I spent most of the rest of the night with my thoughts reeling.
In fact, I had a difficulty paying attention in my classes for the rest of the week.
The words Lucius spoke to me, seemed to be rolling around in my head. Confusing me more and more as time progressed.
It was now Saturday morning and all the girls' bathrooms were in complete utter chaos. Full of all of the girls from fourth, fifth and sixth year rushing to get ready in time.
We had decided that we wanted to avoid the chaos so, I told Cissy, Dromeda, and Bella to come to my room to get ready for the ball after a quick breakfast.
As soon as we finished our breakfast, we all headed back to my room where it was decided we would all take turns showering.
Dromeda was the first one to shower, then Bella, followed by Cissy and then me.
"Seriously, how long does it take for you to take a shower? What are you even doing in there? Removing all the hair on your body?" Bella called through the door, sarcastically.
"As long as I want and need to take. I don't have hair that shouldn't be on my body." I retorted, as I opened the door of the bathroom, exiting in my night dress.
"Seriously though, how are you even planning on doing your hair, when it's still wet?" She asked me, as she pulled out the white cardboard box that contained her dress.
I shrugged, pulling out everything that I was going to wear for that evening.
I watched as the girls did one another's hair in a fancy coif, and applied a bit of make up onto their faces.
While I waited for my hair to dry, I began pulling on garter belt and a pair of black thigh-length stocking on.
"Are you almost done?" I asked, as I cast a spell that put my hair in ringlets, and proceeded to pin up portions of it up with small emerald encrusted pins here and there. Adding a thin diamond diadem to finish the look.
"Cissy, and Dromeda are. I, however, can't seem to be done with this form of torture they call 'beatifying'." Bella complained, popping her head out of the doorway of the bathroom. Only to have her yanked back in a moment later.
"Hold still or you'll mess up the hairstyle." Cissy chastised, slapping her head lightly.
"Sweet Merlin, quit hitting me, woman." Bella grumbled back, crossing her arms over her chest.
"I wouldn't need to hit you, if you and your rear stayed still." She retorted, as she smoothed down another section on her erratic black curls.
A short time later, they call came out dressed in their dresses and their hair done, to slip their shoes on.
By that time I had already slid my dress on, zipped up the back of the dress, and slid my silver shoes onto my feet.
They all stared at me before I continued walking to the bathroom to add a bit of eyeliner, mascara, and cherry red lipstick.
"Wow." They said in unison.
"What? Did I mess my hair up when I put my dress on?" I asked, turning back towards the bathroom.
"No, you look good!" Bella squealed, pulling my hand towards the door.
"Lovely, is more accurate." Narcissa said, as we slowly began making our way out of the room.
"Wait, I need to do something first." I said, walking towards my bed, and grabbing my wand before walking back towards them.
We slipped our cloaks on, sliding our wands into the pockets before slowly making our way towards down the stairs. There were still girls getting ready when we passed the bathroom.
Most of the guys that were placed in the house were already waiting in the common room when was walked in. Lucius stood up and walked to Cissy's side as she stepped into the room. Dromeda, Bella and I automatically turned to go towards the door.
"My Lady, if you'd permit me to escort you to the Great Hall. It would be an honor." Severus said, walking up.
That's when I took in all of their appearances, they had actually made an effort to comb their hair on their head. Even Severus appeared to have tried to style it into submission.
"Very well," I said, nodding as he raised both of his elbows, one for me and the other for Bellatrix.
We walked slowly towards the Great Hall, watching as other students walked briskly. As we began to near, the noise in the hall was almost overwhelming. Music, laughter, and everything else.
Lucky for us it was a masquerade ball. We each pulled on our masks as before walking into the large room.
It was decorated lavishly. The tables had been moved out of the hall, instead there were smaller round tables that sat only six people round each table. With black and white table cloths that were charmed to stay dry and clean. If you spilled food or a drink on them they'd disappear a moment later. Instead of the usual candles or jack-o-lanterns that usually hung in the air there were chandelier with gems hanging from the four houses hanging systematically all over them, giving the room different colored reflections as they slowly spun around in the air.
We walked to the far side of the room and took a seat in an empty seat. Watching as everyone began to file in slowly. Pairs walking into the room arm and arm. Dromeda came in sometime later with Ted Tonks as her escort and date. She was practically shinning, as she walked in.
