Masquerade Act One: Hidden Figures

The Eleventh Dance: A Dance to Remember

A/N: Thanks once again to all who are following this story. It means a lot, especially since its my first attempt at HP fanfic and since I love and respect the series. I literally devoured the books when they first came out. I hope to continue writing HP fanfiction and know I will be dabbling more with this ship potentially. (I absolutely hate that Ron and Hermione ended up together. I really think she deserved someone better, like Harry or something, but unfortunately I'm not the author of the series so I can't do anything about it.)

Also I finally managed to include the freaking masquerade scene that I wanted to do since the start of this series. It took me forever to pull it off, but I did, finally :)

Masquerade! Paper faces on parade
Masquerade! Hide your face so the world will never find you
Masquerade! Every face a different shade
Masquerade! Look around, there's another mask behind you

Flash of mauve, splash of puce
Fool and king, ghoul and goose
Green and black, queen and priest
Trace of rouge, face of beast, faces

Take your turn, take a ride
On the merry-go-round in an inhuman race
Eye of gold, true is false
Who is who?

Curl of lip, swirl of gown
Ace of hearts, face of clown, faces
Drink it in, drink it up till you've drowned
In the light, in the sound but who can name the face?

Masquerade! Grinning yellows, spinning reds
Masquerade! Take your fill, let the spectacle astound you
Masquerade! Burning glances, turning heads
Masquerade! Stop and stare at the sea of smiles around you

Masquerade! Seething shadows breathing lies
Masquerade! You can fool any friend who ever knew you
Masquerade! Leering satyrs, peering eyes
Masquerade! Run and hide, but a face will still pursue you

What a night! What a crowd!
Makes you glad
Makes you proud
All the crème, de la crème

Watching us, watching them
All our fears are in the past
Three months of relief
Of delight, of Elysian peace

-Phantom of the Opera

"Where the fuck are you Bellatrix?" Hermione growled, her concern for the other's safety turning into anger at being unable to find her. She was wandering around the maze that was the hotel, long ago having given up on remaining hidden from the judges. She was overwhelmed with the strong desire to find the black haired witch and to right the wrong of having let Voldemort escape.

The hotel hallways were empty and dim, lights flickering ominously. She had cast a lumos to provide a steady source of light for herself from her wand tip as she traveled the halls, itching to find her fellow witch. She had also cast epiksey to heal her bruises, so that now she could cast her spells properly. If only she had thought to cast it before than maybe she could have stopped Voldemort from escaping-no there's no use in thinking that now, Hermione scolded herself. Regret will get me nowhere. But if I can get Bella then she might be able to do something about it. She knows this place better than me. And besides, this is payback for trying to leave without her. I knew I shouldn't have attempted to do so in the first place.

A loud crack interrupted her thought process and she jumped, not expecting to hear it in the deathly silence of the hotel. Dorian stood in front of her and she took up a defensive stance, ready to burn him into oblivion-unless he could actually help her with the situation she had caused. That was a wild thought. "Dorian," she said warily, keeping her eyes trained on him, but paying mind to the space around her. He could have his minions show up behind her back and try to harm her.

"Hermione. I have to say you've made quite a mess of things." There was amusement in his voice.

So he knew. "Yea. I know. You don't have to rub it in."

"Well, it isn't entirely your fault. I sent Voldemort to stop you. I should have known better than to trust him. He is a snake just like me. And I know Bella goaded you into doing such things in the first place. The foolish quest for the keys...the foolish attempt to revolt against us." Dorian let out a rich chuckle, his eyes sparkling in the dark. "I don't think we've meet such a pair of troublemakers as you two in quite a long time. But speaking of Bella and of trouble, the witch is in quite a perilous position."

"What did you do to her?" Hermione spat, impatient to get to the point of this conversation.

Dorian put up his hands as if offended by the idea. "Me? Hurt a lady?" He put his hands to his chest in a fake pout. "I thought you knew me better than that. I don't hurt ladies."

"Only sleep with them and use them for their bodies."

"Sounding bitter, are we? Maybe if you had let me sleep with you in the first place then your outlook of this whole hotel would have been different. I think we could have enjoyed our time here together."

"Stay back," Hermione warned as the judge took a step closer to her. Her wand rose higher up to accentuate her threat.

"I told you I don't hurt ladies. But," at this he conjured out of thin air a golden goblet with purple grapes in it. He pulled one off and popped it into his mouth. "Other things might cause them harm. For example, Bella right now is under a certain charm, you could call it. She's at a ball of mine and she is having a grand old time. Great music, great food, even better alcohol and the ladies," at this Dorian smacked his lips together in an air kiss. "Delightful."

