Masquerade Act One: Hidden Figures

The Second Dance: Spiraling Inferno

A/N: Chapter two is up! I tried using Dante's Inferno in this chapter but I haven't really read much of it so what I have is from the internet. Apologizes if it's not correct but I don't exactly have the book on me to double check.

They yearn for what they fear for-Dante

Hermione awoke in a bit of a disarray, flat on her back on her bed. What happened? Was the first thought that ran through her head. She had the distinct impression she had fallen unconscious onto the floor yesterday and her head throbbed were she recalled hitting it on her way to the ground but she couldn't be certain. Had she fainted upon arrival in her room? Had the guard done something?

She lay silent for a while, rubbing at the hurt flesh soothingly as she tried to grasp her memories from the day before. Something in her ear whispered insistently to her to forget and to give up on trying to remember but she ignored the voice, silencing it and intently focusing on the blurry recollections of yesterday's events. Her efforts were soon met with results and she conjured up the basic idea that she had gotten in trouble last night for asking questions no one would answer. And that she was uneasy about this place, and about how she didn't like how she had no idea how she got here. And had they tempered with her memories or something? It felt like someone had tried to get her to forget what occurred the day prior. But why? What was wrong with asking questions?

"What the bloody hell is going on?" Hermione wondered a bit miffed. Nothing made sense as of right now. Getting up from her bed she noticed her clothes had been changed. It was still an all white outfit with yellow gems stitched in, but now the dress was a bit shorter, exposing a good chunk of her legs. Feeling her head she found she had on a huge white sunhat with a sunflower sticking out if it. How had her clothes changed? Did they do it by themselves or did someone come dress her while she was asleep...she shivered to think of that one being true.

Was it the next day already? Curse this! She had no sense of time in this place and there was no clock anywhere. But there had to be a window. She recalled how the torches in her room moved. The breeze had to come from somewhere.

She hopped out bed and rushed to the wall where there were heavy purple curtains draping the windows. There indeed was a window open, only a small sliver but enough that Hermione could wedge her fingers up to attempt moving it wider. Outside the world looked happy and warm, fields of yellow, pink and purple flowers swaying gently in a breeze as the sun looked down on them. The fields stretched for as far as Hermione could see and appeared to surround the premise of the whole building. She felt a sudden urge to leave this place behind. Could she perhaps leave this place through the window? She seemed to be at a fairly low level, two or three stories up judging from the height of it. If only she could make this window open!

She had been trying to pull it upwards for the past five minutes but it wouldn't move! Was it stuck? She checked the whole length of the frame, tapping on the wood, pushing against the glass but at last she had to give up with a frustrated sigh, her cheeks slightly warm from the exertion of trying to pull the window up with all her might. What in Merlin's name was wrong with this window? She couldn't get it to open. What was she to do?

A knock on her door stopped her contemplation's and she rushed over, hoping to see whoever it was that kept knocking on her doors, yet when she opened it no one was there, only another white mask waiting for her on the floor. She picked it up, admiring the beauty of it. It was different from yesterdays. It was smaller, only covering her eyes and was lacy, with small sunflowers patterned onto it. Another note rested on the inside of the mask and she opened it after she had put the mask on.

Tea under the tree

for a lovely young lady

nothing shady

Hermione let out an amused snort. Nothing shady, huh? Very well she would attend this tea ceremony or whatever it was if only it could offer her more clues on what was going on here. This time she would have to be more low key about it, she didn't want someone to catch on and get kicked out again.

She left her room, wondering where this tea ceremony would even be. Could she take the elevator there? She went in the direction she had yesterday, and upon rounding the corner she found that there was no elevator there but a wide open door leading to a balcony that was longer than it should feasibly be so without it breaking off the side of the building. Narrowing her eyes in confusion, she hesitantly stepped outside, the warm air hitting her body. It was hot enough to be pleasant but not too hot and the sun warmed her skin perfectly. She was glad her clothes for today involved a short dress length even if the sleeves were still long. The men weren't as lucky, all of them dressed in tuxedos, collars up to their chins. They were milling around, talking to one another as all the women sat settled at white tables outside, sipping tea that was being served to them by workers of this hotel, as Hermione had decided to dub this building until she got a better grasp of her situation. All of the women wore sunhats like Hermione and yet again the guests were wearing masks that matched their outfits.

Hermione sat down at an empty seat at one of the partly full tables and no sooner had she gotten comfortable than a waiter approached her and poured her a cup of tea. She accepted it gratefully and was delighted to find it was her favorite, although how she knew it was her favorite as this was her first time drinking tea, she didn't understand and decided that wasn't one of her more pressing concerns that needed to be answered. There were a couple of women chatting at the table Hermione had sat at, all of them nodding their head in acknowledgment of her presence here as they continued their chatter. They were talking about trivial things, such as the weather here. How would Hermione ever get them to talk about what she wanted?

