Thanks for being honest, everyone!! :D ok, I'll try for this masquerade not to be TOO cheesy, ok? And if it is, then, sorry . and please forgive!
Oh, and sorry for taking so long with this chapter!! It was kind of hard to write, since I had to really think about the character's reactions at things, and what to add or remove from the masquerade. But it's also longer than the rest! I, er… got carried away, lol. Anyway, enjoy!! ^.^
Thanks to: S-Star, ljp, gryffindorphoenix, Dracoslove, Blade Griffin, Shmook, KeeperOfTheMoon, Broken-Hermione, Dawn Of Slytherin, Crystalline Lily, Bob, The Crimson Comet, RiaKatKar, Magical Malady, DemonWitch666, Jen Drake, jokester515, Megan, Vegeta Jr, Hatokirei, girldevil, Christine, hyper_shark, Lorraine, Esperanza, Marille, The Adorable Kitten Fluffy, DracosGirlMakayla, JDM, GerHPfa, Dying Moonlight, Luna, Jaci, Crissy101, Silver Fawkes, StarJade, Gilly, Hermione18, Jenni, and Eloria Leblanc for reviewing!!
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
*****
Draco found it hard to sleep that night. He previous events kept on popping up in his head.
He had danced with Hermione.
He had slow danced with Hermione Granger!
And he had liked it.
Draco wasn't fooled easily. He had known it was Hermione the moment he had seen her. He just denied it, because he wanted to dance with her.
No! It just couldn't be! He hadn't wanted to dance with her! Right…?
But she had looked so good at the masquerade… and had treated him so good these past few weeks. She had been kind, cheerful, and helpful.
And he was grateful for that.
Tomorrow he would see her again. What would he say? What would she say? What would happen?
It was a long time until he slept but, finally, slowly, his eyelids drooped.
***
She was waiting for him at the Entrance Hall. Her hair was bushy again, he noticed, and smiled inwardly. There was Hermione, trying not to be discovered. What she didn't know was that she'd been discovered by the least expected person.
"Hi, 'mione," Draco said, stopping in front of her, and trying to make her a bit angry.
He had expected a little shake, or a 'Stop calling me that!' or even a glare, but she did nothing of the sort. She had a dreamy look about her, as if she were a distant way off, fantasizing about something.
He hit her arm with his finger, and she looked up at him.
"Oh, hi," she said, as if barely noticing he was there.
"Ready?" he asked.
She nodded, and together they walked outside.
She was strangely quiet, and Draco missed her cheerful chatting around as they sat down. She didn't get a parchment or a quill out, just looked at nothing at particular.
"Hermione," Draco said. "I don't want to bother you while you're fantasizing about getting top marks, but-"
He stopped. She wasn't listening to him.
He tapped her shoulder, and she looked at him.
"Hermione," he tried again. "Know where you are?"
"Yes!" she said.
"What are we doing?"
"Working on the Joggart project,"
"And…"
"Oh!" she exclaimed suddenly, getting out a parchment and a quill. "Right…"
"Knew we'd get there eventually," Draco drawled.
She gave him a small glare, and started writing the changes she saw the Joggart had made.
"What are you thinking about?" Draco asked her, as he saw her usually neat writing a bit sloppy.
She turned red, and bent her head down to try and hide it with her hair. "Nothing,"
Draco wasn't fooled.
"I suppose you're thinking about the lovely time you had yesterday at the masquerade, and about the handsome boy you danced with," he said, proudly pronouncing 'handsome'.
She turned redder. "Actually, yes."
Draco stood still. He had only been joking! He hadn't actually thought… was she serious?
Hermione had told him because she was trusting him more and more, specially since he had saved her from falling off that cliff. She felt comfortable talking with him now. She knew he wouldn't laugh.
"So you had a good time then?" Draco asked silently.
"Yes," Hermione said, a bit suspicious about Draco suddenly becoming interested, and asking questions. She decided to do the same. "Did you dance with anyone?"
He stood quiet for a moment. He hadn't expected that. She wasn't supposed to ask that! What should he say?
His pride was too great to answer 'no', and let her think he hadn't had fun, or that no one had wanted to go with him.
"Yes. With a pretty and charming girl," he added, to make clear that he had had fun.
Hermione giggled. She hadn't expected such an answer from Draco.
"Really, Draco?" she teased. "Do I know her?"
This was getting harder. He would never ever talk to a girl about a masquerade again! They got a bit giggly, and asked questions… and that made him nervous.
