A Little Polishing

Hermione let out a sigh and read the same paragraph for the third time. She had been in the library trying to read for the last hour. Trying and not succeeding.

She looked out the library window and saw Ron Weasley with his arms around Lavender Brown. He was either massaging her tonsils or swallowing her whole, either way it was a sickening sight to Hermione.

She had tried getting Ron to notice her for the past two years and nothing had worked. She wasn’t pretty enough to grab his attention. He liked girls that looked like Lavender, always perfect hair and make up and always able to fill out a blouse.

Hermione’s eyes dropped down to her own shirt. Plenty of room to hide her book bag in there. Who was she kidding? Her clothes hung off her like rags, her hair was a rat nest most of the time so she didn’t both trying to style it, she just kept it manageable. She didn’t have the slightest clue about make up, so any attempt she made looked either overly dramatic or over childish. When she did wear it, she had to follow a magazine to apply it.

She gave up trying to concentrate and went to her dorm room to change, there was a party going on in the great hall for the upper grades and she thought she might try again and make Ron notice her. She was his friend, he had to notice her. They had been through six and a half years of friendship, he just had to notice her.


She dressed in a passable white dress with dark red flowers and a red jumper over the tight bodice. It gave the impression of bigger breasts by pushing her girls upward. Her dainty open toe heels made her look good. Or so she thought. When she entered the great hall for the party, she saw Ron and Lavender sitting with Harry. She was perched in his lap, in a sexy pink dress, highlighting a bosom that Hermione envied. Her hair was a cascade of curls and she was at ease in her plumage.

Ron hadn’t even looked in her direction the whole night. The most she got was a hello but the whole table said hello when she sat down. He had his arm snaked around Lavender at every moment, and he merely joined in the greeting the table gave her. She could have been naked and he wouldn’t have noticed.

After a while she got up and left, walking around the halls. She found a dark corner and sat on the bench. She had tried so hard and he didn’t see. She thought she looked nice and it was all for nothing. He didn’t care at all.

“What’s the matter Granger, Weasley too locked onto the breasted one to see you?” She looked up saw Malfoy’s sneer and she lost what little control she had left. She exploded into tears that took him by surprise. Draco couldn’t stand tears, they made him nervous and the way she was bawling and the way her body was racking trying to breathe, was getting to him. “I’m…… I’m sorry I didn’t… I mean I was just teasing……” Oh Merlin, make her stop crying, he chanted in his head.

“Hhhhee…he did….didn’t…e.ee.eeven…..sseeee..mmmmmeeeeeee.” She wailed and kept crying.

Draco looked around for a place to run, but the sound of her starting to hiccup now was his undoing. He sat down and faced her. “Look Granger, calm down alright.” He handed her his handkerchief. “I’m sure he saw you.”

“Nnnooo..heeee..d..d…didn’t….he….he…” She didn’t bother to continue just continued crying.

Draco was at the end of his rope. “Dammit Granger,” he grabbed her shoulders and gave her a shake, “pull your self together.” She stopped but the waters kept falling. “Alright so he didn’t notice you. Do you honestly want to put yourself in the same category as Brown.”

She took a deep breathe and managed to find her voice. “But I tried to look pretty for him.”

He looked down at the dress she was wearing. “You wore this for him?” He said.

“What’s wrong with it?” She asked.

“Nothing, if you are going on a Saturday picnic in the park.” He said and she started crying again, letting out wails and not even trying to wipe away tears. “Shit, I’m sorry…….ok, Granger come on…..I said I was sorry.”

“Yy…yy…you’re right….how could I think to …to make….” She started bawling again.

“You want to catch his eye Granger, look at Lavender, see what she does.”

“I don’t have the breasts that she does.” Without thinking Draco looked down at her bust. She didn’t fill out her jumper that was for sure, but then again it was the wrong size.

“Breasts have nothing to do with it Granger. Alright enough, stop crying.” He said firmly. She regained her composure but that’s about all. She was still slumped on the bench, her feet turned in slightly. And she was looked up at him with pathetic bloodshot eyes. He had never seen her looking so pathetic and it made him want to smack Weasley. Why she wanted him, he had no idea.

