Sneaky Incidences
A/N: I'm SO sorry for taking this long to post this chapter up. Excuses are cheap, but school (especially English) has been very draining lately. (It was Mrs. Vargas' fault, Angela! The Children's book was absolutely grueling work!) I give no promises to when this, or any other of my stories are going to be updated, but I ask you to at least to try to enjoy this.
`
The Halloween Ball was held, as everyone expected in the Great Hall, the ceiling portraying the night's clear sky and bright, shining stars. Warm golden fairy lights adorned the Hall in every direction and, besides the star and moonlight coming in from above, they were one of the few sources that lit up the room.
Bright, lit, pumpkin heads enchanted to float and spin by the perimeter of the walls were some of the decor. There was a stage by the wall, magically placed there by the professors, the students expected, and all in all, the hall looked simply splendid. Couples dressed in either costume or robe entered, and sat themselves down at the tables along the walls of the Great Hall. Ron Weasley entered, Lavendar Brown in arm, wearing navy blue dress robes, bringing out the blue out of his otherwise pale grey eyes. Harry entered soon behind in hunter green robes, Parvati Patil following next to him. The boys looked toward the other as they all sat down at a table lit by one solitary pumpkin floating overhead, each with the same question in his eyes: Where's Hermione?
Where's Phillip?! Hermione wondered frantically, her hair in a bun save for one strand of hair she had curled and let hang on the side of her face. She was dressed in a silvery – blue dress that hung down to her ankles, nearly covering her silver shoes which were in the process of wearing a path in the carpet of the Gryffindor Common room. The sleeves were narrow tanks that fell on her shoulders, and the dress flowed down, hugging her slim figure. She had gone dressed as a muggle.
She was the only one left in the Gryffindor Common room; the location she and Phillip had agreed to meet.
She resisted the urge to chew her bottom lip, as she had let Parvati and Lavendar give her a make-over. But that was half an hour ago, and she had been waiting for fifteen minutes for her partner. Frantic, she recalled the night before to make sure she really was supposed to be meeting him in the common room.
Phillip's Point of View on the Night Before
"Do I really want to do this?" he wondered to himself for about the hundredth time as he set a box – the same box he had kept waiting for him on his desk – down on Hermione's bed. The same box he had quickly magicked with a hiding spell upon finding Hermione looking in through his office window.
The girls had all been at Hogsmeade, taking advantage of the trip Dumbledore had specialized for "Ball Shopping," as the girls fondly named it.
Naturally, he had snuck both himself and the box into the room while they were all away.
It was the perfect plan – flawless.
But of course, things had a way of messing themselves up whenever the opportunity arose.
He snapped his head away from the box, hearing someone coming up on the stairs. Swallowing a gasp, he looked around frantically before diving and sliding under Parvati Patil's bed.
He peeked out from underneath the bedspread and saw a pair of familiar-looking white sneakers heading toward the bed on the right. The one he had set the box down on.
He scuffled as silently as he could to position himself so he could see her, and tossed something soft and black out of his line of vision.
Realizing what it was after he tossed it aside, he was sure he turned several shades of crimson.
He smiled faintly to himself as he heard a gasp and held his breath upon hearing a flutter of paper. She had opened the box.
He heard a small crinkling noise, as if someone had gripped a piece of paper before proceeding to read it again.
He saw the sneakers pace around the room then gasped in horror as the all-too-familiar sheet of paper fell and slid under a bed – Parvati Patil's bed. His bed.
Panicking, he proceeded to grasp at the wooden planks the bed was upon and project himself across the polished floor, slowing down as he reached Lavendar's bed, the pushing himself further.
He slid all the way to the other side of Lavendar's bed, safely from Hermione's sight, and peeked over slightly, catching sight of Hermione's bent figure as she searched for the piece of paper under the bed.
He stood up quickly, and in several long strides, crossed the threshold of the door and was about to congratulate himself on a job well done when he ran right into Sarah Hernandez coming up the Gryffindor Common room.
Hermione's Point of View on the Night Before
She stood up from the maroon couch in the common room and sighed, looking around, and of course, seeing no one around. The upperclassmen were all out in Hogsmeade, and the younger kids were all out for the night.
She, of course, had stayed behind. Sarah was shut away in the Slytherin Common room and, though she naturally knew the password and location of it, she didn't want to risk the chance of getting caught by one of the Slytherins.
Having nothing else to do, she climbed the stairs up to the sixth grade girls' dormitory and walked in, shutting the door after her.
