Book Two of the Mercury Series: Poisonous Mercury {A Harry Potter Fanfic}

The Future

Chapter 19: Asked 

The Future

Mercury’s POV

Hermione, Dean, and I walked to the nearest dress shop. I walked inside and noticed that it was a complete girly-girl shop. Almost every inch of the walls were covered in a pale pink, and the carpet was a cream color. Dean and I winced as we looked around. 

“C’mon!” Hermione said chirpily, taking Dean and I by the hands. 

Hermione went to go look for the dresses in the white and blue section. I just sat on one of the pink and purple couches with Dean. This one lady in a poofy dress came over to us. 

“Hello, can I help you with anything?” she asked cheerily, though I saw through her little act. 

“No thank you, Miss,” I replied. 

“Alright. Well, if  you need anything. And might I just say, you two make a lovely couple.”

Dean and I shared a look. “Couple?” We said in sync. 

“Oh, no Miss. We’re just friends.”

“Alright,” she winked and flounced off. 

“….that was awkward,” I said. 

“Definitely,” Dean agreed. 

By now, Hermione had at least a dozen dresses in her arms. They were all different colors of blue, white and some random colors like orange and purple. I looked at her, eyes wide. 

“You expect me to try ALL of those on?!” I asked ludicrously. 

She nodded enthusiastically and thrust the dresses in my arms. 

“You’re going to be the death of me, Herms,” I said, rolling my eyes. 

She grinned and ushered me into the changing rooms. 

I thumbed through all of the dresses and decided to try on the orange one first. It was very pretty. The bodice was covered in sparkles and the bottom was all poofy. It was like a princess dress, but too girly for my taste. 

I slipped it on and headed outside. As soon as Hermione saw me, she shook her head. 

“No way! What in the world was I thinking?!” she practically screamed and shoved me back into the changing rooms. 

Okay, so the orange one was a bust. I slipped out of the dress and put it back on the hanger and started another pile. The pile for the losing dresses. 

The next dress was deep, royal blue. The bodice was layered and folded with deep purples. Like the other one, it was a long, poofy princess dress. I slipped this one on and actually looked in the mirror this time. I thought it looked amazing, but I didn’t totally like it. 

I stepped out of the changing room again. Dean’s mouth fell open and Hermione grinned. 

“You look great, Mercury!” Dean said. 

“Thanks, Dean!” I smiled. 

“Mercury! You look amazing!” Hermione breathed. She looked me over again. “But I think you should still try on some more, just to be sure.”

I nodded and stepped back into the changing room. 

Dozens of dresses later, we still hadn’t found the right one. 

Hermione sighed and said, “Maybe we could look through a catalog, or I could even owl my mother and see if she has any dresses! She has an amazing collection!” 

“Your mom would really let me borrow a dress?” I asked hopefully. 

“Yeah, totally!”

Dean, Hermione and I linked arms, and I made them skip with me, all the way back to the castle.

Dress shopping took a lot out of me. There was also the fact that I had to get ready for the final task: The Maze. It really freaked me out, that maze. There was going to be random things that try and prevent you from getting to the middle. They would probably do anything. 

It was evening now. Exhausted, I changed into my pajamas and went down to the common room. Surprisingly, there was no one else there. I sighed and flopped into one of the chairs by the fire. I snuggled into the plush settee and stared at the roaring flames in the fireplace before me. My eyes burned from the smoke and heat, but I only blinked once in awhile. I don’t know how long I sat there, thinking about nothing in particular when I finally heard someone coming down the stairs. 

I didn’t pay attention to who it was until they sat on one of the armrests of my chair. I looked up sleepily. It was George. 

“Hiya, Georgie,” I mumbled. 

He grinned down at me. “Hullo, Mere.”

I rested my head back down, looking back into the fireplace. We sat in a comfortable silence until he broke it. 

“Hey, Mere?” 

“Hmmm?” I asked sleepily. 

“Uh… Would you like to go to the ball with me?” he asked, somewhat nervous. 

I would have laughed, but I didn’t. I mean, what was to be nervous about. I looked up at him again. “Really?” I asked, surprised. 

He nodded, smiling sheepishly. 

“Yeah. Yeah, sure,” I said. 

He grinned. That’s when I fell asleep.