CHAPTER 14 – Independence Day Ball

The weeks passed quickly for Draco and Hermione and they soon found themselves immersed in plans for the annual Independence Day Ball which marked the anniversary in which Harry defeated Voldemort. The entire wizarding community celebrated for a whole week ending with a huge ball, this year, it was to be a masked ball and Hermione and Ginny had spent days deciding what to go as, finally Ginny had decided that she and Harry would go as Cinderella and Prince Charming having heard the fairy tale when she was a little girl from her Uncle who was an accountant. Hermione didn't know what to dress up as, and disguising her belly was getting harder everyday, finally she settled on Romeo and Juliet.

The night of the ball arrived quickly, Hermione and Draco where in there bedroom getting ready,

"Oh, it's no use!" Hermione sighed,

"What's wrong, my love?" Draco asked, Hermione gave him a dirty look,

"My dress wont go over this belly, I hope this child arrives soon, I can't stand being like this, he is messing with my magic!" she took her dress off and threw it on the bed,

"Well, why don't you make the dress bigger so you wont see the bump" Draco suggested,

"I can't do any magic because junior in here has decided to play tricks" Hermione replied, she picked up her wand, "Watch" she walked over to the bedroom door and locked it, she pointed her wand at the door "Alohomora" she said, with a loud bang, the door blew off its hinges, crashing into the wall opposite, Draco smirked

"Well, well the Gryffindor Princess has lost her magic" he teased, Hermione's eyes narrowed,

"Watch what you say Malfoy, I could still manage to turn you into a ferret" she replied, Malfoy laughed

"Let me help you" he said kindly, picking up the dress, he waved his wand and then handed the dress back, "Try that" Hermione slipped it on and smiled,

"You're very good, there's a whole lot of Lily's clothes that need mending in the laundry, you are welcome to do that" Draco laughed,

"We had better get going, we'll be late" he replied, offering his arm. Hermione took it and they left for the ball.

They arrived at the ball half an hour later and marvelled at all the beautiful costumes, they both put their masks on and entered the room, Draco led Hermione to the dance floor, after several dances they left to find Ginny and Harry, they found them in the hall, arguing,

"You know I hate this thing, it's is just an excuse for the whole wizarding community to make a fuss over me!" Harry bellowed, Ginny was almost in tears,

"And why shouldn't they? What you did for us, for the whole community was worth far more than a stupid ball!" Ginny cried,

"Is everything ok?" Hermione asked,

"It's fine, Harry just thinks that this ball is a waste of time!" Ginny replied,

"Hermione, you know how much I hate being looked at, like I'm special" Harry replied,

"Look, why don't we head into the ball room and just have a drink and a chat" Draco said, the others agreed, they walked back into the ball room, where Draco and Harry promptly went to fetch them all a drink.

The night was going well, everyone seemed to be having a good time, it was almost midnight when Draco and Hermione left the dance floor,

"Excuse me, honey, there is someone I need to speak with" Draco said, Hermione nodded and sat down next to Ginny,

"Where is Harry?" she asked,

"Talking with the Viktor Krum" Ginny replied, Hermione took a sip of her drink and closed her eyes, suddenly there was a loud shriek from the centre of the room, Hermione's eyes snapped open, a dozen or so men and women were standing in masks,

"Who screamed?" Hermione asked Ginny,

"I don't know,"

"I wonder what is going on" Hermione made her way to the centre of the room, many of the guests were staring at the masked figures, Hermione looked closer, there seemed to be many more people here than she thought, pushing her way through the crowd, she could hear a high pitched laughing, and the men and women seemed to be chanting something that she could not make out, then it hit her, the reason why everyone was panicking, the woman who had screamed, it all made perfect sense, standing in front of her, were a dozen men and women, dressed as death eaters, the crowd of masked people made their way forward, a sudden sense of déjà vu washed over Hermione, as one of the Death Eaters, levitated a witch and hung her upside down, the woman started screaming as the Death Eaters marched forward, Hermione was shoved roughly out of the way, Hermione could hear Harry and other from the ministry shouting and sparks of light were flying past her. Hermione looked up at the passing Death Eaters, one of them looked directly at her,

