This Thing Called Love - Dramione Sequel

Ch. 33

Hermione's POV

I waited patiently and somewhat nervously outside of Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes where Lavender said that she would meet me. I wasn't sure what exactly was causing my nerves; I had enjoyed my appointments with Lavender, but casually hanging out with her seemed to be entirely different for some reason.

"Hi Hermione!"

Turning around, I raised an eyebrow when I saw her walking out of the shop. She gave me a nervous smiled before gesturing over her shoulder with her thumb and explaining, "Ron had apparated us inside of the shop since he's working today."

I glanced behind her briefly but then turned my attention to her and smiled. "That makes sense; I forgot that he was working with George now."

"Yeah, he's very happy about it actually," Lavender said as we began walking slowly down the street. "George is starting to ask for his input on new products and it's exciting."

"That's good!" I couldn't help but smile at this, not only because it meant George was having help but also because Ron was going to have more things to help him better himself. And that thought made me happy for him.

"So...what kind of clothing does Pansy make?" Lavender asked curiously.

"She has somewhat of a wide range of clothes actually," I started. "Some are more formal while others are casual dress but still nice. Her goal was to bring in options that didn't remind her of the early nineteen-hundreds."

Lavender laughed at this. "I can completely agree with that; wizarding attire isn't always very flattering."

"Nope, but she's working to change that. At least for those who want to wear newer fashion," I smiled. "Ginny absolutely loves her shop."

"I can imagine; I always see her wearing really nice outfits in the Prophet," Lavender said.

As we walked along the street, I noticed that we would get glances and stares from passersby. I glanced nervously to see if Lavender noticed this, but she seemed completely oblivious as she looked around at the different shops.

"Merlin, Diagon Alley has changed a bit," She said in amazement. "Though granted, I don't usually wander this far."

"Yeah, Pansy's shop is a little far back from the rest of the regular shops," I said somewhat absentmindedly. I glanced over to her and hesitated for a moment before starting, "I'm sorry if this comes off as rude, I don't mean for it to be but...how do you deal with the staring?"

"Staring?" She blinked before laughing slightly. "Oh, that. Well..."

She took in a deep breath, glancing around and straightening up somewhat as she said, "To be honest, it does still catch me off guard sometimes. But for the most part I'm used to it; I learned a while ago that I can't stop the staring, so I was honestly somewhat forced to get used to it."

"You don't seem to be bothered by it at all though," I said lightly.

With a shrug, she smiled at me. "My scars are a part of who I am. It's not my fault if they bother people, and I'm not going to hide myself away and prevent myself from doing what I want to do just because it could make others uncomfortable; they'll forget about my scars after five minutes anyway."

I stared at her as she looked around, still smiling to herself. Her attitude regarding her scars and others' reactions was one I hoped I could have in the future...

"Is that it there?"

Her arm pointing off to the side distracted me from my thoughts and I looked to see where she was looking.