Chapter Twenty Five: A New Beginning

Friday passed uneventfully, with Narcissa going over the Unforgivable Curses, and

promising to add more detail the following week. The students managed to behave

themselves, likely due to the feeling that she would not hesitate to give them detention the

night of the ball, and that would certainly not be fun.

She felt a wave of nostalgia as she heard some students talking on the way out. If

only she could relive her years at Hogwarts, how she would do things differently. Indeed,

her whole life might have turned out far from what she had now. And yet, her marriage

with Lucius Malfoy had one good thing that had come form it: her son. While Narcissa

would love to turn back time and maybe try things another way, she wouldn't trade

anything in the world for him. She watched he carried Hermione's books for her, and they

walked out, hand in hand. A smile crept across her face. The past couldn't change, but she

could make changes in the present to make her future a happier one.

That evening, the anxious feelings that had filled the air in the previous weeks and

throughout the morning were gone. The night was cloudless, lit by only the twinkling stars,

as it was a new moon. Hermione looked out her window, at the sky, the constellations she

remembered looking at with Draco a couple of weeks before.

"Why so glum, Hermione?" asked Pavarti.

"Glum? I'm not glum... just thinking..."

"Hey, what do you guys think of this for my hair," asked Lavender. Her hair was

arranged much like a giant bow, with 'ribbons' coming from it.

"That's lovely," said Pavarti. "How about this?" Her hair was done up in a French

twist, with baby's breath on it.

"Nice, I like the flowers," said Hermione as she pulled out her want and enchanted

her own hair, much the same as she had worn it to the Yule Ball, except with red roses in it.

The girls busied, putting on their dresses, doing their makeup, finishing their hair,

and such, for about half an hour, until they stopped and surveyed their work.

Pavarti had on robes of a beautiful royal blue color, with white flowers to accent it,

which matched wonderfully with those on her hair. The bodice of the gown had spaghetti

straps, and a large bow at the back of the waistline. She had a scarf draped over her

shoulders, which, like the gown, shimmered golden in the light, and she wore a pearl

necklace and earrings to match.

Lavender had on robes of deep red, with crimson roses in her hair, and black lace

over the crimson fabric, which shimmered in the light. She had on a necklace with a charm

on it, a rose made of rubies and emeralds, and a wrap of the lace over her shoulders.

Hermione's hair was pulled back, with small bundles of her hair in a bunch at the

back, and several wisps in the front. She had on the tiara of white gold, with the

shimmering diamonds, and a simple chain with diamond cross that she always wore to

match. The dark gown twinkled, with its bell skirt and halter bodice.

"Wow, Hermione, where did you get that gown?" asked Pavarti.

"Yeah, I need to shop there next time!" exclaimed Lavender.

"That looks enchanted," said Pavarti.

"I got it at this little old shop in Hogsmeade, actually, how about you guys?" Hermione replied.

"Bought it on vacation in Paris, actually, before the year started. Never imagined I'd

have an occasion at school to wear them for," said Lavender.

"I got mine at the shop next to Zonko's," said Pavarti. "Padma got hers there, too."

"The guys are sure going to be knocked off their feet when they see us, that's for

sure," said Hermione.

They went to go downstairs to meet their dates, but Hermione stayed back. Listen, I

just remembered something. I'll be down in a bit. Don't wait for me, okay, and tell Draco

I'll meet him there."

Draco went on his way to Gryffindor Tower. He stared up at the portrait of the Fat Lady,

and she said, "Ooh, someone looks nice. But, I'm afraid I can't let the Slytherin Prince into

Gryffindor's Common Room, at least not unless you have the password or someone wishes to let

you in. I'm sorry."

Draco was slightly annoyed. Not at the woman in the portrait, no she seemed to have a

sense of humor, but rather, at himself, for not thinking about this earlier. How could he have

forgotten?

Just then, he heard footsteps coming down the hall. It was Potter. On any other

occasion, he would have been extremely irritated to see the boy he lived at such an inconvenient

moment. But then, the timing was perfect.

"Potter!" he called.

Potter looked at him oddly. "What do you want, Malfoy?"

He looked at the Gryffindor, who was clad in crimson, and looking him over very carefully.

"I need to see Hermione, so I can walk her downstairs."

Potter looked at him, and seemed to debate silently with himself for well over a minute,

before finally deciding, "all right, I'll let you in, since almost all the students are downstairs, but

you can't hear the password." With that, Potter put some sort of deafening spell on him, and told

the Portrait the password. Too bad he didn't know that Draco could read lips. "Phoenix feather,"

he saw Potter say. Figures that the password would be something like that. This bit of information

would certainly be useful in the future.

The portrait swung open, and the spell was removed. Draco looked around as he stepped in.

It was certainly different from the Slytherin Common Room. Besides the obvious change in color

scheme, this Common Room seemed to have more of an assortment of tapestries and plush chairs

to sit in, and the entire atmosphere was warmer. It felt like those that dwelt in the place were

similar to a family, something certainly different from the Slytehrins, whose main objective was to

use those around them to gain power and prestige, among other things. The Gryffindor Common

Room just felt... homey.

