Chapter 10
~Planning the Ball~
A/n: I'm writing again! Yay! But I couldn't post this any earlier cos my Internet was down. (Written on 07102011)
Disclaimer: I do not own HP.
On With The Story!
Oh my gosh your reviews were SO fast! And sooo useful!
Shoutouts:
Finch98: Thanks a lot! ^^
Alicemaybrandonjones: Long time no hear from you! ): Oh well. Anyway, in answer to your question, she was emotional because she cared. Draco only erased her memory of being in a relationship with him, but not the friendship. They formed a friendship of sorts. Hermione cried because she was enjoying the friendship and due to her lack of memory, she didn't understand why he would suddenly turn back to such a jerk again. Thank you for your critique. It's very helpful. And yes, the quote is from The Incredible Hulk.
Forbidden1991: THANK YOU. You gave me the idea to start this chapter, in answer to your question. You're brilliant.
Recap:
Nagini slithered back and used its tail to press the portkey, sending it back to Hogwarts. It would watch, reveling in Draco Malfoy's pain of losing the one he loved the most.
Chapter 10: Planning the Ball
(VOLDERMORT POV)
(A/n: This is during the fight between Harry and Draco)
He suddenly gasped in pain, hand clutching his chest, as if trying to breathe.
"My Lord! Are you alright?" Lucius came running down, after being alerted by one of the House Elves that he was writhing painfully on the floor.
"Yes, Yes, leave me Lucius!" Voldermort rasped out, the excruciating pain slowly starting to subside.
Lucius looked doubtful but eventually reluctantly left the Dungeons, where Voldermort was residing.
Voldermort sat up, wincing from the pain. He took out his wand and tried to locate his Hocruxes. He could only find four. That Weasley girl had destroyed one when Harry stabbed it with the Gryffindor Sword. That hurt, he thought, trying to locate the other missing two.
The other was the locket. Oh well, he thought nonchalantly. It was an ugly piece of jewelry anyway.
"Impossible!" He shouted when he realized Harry's piece of his soul was missing. He couldn't be dead; he was The-Boy-Who-Lived. It was him that was going to kill Potter. Whoever killed Potter was going to pay dearly. Strangely enough though, he could still feel Potter's connection to him. Voldermort had felt Harry's shock when the Killing Curse hit him. He could tell from the stiffness in his mind, then his mind shut down. Then, nothing, just silence, with no response whatsoever. After a while, suddenly, he could feel more shock, and immense anger.
He slowly and painfully got back up on his chair. He would have his revenge on whoever 'killed' Harry Potter, and how he managed to survive, again.
(END OF POV)
(DRACO POV)
Draco was moping around the school; just that no one knew it. Everyone thought he was still the same arrogant jerk. He had the same walk and the same emotionless mask on, but his eyes gave him away. There was raw pain in them. Pain, and disappointment, along with fear, stirred in his cloudy grey irises. He ignored Blaise when he asked Draco what happened. He was so depressed at the overload of information. All he could think about was Christmas, when he would get his Dark Mark. He missed Hermione too, but she hated him. Lucinda had done something for Potter, just that he didn't know what.
He ran a hand through his blond hair and sighed. Another class with Hermione was going to be torture. But he didn't want to be late. He quickened his footsteps and hurried to class.
Potions passed quickly, nothing interesting happened, other than Neville Longbottom blowing up his potion again, and Hermione giving him death glares every ten seconds, class was fine.
He groaned silently in frustration. Who was he kidding? He was a miserable wreck.
(END OF POV)
~IN THE COMMON ROOM~
"Hmm… I wonder why he looks so distressed. Should I ask?" Hermione was internally debating with herself.
"Malfoy, you alright?" She blurted, before she could help herself.
"Fine Granger, why?" Draco asked offhandedly, finishing his potions essay.
"Well…" She began nervously, twirling her wavy hair round her fingers.
"Just spit it out Granger." Draco said, faking irritancy.
"You looked tired, you wrote your potions essay wrong, and I need you awake to plan the Halloween Ball with me." She spat, giving him another one of her death glares.
