mahogany ; d.m

4 - the three broomsticks

It was break, meaning Athena could finally tell Hermione what she had been bursting to say for the past hour now. They had finished with their Herbology homework, Athena helping Harry and Ron mostly along the way.

Hermione entered the common room and Athena restrained herself from jumping out of her seat. Instead, she beamed excitedly at Hermione, so it was evident she had news.

Ron and Harry joined Fred and George over the other side of the common room. It was very busy in there today, due to the horrible weather and the grounds being all wet and sodden.

Hermione planted herself down beside Athena, throwing her bag next to her.

"I got so much homework from Ancient Runes," she said, then after evaluating Athena's mood continued. "You seem happy."

"You'll never guess what happened?"she smiled. "Cedric asked me to go to the Three Broomsticks tonight with him and his friends."

"Oh wow! That's great!" she squealed. "Why exactly?"

"Oh well, he asked Harry and Ron, as well as me I think, I'm not sure, but they have Quidditch tryouts and can't go," she explained. "And then asked me if I was coming, and obviously I said yes."

"How exciting!"she gushed, pulling out her Ancient Runes book from her bag.

"Anyway, will you please come with me?"Athena asked, hopefully.

Hermione looked at her for a moment without saying anything, and pondered her request.

"Oh tonight? No I'm sorry I can't." she frowned. "I promised McGonagall I would do some tutoring for some fifth years who need help with their OWL subjects."

"Can't you reschedule for another time? I'd really need you there."

"I already tried to reschedule so I could watch the try outs but McGonagall refused. I'm so sorry," she sighed. "You could always ask Ginny. She could bring Dean too."

"Oh what a brilliant idea. Let me just third wheel with Ginny and my ex," Athena said sarcastically, rolling her eyes.

"Oh right. Completely forgot about that,"Hermione said, regretfully.

The rest of the day moved along smoothly, despite the rain clouds which covered the grounds of Hogwarts, making it horrible to go outside. Athena's lessons weren't all that bad either. She had Potions, Herbology and Astronomy, all of which she didn't mind.

The evening arrived, and they attended dinner in the Great Hall, per usual routine. Athena could barely eat her steak, she was so nervous.

"Are you gonna finish that?" Ron asked, eyeing up the steak which only two slices had been taken from. She passed him the steak and he happily tucked into, while Hermione was grimacing at his overindulgence to eat.

After dinner, once in the dormitory, it was half past six meaning Athena had half an hour to get ready. She changed out of her robes and looked through her trunk for some decent enough clothes to wear for the evening.

She decided on a black t-shirt, which showed a tiny bit of her midriff, and denim jeans that were ageing from having been worn so many times. She pulled on a pair of trainers and an anorak, to keep her dry from the heavy rain that was now pelting down outside.

She applied a light amount of makeup and pinned back her hair so it was out of her face. She thought she looked somewhat decent once she had finished and grabbed a small shoulder bag, finally ready to leave her dormitory.

By the time she was done, she had five minutes before she would meet Cedric outside of the common room.

"How do I look?"Athena asked Hermione, who was sitting on one of the chairs in the dormitory, flicking through a textbook, awaiting the time for her tutoring to arrive.