A/N Sorry, but the songs and other features in the ball in this chapter are very modern, and wouldn't have been around in the 90s, but oh well. Please review people! I love hearing your feedback and I will try to include anything that you wish to happen. See you at the end of the chapter!
Chapter 10 - The Halloween Ball
"Hey Gin!" Hermione smiled, approaching her usual lonely spot on the table to find a pair of brown eyes and a pair of green eyes looking at her. "Hey 'Mione! Thought we'd join you as it's Halloween!" Ginny smiled. It was lunch, but there would be no Halloween festivities happening until that evening, so it was just the same old food. "That's nice of you," Hermione smiled stiffly.
"So, who's your date?" Harry grinned. Hermione's face fell. Harry looked at her, shocked. "Hermione?" He asked, shocked.
"Well... It's not like I just go round asking the boys if they want to go with me to a ball!" Hermione retorted. Especially since...
"You are joking," Ginny gawped. Hermione shook her head. "Well," Ginny sighed, "I heard Padma and Parvati are going just as sisters, you're welcome to join them I'm sure!"
"Ginny I'm fine honestly -" Hermione began.
"Someone say my name?" Parvati smiled, running up to them and sitting down.
"N -"
"Yes," Ginny grinned, cutting across Hermione, "We were just saying how you'd be absolutely fine if Hermione joined you and Padma at the ball, as she has no date."
Parvati grinned and rested her chin in her hands saying, "I'm sure Padma will be fine with a plus one! Especially as it's you," she gestured at Hermione, "And not... Well yeah." She glanced over at Lavender and Ron, who were kissing intensely several seats down. "Bitch," she muttered.
"What you two going as?" Ginny asked the two girls. The poster had specifically said fancy dress.
"A witch!" Parvati squealed.
"You are a witch though!" Ginny laughed.
"Uh you know what I mean!" Parvati giggled, trying to sound serious.
"Hermione?" Ginny asked.
"Um... It's a surprise..." Hermione smiled awkwardly, looking at the floor. The girls exchanged excited looks. Harry rolled his eyes and said annoyed, "Still here you know!"
"Sooo, when are we changing?" asked Ginny, completely blanking her boyfriend.
"I'm changing in my dorm," Hermione smiled apologetically.
"So I guess it's just us two and Padma," Parvati smiled, "We'll meet you in the girls dorm after Pad's finished doing her prefect stuff. Oh yeah! You're a prefect too aren't you! Well I'll meet the both of you in the common room, probably wait for Padma somewhere and walk up with her."
"Yeah, Padma will be allowed in our dorm right?" Ginny asked.
"Sure! She's a prefect!" Parvati replied, "Look I got to dash! Got to pick my dress up from Hogsmeade, they're holding it for me! See yous all later!"
"Bye!" Ginny and Hermione called at the retreating back.
"Sorted," Harry grinned. Ginny nodded.
-.
"Higher on the left mudblood!" Draco called out to Collin Creevey, who was using his wand to levitate the bunting into place. "MALFOY!" screamed Hermione, "You will not call people that!" Collin grinned. The prefects, Hermione and Draco, were decorating the Great Hall for the Halloween party, which was to take place that evening in six hours. At least, all the prefects bar Ron, who Hermione told couldn't participate in decorating. To make up for the loss of duty however he would have to do extra corridor patrols. Could anyone blame her for this? She couldn't bare being near him. Everyone had had lunch by one (lunch was usually 12:30 - 1:30) and the thirteen of them were planning on having the room decorated by four so they could use the time before seven to get changed. No one else was allowed in the room before seven.
"Whatever Granger. More," Draco called dryly. Collin levitated it higher. "Lower!" Draco called irritated now. It came lower. "Better," Draco said nodding his head curtly. He turned and stared Hermione in the face. "You will not tell me what to do, Granger," he growled. "It's you who chose to do it, I can say what I like," Hermione said in an equally low voice.
"I don't have to do anything you say, I don't even have to go by our deal. If you want, mudblood, it can just go back to old times," Draco smirked. She flinched at the word. "How dare you!" Hermione whispered, voice trembling with anger, "You're nothing but a spoilt, arrogant, selfish brat Malfoy! I wish Voldemort had just taken you when he had the chance!"
"Why you little -"
"You know, when you stood among the people that tried to burn this school down, that hunt muggles as a sport, that killed Dumbledore!" Hermione half shouted, not loud enough to attract attention. Livid, Draco brought his hand up, face etched with loathing, to hit Hermione across the face and swung it, hard. Hermione inhaled and tensed, squeezing her eyes shut and waiting for the familiar, white hot burning pain to spread across her face. An image of Ron flew into her head as she watched him hit her and saw the ground fly up to meet her. She saw him stamping on her face and her vision start to fade as black spots appeared in the corners. Her face trembled, her breaths uneven. She turned her face away and bent her neck slightly, cowering.
