Chapter 25

Theo stared at the fire sullenly. It was Christmas Eve, but in the Nott house it might as well have been a funeral. The house was extremely quiet with the exception for the slight sound of the wind blowing around outside. He was in the library of his house. It wasn't like there was no other room for him to be in, but since the war ended, it was the only place where he felt truly at peace. There was no one there to disturb him in the house, but the books gave him a feeling of presence.

In the past it hadn't been so bad. While his mother had died early on in his life, he still had his father. And while his father could be horrid to him at times, he was still family. Sure it wasn't like Draco who was constantly abused by his father, but that's not to say that Theo never received some of the same treatment from his own father.

It wasn't that Theo hated Draco. But he was slightly envious of him. They had been childhood friends, and they both had similar upbringings. They had also in the end lost the same amount in the war. Both of them were now virtually orphans. So why was it that Draco's life turned out much better than his?

"Because Draco abandoned all his beliefs to fight for what he though was right," Theo thought bitterly. It wasn't that Theo believed in blood superiority. But after listening to something for so long it just becomes a part of who you are. He wanted to change sides as well. He thought about it a lot during the war. But he knew doing that would for sure sever the relationship he had with his father, even if it was a non-existent one.

But Draco still had gotten lucky. People didn't look at him like he was a murder who had gotten out of Azkaban by being lucky. They looked at him like he was a lost soul who in the end had seen the light. And Theo could live with that, he really could. But the fact that he had gotten Hermione as well was what really bugged him. Theo was in no way in love with her. He liked Hermione and found her to be intriguing. She was a mystery to him, one he wanted to solve. And Theo wanted her to himself.

He heard his wards signal an arrival of a guest. While his father had put up strong wards while he lived here, Theo hadn't bothered to take them down. Instead he just chose to change who could visit and who couldn't. Though he knew that it could only be one person coming here to visit him, and that was Pansy.

As he went to the house's main foyer to greet her, he saw her looking around his home. While she had been here before, he had changed it up a great deal since it became his.

"Rather lonely isn't it?" she asked, scrunching her nose in dislike.

He shrugged. "It's home," he said simply.

"Anyways," she said, getting down to business. "I know how to get what we want," she said, sounding proud of herself."

"Oh yeah? And how's that?" he asked, sounding a little sceptical. It had been a while since they had begun to plot without it going anywhere. So for her to suddenly announce that she had the entire thing under wraps was a bit odd.

"We're going into the Zabini Ball tonight, where we are going to get what we want."

"I highly doubt that either of us are on the guest list," he scoffed.

"No, but Hermione and Draco will be allowed in without question right?" she asked slyly.

"And how is that going to help us? It's not like we can make ourselves into them," he said. But then realisation hit him. "But how are we going to do that?"

"With these," she said smugly, holding up a potion in one hand and two separate vials of a strand of hair in each.

She paced back and forth nervously. They had been planning for this. As soon as she regained her consciousness, they went straight to Dumbledore. They had been preparing for this. As soon as Bellatrix or her brother-in-law and husband entered the house, there would be a silent warning sent off to everyone in charge of her arrest. Draco, Hermione, Ron and Harry all had anti-apparition spells cast upon them so there was no way that they would be able to be apparated out. And the floo network had also been closed for them specifically so they wouldn't be able to floo out unless they wanted to. There was no way it could go wrong. But that didn't help the sinking feeling she had.

"Sit still Hermione," a voice demanded as the ginger yanked another strand of her hair.

"And keep your eyes closed," a dirty blonde directed.

She sighed to herself. If it were up to her, then she would just keep her hair down, throw on a dress and add a hint of lip gloss. But when did she ever get her way? Nope, never. Lavender and Ginny had begged and pleaded her to do something special, but instead of letting her do it herself, they demanded on doing it themselves. After all 'they had more experience with these sorts of things'.

Hermione wanted to protest, but her mum told her that it sounded like a great idea. Cecilia had also looked at her and told her that the ball was a Zabini family tradition and had been happening for years. Cecilia knew it was a dirty trick, to tell Hermione that it was to convince her to dress up, but it had worked in the end. Well for everyone but Hermione.

"So tell us," Lavender gushed. "Has he said it yet?"

Hermione had forgotten how much the two loved to gossip. Thankfully, both of them had held off all their questioning previously. Of course, they had both just arrived this morning to get ready together, but it surprised her that they managed so long.

"Said what?" Hermione asked, squirming in her seat. She knew that they were going to be all over her regardless of how long she prolonged it. Especially now that she knew that she did, in fact, love him.

"You know what," Ginny said, rolling her eyes. "Don't avoid it Hermione."

