Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended. Other citations will be made where necessary
Several people have asked me the same question: Have you made up the Joggarts? The answer, lol: Yes, I have. I was just doodling with my pen and suddenly I had this cute, round, creature looking up at me *blink, blink* so I thought they'd be cute ^_^
Ok, thanks to: kristatwen, hyper-shark, hermione18, demonwitch666, rubberducks, dracoNmione, fiery-chan , magicstardrops, dragon-soul, freak like me, alquamor, deisseida, calani, Vegeta Jr , Ladyknight, gliniel of tirragen, Queen Li, Nefer Tawa, The Adorable Kitten Fluffy, Mara Potter, Jamtilldawn, Dracoluva99 , kagami, darcel, spider web of faith, silver lime, f0xyness39, sucker for romance, not sure yet, kelzery, lady of Slytherin, draco lover, happy little Rin-chan, Veronica*James, Wind Elf, danapotter, lanjelin-lover for reviewing!!
I hope I didn't miss anyone… Oh, and thanks silver lime for telling me that I don't accept anonymous reviews!! I didn't notice!! But now I do ^_^.
Oh, and I KNOW that a masquerade is NOT such a creative idea, but… it's my first fan fiction, so you'll have to bear with me, OK? Lol.
********
Thinking over this, she entered the Gryffindor common room, where Harry and Ron were slumped on the couch, talking about quidditch.
She joined them, sitting in the arm chair next to them. The boys were so wrapped up in their conversation, though, that Hermione had to clear her throat loudly to get their attention. Harry and Ron turned their heads around slowly towards her.
"There's going to be a Halloween masquerade," she informed them.
Ron's mouth dropped open. "Masquerade?"
Harry, who was still thinking about a tragedy to defeat Slytherin, was brought back to earth. His reaction was pretty much like Hermione's. "Here? In Hogwarts?"
And her answer was like Draco's. "Yes, here, in Hogwarts."
Ron was still looking at her as if someone had told him pigs could fly.
She shrugged.
Ron went pale, and looked into the fire. "Who will I ask?"
Harry smiled weakly at him. "I, um… Ron? Who will you ask?" he turned and looked into the fire, too. "Who will I ask?"
After a moment of silence, Ron said, "You asked Parvarti last year… and she had an awful time. No offence," he added, seeing the murderous look on Harry's face. "But. Well… she didn't exactly have fun. And… well, Harry, I don't think you have any problems, being Harry Potter and all. I bet girls would queue to go with you. But, me? I'm not popular, or… or anything! I don't think any girl would go out with me…"
"So they'd queue to go with me because I'm Harry Potter?" Harry said, outraged. "Do you think being popular-"
"Well, while you discuss about your social problems," Hermione said briefly, getting up. "I'll see what your Joggart is up to, shall I?"
She went into the boys' dormitories, not bothering to knock.
"Hermione!" Sean yelled. He didn't have his shirt on, and had been about to pull his pants off.
"Hey, Sean," Hermione said, waving lazily. She walked over to the window next to Harry's bed, and peeked inside a little box that was on top of the windowsill, where Navy blinked up at her.
"It's not Christmas, Hermione," Sean said. "Why are you invading our dormitory?"
"Because," she answered. "I wanted to see Navy."
She touched Navy gently, getting his navy hairs between her fingers.
"Oh," Sean said, shrugging. "Ok then. I mind being you around and everything, but, considering I'm half naked and it's cold, I would like to keep on dressing myself, if that's alright."
Hermione sighed, and nodded. "See you," she said before closing the door behind her.
The truth was, she had left Harry and Ron because it bothered her to think about the masquerade. She wouldn't have a date, that was for sure. Krum had dumped her last summer, after all. Not that she cared. She had always thought he was a duck-footed idiot anyway. Sort of. But she wanted to go with someone! If everyone had dates, and she didn't… Oh well. She didn't have to go. It was just a silly dance, after all. Nothing special. She could use that time to read a book.
Sighing, she entered her dormitory.
***
The next day in breakfast, Harry and Ron were still discussing over the same subject as yesterday's.