Sighing to herself, she began to ponder how she and Sarah would spend the next night when she stopped upon reaching her bed, spotting a familiar-looking box on it.
"Strange," she thought to herself as she traced a finger around the edge of the box. "I could have sworn I've seen this before…"
She chewed her lower lip, reading her named neatly scripted across the diagnal of the box. She had read about curses that could be sent by mail, and ever since her fourth year, she had been wary of anything sent to her by an anonymous person.
At least, she assumed the sender was anonymous, as the box read no other name on it.
After a moment of contemplating, she shrugged and decided that whatever it was, it couldn't possibly be anything worse than a letter full of undiluted bubertuber pus, so she opened it.
Suddenly, what seemed to be a shower of glitter and spray erupted from the box as if a waterfall had sprouted from it. When Hermione lowered her arms, she gasped.
All around the room, especially on and around her bed, garlands and garlands of all sorts of flowers from vibrant violets to richly-colored roses adorned everything. What seemed to be tiny lightbulbs lit up the center of the flowers, but upon closer inspection, Hermione realized that they were actually tiny, miniscule fairies that illuminated the room, casting a warm, romantic glow around the room.
Breathless, with a trembling hand, she picked up a letter by a parcel she did not recall seeing before that rested where the box had once been located.
Scanning the note once quickly, she gasped (yet again) at the signature and let the paper drop from her grasp and flutter down to the ground.
Bending down, she reached under the bed and made a "Tuh!" noise before tossing aside one of Parvati's black undergarments in order to reach her note.
Upon finding it, she stood up and read it over:
Dearest Hermione,
Though I realize we have never really spoken to each other, I have admired you from afar and would be elated if you would do me the honor of allowing me to escort you to tomorrow night's ball. Please meet me tomorrow night in the Gryffindor Common room at 7:00 p.m.
Sincerely,
Phillip B. Lycan
P.S. Regarding on how I gave you such short-notice, I have taken the duty of providing a dress for tomorrow night. I flatter myself that I was able to provide the right size for you.
Blinking, she set the note down on the bed and started to open the package when she heard a small cry that sounded suspiciously like… "Sarah!" he hissed, panicking and looking around wildly after crashing into his crush's best friend. "Phillip!" she hissed right back. "What are you doing here?" Fighting the impulse to suddenly remove ten points from Slytherin for her being there, he glanced back hurriedly and replied, "I'd say the exact same to you!"Now, while Sarah had developed a strong attraction for this guy's best friend, she had never really cared much for the object of Hermione's affection. Now, as she watched this boy in front of her practically lecture her on breaking the rules, she wasn't entirely sure she liked him all that much.
She looked at Phillip in annoyance and sighed, finally explaining herself.
"I'm here to talk to Hermione." She raised an eyebrow at him, "Is it a crime to talk to one's best friend?"
He froze and finally allowed a relaxed smile to melt through his agitated and panicky expression.
"No, of course not."
He heard a noise and glanced back over his shoulder.
"Please excuse me," he said hurriedly, his glance kept down, and before she could reply, he rushed past her and down the steps to the Gryffindor Common room, then turned in the direction toward the boys' dormitories.
Feeling a bit dazed, she turned away from the dashing figure of Phillip Lycan and looked back toward Hermione's dormitory, trying to figure out what she was there for in the first place.
When Hermione came out, a broad smile on her face, she suddenly remembered.
"I'm going to the ball!!" both of them screamed in sync and proceeded to hop up and down, rambling on about who, how, and when they were asked.
Current Time"You asked WHO to the ball?!" our delightful, youthful, Severus Snape inquired of a teenage Defense Against the Dark Arts professor as he watched his colleague straighten the tie on his muggle-style tuxedo.
"Hermione Granger," he replied lightly, fixing a strand of hair in front of the mirror.
Turning, he smiled at Charles.
"As I recall, it seems as if you asked that charming Slytherin permission to escort her to tonight," he remarked pleasantly.
Widening his eyes, he sputtered, "Well that's…that's a different matter altogether!" He glanced into the mirror, fixing the clasp on his robe.
Phillip laughed and shook his head.
"I'm late, Severus," he said quietly.
He gave him a meaningful look.
"I'll see you tonight at the table," was the last thing he said before sweeping off toward the Gryffindor Tower leaving a disgruntled potion's master to fix himself up and do whatever else it was that guys did before a dance.