She sighed. "No, but we haven't exactly had a lot of time alone lately. Every day since the Hogsmeade trip, has been spent planning for tonight."

They looked at her sympathetically. "Well, at least you have tonight right?" Ginny asked. "You never know what could happen."

"Yeah," she thought, not sounding too convinced.

They seemed to get it, and let it go. After a couple more moments, the magically turned the chair around so Hermione was now facing her full sized mirror on her wall. As she stood up, she saw how she looked in the mirror. Even at Bill's wedding she hadn't been dressed up this much, but that was due to the fact that she was trying to be practical in case they need to run. So the last time she had dressed up was four years ago at the Yule Ball, and well a lot had changed since then.

"Thanks guys," she told them softly. Both of them beamed at her, pleased that she liked it. She looked over at the wall and saw that it was eight. The ball was supposed to start in another half hour, but her mum wanted her down early.

As if having perfect timing, she heard a knock on the door. "Are you ladies all decent?" she heard Ron call out.

Lavender rushed to the door, holding up her pink skirt so it didn't interfere in her way. As she opened the door she shouted out. "Ron!" she exclaimed, as if she hadn't seen him in twenty years. She threw her arms around his neck and kissed him softly.

"Hi," he muttered softly to her. Harry pushed past the kissing couple and gave both Ginny and Hermione a look that said, 'Ah they're at it again'. It was to their great delight that Lavender no longer said things like Won-Won or made out with him every second.

"You look great," Harry said as he reached Ginny.

"Thanks," she said as she did a twirl in her dress. "Where's Draco?" she asked, mainly for Hermione's benefit.

"Right here," a voice said, as it attempted to get past Ron and Lavender. "Seriously do they have to kiss in the doorwa-" he stopped speaking as his eyes landed on Hermione. "Hi," he said softly.

She felt herself grow red. "Hi," she said shyly.

"You look amazing Hermione. You're absolutely beautiful," he told her as he placed a light kiss on her lips.

"You don't look so bad yourself," she grinned as she kissed him back.

Together, the three couples made their way downstairs. As they reached the ballroom, they saw that Dumbledore was already there briefing in Cecilia and Antonio about how the night would go if Bellatrix showed up. He had his arm around her waist, and the pair both looked highly worried about how this was going to go.

Exactly one hour later, the ball had been in full swing. Hermione stood to the side, sipping a cup of Butterbeer, watching over the room. She didn't know what to expect, and wasn't sure how to enjoy herself when a crazy murder was supposed to be in attendance.

"Hey," a voice said from behind her, causing her to jump.

She looked around to see Draco standing behind her, "Sorry 'Mione, I didn't mean to scare you," he said softly. "What are you doing back here all alone anyway?"

"I was watching for Bellatrix," she admitted sheepishly.

"Hermione, there are people here to take care of that. This is a party, you should relax and have some fun," he told her.

She sighed and looked over at him. He held out his arm and she took it, following him to the middle of the Ballroom.

He placed his arm around her waist, and intertwined the fingers of his other hand through hers. She placed her other arm on his shoulder and they began to dance slowly.

"Where did you learn to dance like that?" she inquired softly.

"My mum taught me when I was younger," he said, not unkindly. She noted this to be the first time he spoke about her without a tone of bitterness, but decided not to press the matter.

There was a brief moment of silence before he spoke.

"You do look very pretty tonight," he told her once more. "I know I've said it before, but you do look absolutely radiant," he said. He looked at her with eyes filled with care and softness.

"You should tell Ginny and Lavender. They'll be pleased that you admire their hard work," she said with a smile.

He chuckled at this. "Hermione, you look beautiful any day, with or without the makeup and the dress. Hell, I'd say you were beautiful if you were wearing those muggle sweatpants that you loved to wear over the holidays," he told her gently.

She blushed again. It seemed that she was doing a lot of that today. "Thanks," she told him.

"For what?" he asked, confused.

"For everything. For being here for me all those nights when I had nightmares, for listening to my endless stories. You put up with me when I was being absolutely barmy without complaining. For caring about me even when I'm a mess," she said, close to whispers.

"Hermione, do you know why I do that?" he asked her softly.

She looked up into his eyes, waiting for his answer.

"I do it because I am absolutely in love with you Hermione. And no one else would make me feel the way you do," he murmured.

She smiled at his words and kissed him softly on the lips. As she pulled away from him she gazed into his eyes, "Oh Draco, I love you too."

He grinned at this, and dipped her down slowly. As he picked her back up, they continued to dance, both hoping that the night would be able to end like this.

But that would be too easy wouldn't it?