A/N: Sorry for the delay I had major writers block and internet problems, hope you guys enjoy this chapter!

Chapter 14: All Hallows Eve

Last Time:

"Who has made your dreams so disturbed, Hermione?" he asked but the only response was more sobbing. She cried well into the morning and before they knew it, it was morning and they had classes. They went up to their separate dorms and didn't speak to each other even during meals and class. However, they knew as well as their friends knew, that something had changed between them that night and that nothing would ever be the same between them again.

Now:

Days passed and the day before Halloween arrived. October 30, 1977 was full of Prefects running around the school making last minute plans for the Upper-Classmen Halloween Ball. Every year 5th, 6th, and 7th years had all ball after the Halloween feast. The only way someone younger could go was if they were invited. The Ball consisted of masks, elegant ball gowns, spooky decorations and the latest and greatest music. This year Lily and James were the two people in charge of the Ball, the first of the five Balls they had to plan-Halloween, Yule, Valentine's Day, Spring Solstice, and Graduation-that year.

There had been a Hogsmeade visit the day before for 5th-7th years and anyone else invited to get appropriate outfits for the occasion. Lily, Mirage, Destiny, Hope and Eris had bought their dresses ahead of time and had gone for last tailoring while Hermione hadn't known she was 'required' to go until that day. Hermione watched as Mirage had her blue silk full length halter dress hemmed, as Lily had her emerald green no-back, strapless, full length dress taken in, as Destiny said her v-neck white full length dress was perfect, as Hope said had her purple silk v-neck full length dress taken in, and as Eris said her crème colored, strapless, mermaid tail dress was amazing. They all paid for their purchases before they dragged Hermione into the shop to look for a dress.

One was too neon, another too 1800's and yet another too light. She needed a dark dress that didn't look like it was weighing her down, or at least that's what she told them. Destiny, being the fashionista of the group, took Hermione's resistance as an o.k. to pile on every dress that looked decent on her. She was then pushed into a dressing room and told that they had six hours before dinner so she could take her time. Groaning, she had started with the lighter ones and worked her was darker.

Yellow, Pink, Green, Blue, Purple, Brown, Black, Gray, Gold, Orange, Chartreuse and so many more colors whirled behind her eyes before it was down to two dresses. The first was red with a decently high neckline, sheer short sleeves and an a-line, full-length skirt. The dress was beautiful and highlighted most of her features. The next dress was also a-line full-length with a plunging neckline and in a light gray, almost purple looking, color. This one accented her chest and her waist but made her look a bit washed out. After hours of deliberation, they finally decided on the red dress, had it tailored and bought shoes before catching the last Threstral drawn carriage back to the castle in the light rain.

It was now Sunday October 30th and Hermione sat in the bay window seat of the Library as she watched the rain fall on the grounds. It looked like some students were practicing Quidditch in rain. Looking closer, she noticed it was the Gryffindor team: James (chaser), Sirius (beater), Kimber McMaster (5th year chaser), Sheila King (4th year seeker), Lawrence Smith (6th year beater), Ryan Ailbhe (6th year keeper), and Calum White(5th year chaser). Deciding to pay them a visit and find out who was going to the Halloween Ball with whom, Hermione returned her book to its appropriate place before making the long trek from the Library to the Quidditch pitch.

Making her way up the stairs and into the stands, she sat there staring at the team pull off crazy trick after dangerous move. James started to slow down as water fogged up his glasses. Acting on impulse, Hermione stood up and screamed his name so he would come over.

"What are you doing out here?" yelled James over the boom of thunder. The sky grew darker but the rain didn't seem to get heavier. Nor did the wind blow stronger. Pointing her wand at James she whispered the same spell she had used on Harry all those years ago when he had had to play in the rain. James smiled at her once he realized what she had done before zooming off to finish up practice. Settling back down onto the seat, she continued to watch as they went through their final drills before James decided that they had had enough practice in the rain. They flew down and started to trek towards the locker rooms when Hermione started to feel a bit like her old self. She picked up a handful of mud and hurdled it at Sirius' head before dashing passed them. A mud fight proceeded to break out amongst the eight of them and Hermione had never laughed harder.

