The Masquerade: Part I
A/N: Thanks for reading everybody, I know I'm simply and awful updater, it's just, I have to be in the mood to write, and I have so many other things going on. I really hope you enjoy this one-shot; it's really different than the type of things I normally write. Also, I just realised that it's incredibly long (for me) so please just read it. You'll like it. I hope.
"Ooh, Hermione! How about this one, it's simply fantastic, come take a look at it!" squealed Ginny Weasley. She was sprawled on Hermione's soft bed, flipping through the latest issue of Witch Weekly. Hermione sat at her desk across the room, and looked at Ginny skeptically over her reading glasses. "Oh, come on, Hermione. With you it's work, work, and work! Have some fun once in a while."
Hermione sighed deeply and held the bridge of her nose. She could never finish any assignments with Ginny in the room.
"Fine," she said exasperatedly, "throw it here." Ginny threw the light magazine at her, and Hermione snorted quite un-ladylike at the photograph of a revealing dress robe. "Nice try, Ginny," she grinned. "Like I'd ever be caught dead in that." Ginny walked over and peered at the dress over Hermione's shoulder.
"Honestly, what's wrong with it? It's stunning; do you even know how wonderful that would be for tomorrow night?" Ginny argued as she snatched the magazine back from Hermione.
"What's wrong with it? What's wrong with it?" Hermione almost yelled. "You know how modest I am. I just… I couldn't… wouldn't… Ginny! I'm not even going to the silly ball. They're pointless, and think of how much of my holiday work I could finish in the night?" Ginny threw a pillow at Hermione, who just smiled grimly and put the pillow on the ground so she could return to her work.
"You're hopeless!" she cried. "Why are you against going to the ball? Is it because Draco is going to be there?" Hermione turned her head quickly and glared at Ginny.
"No… of course not," Hermione said, her voice a tad shrilly. "Why would I avoid a school event- which I should support- because of… him?" she sniffed. Ginny tried her best to hide an oncoming grin. Hermione was caught between school loyalty and avoiding a boy who had broken her heart.
"Exactly. So why aren't you going? Think of everyone you'll disappoint by not coming. Including me," she huffed. Hermione slammed her giant leather bound book shut angrily and threw her glasses on the desk.
"Ginny!" she yelled. "I don't want to go! I'd rather get work done than go waste my time hoping for some acne-prone dimwit will ask me to slow dance with him! I honestly want to get some of my homework done. My book's will never leave me, or break my heart, or snog someone else senseless during a relationship, or tell me that we'd be better off not together… or… or…" Hermione broke off, crying. Ginny felt a pang of guilt and rushed over to comfort her friend.
"I'm sorry, Hermione. I just… wanted you to have some fun, let your hair down… just… oh, Hermione! Stop sobbing!" Ginny soothed. Hermione cried for a bit longer, moaning about how horrible Hogwarts was socially, and how she just wanted to go home. Eventually she quieted down, with Ginny holding her and patting her back a bit awkwardly.
"Hermione, listen," Ginny said calmly. "If you don't go to the ball just to hide from one sodding person, then you will have your heart broken." Hermione hung her head and waved away Ginny's words, tears splashing onto her lap. "Besides," Ginny tried again, "wouldn't it be just wonderful to go to the ball and prove that you're not still thinking about him?" Hermione looked up. "He'll see you having fun, he'll realise what he's missing!"
"Really?" Hermione hiccupped. Ginny nodded fervently. "Well… I still don't know, you see. He's… it's just so fresh in my mind though. After I caught him with Sally Anne in the broom closet on patrol, I just thought I'd die…." Ginny held Hermione's shoulders away from her.
"Don't you see, though? He saw you upset, and the old teasing, taunting Malfoy was resurrected!" Ginny exclaimed, quite proud of herself for sounding a bit wise in her ways. "Further more, when you were moaning and not eating at meals and such, he knew, Hermione, he knew how upset you were! If you had just ignored it all, and continued to have fun with your friends and such, he wouldn't be so… cruel and distant? Do you understand?"