"So early? We still have two whole months Granger." He whined. Then he looked at his Potions essay and groaned. He crumpled the paper and threw it into the fireplace.
"Two months is barely enough time! We have to prepare the spells, get the decorations, hire the music, decorate the Great Hall, and get the approval from Professor Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall! How is two months enough?" Hermione babbled, not noticing Draco slowly falling asleep.
"MALFOY!" Hermione suddenly shouted, and Draco jumped two feet into the air.
He looked around sleepily and saw Hermione with her hands on her hips, foot tapping impatiently.
He yawned hugely and motioned for her to go on.
"So, I need you to be alert and as helpful as possible because I cannot possibly plan this Ball in two bloody months!" She cried, exasperated.
Draco cocked an eyebrow, a smirk slowly but surely forming on his face.
Hermione huffed, and glared at him.
"So…" he drawled, "YOU, the supposedly ingenious Hermione Granger, needs MY help? A rich, spoiled Malfoy? I'm honoured, really Granger." His small smile flew into a full-blown classic Malfoy smirk.
She ran her hands through her curly tresses, then blew out a breath she did not realise she had been holding.
"Thank you Malfoy." She grinned weakly, and Draco had to resist a very strong urge to pull her into his arms and snog her senseless.
She pulled out different pieces of parchment from her bag, already headlined and underlined with the things they needed to do.
She pulled out costumes from the pile; already feeling this one would take the longest.
~ONE HOUR LATER~
Professor McGonagall went into the heads room, trying to find out why they had called her down so urgently.
"Malfoy! Granger! What on earth are you doing?" The professor poked her head in, only to see Hermione flying, in a fairy costume, and Draco holding his head in his arms, looking absolutely horrified.
"Professor! I'll be down in a minute." Hermione lowered herself onto the ground, while Draco simply reattached his head. Professor McGonagall grimaced at the sight.
She put her hands on her hips. "What is the meaning of this?" She demanded, foot tapping impatiently. She looked a lot like Hermione had an hour ago and Draco snickered mentally.
Hermione motioned to the costumes she and Draco were wearing and explained that they were charmed to allow the wearer to seem as realistic as possible, for example, allowing those wearing faeire costumes to fly and those wearing the headless horseman costumes to be able to detach their heads.
Professor McGonagall looked surprised yet satisfied.
"An excellent idea Mr. Malfoy and Ms. Granger. However, there is a problem. Not everyone may know how to charm their costumes correctly." She mused, her lips thinning.
Hermione opened her mouth to explain but Draco beat her to it.
"Well Professor, we were thinking that maybe we," he gestured to the both of them, "and those more accomplished in spell casting could cast the spells maybe a few hours before the Ball began?"
McGonagall affirmed this suggestion and said she would look up some books to help them on the spell casting. She also suggested getting Harry, Ginny and Blaise to help them with the casting.
Once she left, the two Head Prefects collapsed onto the sofa, breathing a sigh of relief. A pop signaled an elf entering, and saw Dobby holding a book that read, "Charm your clothes"
"Told you it was a good idea Draco." Hermione said triumphantly.
"Yes, yes. Wait. Did you just call me Draco?" he looked at her, faking a look of puzzlement when in fact he was ecstatic.
"Well, it is your name, isn't it? And I suppose if we're going to work well together we should be on a first name basis." Hermione said indifferently, preparing to owl Blaise, Ginny and Harry to meet them in the Head's room, and to bring their Halloween costumes, if they'd already prepared them.
"I guess it's worth a shot. Hermione, how are we going to teach Potter, Weaselette and Zabini the charm spells if you're the only one who even as a clue what the heck they are?" Draco asked, an eyebrow raised questioningly.
"Oh fine. The spell for faeries is incantare a volare. And your headless spell is incanto senza testa."
Draco muttered the spell under his breath. "Then what about those that want to be a ghost?"
Hermione laughed but answered his question. "Fantasma incanto." She pointed her wand right at him and he felt himself becoming lighter. His eyes bugged when he lifted his arm and saw it was translucent.
