A Game to remember
It was December time, snow was covering Hogwarts making it look beautiful and snow was still falling from the sky. In the girls common room, a sixteen year old girl, with busy brown hair and beautiful brown eyes was reading her book while the others were either doing homework, looking at themselves in the mirror or gossiping, Hermione rolled her eyes when she heard Lavender and Parvati giggling usually talking about who were the hottest boys in the year
"So who do you think is the fittest out of Harry or McLaggen?" Parvati asked her blond best friend who thought for moment
"I don't know, McLaggen is muscular while Harry is mysterious" she replied and Hermione just shook her head at the two girls, Lavender saw this and playfully smirk at Parvati who smirked back at her "Who do you think is fitter McLaggen or Ron?" the two saw Hermione froze, Parvati answered it
"Well like you said McLaggen is good at quidditch but Ron, he's gotten handsome over the years hasn't he, I mean I heard that he has a six pack from Ginny" Parvati playfully said to Lavender who giggled and slyly looked over to Hermione who was blushing as she stared blankly at the pages
"I would pick Ron too because McLaggen only talks about is quidditch, Ginny told me that Ron is sweet and charming when he wants to be, also he is quite funny, I mean I swear he is the only boy that can make Hermione laugh" Lavender shouted loudly for Hermione to hear, she saw Hermione's blush getting harder and harder, Hermione covered her face with a large leather book so they couldn't see her blush
"Do you guys mind I'm trying to study" Hermione said shakily making Parvati and Lavender giggle even louder
"Hermione want to play a game?" Lavender asked the bushy haired witch who shook her head "come on please" she pleaded making Hermione sigh and put her book down then crossing her arms across her chest and raised one eyebrow towards her
"What kind of game?" she asked the blond girl who looked at Parvati for help who explained to her
"Truth or Dare" Hermione shook her head and started reading making the one of the girls grab the book away from Hermione making her complain "hey!" Hermione reached for the book but Parvati and Lavender wouldn't let her have it, Hermione gave up "Fine I'll play one round of Truth or Dare but you promise to give me back my book" the two girls nodded and sat in a circle on Hermione's large bed
"Okay Truth or Dare Lav?" Parvati asked her best friend who thought for a moment and replied to the Indian girl
"Truth" she said excitedly while Hermione shook her head and sighed wanting to finish the game as quickly as she can
"Okay..umm..Who do you think is hotter Harry or Ron?" Parvati asked Lavender who squealed
"Defiantly Ron, I was on my way to lunch and I heard music being played, so I check it out, it was Ron teaching a little first year how to play piano it was so cute" then Lavender turned her attention to Hermione "who do you think is hotter Hermione?"
"umm…I" Hermione looked down and blushed, Lavender leaned in
"What was that Hermione?" she asked with smirk on her face
"You didn't ask me truth or dare" she retorted to Lavender who sighed and said
"Okay..Truth or Dare" Hermione was about to answer but Lavender beat her to it "I'd be carefully about your answer Hermione" she reminded Hermione who thought deeply about her answer.
After a few moments she finally said "Dare" she said confidentially making Lavender and Parvati raised one of their eyebrows at her
"Is that your final answer?" Hermione nodded without thinking then her eyes widen in shock and said
"Wait a change my mind" Lavender and Parvati shook their heads and click their tongue towards Hermione
"Nope you said it was your final answer" Hermione sighed and covered her face with her hands in embarrassment at what Lavender and Parvati would make her do for her dare. The two girls whispered to discuss the dare that they would give Hermione then after a few moments they decided on a dare "We dare you to go up to Ron and tell him that you think he is the fittest boy you have ever seen" Hermione's jaw dropped at their dare and blushed at the thought of what Ron would say to her or that he might never want to be friends with her "and we have to see you do it"
"Do I have to, can I do another dare" Hermione pleaded to the two girls who grinned madly at her
"The other option is to kiss Ron on the lips" Parvati added making Hermione's eyes widen in surprise and shook her head and said quickly
"I'll take the first option" Hermione sighed and laid her head on her pillow covering her face with her hands while Lavender and Parvati was giggling as they walked to their beds talking about different outcomes of Hermione's dare, while the bushy haired girl was dreading at her dare.
