Sooo, this chapter is six pages long, though I'm not sure how much I like it. I feel like it jumps around too much and maybe carries on rather boringly. What do you guys think?
ALSO, IMPORTANT QUESTION: Are there any big holidays between Halloween and Christmas in England? Like, do the HP kiddies celebrate any? Cuz I don't remember... I need to add some comic relief in this damn thing lol I miss Hermione being drunk :p Anywayyy, started on Chapter 12, but not sure when it'll be up. Please R&R!
Hermione and Draco easily settled into a simple routine over the next month. Their encounter on Draco's bed and Hermione's short reprimand had made them very wary of one another. They simply stayed out of each other's way, and while it was a very productive means of living, it was also a lonely one. Draco and Hermione never spoke except to request a bathroom break or to ask if the other wanted to go down to dinner.
Today, Hermione found herself sitting on her bed, staring out at the grounds as the crisp autumn weather took hold. It was nearing Halloween; the leaves were changing colors and the air was getting chiller. She found herself to be increasingly lonely, and as much as she loved the fall weather, she was distracted by a severe longing to return to the normalcy she had known before Draco.
Hermione sighed. She, Harry, and Ron had always taken long walks on the grounds this time of year, talking about exams, classes, Halloween. Hermione looked back fondly on one particular day when Hermione and Harry had tried to explain Trick-or-Treating to Ron.
"Well, you see, you go door to door, in costume, and you say 'trick or treat' and they give you candy. It's all very good fun."
"Actually, Harry, it dates back to Ancient Greek times. You see, the Greeks believed that the souls of the dead would be calmed if they were allowed to spend a night or two among the living. So they came down to the spring festival at Athens to beg for food, and if they were denied, they'd cause harm. Hence, 'trick or treat'!"
"Wait, are we giving food to angry ghosts, or are we getting it? And isn't Halloween in October?"
"Hermione, you're confusing him."
"Well, if you two read more often, you would know exactly what I was talking about, wouldn't you?"
Hermione smiled, and then sighed, thinking of many traditions that may have to be broken this year. She glanced across the room. Draco sat on his bed reading a book. He looked peaceful, except that he would occasionally raise and eyebrow or glare down at the page when something happened that he didn't like.
"Hey," Hermione said, staring out the window again. Draco looked up from the text. "Take a walk with me."
It wasn't until Hermione and Draco were at the exit onto the grounds that Draco stopped being curious. "Hermione!" he exclaimed, pulling her back. "We can't go out there. What are people going to say if they see us together? Let's just go back to the room, okay?"
Hermione felt a stab of disappointment followed closely by a flush of anger. "Fine. You can stay inside and be a baby. But I'm not going back into that room until I've reconfirmed my suspicion that there IS a world out there." She stomped out onto the grounds and let the sun warm her. The light breeze flowed through her hair, and for the first time in weeks, she felt like she was breathing.
Draco couldn't help but stare. Her posture had changed drastically, and her eyes danced in the fading sunlight. He followed behind her until the sun set and it was time to go into the Hall.
"C'mon," Draco said, still feeling a bit awkward towards Hermione. They headed to dinner. Draco went in first, Hermione following in shortly after. The Hall was strangely quiet, and most eyes were turned toward the head of the Hall. Dumbledore stood there.
"I have an announcement to make," he called, his voice faintly echoing off the stone walls. "As you all know, Halloween is only three weeks away. Therefore, now would be the perfect time to inform you that this Halloween, Hogwarts will play host to a new event! We are to have an All Hollow's Eve Masque." Sound erupted from the halls.
"Unfortunately," Dumbledore continued, always able to subdue even the most outrageous of audiences. "Not every student will be permitted to join in this year. Like the Yule Ball we hosted three years ago, only students of their fourth year and up will be allowed to attend." The crowds roared again, this time in anger. Dumbledore simply shrugged and said calmly, "There is always next year."
From that moment leading up to Halloween, nothing was talked about more than the upcoming masquerade ball. Teenage girls babbled away to one another about what they were to dress up as and how they were to look prettier than a rival student. Rumors also flew through the halls about loopholes regarding the spells of a wizard masquerade. Typically, a spell would be placed on the location of the Masque so that no one wearing a mask could be recognized unless they spoke their own name out loud.
