Lost

It was a beautiful autumn day, perfect for their first Hogsmeade trip of the year. All the third-year and up Gryffindor students swarmed out of their common room abuzz with excitement. Well, almost all of them.

Ron paced back and forth in front of the large fireplace. He was annoyed and it showed in the tone in his voice. "Where is she?"

"Ron, sit down. Hermione will be down in a minute," said a calm Harry who was sitting on the large couch in front of the fireplace with his girlfriend, Ginny.

Ginny rolled her eyes and attempted to reason with her brother. "Really, Ron, Hogsmeade will still be there when we get there."

"It's the first weekend of the year and she's making us miss it," Ron whined, sitting down in the chair next to the couch. "Seamus, Dean and Neville are already there. They're probably already buying out Honeydukes. I can't believe she isn't ready." He stood up again and started to make laps around the common room.

The couple watched Ron pace until Ginny could stand it no more. "Ron, for the love of Merlin...SIT. DOWN. Honeydukes will not sell out of Fizzing Whizzbies before we get there."

Her brother briefly perched on the arm of the chair before bouncing up again. "I am going up there right now to find out what the bloody hell she's doing." He stormed off towards the staircase to the Gryffindor girls' dormitories.

Harry shot Ginny a quick glance and the two of them sprung up off the couch and ran after him, both of them yelling at once. "Ron, come back. You can't..."

"Aaahhhh." The stairs leading to the girls' dorm, detecting a male presence, had folded down forming a slide and a red-faced Ron Weasley was unceremoniously hurled back down into the common room. He landed with a heavy thud right in front of a very amused Harry and a very hacked-off Ginny.

"Oh for Merlin's sake, Ron. If you are that anxious, I will go up and check on her." Ginny stepped over her brother's prone form and started up the stairs.

Harry held out a hand to his best friend, who accepted it rather sheepishly and got back onto his feet. "I forgot about the rule."

"Yeah, I noticed." Harry led his friend back over to the couch and the two boys launched into a heated conversation about Quidditch while they waited on their girlfriends.

******

Opening the door to the Seventh Year girls' dorm, Ginny called out, "Oi, Hermione. Are you almost ready? Ron's about to go nutters if he doesn't get to Honeydukes in like two minutes."

She stopped short when the door to the dorm room fully opened and her mouth fell open. The contents of Hermione's normally organized closet and trunk were strewn about the room. Ginny could only imagine that a hurricane had just blown through the Hogwarts and had chosen the Seventh Year girls' dorm as its landing site. Something was terribly, horribly wrong.

"Hermione, are you...what's going on?"

The Head Girl stormed by her in what could only be described as a rage. "I can't find it," she said hotly. "It is gone. GONE."

Ginny's eyes darted around the room, but she could not figure out what was misplaced. Everything seemed to still be there, well, everything except for her friend's sanity. "What's gone, Hermione?" She stepped cautiously into the room and continued, "Whatever it is, we will find it. I will help you; just tell me what's missing."

Hermione slumped down on her bed and put her head in her hands. "Myrainbowbelt," she muttered quickly.

Ginny walked over to the bushy haired girl and put her hand on her shoulder. "Your what?" she asked softly.

"MY. RAINBOW. BELT. You know, the one I got third year at that Muggle shop in London. You were with me when I bought it." Hermione shook off Ginny's hand, fell to the floor, and began tearing through what was left in her trunk. "It has to be here, Gin. I just had it a couple of weeks ago. It goes perfectly with this jumper and I have to find it."

Ginny surreptitiously pulled the bottom of her own jumper down lower on her hips as she watched Hermione continue her path of destruction. "That old thing? Why would you want to find that?" Her voice stopped Hermione dead in her tracks and the older girl rose and glared at her.

"I have to find it, Gin. This outfit isn't complete without it. Ron will think I look like a total mess if I go down to Hogsmeade with him dressed like a slob. I am not Lavender or Parvati. I don't have much in the way of...of...fashion sense. But, I know when I look put together and when I don't." She began pacing the room again, but with a little less gusto than before, "I don't want Ron to think I am just a bookworm who can't properly dress herself. I want to look...nice for a change." Hermione sighed and wiped a single tear from her cheek as she sat down on the edge of her bed.

The red-head moved to the bed next to her and put an arm around her shoulders. Ginny gave Hermione a slight squeeze and, with great sensitivity, said, "That's what this is all about? You don't think you dress as well as the other girls?" Hermione could only nod her assent as she sniffed slightly.

"Hermione, that is ridiculous. Ron adores you just the way you are. Loves that you're the smartest witch in school. He's always bragging about the top marks you get to Mum and Dad when we're home on holiday. He wouldn't care if you walked downstairs with holes in your robes and mismatched shoes. And, if he wanted to date Lavender or Parvati, he would." She gently rubbed the other girl's back. "He doesn't want them. Ron thinks they are silly and uninteresting. He wants you, Hermione. He loves you. Everything about you...just like you are."

Hermione's sniffing subsided a little bit and she looked at Ginny with just a hint of doubt in her eyes. "Really?"

"Of course. You know that he does."

"Yeah. I guess I do." She smiled gratefully at her friend and stood up. She smoothed her skirt down and walked over to her mirror to check her eyes. She quickly muttered an un-puffing spell and turned back to Ginny. "Let's go."

****

Ron immediately leapt to his feet when the two girls entered the common room. "Merlin, Hermione, what took so long? Is everything OK?" He looked his girlfriend up and down admiringly. "You look really great, by the way."

"Everything is OK now.. I just.." She glanced over her shoulder at Ginny and gave her a quick grin. "I just forgot something. But, I figured it out with a little help from Ginny."

"Well, since that's all sussed out, can we go now?" Ron asked eagerly.

Hermione laughed and took his hand and led him out of the common room.

A grinning Ginny took a step to follow them, but Harry's hand on her arm stopped her. "You are smiling like a Cheshire cat, Gin. What's going on?"

Ginny lifted the hem of her sweater ever so slightly, looked at the brightly colored belt sitting at her waist and laughed. "Harry, you wouldn't believe me if I told you."