The sad thing about this ball is that only fourth years and older could attend. So first, second, and third years had to stay in their dormitories while the rest of the school attended this event, and stayed up three hours past their curfew.
"Would you two ladies like something to drink?" He asked, as he sat down.
"Err.. sure, some punch would be fine." I said, as I turned looking over to Bellatrix, who happened to be watching the entrance tensely.
It just so happened that Rodolphus was coming in with Jenny Smith, whose dress looked to be three sizes smaller than her actual size, and made her look like she had a permanent hunch in her back, her shoes seemed to be on too tight, and her hair, even though up in a nice hairdo, had so much static in it that if you stuck a balloon on it she would get electrocuted.
"You needn't worry. You look far better than she does. Just look at her, she looks like she got everything in the wrong size, walks like a fawn, has so much makeup caked on her face that if she sneezes not only will her dress suffer, but sadly so will her date." I whispered to her as Severus came back with our drinks.
We both giggled uncontrollably as we watched them try to interact with one another.
"What, may I ask, is it that you two ladies find so funny?" He asked sitting down next to me.
"Bella seemed to be feeling a bit down so I simply told her to just look at Rod's date. It seems as though someone has hexed her dress." I explained, giggling softly.
"Ah, yes. Though am I pretty sure the stitching to that dress would be crying out in agony, if it were to speak. I honest don't think that is a hex, though. She did that all on her own, it would appear." He said smirking as he took a sip of his own punch.
Cissy and Lucius came in and sat on our table. She looked so happy. I was happy for her. Tom came in later with a group of his friends, Laura Dolohov, and Peggy Parkinson trailing behind in dresses that seem either too big of too tight for them. Masks or no, it was easy to tell who was who, which was more entertaining as we watched and gossiped on whose dress looked best.
We ate quietly, listening to the music in the background, as we did so. Suddenly, a slow song began to play, and couples all around the room began heading towards the dance floor in the middle of the room. Bellatrix began making a gaging noise and rolled her eyes as she watched all the couples head towards the middle of the room.
"Would you like to dance, my Lady?" Severus asked.
I looked over at Bella and noticed her nodding and slightly cocking her head to the side. I followed her inclination with my eyes and realized Tom was staring at me, as Parkinson tried to get his attention.
"Very well." I replied, holding out my hand, and slipping off my cloak, placing it on my seat before I stood up, taking his extended hand before I let him lead me to the part of the room that was turned into a dance floor.
I heard gasps all around the room as we made our way towards the dance floor. I ignored it as we slowly stopped walking and began dancing. My left hand went on his shoulder, while the right clasped his left, and his right hand wrapped lightly around my waist.
The song was rather long, I could feel people staring as we spun around the floor slowly. My eyes suddenly landed on Tom's intense gaze, making my steps falter accidentally stepping on Severus before I managed to remember to look away.
"You know, Riddle seems to truly care about you." Severus said, as we continued to spin.
"He has a comical way of showing it. Come on, Sev, how would you react to all this mess. I know you were hurt too. Lily misses you too. She would forgive you if you make the first move." I replied, my eyes landing on Lily and James who were dancing at the edge of the floor.
"We both know I can't do that. Potter and his moronic cronies have done too much to me." He muttered trying not to scowl, before he sighed.
"Then how do you expect me to forgive Tom, if he's lied to me, and hurt me? Come on, you should of all people should be able to understand this, Sev." I replied, as the song came to an end.
We slowly walked back to the table to find Bellatrix and Rod sitting there talking, or rather arguing.
"Now, now children. You know better than to argue, here, of all places. Can't you try to play nice ..." I chortled, chastisingly, smirking at both of them, as I sat back down in my seat.
Bellatrix glared at Rod and turned her head towards me. Pleadingly. She inclined her head slightly, her mouth twitching.
"Is there a reason you are here, Lestrange?" I asked, daintily, sipping my punch.
"Yes, actually..., Riddle sent me to inform you that he wants us all to meet him, you know where, after the event tonight. Just after curfew." He said, looking towards where Tom stood looking straight at me, with an annoyed expressionin place, his lips pressed in a thin line.
I nodded, biting my lip before answering him properly, "Alright, let him know, we'll see him later tonight. Now leave us be." I replied, my tone displeased, as I turned back towards Bella.