She waited for Draco's hand to collide with her face. But it didn't. She opened an eye and found Draco staring at her. It wasn't unkind - curious and possibly... Pity? She opened both her eyes and looked back. His hand was inches away from her face. She glanced at it, tentatively, breathing slowing down, and flinched as it rose more threateningly. Looking from him to his hand, Hermione waited to see what the young man was going to do. Slowly, he lowered his hand and looked down towards the floor, sighing. A tear welled inside Hermione's eye but she kept it in determinedly, waiting for him to say something. She waited a few more seconds before she opened her mouth but as soon as she had, he said, quietly, "Careful Granger." She looked at him, confused and wondering if she had heard correctly. He turned and lifted his head, walking away from her towards a couple of prefects who were fitting lights and a disco ball with their wands. Thinking fast, Hermione ran up and called, "Wait, Malfoy!" He stopped but did not turn around. "Sorry," she said honestly, regretting her accusation mere moments ago. He stood for a moment, then continued walking away from her. Nobody noticed them.
Hermione stood frozen. Everything happening around her seemed very distant. She knew she had gone way too far. But those people were trying to kill her parents, and he was one of them. He was one of the monsters that rampaged through the corridors of her school, smashing and burning things in their path. He worked with the person who'd abused her in Diagon Alley. He was one of the people trying to kill her mother and father. A sudden wave of realisation came to her and with that, came horror and fear that filled her very bones. She eyed the strutting death eater that was roaming her school, that was sleeping two walls away from her, with fear and hate. However, she bottled it up, and went over to help Terry Boot, who was casting fake cobwebs from the end of his wand.
By ten past four, the long house tables were replaced with small, circular tables (which were used for the Yule ball), and orange and black bunting lined the walls as well as posters. Coloured light flooded from Mrs Shimmer's Party Purpose Magical Lights (disco lights which moved on their own and changed the colour of the light beam), which were positioned on the ceiling near the huge, shimmering silver disco ball. Fake cobwebs were draped around every item of furniture, the type that didn't get caught in your hair, and bats were flying in the rafters. The real eye catcher however were the dancing skeletons, which Ginny had volunteered to pick up with Hannah Abbot. They were dancing around tables whilst the ghosts, all of which had been invited bar Peeves, glided in and out of tables. Many other little decorations stood around such as the candles placed on each table, which let off tall, black fumes, which spiralled away into nothingness. "Well," Ginny grinned, elbowing Hermione playfully, "This is awesome!" Hermione nodded and everyone stood behind her as she cast the final finishing touch. "Flagrate," Hermione murmured, writing welcoming words in the air with fire. "Engorgio!" Hermione spoke loudly, enlarging the letters to ten times their natural size then flicking her wand to send the words high into the air. "Welcome to the Halloween Ball, 1997!" It read, in fiery orange capitals. There was a small round of applause, then Draco lead the way out.
-.
"So what do you think?" Ginny asked Harry. They were sitting in a private corner in the Gryffindor common room talking about random stuff to pass the time. "About?" Harry asked.
"Hermione and Malfoy," Ginny grinned. Harry's face went cold. "Oh come on Harry! He got his hands dirty for her not once but twice!"
"He's still Malfoy," Harry said begrudgingly.
"Maybe he's... Changed?"
"How so?"
"Do you think he likes her?"
"What?!"
"Do you think he likes her?" Ginny repeated slowly with a smile.
"No!"
"Really?"
"Absolutely not Gin! There is no way in hell that Malfoy is crushing on our best friend, who may I add, he has been prejudiced and cruel to for the past six years!"
"But he's stopped calling her mudblood, and he's been really nice to her and... I don't know, they just seem to like... fit... you know?"
"No I don't know. But, well - I suppose they are... Have a... Understanding?"
"Yeah... And one day could develop -"
"No, Gin. Could you ever see Hermione dating a deatheater?" Harry asked heatedly. There was a silence.
"Depends if they've changed," Ginny smiled. Harry rolled his eyes.
"When you getting changed?" Harry asked, smiling.
"Once Parvati comes in, she promised to do my makeup."
"And where's Hermione?"
"In her dorm."
-.
"So, Granger, who you going to the ball with?" Draco smirked.
"Friends," Hermione said sourly. Draco looked at her mildly curious.
"Not got a date?" He asked amused. Hermione glared back and stalked into her room, slamming her door shut. "What's got her wand in a knot?" Draco muttered to himself.
