Truth or Dare- Chapter 12
The Costume Party
Author's Note- Any guesses as to who Harry and Hermione are dressed as?
Disclaimer: I own nothing of Harry Potter.
"I thought this was a costume party, not a dressup party," Alicia said to Harry as she joined him at the food table Halloween night.
"It is, my character wore this to go with Hermione's." He took a sip from his glass and smiled at her. "Not telling who I am, though. That's the game and you know it. We all have to figure each other's costumes out. Ron and Luna gave theirs away too early, so they forfeit any chance of getting the prize at the end of the night. So have you, by the way, Cleopatra." Alicia frowned as she looked down at her costume.
"It was the only thing I could think of," she muttered as he moved away with a laugh. On the way to the kitchen for a refill of the punchbowl, he met up with Fred, George and Oliver, talking about each others getups and seeing Harry, they all started in on him about how simple his costume was.
"Come on, Harry. How come you get to wear that when we all had to go to the trouble to make these concoctions?" George asked, indicating his elaborate immitation of William Shakespeare.
"You think it was easy to get this done up?" Harry pointed to the tie around his throat. "This alone took me an hour until I got so frustrated I had to use magic to get it tied. Besides that, there's the buttons on the shirt, the cufflinks, trust me, putting this on wasn't easy at all." They followed him into the kitchen where they stood along the counter while Harry mixed the punch with ice in the bowl.
"You gonna tell us who you're supposed to be? You and Hermione seem to have it wrapped up in winning the prize, whatever that is," Oliver said. Harry shook his head.
"Not a chance. The idea is you have to guess. You get it right, I'll tell, not until." He picked up the bowl again to return back to the living room. "Come on, you guys. You still have a few more hours, and not everyone is here yet. It's just that it's been too easy to guess who everyone is supposed to be so far." He made a break for it as quickly as he could due to the punchbowl, but as soon as he'd replaced it on the table, he ran for his life as he was persued by the other three. Hermione looked up upon hearing Harry's beautiful laugh and saw him run by- Shakespeare, Robin Hood and Friar Tuck close behind.
She grinned widely as the other three caught Harry by the back of his jacket and set into making his carefully controlled hair, laying flat for the first time in his life when it wasn't wet, return to its original state by ruffling it up and cuffing him around the ears. Although she prefered his hair as it usually was, Hermione had to admit she was a little upset about all the hard work she'd gone to with the Sleakeazy's potion. Now he just looked like Harry in a tuxedo, and how was that a costume? Granted, he did look amazing, but unless they got his hair under control again...
"Hey! Come on, knock it off! Hermione went to a lot of trouble to get my hair right!" Harry laughed. The trio stopped their assault on his head and he headed for the closest mirror to assess the damage. "Oh, great, now what am I to do? You three totally destroyed the effect."
"That's what you get for saying our costumes were easy to figure out, mate," Fred snickered as Hermione came over and took Harry's arm with a sigh.
"Come on," she said. "Let's see if we can fix it." She led him to the stairs, and Harry noticed Fred, George and Oliver exchanging knowing smirks with each other.
"See you tomorrow, Harry!" Fred called out as Hermione led Harry up to the second floor bathroom. She entered it behind him and closed the door.
"Why did you tease them, Harry? You knew they were going to go after you, and now I have to redo your hair."
"Sorry, Hermione, but for as much teasing and jokes Fred and George have given over the years, I couldn't resist." He looked up at her as he perched on the toilet lid. "Have I mentioned how incredible you look tonight?" Hermione gave him a look, turned and grabbed his comb from the edge of the sink.
"Repeatedly, and don't try to sweet talk your way out of this, Mr. Potter. I had to use a lot of this stuff on my own hair. I don't know if I have enough now to get yours back to the way it was." She picked up the Sleakeazy's bottle and shook it. "We can't get it flat again, I'm going to give you a hex so bad, you won't be able to sit for a week!" She looked at him again and saw he had a fevered look in his eyes. "What's wrong?" she asked with a bit of alarm and hurried to his side.
"Nothing, I just love it when you threaten me with your hexes." He grinned up at her. "It makes me hot." Hermione clenched her jaw against the smile that attempted to form on her mouth.
"Doesn't seem to be much point in me doing that, right now, so I'll stop." She raised her hands to his hair, only for them to be caught in his.
"Wait a minute, what's that supposed to mean?"
"Harry, until you're ready for us to make love, I don't see the point in getting you aroused when I know nothing is going to come of it," she answered. He dropped her hands.
"That what's been bothering you all day?" he whispered as she went to work.
"Yes and no. I'm willing to wait as long as you need to, but I feel it whenever you get aroused, and it hurts to know I can't help you with it. You think I don't know about you being in here the other day, or when I first showed you my costume? I start down the stairs, and hear your door shut and lock." She dropped to a crouch in front of him.
"Harry, please, don't do this to yourself. You want me as much as I want you. Please, let your body take what it needs." She ran the comb through the front of his hair, slicking it back into the style they'd come up with for his costume. He looked up at her through lowered eyelids.
"Hermione, you know why I can't yet." She shook the bottle when the last drop had been applied to his hair and tossed it away into the sink.
"Yes I do. But, Harry, I'm not going anywhere. You've known me since we were eleven, and I've not left you yet. I don't intend to do it now. I've told you quite a few times since we got together that I've loved you almost from the start, and now I love you more than life itself. I'm not going to do anything to hurt or betray you. I'd rather die first." She ran the comb through one more time and stood. "There. That's better." He looked into the full length mirror on the wall and sighed. Hermione put the comb on the edge of the sink again and washed her hands to remove the residue from the potion.
"Harry, think about this," she whispered as he stood up. She turned to face him. "I waited for you through the Last Battle with Voldemort, when you went off to join the England Reserve Team and were gone for almost a year, and through Bambi and how much she hurt you. Do you really think I would leave you now, after all that?" She went to the door, opened it and was gone, leaving Harry standing in the bathroom with a lot more on his mind than the party now.