The next morning, Hermione was already at breakfast not eating much, then someone clamped their hands on her shoulder scaring the life out her, Hermione turned to see Ginny with a giant smirk on her face "Heard about your dare" she took a seat next to Hermione who buried her embarrassed face in her hands
"I'm going to embarrass myself in front of Ron" her voice was muffled but Ginny still understood what she said, Ginny knew that her older brother, Ron, likes..no…loves every bit of Hermione but Ron made her promise no to say anything to Hermione and it was killing her, Hermione loves Ron and Ron loves Hermione, and Ginny knew that they were perfect for each other but she knew that her brother wasn't very good at showing how he feels especially to Hermione, then Ron and Harry came in
"Morning you two" said the two in unison as they took their seat and started eating breakfast, Ron noticed that Hermione barely ate anything and she seemed distant, Ron clicked his fingers in front of the bushy haired witch making her snap back in reality
"Are you all right Hermione?" Ron asked worriedly to his best friend who smiled and nodded
"Yeah just thinking" she replied while Ginny scoffed and muttered under her breath
"Probably about someone she likes" Hermione slapped Ginny's arm to silence her making Ron look at the two girl strangely and said
"Okay" Ron turned his attention Harry and started to talk about the upcoming quidditch match, Gryffindor vs Hufflepuff, everyone heard someone cough in the front making every student turn to face the front and saw Dumbledore with twinkle in his eyes
"Attention everyone, I know that fifth and sixth years have been studying very hard so as a reward there will be a winter masquerade for the fifth and sixth years on Christmas eve which is in two weeks time, you must wear a mask and not reveal who you are until midnight, so basically disguise everything about you and use spells to change your hair colour and eye colour to make it more fun, good luck that is all" All the girls whispered excitedly to each other while the boys groaned in annoyance not looking forward to the masquerade, Harry looked dreadfully at Ron who had a frowned on his face as well
"Great another dance" Harry said sarcastically to Ron who smiled and shook his head as they started eating again. Since it was Hogsmeade visit, the girls rushed into every clothes shop that Hogsmeade to find a perfect dress to wear for the masquerade, the boys just went to places like the three broomsticks and sweets shop, probably doing it on the last minute however Ron and Harry wanted to get it over with, they went shopping for a mask to wear, the entered boys clothes shop and started looking at different mask, they were still browsing then the shop owner who was a kind old man walked towards them smiling at them "What can I do you for boys?" he asked nicely to Harry and Ron
"We are looking for a mask to wear for a Masquerade in school" Harry explained and the man nodded and smiled dreamily at them
"I love Masquerades it has mystery, in fact a masquerade is where I met the love of my life" he told them then Harry pointed to a plain leather mask that covered his eyes only "I like that one, may I buy it?" he asked then the old man reached for the mask and handed it to Harry "how much sir?" the boy with glasses asked
"Two sickles" Harry searched his pocket and handed the man the right of money who putting it in a bag to keep it safe
"Harry don't you have detention Snape" Ron reminded Harry who went pale and ran quickly back to school, Ron shook his head and ask the man "you met the love of your life at a masquerade?" the old man nodded and pulled out a black box and put it in front of Ron then he slowly opened it and showed it to the red haired boy.
