The four sat down at the Gryffindor table to eat dinner. Harry and Ron still glancing at Hermione and Nora to see if they were all right. Neither of them dared to ask what the girls were grinning about. After the girls had finished dinner they went to their common room leaving Harry and Ron by themselves.
"What do you think they were talking about?" Harry muttered to Ron
"I dunno, about guys, maybe?" Ron murmured back, grimacing at the thought of it. Just then Seamus walked over to them and asked if they were done. He waited while Harry and Ron ate the rest of their dinner and then they walked into the Entrance Hall.
"So, who's Nora going to the Ball with?" Seamus asked them.
"Malfoy," Harry said bitterly.
"What, really?" Harry and Ron nodded. "Why?"
"Dunno," said Ron, looking at Harry who shrugged. Nora hadn't told them why she was going to the ball with Malfoy… but they hadn't really given her a chance to explain.
"Well… he's pretty lucky, then."
"What! … Why?" Ron asked him, peering suspiciously at his friend.
"Well, he's going to the Ball with Nora. I mean she's smart, funny, attractive, not so girly AND she likes Quidditch! That's like the perfect combination! Those kind of girls are really hard to find," Seamus said exasperated.
"Well, there's Hermione."
"Yes, but she doesn't like Quidditch that much and she's dating Terry," Harry told him.
"Malfoy is so lucky," Seamus said again, sighing as they turned a corner. Ron looked annoyed; he didn't like it when guys talked like that about Hermione or Nora. The two were kind of like sisters to him and he hated it when Ginny dated someone.
"And why is that?" came Malfoy's drawling voice. Seamus froze.
"Because… well, you get to go to the Ball with Nora," he managed to say.
"That would make me unlucky. And I don't get to, I have to." He scowled and passed them to go to his common room, thinking: 'I am indeed quite lucky.'
The next day the two girls woke up feeling very cheerful. They went to breakfast early and then went to the lake, to wait for the guys, watching the giant squid swim in the water. It was a nice day, with the occasional cool breeze and the warm sun on their faces and the lovely crunching sound as they walked on the fallen leaves. When the boys joined them they sat around chatting happily.
"So what do you want to do?" Ron asked bored.
"Well, the Ball doesn't start until eight o'clock, which means we have to start getting ready at about six…" Hermione began, calculating.
"What?" Harry spluttered, "You two need two whole hours to get ready for the Ball?"
"Well, not necessarily, but it's best to be ready early, than late," Hermione explained to him, annoyed at being cut off. "So we have about six hours to do something, though I don't know what."
"We could play wizard chess, here outside?" Ron offered.
"Yeah, let's do that," Harry said enthusiastically, and they both got up to get the chess set from their dorm. Hermione and Nora remained under the large birch tree, just talking, when an eagle owl landed near them with a note in its beak. The bird dropped it in Nora's lap and then took off again.
"What's that?" Ron asked pointing at the note as he and Harry arrived, carrying Ron's battered chess set. Nora read it and then said:
"It's from Malfoy." Harry and Ron stopped smiling and glared at the letter.
"What's it say?" Harry asked bitterly.
"It says I can meet him at the portrait, that leads out of our common room, whenever I'm ready to go to the Ball. He'll be waiting there for me."
"Oh," Ron grumbled, he then put down the chess set and began playing a match with Harry, while the girls watched. At one thirty they went inside to have lunch. After that they went to the library to try and finish most of their homework.
"What else can I write for Care of Magical Creatures?" Ron asked his three friends. He was working on the assignment Hagrid had given them.
"Well, did you list all of the creatures?" Harry asked him. "There are loads that provide ingredients for potions."
"Ah, no, I didn't. Thanks," Ron told him, writing it down eagerly, with the tip of his tongue sticking out.
"I just listed the creatures that provided the most used ingredients," Nora told them, reviewing what she had written so far. "This could have easily been a potions assignment."
"Yeah, but Snape wouldn't give us something as easy as this," Harry told her. "I mean, he's always giving us something that we can barely finish."
