" Oh Harry you look smashing. If only you hadn't announced to half the Great Hall what you were going as no one would know it was you." Hermione exclaimed after helping her friend put on the final touches to his costume.
" What about me, Mione?" Ron's voice asked, trying to get her attention.
" You look great Ron. Don't forget to say thanks to Harry for him letting you borrow your broom."
" Yes mother." Ron stuck his tongue out behind her back.
" And if you keep making faces like that you might just get stuck." Hermione made the observation without even turning around to see Ron.
" Where's Ginny?" Harry suddenly asked. It was only fifteen minutes before the New Year's eve party started and no one had seen Ginny. Most everyone had filed out of Gryffindor Tower and gone down to wait for the feast to begin.
" Right here. You do look smashing Harry." Ginny said, lounging in the doorway, still in a T-shirt and a pair of sweats.
" Oh Ginny you aren't ready yet. Do you need help with the spells?" Hermione asked rushing towards her friend. Ginny stopped her by simply raising a hand.
" Would you honestly try and change with Lavender and Parvati in the room? Everyone would know who you were in five seconds."
" Good point." Hermione conceded, still a touch disappointed, her nervousness growing by the second.
" I was just waiting for everyone to leave and you three are the last ones in the tower." Ginny smiled good-naturedly at her brother. " Nice broomstick." It took Ron a minute to figure out she wasn't talking about Harry's broom and when he did he immediately spun around, face turning an interesting shade of plum.
" So we'll meet you down there?" Hermione asked, trying not to laugh at Ron's predicament.
" You have to be able to recognize me first." Ginny grinned evilly then turned and skipped down to her room, closing and locking the door behind her.
" Hopefully we'll recognize her," Harry said, standing behind Hermione. Ron suddenly let out a strangled curse word as he fell over.
" Okay, I'm good." Ron stood up, trying to ignore his bruised butt.
" But how's my broom?" Harry realized what he said and tried to fix it. " I mean, my broomstick. I mean, my stick. Broom. Ah, uh, I mean my Firebolt." He stumbled to the end cursing Ginny for putting those dirty thoughts in his head. Now it was Ron's turn to try and hide his laughter at his friends' situation.
" I'm sure your broomstick is just fine. Let's go get some food." The three friends laughed their way to the Great Hall; Hermione laughing at both the boys as they tried to out do the other in an unintentional blushing contest.
Peeking out from behind the door, Ginny muttered the spells and suddenly she look completely different. Her curly red hair had been straightened and put up so it would fall exactly at her shoulders, and was dyed a midnight black. It was wrapped around an exquisite gold crown.
Her dress was studded with sparkling, shimmering, shining jewels of every color and size, while the dress itself was pure white. Ginny smiled at the image she knew she presented before running down the steps and out the portrait hole straight into the arms of her date.
" You look amazing Ginny." Ginny placed one long manicured finger over the boys' lips.
" It's Isis milord." Ginny did a quick dip. " My love."
" Osiris at your command, my darling. Let us go grace these wretched mortals with out presence." Osiris stuck his arm out for Isis to wrap her hand around and then the two made their stately way down the stairs to the Great Hall the last ones to enter before the house elves got the food on the plates.
" May my escort and I have these seats?" Isis/Ginny said, pretending to not know her brother and her friends.
" Well we were kinda saving them for Ginny and her date but she must be somewhere else, have a seat." Hermione said, motioning to let the two sit. Across the table Ron and Harry were sitting next to each other trying to find out what the spell was on. On Hermione's left sat a masked man all in black with a thin fencing sword hanging off his belt.
" This is Zorro and I'm Elena de la Vega. It's a pleasure to meet you." Elena held out her right hand to shake Ginny's.
" I am the goddess Isis and this is my consort, Lord of the Underworld, Osiris." She held her jeweled hand up so Elena could kiss it. The guy, her date presumably, started chuckling at the way Ginny was acting. Exactly like a goddess.
" You honor us with your presence your majesties." Zorro spoke, grasping Isis's hand and placing a quick kiss upon it.
" May your lives be prosperous mortals." Isis spoke back, smiling graciously on the couple.