Inside the box was a beautiful mask, it only covered the eyes but on to was some sort of silver crown attached to it, Ron loved it instantly (put it on my homepage, it's the first mask) "this was the mask I wore almost fifty years ago, when I was about your age, I love being young and sixteen but I love my wife even more" the old man carefully got the mask out the box and smiled at it "I can still remember the music that played, all the decorations" Ron listened to the man and was interested and wanted to know more about his masquerade "the first time I saw Rose, I knew instantly that I would love her for the rest of my life"
"How did you know she was it for you?" Ron asked the old man who placed one of his wrinkly hands on his chest where his heart was and patted it softly
"In here, we are best friends and I always ignored the way my heart beats fast when ever she was around me, we had fights which always drove our friends mad but Rose and I admitted when we got married that it was our way of flirting with each other" the old man looked at the mask again and sighed happily and continued his speech "when at a Masquerade, I saw the beautiful woman walk down the steps, I can still remember my heart stopped when I saw her, I gathered all my courage to ask her for one dance that turned into another and another and another, we danced through the night, I wanted to know who she was so I took her outside and we made a promise to each other that we would take our mask off the same time, I took her mask off and she took mine"
"What happened next?" Ron asked making the old man smile at him and answers his question
"When I saw it was Rose, I stopped denying my feelings for her and told her right there and then that I love her and I was surprised to hear her say it back, we were never separated ever since" Ron smiled and looked at the mask the man saw the longing in his eyes and he knew that the red head was thinking of someone
"I wish that could happen to me" Ron whispered to himself but the man still heard him
"It can all you need is courage" the old man placed a comforting hand on Ron's broad shoulder "who is this girl your thinking about?" Ron blushed and shook his head furiously
"I'm not thinking of anyone" Ron lied but the old man knew that he was lying, he could see a lot of himself inside Ron, he raised one of his white eyebrow making Ron sighed and admitted "my best friend, Hermione, we fight but one of us of caves and apologize"
"Sound familiar" the old man said happily to Ron who gave him a sad smile before looking down and said to him
"She deserves better than me" the old man shook his head
"sonny boy, you won't go far in life if you think like that" the old man told Ron who shook his head not wanting to answer so he continued "You remind me of me when I was your age" he looked lovingly at the mask then back at Ron "I want you to have this" Ron eyes widen in surprise and shook his head
"I couldn't sir" the old man shook his head as he put the mask in the box and close it before sliding it over to Ron who didn't want to take the box that meant a lot to him
"I'm getting old boy, I want to give you this mask it's been in my family for generations" he explained to Ron who was still unsure
"You should give it to your children" Ron pushed the box back to him but the old man pushed it back to Ron
"my wife, Rose died forty years ago" Ron eyes went wide open in surprise "she died because of a dark wizard, and we never really gotten around talking about kids or even having them" Ron saw the old man's eyes started to get teary
"I'm sorry I didn't know" Ron started but the old man shook his head and put his hand in front of Ron to silence him
"It's okay but I never found anyone else because I knew that Rose was the only woman I will ever love" Ron smiled at the old man who smiled back "please it would mean a lot to me if you took it" Ron sighed and saw the sureness in old man's green eyes, finally Ron carefully held the box and mouthed thank you to him
"Thank you sir, how much?" Ron asked as he reached into his pocket ready to pay but the elderly man stopped him
"It's yours for free" Ron was about to argue but someone can in the store, it was other students looking for a mask to wear for the Hogsmeade "I hope it turns out okay for you Ron, take good care of that mask" the old man welcomed the students, Ron walked past the man and said thank you for everything before going back to Hogwarts and hid his mask in a safe place.
Ron went into the music room and started to play around the piano, after a few minutes he started to play "that's nice" somebody called out; Ron quickly turned and saw Hermione with an angelic smile on her beautiful smile
"What are you doing here?" Ron asked Hermione who walked over to him and replied
"I didn't know you play piano" Hermione commented as she took a seat next to him "how long have you been playing?" she asked Ron who smiled sheepishly at Hermione
"My mum taught me" Ron said truthfully to Hermione who started playing piano making Ron smile and watch her fingers dance along the piano keys "who taught you?" Ron asked the girl with busy hair
"I used to take lesson" Ron nodded and started to play with his left hand that had low sounds and he started to play Heart and Soul, Hermione smiled and used her right hand to play the high sound and the two played a duet "are you excited for the masquerade?" Ron thought for a moment and said nothing "Ron?" Hermione asked worriedly
"Can I ask you something?" Hermione nodded and replied
"Anything Ron" Hermione watch Ron take a deep breath and spoke again
"Hermione do you think girls would like a guy like me?" Hermione blushed at what Ron asked her
"Well...I...umm...well yes Ron you are nice, charming, cute, handsome and talented, any girl is lucky to have your attention" Hermione babbled on and Ron knew that it was a cute trait that Hermione had then she stopped before she said something embarrassing to Ron like the dare that Lavender and Parvati gave her.