Hermione lent on the door, breathing fast. She hated - no - loathed him. "Death Eater," she reminded herself. How had she ever let her guard down in the first place. Calming down, she walked over to the oak wardrobe and opened it, staring at tonight's costume with adoration, although she was doubtful it was really any good. She liked it though. She pulled it out delicately and let the black material flow out at its own pace. Casually, she unbuttoned her own clothes and let them fall to the floor into a heap at her feet. She pulled the black dress gracefully over her head and let it sweep down to her ankles. It was like a black version of her Yule ball dress, with red material sown onto it and golden thread embroidered and woven into it to make a beautiful dress. She stepped in front of her mirror, which she had stood next to the window, and observed the dead bride standing in front of her. Or at least, part of it. Turning around and walking over to her desk, she pulled out of the draw a makeup box she'd bought specifically for this, and a large mirror. She placed the mirror in front of her on the desk and got to work with brushes, face paint and makeup.
Once her face, neck and down to her shoulders were covered in white face paint, she rubbed on talcum powder till her skin was dry and soft - and white. Then she started on the makeup; black, mascara run eyes, dark red lipstick and black powder to contour her cheeks and brush up her hairline, to give a sunken look. Finally, she finished up with some gold glitter around the eyes.
Satisfied, Hermione stood up and reached in the wardrobe for her black veil, which hung down to her waist, and laid it upon the table. It had two blood red roses either side of a black rose on top of the headband part. She brushed through her brown hair until it was knot free, then opened a bottle of Sleekeazy's Hair Potion and poured out a large amount, rubbing it into her hair like she'd done for the Yule ball.
The finished effect was truly eye catching and mind blowing. Hermione's hair was down to just below her shoulders, slightly wavy but sleek. She'd sprayed it with a sort of gold glitter hairspray, which made it glimmer as it caught the light. She wore black nail varnish on her fingernails and walked in blood red, short heels.
The dead bride stepped out into the common room, which was mercifully Malfoy free, although she could hear movements coming from inside his room. The hands on the clock read about 6:52, so the dead girl quickly hitched up her dress and slipped through the portrait. Thankfully, most students were already down in the entrance hall, although there were still a few stragglers running down the halls, too fixated on being on time for their date to notice the girl in the beautiful dress. The clock struck seven and the large, oak doors opened causing gasps of awe from the crowd and excited murmuring. Hermione came to a halt at the top of the stairs and scanned the crowed for kind faces. No one had been able to appreciate the prefects' work until now, so naturally everyone was gossiping in awe about how petrifying and wonderful the hall looked.
Slowly, Hermione made her way down the steps to Parvati and her twin, Padma. "Hel - Hermione?!" Parvati gaped. Hermione smiled nervously. "Yeah...?" She asked anxiously. Parvati just gawped.
"I think, what my sister's trying to say, is that you look bloody beautiful," Padma grinned, taking in the dress.
"Thanks..." Hermione whispered, embarrassed.
"Hello girls! Who's the dead girl?" Harry asked, who was dressed as the Scream, hand in hand with a fallen angel. Ginny looked beautiful and scary in her costume, in a short black dress with black, angelic wings and heavy black eye makeup, not to mention the black lipstick. "And is Hermione late?" Ginny asked. Hermione turned around and looked at them sheepishly. Harry swore loudly. "Oh my GOD HERMIONE YOU LOOK GORGE!" screamed Ginny in excitement. Hermione blushed again.
"So do you," she replied, pointing at her black heeled, knee high boots. Parvati was dressed in the promised witch outfit looking fab in a red pointed hat (pointing bent to the side) with a matching red dress coming halfway down her thighs, knee high black boots and black netting gloves. The dress had black netting and lace pinned to it around the edges and waist, as did the hat around the bottom of the cone and along the rim. Padma wore the same only in purple. However, you'd be lying if you said that people weren't staring and pointing at Hermione. "Come on," Padma smiled and the three girls walked in, followed by the couple.
"You two've done an amazing job," Parvati grinned in awe, taking it all in, and screaming in surprise when a skeleton came up to her and waved.
-.
Draco's jaw dropped. He'd seen some beautiful girl emerge with two other girls, far less stunning he thought, and just then, she'd turned her head. It was Hermione. He had to admit, she did look stunning in that dress and her hair! It was so... Tamed! "Draco," Blaise grinned, walking up to him. Pansy, who was dressed as a black cat (a very convincing one), had gone to get drinks from the bar. There were rumours going round that Pansy had used polyjuice potion to turn into a human sized, black cat, but Draco knew otherwise. He'd walked in, just as she was adding on liberal amounts of makeup to her face, to take her to the ball. The prefects had set up a little bar loaded with crates upon crates of butter beer. Some people, unknown to the teachers, were paying Fred and George to slip some fire whiskey into theirs, both had gone as the joker, from batman. They had got the idea after Arthur Weasley finished collecting muggle superhero comics, and decided to read them. "What?" Draco sighed, drawing his gaze away from the beautiful witch. Draco had gone as a vampire, with subtle, fake blood lining and dripping from his mouth. He'd used magic to grow temporary fangs, they too were dripping in fake blood. His already pale face had been faintly painted white and he had dark eyes, which had been gone over with eyeliner. He wore a black suit and cape, which billowed out behind him and his hair was jelled back. Blaise and Theo had gone as dementors. "Truth or dare," Blaise smirked. Draco looked at him, stupidly. "This is so childish. Ok... Dare, obviously," he replied dully.
