Title: Dress of Victory
Ship: Harry/Hermione
Name/Pen Name: Giovanni/Harry85
Word Count: 1646
Theme #/Theme: #5/ The Wardrobe
Challenge count: 5/7 finished

Content: PG-13
Spoilers: Books 1-6
Warnings: Mention of Ron/Luna
Summary: Lavender helps Hermione to be noticed by Harry with a dress the brown-haired witch doesn’t really approve of.

Disclaimer: I don’t own HP. I wish I did, but no, it’s not mine, it’s property of JK Rowling.


Dress of Victory

Hogwarts castle was filled with excitement as the student rejoiced after Harry Potter’s victory over You-Know-Who. The boy was still in the infirmary, but the Wizarding World had already started celebrating him as an hero, and his companions at school made no difference.

As a special occasion like this required, the Headmistress Minerva McGonagall had decided a ball would be held at the end of the term.

Girls kept giggling madly about it, dreaming of a night to remember with the boy they fancied, and only one of them was worried sick and never leaving the Hospital Wing.

Hermione Granger had not slept a single night outside the room, since the limp form of her best friend, and secret love interest, had been brought there. Harry Potter now slept peacefully in his bed, his pain kept at bay by the potions Madam Pomfrey had given him that morning, as she did every day.

“Will he wake up?” the brown-haired girl asked.

“I’m sure he will, but that spell…” the nurse said, “well, that spell consumed quite a bit of his vital energy. It’s a miracle he is alive, but since he has gone through the first few days without complications, I guess he will wake up eventually. How long it will take, however, I don’t know”

The girl nodded, a bit dejectedly.

“You should attend your classes” the nurse reminded her. Hermione laughed hollowly.

Time ago, she thought classes and homework were all what mattered. The years of friendship with Harry and Ron had showed her there was something more in the world, and since her feelings for the raven haired boy changed, she understood even better what people around her had been saying for such a long time.

So she sat there, not minding she was losing the last classes of her life at Hogwarts, and that she might not pass the exams if she didn’t study. Heck, they should award the three of them full marks only for what they did all these years!

For another week things were like this. Then, one morning, she felt someone rubbing the back of her hand. Looking up to Harry’s face, she found two emerald orbs staring back.

“You’re awake!” she cried, and launched herself on top of him, hugging him so tight he barely managed to breathe.

“You’re going to choke me if you keep this up” he muttered, and she let go, blushing madly.

“Oh, Harry! I’m so happy you are alive! I was so scared!” she said.

“You never left my side, did you?” he knowingly said, looking at her dishevelled attire.

She shook her head.

“Oh, Mr. Potter. I see you’re awake” Madam Pomfrey said, going to check on him. Minutes later, he was able to leave.

“Fancy a late breakfast in the kitchens?” he said, looking behind himself at Hermione, who was following him.

She nodded, as she was actually quite hungry.

Everyone who met them stopped to thank Harry, and he was more than a bit surprised for this.

“You didn’t expect them to thank you after what you did?” she asked him, bewildered.

“Yeah, but you know…I hate being in the spotlight…” he shrugged. As the entered the kitchens, Dobby welcomed them.

“What would Harry Potter and his Hermione want?”

“I guess a couple glasses of pumpkin juice, and some muffins, right?” he asked to Hermione who nodded, still blushing for how Dobby had called her.

“Since when I am your Hermione?” she then asked, with mock sternness.

“Well, it’s how Dobby is…he meant nothing with it…” Harry stammered, and Hermione giggled.

“You’re cute when you stammer like that” she said giving him a bright smile.

He grinned back.

“Men are not cute, Granger. Handsome, maybe, but not cute” he said, starting to tickle her.

It was like being free from the looming menace of Voldemort had unlocked the playful part of both of them. All day they kept this up, and more than one looked at them amused, or with knowing grins.

One of them was Lavender, who had got close to Hermione more than one would imagine after sixth year.
As the time of the Ball approached, Lav kept asking Hermione who she was going with, hoping Harry had found the guts to ask her. Every single time, the reply was the same.

“No one asked me, Lav. I guess I won’t go”

So, after two weeks of this, the blonde tool matters in her hands. “That boy needs someone to knock some sense into him” she muttered while searching for him.

When she found the boy, Harry was sending off Hedwig with a red rose and a note. Hoping she wasn’t late, Lav worriedly asked.