"Yes," he answered.
She smiled evilly. "Who is it?"
Now this was too much!
"None of your business," he said, a bit too coldly.
She turned back to her work slowly, with a sort of hurt face. "Ok,"
He hadn't meant to say it so coldly. It just came out that way. But seeing Hermione's excited face turn into a slightly hurt one wasn't too amusing at the moment.
She quickly recovered, though, and changed the conversation. "Bluey's hairs are wider,"
Draco was silent for a moment. "Yes, they are."
"And the black spot on its tummy is bigger," Hermione said, smiling.
She tried to make more cheerful comments, but Draco was serious and silent.
And cold.
She finally sighed. "Ok, I'm sorry for asking such a personal question," she said. She felt as if she had ruined all her efforts of trying to get to Draco for the past weeks. And now, with just one stupid question, he was back to his cold self again.
To her surprise, Draco was trying to hide a smile, and he did something he had never done before. He patted her head playfully.
"No hard feelings, Granger," he said, almost smiling without wanting to. Then he looked at her straight in the eyes and said coldly, "But don't ever ask again,"
Hermione was contented, because she knew Draco wasn't angry, and just smiled at him.
They stood in silence for a minute, until they saw Pansy running towards them.
"I thought the leg-locker curse would last longer," Draco muttered.
Hermione looked at him, half amused, half disapprovingly.
Draco shrugged. "She was following me around,"
They both looked at Pansy again. She looked as if she were running for her life.
Then she tripped.
Draco chuckled. "Parkinson, when will you learn?"
The pathetic figure in her Hogwarts robes got up again, and kept on running.
At last, she reached them.
"Draco," she said sweetly, out of breath. "I was just wondering if you had reconsidered what you had said before, in the common room, about, well…" she looked at Hermione, and crinkled up her nose. Then she turned back to Draco. "What's she doing here?"
Draco eyed her coldly.
Pansy smiled again. "So… you still think that you'd rather dance with a four-headed, smelly, filthy, fat, furry…" as she said each word, her shoulders drooped a little, and her face looked sadder. "Stinky, ugly, rotten, deadly monster than with me?"
Draco looked unshaken, "Yes,"
Pansy sniffed a few times. "Ok, look, I know that following you around all day and grabbing your feet once when you were walking was probably not the best way to-"
"It certainly wasn't,"
"To get you to dance with me, but, please Draco!"
"No,"
Pansy got on her hands and feet. "Just one small, measly dance,"
Hermione was uncomfortable. Pansy was in front of Draco, as if worshiping him, and Draco was glaring at her. And, Hermione thought, if he was glaring at me like that, I'd probably run off screaming.
Pansy must've been really used to it, though, because she just smiled and begged.
In the meantime, Hermione finished writing, and stood up.
"Well, I'm done,"
"Good," Pansy said. "Then you can leave us alone now,"
That made Hermione mad. Partly because she did not want to leave Pansy and Draco alone together, and partly because she hated to be talked to that way.
She frowned and started walking away.
But Draco stepped next to her after a moment of struggling with Pansy, and leaving the poor girl alone under the tree, and drowning in tears.
Not that he cared.
Hermione did, though. "Aren't you being a little harsh on her?"
He decided to answer by a sarcastic question. "Is McGonagall dating Snape?"
Hermione smiled at his sarcasm.
They reached the Entrance Hall.
"Bye!" Hermione said, going up the marble stairs. "Hey, maybe I'll see you in the masquerade,"
Draco almost smiled at her ignorance, but stopped himself just in time. "I'm sure you will,"
Hermione watched as he turned the corner before keeping on climbing the staircase.
When she got to the common room, she found Harry and Ron playing wizard chess, so she settled in beside them.
"Who's winning?" she asked pointlessly, as Ron's queen destroyed Harry's knight.
"Who do you think?" Harry asked irritably. He hated when people came over to ask that.
After a moment watching them, she stood up.
"I'm going to get ready for the masquerade," she informed them, as she went upstairs.
"Hermione," Ron said, gaping at her. "You have three more hours!"
"I have to curl my hair," Hermione whispered. "Any maybe even get a new dress."
She had only told Harry and Ron about her plan. They seemed to have gone along with it.
Harry, though, had noticed something weird about her dancing partner. He'd watched them all throughout the masquerade yesterday. The silver-blond hair, the way he walked and moved. But he hadn't smirked or sneered. In fact, he had looked, well… weird.
Harry couldn't tell what his face showed. It wasn't easy to read his face at all.