"Hmm, I dare you," said Blaise slowly, then his face lit up, "I dare you to ask Granger for a dance, and she has to dance with you -"
"What?! No way!"
"Scared?" Blaise smirked.
"No, she just fucking hates me and she's a muggleborn and she's... Granger!" spluttered Draco.
"Oh so it's the fact that she hates you. Not that you hate her! Obviously -"
"Of course I don't want to dance with her!"
"Go on!"
"No!"
"Is the great Draco Malfoy scared of muggleborn rejection?" Theo teased. That made him go. Draco straightened his collar and stalked off to the girl.
Hermione was standing around on her own with a glass of water, waiting for the girls to return with their drinks. And then she froze, feeling warm breath on her partially exposed shoulders. "Hey, Granger," Draco whispered behind Hermione, who whirled around to face the enemy. It took a while for him to say anything else, as he was busy taking in the dress. "Get lost Malfoy," she hissed. Death eater. He looked up at her and smirked, "I need to ask you something."
"Go on then," she spat, wishing the twins would hurry up.
Draco took a deep breath before asking casually, "May I have this dance?" Hermione literally dropped her empty glass which shattered all over the floor and backed away. A few people glanced round but quickly looked away again, too concentrated on their partners. "Reparo," Draco muttered, fixing the glass and levitating it into his hand, placing it on a nearby table.
"What the hell Malfoy. No!" Hermione hissed.
"Just one," Draco whined in an annoying voice.
"Who do you think I am?! NO! Why would you even ask?!"
"'Twas a dare."
"Well you can take your dare else whe -" but she was cut off, as Draco forcibly took her right hand with his left, and placed his other around her waist. "Get off!" Hermione moaned, struggling against his firm grip.
"You're making a scene," hissed Draco.
"Let me go!" Hermione hissed back.
"One dance," he stated, "You owe me, anyway." Hermione gave in. She supposed she did owe him for the two occasions he'd healed her. "Fine," she stated, repulsed, "One dance." It didn't mean anything.
The song which had just started to play was a slow piece, a waltz, played with instruments only, as Delzma was taking a break. Hermione didn't know what to feel. On the one hand, she was dancing with her arch enemy, death eater in fact, on the other, she was dancing with a boy who had helped her out on two occasions, and was good looking. "Wait," Hermione thought, "WHAT? No way in hell do I think Malfoy is good looking."
"But he is," another part of her brain teetered.
"Even if he was he's so not my type!" The more logical part of her brain snapped back.
"Really?" The other part muttered. She wasn't going to think about any boy like that. Not after - him. Hermione just tried to shut her brain out and think about what was happening now. Draco too had no idea what to make of this. The most worrying part was, was that he wasn't repulsed to dancing with Granger. He could just back away and hex Blaise and Theo for talking him into this. Was it even talking into, if there hadn't been a lot of rejection on his part? "What the hell am I doing?" Draco groaned in his head. He decided he didn't care. It's not like it meant anything, so what was the problem? Apart from the fact that they received curious and some even hostile glances from students around them. "You know you look amazing in that dress don't you," he admitted quietly, assuming she couldn't hear him. Hermione smiled up at him, causing him to blush, and said in just as quiet a voice, "Honestly, you don't look too bad yourself." Draco smirked, taking a lot pride out of that comment.
"Have you been drinking Miss Granger or was that a genuine compliment I just heard?" Draco asked amused. Just then, Hermione stumbled slightly and blushed bright red, for at least the third time that evening. She made an embarrassed kind of noise and looked down at the floor. "Dead brides aren't supposed to be flawless you know," Draco smirked, quietly.
"Is that so?" Hermione asked, smiling slightly, "You're very good at dancing Malfoy."
Draco grinned and said, "I'd be a pretty rubbish Malfoy if I couldn't dance." Hermione rolled her eyes, so Draco added awkwardly, "But thanks." Hermione looked at him slightly surprised, their feet in sync with each other, waltzing peacefully and completely oblivious to the looks people were giving them. By this point, Hermione had forgotten her 'issue' with Draco. The one about him working for that man, if you could call him a man, who was trying to hunt and kill her parents.
.
"What the hell does he think he's doing!" Pansy hissed through gritted teeth on the other side of the room.
"Dancing with Granger?" Blaise shrugged, smirking.
"I will murder that mudblood!" Pansy fumed, taking a step towards them, but Theo held her back.
"Pans. Oi Pansy look at me!" Theo snapped impatiently. Pansy stopped trying to get at the dead bride and turned to face the dementor looking her in the eye. "What?" She snapped.
"Chill out. He's only dancing with her cos we dared him to," Theo grinned.
"Why you insolent son of a bitch!" Pansy fumed, bringing her hand up to thump him.