" Thanks, I think." Isis turned to Osiris, smiling mischievously before she started to eat the food. There was everything. Stuffed, roasted, barbecue, baked, smoked, candied, jellied, fried, boiled, grilled and hot-dried meat, followed by a rainbow of fruits and vegetables from the common place lettuce in salads to pomegranates, apples to starfruits, tomatoes to watercress. Everything imaginable was on the tables, crowding out the plates for people to eat on.
Jugs of juices, milk, water and non-alcoholic 'bubbly' as one muggle-born deemed it were passed around, unable to be set down on the table for lack of space. Chatter filled the hall as people tried to guess whom everyone else was under their masks. No one noticed Professor Albus Dumbledore cast the spell that would be awoken on midnight for each student and teacher find the person they were most compatible within Hogwarts.
" Now that everyone is full," Dumbledore started after the last few eaters consumed the last bites they could. That was not counting Crabbe and Goyle, who had been as dimwitted as ever and came as themselves, who were still stuffing their faces. " We shall go back out into the hall while the house elves clean this mess up. The dancing will start soon, don't worry."
Osiris stood up, smiling down on Isis. " Come my love, we must be away to wait for when our time shall come for fun."
" As you wish my lord and lover," Isis spoke a happy, dreamy look on her face as the two walked away, hand in hand.
" Come darling, let's be away." Zorro said, mimicking Osiris and taking Elena's hand.
Eventually the whole hall was emptied out and the people left were Albus, Minerva and the various house elves. Albus flicked his wands and everything on the floor disappeared. A few rounds tables popped up around the edges of the room covered in dark, dark blue tablecloths, candles sitting in the middle. Flicking his wand again, crystal chandeliers filled with hundreds upon hundreds of tiny, little candles hung from the ceiling.
" Oh Albus is beautiful… but-" Minerva pointed her wand, opening one side of the wall to the garden outside, placing fairy lights within the bushes. Sheer black curtains adorned the glass doors and then stretches of cloth hung around the walls showed up, just as black with flecks of red, blue, green and yellow sparkling here and there. The DJ booth was set up in the corner and everything was ready, even the streamers and confetti that would fall as soon as the makeshift clock struck midnight.
" Now it's perfect. You may come back in." Albus called, wand opening the huge doors slowly as people started forward.
" Wow. It looks as good as it did for the Yule ball back in forth year," Ron murmured, jaw hanging open as always as he tilted his head back trying to see what the ceiling looked like.
" Better." Harry tripped slightly as he wasn't paying attention to where he was walking. All the students and teachers of Hogwarts filed in, found a seat at one of the tables and sat down.
" Now that everyone is in. The night will go thus. Music will start in a moment, the gardens are open for wandering, and there will be snacks in the back corner- "Albus was interrupted as most of the party-goers groaned at the thought of more food Laughing slightly Albus continued, " and then that clock will strike midnight and everyone will have someone to kiss, I promise. Even if it isn't the person you came with. Once the clocks strikes twelve, streamers and confetti will fall from the ceiling and we'll have a general unmasking."
" What if we do not wish to unmask, good human?" Osiris asked, standing up so he'd be noticed. Albus looked over the rim of his half-moon glasses and smiled straight at him.
" Then you better not be in here when midnight comes, hmm? Then the dancing will continue until one where the students will go back to their common rooms and continue the night however they like." Minerva tugged on his sleeve, whispering in his ear.
" Ah, yes I almost forgot. The spells on the separate dorms were strengthened so girls are not able to go in the boys dorms for this night." A few brave people complained about the situation but no one else said anything. " Also, prefects will be the only ones in their rooms and only other members of their house and sex will be able to enter. And now, for the music."
Albus motioned to the DJ and immediately muggle club music was playing throughout the Great Hall, echoing off the high ceilings and bouncing back to rattle through the students and faculties ears.
Most of the girls pulled the other half of their costumes with them on to the dance floor while a few decide to take a cool walk through the rose gardens. Harry and Ron stayed at their chosen table, sipping more of the bubbly watching all the couples go by either to the dance floor, the snack table, where Crabbe and Goyle had taken up residence, or the gardens.
