AN: Don't you just love cliffhangers. And thank you! thank you! thank you!
thank you! thank you! thank you! thank you! thank you! thank you! thank
you! thank you! thank you! thank you! thank you! thank you! thank you!
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you! thank you! thank you! To all of my reviewers I love all of you! (6 so
far and I cherish them all)
Disclaimer: Am I richer to than the Queen? no. So do I own the HP universe? The answer your looking for is no.
Chapter 2- You've Ruined Me for Life
Pansy, Lavender and Hermione were stood up straight, silent and looked directly forward.
"Good morning girls," came an unemotional voice, "I have some very important news." Hermione's stepfather stared at them watching for any imperfection. "We have just been invited to a ball." His hard eyes sparkled oddly in his pale face as he evaluated their reactions. Lavender and Pansy looked delighted however Hermione wasn't sure how to act. She'd never been to that kind of thing before and she wanted to know what was so different about this dance from any other that had so excited the man in front of her.
"Perhaps I should read the invitation out loud so that you may hear it's... full implications."
He cleared his throat,
"Dear Mr Lucius Malfoy,
It is the pleasure of King and Queen Krum to announce the 18th birthday of their son. In celebration of this momentous occasion a ball will be held at Hogwarts castle on the evening of the 12th. All high families of the land are invited to the prestigious event. Expecting your acceptance, P. Wetherby (Palace scribe)"
"Well, "Malfoy asked, "Do you understand the importance of this ball?" Two of the girls just stared at him blankly their heads full of rhythmic music and glittering dresses but Hermione new exactly where this was going.
"It's an engagement ball sir," she answered calmly, "The king is getting old and the prince has come of age. He needs a wife."
"Correct." her stepfather praised grudgingly. He glared at his children. "As you are aware of my only son died years ago leaving me with three useless girls. In the eye of the law the only way you will retain this house is by marrying well. Who could be better than the future king? You will go to this ball and one of you will seduce his majesty into falling in love with you."
"You can't expect a prince to fall for Cinders can you Father!?" Pansy shrieked. Malfoy's lip curled as he looked Hermione up and down, sizing her up. "Well Granger," She'd never be a Malfoy. She didn't want the name and he'd never give it her. "It's a shame that you didn't inherit your mother's looks. Do you want to ensnare a prince?"
Hermione didn't pause before she answered, "I don't want to go with the intention of wooing a prince. Marriage should be based in love. However it would be nice to get dressed up and go out for a change."
"Cinders, I think you'll find that underneath all that grime you're so ugly the guards won't let you in any way," Pansy whispered loudly.
But Lavender defended her, "I think Hermione should go. It'd be a family outing."
Malfoy had a calculating look on his face. "Okay Hermione, you can go," ignoring Pansy's yell of indignation he reached into his pocket pulling out a scroll and carried on speaking, "but first Granger you will complete these chores."
With that he exited the room after forcing a tightly wound scroll of parchment into her hands. The other girls looked at her expectantly so she quickly unrolled it and all of her hopes were immediately dashed. The paper reached to the floor and small cramped words covered the rough manuscript leaving hardly any gaps between them. The list of chores seemed endless.
Lavender smiled apologetically at her Father's horrid task but Pansy simply smirked. Both girls left the room quickly chatting animatedly about the ball. With only a week to the big event it would take a lot of preparation.
"Well I suppose I'll just get started shall I," Hermione said to the little mouse that had been listening intently, its nose just peeking out from behind the door.
"You really want to go to this ball then?" questioned Ron. It was several hours later and given that Hermione only had a week to complete the mammoth task, she'd begun cleaning in earnest.
"Yes," she replied tersely from the floor. She was scrubbing furiously while Ron sat at the kitchen table counting out sweets and not being any help whatsoever.
"Why?" he asked, "No disrespect or anything but isn't dressing up and everything a little, y'know."
"Girly?"
"No, I was going to say not intellectually stimulating".
"To be honest I don't know why I want to go to a silly dance so badly. Maybe I just want to prove something."
"Like what?"
Hermione stared at her feet not looking him in the eye she spoke quietly, "Well, I suppose I want to prove that I can be pretty, just like everyone else. And maybe live up to some of my Mother's standards."
Ron just looked at her shocked. He knew that she'd always felt like she was second best to her mother, an renown beauty in these parts, but she'd never doubted herself like this before. "Don' be an idiot!" he said passionately, "You are just as beautiful as your mother," He continued over her protests, "and twice as smart and hardworking."
"No one at the ball is going to care about any of those things. God, even compared to Pansy I'll look like a hag."
Ron had had enough of this now, why couldn't she see that she was the most stunning person he knew. He stood in front of her forcing their eyes to meet. "You'll be the most enchanting woman at that ball next week and the prince is not going to be able to stay away from you. Okay." Hermione was stunned by the force of his promise and could do nothing but nod demurely. "Now, stop being thick. Sit on that chair and help me eat these sweets before I feel sick"
Hermione did as she was told and quickly latched onto a subject she was sure of. "You've sorted them out then," she said pointing out the piles of boiled bonbons.
"Yep. Blue for me, green for you and the reds shared out equally."
"They're flavours not paints you know."
"Shut up."
Hermione smiled and picking up a sweet she stared at it for a moment. "You do know that you've ruined me for life don't you," she said mock seriously.
"How do you mean?" he said joining in with the slightly lighter tone of the new conversation.
"Well how am I ever going to be friends with anyone ever again who doesn't meet with the very high standard of loving the sweets I hate and sharing equally the ones we both like?"
"I don't know," he joked, "you'll just have to find something else to share when prince charming falls in love with you at that very girly ball."