Hermione looked down again, nodding a bit sadly. "Oh, Ginny," Hermione said, her eyes brimming with tears yet again. "I'm so thick… I did everything horribly. I…" Her eyes grew wide with fear- "I… failed! I never fail. I can't fail. Oh, no. I'm just… rubbish now. I hate this!" Hermione slammed her fist onto the pillow on Ginny's lap. Ginny seized the opportunity immediately.
"Hermione, what if we just… why don't we… yes, it's perfect!" she exclaimed. After a look and sob from Hermione, Ginny continued. "What if we go into Hogsmeade? You can, after all, it's allowed with your Head Girl privileges…." Hermione stopped crying at looked at Ginny with an almost tipsy attitude about her.
"Ginny, tell me why the bloody hell going into Hogsmeade would make me feel any better? And I can hardly leave this dormitory, as Draco is always out in the common room… our common room… where we…" Hermione trailed off. Ginny made a disgusted face.
"Too much information there. But what I'm saying is, what if we took you into Hogsmeade to… get a dress?" Hermione dropped her jaw.
"Did you not hear me, Ginny? I don't want to go to that bloody ball!!" she screamed. Ginny calmed her down almost immediately.
"Yes, I heard you of course. But… if you go, especially with another boy, think of all the revenge you'd have on Draco!" Ginny said excitedly, her eyes dancing at the mere thought. "We'd get you a dress- a killer dress, simply fantastic- and come back here, do your hair, accessories, etc. Oh, Hermione, think of the possibilities!! You'd be so beautiful, so different from your usual… look!" Hermione wiped her eyes with her hands.
"Are you saying my everyday look is… drab?" she inquired. After a fervent shaking of the head from Ginny, Hermione quieted down. After a few moments of thinking, she finally looked at Ginny sadly. Sighing, she asked, "Do you think Dumbledore'll let you come as well?"
Ginny positively squealed with delight. It was time for Hermione to have some fun.
"Oh, Ginny! It's so cold! Lets just pop in here… really quickly though, just to warm up!" Hermione exclaimed, shivering. Ginny didn't need being told twice. What was she thinking by wearing a simple lightweight jacket in the wintertime in Scotland? Hermione looked up at the name of the shop- Griselda's Creations. Hermione recalled Pansy Parkinson- the complete slut from Slytherin- talking about this store. Apparently it had a sort of… naughty reputation. As soon as they rushed into the store, they heard a faint tinkling of a bell and a strong wave of cheap perfume. Ginny scrunched up her nose.
"Well, why don't we just have a look around- yes, I know where we are, Hermione, we'll only look- while we warm up?" Hermione nodded skeptically, but rubbed her hands together for warmth and looked at the pieces of clothing. Or, rather, half of pieces of clothing.
'It figures that Pansy Parkinson would shop here,' she thought as she fingered a dress robe that, in Hermione's opinion, was a couple of strategically placed strips of cloth sewn together. She shouldn't have touched it, though, because almost at once a saleslady walked over to Hermione and snatched the dress out of her hand.
"May I help you with this? It's adorable, right? Simply marvy pattern and it'd look great on anyone who wears it!" she recited. Hermione nearly snorted. The lady who was helping her was absolutely… ridiculous. She was about eighty years old and wearing the same robe but with a different pinkish print. Her hair was almost trailing behind her, it was so long, but a charm kept it an inch high so it wouldn't get dirty. And Hermione simply had to disagree, as the teenybopper outfit did not belong on an elderly lady's body… especially the saleslady herself, who wasn't as… perky as she used to be.
"Actually," Hermione stated loudly and clearly, "I was looking for something a bit less revealing." The lady's hand flew to her chest, and she heard several other customers tut at her comment.
"Why, dearie, we don't have anything less revealing. Perhaps you should shop at a less fashionable store, such as Madame Malkin's or some other cheap store," growled the saleslady. Hermione smiled as sweetly as she could at the lady and swiftly turned around to find Ginny. As soon as she saw a little red head bobbing up and down the dress section, she rushed over and grabbed her arm tightly.
"Ow, Hermione! Stop it, let go! I don't want to leave just yet," she complained. Hermione stomped her foot childishly.
"Ginny, this place is positively slutty. I do not want to buy a dress from here," Hermione nearly yelled. "The saleslady who helped me was horribly rude, and… I want to go back to the castle!" Ginny picked a few dresses off the rack in front of her. Still she continued to talk to Hermione.
