A/N: Sorry this was late; I was on my way here and there was this cat stuck in a tree... Okay, that's not true; I just got stuck on other writings. First my other fic was giving me a bit of trouble and then I started an original fiction story and that took up all of July. I think Pansy has been talking to the main character of that novel, though, and I blame this whole chapter and the next on those two. I can't make promises on when I'm going to update again, because that never turns out well, but I can say that I've already started the next chapter. Enjoy!
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Hermione was the only one to have an exam scheduled for Friday, so she entrusted Harry, Ron, and Neville to Pansy and left to take her Ancient Runes exam with Draco. Harry and Ron had been totally surprised when Hermione had dragged them over to Pansy and shoved them at her. "You're the only one I trust to keep these two from disrupting the exams," Hermione told Pansy.
"So, they're mine for the day?" Pansy asked, smirking at Harry.
"Yes. They can do whatever they want, as long as it doesn't disrupt the OWLs or the other classes," Hermione answered. "Also, we're trying not to let the examiners know how insane Harry actually is, but keeping them from disrupting the exams is the most important thing."
"Don't worry; I'll keep them busy." Pansy grinned at Hermione and Hermione sighed in relief.
"Hermione, how could you give us to the snakes?" Ron shouted when what was happening finally caught up to his brain.
"I wanted to dance on the tables during your exam, provide the entertainment!" Harry said, pouting at Hermione.
"You know how I am about the exams, right? Now, do you honestly want to take the chance in disrupting my exam?" Hermione sent them a dangerous look and the boys took a step back.
"We'll just be over here with the snakes," Ron said.
"Have fun with your exam and throw a spitball or two at Umbridge for me." Harry ducked the swat that Hermione sent at him and hide behind Pansy.
"Just focus on your exam, we'll be outside when you get outside for lunch," Pansy interjected. She stood up from the Slytherin table and dragged Harry and Ron out of the room. She collected the rest of the fifth year Gryffindors and the few Slytherin fifth years that didn't have the Ancient Runes exam.
Pansy led the way out to the edges of the ground, just a short distance away from the lake. When she reached the perfect place, she twirled around and clapped her hands. "So, what are we going to do now?"
"Go to outer space," Harry cheered. "We can build a space ship and interrupt the exams by going to the moon."
"You're not fooling me, Potter, just because you're acting goofier than normal doesn't mean that I won't get more information out of you," Pansy said. She pinned Harry with a look and stepped closer to him. "In fact, we could hold an interrogation right now. That will certainly keep us busy."
"Ooh, truth or dare," Lavender squealed as she clapped her hands.
"A marvelous idea," Pansy said as she gave Harry a wicked grin. "We have enough people for a game and there is no way that this could interrupt the exam."
Pansy chose a relatively clean place on the ground and sat down. The other girls in the group eagerly joined her on the ground, but the boys only reluctantly joined them.
"Who goes first?" Parvati asked.
"Harry: truth or dare?" Pansy asked.
"Dare," Harry confidently stated.
"Fine, I dare you to kiss Luna when she gets here," Pansy said and the girls of the group burst into giggles. Ron laughed at the expression that appeared on Harry's face and Harry glared at Ron in reply.
"I will then." Harry crossed his arms. Kissing Luna wouldn't be that bad, she wouldn't get upset with him over it and she certainly wouldn't cry while he did so. "Ron, truth or dare?"
"Er, dare," Ron chose.
"Since you thought that my kissing Luna was fun, why don't you kiss Hermione when she gets out of the written exam?"
"Shoot," Ron muttered as he reluctantly nodded his agreement to the dare. "Crabbe, truth or dare?"
"Truth," Crabbe grunted out after some contemplation.
"Er, what kind of music do you like?" Ron asked, clearly not expecting that answer.
"I like heavy metal the best, but the wizarding world just doesn't do it properly." Crabbe sighed in disappointment, not noticing that he practically admitted to listening to muggle music. Crabbe looked around at the choices in people who hadn't gone so far and he settled on a fellow Slytherin. "Tracey, truth or dare?"
"Truth." Tracey grinned.
"What's your favorite snack food?" Crabbe asked after some thought.
