A/N; This was written for the Sacred Stones Challenge on Diagon Alley II, my prompt was steel. I don't own Harry Potter, that belongs to Madam Rowling.

Hermione sighed as she examined her make-up for the Halloween ball. In spirit of the season, Dumbledore insisted it be a masquerade. She fussed with a curl that slipped out of its bobby-pin. Over the years, her hair had tamed itself down, from the bushy electrocuted squirrel look, to sleeker, more sophisticated ringlet curls. Hannah Abbott, Neville Longbottom's Hufflepuff girlfriend, had put it up in a very pretty, but time-consuming, Dutch rose braid. She pulled on the dark purple mask, trimmed in black and steel-gray, matching her dress. Her feet slipped into three-inch heels, perfect for dancing. She met up with Harry, Ron, Ginny, Neville, and to her annoyance, Ron's reconciled girlfriend, Lavender in the common room.

″Can we go now?″ Lavender whined. Ginny glared at the dirty-blonde girl while silently taking Harry's arm and leading them all out of the portrait hole.

Neville hung back to talk with Hermione ″So you don't have any idea who your date is?″

″I know exactly who it is, Neville. I've been dating the boy since fifth year.″ she answered.

″You have?″ the pureblood boy asked, in shock.

″Mm-hmm.″ she answered. Before Neville could ask who it was, they had entered the Great Hall and Hermione disappeared into the crowd.


Draco sighed as he listened to Pansy whine about having to go to the dance alone. ″I don't see why you can't take me Draco, it's not like you even have a date in the first place.″ she complained.

″Actually, I do have a date for this ball.″ He sniped.

″Oh, really? Who?″ Pansy asked, disbelieving.

″No one you would know.″

Pansy made a sound of annoyance and flounced out of the Slytherin common room after Blaise and Tracey. Draco slowly followed them, remembering back to the first time he'd properly met his date.

He walked up to the library, waiting on his prefect patrol partner to show up. To his surprise, Granger was there, nose in a book. ″Waiting for someone, Granger?″ He drawled.

She jumped, startled. ″Actually, yes. Whomever Dumbledore has assigned to be my patrol partner.″

″Ah, so they didn't tell you either.″

″They told me I'd be with a Slytherin, but not which one.″ she answered.

″Same here. Evidently we're together, because I don't see anyone else running up to save us.″ Draco said, peering down all three corridors.


Hermione pushed through the crowd to the drinks bar. After she ordered a butterbeer from Aberforth Dumbledore, proprietor of the Hog's Head, she reminisced on her invitation to the ball.

An eagle owl floated down in front of her with a letter and a bouquet of flowers the morning after Dumbledore had made the announcement. She recognized several gardenias, mimosas, motherwort, and pink roses. The letter simply read 'Will you go to the Halloween Ball with me? Ryuu no Ou.' Hermione smiled inside, but let a false expression of confusion grace her countenance. She passed the letter around to her friends. ″Whoever it is, they certainly know their flowers. Every single one of these means a secret love.″ Ginny commented. ″No one here has the name Ryuu no Ou though. ″ Harry said. Su Li turned away from the Ravenclaw table. ″Ryuu no Ou? That means 'dragon lord' in Japanese.″ She translated. ″Thanks, Li. That still doesn't tell us who it is, though.″ Harry said. Her friends soon forgot the letter in favor of a pick-up Quidditch match.

Once they left for the pitch, Hermione ran all the way upstairs to the Room of Requirement. Draco was there waiting for her. She flung herself into his arms. ″Yes!″ she murmured into his shoulder. Draco laughed and spun her around. ″Ryuu no Ou?″ She asked him.

″Dragon Lord. My mother and father spent their honeymoon in Japan. She fell in love with the culture. It was my nickname from a very young age.″ He explained, kissing her lightly between sentences. They agreed to come back to the room after dinner to discuss what they would wear for the Masquerade.

Someone laid a hand on her arm, jolting her out of her reverie. ″Ryuu?″ She breathed, taking in his dark purple dress robes, trimmed in the same colors her dress was. She stared up into his steel-colored eyes.

″Neko.″ He answered, using his pet-name for her. ″You look good. The dress looks even better on you than it did on the mannequin.″ They kissed, then twirled out onto the dance-floor.

Hours later, the last dance was announced. The Weird Sisters, who had been the hired band for the evening, would play their concert staple 'The Parting Glass', but before they did, the lead singer shouted "On the count of three, everyone take your masks off! One! Two! Three!" Many people were pleasantly surprised at who they were dancing with. Neville and Hannah had stayed together, but Ginny was dancing with Vincent Crabbe. Harry had found himself swaying with Pansy Parkinson. Ron was with Susan Bones, and Lavender looked to be snogging Dean Thomas. Draco and Hermione waited until all eyes were on them, silently begging them to unveil themselves. Slowly, they reached for the ties that held the other's mask on. People thought that they were stunned when they saw the two of them even together; when the couple embraced and kissed, a few people fainted from shock. "Even grudges forged of steel can be broken." Draco murmured as they moved in time to the old Irish tune.