The brunette felt disgust rise at this. How had she ever been able to kiss him for the mission before? He was disgusting.

"However, this charm needs to be broken so that she can revert to her old self. As it is, if the charm remains in place then she will continue to be under the control of it and dance away into oblivion. If you wish to save her you must stop her before the bell chimes 12."

"And how do I stop her?"

"Have the last dance Hermione. Or I will." With an minacious wink he was gone, replaced by eleven strong and ominous chimes of a bell. The rings vibrated up and down the hall. It meant that Hermione only had an hour to rescue Bella, wherever she was. And what the fuck did he mean by last dance? That wasn't a clue at all!

Bella was floating in a world of bliss. Everything was so bright and just right. Her body felt weightless and she wanted to move it around, to share her joy and experience with others. They simply needed to feel the way she did. She wanted to talk to others, to drink with them, and to dance with them. As it was she was in a small room, dancing around in it to the faint sound of music that drifted through the thick cedar door.

A loud crack paused her dance and she turned heavily lidded eyes onto Dorian. He looked stunning in his clothes, the gold in it sticking out to Bella. His face was a blur but she couldn't care to figure out why. She danced over to him, collapsing in his strong arms. Her body felt too wired to stand still and when it had to she needed the support of someone else to hold her up, her knees weak. "You've come back. Can I go to your party now? I so desire to dance," she crooned, hands sliding up to his neck.

"Of course you may. And I have your outfit prepared for you." He gestured to the bed where a dark black dress lay. It glimmered with dark inlaid jewels and gold and red battled in swirls up its length.

"It's beautiful," she murmured, coming up to it and letting her hands run all over it. Each sensation of her hand passing on the silk of the material or on the bump of the gem was heightened to her and she loved the feel of it. "Can I wear it?"

"Be my guest," Dorian responded and without another word Bellatrix tore off her current clothing and put on her new dress. The dress was floor length, strapless, with a plunging neckline, and with long black gloves that came up to her elbows. Dorian conjured up a standing mirror for her to inspect her reflection in and she did so greedily. "I look nice," she murmured to herself dreamily. Dorian came behind her and wrapped a choker with dark jewels that draped down from it around her neck.

"No, you look ravishing," Dorian corrected. "Now sit so I may do your hair." A seat appeared behind her and she sat down without question as to how it came here.

"Am I going to have fun this evening?" Bellatrix asked as Dorian ran a comb through her hair.

"Oh, you are," he promised darkly. "And I am going to have mine as well. You see you've been giving me a bit of trouble for a while now." His brush strokes got more aggressive with each word, the witch's head jerking back. His tone of voice rose and turned into a snarl. "And so I'm going to play a little game with you and your little brown haired friend. And when it's over, then the real punishments will start and you will bare the brunt of my anger." He pulled back so hard on that statement that Bella's head snapped back and a cry of pain left her lips. She was left to look up directly at Dorian's face and if she could see it she would note the malice in his eyes, the curl to his lips and the red of his skin. But she didn't notice any of this. The pain of his hair pulling subsided and all too quickly she forgot about his anger and was back in her oblivious world.

"Make my hair pretty," she insisted, smiling at herself in the mirror.

"Of course," Dorian said pleasantly, his temper tampered for the time being.

Hermione went to the only dance hall she knew of- the one she had gone to when she had tried to get the first key back. She hoped it was the right place because she had no clue as where to go else. Outfitted in a white ball gown and a mask with swan feathers attached to it, she entered the hall, the loud music pounding in her ears. It was just like she remembered last time, except everything was made from dark marble on this occasion with red banners decorating the ceiling and pillars. A sea of people was on the dance floor but strangely they weren't dancing. They were talking and laughing loudly with one another.

Hermione decided not to waste more time thinking about this. Bella wears black. I just have to find a person whose wearing black and then what? Free her from the charm? But how?

"Ah, so the guest of honor has arrived." Dorian's voice rang out through the dance hall and everyone's eyes swiveled towards Hermione who froze at the front of the hall, next to the stairs she had climbed the last time to get closer to the judge. The first judge was standing on top of the same stairs, his outfit a black tux with a single red rose in its lapel. "And now we can finally begin the dance! Orchestra, start the song!"

