Ginny's Yule Ball (Harry Potter Fanfiction) (not hinny)

Its the smell of a magical skunk

Ooh, the truth is getting closer! Enjoy x)

“Well, that was wonderful!” Hermione sighed, pulling the door to the Shepherdess’s room closed behind her. “She gave me the most wonderful advice. I feel like such a fool for thinking there was no chance for us!” 

“Really?” I asked as we walked along the second floor corridor, smiling at her sudden confidence boost.

“Oh, yes.” She nodded “I’m really confident it will work.” 

“Wow, she must work wonders – you’ve become so much more confident that you were an hour ago!” 

“I know. I really do owe her.” 

“So what was this ingenious advice?” I asked curiously. 

“She told me to act more like a girl.” Hermione responded casually. 

“What? That’s a bit mean!” I exclaimed, shocked. 

“No,” Hermione giggled “Not like that. She says he sees me as his tutor and only his tutor. He needs reminding that I’m a girl who has her own social life. I don’t purely exist to help him pass his OWLS.” 

I slowed down as I thought about this. 

“So it sounds to me as if you’ve got two choices.” Hermione stared at me, quizzically. “You either have to pretend to have a social life or you have to get yourself a social life.” 

“Ginny, be serious. I’m going to pretend of course. I don’t have time to make everybody in our year like me!”Hermione laughed. “And that’s where you come into it, Gin. You’ve got to make out that we got to parties. That I hang out with loads of different people – not just you, Harry and Ron. I don’t care if you say I spend time with Neville - As long as he is under the impression that I have a lot of friends and I am not always there to help him study!” 

“That you should be easy enough.” I pondered. “I mean you do have friends. You’re not always there help him!” 

Hermione who was a few paces in front of me span around and stopped. 

“Oh, please! Who are we kidding?” She threw her hands into the air. “Recently my life has revolved around him and his study sessions! I was always planning our sessions, thinking about our sessions. Because these sessions were the only reason I could talk to him! The only time I could pluck up the courage to speak to him was when I timidly patted him on the shoulder and muttered “Is tonight at the library alright?”! and if it wasn’t then it would be changed. Well, no more!” Hermione sighed and began to walk calmly along again. “No, from now on I’ll have to change the times. I’ll talk to him about boys at our sessions! I’ll even just pull him aside in the corridor and talk to him about nothing in particular. I’ll show him!” 

“Good one, Mione!” I applauded her. I was really impressed with her confidence and attitude, sudden as it was. 

We had now wondered into the fourth floor corridor, having taken a roundabout route to the common room in order to avoid the hubbub of the Grand Staircase. Strangely, it was completely empty. Unlike the other corridors which at the very least had an odd student there, even the inhabitants of the portraits were missing in this one. We soon found out why when we heard an evil cackle that made us both freeze. 

“What was that?” Hermione swallowed hoping she was wrong. I pursed my lips and shook my head. 

“It’s Peeves!” I yelled as a small ghost zoomed in front of us; he would have been blocking our path if he was solid. Still, having walked through a ghost before and felt that awful, chilling sensation, I had no desire to experience it again.