Watching from the darkest cloud in the sky, Hera smiled as her daughter started to get her life back on track. She did not approve of her daughter marrying below her stature but she would accept Sirius if her daughter chose him. He had a sort of charismatic demur about him that she couldn't help but like. He also had some of Cupid's blood in him, not a lot but enough to have girls falling all over themselves just to be with him. Most purebloods got their 'holier then thou' attitude because of their God blood. Gods, being notoriously proud, must have passed on their unfavorable traits to their descendents. What a pity thought Hera, they could be so great as a nation, but their pride brings them down. As Hera returned to Mount Olympus, her messenger, Iris, informed her that Hermione had another half sibling. "ZEUS!", she cried, "YOU'RE SLEEPING ON THE COUCH FOR ANOTHER DECADE!" Storming into their bedroom, she proceeded to kick him out.

Hermione smiled as she watched Lily scold James for making the team practice in the rain. Lily truly reminded her of when she was younger and thought that matters such as these were important. She knew now that it didn't matter as much as Lily thought it did and understood that, now she just needed to get Lily to loosen up a bit. They had all showered in the locker rooms and had cleaned their clothes with a few well placed charms before trekking back up to Gryffindor tower. Lily had immediately confronted the wet group with blankets, drying charms and a roaring fire before ripping into James. Sirius, who had been watching Hermione's reactions, reached over and asked her if she wanted to sneak off to the kitchens. Deciding that it couldn't hurt, Hermione left with Sirius. No one noticed except Mirage who just smiled to herself before going back to reading the latest letter from her mother.

Making the trek down by the Hufflepuff dorm entrance, Sirius tickles the green pair in the portrait of the bowl of fruit, before leading Hermione into the house elves' abode. Hermione laughed as all the small creatures jumped up trying to offer her different snack and drinks. Making their way through the mass of house elves, Sirius sat Hermione down at the banquet in the back. The banquet -which looked like it could only seat four people- was located in a small circular nook in the back right corner of the spacious kitchens. The banquet consisted of a round, well worn birch table surrounded by banquet seating with seat cushions made of down feathers and covered in yellow cotton fabric.

Once seated, an elf that introduced herself as Mopsey took their orders (Sirius got a Banana-Split Sundae and Hermione got a hot chocolate and an éclair). They enjoyed their meals in silence after thanking the elves and telling them their meals were delicious. The elves smiles as they looked on at the couple. Pan had come to them in a dream and told them to look out for Hermione and her cousins. They felt honored that a God would speak directly to them. They watched the two interact and thought they would make a good couple. However, that was the last thing on Hermione's mind. Hermione was thinking of all of the good times she used to spend drinking hot chocolate and trying to get the house elves to take pay and a vacation, like Dobby. Thinking of the small rambunctious elf made her sad until she realized that he was alive and in servitude at the moment, with the Malfoy family. This calmed her slightly and she hoped that Sirius hadn't noticed her mini-panic attack.

Sirius had noticed her panic attack but chose not to say anything. He figured it had to do with her past and vowed that he would remain by her side no matter what. She was different, not because she was a Goddess but because she had grown up thinking she was a muggle and had experienced so much, it made her more mature than a lot of his usual company. He enjoyed the time they spent together, whether in silence or in a deep discussion, she was always fun to be around. His usual company consisted of a few blond bimbos that were willing to put out in order to say that they had been with the notoriously hot Sirius Black. Sure, some of them he had actually liked but he had just used them as a way to escape his problems. Now, he saw what couple happen when you run from your problems for too long in Hermione and he did not want to end up a nervous wreck. He genuinely like Hermione and he figured that by helping her it would help himself, he would not only get to spend time with her but he would get to work through his issues as well. Looking over at Hermione, he struck up light conversation with her about classes, a subject he knew to be safe. He was slowly helping Hermione come out of her shell and he was enjoying every minute of it.

"Hermione"- "Yes", she turned towards him as he spoke. Swallowing hard, he gathered his courage and asked,

"Will you go to the Ball with me tonight?" Hermione smiled at him before turning back to her hot chocolate, her answer embedded in her smile and Sirius' delighted laughter.

Back in the common room, Mirage, Destiny and Hope sat talking quietly about Hermione and Sirius and Lily and James. "So, when do you think the couples will get together?" asked Destiny, twirling a lock of hair around her finger as she looked at all of the sixth year Gryffindor guys huddled around a game of exploding snaps. One card exploded in a blond kids face causing the rest to blow up. The whole common room was in laughter for a few moments before everyone went back to his or her own conversations. Turning back to the girls, she raised an eye brow before her twin conceded.

