I'm super sorry for the delay! This chapter really didn't go as planned. Which is irritating to me.

But as I've said many times, Hermione does as Hermione wants. And I wanted Hermione to have a good night and dance with Sirius and Remus but I don't get what I fucking want do I.

I also wanted her to dance with Lucius BUT THAT DIDN'T HAPPEN.

FUCK MY

LIFE

Enjoy, either way.

PS. Please get at those reviews! Reviews give me more inspiration to write. It makes me know that I'm appreciated and people actually like this. Show your support!


It was like a fresh breath of air. Of course, Hermione wanted to tell Remus and Sirius of her situation as well, she was slightly guilty that she had told James first, but it was better this way. For now. The less people knew, the less likely things can get buggered up. So, other than the slight guilt laying on her heart, she felt much better just having someone to confide in. James seemed to take it well, anyway.

After the talk with James, and nibbling on the food he brought her, Hermione went up to her room. She had to shoo out the boys, because they were worried about her and why she was gone so long, but she assured them she was okay and made them get out.

She made her curls shinier and smoother with Sleekezy's, and pinned the front of it back out of her face. She put on a bit of makeup - a bit more than she did on a normal day - and thankfully found a lipstick color that matched her dress robes.

As Hermione had thought before, the dress robes were quite expensive. They were the kind that resized when put on.

The dress itself hugged her bosom just enough to show a tasteful bit of cleavage, along with her locket from Dumbledore that rested upon the top swell of her breasts. It made her waist seem much smaller than she originally thought, and became loose right below her hips. The layers of ruby fabric fell sleekly to her feet. The cloak that came with the dress was a reversible one, black on one side and red on the other. Hermione fastened the cloak with the red side on the out. It also had a little hood, which Hermione thought was a bit ironic.

Little Red Riding Hood and The Big Bad Wolf.

Now where did Sirius fit into that story?

The granny?

Of course, Remus has been eating Sirius for much longer than Hermione.

The thought made Hermione burst into a loud laugh. Honestly, why was she doing this to herself?

Hermione slipped on her shoes. Dorea had given Hermione a pair of black kitten heels, that were a bit big for Hermione at first, until she used a shrinking charm on them.

Hermione made sure to put on her new locket from James, which sat just beneath her collar bones, and her bracelet from Remus and Sirius.

She came across the problem of her wand, though. Where was she going to put it? She didn't want to go without it. Of course, she could use wandless magic if she had too, but technically by regular standards she shouldn't be too good at wandless magic, if knowing it at all.

Hermione bit her lip, and slid it into the bodice of her dress, right in her cleavage. It wasn't the comfiest of places, but she'd rather be safe than sorry. She wandlessly placed a disillusionment charm on it, and was happy to say that she couldn't see it. But she could feel it. The press of the ivy wood in between her breasts brought her much comfort.

With another quick check in the mirror, Hermione headed out of her room and down the stairs.

All of a sudden, she felt like she was in one of those cheesy prom movies. You know, the ones where the boy - well, in this case, boys - stood at the bottom of the stairs with the girls parents as she came down. Yeah, she felt like that.

Especially when Remus and Sirius gave her the look the boys are always shown giving. The look of pure adoration.

"You look lovely, Hermione." Dorea told her, a smile on her face.

"You look lovely as well." Hermione told her, accepting the quick hug from the woman.

Charlus gave her a smug smirk, and with a raised eyebrow flicked his eyes to the boys behind her.

She blushed, and turned to them.

"'Mines, you look..brilliant." James told her.

"Never seen you so dressed up before." Peter commented.

"Well you all look dashing yourselves." Hermione laughed, patting the cheeks of Remus and Sirius, who still were just staring at her, smiling.

"What is it, then? Have I got something on my face?" She asked, her hands coming up to her hips.

Sirius's lips suddenly turned to a smirk, and he shared a look with Remus, who also smirked, and they turned back to Hermione.

I swear, they're worse than the twins sometimes.