"Hermione remember that you are amazing, beautiful, smart and I could go on forever about how great you are, Hermione, I'll see you at the masquerade" Hermione blushed as he got up and waved goodbye before leaving her alone in the piano room, the girl with busy hair groaned and placed her head on the piano keys making a bad sound out of t piano
"Ron I think you are the most fittest man I have ever met" Hermione muttered under her breath
"Doesn't count Hermione, he needs to hear it" the witch turn to see Lavender and Parvati came in with smirks on their faces
"Any girl is lucky to have your attention" Parvati mimics Hermione's words making Hermione roll her eyes and left the room "we are getting them together right Lav?" the girl with blond curly hair nodded and the two started planning.
Ron put the curtains around his bed so no one could see what he was doing and he was looking at the mask he got from a kind old man, he carefully traced the mask with his hands, he loved the mask it was the most beautiful mask he has ever seen and couldn't believe how lucky he was that he got it for free
"Ron?" Harry called out to Ron; the red head quickly and carefully put the mask in the box and hid it under the pillow away from Harry
"Yes mate?" Ron said back to his best friend as he pulled back the curtains to see Harry, the two talked about what they will be doing at the Masquerade.
When it was time for the Masquerade, the girls hardly left their dormitory because they were preparing for the dance, Ginny was helping Hermione with her make-up, she was wearing a dark blue dress that went down to her knees and clung on her curves, Ginny was applying light make up because Hermione didn't need make up because she was beautiful without it "You're going to make Ron's heart stop beating" Ginny joked making Hermione giggle and shook her head
"I just hope that I know who he is" Ginny nodded and agreement
"All done" Hermione looked at herself in the mirror and saw she looked beautiful, she thank Ginny for doing the make up for her "come on the ball will be starting soon" Ginny handed Hermione a mask (again put on my homepage) and Ginny's was a plain white mask that covered the half of her face.
The two girls made their way down to the Great Hall, where the Masquerade was. Ron was the only boy left in the common room because all the other boys were already down at the Masquerade, Ron looked at his attire, and he was wearing a dark blue collar shirt with black vest, and black slacks, finally Ron put on the metal, silver mask that the old man gave him before he went downstairs Ron cast a spell over his fiery red hair to turn it into a dark brown colour but he couldn't change his eye colour.
When he got there, he saw a beautiful girl he has ever seen; he worked up all of his courage to ask the beautiful girl to dance "excuse me?" he tapped the girl softly on the shoulder making her turn around, the second he saw her brown eyes he knew it was Hermione
"Yes?" she said softly and sweetly, he even more nervous
"I..I w..was won..wonder if you wanted to dance?" the masked man stuttered making Hermione giggle at how nervous the masked man was, she nodded and grabbed his large warm hand then led him to the middle of the dance floor, the man placed his left hand on her waist and the other held left hand and the two danced slowly, the masked man noticed that Hermione was looking deeply into his eyes "is there something wrong?" he asked worried to her who shook her head with a smile before saying
"Its just I've seen those eyes somewhere but I can't remember where, do I know you?" she asked the blue eyes man who sighed and his lips curved into a smile
"In theory" Hermione's eyebrows furrowed and thought hard while continued dancing with the mysterious man
"I need another clue" the man chuckled softly before saying
"Do you really want to know who I am" she nodded making Ron frown a bit "what if I'm not what you expect" Hermione clicked her tongue and shook her head
"I want to know who you are" she murmured making the mask man sighed
"Dumbledore's rules are not to reveal yourself, besides don't you girls like a bit of mystery" Ron playfully commented making Hermione a little confuse
"I may not see you again" she said sadly "I think I know who you are but, I may be wrong and you are right girls like a bit of mystery" the masked man smiled and look deeply into her brown eyes "A part of me wants to know who you are but another part doesn't want to know, does that make any sense?" the man shrugged before saying
"A little because once you find out who I am it would take the magic away" Hermione was even more confuse
"Take the magic away?" she repeated to the man who nodded and smiled