"You'll be next, mudblood" he spat at her, and then as if in slow motion, a lock of white blonde hair fell in front of the Death Eaters mask, Hermione mouth dropped open, her mind was racing, automatically thinking of excuses,

"It was a trick of the light" she thought, "Or it could have been anyone" but in the depths of her mind, she knew the truth, Draco was one of those Death Eaters, he had played her for a fool. Almost as soon as it started, the Death Eaters disappeared, the crowd of party goers made quickly for the door, Hermione curled into a ball in the corner and sobbed, all this time he had lied to her, he had not changed his ways, he was one of them, no doubt he had pretended to love her to get closer to Harry.

Hermione did not know how long she sat there for, it felt like years, Draco came bursting through the doors,

"Hermione!" he yelled, he ran to her, "Are you ok?" he asked, gently.

"I'm fine" she replied, coldly the expression of Draco's face turned from concern to confusion,

"What's the matter?" he asked,

"I saw you!" Hermione screamed, "You came right up to me and you and you said you'll be next, mudblood" Hermione started to sob,

"I don't know what you are talking about" Draco said, "You think, one of those Death Eaters, was me?" he asked, Hermione stood,

"I saw you!" she whispered, "All this time, I trusted you, and you played me for a fool."

"Hermione…." Draco started,

"I left Lily with you because I believed she would have been better off, and now I am having your child and all this time, you've just been playing happy families, for what? To get closer to Harry?"

"Please, listen to me, it wasn't me, I was with Hector Evangelista, he owns eighty percent of all the Apothecaries in America, we've been arranging a business deal" Draco said, "Please believe me, Hermione" he took her hand, "I love you, and Lily and I would never do anything to hurt either of you, not like that."

"So how do you explain that I saw you?" she asked, Draco shook his head,

"I don't know" he said quietly, "All I know is, whoever it was, was not me" Hermione stared at him,

"I want to believe you Draco, but how can I when I know that I saw the man that I love staring down at me through one of those masks" Draco looked into her eyes, tears formed at the corners of his,

"You once told me that you believed me because you were able to look into my eyes and you saw the truth, if that was true then, it is true now" Hermione looked away, "Look at me, Hermione"

"Hermione, Draco!" a voice interrupted them, Harry had come into the room, "Thank god you are both alright" Harry enveloped Hermione in a hug,

"Harry, could you, could I talk to you for a minute?" Draco asked, Harry nodded and followed him out of the room, "Listen mate, Hermione believes that I was one of those masked people, I don't know why but she keeps saying, she saw me, now I need you to take her back to your place, I need to do something and then I will come and collect her" Draco said, Harry eyed him suspiciously,

"Were you one of those masked people, Draco?" Harry asked,

"Of course not, no" Draco replied,

"Alright then, we'll see you soon" Harry re-entered the ballroom and went to Hermione, "Draco just told me what happened, I'd like you to come stay with Ginny and I" he said, Hermione nodded and they both apparated back to Harry's house.

Draco apparated after them, but instead of appearing in front of his house, he appeared in the lobby of large building, making as little noise as possible, Draco slipped into one of the offices, he removed an object from a draw and slipped out again, being careful not to alert anyone to his presence. Once out of the building, Draco opened his hand, a tiny hourglass hung from a solid gold chain, the last time turner in existence, he knew only one person had it, but he was sure no one would miss it, the Ministry were busy trying to catch the death eaters, and the owner of this time turner would not be returning to work for several weeks.

Moving quickly, Draco slipped the time turner over his head, and apparated to Harry's house, the sight that met his eyes was enough to knock the wind out of him, Ministry officials were swarming all over the house, Draco pushed his way forward, in the centre of the crowd stood the Minister for Magic, standing next to him bound was the last person he ever expected to be arrested by the Ministry.

Well there you go all, Chapter 14 is up and I decided to make this one a little bit more suspenseful than the others. Anyway I hope you don't guess who has been arrested, not quite where I was going to take this chapter but there you go. Please Review and I will update ASAP.

Document: 863352.doc

Author: Lynda Wilson

Save Date: 26/09/2006

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