"Just reminded me of some old folklore. We can talk about it later. We have a ball to get too, don't we?" Sirius asked, suddenly looping her arm through his, Remus taking his other side.

"We're apparating there as to not get soot all over us. Is that alright, dear?" Charlus asked Hermione, who nodded. She'd never had problems with apparition before.

"Wait, what about what happened last time?" Peter suddenly asked.

"Last time?" Hermione asked, her brow furrowed.

"Yeah, remember, you were side-alonging with your uncle to Hogwarts and you ended up passed out? Remember, Hermione?" James asked.

"Oh, oh yes! I was feeling rather sick that day already, I'm sure everything will be fine." Hermione nodded. She'd honestly forgot that she has used apparition as an excuse.

"Alright then, we're all ready? Three with me, two with mum over there." Charlus said.

Remus and Sirius began dragging Hermione to Charlus, refusing to separate from their witch. They were all situation when suddenly-

"Wait!"

"What is it, James? We're going to be late." Dorea sighed. She was rather punctual.

"I have to talk to Hermione about something before we go. Mum, do you think you can handle three? Dad can take us two after we have a quick chat. Right, dad?" James asked.

"Alright, alright. Just hurry up."

James stole Hermione away from the two boys, and rushed her down the hallway.

"I can't believe I forgot…" He muttered to himself, pulling her into the first room he came too. He shut the door and warded the room.

"Hermione. I'm so sorry, I completely forgot. I can't believe I was so daft as to not realize it but-"

"Just spit it out, James."

"It's- It's at Malfoy Manor...the ball."

Hermione pressed her lips together. Of course it was. The Potter's were purebloods. Of course they'd be invited to the Malfoy's gatherings.

"We don't have to go, 'Mines. We can stay here and have our own little ball, alright?" James told her.

"No, no… I'll-I'll be okay. Just… I'll be okay." Hermione let out a breath. She had to face her fears at some point, right? And while she was likely to encounter many of the younger death eaters, she didn't let the thought phase her. The most uncomfortable she'll be is with Bellatrix.

"Well...Hermione..it is a ball...so it's in the ballroom." James pointed out, his eyes averting away from her.

"Yes, I'm aware...Just… I don't know. If-If it gets to be too much I'll let you know." She told him, a grimace on her face. "Besides, I have to face my fear at some point." She said, her voice a bit softer.

James enveloped her into a tight hug, his lips pressing to her forehead. "Alright, we can go then. But as soon as you want to leave, we will." He told her, and began leading her back to his father.

Charlus could tell something seemed a little off with the two, if not from the frown on James's face, then from the panic that was swirling around Hermione's eyes. The two gave him very fake smiles, and Charlus kept himself from asking any questions. Dorea had told him to just let Hermione be, as strange as the girl was. So, Charlus gripped the arms of the two kids, and apparated.

The landing was a bit hard in heels, Hermione realized. Of course, she had to apparate in heels a few times during the war, but not landing on the soft grass. It seemed to her that it had rained here recently, and she glanced down at her heels with disdain.

She clutched James's arm in her own, and the two followed Charlus up to the looming manor before them. It was dark outside, but there were twinkling lights strewn up about the trees and hedges, and there were little lights floating around outside that looked strangely like fireflies, yet bigger. Hermione also took a moment to notice it was lightly snowing.

By the time they reached the door, Hermione had snowflakes in her hair and stuck to her eyelashes.

Upon the door opening, they were greeted by the Lady of the house. Hermione didn't know Lucius's mother's name, and 'Lady Malfoy' didn't help either. Charlus separated from them to go find his wife and some friends, while Hermione and James made their way around the room, looking for the missing links of their group.

Soon enough, they found the group standing awkwardly in the corner, Emma Vanity and Lily Evans included. James gave her arm another squeeze before he released it to greet the two girls. Remus and Sirius automatically flanked her and began asking questions. She blocked it all out, though. She simply grabbed her boys arms and kept her eyes down to the floor instead of looking around the room like a normal person.