"Ouch!" Theo exclaimed in pain.
"Oi Pansy stop it," Blaise said sternly.
"Are you trying to break us up?!" Pansy moaned, "Why the hell did you ask Draco to dance with a mudblood?! Her, of all mudbloods!"
"Give her a break Pans," Theo heaved.
"Give it a... What? You - you - you can't be fucking serious! It's filth!"
"Yeah, that's why we found it funny for Draco to dance with her," Blaise hurried, stamping on Theo's foot. Unlike Theo, Blaise knew when to not mess with people and back down. Theo could be very... Stubborn. "Yeah," muttered Theo, "hilarious."
"You two's stupidity may have just lost me a relationship!"
"If you have that little faith in him -" Theo began.
"But that's the point! He doesn't love me!"
"Oh shut up Pansy! Go bring it up with him later if it meets this much to you!" Theo said in a raised voice causing a few people to glance in their direction. Pansy looked furious and looked between the two of them, before turning and storming off to find Tracey and Millicent Bulstrode. "I think we've done it," Theo grinned, pleased.
"If this all backfires, I'm holding you responsible," Blaise muttered, "Besides, I'm still not convinced he likes her."
"Oh come on Blaise! He only looks at her in like every lesson!"
"And he seems so beaten and confused lately! Do you really think pushing him into this will help?"
"We're not doing anything, nothing at all! Apart from giving them quality time."
"Oh what the hell Theo. Really? I mean does she even like him back? What if she like, breaks him. Then we've got to deal with a furious, out of control Draco, which is not pleasant as I'm sure you can remember. And what about Pansy?!"
"What about her?"
"She'll be literally broken."
"Are you having a laugh mate?! God she only wants him for the money! Haven't you seen her out kissing other boys when Draco's in his dorm? I mean damn she's nearly kissed me!"
"Wait what? You know what I'm not even going to ask. But - are you sure about this man?"
"Positive."
A few minutes later, an audible laugh came from the drinks table, where a group of Slytherin girls (mostly sixth and seventh years) were laughing and gossiping with each other. "See that girl?" Theo asked Blaise.
"Yeah, Daphne Greengrass."
"Heard she's got her eyes on you."
"I'm just soooo attractive."
"No, really. You should go talk to her."
"You are joking aren't you? Daphne. All time popular, hot, fucking Greengrass?!
"Yeah, really. She really does like you."
"Don't believe you."
"Hmm?"
"Prove it!"
"Alright," Theo smirked, "Hey, Daphne!" Daphne looked over and Blaise's eyes widened. "Blaise was just wondering if you were available!" Blaise looked at him, annoyed. Daphne on the other hand came over and instantly started flirting and batting her eyelashes. Theo just stood back and observed his friend's reactions. Priceless, that's what it was. He was trying to act the big guy, showing off. However, much to Theo's amusement, Daphne seemed quite taken to him. "Dance with me?" Daphne asked, cocking her head to the side and giving him puppy eyes. Blaise just grinned and lead Cruella Devil onto the dance floor (that was her costume). Theo smirked.
.
"Where is Hermione?" Parvati pouted. She and Padma had been walking around for at least a minute with butter beers trying to find Hermione, but she was not at the table they'd left her at. "She must be dancing," Padma sighed.
"With who?" Parvati asked annoyed.
"I don't - Oh. My. God. Merlin... Sis, I can see her," Padma said slowly, disbelievingly.
"What? Where?"
"She," Padma said, astounded, "She's dancing with... With... She's dancing with Malfoy."
"What?" Parvati snorted, "That is the worst joke ever."
"I'm not joking, look!" Padma pointed to the twirling couple.
"What do we do?"
"Are you serious?" Padma asked incredulously, staring at her twin, "Leave her be! She looks so happy!"
"With him?!"
"Hell yeah with him." There was a pause.
"Ok," Parvati sighed eventually, "But I'm not happy with this. At all."
.
"Merlin's beard..." Ginny murmured.
"What?" Harry smiled at her.
"Hermione. She's dancing with him."
"Who?! Ron?!" Harry bolted upright as if struck by lightning and looked around for the red haired boy, but it was too busy devouring his girlfriend's lips to take any notice. "No idiot," Ginny hissed, pointing out Hermione. Harry's eyes located his best friend, and his jaw dropped to the floor. Rubbing his eyes furiously, he tried to process this information. Hermione, Gryffindor's Princess dancing with Malfoy, Slytherin Prince. No. Way. "This is not happening!" Harry retorted loudly. "No way no fucking way is she dancing with him! No. He's done something to her. Must've. What the hell?!" He fumed, making his way over to the couple.
"Harry! Harry please!" Ginny cried after him, grabbing his shoulder to hold him back, but he shrugged her off. "Harry!" She tried again, grabbing his middle and holding on for dear life. "Ginny get off!"