"Mid January for Sirius and Hermione and Christmas for James and Lily. These are dead lines though so I reserve a right to be partially right if they each get together before I said so!" Rolling her eyes, Destiny turned towards Mirage who refocused her attention back on her friends.

"Umm, maybe between late January and early spring for both of them." Nodding her head, Destiny turned back towards looking at the exploding snaps game while Mirage and Hope went back to their copies of Witch Weekly.

"Hey guys," Destiny called over her shoulder while she continued to watch the game, "what's the blond kids name that's playing exploding snaps?" Rolling her eyes Hope answered,

"His name is Jeff Henson, but a) he's engaged and b) he's a mortal and c) you have a toy already, Derek McMillan in Ravenclaw, remember?"

"He's cute, I guess," added Mirage not looking up from her article, "but he's a bit podgy. He's engaged to Miranda Rosier of Ravenclaw, she's in his year and his intelligence level," she added with a laugh before flipping to another page. Sighing, Destiny stopped her boy watching before leading her two companions upstairs to get a jump start on getting ready for the ball tomorrow.

When Eris, Lily and Hermione arrived back at their dorm room at ten to nine, the three other girls attacked their nails with polish and color. Their make up was all laid out and their dresses with steamed and wrinkle free. Washing their faces with magic zit-be-gone wash, the girls pulled their hair back and got ready for bed. They wouldn't start getting ready until tomorrow.

The early morning Monday sun streamed through the thick curtains as the six girls got dressed quietly and made their way down to breakfast. 5th, 6th and 7th years had a half day today so they could prepare for the ball later that evening. Transfigurations, Arithmacy and Ancient Runes (or a free period) whirled by and before they knew it, lunch was finished and Lily, Eris and Mirage were getting in the three showers. After twenty minutes the other three girls got into the shower before they started to dry their hair and fix their make up.

"You guys!" whined Hope, "I hate doing make up, can someone do it for me," as she said this, her twin marched over and quickly did her make up. However, Destiny didn't put blush on her cheeks as she was already blushing enough from the encounter. This had the girls laughing for a few minutes before they went on to hair styles. By Five O'clock, the girls were completely ready and only needed to put on their dresses, which they would do after the feast. The girls, as was customary for the event, put a glamour charm on their face so their friends and dates would not be able to see what they really looked like before the ball.

Dinner passed by quickly, the girls ate slowly and the guys wolfed down everything in site. "Yuck! James, must you eat like you live in a pig sty, we are not animals are we?" nagged Lily. She really was expecting the perfect man and someone was going to have to break it to her that James was the one for he and he was not perfect.

"Jeez, Lils, calm down, I won't get sick while we dance just because I have bad table manners." James' retort did not sooth her worries but she realized that he didn't get that eating like an animal was unattractive. Sighing, she went back to her Shepard's Pie and veggies. The remaining five girls shook their heads at the interaction before deciding that a Girls Night was in order.

Turning to girls into a circle to block out the boys, Eris spoke, "Hey guys, Girls Night this Friday?" The girls all nodded and started to plan it. "Ok, Hermione, can you get the house elves to bring us food and hot chocolate?" Hermione nodded and gave herself a reminder to ask Eris if she knew anything. Smiling at Hermione mysteriously, she turned towards Destiny. "Can you get the alcohol?" Destiny nodded with a feral smile at a seventh year Slytherin. Her intended target happened to make eye contact with her and she winked at him before turning back to the girls. They all shared a laugh before Lily stated to come up with a reason to not involve alcohol. "Lily," Eris interjected, "It'll all be fine. Hope can you get us some music? Wizard and Muggle?" Hope nodded before Eris turned towards Mirage and Lily, "And us three, we're going to get pillows and blankets and collect little nick-knacks like magazines and stuff to make this the most awesome Girls Night yet!" Nodding, the girls giggled at the plan before turning back to the guys who, at this point, were looking at them weirdly. The girls continued to laugh at this before eating a quick desert so they could finish getting ready and inform the group of who was going with whom. The girls had not told each other yet, wanting to surprise each other at the last minute.

After slipping into dresses, shoes and wraps, the girls huddled onto Hermione's bed before they started to tell each other who their dates were. "Ok," spoke Hermione, "who wants to go first? This is my bed so I will go last." Lily volunteered to go first after that, telling the group her date was James.

"But it's only because Dumbledore wants the Heads to go together!" Lily protested the innuendoes about her and James in the Heads' dorm but everyone knew she was happy that James was taking her.