She was handed a drink eventually, and the chatter quieted down as Lucius and his mother and Father stood up on a staircase. Hermione swallowed thickly and allowed herself to look up at the three.

"Welcome, everyone, to our annual Yule Party. We're so happy you could all make it, and Happy Christmas to you all. Before we begin the usual dinner then dancing, we have an announcement to make," Lord Malfoy paused, his hand resting on his son's shoulder, whose chest puffed out a bit. "Our dear boy here has chosen the woman he is going to wed. Her parent's have also approved. Missus Narcissa Black, would you please."

Narcissa was just as beautiful as Hermione remembered. Her hair was cascading down her back in curls, and her dress was a plum color, contrasting deeply with her skin tone. She stepped up next to Lucius. Lucius held his arm out, and she placed hers atop his. Both of their hands face down as they did this. It was a strange sight to Hermione, but she knew it was one of the 'traditional' things that wizards did.

Hermione droned out the rest of the words, and was honestly a bit shocked as the crowd began moving to a different room. She realized they were going to dinner.

The table was huge. Literally. It held the whole party, which Hermione knew had to be over a hundred people. She soon realized that the table continued to extend itself as more people came into the room. Hermione sat between Remus and Sirius, James, Peter, and their dates seated on the other side.

Hermione wanted to ask how a known muggleborn got into this party, but she didn't dare. She didn't want to ruin this for any of them. Even if she couldn't even have a good time.

"It's nice to finally see you around, Lily." Hermione commented, a smile on her face.

Lily smiled back, "Well, something told me I needed to be here."

Hermione held back the snort. She really needed to get to know Lily more. On a personal level. She knew about the girl. Hermione figured she could work on it when they got back from winter break, because Hermione doing anything good when in place that put her on edge was not going to happen.

Hermione ignored the jabs at her all through dinner, and let the rest of them converse, only speaking when she absolutely had too. She was dreading going back into the ballroom. Because this time she was going to look around. She needed to face her fears. She knew she did. Hermione swallowed thickly, clutching her boys arms as they walked back into the ballroom. She could feel herself shaking.

"Do we need to leave, love?" Sirius whispered to her, just as they passed into the ballroom.

Hermione shook her head, and let her eyes wander around. There were decorations all around, and snow falling lightly from the ceiling. It was gone before it hit anyone, but it was still really pretty to see. She lead them over to the drinks table and snatched a glass of firewhiskey before anyone could scould her. She downed it and dropped the cup back onto the table before grabbing another and sauntering away from the boys. She knew she would have to answer some questions, especially after tonight. But if she was drunk by the time they got back, the answers would have to wait until the next morning.

The strangest thing happened, though, as Hermione was making her way to James to tell him she was going to be okay. She ran into someone. And not just anyone. Bellatrix.

Her stomach was suddenly in her throat, and it was very hard to breathe as she stared up into the angry eyes that plagued her dreams. Somewhere in the back of her mind, Hermione realized that the both of their dresses were soaked in Hermione's firewhiskey, and Bellatrix's Elvish wine.

"You snatchy little girl. What do you think you're doing?" The woman's voice penetrated Hermione's thoughts.

"I-I-I-"

"You're going to pay to get these dress robes cleaned! Elvish wine is too hard to magic out!"

Hermione stepped away from Bellatrix. Tears were forming in her eyes as the woman pulled her wand out. Hermione was very suddenly on the ground, having tripped over her own dress.

"Hermione!"

"You will be punished for this, girl! The Dark Lord-"

"Bella, honestly it was an accident."

"Don't talk to me blood traitor!"

In the back of Hermione's mind, she also realized her thoughts about Bellatrix were right. The crazy ass woman was up Voldemort's ass already, but her panic attack was overwhelming her at the moment.

Hermione was suddenly scooped up into familiar arms, but Hermione couldn't even blink. Her eyes stayed open and blank. She was terrified.

Her breathing came quicker as Bellatrix's eyes were trained onto her again. But they were getting smaller. Further away.

Hermione felt quite dizzy when they made it back to Potter Manor.