"Harry POTTER!" the younger girl shouted angrily. "You listen to me right now!" Harry turned and looked his girlfriend dead in the face. "What?" He growled.
"Let them be," she whispered softly. Harry released some of the tension in his body and looked down at his girlfriend intently.
"What?" He asked, more gently.
"I said, let them be," she breathed. "She's happy." Harry just looked at her, then back to the smiling dead bride and nodded his head, sighing. "I can't bare the thought that they could become friends Gin, I don't know why!" Harry groaned. "He's dangerous!"
"Maybe not," Ginny smiled, "After all, he didn't need to save her, and he is human, after all."
"He's a death eater."
"He's a guy who is dancing with our best friend and is making her happy."
"He's dangerous though! Say Voldemort," Ginny flinched at the name, "asked him to kill her! Then what?!" He fumed.
"Then pray to Merlin he does the right thing," Ginny sighed.
.
The vampire bowed to his dead bride and smirked, saying, "This is the end of our second song now, you want me to leave?" Hermione looked intently up at the vampire, studying him. "Delzma's about to start singing again," Hermione smiled gingerly, "One more dance couldn't hurt right?" Draco grinned at her and smirked, "One more dance then." Delzma made her way onto the stage and the band struck their first chord. Delzma started to sing. "Who is this?" Draco asked with a bizarre expression.
"Katy Perry, Firework," Hermione smiled, embarrassed, "She's a muggle singer."
"She's not bad," Draco smirked, "For a muggle." Hermione scowled at him but he just smirked even more. And then everyone started jumping up and down with their hands in the air, screaming and whooping as Delzma sang into the microphone, "Baby you're a Firework!"
.
Harry looked at Ginny and grinned. "Look at her," Ginny grinned. Harry looked at the dead bride, who was jumping up and down in her long, black and red dress. "Yeah?" Harry grinned back, "Maybe he isn't too bad... With her, anyway." Ginny just shook her head and smiled to herself. "Heya!" Neville called over to them. Neville, who was dressed as a werewolf, was linking arms with a... Thing? "Hey Neville, Luna," Ginny smiled, "Luna, what are you, may I ask?" Luna shook her head and smiled, saying as though it were obvious, "I'm a heliopath, silly!" The girl in the fiery dress said. She'd done something to it to make it smoke.
"What's a erm... A Hello path?" Harry asked, confused.
"Oh Harry it's HeliOpath not Hello Path! I told you about these a few years ago! You know, when I falsely believed Cornelius Fudge to have an army of them!" Luna smiled exasperatedly. Ginny and Harry both looked at Neville, who looked a little torn between his own beliefs and his slightly crazy girlfriend's, then looked back to Luna and nodded.
"Erm.." Neville said, trying to break the awkward silence, "Where's Hermione?"
"Dancing," Harry shrugged although there was a slight edge to his voice.
"With? The Patils?" Neville asked unsurely.
"No, the Patils are dancing over near the drinks," Luna smiled.
"Then... Who? By her...self?" Neville asked tentatively.
"Malfoy," Ginny smiled, as if this were totally normal.
"Wait what?!" Neville asked dumbfounded, searching the hall with his eyes.
"Hmm, that was a strange turn of events. Yet... Completely expected," Luna hummed casually.
"Malfoy?!" Neville asked in disbelief.
"Oh Neville stop asking for clarification," Ginny snapped, "Yes, the Gryffindor princess is off getting down to some sick beats with the Slytherin prince." Neville still looked slightly baffled but, looking at Ginny and Harry's calm stance, he assumed all was fine by this.
Until the shout. "HERMIONE!" Ron yelled, dressed as a zombie.
"Wonny leave her! You've got ME!" Lavender moaned, who was dressed as a scarlet woman - appropriately. Hermione and Draco looked around at the furious red head and the look of startled fright instantly turned to loathing. "What?" She spat.
"Malfoy get away from her!" Ron growled, approaching the unlikely dance couple in the middle of the floor. The crowd parted for him, Lavender closely behind him. "No," Draco said, as though he thought the idea was ridiculous.
"Hermione why the heck are you dancing with him?!" Ron yelled.
"Won Won come on! Miss mudblood is none of your concern!" Lavender pouted.
"Oi!" Harry yelled, coming over to join the quarrel, "I told you not to call her that bitch."
"Harry leave her out of this," Ron growled, not breaking eye contact with the vampire. Everyone in the entire hall had gone quiet. The band looked at each other before striking up a very intense piece of music, almost perfect for the scene. It was called Dragon Rider, by Two Steps From Hell. "Ron, get lost," Hermione spat, "You have no power over me!"
"No mudblood, he doesn't! But he's right. Get away from my boyfriend!" Pansy growled, glaring at the girl next to her vampire.
"Theo, I told you this was a bad idea!" Blaise moaned. Theo just grinned.
"Leave Hermione alone!" Parvati snapped.