“Who’s that for?”

Harry suddenly turned, he didn’t hear approach.

“Oh, Lav. It’s you. I just asked a girl to the Ball” he proudly said.

“And who might be the lucky girl?” she asked, with a smile that didn’t really reach her eyes. She was afraid her plan would fail before even starting.

“I’ll just tell you it’s someone we both know very well” he said, and then left.

The blonde hoped that he was hinting about Hermione, but couldn’t be sure.

However, when the next day she walked into the Head Girl’s room, she noticed a single red rose on the table.

“Hermione, are you here?” she called.

“Coming!” came the reply from the bathroom, then the other girl arrived, having just come out of the shower. “Hi, Lav” she greeted the blonde with a smile. “You won’t believe it, Harry asked me to the Ball!” Hermione gushed then. She had definitely got more feminine in her antics lately, especially after Harry’s victory.

“Oh, Hermione! I’m so happy for you!” she said.

“Well, yes. He did say it’s just like friends, though” Hermione added then, a sad smile on her lips.

Lav smirked. “We will make him change that opinion” she said, with a determined gleam in her eye.

“What are you thinking about?”

“Leave it to me” she mysteriously said, before leaving to put her plan in motion.

Days passed, and Hermione had no news of Lavender’s plan. The afternoon before the Ball, however, her friend came in her room holding a dress.

“There. You’ll wear this tonight” she said, clearly satisfied.

Hermione looked at the dress uncertain. It clearly would show a big amount of skin, to say the least.

“You can’t possibly expect me to wear that!” Hermione protested.

“Oh, come on. You need to be at your top if you want to impress Harry, and a bit of exposed skin will do the trick”

Hermione tried debating, but the other girl was adamant about it, so in the end she relented. A couple hours later, when her make up and her hair was done, she walked out of her room to meet Harry.

He was already there, waiting for her, in his elegant dress robes. When he heard the door opening, he immediately looked up, and his jaw dropped.

If he ahd thought Hermione was pretty when he had seen her in fourth year, at the Yule Ball, this would give a whole new meaning to the word pretty.

She was wearing a black satin dress, that clung to her body perfectly. A fair amount of her back was exposed, and the V-neck plunged quite deep, exalting her cleavage.

Harry was almost drooling, and she wasn’t sure about how he felt, so she nervously adjusted her dress.

“You don’t like the dress?” she self-consciously said.

“What? No, no. I was just surprised” he managed to croak out. “You’re simply breathtaking” added then, kissing her hand.

She blushed. “You’re quite handsome too”

“Shall we go?” he said with a smile that made her insides melt.

“Yes” she whispered, and so they did, walking out of the Gryffindor common room hand in hand. Every male stared at her, but a look from Harry was enough to make them revolve their attention somewhere else.

Ron and Luna had kept them places at their table, so the couple joined their friends there.

“You look really beautiful tonight, Hermione” Luna airily said.

“Thanks, you too” she politely replied.

While the night evolved, they all ate and laughed merrily together, as they couldn’t do when Voldemort was still alive. Then, Harry asked Hermione to dance, and she was pleasantly surprised by it.

As they moved to the slow rhythm, he pulled her close. “I know I’ve told you this is just as friends” he started. “But the truth is, I would like for us to be more than friends, Hermione” he said, locking eyes with her.

She wasn’t believing her ears. Had he said what she thought he did?

“What?” she asked dumbly.

“I know, I know. You don’t feel the same, I can’t blame you, but I just had to tell you this. Of course it was stupid of me, but…” Harry said, however he could never finish his sentence, as a couple of soft lips silenced him in a most pleasurable way.

“I do feel the same, Harry. Have for a long time now, actually” she said, and he grinned before claiming her lips again.

As their tongues met, they started a frantic dance in each other’s mouth, and Harry wanted so much to do more than that. He kept caressing her sides, but couldn’t think about anything else than taking that dress off of her, so he whispered something to her, then took her hand and led her away from the Great Hall, while she giggled.

“Guess they found something more interesting to do with their time” Ron joked, while sipping his butterbeer. Lavender, who had joined them at the table, looked thoroughly satisfied with herself.

And while he dragged her away, Hermione couldn’t help thinking that she owed her big, as her plan had worked perfectly.