Students around the school hoped to find a way around the spell so one could screen their dance partner before getting too attached, hoping to avoid any embarrassing discoveries at the end of the night.
The day of Halloween was most hectic. Female students in the upper years were seen running around from house common room to house common room, and an emergency Hogsmeade visit was allowed a few hours before the ball for final preparations. Both reluctant, Draco and Hermione went along in order to keep up appearances. Head Boy and Head Girl, as Professor McGonagall had been sure to announce, would be required to accompany the few teachers able to go. Most teachers, however, would have to stay behind in order to properly prepare the Hall.
Draco and Hermione trudged along, cool autumn wind blowing through the trees lining the high street. Leaves fell all around them, and Hermione stepped out of her straight path to step on the extra crunchy ones. When she hopped onto a particularly good one, Draco looked at her in slight amusement. "What are you doing?" he asked, maintaining his perfect line of travel.
"I'm crunching leaves, what does it look like?" Hermione replied, not taking her eyes off the ground. Draco shrugged, but stepped on a small pile when Hermione wasn't looking. He smiled quietly to himself, but further resisted the temptation. "So…" Hermione began, "What are you dressing up as?" This was yet another clever, however more direct, attempt to find out Draco's secret. He had tried to find out what she was going as many times before as well, though neither of them had given in.
"Well, I was thinking of going as a leaf, but I'm not sure if I'd survive the night with you around," Draco replied sarcastically. A series of excited screams coming from a nearby shop interrupted their banter. Hermione rolled her eyes.
"I hate girls," she said, abandoning her murderous rampage on the foliage-ridden ground.
"Really," Draco asked, pretending to be surprised, "because I just love them."
"That's a shame then Malfoy, because they certainly don't love you," she shot back, sticking her tongue out at him. Hermione was tired of being around younger students- especially the girls. She had her costume done weeks ago, and she felt that she shouldn't be punished with screaming and babysitting just because she could plan ahead. "Let's just get this day over with Malfoy. I want to go home."
The Hall was packed with people for dinner, though none were in costume just yet. The fifth-, sixth-, and seventh-year students were all discussing the night to come, while the younger kids sulked behind their plates. Hermione sat with Harry and Ron, glancing at Draco from time to time. Harry and Ron were discussing the masquerade as well, and how glad they were that dates were not required.
"But that's the point of a masquerade, isn't it?" Ron said, mouth full of potatoes. "To hook up with someone when you have no idea who it is?"
"If you want to be a boy-slut, Ron, yes, that is the point," Hermione replied, exasperated.
"Well, isn't that what Malfoy's doing then?" Harry asked.
Hermione shrugged. "He hasn't told me any of his business, and I haven't told him any of mine."
The Halloween Masque was scheduled to start at 9:30, to go on until midnight. Hermione locked herself in the bathroom at 8:30 and shouted to Draco through the door for the next hour. She styled her natural curls, pulling half of her hair up into a small bun and letting the other half fall past her shoulders. She wore a long strapless black and red corset dress and a matching mask to cover her eyes. The professors insisted that special precautions were taken so that the masks would only work inside the Hall during the time set for the masquerade.
At 9:30, Draco shouted through the door, "Are you ready yet? It only takes a few minutes to get downstairs. If you hurry, you can just meet me there, I want to leave." Hermione stared at her reflection and smiled to herself, fangs poking out from where her two canine teeth had been.
"Yeah, I'm ready; I'll see you down there." Hermione waited until she heard the portrait swing back to its place before she opened the bathroom door. Her heels clicked on the ground on the way out, and before she knew it she was entering the Great Hall.
The atmosphere was similar to the Yule Ball three years earlier, though it was much darker now. The Yule Ball had been bright and filled with fake snow and ice. Tonight, the only light in the Hall shone from the hundreds of black and silver candles overhead and the occasional bolt of lightning from the storm outside. Music echoed through the halls, and swarms of people ran about from table to table. A tap on Hermione's shoulder frightened her, and she spun around to see an unfamiliar face.
"Hermione?" the boy whispered, in a voice much like one she knew. She nodded, avoiding saying her own name out loud.