"Is the weather always nice here?" she asked when she spotted a lull in the conversation she could take advantage of.

"Why of course it is," answered a red haired women sharply.

"Rebecca, don't be rude. She's probably a newcomer here," answered a fat women with a pleasant sounding voice. Rebecca only scowled at her.

"What's your name dear?" asked a blonde haired woman who Hermione deduced was the leader of the group of women as all of them paid close attention to what she said and how she moved. When the blonde had turned her attention fully on Hermione the others did the same.

"It's Hermione," Hermione said. She was confident this was her name yet it felt like it lacked something. She didn't have time to dwell on this because the woman was already moving on.

"My name is Druella. And this is Rebecca, Sarah and Misty." She pointed one by one to her friends. "Are you new here, dear?" Whatever did being 'new' mean?

Hermione nodded her head, helping herself to some biscuits that were laid out on the table in front of her. "I have some questions about this place."

"Questions?" Rebecca laughed. "Why concern yourself with such silly things!"

"Yes, just eat, drink and enjoy yourself my dear," the fat woman Sarah said, raising her glass to her mouth in earnest. Hermione merely frowned and put down the biscuit she had already half bitten into. She didn't feel like eating it anymore. Why was everyone here so insistent on eating and not questioning on what was going on? Last time she had spoken to someone they had insisted on the same.

"These are just questions about this place. I'm new here so I'm wondering if there are any rules or something I should follow so I won't get into trouble." Hermione reassured them, hoping to prompt them into answering her.

"Rules?" Misty echoed.

"The only rule is to eat, drink and play, Ms. Hermione," Druella stated, reaching for a scone on the platter of sweets on the middle of the table. Hermione had to fight back to kept the frustrated growl from coming out of her mouth. She already had heard this! When would she hear something new!?

"But, beside that there is one other rule. No trouble making," Sarah waggled her sausage like finger at Hermione. "It's rude to everyone else. People just want to relax and enjoy the peace here as they wait."

"Wait for what?" Hermione leaned closer, feeling like she was getting at something. Sarah looked a bit unnerved by Hermione's interest and exchanged a look with Druella, asking wordlessly for help with what to say.

"Wait for their turn," Druella responded smoothly.

Hermione had to resist the urge to slap all of them, starting with Druella. This was the same thing she had learned yesterday! She was not closer to getting anywhere with this! Were the people here like a broken record or something?

"So all we do is drink our tea and wait? Is that all we do?" Hermione asked, her nostrils flaring as she struggled to contain her anger.

"We do more than just that!" Rebecca snorted.

"Yes, we do more!" Misty echoed.

"We go to shows, we go to parties, we go to swimming lessons, to the movies-we do many things. I can't even remember them all, the days all seem to blur into one," Sarah said fondly, remembering the fun she had had with her friends.

"I bet they do," Hermione mumbled darkly under her breath. "So you get to leave this hotel?" She said this more loudly, hoping that in the very least if she couldn't figure out what was going on this place she could in the very least leave. All she had seen was flower fields from her window and even now past the balcony railing there were more fields as far as the eye could see.

"Oh goodness no!" Sarah laughed pleasantly and the others joined in briefly, amused that Hermione would assume such a thing. "Everything we could ever want is at the hotel. We're never bored while we wait. We have no need to leave!"

Hermione locked her jaw and let out a shaky breath through her nose. So there was nowhere to go to? And how could these people just be so dumb and give into this place and whatever spell it had them under? "And how long have you been waiting for?"

This seemed to stop whatever the women had been about to say next and they turned confused and uncomfortable glances at one another. "How long?" Sarah whispered, choking on her words. Rebecca looked down at her tea and Misty's cup began shaking in her hand, spilling hot liquid onto her lap but she didn't notice. Only Druella looked angry to have that question demanded of her. "Well I never," she said in an offended tone of voice, disgust on her face.

"I don't know," moaned Misty, her hand shaking so much now she let the cup go. It dropped onto her lap and then bounced to the floor where it shattered. "I don't know!" she screamed, suddenly standing up and slapping her hands onto the table top, startling Hermione. Once again Hermione could feel everyone's gaze on her back, all the patrons having stopped in their pleasant talk and turning impassive faces on her. Clouds covered the sun, throwing the balcony into shadows. A cold breeze blew across, moving tissues and scattering them haphazardly. One landed on Hermione's arm and she brushed it away.

