So What Now?

Feeling a great deal happier after spending large amounts of money in Hogsmeade, Hermione trekked back to the Gryffindor Common Room after saying goodbye to their friends. She didn't know the exact location of the Ravenclaw Common Room, though being Head Girl she had been informed it was somewhere near the Library. This made a great deal of sense, after all, the Ravenclaws were renowned for their literary personalities.

Hermione was loaded down with several bags full of clothes and other useless things that she tended to accumulate when shopping with the Ravenclaws. Of course, a couple of the bags were full of books from the newest bookstore in Hogsmeade; The Ink Pot.

To her disgust, the Fat Lady, who guarded the Gryffindor Common Room, was gone: probably off somewhere gossiping with her friend Violet. Being the portrait who saw the comings and goings of all the Gryffindors, the Fat Lady was privy to a lot of information.

Hermione conjured up a chair and slumped into it, hoping that the Fat lady would return soon. Her feet were killing her from all the walking she had done and she was looking forward to curling up in the Common Room with one of her new books. Mandy Brocklehurst had persuaded her to buy a couple of teenage romance novels. At first Hermione had point blank refused, but had eventually given in. One of her new books had a rather intriguing title; The Twisted Lion. The blurb on the back of the book had not shed much light onto the title, but Mandy had assured her it was a great read.

After a few minutes, the Fat Lady strolled casually back into her frame. Upon spotting Hermione she exclaimed, "Oh, I am sorry dear!" I was talking to that lovely knight on the fifth floor, Sir DeBlacke." Hermione was sure that the painting blushed. "Password?"

Hermione stood, picking up her bags. "That's quite all right. Purple pixie."

Blushing more heavily, the Fat Lady swung forward on her hinges to permit Hermione's entrance. Hermione climbed through the hole, disadvantaged slightly by the number of bags she was carrying.

Ron and Lavender were the only students above the age of thirteen in the Common Room - Hermione had no idea where the rest of the Gryffindors were, though she had a feeling they were probably in the Great Hall getting their dinner. Ron and Lavender were snuggled up together on a couch by the fire which was blazing away merrily, even though it was April. Actually, there was no heat coming from the fire, instead there was a cool breeze.

The couple were engrossed in a serious conversation and looked up in surprise when Hermione and her many bags sat down near them.

"Oh, hello, Hermione!" said Lavender brightly. "How are you today?"

"I'm great!" said Hermione. "I feel much better. You?"

"I'm good," Lavender said nodding. "Me and Ron went to Hogsmeade. We were talking Fred and George about..." But Ron elbowed her in the side before she could finished. She glared at him. "I think it's all right to tell her." Ron shook his head and Lavender stared him straight in the eye. After a second Ron sighed resignedly and said;

"Oh, all right then. You can tell her."

Lavender grinned and turned to Hermione. "Fred and George are going to help us set Ginny up with Seamus!"

Hermione almost snorted with laughter. "Ginny and Seamus?" She giggled. "Can you honestly picture the two of them together? Ginny is like a poster girl for the perfect teenage witch and Seamus... well, Seamus barely knows the meaning of the word 'comb'. It'll never work!"

Lavender scowled. "Stop being so pessimistic!" she said. "We got you together with Harry!"

This time it was Hermione's turn to scowl. "And we all know how well that's working out!"

"You're just going through a rough patch," Ron said soothingly. "It'll all be right in a few days. You love him don't you?"

Hermione gave a small, sad smile before nodding. "Too much. It's just... I don't know if it'll work out."

"It'll work out," Lavender said confidently.

"How can you be so sure?" asked Hermione sullenly.

"Because I can tell," said Lavender. "You are a match made in Heaven."

Hermione smiled, then, changing the subject she said, "So tell me about this plan."

After his talk with Parvati earlier in the day, inspiration had struck Harry as he sat in the Gryffindor Common Room. Not too far away from him, a couple of giggly second year girls sat discuss the latest issue of Starlight magazine, which was a magazine for young witches. It was full of gossip about the various Wizarding celebrities and supposed love spells.

Harry himself had featured in the magazine on several occasions, much to his dismay. He had been on the front cover twice to date, and after he had started dating Hermione earlier in the year they had supposedly had a Seer draw out a plan of their relationship. According to the 'Seer', they were going to live happily ever after. At the moment, Harry thought that the Seer must have been either a fake or stupid. Or quite possibly both.

The second years were reading an article aloud - 'How to Woo Your Dream Guy'. After listening to the entire article, Harry had practically sprinted out of the Gryffindor Common Room. He knew exactly how he was going to get Hermione to forgive him for being a jerk.