“Look, you want to catch his eyes then you need to change a few things.”

“Change a few things?” She said.

“Yes, you can’t hope he’ll notice you,” he said, “you have to make him notice you. This is Weasley we’re talking about here, he doesn’t take hints. You can bet a million galleons Lavender didn’t sit there hoping she caught his eyes with how she looked. She flirted and put herself in his path, forcing him to interact with her. You have to do the same things, and you have the advantage of being his friend, so you don’t have to think of a way to get his attention, you have it. You just need to make that attention shift a little.”

“But I don’t have what she has.” Hermione said.

“Hence the change. You do need a slight makeover, but even more then that you have to make sure Weasley is going to want it.”

“How do I do that?” She asked. He had never seen a more pathetic sight. He had a feeling this was Granger at her most vulnerable, but he wasn’t going to comment.

“This is a man secret and you are not to repeat it to anyone, do you understand?” He said.

“Man secret?” She said with a lifted eyebrow at the name. “Alright then.”

“As men, we do not want something until you tell us we can’t have it.” He said. “The surefire way you get Weasley to want what you have, is to make it unavailable temporarily.”

“Wouldn’t that defeat the purpose if I…..”

“Are you listening Granger, I said temporarily. I have a plan but you have to go with it.”

“Why are you helping me?” She asked, suspicious of his motives.

“Because I hate the sound of women crying, so promise me you will never do it in my presence again and we have a deal.” The seriousness in his face was almost comical.

She chuckled. It felt good to chuckle. “Alright.”

“I mean it Granger, it’s the one sound I cannot tolerate, I’d rather listen to nails on a blackboard. Do not do it.”

“Alright then, I won’t. Now what are you thinking.”

“Good, now we leave for the Christmas holidays in a few days, you are going to Malfoy manor with me.”

“What? I’m supposed to go to the Burrow and spend the holidays there.” She said.

“Change them, that will be step one. If you break habit then he will notice it. We have some work to do. When you come back from break you will be a different woman.”

“And you think that will make him notice me?” She said sounding hopeful.

“Not by itself.” He said. “Send his family a letter of apology but don’t say anything to him about where you are going. When he asks say you were invited to my manor. When he asks why you didn’t tell him, make something up.”

“Like what?”

“Like you did tell him but Lavender was talking to him to so maybe he didn’t hear, or you thought you told him and forgot. And be happy about it. If he sees how happy you are with me it will make him think twice.” Draco’s eyes took on a twinkle.

“This sounds awfully sinister to me.” She said.

“Sinister and Slytherin go hand in hand, now do you want him or not?” Draco ask.

“Yes, I do.” She said. It was on the tip of his tongue to ask her why, but he didn’t. He didn’t know if he would be able to handle her reason, and it was her business anyway. He would help her, as long as she didn’t cry.

“Then trust me.” He held out a hand and they shook on it.

When it was time to leave for the holidays Hermione started walking off. “Hey Hermione, moms this way, waiting for us.”

“I’m not going to the burrow for the holidays Ron, I made other plans.” She said with a smile.

“Mrs. Weasley’s waiting though.” Harry said switching confused looks with Ron.

“I already wrote to her that I got an invitation I wanted to accept and I would send gifts by owl. She wrote back saying she understood and to have a good time.” Hermione was looking about for Malfoy but he hadn’t arrived at the great hall yet.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” Ron asked.

“I thought I did.” She said looking confused, then faked a look of remembrance. “No I didn’t, that’s right. You were taking off with Lavender and I told myself to tell you later, and didn’t have a chance. I must have forgot. Oh there’s Draco, I have to go.”

“Draco!” They both said, with wide eyes.

“Yes, Happy Christmas.” She skipped off and met Malfoy who gave her a huge hug then took her hand.

“You should have seen their faces.” Draco said when they were out of range.

“I don’t know if I can pull this off.” She said. “I hated lying to them.”

“You didn’t lie. You did get an invitation to my home and you did write to Mrs. Weasley.”

“I suppose.” She said.

“Good, now come on, we have work to do.” Together they left the castle where the Malfoys were waiting. The old Granger apparated away never to return again.