"Hermione! Get me down!" He yelled.
She was still laughing, tears running down her face as she clutched her sides.
"GRANGER! THIS IS NOT FUN GET ME DOWN NOW!" He yelled and Hermione finally managed to gather her wits enough to say the counter spell.
"The counter is just finite incantem?" Draco asked, fairly surprised, feeling grateful that he could finally feel his limbs.
"Well, it does work with most spells." Hermione shrugged.
Just then, a knock came on the door, and three voices were heard arguing outside.
Hermione and Draco sighed.
"Well, here goes nothing." Hermione opened the door and let them in.
"Potter, Weaselette, Zabini, I need to talk to you, privately." He glanced at Hermione, who looked confused. They nodded and he herded them into a corner.
"Look, firstly, I'm sorry for killing you Potter. I freaked. And secondly, I erased Hermione's memory, so she has no recollection that she dated me. I did it for her safety." He paused and saw three pairs of eyes looking understanding. Blaise was the first to ask the unspoken question.
"Your father?"
He nodded, looking absolutely miserable. Then he straightened and put on a mask of slight amusement and went back to a very baffled looking Hermione.
"We'll start by telling you something that is private and very, very confidential." He started, and left Hermione to give a very detailed explanation of why they were asked to come down.
"I've compiled a list of spells I think is necessary for the Ball. Anything else you want to know you can look through the book. Shall we begin?" Hermione conjured up a faerie, a vampire, a ghost, a troll, and headless horseman costumes. She instructed them to put them on. She chose her turquoise faerie costume, while Ginny took the ghost. Harry took the headless horseman and Draco grabbed the vampire set before Blaise could, leaving him with the troll costume.
"Ready?" She looked around and saw everyone already dressed.
"Draco, show them the flying spell." Hermione gestured to herself.
"Alright Hermione. incantare a volare" Instantly, herwings started flapping and they took on a life-like quality. She flapped them gently and rose a few feet into the air.
"Thank you Draco. Your turn. Incanto vamporio." She waved her wand and Draco's plastic vampire teeth instantly became real. His eyes took on a silvery colour, similar to his usual ones, just that his pupils were dilated. He hissed, and then tried to retract his fangs.
"I like this costume. How long does it last?" He tried to extend his fangs and retract them again.
"About 24 hours. It is reversible though." Hermione said.
"Blaise? Try charming Ginny."
Blaise choked on his laughter and Hermione grinned, realizing her mistake.
"Using a spell Zabini. She's attached." Hermione laughed at Harry's smug expression.
"Fine. Fantasma incanto." He muttered. Ginny began to look like the Bloody Baron, or nearly headless nick and eventually was flying through walls.
"This is so fun! Can I do Harry?" Ginny pleaded. Hermione nodded.
"incanto senza testa!" Harry's head promptly fell off his head.
"What the?" Harry's head asked, totally shocked.
Everyone laughed at harry trying to fit his head back on.
"Harry? Charm Blaise would you?" Harry grumbled but muttered "incanto troll."
Blaise's features contorted and he grew in size. The spell did not make him become a full troll but more of a half troll.
"WHAT IS THIS?" Troll-Blaise thundered.
Everyone fell to the floor laughing, with the exception of Hermione and Ginny, who were floating in the air, rolling about.
"Guys, guys. The counter-spell is basically finite incantem." They pointed their wands at each other and the spell was reversed.
"That was fun." Ginny commented.
Blaise snorted. "For you maybe. I was a troll and I felt stupid. Worse, I felt like clobbering the lot of you." Draco laughed.
"I felt like draining all of you of your blood. Don't complain Zabini." He smirked as Blaise admitted defeat.
"We'll try again tomorrow with different costumes alright? It's getting late and I'm hungry," Harry complained, and left with Ginny. Blaise bid goodbye and left too, leaving Hermione and Draco to ponder in their own thoughts.
A/n: Chapter 10 done! ^^ sorry it took so long! REVIEW!