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Humble Store
"Way to go, man," Harry said.
"Yeah, you have one too, Harry," Fred said.
"Sure I do. Asked her the first day we learned about the ball," Harry said.
"That's the way to go. Listen to that little brother," George said as he play-punched Ronald.
"You really have a date?" Ron asked Harry as he sat down in one of the armchairs.
"Yes, I do," Harry said.
Ron sighed. "Am I the only one without a date?" he asked whiningly.
"I guess," Harry said. He knew Neville was going with Ginny because he had tried asking Hermione first but she was apparently taken. Harry didn't mind.
It was good that his friends were finding dates even if he didn't know who they were.
"What are you boys up to?" Hermione asked as she looked up from her book.
Harry looked up at her with a smile. "Ron is having a girl crisis," he said. "He doesn't have a date."
"All the good-looking ones taken, Ron?" Hermione said. "Eloise Midgen starting to look quite pretty now, is she? Well, I'm sure you'll find someone somewhere who'll have you."
Harry felt like he was missing some part of that conversation. Like Ron had insinuated that only good-looking girls were good enough. Then he cringed as Ron looked at Hermione.
"Hermione, Neville's right… you are a girl…"
"Oh, well spotted," Hermione said acidly.
"Well, you can go with me!"
"No, I can't," Hermione snapped.
"Oh, come on Hermione," Ron said impatiently. "I need a partner. I'm going to look really stupid if I don't have one, everyone else has …"
Hermione just narrowed her eyes.
Harry placed a hand on her shoulder. "Just ignore him," he whispered in her ear.
"I can't go with you because I already have a date for the ball," Hermione said there was a faint blush clinging to her cheeks.
"No, you do not!" Ron exclaimed. "You just said that to get rid of Neville!"
Neville stood up angrily just as Harry grabbed Hermione and pulled her out of the common room.
Ron was going to get a dressing down from what looked like half the common room. They didn't need to help. "Don't care about him," he told Hermione.
"He is an idiot. You're a very pretty girl not to mention intelligent and fun. I'm not surprised someone noticed."
"I would rather have gone with Neville than him anyway," Hermione said. "Neville is nice and I like him. I would have gone with him if someone else hadn't asked me first."
"I don't know what he has against Neville," Harry said. He ran a thumb along her cheek to wipe away angry tears. "Better now?" he asked.
Hermione blushed. "Yeah, I'm better," she said. "Thank you."
Harry let go of her. "He's not worth your anger. Just ignore him," he said. "He'll see when you stand there on Yule Day."
Hermione smiled. "You are right," she said.
They headed back into the common room which was suspiciously empty to tuck in for the night.
17th of December, 1994.
Harry passed by Filch and noted his absence down for the day before he walked over to the Beauxbaton's carriage. The door opened as he reached it. "Bonjour Fleur," he said.
"Bonjour 'Arry," Fleur said as she pulled a hood up tighter around her head. "It's cold 'ere."
"We'll be going in and out of stores. I'm sure we'll be fine," Harry said. He took her arm and warmth flowed from him to her.
"Merci," Fleur said softly.
Hermione and Neville walked out of the castle and joined them. "Hermione. Neville. This is Fleur," he introduced her before introducing them in French.
Fleur chuckled. "It's nice to meet you," she said.
"A pleasure to meet you too," Hermione said. She figured that if Harry could spend hours upon hours with Fleur then she couldn't be so bad.
With introductions over and done with, the four of them headed down to Hogsmeade.
They went from store to store and split up along the way. Everyone was getting other people Christmas gifts.
Fleur and Hermione had ended up together in their search for something for the boys. They passed by a music shop and Fleur stopped.
"I think 'Arry would like a guitar," she said. She knew he had played a similar instrument before and would probably like one very much.
"Really?" Hermione asked. She had no idea Harry had an interest in music. He had never mentioned it.
Though she guessed that maybe they had painted each other into specific boxes and never actually ventured outside of those very specific beliefs.
She knew that she sometimes wished that Harry and Ron knew more about her than the fact that she liked a good book.
Harry was certainly getting better at it, and Neville probably knew more about her than Ron ever had, but she wasn't sure how to get closer to Harry.
He seemed so closed off; he always had been in a way. Maybe Fleur had somehow broken through that.
"Oh, 'e would love it," Fleur said.
"A guitar is kind of expensive though isn't it?" Hermione said.
"We can buy it for 'im together," Fleur suggested. She could have bought one herself, but she could tell that Hermione was having some trouble picking something, and she was right; a good guitar was expensive. They walked into Dominic Maestro's Music Shop and looked around.
A man showed up behind the counter, presuming Dominic, and waved at them. "What would two lovely ladies want from my humble store?" he asked as they got closer.
"We are looking for a guitar for a friend," Fleur said. "'E hasn't played in a while, but 'e knows 'ow to. 'E is the learning by doing type, and I know 'e'll love a guitar and use it if not daily then weekly at the very least. What do you recommend?"
Dominic looked thoughtful for a moment. "I take it he is more the quality over flashy kind of guy?" he asked.