Ron caught up with me just as I was leaving class. Harry, concerned as ever, asked "What's wrong, Hermione? You never daydream in class. What's going on?"

Of course, I couldn't tell Harry what was really going on, since Ron was standing right next to him.

"I know, it was so weird. You just had this dreamy expression on your face. Are you sure you're all right?" said Ron, sweet Ron, sweet concerned Ron.

"Oh, it's nothing. I just thinking about- er- my-my summer in France! Yes, that's it! My summer in France! I just had the greatest time, you know. I just got back so I didn't have time to adjust to coming back to Hogwarts and everything. Really, I'm fine."

"All right, if you're sure then, we'll just be going back to the common room," replied Harry.

"All right. I'm just going to go to the library, then," I replied. I walked off to the library, and halfway there I saw a group of students all crowded around the wall. A sixth year girl broke out of the crowd and said to her friend, " This is going to be so much fun! Who are you going to ask?"

I pushed my way through the crowd and read off of a piece of parchment tacked to the wall:

Turnaround Ball

Next Saturday, September 19

Girls will ask boys to be their dance partners.

Hope to see you there!

-M. McGonagall

Suddenly, it hit me. This would be a perfect way to express my feelings for Ron! I just needed to choose the right time to ask him. I ran off to the library to think about how I would ask Ron. It would have to be perfect, just perfect....