He really had thought it was Draco at first, but seeing no smirk or sneer or his two huge bodyguards with him, he was confused. But he'd keep an eye on them today, too. If he saw something mysterious about his behavior, he'd tell Hermione that he might be Malfoy.
"What're you thinking about?" Ron demanded, and his queen destroyed Harry's last bishop.
Harry hadn't told Ron about his suspicions. Who knew how Ron would react?
"Nothing," Harry said.
***
Harry, Ron, Lavender and Hermione walked through the lighted path that led to the ship.
Harry had to admit that Hermione looked pretty good. She was wearing a dark green satin dress. There was black embroidery twisting and turning all the way down it, and black trimmings. It had flared sleeves, and a black rounded neck line.
She was struggling with it, though. She kept on tripping over her petticoats, and once fell flat on her face.
Ron couldn't help laughing as Harry helped her up. Later she kicked Ron so hard that he was still having trouble walking.
"Yesterday you didn't have this much trouble with your dress," Lavender observed.
Hermione smiled weakly. "This one has more petticoats… and it's kind of heavy." She looked at Lavender's soft pink dress. It was filled with ten petticoats, at least! "Don't know how you do it, Lavender, but-"
Lavender giggled. "I bewitched the skirt to make it feather-light."
Hermione stopped walking, and gaped at Lavender. She suddenly felt very stupid. Of course! Why hadn't she thought of it before? She was so wrapped up in seeing… him again that she hadn't stopped to think for a moment!
She got out her wand and bewitched her skirt, too.
"Thanks, Lavender," she said as they kept on walking. It was very comfortable now. She couldn't believe that she didn't feel the weight of all the petticoats under her skirt.
Lavender smiled. "You're welcome."
They finally reached the ship. Lavender and Ron, acting like a gentleman, stepped in front of Harry and Hermione.
They opened the door.
"See you later," Hermione said, looking around as Harry went up the stairs to the landing.
Her brown eyes scanned the dancing floor, the upstairs landing, the food table, and even the table where all of the teachers sat.
But there was no sign of him.
She was just about to lose hope when she felt a tap on her bare shoulder, and turned around.
There he was, dressed the same as the day before, only today his shirt was white.
He smiled at her, took her hand, and kissed it. Something he had never done.
Something he'd never dream of doing to a muggle born.
Hermione blushed, even if it was sort of hard to tell, since her mask covered part of her cheeks.
Then they began dancing.
Harry was looking down at them from the landing. Was he Malfoy, or not? There was a glint in his eye, no doubt about it… but it wasn't an evil glint. Not even a mischievous glint. What was it?
He was really beginning to think that it wasn't him, until a boy dressed in tights bumped into the food table, making him stuck his head in the glass holding punch.
Hermione's partner smirked. And that smirk was so familiar, he had no doubt about it: He was Malfoy.
He had to tell Hermione. What if dancing with her was just one of Draco's tricks? What if he was just planning to harm her? And how could he reach her? He looked at her again, wondering.
The music got louder, and faster. Hermione, with all the other girls, twirled madly, and came back to their partners. When she did, Draco could see a glint in her eyes he had never see before. It was like fire.
They danced some more, Hermione moving gracefully, Draco steering, and both dancing perfectly.
The song ended, and the dancers had a minute to breath until another fast song came on.
Harry watched as Hermione and Draco danced together, thinking how he could warn Hermione.
But the answer was right in front of him.
All the girls suddenly changed partners for about five seconds, and then stepped to the next boy, danced with him for five seconds, and so on. Hermione went all around the dance floor this way, found her partner again, and stopped.
Harry quickly went down the stairs, and went towards the food table, where Ron and Lavender were standing.
He grabbed Lavender's hand and pulled her into the dance floor.
"Harry, what-"
"I'll explain later," Harry said.
He danced with Lavender for a while, until it was turn for the girls to move around again.
He waited for Hermione, as he danced with a lot of girls.
When Hermione grabbed Harry's arm, she recognized him immediately by his bright green eyes staring back at her.
"Harry!"
"I think I know who you're dancing with," Harry said quickly.
"What?"
He had no time to answer, though, because she had to change partners.
Frustrated, Harry clenched his teeth.
Hermione danced with all the boys, and came back to where her partner was. What had Harry said? She hadn't quite heard him.
Luckily, there was one more changing-partners session in the dance.
When it came, and she came face to face with his bright green eyes, she quickly asked, "What did you say?"
"I think you're dancing with-"
No time. She had to change partners.