"I like cherry pie the best. Lavender, truth or dare?" Tracy shot the question right after answering her own.
"Dare," Lavender answered.
"I dare you to clean off your make up and go natural for the rest of the day," Tracey ordered after a bit of a thinking period.
"For the rest of the day." Lavender stared at Tracey in shock before sighing. She spoke a quick cleaning charm and the makeup faded from her face. Harry spared her a glance, but Lavender didn't really look too different. "Goyle, truth or dare?"
The large teen stared at her for a minute before hesitantly answering, "Dare?"
"I dare you to kiss someone in this group. Male or female, it doesn't matter." Lavender grinned at the looks that she received.
Goyle shrugged and got up from the ground. He lumbered around them and Ron gave Harry a panicked glance. But, Goyle stopped beside Lavender and dropped down to peck her on the lips. He smirked at her before heading back to his previous spot beside Crabbe. "Parvati, is it? Truth or dare?"
"Truth," Parvati hesitantly answered.
"Do you ever switch places with your twin? During classes or during a date?" Goyle asked.
"Sometimes," Parvati admitted with a light blush. "Sometimes we switch when our classes align right and none of us are really missing any classes and I'll sometimes scope out a guy for my sister. Pansy, truth or dare?"
"Dare," Pansy answered.
Parvati leaned in to whisper her dare into Pansy's ear. Pansy nodded in agreement to whatever it was, but no one could hear what Parvati had asked and Pansy didn't move to fulfill that dare. Instead, Pansy just smirked at the group and turned to Harry. "Truth or dare?"
"What about your dare?" Harry warily asked.
"I'll do it later. So, truth or dare?" Pansy grinned at him and Harry winced, knowing that he was dead no matter what he chose.
He gathered together all of his Gryffindor bravery and named his choice: "Dare."
"I dare you to let us make you up." Pansy reached into her purse and pulled out a tube of lipstick.
Harry blanched and he tried to scramble back, but Crabbe grabbed a hold of Harry's ankle and cut off his escape. "I think we're done with this game, why don't we just call it quits?"
"Ah, come on, Harry. We all know that you're with Luna, so you're not going to be seen as gay and Luna won't care if you're wearing makeup." Pansy grinned as Lavender and Parvati started emptying out their makeup supplies onto the grass. Even Tracey added a few items to the collection.
"I'm not getting away from this, am I?" Harry asked as he stopped trying to leave. Pansy firmly shook her head and Harry slumped in resignation. "Get on with it, then."
"Good, hold him still, will you, Vincent?" Pansy asked.
"Sure," Crabbe said, switching his hold so that he was holding onto Harry's shoulders from behind.
Pansy uncapped the first piece of makeup equipment and moved forward to make the first marks on Harry's face. Harry suffered in silence as Pansy put on the foundation, eyeshadow, mascara, a bit of blush and lipstick onto Harry's face. It took her a few minutes, with a lot of input from the two Gryffindor girls and the one other Slytherin girl, but Harry's face was finally done and they handed him a mirror.
Harry frowned at his reflection, not totally happy with the makeup. It was strange, seeing himself look so pretty; he almost looked like he was female. It made him look kind of freaky and he grinned as a thought occurred to him.
"This isn't going to cause trouble with the exams, will it?" Pansy asked, recognizing the look on Harry's face.
"It really shouldn't, though, maybe it would be best to unveil it tomorrow so that Hermione won't kill me anyway," Harry admitted.
"So, spill," Ron said, grabbing onto Harry's sleeve.
"What do you think Umbridge's reaction to the way I look right now would be? Especially given the fact that she seems to hate unnatural things?" He smirked at the expressions that appeared on his fellow fifth year's faces.
"She would be really confused and would have a fit," Pansy nodded as she got the idea that was in Harry's head. "You're right; we're going to need to wait until tomorrow to unleash this so that we can have the proper time to prepare."
"Yeah, I need to think of a few more things before we can go through it; though, it might work to do this tonight during dinner," Harry said. He needed to convince some of the other boys to wear some makeup, but he could get that done by dinner time.