"Harry?" she whispered back. The other boy shook his head. "Ron?" He nodded. Hermione smiled.
"Nice fangs," Ron said. "You're not going to bite me, are you?" Hermione laughed.
"Not if you're nice." Another person tapped her on the shoulder now. She turned and asked the new boy, "Harry?" and he nodded. She was glad she could now recognize her two favorite boys. She felt significantly less alone. Harry's heart skipped a beat as he looked at her. She looked so… sexy. The fangs, the hair, the dress: they made her look dangerous, but still perfect. Harry had a hard time keeping his mouth closed as she stood in front of him.
"I have to find Draco!" Hermione yelled over the amplified music. Ron and Harry nodded, and she walked off. Holding up her slightly puffed-out skirt, she wandered aimlessly through the crowd, waiting to recognize Draco and for her headache to fade.
"And you are...?" A sultry voice tickled her ear. Hermione spun around, startled. She found a boy whom she, of course, did not recognize. He dressed as the Phantom from Phantom of the Opera, white porcelain mask covering the 'disfigured' part of his face. Hermione had read way too much Jane Austen to not feel a sense of prickled excitement at the sight of his eighteenth-century costume. The green satin vest elongated his torso, and the white long sleeves and high collar reminded her way too much of the dangers of Wickham and Willaby. She felt like a gigantic nerd as she looked over the young man's costume and the parts of his face that were visible. It all looked very familiar. Her headache dissipated, through she noticed nothing.
"It wouldn't be a masquerade if you knew who I was," she said coyly. "Is the Phantom tired of wearing his mask already?"
"The real Phantom would, I imagine. One can't hide who they are forever." He stared at her with piercing gray eyes and smiled a flirtatious half-smile. "And you can't hide either, Vampiress. The fact that you even know who the Phantom is means that you're Muggle-born or a Muggle-lover... I'll figure you out."
Hermione smirked and looked back into his eyes. "You can try."
He smirked evilly, though Hermione felt somewhere in her gut that it was more lighthearted than it appeared. He held out his hand, and she took it. The mysterious Phantom led her onto the dance floor and then pulled her in, holding both his cape and the small of her back with his right hand. Hermione placed her hand in his, and she was glad he had left his hands ungloved. They were soft, but strong, and he led her with ease.
The music was dark to match the holiday theme. Hermione found it difficult to draw her eyes away from his. Heat seemed to radiate off her skin as they moved about the dance floor. Her skin glowed in the candlelight, and her chocolate eyes seemed to twinkle mischievously with every turn.
Draco was very tempted to pull the mask away and show this girl who he was. Even more so, he wanted to pull hers off to know HER. Her vampire fangs seemed to add the tiniest hint of danger to her all-over more beautiful persona. She was playful and intelligent, and way too familiar.
"You dance well," he said, making conversation. She smiled.
"As do you."
Draco shifted the position of his hand so that their fingers intertwined, and he dipped her. She laughed.
"I swear I know that laugh," the Phantom shouted over the music. Hermione cocked her head to the side.
"Do you now. I'm sure I've never met any Phantom before. Do you think you might be in my potions class?" she giggled.
He smirked his devilish smile at her. They stared at each other for a long time; the humor in Hermione's eyes faded. The moonlight shining through the dark clouds seemed to reflect off her skin, making her seem supernatural.
Draco pulled Hermione closer to him by pulling on the small of her back. Now even closer than before, Hermione felt a deep, sexual energy between them.
"Tell me your name," he said. They slowly stopped swaying and for the first time that night, Hermione felt hesitant. "Tell me SOMETHING," Draco insisted, chuckling.
"Why do you want to know me so badly?" Hermione asked. Her eyes showed confusion and a need for understanding.
Draco shrugged. "Who says I do?" His confident tone was playful, and the seriousness and sincerity he had displayed a moment earlier difted away. Her question had frightened him, and he immediately shut himself down.
Hermione, afraid of being hurt, didn't aim to force him away. She suddenly felt as though she had been rejected herself, a deep cold feeling held at the pit of her stomach. She took a deep breath, attempting to cleanse herself of her negativity.
Leaning in, she whispered in his ear, "I am..."