"I'm going with Derek, my boy toy in Ravenclaw, he's in our year, McMillan is his lat name," spoke Destiny. This was not a surprise to anyone but it was nice that they guy she was 'with' was taking her to the Ball. Of course, in order for them to have their Girls Night her 'relationship' would have to end, even though she would have had to split from him eventually because of his mortal status.

"I'm going with Justus Montague, in Slytherin," said Mirage. The girls gasped and began to question her. "It's because my mother might have arranged a marriage with him for me, so she –as well as his family- wanted us to get to know each other better and they thought the first ball of the year would be the perfect place," she replied glumly. The girls comforted her before Eris burst out,

"Remus asked me out and we're going together!" The girls congratulated her and asked for the details and Eris was more than happy to oblige. "We were walking around the castle, talking like normal, when he stopped and showed me the come and go room or better known as The Room of Requirement. The room was a cozy living space with paintings of Mount Olympus and he just asked me out, to be his girl friend and then to go to Hogsmeade with him for the next trip and then to the ball. Each time he handed me a different colored rose until he handed me my favorite, a white one. It was very cute." Lily and Mirage asked what the come and go room was and after a small explanation it was Hope's turn.

"I'm going with Duke Moody in Hufflepuff, the Auror's nephew. He asked me in the library randomly and well I didn't know him but I said yes." The girls were excited to find out who Duke Moody really was. He was one of the quiet ones that's friendly to all but no one really knows. It was now Hermione's turn and now she was getting butterflies in her stomach.

"Well I went to the kitchens yesterday with Sirius and he asked me there." She blushed and hid her face while the others tried to interrogate her. Luckily, the clock struck half passed eight and the girls scurried down stairs so they could meet their dates. After going through the usual guy is awestruck by girl meeting, everyone congregated just outside the Great Hall as they waited for the quarter to nine opening of the Ball. Excitement coursed through everyone as they looked for their friends and commented on everyone's' outfits. The doors suddenly opened and the Night Life Ball of Halloween began.

The Hall was decorated with giant jack-o-lanterns and fake spider webs with fake spiders and statues of Vampires and crazy music, both Wizard and Muggle. There was a side bar where fake blood cocktails and other crazy drinks were served by the Divinations teacher, Cassandera Wilkes. Professor Dera, as she preferred to be called, was an alcoholic herself and freely served it to all students. Drunkness among students and teachers increased and as the night went on, the fun kept flowing until midnight came and the fifth years were sent to bed. Then half past came and the sixth years were pushed from the hall and to their dorm rooms. Finally, two am came and the seventh years were carted out of the Hall in a drunk and happy stupor and up to bed, dreading the fact that there were classes tomorrow.

Hermione laid in bed thinking about the night. Without warning, she was pulling into the dream world where the four Goddesses discussed the night. Destiny had gotten laid, Hermione had boldly kissed Sirius in a drunken haze, Eris and Remus had snuck off to have some fun and Hope had had a nice conversation with Duke.

"He's really quite smart. He wants to be an Auror, like his uncle and he's very much for muggleborns to freely integrate themselves into our society. He like chess but he's not very good at it and we have the same taste in music. He's almost perfect," sighed Hope. The other three poked fun at her for a while before another question was voiced.

"Where did Mirage go?" asked Hermione, "She didn't come back with us."

"Oh, I hope she's all right" exclaimed Eris and Hope together.

"Don't worry guys," replied Destiny with a slight yawn in her voice, "she's probably with that fiancé of hers, getting laid."

"Is that all you think about?" demanded Hope, "Sex?" Destiny snorted before the twins broke into another fight. Rolling their eyes, Eris and Hermione proceeded to trade gossip about the night while the twins decked it out.

On the other side of the castle, in a warm, dimly lit room, Mirage laid with a green silk sheet pulled high up her chest. A man with dark hair and a pale face slept next to her, unaware of the inner turmoil she was feeling. He was going to be a death eater soon, she was betrothed to him and he was everything she was to fight against. She needed to get him to her side and quick or she would be trapped in a world of death and lies where her friends would be nowhere in sight. Sighing, she rolled into his embrace, savoring the familiar comfort he gave her as a child that he would now give her in physical pleasure. Sighing once again, she set her wand to vibrated at a quarter to six so she could get back to her dorms with time to spare. This wasn't the first time she was thankful that seventh year Slytherins had their own rooms, and she was sure it would not be the last.