"No, dinner would be too soon, there wouldn't be enough time to find all of the dresses and we'll need muggle suits for the girls," Pansy shot down, and Harry stared at her in bewilderment and horror. "Also, we're going to have to pick out the perfect jewelry and figure out what to do with hair."
"Growing charms might work," Lavender suggested, apparently understanding Pansy's grand idea.
"Yeah, I'd be willing to cut my hair for tomorrow if someone will lengthen it for me after we're done," Parvati added.
"And we can lengthen the boys' hair for tomorrow." Pansy nodded decisively. "Let's get to work. First we'll need measurements and then I'll be able to Floo my tailor."
"Do we all have to dress in drag?" Crabbe asked, frowning at the thought.
"Think of Umbridge's reactions," Pansy replied. "You did want to get back at her for the Inquisitorial Squad, right?"
"You were the one who was snubbed the worst," Crabbe muttered, but not high enough for anyone but Harry, who was still pinned down by Crabbe, to hear.
"You know, dressing in full out drag is kind of better than what I had planned," Harry finally said. "You are evil, but an evil genius. I will not underestimate you again."
"Thank you." Pansy smiled at him sweetly. "Now, Crabbe, let Harry up so that we can start the measurements. Harry will have to be the drag queen, since he's in charge of this whole rebellion thing. I'm thinking a green ball dress to go with his eyes, what do you think?"
"He looked so handsome in his green dress robes," Parvati answered.
"He really did, but they'll both need some instructions on how to dance," Lavender added.
"I'll take care of that," Luna offered as she approached the group. "Why am I teaching Harry to dance for? Are the bears coming?"
"Bears?" Crabbe asked.
"They like to waltz, and if you're not careful, they will come to fetch you every night to dance with them." Luna gave them a serene look.
"We're going to hold an impromptu ball tomorrow," Pansy answered. She grinned at the Ravenclaw fourth year. "I'm glad that you're here, we need to measure you for your tux. If your date is Harry, then you'll have to look as handsome as he will look beautiful."
"Oh, goody, I've always wanted to dress up." Luna clapped her hands in delight.
"Speaking of going to the ball with Harry, Harry, didn't you have something that you wanted to do with Luna?" Pansy sent him a pointed look.
Harry sighed but stood up and headed over to Luna. "Hi, Luna," he said, stalling for a bit. After all, he couldn't just go up and kiss her, could he?
"You look very pretty, Harry. Were you keeping the Ugly Tomatoes away from you?" Luna asked, tilting her head. "Or did you just feel pretty today and want to express that?"
"Yeah," Harry answered, allowing Luna to think what she wished. He bent down and quickly kissed her before backing away and watching her for her reaction.
Luna looked fairly surprised, but she quickly grinned at Harry. "You're very good at spreading your prettiness, Harry. Thank you."
"Er, you're welcome," Harry answered, ducking his head to hide his blushing.
"Okay, now that that is done, every one line up for your measurements," Pansy ordered and everyone scrambled up.
"What's going on?" Hermione asked as she led Draco over to the group. "I see that you managed to stay away from the Great Hall, but I also know that you are up to something now."
"We're going to hold a ball tomorrow for the rest of the students. We're just doing measurements now, fitting all of the girls with tuxedos and all of the men with ball gowns," Pansy answered.
"Tuxedos?" Hermione frowned before smiling in realization. "We're going in drag, aren't we?"
"Ball gowns, you mean I have to wear a dress?" Draco fairly screeched as he took a step back. "Are you crazy?"
"No, you are. Potter is as well and we're doing this to get back at Umbridge," Pansy said, darting forward to stop Draco from running away.
"Please tell me that I'm not the only one being made to wear a dress," Draco said. He tried to dig his heels in, but Pansy still was able to maneuver him into the line with the rest of the boys.
"We have to wear dresses, too," Harry solemnly said. He turned to Hermione and gave her puppy dog eyes. "How could you leave us with her? She is evil incarnate."
"You look very interesting, Harry," Hermione said, distracted by noticing Harry's makeup.
"Isn't he very pretty?" Luna asked as she drifted over to Hermione's side.
Hermione raised her eyebrow, but she nodded in agreement. Harry scowled at her, but that didn't really detract from his appearance. "So, this ball, it won't disrupt the exams, will it?"