"Misty calm down," Druella insisted, getting up from her seat. "You're causing a scene." When the panicked woman did not silence and only screamed more loudly, her hands coming up to her ears and crazed eyes fixed on the table cloth, Druella snapped her gaze to her two other friends who were staring gloomily at their table in contemplation. "Rebecca, Sarah," the two looked up on their names. "Quit this moping around and help get Misty inside. We're leaving," at this she cast a hateful look at Hermione. "This bitch behind." She threw down the napkin she had used to cover her lap onto the table and turned on her heel to leave. Sarah and Rebecca cast Hermione equally hateful looks and grasped Misty by one arm each, dragging her away.

"I don't know how long I've been here! Has it been days, years?" Misty wailed as she was escorted out and back into the hotel. Her vocalizations slowly died out and the brunette gulped deeply, watching her until she disappeared.

Hermione winced, the scene all too reminiscent of what had happened yesterday. What was going on with this place? Every time she asked too many questions of another person they freaked out! This wasn't adding up.

She could still feel the stares of the masked patrons on her and she ducked her head, focusing on her tea, her skin prickling with unease. Then she felt it again, that burning stare from before. She looked up to see across the balcony that a figure clad in black was staring at her, heavy cloak around their shoulders. They were too far away for Hermione to discern their features but she could see the glint of the gold mask, glowing even in no sun, and she was certain that it was them, the same person from last time. She jumped up in her seat wanting to talk to them. They seemed different from the others, untouched by the patrons and spell of this place.

"Wait!" Hermione cried out but the figure had already turned her back and with one smooth motion vaulted off of the balcony. "No!" Hermione cried, running after them and pushing past the unmoving people. She bumped into a few but they did not utter any words or cries of pain, just looked on at her as she moved to the balcony edge, bodies turning to follow her actions silently. Breathless, she peered over the railing expecting- she didn't know what, a corpse? The person standing down there and looking up at her?-but all she saw was nothing but the gentle sway of the flowers several feet below her.

She let out a groan of disappointment and leaned her back on the railing as she cast a glance up to the sky. It was still dark. What was going on with this place? She had no clue except that she knew this mysterious figure was watching her. Would they hold the answers to her issues? Hermione highly doubted that but she had to try. Anything was better than smiling and pretending nothing was wrong like these people here were doing.

Sensing that she was no longer welcome here, Hermione left the tea ceremony, the people still eerily quiet as they watched her go. She rubbed the goosebumps that broke out on her skin. Why were they acting this way, all of them? So weird and unexplained?

She made her way back to her room, wondering if she was going to pass out again upon entrance. Tentatively poking her toe past the threshold, she determined that was a good indicator of telling whether it would happen or not. Remaining conscious she let the rest of her body pass through and found she did not fall to the ground. But what was she going to do now? Would she just sit in her room for the remainder of her time here until her time of 'wait' was over? When would it even be over? She had a feeling it would take a really long time if Misty's cries were any indication.

Should she try the window again and see if she could escape? No, maybe later. A new dress awaited her on her bed sheets, demanding her immediate attention. So I get to dress myself this time, she thought sarcastically. A note was on top of her yet again white dress, this one more elegant and long, with a slew of necklaces and bracelets to be worn with it. She tore the note open, the cursive letters curling up at her.

Given your antics it seems you crave a show

So we'll give you one

What the hell? This note seemed ominous. Was whoever that was in charge of this place getting mad at her? Hermione swallowed nervously. She wasn't going to let a simple threat like that stop her. She would go to this show, whatever it was and show them she wouldn't be easily scared away. Turning the note around she found a ticket attached to it on a play to Dante's Inferno. It didn't say when the show was but Hermione wasn't going to wait around. She didn't know how time worked here, (or anything for that matter) but she assumed that the show would be playing shortly as to whatever she got an invitation to always seemed to be happening at the time she got it.

She dressed into her new clothes, finding a matching mask that was simple and missing any ornamentation, along with a pair of binoculars on a stick that would help her watch the show.

She swept out of the room knowing already which way she had to go. It was the same way she had gotten to the night club and to the tea ceremony. The sound of orchestral music also helped to lead her to the right place and rounding the corner she was greeted by the sight of the entrance of a opera hall. There was a line of people waiting to go in, some women and men walking in pairs together to give their tickets over to the men clad in red waiting for them. Hermione settled into the line, wondering if they knew who she was, if they had been there when she had caused Misty to freak out. Were these even the same people? It was impossible to tell with all the outfits and the masks.

"Ticket, madame," the man at the front said, holding out his hand once she got to him. She still felt unease although the mask provided her with protection from them knowing her true identity. The ominous sounding note from before rang in her mind. Would she meet her reckoning here? But they couldn't harm her surely in front of others? Scratch that thought, the people probably wouldn't care, just look on blankly as it occurred.