"Leave it." Hermione laughed, "Anyway wasn't it a 'not intellectually stimulating ball'?"
Ron just smiled, his mouth already filled with syrupy good things.
Disclaimer: Am I richer to than the Queen? no. So do I own the HP universe? The answer your looking for is no.
Chapter 2- You've Ruined Me for Life
Pansy, Lavender and Hermione were stood up straight, silent and looked directly forward.
"Good morning girls," came an unemotional voice, "I have some very important news." Hermione's stepfather stared at them watching for any imperfection. "We have just been invited to a ball." His hard eyes sparkled oddly in his pale face as he evaluated their reactions. Lavender and Pansy looked delighted however Hermione wasn't sure how to act. She'd never been to that kind of thing before and she wanted to know what was so different about this dance from any other that had so excited the man in front of her.
"Perhaps I should read the invitation out loud so that you may hear it's... full implications."
He cleared his throat,
"Dear Mr Lucius Malfoy,
It is the pleasure of King and Queen Krum to announce the 18th birthday of their son. In celebration of this momentous occasion a ball will be held at Hogwarts castle on the evening of the 12th. All high families of the land are invited to the prestigious event. Expecting your acceptance, P. Wetherby (Palace scribe)"
"Well, "Malfoy asked, "Do you understand the importance of this ball?" Two of the girls just stared at him blankly their heads full of rhythmic music and glittering dresses but Hermione new exactly where this was going.
"It's an engagement ball sir," she answered calmly, "The king is getting old and the prince has come of age. He needs a wife."
"Correct." her stepfather praised grudgingly. He glared at his children. "As you are aware of my only son died years ago leaving me with three useless girls. In the eye of the law the only way you will retain this house is by marrying well. Who could be better than the future king? You will go to this ball and one of you will seduce his majesty into falling in love with you."
"You can't expect a prince to fall for Cinders can you Father!?" Pansy shrieked. Malfoy's lip curled as he looked Hermione up and down, sizing her up. "Well Granger," She'd never be a Malfoy. She didn't want the name and he'd never give it her. "It's a shame that you didn't inherit your mother's looks. Do you want to ensnare a prince?"
Hermione didn't pause before she answered, "I don't want to go with the intention of wooing a prince. Marriage should be based in love. However it would be nice to get dressed up and go out for a change."
"Cinders, I think you'll find that underneath all that grime you're so ugly the guards won't let you in any way," Pansy whispered loudly.
But Lavender defended her, "I think Hermione should go. It'd be a family outing."
Malfoy had a calculating look on his face. "Okay Hermione, you can go," ignoring Pansy's yell of indignation he reached into his pocket pulling out a scroll and carried on speaking, "but first Granger you will complete these chores."
With that he exited the room after forcing a tightly wound scroll of parchment into her hands. The other girls looked at her expectantly so she quickly unrolled it and all of her hopes were immediately dashed. The paper reached to the floor and small cramped words covered the rough manuscript leaving hardly any gaps between them. The list of chores seemed endless.
Lavender smiled apologetically at her Father's horrid task but Pansy simply smirked. Both girls left the room quickly chatting animatedly about the ball. With only a week to the big event it would take a lot of preparation.
"Well I suppose I'll just get started shall I," Hermione said to the little mouse that had been listening intently, its nose just peeking out from behind the door.
"You really want to go to this ball then?" questioned Ron. It was several hours later and given that Hermione only had a week to complete the mammoth task, she'd begun cleaning in earnest.
"Yes," she replied tersely from the floor. She was scrubbing furiously while Ron sat at the kitchen table counting out sweets and not being any help whatsoever.
"Why?" he asked, "No disrespect or anything but isn't dressing up and everything a little, y'know."
"Girly?"
"No, I was going to say not intellectually stimulating".
"To be honest I don't know why I want to go to a silly dance so badly. Maybe I just want to prove something."
"Like what?"
Hermione stared at her feet not looking him in the eye she spoke quietly, "Well, I suppose I want to prove that I can be pretty, just like everyone else. And maybe live up to some of my Mother's standards."
Ron just looked at her shocked. He knew that she'd always felt like she was second best to her mother, an renown beauty in these parts, but she'd never doubted herself like this before. "Don' be an idiot!" he said passionately, "You are just as beautiful as your mother," He continued over her protests, "and twice as smart and hardworking."
"No one at the ball is going to care about any of those things. God, even compared to Pansy I'll look like a hag."
Ron had had enough of this now, why couldn't she see that she was the most stunning person he knew. He stood in front of her forcing their eyes to meet. "You'll be the most enchanting woman at that ball next week and the prince is not going to be able to stay away from you. Okay." Hermione was stunned by the force of his promise and could do nothing but nod demurely. "Now, stop being thick. Sit on that chair and help me eat these sweets before I feel sick"
Hermione did as she was told and quickly latched onto a subject she was sure of. "You've sorted them out then," she said pointing out the piles of boiled bonbons.
"Yep. Blue for me, green for you and the reds shared out equally."
"They're flavours not paints you know."
"Shut up."
Hermione smiled and picking up a sweet she stared at it for a moment. "You do know that you've ruined me for life don't you," she said mock seriously.
"How do you mean?" he said joining in with the slightly lighter tone of the new conversation.
"Well how am I ever going to be friends with anyone ever again who doesn't meet with the very high standard of loving the sweets I hate and sharing equally the ones we both like?"
"I don't know," he joked, "you'll just have to find something else to share when prince charming falls in love with you at that very girly ball."
"Leave it." Hermione laughed, "Anyway wasn't it a 'not intellectually stimulating ball'?"
Ron just smiled, his mouth already filled with syrupy good things.