He had raced down to Hogsmeade, and found Parvati. After some persuasion, she had agreed to help Harry, and they had spent the rest of the day shopping for everything Harry would need.

The only glimpse Harry had seen of Hermione at all that day was when he was passing the Three Broomsticks, and she had been coming out, accompanied by her three friends from Ravenclaw; Padma, Lisa and Mandy. She hadn't seen him, but just the sight of her had made Harry's heart race at four times its normal speed.

"Hermione's going to love this all," Parvati told him as she help him carry several bags back up to his dorm.

"You think so?"

"I know so!" exclaimed Parvati grinning.

"How?"

"Female intuition," she told him with a sly smile. She looked at her watch. "Yikes! I gotta go, Harry, good luck!"

"Off to see Dean?" Harry asked.

Parvati shook her head. "Nope. Sonny and the Stars are playing a concert tonight and it's being broadcast on the WWN!" She grinned and headed off to the girls dormitories. Sonny and the Stars were a prominent Wizarding rock band and one of Parvati's favourites.

Harry closed the dormitory door behind her. Smiling, Harry flipped the switch on Seamus's Wizarding Wireless. The lively rock melodies of Sonny and the Stars filled the room and Harry set to work organising his purchases.

Seamus was sitting alone in the Gryffindor Common Room reading the latest issue of Quidditch Weekly when Ginny sat next to him. He looked up from the magazine, whose cover depicted the latest addition to the Appleby Arrows, a very pretty witch called Henrietta Glass. "What do you want?"

"Well that's a nice greeting!" retorted Ginny. "It's nice to see you too!"

"Oh, sorry," said Seamus. "What was it that you wanted?"

Ginny rolled her eyes. 'His mind must be like a sieve!' she thought. "About earlier. You know, Ron and Lavender."

"Oh," Seamus, said remembering. Ginny rolled her eyes again.

"So what are we going to do about my scheming brother?"

Seamus shrugged. "What can we do? Once Ron and Lavender have got their minds set on something, nothing can stop them."

Ginny looked at him. "So are you saying you're not opposed to the idea?"

Seamus blushed, realising what Ginny meant. "No! Yes! Whatever! Look, Ginny. You're a nice girl, but I don't like you that way."

"Good," said Ginny relaxing. "'Cause I would never date anyone like you."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Seamus asked indignantly.

"Nothing!" said Ginny, putting her hands up. "Nothing at all!" She smiled and said, "Well, it was nice talking to you, Seamus. By the way, never trust my brother." Ginny she fled up the stairs to the girls dormitories.

As her brilliant red hair disappeared, Seamus felt rather flustered. What was going on? Come on, this is Ginny Weasley. Ron's little sister. Fiery temper you don't want her to lose. Lusted after by half the boys in the school (without her brother's knowledge). She was just a friend. No, acquaintance. He hardly knew her, yet there was something... mesmerising about her spitfire personality.

Shaking his head as if to rid himself of these thoughts, Seamus turned back to his issue of Quidditch Weekly where the picture of Henrietta glass was winking at him seductively, her flaming red hair shining in the sunlight. Even though Henrietta was one of the most sought after women in the country, when Seamus looked at her picture, all he could think about was Ginny Weasley.

Ron reread the piece of parchment Fred and George had given him for the tenth time. "Well," he told Lavender. "It looks simple enough."

Lavender look a bit uneasy. She brushed a stray piece of hair behind her ear. "Are you sure this is a good idea?"

Ron rolled his eyes. "Lavender - we've been over this a dozen times! Of course it's a good idea! I can't stand seeing my little sister moping around like it's the end of the world and Seamus needs some luck in his love life. Both of them are benefited."

Lavender still wasn't convinced. "But there's no way to reverse it! What if something goes wrong?"

"Look, nothing will go wrong," said Ron, brandishing the piece of parchment in the air. "Besides, this is one of Fred and George's charms. They may look, and act, like a couple of idiots, but they are experts when it comes to this sort of thing! They got the highest Charms N.E.W.T's in their year."

This little piece of information seemed to soothe Lavender and she nodded her consent. "But," she added, "we have to wait to the weekend, okay? We have no lessons on Friday because of some teacher union thing."

Reluctantly, Ron agreed to these terms. He carefully folded the parchment and placed it into his bag. He closed the bag and looked up at Lavender, grinning. "The weekend it is. The final stage of Operation Ginger Snap."