She should have brought something to protect herself, her hand twitching reflexively. She felt like she was missing something really important but she couldn't tell what.

"You can go in."

She entered the place, taking scope of the surroundings. She couldn't spot any immediate dangers but that didn't mean there weren't any. She followed a group of chattering old men and sat down in the row behind them, near the front of the stage. She'd like it better if she could have a balcony seat but they all looked empty and blocked off and she had to wonder who it would be for. The people quickly settled down into the red theater seats and soon all the lights dimmed, excited and hushed murmuring filling the air as the theater goers eagerly waited for the show to start.

Hermione in the meanwhile thumbed through the pamphlet she had been given by a usher as she had passed by. She gave the program a look and her eyes widened in disbelief.

Today's showing: Dante's Inferno

Tomorrow's showing: Dante's Inferno

The Day after Tomorrow: Dante's Inferno

And this continued on until Hermione's head began to hurt. Did they really play the same show over and over again? This was a minor detail that shouldn't have bothered Hermione but for some inexplicable reason it did and she crumpled up the program in her hands. Was this what her stay here was going to look like? The same thing day in and day out? She didn't think she could deal with that! She bent over and took deep breaths between her legs, trying not to hyperventilate. She had to calm down, she could do this. Lights went on stage and Hermione looked up. The show had begun.

She was antsy at first but as time went on she grew more invested in the play and the trials and tribulations of the characters, eventually forgetting her worries for now. The play was a masterpiece with amazing scenery and acting. And the complexity of the text, which spoke of evil as a contradiction of god's will, of storytelling as a way of immortality, of the giant motif of those who had neither committed to good or bad in their life being forced into chasing a blank banner for the rest of their days, all stuck vividly with the brunette.

When the show ended Hermione stood to her feet to give the actors a standing ovation along with the rest of the audience, but while they had been blindly wrapped up in the play and thought of it as mere entertainment Hermione's mind had been working over time. Why would this hotel show this play over and over again? It acted like it was very important. Which had to mean that it was.

Themes of hell and heaven and how one's actions in life lead to consequences in the afterlife...this was heavy material. While Hermione didn't have the piece to link this to what she was currently facing she was certain she could make something of it sooner or later.

As she waited for the people in her row to clear out before she could go she spotted the glint of gold from her peripheral vision. Snapping her head back she saw them, the black figure from before. They were standing on the now emptied stage, partially hidden by the curtains but Hermione could see them and the way they stared right into her, eyes burrowing into her flesh. Thoughts of leaving the theater fled her head and hastily pushing her way out of her row, mumbling apologizes for those whose toes she trampled on, she rushed up to the stage, the figure having already disappeared. She searched through the curtains, huffing in irritation. Why did they keep disappearing like this?

"Hey you, get down from there!" a man called to get Hermione to get off the stage but the girl ignored him, her eyes finding the gold masked figure standing in the backstage area now, waiting patiently for her. "Hey you, I want to talk to you!" she spat racing after them and they bolted, swerving through the set pieces and people working around them.

"Wait up!" Hermione cried, her dress pulled up in her hands so she wouldn't trip over the length of it as she chased them. People gave angry cries as the two swerved around them knocking one down to their feet, his tools clattered to the ground around him.

The figure lead the way to a darkened stairway and jumped down the stairs, taking them two at a time. Hermione followed after them, cursing the fact that she was wearing heels. Her feet were already throbbing in pain and she felt tempted to rip them off of her feet. But if she paused now she would lose the figure all over again.

They raced through a dark corridor which looked to be a service tunnel, the figure never once slowing down or stumbling. Hermione felt her breath rattle against her chest and her leg muscles screamed at her to slow down. "Hey, wait. I just want to talk to you!" Hermione begged. She didn't know how much longer she could run. The figure stopped on hearing those words, their long black robe coming to a rest as they slowed. Hermione slowed down as well, catching her break and glad they had finally paused. But then she saw the smirk on their lips before they ducked into one of the rooms.

"Fuck this shit," Hermione muttered darkly but followed nevertheless. She peered into the room only to find it had a door leading to another room. The door looked to be locked and the figure from before was gone. Had they gone inside? That was the only reasonable answer. Would she have to chase them again? She decided to catch her breath first before she ventured any further. Once she could breathe more steadily she approached the door and pushed it open, closing her eyes as bright light assaulted them. Once they adjusted she stifled a gasp and dropped to her knees, hiding behind a box that was positioned close to the door.

Her heart was pounding heavily in her chest.

She was in a room full of dead bodies.