"I just don't know who I can ask!" Ron exclaimed, irritated. He was poking at his bacon stubbornly.
Harry shook his head. "Me neither."
Hermione was annoyed. It was the only thing the boys had been talking about since she told them about the masquerade! Eating her bacon, she said, "What if you don't ask anyone?"
Ron stared at her, a string of chicken dangling on his fork.
She shrugged. "Well, it is a masked ball! No one has to know who you are!"
"Should I try Cho again this year?" Harry asked, ignoring Hermione.
Hermione snorted. "And get dumped for, what, the eleventh time?"
Harry glared at her.
She sighed. "Ok, sorry. That was mean."
"Maybe you're hanging out with Malfoy too much," Ron said after drinking his orange juice. "And you're becoming obnoxious and mean like him."
Hermione slammed her fork on the table, furious. "I am not!"
Neville, who was sitting across from her, trembled a bit. He was always careful not to get Hermione angry, because she could be fierce, wild, and, most importantly, scary.
Harry continued to ignore both Ron and Hermione, even if he was sitting in the middle, and had already seen a piece of bacon fly by, going towards Hermione.
"So maybe I will ask her out," he continued.
Hermione leaned around Harry and poked Ron with her fork. "How about if we talk about something else?"
Ron clenched his teeth, and threw another piece of bacon at her.
"Why don't you try Eloise Midgen?" Hermione suggested with sarcasm. "After all, she'll be wearing a mask!"
"Cho might say yes, what do you think?" Harry asked.
"I think," Hermione said, getting up. "That I'm tired of hearing you."
And she left, leaving Harry and Ron staring at her open-mouthed. The truth was, she didn't know why she was in such a crabby mood. It was normal for Harry and Ron to talk about who they'd ask, but, somehow, it bothered her. Was it because she'd probably be the only girl without a date? And why should she care? She had never cared about things like that before… so why should she care now?
Ignoring her own thoughts, she went into the library.
***
Draco was standing at the entrance hall, hands in his pockets. He was looking at the ground. Hermione, who was going down the marble stairs, hurried to him.
He looked up and met her eyes. "Hello, Granger,"
"Hi," she said, surprised he had even bothered to greet her. "Um. Where's Bluey?"
Draco took one of his hands out of his pocket, and dangled Bluey in front of her. She took it, and examined it.
"Well, you're heavier," she said to the creature, "And-"
"Can we do this outside?" Draco suggested, with an air of arrogance.
"Sure," Hermione answered, stepping into the cool day.
As they made their way towards a tree, a voice called out to them.
"Draco!!" someone yelled. "Wait for me!!"
Draco turned around, saw who it was, and clenched his teeth. Parkinson.
Hermione stopped to wait for her, but Draco continued walking. "Granger, don't just stand there," he hissed.
Hermione ran next to him. "All right."
Pansy ran towards them, running rather like a chicken. She finally reached them, huffing and puffing. "Hi," she breathed.
Draco became very interested on the tree in front of them, getting closer and closer as they walked towards it.
Pansy pushed Hermione aside, and went in the middle of them, looking up at Draco.
"You haven't talked to me all week!" she exclaimed. "Why?"
They reached the tree. Draco sat under it, and Hermione did the same.
"And you're always with her," Pansy said, jerking her thumb at Hermione.
Hermione didn't know what to do, so she played with the Joggart. Pansy was standing in front of Draco, glaring at him furiously. He looked up at her with no expression at all on his face.
"Why didn't you talk to me?" she asked. "I even offered to help you with our Potions homework! And-" she sniffed. "You're always walking around with that- that- mudblood! It's as if you were avoiding me, or something, and-"
"Would you," Draco said through clenched teeth. "Stop acting as if you were my girlfriend?"
Hermione looked away as she heard Pansy start sobbing. She didn't know what to do. Here was Pansy Parkinson crying in front of Draco Malfoy, obviously in love with him. And there was Draco Malfoy, giving her a cold no-expression look, which was kind of annoying. And there she was, rather disturbed by the whole thing.
