Dance Floor Jealousy

Author's Note: You guys are brilliant!!! I can't believe I got that many reviews already. Thank you so much!



On with the story, as you wished... ;-)











Place: The Palace of Beauty



Time: Half an hour later







I had practically waltzed through Diagon Alley, smiling at everybody, greeting random people and receiving many odds looks, but I did not care. Apparently, once and for all, the ever so rational Hermione Granger had given in to intuition and emotion - and tell you what: it felt bloody brilliant!!!





For once, I didn't have the patience to skim through rows and rows of dusty books at Flourish and Blotts. The shopkeeper probably thought me mad as I hopped from shelf to shelf, giggling girlishly, snorting every now and then. But seriously, did they have to call books "Satisfactory Encounters With the Other Sex"?!





I hopped down the street, round the corner at Gringott's and found myself facing a most exquisitely decorated beauty shop. How fitting the name should be nothing but The Palace of Beauty: this really was a palace. Squinting through the windows, I saw Lavender Brown chatting amiably with one of her colleagues, Nancy Barkley, a slim girl with light blonde hair and a face worthy of a porcelain doll.





Suddenly, realization crashed over me like a waterfall.





This wasn't just Lavender Brown I knew from Hogwarts, gossip monger par excellence and beauty queen nonchalante. This was Ron's wife!





They had gotten married a while ago, and I had never given it a second thought. It had seemed only natural to schedule my beauty appointment with her because I remembered how fantastic she was with looks and that kind of stuff from our Hogwarts balls.





Seriously, did you think that Yule Ball outfit was all my idea?



~ Yeah, right!





Lavender and I had always gotten along fine. I was not jealous, nor did I envy her at all. Ron was not my kind of guy. We had been great as friends, though even that had cooled a lot since our break-up. Maybe he was the perfect man for a woman like Lavender. Just as Malfoy might be the right man for a woman like me...?





Whoa, where had that come from? Easy, Hermione, I told myself. More to have something to do and stop my thoughts going even more haywire, I pushed the door open and greeted both women politely.





"Herms!!!" Lavender squealed (seriously, did she never get over that?), "it's so good you're here!!!" Before I could say a word, she'd engulfed me tightly in a bear-like hug, almost suffocating me.





"Erm... it's good to see you, too, Lav. How have you been?" I tried desperately to keep my eyes off her wedding band. It was plain, white gold, no diamonds, nothing fancy at all. I felt reminded of the little rings I used to get out of chewing gum machines when I was a small kid, and scolded myself for those mean thoughts only seconds later.





"Come in, come on in, Hermione. I've already prepared everything! Nancy said you wanted an entire make-over? What's happened to you?", Lavender inquired curiously, her eyes lit up with an excitement to rival my own.





How much should I reveal, I wondered as I followed her into a small room next door, taking off my cloak and handing it to Nancy who had followed me holding a hanger.



I felt a shroud of sickening glee at the thought of Ron finding out about my date with Malfoy. On the other hand, nobody could tell how things would go with us in the future and I didn't want to be known by the entire wizarding population of Britain as the girl who got dumped by Draco Malfoy, the most eligible bachelor available...





"Please, Hermione, have a seat here. Shall we get started right away?"



Lavender's voice pulled me out of my reverie. Thankful, I looked back at her. There were some wrinkles around her eyes and I felt pity for her, all of a sudden. She was the beauty queen, but apparently she, too, had enough troubles to cause her to have wrinkles around the eyes at the age of twenty-five...





I sat down on the comfortable chair and snuggled into the towels she had put all over it. Carefully, she pushed my hair back from my face, fixing it with a hair band before applying some sort of cream. She worked quickly and skillfully, examining my face critically all the while.





"OK, Herms, this is a deep cleansing mask. It will need to stay on for fifteen minutes. Shall we do your hair in the meantime? If we leave out the fringe for the time being, we should be fine. What do you want me to do? It would be a pity to dye or straighten those curls..."



There was a hint of envy in her voice, and I opened my eyes to look at her, but her face showed no emotions. She had curled her hair and dyed it a darker blond, almost light brown, and twisted the curls up in a bun. There was no doubt that she was pretty, but it was clearly apparent that her beauty came at a high cost. It took a lot of effort for her to look like this every day.



Did I want that?





"Lav, you know, how about we just give my hair some special care treatment. I don't have the time to bother with potions and stuff on a regular basis, all I ever do is to cut off the split ends every few weeks. Apart from that, I like to let nature take its course..."





Lavender nodded. She grabbed a soft brush and started running it through my hair. Afterwards, she reached for her wand, waved it once, twice, muttered a few spells and then held up a mirror.





I gasped.





Guys, I swear, no telling what she did, but I looked brilliant! There were soft gold highlights in my chestnut curls, a soft shimmer to my hair, and when I raised a hand to run through it, the strands were no longer unruly and stubborn, but soft and simply amazing. I could barely take my eyes off myself.





"Lav, this is... whow... it's just brilliant! Amazing!!! Thank you... so much..."





She waved an impatient hand.





"Herms, this is my job. I didn't do anything special..."





She took hold of my hand and examined it, nodding.



"We'll do these next", she winked at me, Summoning a basin full of a light pink potion that had an opalescent glow. She waved her wand over my hands, and I felt them being cleansed thoroughly, as if scrubbed with invisible soap. Then, she dipped my hand into the potion, holding it in there for a few minutes.





"OK, shall we just pretend we have nothing to talk about, or are you going to spill the beans?", she asked, an incredibly curious glint in her eyes.