"Make me GryffinBitch!" Pansy said loudly, angrily.
"Enough!" Snape yelled, trying to make himself seen by the entire hall of students.
"Students please!" McGonagall cried out.
"You will pay for that one Parkinson!" Padma yelled.
"Malfoy I said get the fuck away from her!" Ron yelled, furious.
"Why should I?" Draco snapped, humiliated that the whole hall was looking at him and Granger standing together.
"Please just stop fighting?" Hermione moaned.
"Granger why the hell? You're fraternising with the enemy!" Ron yelled.
"Enemy?!" Draco cried out, enraged, "Says the one who fucking attacked an innocent girl twice!"
"Oh my god..." Hermione muttered, embarrassed immensely.
"LEAVE HIM OUT!" Lavender yelled, "She's a frigging mudblood! Us purebloods can do what we want to it!" That stung.
"MISS BROWN!" A teacher shrieked.
"YOU BITCH TAKE THAT BACK!" Ginny screamed. Hermione bit her lip. Really? Was that really what she thought of her?
"Draco come over here where you belong!" Pansy pleaded. Draco shut his eyes tightly and prayed to evaporate on the spot. He didn't. "MUDBLOOD LEAVE HIM BE!" Pansy screamed at her, whereas Lavender just stormed forward and slapped Hermione's face, causing her to stumble into Draco, who discreetly put his hand out to stable her. "SHUT UP!" Parvati yelled, whilst Ginny completely lost it and ripped her angel wings off and flung herself at Pansy, knocking her off her feet. "GINNY WEASLEY!" Another teacher yelled, but the swarm of students was too thick for any teacher to penetrate it. "Ginny get back here!" Harry yelled, going after his girlfriend. "LUMOS SOLEM!" Hermione shrieked, pointing her wand high in the air, emitted a bright beam of light, as bright as sunlight, blinding everybody in the room. She'd only used that spell once before, in their first year at Hogwarts. "EVERYBODY SHUT IT!" She yelled. Everyone was now looking at her. "Ginny get off of Parkinson! You are both prefects! Act like it! As for you Ronald Weasley, I am only dancing with the head boy, as the head girl and head boy had to do a dance together, unfortunately. Does that satisfy you? And you, Pansy? Good! Now could we please just carry on with this party already?!" Everyone continued to stare for a moment, before Ginny slowly got off of Pansy, and Pansy stood up, brushing herself down. Hermione nodded at the band and they started to play an upbeat version of Hello, by Adelle. Then, she walked over to Professor McGonagall and apologised profusely. "Miss Granger, I know perfectly well that it was Mr Weasley who instigated this whole affair, so stop worrying yourself. However, I do want to just say that there was never a discussion where you and Mr Malfoy had to dance," McGonagall smiled knowingly. Hermione blushed and thanked her head of house, before turning and walking away.
"Minerva I strongly suggest -" Snape began.
"There will be no punishment, other than for Miss Brown for what she said, and twenty points from Gryffindor and Slytherin," McGonagall interrupted him, closing the discussion. At this rate it looked like bloody Hufflepuff would win the house cup.
"Reparo," Harry murmured to Ginny's back, and the wings fixed themselves back onto the dress.
"Thanks Harry," she smiled.
"I need to talk to Hermione for a sec," he replied with a smile. Ginny nodded and turned to Parvati and Padma. With a heavy heart, Harry traipsed over to Hermione, who was sitting on her own with a glass of water. "Hey," she smiled.
"Hi," Harry grinned, "Look, I know for a fact that what you said was not true." Hermione looked away. "Are you like... Into Malfoy?"
"HARRY?!" Hermione said aghast, looking at him shocked, "Never!"
"Yeah, Gin said you'd say that. Look I didn't want to come here to fight," Harry said quickly, spotting Hermione's expression, "I just wanted to apologise for Ron being a jerk. Everything will be fine in the end alright?" Hermione nodded. "I should be going back to Gin now," he smiled, "bye 'Mione." And with that he walked back and Hermione's gaze fell on Pansy and Draco. He really was a good dancer. "Snap out of it!" She thought furiously. "Death eater!"
.
"What the hell Drakey?!" Pansy moaned, "Blaise said he dared you! Were you lying? No Draco get the fuck away from me!" She snapped as Draco went to touch Pansy's shoulder. "Pans it waaaas a dare, but we also had to do a dance as head boy and girl, it's just I was kinda mad about it and... Blaise pushed me to do it. It meant nothing I swear!" Draco pleaded with her.
"You told me before you didn't like her," Pansy sighed. Draco looked at her, worriedly. "Tell me, if Weasley hadn't interfered, would you two still be dancing?" She asked, in a firm tone. Draco closed his eyes and lied.
"Never, she's nothing I swear Pansy."
"That's a lie!" Pansy choked through fresh tears, hurt.
"What? No it's not - Pansy don't cry."
