More Than That

Chapter 26

The quidditch game the next day was uneventful. Gryffindor lost by a hair, barely losing the traded-off lead at the end of the game.

It was obvious that something was off with the team that day. Every move was off in the slightest bit, everyone was moving a bit slower than usual, and all of the players just seemed to be out of sync.

The game wasn't too important, it wasn't like they lost their shot at the champion game or anything, but it definitely brought the mood of the house down. When they walked off the field all of the players got sympathetic pats on the back while Slytherin cheered and celebrated in the most obnoxious way.

Sage vowed not to let the loss ruin her night, though. She was going on a date. She was going on a date with the man that she had been fantasizing about for years. She had finally started to feel that spark of excitement and nervousness when she thought about the upcoming date, the feeling of dread and uneasiness that had filled her stomach previously long gone.

She still had a couple of hours until she was supposed to meet Theodore but she raced up to her room anyway. She didn't want to waste any time that she could use to get ready.

Once she got back to her room, she immediately hopped in the shower. She washed her hair with the good conditioner, scrubbed herself from head to toe, and shaved from head to toe as well. She didn't think that anything like that was going to happen, but you could never be too careful.

Once out of the shower, she quickly started on her upgraded beauty routine for whenever she wanted to look particularly pretty. She covered herself in lotion, washed her face, put on a face mask, and grabbed a bottle of nail polish so that she could go paint her nails at her desk while she waited the allotted amount of time for her mask.

She walked out of the room in just a towel to be greeted by Hermione sitting on her bed.

"Hey, 'Mione," she said with an excited smile and seated herself at her desk to start painting her nails. "Where's Ginny?".

"Oh, um, I think she's with Fred right now."

Sage nodded, already finished painting two of her fingers. "I'm going out, so you guys can have the room to yourself tonight if you want," she said with a cheeky grin.

"Yeah, date with Theodore, right?" Hermione asked.

Sage paused her work on her nails to look over at Hermione. "How'd you know about that?".

"You left the letter from him on your desk yesterday. Ginny and I found it when we came in." Sage frowned and turned back to her nails. "We weren't snooping, I swear," Hermione clarified. "It was just sitting right there."

Sage chuckled as she moved onto her other hand. "I didn't think you were, don't worry. I don't mind anyway, it's not like I was keeping it a secret or anything."

"Oh, yeah, I just didn't know if it was a sensitive subject."

"If what was?".

Hermione shook her head. "Nothing, never mind. Are you nervous?".

A grin broke out over Sage's face as she turned around to face Hermione, blowing on her finished nails. "Yeah, a little bit. I've just been waiting for this for so long, I don't want to screw it up."

Hermione smiled understandingly. "I know how it feels, finally getting it after waiting for so long. I was practically a pool of nerves before my first date with Ginny."

"Really? Did you have a crush on her for a while? I seriously never knew."

Hermione grinned bashfully. "Yeah, but I think it was pretty subtle. I was just kind of watching her from afar for a while, it was more out of admiration than anything else. I never thought that I had a chance with her."