She danced with a series of boys, until she came back to her partner, finally.
She looked up at him. Harry knew who she was dancing with. His tone had been as if he were warning her about something.
So who could he be?
The song ended, and another fast one came on, and then another, and then yet another.
For Hermione, it was a mad session of twirling, moving, using all of the dancing steps she knew, and sometimes making up new dancing steps.
Draco was having a lot of fun. He liked the way Hermione moved, the way she looked up at him with eager brown eyes.
So after another half hour, it wasn't a surprise to find Hermione exhausted. "Would you like to drink something?" she asked, out of breath, in hopes her partner would get the point.
"Sure," Draco answered, offering Hermione his arm.
He still couldn't that he had showed up at all. He couldn't believe he had actually danced with Hermione. He couldn't believe that, even now he knew it was Hermione, he still wanted to dance with her.
"Wait here," he said, as she sat on one of the tables. "While I get the drinks,"
Hermione waited, tapping her fingers gently on the table top, and staring around.
Then Harry showed up. "Good thing I found you!" he said, sitting down across from her. "We have to talk,"
"What were you saying before?" Hermione asked. "You know who I'm dancing with?"
Harry's face turned serious. "Yes, I do."
"Who?" Hermione asked, a bit alarmed at Harry's tone of voice.
Draco showed up just then.
Both Harry and Hermione stared at him, and then at each other without saying a word.
But Draco wasn't stupid. He had noticed Harry following Hermione, and trying to tell her something urgent. And, by the way they both looked at him, he was sure he knew what it was.
His eyes glinted maliciously.
He would just have to keep Hermione away from Potter. Or never leave her side. Potter wouldn't dare tell her in front of him. At least, not now. Not while he still had a chance to dance with her without she knowing who he was.
He put a goblet full of punch in front of Hermione, and glared at Harry. There was no point in pretending with him. He knew who he was.
Harry stood up slowly, staring fixedly at him.
Draco smirked, and took the now empty chair.
Harry, after glaring at him, went up the stairs to the landing to resume his watching-for-the-enemy post.
Hermione had noticed something had happened between the two boys, but decided not to say anything about it, and drink her punch.
Draco watched her. So she knew something was up. He'd get that Potter, no matter what.
After some uncomfortable minutes of silence, Draco decided to speak up.
"So would you like to dance again?"
She smiled up at him. "Of course,"
It was a slow dance. Draco dragged Hermione closer to him, until there was barely an inch between them.
As if afraid someone would take her away.
Harry was watching them closely, though. He had to tell Hermione! Draco would do anything to stop him, he was sure… he knew he wanted to tell Hermione. So it was back to fighting, as they had done in the previous five years.
Hermione looked into his gray eyes, wondering…
She was smart enough to know who he was, of course. The thing that blocked her from knowing was that she could never in her wildest dreams imagine she was dancing with Draco. She couldn't imagine that it was Draco who was looking at her so tenderly.
As she wondered, Harry was thinking of how he could talk to her alone.
But after they had danced three more times, and he was still watching them from the landing, and had absolutely no idea, he decided to do the rude thing: take Hermione away from him, and tell her.
He went down the stairs, and moved through a sea of huge skirts, until he found them. A song had just ended, and they were talking.
He approached them, quickly looked at Draco in the eyes, grabbed Hermione by the arm, and was soon dragging her away.
Draco watched as they went disappeared behind couples dancing, outraged. How dare he!
He had to get to them before Potter said anything!
He desperately pushed people aside, keeping his eyes fixed on the door that led to deck. They had to be on deck!
He didn't notice that a boy in tights was tripping over skirts, though, and was going straight for him.
He didn't notice until he fell, of course. The boy had tripped over him, and they were now both sprawled on the floor.
Draco was about to say something rude and obnoxious to the stupid fool, when panic seized him: his mask was lying on the floor next to him.
For a moment, he didn't move. Panic kept him pinned to the floor.
He recovered quickly, though, grabbed the mask, and put it on. Or at least he tried to put it on, because he soon noticed that the string was broken.
Damn!
Had anyone noticed?
He looked around, but everyone seemed to be peacefully talking or dancing.
He frantically tied it as best as he could, and made a wild dash for the door.
Draco pushed it open, and found Hermione and Harry staring back at him.
Harry looked furious, and Hermione looked blank.
He wondered if Potter had told Hermione. He hoped he hadn't. For a while, they just stared at each other blankly, until he found it so disturbing that he did what he could think of first: make an excuse for his tumbling in on them.