"yeah once you see who I am, it won't be a mystery and that wouldn't be any fun" the man grinned but Hermione huffed in annoyance "besides I think you'll lose interest the second you find out who I am" Hermione shook her head and carefully caressed his metal mask under his eyes and stared into blue eyes that she knew from somewhere
"Do I know you and have I spoken to you at least once?" She was desperate to know who the masked man was, the man thought for a moment choosing his words wisely
"Yes" he said simply making Hermione frown
"Yes to which one?" the man didn't say anything just spun her "please I really want to know who you are" she begged to the masked man who sighed and dragged off the dance floor to outside balcony to get some fresh air
"What if I'm not what you expect" he said again "I'm no Harry Potter or Viktor Krum, those two are well special" Hermione watched the man who started fidgeting "you might be disappointed that I'm nothing like them, I'm just a simple person" Hermione instantly knew who it was, it was Ronald Weasley, one of her best friend, Hermione took a deep breath before cupping one of his rough cheek and pulled him down for a kiss, the mask man eyes widen at how soft her lips were and he couldn't help to kiss her back
"Ron" she whispered making the man look surprised at what she said, he took a step back creating space between them, and Hermione saw the fear in his brilliant blue eyes "what's the matter?" she asked worriedly when Ron didn't reply, Hermione took of her mask revealing her beautiful face
"How did you know it was me?" Ron didn't want to take off his mask but his hair started turning back to its normal colour, fiery red "I'm sorry Hermione" Ron was about to go but Hermione grabbed his hand not wanting him to go "you deserve better than me, Hermione, I'm not rich, smart, or even handsome to be with someone like you, I have nothing to offer you" Ron looked back to her and see her shaking her head and tears started to fall down her face
"Your heart, all I want is your heart Ron nothing else" Ron hated seeing her cry, he wiped her tears away with his thumbs before kissing her forehead to comfort her and she cried into his chest "please Ron I don't want anything or anyone else but you, I know this will ruin our friendship and our friendship means the world to me, even if you don't chose me, I just want you to be happy" she poured her heart out to Ron who stood in silence before saying
"Your right our friendship is ruined" he said simply at Hermione
"What?" she croaked weakly she was about to run away but Ron continued what he was saying
"neither you nor I wants to be friends" Hermione had more tears streaming down her face, her nightmare was coming true "because I want to be more than friends Hermione" Ron slowly took off his mask showing Hermione the real him
"You like me?" she asked to Ron who shook his head and leaned closer to her and whispered in her ear
"I don't like you" she froze "because I love you" with that Hermione closed the gap between them and the two shared a long passionate kiss then giggles were heard behind them, the couple broke apart and turned to see Parvati and Lavender grinning madly at them
"Mission Accomplish Lav" the two girls high fived each other "Hermione you still have to do the dare" Hermione frowned at her roommates
"But I kiss him that was the other dare" she argued while Ron had no clue what was happening between the girls, Lavender wagged her index finger in front of Hermione's face and reminded her
"But you said that you do the other dare Hermione, go on he's your boyfriend now anyways" Hermione blushed while Ron was still confused then she turned to Ron with a red face
"Ron I think that you are the fittest man I ever met" Ron mouth gaped open while the girls giggled at Hermione's face that was getting redder and redder by each second, then Lavender and Parvati went back to the party leaving the two alone, Hermione didn't dare look into Ron's eyes she was too embarrassed, Ron used his hands to make her look at him and whispered to her
"You are the most beautiful girl I ever met" Hermione mouthed thank you, Ron leaned down and gave Hermione a quick kiss, Hermione put back her mask on and so did Ron
"Where did you get the mask from Ron?" she asked her new boyfriend who smiled and said
"This mask was given to me by a very kind old man, he said a masquerade is where he met the love of his life, fifty years ago but she died forty years ago and he never got married again because she was it for him" Hermione smiled and gave Ron a hug who hugged her back
"Ron promise me that you won't ever leave me" she pleaded to Ron who kissed her hair before saying
"nothing will keep me away from you" the two kissed again before going back into the masquerade as a couple