"Tell me the truth!" She sobbed angrily.
"I don't know!" He yelled.
"Draco I love you, but this is tiring. You don't love me. You never will. There's plenty of guys in Slytherin who'd be more than happy to be mine! You're just a spoilt jerk who takes me for granted!"
"Pansy wait!" Draco called, but she was already at the doors, banging them both open and storming out, cat tail swishing behind her. "Damn you blew it," Theo muttered.
"Don't you fucking DARE start!" Draco spat angrily, "You instigated this! All of it! I hope you two are happy!"
"Draco! Hear me out man. This is stupid!"
"Piss off!"
"No." Theo breathed, "You need to sort it out man. The world knows you and Pansy will never make it and I know for a fact that you couldn't keep your eyes off your dorm mate."
"Leave me ALONE!" The vampire fumed, storming over to the drinks table and getting an empty glass, then heading straight over to Fred and snapping angrily, "I want a full glass!" He held out his glass, waiting.
"Geez Malfoy calm it! Why should I -" Fred began, but Draco just snatched the bottle of fire whisky and poured it into his glass with a steady hand, then shoved it back at Fred with a couple of sickles and chugged down the liquor. With that, he slammed the glass down on the table and went to stand with Theo, as Blaise was dancing with Daphne still. What the hell had just happened?
.
"Harry I love you too, but why are you -" Ginny smiled but Harry put his finger on her lip and silenced her.
"Because I never want you to forget," he breathed. Ginny smiled.
"Erm... Harry?" Ron asked awkwardly. Ginny whipped around and glared at her older brother.
"What could you possibly want?" She spat.
"Hey look, Gin, I'm really sorry for everything. Look I messed up... Big time... But I still like... Like I want to make sure you're all okay," Ron sighed. "What ever," Ginny sighed, not in the mood for another scene.
"Harry?" Ron asked again, "It's ten to midnight."
"Yeah alright," Harry sighed, forcing a smile. He kissed Ginny on the forehead and went over to Neville and Luna, who were dancing to Uptown Funk. "Hey, Neville," Harry grinned awkwardly, "A word?" Neville nodded and followed Harry to a private corner. Harry whispered something to him and Neville looked nervous for a moment, but then nodded his head defiantly and looked him dead in the eye, saying something back. Then, just like that, Harry and Ron left the hall and Neville returned back to Luna, to dance the last five or so minutes they had on the dance floor.
.
"Hey Hermione," Ginny smiled, "Where's Harry?"
"I'm not sure, he came over a minute ago being all apologetic and weird but yeah. Why?" Hermione asked.
"Wait you too?" Ginny asked with wide eyes.
"What do you mean? Wait he weirded out on you too?!" Hermione asked with wide eyes.
"Yeah..." Ginny sighed, "And then Ron came over and -"
"And what?!" Hermione said panicky, "Tell me everything!"
"He apologised for being a jerk and told Harry it was ten to midnight," Ginny breathed, realisation dawning on her.
"Then what?"
They left..." She breathed, "And went over to Neville and Luna... Neville looked shocked, Harry was whispering something to him..."
"Oh my God... No!" Hermione moaned, "They're leaving! They're leaving to find those damn horcruxes!"
"No they - they can't!" Ginny gasped, aghast, no idea on what horcruxes were.
"Come on!" Hermione said firmly, haring out of the hall heading for Gryffindor tower, Ginny right behind her. The clock struck midnight, with twelve, Earth shattering dongs. Upon the eleventh dong, Hermione was at the portrait, panting "Fortitudo!" The portrait swung open to let her in and Hermione tore her way up to the boys dorm, casting on the stairs. "Harry!" She screamed, looking around the room, but in vain. No one was there. She wrenched their draws open and found them empty, all their belongings had disappeared. "Oh my God," Ginny breathed, clutching her throat and clenching her eyes shut tight. Both their brooms were gone too. Hermione pelted over to the window to see the silhouette of two figures on brooms and an owl soaring along side them. "HARRY!" Hermione screamed as loud as she could. She thought she saw one of the brooms turn and drop slightly, but they were so far away. Hermione collapsed onto the window sill and watched the boys soar out of sight.
He thought he heard his name, so he urged around to look back at the place he'd grown up in and saw his dorm light on and a silhouette of a girl staring out the window. He could have sworn he saw bushy hair. "Hermione," he murmured.
"Come on," the red haired boy sighed, drawing Harry out of his thoughts. "We have a mission ahead and horcruxes to destroy and after all that, a dark lord to kill." And with that, Harry turned back to the mission at hand and flew beside his best friend. Ron looked over at him and murmured, "Come on, Chosen One."
A/N Awwwwe I feel so bad for the girls. Draco and Hermione are finally closing up the gap a bit, but what'll they think now they've been seen by the whole school together? Was Hermione's excuse enough? Again, please review guys, they mean a lot. Well, see you on Friday!