He looked around. There was one other person in the room, who looked as though he had

transformed into a bull and a bullfighter was waving a red cape at him. Weasley. He gaped, and

then looked from Potter to the blond Slytherin and back, before the Boy-Who-Lived broke the silence.

"Relax, Ron. I let him in. For Hermione," he added, trying to get his friend to calm down.

The redhead relaxed somewhat, but still eyed him uneasily. The three sat and waited, and

it was quite surprising that Weasley began to talk to him, almost as though no harsh words had ever

come between them.

"So, you're taking her."

Draco nodded. "Who are you taking?"

"Pavarti Patil, Harry's taking Lavender Brown," said Weasley.

"What was that?" Draco asked, as he heard a door creak open.

"Oh, looks like they're finally ready," Potter said. "Everyone only left fifteen minutes ago!

We'd better hurry if we're going to make it."

"Relax Potter-- Erm, Harry. They're not going to start without the Quidditch players.

Remember, it's a Quidditch Homecoming Ball, or something like that, right?"

Potter nodded.

Just then, they looked to see Lavender Brown, in robes crimson and black lace, and Pavarti

Patil in royal blue. But where was Hermione?

The girls looked a bit taken aback by his presence there at first, but exchanged pleasantries

nonetheless. Then Brown said, "Hermione says she'll be down in a minute."

"Thanks."

"Well, Malf—Draco, we' need to go, but Hermione'll be down shortly, so I don't see the damage

in --"

Weasley looked at him as though he were crazy, but one look from his date made him keep his

mouth shut. The four Gryffindors walked out the portrait hole, leaving Draco to wait... and wait...

A few minutes later, Hermione heard a crash as someone apparently fell down the

stairs.

She opened the door, to see who it was, but saw that the stairs had formed the

slide-like apparatus that they did whenever boys tried to get to the girls' dormitories. "Who

is it?" she asked.

"Hermione, it's Draco, come out please. I can't wait any longer," he called.

"How did you get in?" she asked from the doorway.

"Potter let me, after much persuasion."

"Oh. I see. You haven't been waiting but five minutes, unless you got there early,

Draco. Wait a minute, I'll be right out."

He went down and paced around anxiously. If any Gryffindors saw him in their

common room, he feared what they would think.

He didn't have to worry long, though, because the door to the dormitory opened, and

out came Hermione. She descended the stairs gracefully, and Draco's jaw dropped, as he

surveyed her from head to toe. He looked at her eyes once she'd gotten close enough and

pulled her close, whispering "You look amazing."

She blushed deeply, and said "thank you," smiling. "You look… wow…" His hair was

neatly combed and it looked as though he'd had a haircut. He was clean-shaven (not that

he wasn't always) and wore robes of nearly the same color as her. Indeed, they were the

same velvety fabric. She didn't need to ponder this, for she knew that Narcissa had likely

insisted that he go to the same shop she had sent her to. She grinned as she thought of all

the time Narcissa had likely put into this.

Draco looked at her, but didn't ask any questions. He just took her hand in his, and

they walked down to the Homecoming Ball together.

All the Quidditch players were outside the Great Hall, and Professors Snape and

McGonagall were giving directions. Hermione and Draco parted ways for the announcement

of the players.

"You are to go in with your teams, and your dates will join you for a dance after the

announcements. I trust you are all able to dance." Professor Snape looked at Harry and

Ron.

Draco laughed silently, before Hermione punched him in the ribs.

"When they announce you, go onto the dance floor. Once the music starts, dance.

Simple," said Professor McGonagall.

At that moment, a voice came on, and announced the beginning of the Quidditch

Homecoming Ball. It explained the purpose, to celebrate the teams, et. al, and then

proceeded to announce the Hufflepuff team. After all were announced, came the

Ravenclaws. Slytherins were next, followed by the Gryffindors.

Once all the teams had been announced, Dumbledore spoke. Everyone paid

attention to him. "This is the first ball of its kind we have had here at Hogwarts for a long

time. We wish to promote school unity, and celebrate our Quidditch House Cup. The

students who play this sport spend a lot of time practicing, and balancing this with their

grades, and you all enjoy it. I hope this will be a new Hogwarts tradition, and perhaps be a

new beginning in other ways..." he paused and his eyes twinkled. "So enough of my

chatter, let us have the first dance, for the Quidditch players."

The players were joined by their dates on the dance floor, and the music started to

play. It was "Hotel California" by The Eagles. (A/N: There's not really any significance

re: the song to the story, it's just a beautiful song to dance to, smiles)

Author's Note:

My longest chapter yet! Yay! Okay, that was an accomplishment, given my short attention

span. (hehe)... Anyways, R&R on your way out, and there's another chapter after this : )

Thanks for your time,

E. Caddy Compson (persephoneia)