"Er… Dumbledore's going to give a special announcement."
Harry looked at him suspiciously, but Hermione took his arm, and they walked inside together.
Harry clenched his fists.
He had almost told Hermione. He had had time enough to tell her. But she had looked so happy. He didn't want to ruin that… and when he had made up his mind, and was fumbling around with the words, Draco had come, and he had had no more time.
Hermione looked around, thinking Dumbledore might be standing up to give his announcement.
But he wasn't. He wasn't even at the teacher's table. He was too busy dancing with Professor McGonagall.
"What announcement?" she asked.
"Must've already said it," Draco muttered.
Hermione looked awkwardly at him. She was a bit annoyed because both boys were dragging her from place to place, although she couldn't deny that she liked her dancing partner to follow her around and come take her away when she was talking with Harry.
It showed he was interested in her.
But she was also tired. After all, she had been dancing all night! And the masquerade was going to be over soon.
She looked at the clock.
Fifteen minutes to midnight.
In fifteen minutes everything would be over: the happiness she had felt, the dancing… she didn't even know who he was! How could she spend more time with him if she wouldn't even recognize him in the hallways?
They had time for one more dance.
A slow song came on, and both Draco and Hermione enjoyed it as much as they could, for they knew it would be their last.
Throughout those minutes, everything else faded away, and they were only aware of each other. Of where their hands met, on each other's eyes. Draco could feel the heat coming from Hermione, and her silky smooth skin. She could feel his caring for her by the way he held her.
They were both disappointed when the song ended and they had to step away from each other.
Then everyone looked at the teachers' table, where Dumbledore was sure to give some kind of announcement.
But there was no Dumbledore. At least, not at the teachers' table. He was on the dancing floor, dancing away with Professor Sprout.
"Professor Dumbledore!" Professor McGonagall called. "I remind you that the masquerade has almost ended! Please come up here!"
Dumbledore stopped dancing, and looked at Professor McGonagall. At first he seemed lost, as if not knowing what he was wanted for, but then he smiled.
"Ah, yes, thank you, Minerva," and started walking towards the teachers' table, chuckling. Professor Sprout trailed behind.
"Well!" Dumbledore said, once beside Professor McGonagall. "The masquerade has come and gone!"
Hermione sadly nodded.
"And I hope you all had fun, as that was what the masquerade was intentioned for. And, before going to bed, and to end the masquerade, I must ask you all to remove your masks."
Draco went numb. Did Dumbledore just say they had to remove their masks?
Everyone else was taking off theirs, so he supposed so. But… No! He had no idea this was going to happen! Everything would be ruined! If he had known this, he would've never showed up, never even bothered to dance with Hermione. She would know who he was… there was no way he was taking off his mask. He had to get away.
So, silently, he started to slip away, towards the door. He walked through the mass of people unnoticed, and stepped on deck. He had almost reached the stairs when he felt a hand grip his arm. He turned around and saw Hermione. She had taken off her mask, and was looking specially pretty. He looked away.
"Please take off your mask," she said softly. "I've taken off mine, see?" she stopped talking for a moment, but then went on. "I really, really want to know who you are, specially since I had such a good time with you."
Draco wanted to talk to her, to make her understand that he just couldn't take his mask off. That there was no way he would do it. That she really didn't want to know who he was. He turned his head roughly to face her, and felt a snap at the back off his head. He watched in horror as his mask fell onto the floor between Hermione and himself.
Hermione's eyes opened wide, and she looked at him with a very shocked expression, as if she had just seen Lord Voldermont himself. Her mouth dropped open, and Draco just wanted to run away from her.
She finally found her voice. "Draco?"
He pulled away roughly. "Yes, it's me, Granger!" he exclaimed and, not knowing what to do, he went down the stairs and ran towards the castle, leaving Hermione to stare after him for a very long while, even after he was inside the castle, even as people started climbing down the stairs.
Harry, Ron, and Lavender stopped next to her.
Harry put a hand on her shoulder. "I tried to tell you."
Hermione looked at neither of them. She looked down at the floor and saw Draco's black mask lying there. She bent down, picked it up, and looked at it lying on her hand as the moonlight shone on it. Then she closed her hand around it.
"Draco…" she whispered.
******
Ok. I got carried away with the masquerade, and tried not to make it too cheesy. And I wasn't going to describe every single dance, so I just skipped them, as you noticed ^^ so what did you think of it??? Review or my mad hamster will eat you!