" See your sister anywhere?" Harry asked Ron, leaning over so the other boy could hear him.
" What is your obsession with my sister?" Ron turned at the same time Harry did, the two boys' noses almost touching. They both jumped back, almost tipping their chairs over.
" I don't have an obsession with your sister." Harry muttered darkly, crossing his arms over his chest and looking away from his friend.
" Yeah, just broomsticks." Ron said back, a little too loudly and Harry turned in anger.
" Are you trying to imply I swing both ways? Or that I lean to the left?"
" No, no, it's just… pick a different girl than my sister!" Ron cried, distressed. Harry just slunk down in his chair, depressed.
Meanwhile Isis and Osiris were discussing the situation. " Should we still be in here for midnight? Or do you want to go hide in the bushes?" Osiris asked, raising an eyebrow and cocking a smile.
" You are aware that if Ron doesn't have a heart attack he'll try and kill you." Osiris bent his head down and kissed her lightly on her neck.
" Yes and I'm willing to take that risk if you'll be right here by my side." Isis smiled the four inches up at her date.
" Isirlan. For all eternity." She whispered back, tucking her head under his chin despite the fact that the song was a fast one. Nearby another couple was having the same thoughts but were remaining resolutely silent, lest the night be disturbed.
^-^-^-^
" Albus? There are only a few minutes before midnight. Do you wish to dance?" Minerva asked quietly, ready for him to say no and resigning herself to another lonely New Years seated at a table.
" Why not?" He asked cheerfully, standing up and extending his hand for her to take. Leading Minerva out onto the floor the two started dancing to the upbeat swing song.
" By the way, I meant to tell you that I liked the idea of giant fairies," Minerva commented once she caught her breath after a slow song started. Dumbledore smiled above her head and kept dancing.
" I assumed you did when you agreed to dress up as one. Though I do have to say these wings are rather in the way, aren't they?" He asked, his voice pleasant in her ear.
" Not in the least." She snuggled in closer to Albus' chest, listening to the music and his breathing. Suddenly the song ended and everyone turned to the giant grandfather clock.
" Five… Four… Three… Two… One! Happy New Years!" Everyone shouted, streamers and confetti falling around their faces. Suddenly Dumbledore's spells took effect; everyone was unmasked and kissing their 'soul mate'. When the couples parted most were shocked at whom they were with and who everyone else had been paired with.
Albus had lent down and gently kissed Minerva, a smile lingering on both their lips. Ginny and Draco were still kissing as were Hermione and Severus. Finally that couple broke up to try and find Harry and Ron. Finding them was another shock all together.
" Ron?!" Ginny shrieked in surprised happiness. It was her voice that broke the two boys up. Both turned redder than either had ever been in their lives but both Hermione and Ginny noticed that their hands were still entwined around the others.
" Ginny?" Ron asked once he snapped out of his daze to see Draco standing there with his arms around her waist.
Harry noticed Hermione and just about fainted. " Hermione?" His voice was weak and shaky and scared.
" Ron if you do anything I'll turn all your stuffed animals into spiders while your sleeping." Ginny managed to get the words out without losing the smile of pure bliss that was on her face.
" And I graduate in just a few short months Harry, it's not that bad." Severus seemed to think the comment over before nodding his head in agreement.
" And what about you two? I mean, sheesh, you think our dates are bad. At least we meant to come with them." Ginny teased the two boys. Blushing once more they just tightened the grip on their hands and scooted their chairs closer.
" You'd think they'd never been kissed." Hermione muttered as the two couples turned to go back onto the dance floor. All the costumes were restored for the last hour of the dance as couples under the influence of Dumbledore's matchmaking spell continued to dance exchanging New Year's kisses well into the New Year.
^-^-^-^-^
A/N: The picture I was using for Ginny/Isis's headdress can be found on this site:
http ://www. geocities.com /suannebraun/ home. html
This was just a one-shot answer to a New Year's challenge over on FA.org, tell me what you think. Correction, it was a one-shot. It turned into two chapters because FF.net thought it was too long *sticks tongue out* Oh well, don't hesitate to tell me what you think.