"Fine!" Pansy shrieked. "I don't care if you- you- if you-" she was positively howling now. Unable to control herself, she ran off into the castle.
There was a tense silence around them now. Draco didn't do anything, and Hermione didn't know what to do, or what to say. She played with Bluey's fuzzy hairs. It blinked up at her.
"Poor Pansy," Hermione muttered. She didn't know Pansy at all. She knew that she was a bit… odd. But, well… she didn't know what to say, anyway.
Draco chuckled bitterly. "Poor?" he asked. "You should say poor me, Granger."
Hermione looked at him. "Why, exactly?"
"Because," he answered calmly. "That girl won't stop following me around wherever I go, won't stop looking at me, won't stop annoying me…"
"Because she's clearly in love with you!" Hermione blurted out. "You could at least try to be nice to her."
"No," Draco answered. "I'm sick and tired of that girl. I can't stand her. I just try to be alone, and there she is. I'm talking about me, how I feel, not how she feels. I don't care. She's really annoying, like you, Granger."
"Oh, quiet, Malfoy, you self-centered git!" Hermione exclaimed.
"I'm going to ignore that," he said calmly.
They stood in silence some more. Hermione was annoyed by his arrogance, and Draco was annoyed by her questions. Bluey blinked up at Hermione. Draco looked at the lake.
"So," Draco said, making her jump a bit. "Are you going to start writing, or not?"
"Oh," Hermione said, getting a parchment and a quill out of her pocket. "Right." She handed the Joggart back to Draco, who took it in his hands. "What has it done?"
"Blink,"
"How has it changed?" she tried next.
"Well," Draco said, looking at the blinking creature. "It grew small teeth,"
"In three days?" Hermione asked in utter surprise. She reached out and got Bluey from Draco's hands. It blinked up at her again. She could see no mouth, of course, but she had a clue of where it was. She knew it was somewhere under its eyes. She tried to move aside all the hairs aside, but there were too many. "Hold still," she told Bluey, trying to see its mouth.
Draco watched Hermione with mild interest. She was struggling with the Joggart, turning it this way and that, trying to open its mouth. It was sort of funny. She looked up at him, and their eyes met again.
"Could you try and open its mouth?" she asked him. "I want to see its teeth."
Draco was sort of shocked to see her asking him for help. She seemed so innocent, and so cheerful sometimes, like now. She was as excited as a child, asking him to open the Joggart's mouth, with her rosy cheeks and her eager brown eyes.
"Give it here, Granger," he heard himself saying.
"Thanks."
He took the Joggart, and did the same as Hermione had done. It didn't work, though. The Joggart was getting annoyed, blinking angrily up at him.
"Oh, fine," he said crossly, getting something out of his pocket.
A quill. "Let's see if I can open it-"
"Don't!" Hermione yelled.
Too late. The Joggart had seen Draco's intentions, and had opened its mouth wide, revealing two teeth as thin and sharp as a needle. It bit him on the hand.
"Ow!" Draco cried out before he could stop himself.
He felt a sharp pain going all the way from his hand to his arm, to his shoulder. He tried not to cry out in pain, he mustn't show weakness… but it hurt. He started shaking a bit from the pain, and looked up, clenching his teeth.
"Malfoy!" Hermione screamed. "Your hand!"
He looked down at it. It was becoming a sort of sickening purplish color.
Hermione stood up quickly, went over to him and, before he could stop her, she had thrown back the sleeves of his cloak. She examined the purplish color going towards his shoulder.
"You have to go to the hospital wing!" she shrieked.
"Oh, no Granger," Draco said with deep sarcasm. "I'll just stay here and see what happens."
"Hurry!" Hermione cried. She took Bluey from Draco's legs and put it in her pocket, and watched as the silver haired boy tried to get up… and fell.
"Come on," she said, pulling him by his hand. "Get up!"
With her help, Draco was able to get up, but threw her hand aside as soon as he did. Clutching his arm, he walked slowly towards the castle, with Hermione shrieking at him to hurry.
"Who knows what that could be?" she asked frantically. "It could be poison! It could be-"
"Be quiet, Granger!" Draco snapped. "You are not being helpful!"