There was a loud screech as a violin ripped out a high pitched note in answer to his demand. Without missing a beat a hush fell over the dancers as they got into formation, their outfits darkening magically in color until they all wore black. Well there goes that plan, Hermione thought grumpily. Now how would she tell who was Bellatrix? They all wore masks too, and she knew she wouldn't be able to take them off to check because if she did then it would kill them.

The dancers began to spin around, following a choreography that Hermione was not privy to. "Go on. Join them. You won't find your friend if you don't," Dorian encouraged, his voice booming over the music. Swallowing deeply, Hermione gathered up the ruffles of her floor length dress and decided to dive into the dancers. As soon as she joined, a man came from nowhere and grabbed her by the hand and began to spin around. She struggled to find the rhythm, her heels crashing down on his toes several times. He gave no indication if it hurt or not but she still apologized. She craned her neck around in search of a familiar face but everything was lost in a sea of black. Where is she? Was Bella even here? What if Dorian had lied about all this and it was simply a trap meant to draw Hermione in? Merlin's right nut sack this is so frustrating! I can't find her like this.

She tore her hands away from the man's grip and took to the center of the dance floor which was free from dancing couples. They all moved in twirling pairs around her, the women's long gowns spiraling around them wonderfully. "Bella! Bella!" Hermione cried out, her voice barely heard over the beat of the drum. "Bellatrix! Where are you!" Hermione span left and right with the dancers, trying to see, hoping to find her. Was there a spell that could help Hermione? If there was she couldn't think of it.

"Hurry Hermione. The clock is ticking," Dorian warned and with a quick look to the clock face on the wall over the stairs the brunette noted she had half an hour to find the witch. "How about we speed things up to incentivize you?" With a flash he was now in front of the orchestra pit, waving a conductor's baton. The pace of the music speed up as did the time on the wall. Where the minute hand had inched forwards before now it ran.

"No!" Hermione cried out, panicked. The dancers broke their circle and now they were dancing towards her. "No!" She cried again as they jostled into her, pushing her this way and that. She had to watch out for swinging elbows and for dancing feet as the people pressed against her making it hard to breathe, or to think, the music burrowing into her head and giving her a headache. "Bella! Where are you?!"

After Dorian had done Bella's hair and makeup he had given her a mask. The mask was onyx black, so dark that it sucked up all the light around it. Dark horns protruded from its forehead and as she ran her fingers over it she felt a shiver go down her spine. This mask was terrifying yet she didn't want to offend Dorian by not wearing it so she put it on and with a quick appreciative twirl in the mirror she had gone to the dance hall to munch on snacks and gossip with the people there. She talked to various people, drifting from one group to another, never able to see their faces. But it bothered her not and she was able to have a good time. She only wished to dance however, her feet tapping impatiently for the moment to arise.

"Ah, so the guest of honor has arrived." Dorian's voice drew her away from her conversation with a fellow girl and she eagerly sought his figure out. He was standing on the stairs, clad in black. "And now we can finally begin the dance! Orchestra, start the song!" Those words lit her body up with joy and she took to the floor, forgoing her drink and friends. She only wanted to dance!

She let herself gravitate to the arms of some guy and soon they were off, gliding across the floor. She let her eyes close as she felt the rhythm of the music overtake her. She felt it in her flesh, in her very blood and bones; an intoxicating melody that overcame her senses. It felt like she was dancing for hours, and for only minutes and she opened her eyes when she heard someone shout her name. Had she heard correctly or was she just mistaken? There it was, her name again. Who could be calling her? It wasn't Dorian, the voice too feminine for him.

"How about we speed things up to incentivize you?" The music speed up to the horrified cry of refusal from the same person who had been calling Bella's name. The dark haired witch frowned, concerned what could be causing pain to the other but soon lost her train of thought as she increased her pace to keep up with her partner. The dancers began to move across the floor and the women all began to change partners. Bella was throw into the arms of another man and than another man, journeying past others as the mad dance increased. Adrenaline thrummed in her veins and she let out a wild cackle of glee. She could just dance like this forever!

Hermione's heart leapt two stories when she heard that cackle. It was none other than Bella's! And it had come from her left. The brunette hastened to move towards that direction, but a pair of dancers blocked her.

"You must dance, Hermione. Dance again!"

Shut up Dorian, Hermione wanted to growl out. This is no time for dancing.

"Dance, or her last dance will be with me!"

Sniffing angrily and with determination in her veins, Hermione took to dance again. This time she fell into the beat more naturally. Clasping her partner's hand and one hand on his shoulder as his free hand held onto her waist and steered her, she kept her eyes trained on the direction from which she had heard Bella's laugh. There was a dark haired witch there, but was it her? The woman's mouth opened up in laugh once more and Hermione's heart soared in relief. It was her! Now she just had to get to her.