"Who helped you then, and was vulgar towards you?" she asked. Hermione grunted angrily, sounding different from her normal intellectual self.
Throwing her hands up in the air, she yelled, "I don't know! Some old hag over in the lingerie section!" Ginny stood on her tiptoes and peered over the racks at the old lady holding up a picture of a scantily-clad model to an interested customer. Ginny threw her hand over her mouth and ducked back down.
"Cripes, Hermione! That's Griselda herself… were you discourteous to her as well? And bloody hell, why were you in the lingerie section? You're obviously not going to find decent clothes there in a shop such as this!" Ginny exclaimed. Hermione's cheeks turned red, a nice contrast to her tanned skin.
"Are you joking, Ginny? Let's go, please!" she begged. Ginny shook her head and looked Hermione straight in the eye.
"We're not leaving until you try these dresses on," she said firmly. She grabbed Hermione's wrist and dragged her into a nearby changing room. "You're going to put these on and you're going to like it." Hermione barely had the chance to protest when she was flung into a small room with only a small mirror and hook to hang the dresses Ginny had thrown at her. With a glance at a couple of them, she yelled out to Ginny,
"There's no way I'm going to wear these!" Outside, Ginny continued to silently read her magazine and merely rolled her eyes at Hermione's comment. Hermione waited for a snarky retort, but found none and decided to try on one of the dresses. She slipped off her uniform, folded it neatly, and put it neatly on the ground on top of her 'sensible' shoes. 'Neatness always counts,' she thought. Putting her forefinger to her pursed lips, she skimmed her eyes over Ginny's choice of outfits. She realised that she couldn't try on a dress without any nice sandals to wear with it, so she poked her head out of the door and looked at Ginny.
"Psst, Ginny!" she whispered. "Could you be a doll and grab some nice sandals or flats to go with the dresses? Black preferably, nice and sensible, seeing as it's the only colour to match most of these dresses." Ginny muttered an alright, and reluctantly put down her magazine, setting off to see if there were any shoes at the shop.
Hermione closed the door and ran her slender fingers across the fabric of the dresses. She did have to admit that the clothes were good quality, almost the equivalent of Muggle designers such as Chanel or Dolce and Gabbana. Pretty nice things, Hermione did admit, but like hell she'd be able to afford them. That thought running through her mind, she nervously grabbed the tag from one of the burgundy dresses and gasped. '7,000 galleons for a ridiculous dress? How could Ginny expect me to be able to afford such a thing?' she thought frantically.
There was a knock on the door, and Hermione drew her gaze away from the price tag. She opened the door hesitantly, and found Ginny there with a very smug look about her face. "Why are you smirking?" Hermione asked suspiciously. She looked down at the shoes that Ginny handed to her, and found a pair of black stiletto heels, about 3 inches high. Her eyes grew huge. Her parents would never, ever let her wear these.
"Ginny! How could you? You know I couldn't wear these, they're ridiculous. Who could totter around in such… shoes that are relying on toothpicks to hold them up?" shrieked Hermione. Ginny smiled yet again, being strangely quiet, and sat back down on her fluffy pouf. "Ginerva Molly Weasley, look at me right this instant!" Ginny looked up at her, feeling rather bored.
"What do you want now?" she snapped. Hermione scoffed.
"You're joking me. I could never wear such shoes. They… look… they cost more than my orthodontia!" she exclaimed. Ginny waved her hand at her, as if saying, 'Rave on, rave on. You tell such amusing stories.' Hermione slammed her door shut in defeat and looked at the shoes helplessly. Nevertheless, she put them on the ground and slipped her feet into them. As she stood back up straight, she rose three inches higher than how she normally stood and immediately fell backwards, slamming her head into the wall. "DAMN!" she yelled.
As she slumped back up, she ripped one of the dresses off of the hanger and angrily shoved it over her head. She buttoned up part of the side and- holding on to the walls carefully as to not fall- she turned around in it. She hated Ginny. How dare she bring her in such a morally… demeaning store, and find the cutest dress robe possible? Hermione herself admitted that she could never have found a robe like such and marveled at Ginny's obvious talent.
