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紀の川橋本SUMMERBALL２０２５（２０２５年８月２日） https://youtu.be/b1ZDfu4nefI?list=PL5_p1JmhJjC4UJZ1aDi9TwC_SGL7SviZ- 　

#紀ノ川橋本 #紀ノ川橋本summer ball #SUMMER BALL #和歌山 #花火 #花火大会

@hungryyy-hufflepuff submitted:

Hermione drops down into her seat, ignoring the teasing of Theodore Nott and Marcus Flint, both of whom were allowed to come back to Hogwarts despite assisting the Death Eaters.

“Of course you haven’t got a date to the ball, who would want to go with an ugly know-it-all like you?“

She tunes out their sneering as she pulls out her books, humming a song under her breath. Have You Ever Seen The Rain by Creedence Clearwater Revival. It’s a muggle song, and she’s been singing it for as long as she can remember. It’s what brings back fond memories of home and her family, it’s the first song she plays on her guitar when she gets home. She finds it easy to ignore them, after everything she’s been through. This is nothing compared to that.

It’s the Summer Ball tomorrow, a new idea, to celebrate freedom and triumph over dark forces. You’re meant to bring a romantic partner to dance with. Hermione hasn’t got one. She doesn’t want one. It’s on June 30, last day of Pride Month, and Aromantic Pride day. A romantic celebration on a day for anything but romance. She giggles at the irony.

She’s playing chess with Ron in the common room when the idea hits her. Ron was so accepting of her when she told him that her feelings for him were platonic, and that she was aromantic, he helped her in accepting herself as well, and in telling her friends. But she hasn’t had the courage to come out to the school yet. So that’s what she’s going to do tonight. Ron’s going with Blaise, who has definitely reformed, proving that when he put himself at risk of imprisonment to save a family of muggles in a fire as he was passing their house, witnessed by Minerva Mcgonagall herself. And she’s going to go on her own. To make a point, to tell the school she’s aro.

Plus, she wouldn’t want to go with anyone but her queerplatonic partner anyway. Gabrielle Delacour (AU where she is only a year younger than Hermione. They met after the Battle of Hogwarts, and by the end of the summer, they were inseparable, and in a queerplatonic relationship. She was the first person to comfort her when she found her parents had been murdered by Voldemort in Australia, despite her attempts to keep them safe, not even knowing who she was. Gabrielle was the kindest, funniest, cleverest, most beautiful person Hermione had ever met, and they fit together so well. The romantic love wasn’t there, but what they had was as strong, if not stronger.

At lunch, a biro finds its way into her hand, and, as she talks to her friends, Hermione draws the nib across her skin, until every inch of her hands are covered in arrows. She hadn’t even realised she was doing it. Aro pride. She smiles at the unintentional pun.

That night, Hermione does her make-up, her hair, put on her dress, of which she has changed the colours to something more fitting. Then she descends, alone, to the Great Hall. She moves determinedly, independently down the steps, with no partner, but making up for that with her confidence and grace. It’s enough for a room full of people. Even Nott and Flint don’t do anything as she glides into the Great Hall. They don’t tease, but sit stunned, where they are. Nobody says anything about her not having a partner, nobody taunts her. She’s untouchable.

Two dragons sit on her eyelids, only visible when she blinks, breathing make-up fire as her eyeliner. Her dress shimmers in the light, and a grin adorns her face. Tonight is going to be fun.

And it certainly is. Whilst everyone dances with a partner, she dances, not alone, but without others partnering her. She dances, beautiful and wild, dress twirling about her, darker green, lighter green, white, grey, black. She lets people come and ask her questions, she lets Hannah Abbott grin at her and chatter for a while about them both being aro-spec, she lets people stare. She wants them to see her. To see who she is. To see her celebrating herself and her identity. She’s celebrating, thinking of everything that’s happened to her on the path to this. Thinking of Gabrielle.

She remembers. So much from that summer comes flooding back, happy and sad memories. Long days spent just talking. Stargazing on the roof of Gabrielle’s family’s house in rural France. Wandering around London. Laughing until they can’t breathe. Gabrielle consoling her after the news of her parents’ death. Trying clothes in muggle shops just for the fun of it. Chatting over coffee. Dancing in the rain. Letting their sorrow wash away in streams over tears, letting themselves forget everything that’s happened, if only just for a moment. Rollercoasters and their own pod on the London eye. City lights. Remembering the fallen. Visiting friends, family. Telling jokes to each other, making witty comments. Music festivals, a road trip to get away from the memories. Emotions, comforting each other. A lot can happen in 10 weeks. Hermione didn’t know she could become so close with anyone in such a short time, but with her and Gabrielle, something just clicked. Gabrielle writes every week, and she writes, as she promised to when Gabrielle went to her last year at Beauxbatons, and Hermione to redo hers at Hogwarts. But she still misses her.

And Hermione dances, wild and free. She doesn’t have a romantic partner, but surrounding her are people who love her, platonically, familially. They love her for who she is. She has them for support, for love and she knows she has Gabrielle, all the way over in France, who loves her and who she loves back. It’s just platonic, but it’s as strong as any romantic love, if not stronger.

She lets the light play over the arrows on her hands, her dress swirling and spinning, lighting up the whole dance floor.

Proud.

And every year from then, she and Gabrielle draw little arrows all over their hands. It’s not much, but it’s symbolic. It’s their pride.

H (Hufflepuff)