When the partner's were exchanged Hermione let herself drift in the direction of Bella. This she did two more times, each time getting closer and closer but not close enough yet. She could feel time running out and it worried her a lot. Everything was a flurry around her, black blurring into black. She couldn't tell where one person ended and the other began.

"Hurry Hermione, the song's about to end!"

Hermione grit her teeth and exchanged partners once more, this time ending up right next to Bella. Now if only she could dance with her next. Dorian kept telling Hermione to dance, so she guessed the only way to break the charm would be to dance with the older witch. Impatiently Hermione waited for the switch to occur and when it did, she grabbed Bella's wrist without a second of hesitation, not letting her go off with another man to dance. The music slowed down at this, changing to something more melodic and heartfelt, the volume of it subduing as well.

"Well hello there," Bellatrix smiled drowsily at her, her voice lazy and catlike. "You are not a man."

"Certainly I hope not," Hermione chuckled, relieved breath rushing from her lips. She had made it. She was dancing with Bellatrix. But what now? Would the magic lift? She could clearly tell Bella was under the influence of something, her actions very docile.

And she looked different too. Her lips were stained dark and her mask, paired with her ball gown, made her looks devilish in the dark light of the dance hall. Like a succubus come to dance among humans and spirit them away.

"But I think I do not mind," was the dark haired witch's soft answer as she pulled them closer roughly. Hermione let out a choked cough, nearly stumbling in her next step at this motion.

"I feel like I've met you before," the older witch admitted as they slowly danced across the floor. The other dancers fell into place around them, mimicking their movements. The dark haired witch removed her hands from Hermione's own and began to move them in a gentle but complicated manner. The brunette followed suit, albeit clumsy at first. The moves were sort of swanlike and graceful. Their palms weren't allowed to touch or for their fingers to intertwine. Instead it was more like brushing and sliding ones arms against the other before twirling their bodies around and rejoining, never separating for more than a few seconds.

"You have met me before. We've known each other for a while. So how about you and I leave and talk about how we know each other," Hermione suggested in a soft tone. Somewhere preferably away from here. For some reason she felt compelled to whispering.

"And miss this wonderful music and dancing?" Bellatrix laughed, her eyes closing briefly in merriment. "Nonsense." They danced like this for a while, Bellatrix insistent on finishing the song. Hermione began to feel a bit awkward. She wanted to leave, aware that the judge was probably watching them. Now that the intense urge to save Bellatrix was gone she remembered where she was and that was in a dance hall, dancing in front of others. No doubt she looked like a fool. She wasn't the best of dancers.

And what made her really squirm was the intensity of the gaze of the older witch on her. Her dark orbs followed Hermione's face throughout the whole dance. It made the room stifling to say the least. She had never looked at the brunette in this manner before, heavily lidded eyes and almost dreamlike appearance. Hermione tried to avoid her eyes whenever she could but found she couldn't resist. She had to look back no matter how much the gaze made her burn inside.

She's the one who hurt you, she chided herself but couldn't quell the weird feeling that was filling her limbs. She wanted to drown in those eyes and the music that was playing only intensified the emotions raging in her chest. The music crawled under her skin and if by some magic force her dancing improved. Soon the two girls were adding new moves to their dance that were more complicated and that which drew them ever closer to one another, their faces hovering near. The music slowed down and they at last held out the flats of their palms in front of themselves. They pressed gloved palm to naked palm and then let their fingers intertwine. Without breaking eye contact they raised their hands up high slowly, drawing their bodies as close as they had ever been during the dance so far.

Chest pressed against chest. Hermione's ragged breaths rattled in her ribcage as her heart beat an erratic rhythm and it wasn't only because of how much dancing she had just done. She could feel Bellatrix's own heartbeat echoed in hers, the witch as well exhausted by the elaborate dance they had conducted. And maybe from something more as well..?

Hermione's and Bellatrix's gazes were both draw to their left hands as they lowered them gently to their sides. Then they looked on as they moved their right hands down in unison as well. Hermione felt as if her world had darkened, had shrunk so that all she could see was the older witch in front of her. Hands both lowered, they both let go as the music dwindled slowly to an end yet they did not move away. Hermione's eyes were drawn to the older witch's lips. The two of their breaths intermingled and millimeter by millimeter their mouths hovered closer.