"It won't, we're just preparing today and only those who don't have exams today," Pansy quickly reassured Hermione. "We're holding the ball tomorrow during dinner, so the students will have plenty of time to study for the next exams."
"I suppose that will work out; we can have a few short study sessions in between getting ready and it will work out." Hermione frowned at Harry, still looking at his makeup. "Are you going to lunch looking like that?"
Harry opened his mouth to answer, but Pansy interjected before he could say anything. "Yes, he is. Besides, Luna likes it, don't you, Lovegood?"
"Harry could probably attract faeries looking like that," Luna replied.
Hermione gave them all an odd look, but Harry ended up going to lunch wearing makeup. The other students and some of the examiners gave him even more odd looks, but the examiners at least dismissed it from their minds. They decided that their old eyes must be playing tricks on them.
After lunch, Hermione and Draco stayed around for their practical Ancient runes exam, but Pansy dragged the rest of the group out to further prepare for their mock ball. Harry found himself learning to dance with Luna leading him. He had the vague idea that it should be the other way around in regards to who was leading whom, but Luna reassured him that her method was correct and he didn't bother to protest it.
Harry kept the makeup on the whole day, finally getting Hermione to banish the stuff off of his face, but he wasn't the only one by the end of the day. Pansy, Lavender, and Parvati cornered each guy and decided on the perfect makeup for each of them all in the name of preparation. Ron moaned that the girls were just tormenting the guys, but the girls did make each boy look kind of pretty.
The next day was even worse, though at least most of the attention was then focused onto Draco, who had missed some of the drama while taking his exam. Still, the clothing arrived at breakfast and the partygoers spent the time before lunch trying the clothing on. The girls mostly handled their suits by themselves; they didn't even need help with their ties since the Hogwarts uniform included ties even for the females. The boys needed active help with their ball gowns, getting the fake breasts to sit right and to get the pantyhose on straight. Luna helped Harry out and Harry found that it wasn't actually as embarrassing as he thought it would be.
Harry really wasn't sure why they bothered to get changed back into their normal clothes for lunch, but he didn't dare to argue with Pansy. Harry figured that it hadn't mattered too much, as there were still some things to do before they could go out into public with their plot. Harry was made into the spokesperson with the House elves, asking whether the house elves could help them with the impromptu ball in terms of decorations and food. They didn't really want an extravagant sort of a thing, as they wanted to surprise their fellow students, but they did want some decorations and they needed help in order for it to happen.
An hour and a half before dinner, Pansy ushered all of the men into the abandoned classroom that they had gotten dressed in before and told them to get dressed. The boys found it slightly easier to get all dolled up this time around, but they still ended calling the girls into the room to help them out with some things. That took almost a whole hour, but there was still time for the girls to help the guys out with their makeup and so on.
The girls had already taken care of their hair by that time, most of the girls wearing short haircuts. Hermione was a bit of an exception, with slightly curly hair down to her neck. Luna had gotten a buzz cut on one side of her head, but she had slightly longer hair on the other side of her head; it suited her perfectly. While the rest of the girls' hair was short, it wasn't to the extremes that Hermione and Luna had taken with their hair. After the boys saw the girls' hair, they all paled as they realized that they were next.
Pansy and the rest of the girls formed something of an assembly line for the men; two girls cutting the boys' hair and two girls there to put the makeup on the boys. Pansy supervised it all, giving her opinions when needed and Luna floated around and did almost the same thing. Harry's hair was grown out until it reached the middle of his back. His hair was still messy, even with the length, but Pansy added gel to his hair and this calmed it down a bit. His hair now looked wavy and just a bit frizzy, instead of looking all over the place. Luna calmed his hair down even further with a spell that Hermione said was a spell to tame a wild animal. Harry just shrugged at that, amazed that it actually worked.
The rest of the preparations were finished just a few minutes after dinner started and Pansy rushed them all down to the Entrance Hall. They paused just long enough for the men to put their high heels on before Pansy slammed the doors open and they strutted into the Great Hall.
*=* Chapter 36 – Dancing Queens *=*