"I have never heard of Hermione Granger coming in for a make-over. I have, in fact, never heard of Hermione Granger caring about her appearance. Part of this," at this, her eyes clouded over with envy, "might be due to the fact that she simply doesn't need to. She is perfect as she is, and perhaps she's never realized it herself. There are a lot of men swooning at the sight of her. There are men," she sighed unhappily, "that still wank off to the memory of her. And yet, apparently, something has happened to make Hermione Granger want to look even more stunning. I'm not stupid, Herms. Spill."





She was looking at me with incredible hurt in her eyes, and her voice was shaking with suppressed pain. Did she suggest what I think she was suggesting...?





"Lav", I made to remove my hand from the basin with the potion, but she held it there with an iron grip and threw me an admonishing look, "look, I mean... I'm really sorry. It's quite obvious there's a lot going wrong with you and Ron. I never wanted that to happen. I wanted him to be happy. I want you to be happy. I have never, for a second, wanted him back. He and I were just never meant to happen. I'm sorry that he's taking this out on you...", I whispered. Furiously, she shook her head.





"This is not about me. I've always wanted to be like you anyway, Herms. Brilliant, gifted, beautiful, part of the Golden Trio. Don't you think I've envied you all my life, and tried to copy you, and hoped I'd turn out somewhat like you? It's quite great, having a husband who shares this obsession, who is more than happy that I'm trying to be like the woman he loves more than anything else.



"This is about you, Herms. What guy could have you come in here? I bet he's a wizard, too, because I don't think you'd be here for a magical make-over if he were a Muggle, am I right? Now, if he is a wizard and he doesn't feel stunned by your appearance already, he must be one of the top guys available out there. As far as I know, there are only about two or three guys who this applies to. Naturally, they're Slytherins, but isn't it quite Slytherin of you to do what, a few months ago, you would have never done?"





Her analysis had rendered me speechless. I gaped at her like a fish out of water and didn't even notice that she had lifted my hand from the basin of potion, dried it with fluffy white towels and replaced it with my other hand.



"I... I...", I stuttered.





A grin slowly spread across Lavender's face.



"Don't worry, Herms. I'm not telling anybody, you know me." She winked at me.





Grinning, I nodded my head. Yes, I knew her, and it was almost impossible that she would tell anybody about my secret date. No way. She would never do that.



~ Yeah, right.





With a wave of her wand, the cleansing mask vanished from my face. She critically looked at my eyebrows, then gave her wand another wave and they were put into perfect shape. Remembering my one visit to a Muggle cosmetician and the excruciatingly painful sensation of having my eyebrows plucked, I couldn't suppress a grin - you just had to love magic!





"Herms", she insisted, "my sources tell me that only Draco Malfoy and Blaise Zabini are still available who would fulfill those requirements..."





I felt a treacherous blush creep up my cheeks and heard Lavender squeal with delight.





"I knew it!!! At first I thought Ron was mad when he insisted that you were obsessed with Draco. I just can't see you with Blaise. But you and Malfoy... that's just great!!! Oh, you're so cute... stop blushing, dear, I already know everything! Where are you guys going? Are you going tonight? Of course you are, otherwise you wouldn't be here today, you'd have rescheduled for tomorrow... Shall we wax your legs and you-know, too? You know, I think we should, you never know and if it's true that years of hate may turn into throes of passion, you need to be prepared..."





My whole head was on fire now. I was sure I'd die if she didn't shut up. What was I supposed to do? Allow her to wax my legs and nether regions, as I had intended anyway, and she'd surely spread the news faster than Fiendfyre that Hermione Granger was meeting Draco Malfoy for a passionate shag. However, not getting my legs and nether regions waxed simply wasn't an option considering my meeting with Draco, and the electric pull I'd felt towards him when we had touched at the Leaky Cauldron...





So I nodded bravely.





The procedure was over quickly, all it took were a few muttered spells and a few waves of Lavender's wand. The entire time, she was jabbering away, refusing to shut up for a second, asking me questions and not waiting for an answer. I tried desperately to shut out her overexcited voice. When she announced me all done and as good as new, I breathed in relief and looked at my reflection in the over sized mirror.





Seriously?



If I didn't have Draco Malfoy bend at my will already, I definitely would now.





I simply looked gorgeous.





Lavender had done nothing to my hair but the shimmery look and the silky texture. She had simply cleaned my face and applied a soft powder. She had given my eyebrows the perfect shape. She had cleaned my hands as well, afterwards giving them an extra moisture potion and a French manicure. She had removed all excess hair from my body, I could feel the softness of my legs through my jeans.





My outer appearance had barely changed, due to the fact that she had done so little, after all.





However, there was an aura of happiness around me, making me shine like the sun itself.





I was going out to dinner with Draco Malfoy. He had wanted to be close to me for years. Everything was ours to take, and I couldn't wait to finally reach out for it.







Author's Note: Sorry if I overdid it a bit on the Lavender part...

Let me know if you liked it, and please keep the reviews coming! They are great!!!



Thanks to nonentity for pointing out that the relationship to the character of Lavender needed some sorting out ;-) Did I do it justice, do you think?



Pickles87, glad to hear you like it :-) Yes, I think Blaise will show back up in the story, as might Draco's cousin, but I think I'll leave it at that with Lavender and Ron. I don't like either of their characters much (not to mention I was very unhappy with the epilogue of the Deathly Hallows... but ah well ;-) that's the difference between JKR and me, I guess *g*) and I don't want to bring them into the plot more than I need to... my apologies to all Lavender-/Ron-fans!



gabby1234, thanks for your review. It will be worth the wait, trust me ;-)



Thanks to everybody else who reviewed this story! You make my day!!!





~ Luthién x