Everyone else in the dance hall had vacated the dance floor, leaving them the only ones on it, not that they noticed. They were lost under the trance of a spell, a spell they could only feel. The lights had dimmed in the place, the spotlight falling on them. It made the jewels on Bellatrix's earrings and on her neck sparkle, causing light to bounce off of them and to strike the dark around the beam of light. They were stuck in the light, it acting as their sanctuary.

The two of their lips were so close now that Hermione could practically taste the kiss that was about to happen. A last minute thought occurred to her sluggish brain, pulling her sharply back. Stop it. This isn't the Bellatrix you know. This is weird!

The sharp motion of Hermione moving back caused Bellatrix to snap out of whatever spell she had been under and just like that cold harsh reality came swooping in. The warm rush the brunette had felt during the dance, and the weird feelings in her chest, had dissipated and left her burning with shame at her actions. She had almost kissed the other! The same witch who had hurt her!

People began clapping and Hermione realized they had gravitated to the middle of the dance floor, everyone else to the sides and watching them. She felt her face flush red.

"Hermione? What the devil is going on here?" Bellatrix asked, coming out of her stupor. She looked around, surprised to see the place she was in. It seemed she had no recollection of what she had done the past few minutes. "Wasn't I just fighting Voldemort?"

"It's a long story," Hermione explained, trying to push away the thoughts of how close the two of them had come to kissing out of her mind. Not like that was hard at all. Nope, not at all! "But we need to leave and now." She was already looking for a way out, hand reaching for the older witch's to pull her along.

"Leaving so soon? And after the wonderful evening I gave you both?" Dorian parted the crowd, his hands clasped in front of him.

"You-" Bellatrix reached for her wand only to realize that it was nowhere on her.

"I have to say I loved the dance. Very pleasing. And how romantic. Hermione rushing to save the love of her life from the handsome demon of a man who has trapped her in a magic spell."

"Romantic?" Hermione blustered out, her face growing red once more. So the weird feeling she had had was supposed to be love?

"Where's my wand Dorian? And where's Voldemort?" Bellatrix didn't spare a second on Dorian's nonsense.

"I don't think you'll be getting the answers to that anytime soon. I wanted to give you guys a nice little evening before I subjected you both to such horrors and tortures such that you could never imagine. It'll make you wish you had gone to hell Bellatrix when you did."

"Sorry to interrupt but now is not the time." With two loud cracks, the remaining judges appeared next to Dorian, Ibraham on his left and Gabriel on his right.

"What do you mean?" Dorian asked the blue judge, confused by their sudden appearance in his domain.

"One, you do not make the absolute decisions for us, two, I also would like to have them punished in my own manner and three, there are other things we must discuss so unfortunately the torturing will have to wait." Gabriel stuck up a finger for each point he made.

"What do you mean?" Dorian was still confused, but now he was getting angry.

"This means that we are leaving your delightful party here and they are coming with us to the Chambers." Ibraham joyfully explained.

The Chambers? Those don't sound pleasant at all. Hermione shuddered.

"Oh great," Dorian muttered and with a snap of both fingers on his hands he and the girls disappeared. Gabriel disappeared as well. Only Ibraham remained and he made his way past the dancers who had already gone back to dancing, to a buffet table. He licked his lips as he greedily took in the sight of a giant roasted ham on the table. Rubbing his hands together in anticipation and licking his thick lips, he stretched a hand out to grab it when Gabriel popped up on the other side of the table, scaring the fat judge.

"Are you coming or not?" He asked nasally and Ibraham mumbled out a quick sorry, casting the ham a sad gaze before he too disappeared. Gabriel shook his head. "Children. Both of them."

A/N: So technically I wrote two dance scenes. The first one is meant to be chaotic, with a sense of urgency as time is running out to save Bella. Hermione has to dance with her but the dancers are getting in her way, making it harder to reach Bella and thus pissing Hermione off. A song that conveys this sense of pandemonium and importance is Masquerade suite waltz from War and Peace. Whenever I listen to it I can just imagine dancers twirling around in crazed rhythm until they drop dead. For the second dance, it was supposed to be more private and romantic. A song that conveys the emotions I was trying to get at is Love Story from the movie soundtrack Love Story. It's really a beautiful piece. You can just feel the passion in it, and the raw emotional out-pour from the composer.

The moves of the second dance were also based on a dance from an Anna Karenina waltz scene. When it watched it I was simply amazed by how much tension between the characters the director was able to get, and by how intense the feelings the characters felt were. To get a better sense of what the two girl's dance was supposed to look like watch the video. It can be found on youtube easily. As can the songs I mentioned previously.