Hermione looked up at him. "Fine, ok. But hurry!"
Draco was surprised. After how cold he had been towards her, there she was, tugging at him, telling him to hurry, with such a worried look he almost felt bad about being so nasty to her. He almost felt it, of course.
They reached the castle, and made their way up the marble stairs, Hermione frantically telling him to 'Hurry, your hand's getting darker!'
When they reached the hospital wing, Hermione threw the door open, and called out to Madam Pomfrey. Draco stood at the door, waiting.
"Goodness!" Madam Pomfrey exclaimed when she ripped off Draco's sleeve. Instead of being pale, his arm was completely black. She ran off into a closet, and came back out with a bottle of something.
Dragging Draco to the nearest bed, she opened the bottle. "Sit," she ordered.
Draco sat. Madam Pomfrey forced two spoonfuls of the strange, greenish liquid down Draco's throat, making him gag.
"This is horrible!" she exclaimed. "If you had waited longer, you may not be here now! How long did you wait to come to me? How did you get this- this black arm?"
A guilty tremble came from Hermione's pocket. She took bluey out. "This Joggart bit him."
Madam Pomfrey took a look at Bluey. "This?" she asked. Then she stood in silence for a minute, observing the Joggart. She stood up, and went to fetch something from the closet, mumbling about Hagrid Having To Do With This.
Hermione looked at Draco. He still clutched his arm. "Does it hurt much?" she asked.
Draco looked up at her. "Not as much as before," he answered.
She smiled. For once, Draco hadn't used an arrogant tone. He had even been honest.
Madam Pomfrey came back with a spoonful made out of something gooey. "Right, well," she said, putting the spoon under bluey's nose. "I have to see those teeth."
Bluey opened his mouth wide, revealing his two sharp teeth. As soon as he ate the gooey substance, though, he could no longer close his mouth.
"Hmmm…" Madam Pomfrey said, checking blue's teeth. "I see. Interesting. Mm-hmmm…"
She turned to Draco. "Poison, boy," she informed him. "And pretty powerful, too. These here," she tapped Bluey's teeth with the spoon. "Are dangerous. And they'll be even more dangerous as they grow."
Hermione kept on looking at Draco. He was biting his bottom lip, clutching his arm, shaking.
"Anyway," Madam Pomfrey said, pushing Hermione aside. "You need to go. This boy needs to stay in for the day, until his arm is back to its normal color."
"I'll pass by here later on to see how you're doing," Hermione told Draco. "OK?"
He nodded.
"Bye,"
***
Ron snorted. "With a quill? Please! Even Neville wouldn't do that!"
"Ron!" Hermione exclaimed. "It's not funny! Malfoy could've died!"
"Pity," Ron said, shaking his head. "It would've made our lives easier if he had."
Hermione glared at him. They were in the common room, sitting on the best couches in front of the fire. It was already nine o'clock, and it was very cozy.
"Fine," Ron said. He cleared his throat, and took his hands to his face. "Poor Malfoy!" he exclaimed overdramatically. "I hope he won't die! Imagine if he did!"
Harry laughed, looking at Ron over the quidditch book he was reading.
Ron stood up, and knelt beside Harry. "We must try and save him for his stupidity of trying to open a Joggart's mouth with a quill!"
Harry chuckled. "Yeah, we should."
Ron ran towards Hermione, who was glaring at him- hard. He patted her hand. "There, there, I'm sure the git will be ok. But," he sighed dramatically. "Those quills can sometimes-"
"Oh, stop it, Ron!" Hermione yelled, getting up.
Ron looked at her, surprised, as she made her way towards the portrait hole.
"Where are you going?" Ron called after her. "I was only joking! Sort of…"
"I'm going to see how Malfoy's doing," she answered, whirling around. "And don't tell me not to. Malfoy might be a bit nasty,"
"A bit?" Ron asked.
"But," she said ignoring him. "I want to see how he's doing." And she left.
*****
Finally, I got this chapter out!! Too much homework, too many tests… but I did it!!! Lol, hurray! Anyway, please review!!