The dress was sleeveless, and had a collar that went across from shoulder to shoulder in a slightly curved line. It was ivory, with black trimming and black polka dots, just the right size as to not look silly. Her back was completely visible, though, and Hermione was rather skeptical about it. As beautiful as it was, it just wasn't right for her. She took the shoes off first ('Sodding uncomfortable,' thought Hermione) and the dress robes. She put it back on the hanger and over the door, and it disappeared from sight almost straightaway.
"Oh, Hermione!" came Ginny's voice. "You didn't like it? It's the cutest one!" she whined. Hermione chose to ignore her- a taste of her own medicine- and try on the next dress. It too was beautiful, a baby doll dress that was a soft fern colour with a dark green sash that went underneath her breasts and tied in the back. It was sleeveless and ruffled on the bottom, and Hermione adored it. However, it was just a tad bit too low cut. It showed off ample cleavage, of which Hermione was not… willing to show everyone.
"Ginny, I want your honest opinion, alright?" she yelled. Hermione was about to open the door and heard Ginny say,
"Alrighty then. I think your hair is positively awful and desperately needs a deep conditioner." Hermione stuck her head out of the crack she'd made with the door, and mouthed, 'Piss off!' Ginny smirked at her, and although Hermione was sadly reminded of Malfoy, she walked out anyway. Ginny was so astounded she flung her magazine aside.
Without thinking, she asked, "Where… where'd you get those?" Hermione was shocked and her hands flew up to cover her chest.
"What's wrong? It's too low, isn't it?" she said sadly. "It's beautiful, but I could never wear this." Ginny stood up quickly.
"Hermione, are you joking? You must get that! It's the perfect dress!" she shrieked. "It fits you so well, I… wow… I can't believe it! Where on Earth did you get those curves? And… what… why don't you ever show them? Or flaunt them?" Hermione snorted.
"Right, Ginny. Any way, it's just… too low for me," she sighed. "And I could never afford it. And the shoes, well, they're just a tad bit too high. They don't even match!" she laughed. It suddenly struck her funny as she realised that. She never would have thought of that a few months ago or something. Was Ginny rubbing off on her?
"Hermione, go put your uniform back on- yes, your uniform. We're done here. And hand me the pumps and dress," Ginny said, her mouth set in a firm line on her face. Hermione did as she was told quickly and quietly, and Ginny marched over to the counter, where a bored looking young girl was chewing on her nails. She lifted her eyelids up as if they were extremely heavy, and looked down at them over her large Roman nose.
"Will that be all for you today?" she uninterestedly.
"No," said Ginny firmly. "I'd like to speak to Ms. Griselda at once, please!" The girl at the register let out a sort of strangled laugh and called for Griselda. Griselda herself came gliding over, her hands raised next to her in a sort of aristocratic manner. "Hello, Ms. Griselda. First, I'd like to say that all of your creations are exquisite and beautiful in their own… individual way." Griselda clapped her hands together with pleasure.
"Why thank you, my dear," she laughed. "You do seem like the type of person who is interested in fashion, and knows much about it as well!" Ginny laughed a bit, and Hermione realised that it was Ginny's fake laugh. 'Oh, Merlin!' thought Hermione. 'She's going to try and scam her way out of the full price!' Panicking a bit, Hermione backed up and pretended to be vaguely interested in some sort of material. However, she wasn't paying attention to it at all, and was peering over the top at Ginny.
'Damn,' she thought. 'I can't hear a bloody thing they're saying!' She watched as Ginny and Griselda chatted animatedly, and Ginny handing over… Hermione squinted… a few Sickles? The bored-looking girl at the register had her jaw dropped, but she put the money into the machine and uttered a small spell to wrap the dress- and shoes?- in a fine silk material and placed neatly into a bag. She then watched as Griselda and Ginny kissed each other's cheeks- once on each one- and Ginny yelled, "Ta-ta!"
Hermione snapped her attention back to the item she was holding, and said in a strained sort of voice, "What did you do?" Ginny merely laughed at Hermione and took the hanger out of Hermione's hand.
"Nothing, Hermione. And I'm putting this back, seeing as a leather teddy really isn't your sort of thing!" Ginny exclaimed.
A/N: Ooh, it's different. But please review, I honestly hope you liked it. It's part one of three. One being shopping, two being make over, three being ball.
Pure Sunshine