"Done," Ron said happily. "No more homework! Wanna play some more wizard chess?" he asked Harry, who shrugged and grinned.
"Sure, come on, I think we accidentally left it under the tree."
"I hope nobody took it. But at least now we don't have to get it from our dormitory again," Ron replied, walking off with Harry.
"Boys," Nora, who was adding finishing touches to her writing, heard Hermione mutter.
"Done too, wanna go watch them, or do something else?" she asked.
"Dunno, there isn't anything else to do is there?"
"No, not really. Unless you want to hang out with Parvati and Lavender, but they're always squealing and stuff. It's slightly frustrating."
"Yes, I know," Hermione agreed. "Well, then, I guess we could go watch Harry and Ron play wizard chess." They got up, packed their finished homework in their bags and made their way towards their favorite Birch tree, to watch the boys play. At six fifteen Hermione nudged Nora looking very shocked and pointing at her watch, they both got up and ran towards the castle at full speed.
"What's up with them?" Ron asked looking up and watching them run off.
"Dunno. They probably have to apply even more make-up or something. Either way, it's girl stuff," replied Harry, grimacing as Ron's queen beat up his knight.
"That's your explanation for everything isn't it?"
"Well, it's just easier that way." They both laughed. Hermione came running back very quickly grabbed a piece of parchment and then ran off again towards Nora, who was standing in front of the Main Entrance waiting impatiently, then they both disappeared inside.
"Girls," Harry and Ron muttered, laughing again. Nora and Hermione ran into their common room, up the spiral staircase, leaving Terry and Malfoy looking very stunned, and then into the bathroom. They both took showers and, when they were dried off, they put on their costumes. Hermione helped put Nora's hair in a high knot, letting pieces of hair hanging from it in different places. Two strands of hair were left out to frame her face. When she was all done, Nora used a spell, which Hermione had found in the library while the rest had been working on the Care of Magical Creatures assignment, to make Hermione's hair wavy instead of the usual bushiness. Hermione painted her toe and finger nails black and Nora painted hers white.
And because it was Halloween and they hardly ever used make-up, opposed to what Harry and Ron always said, Hermione gave Nora white highlights, and put white eye shadow and white lipstick on her face, while Nora put black lipstick and dark blue eye shadow on Hermione's. Then Nora took out thirteen plain bracelets she had found and cast a charm on them to make them white. She then put six on her right wrist and seven on her left one; having always favored her left hand more, because it was her wand hand. Then, when they were completely dressed up, Hermione went into her room and grabbed Crookshanks.
"What are you going to do with your cat?" Nora asked interestedly, and somewhat suspiciously, scratching Crookshanks behind the ears.
"Well, in Muggle stories the witches always have a black cat, so I decided that I would cast a spell to make Crookshanks black. But only for tonight. The spell wears off after a while and then he'll have his normal color back," Hermione explained, fingering her wand.
"That's pretty very clever," Nora said in aw, but of course, Hermione was one of the cleverest witches. Looking at her watch she said: "Oh, it's already seven fifty, I'm going to go down to Malfoy now, all right?"
"That's fine. I promised I'd wait up here for Terry, so I'll meet you in the Great Hall, right?" Nora nodded, feeling slightly nervous, and then made her way down the spiral staircase and as she reached the bottom she saw Malfoy looking at the notice board. He was dressed as a vampire, the way Muggles thought they looked, and was wearing what looked like a tuxedo. A cape was hung over his shoulders and there was a live bat fluttering a bit above his head. She knew that he would probably have fangs too. Nora walked over to him.
"See anything interesting?" she asked, looking at the notice board.
"Morning classes are canceled, because of the Ball," he said, turning around. "And Y-you."
"Well, I was referring to the notice board only, but the last answer is a lot more flattering," she said, smiling, perhaps a bit awkwardly. Malfoy leaned forward and kissed her deep and passionately. Somehow Nora received butterflies in her stomach.
"Already?" she asked when he pulled away. "I thought you'd wait until it was midnight or something."
"Well, I was going to, but… Potter and Weasley… it'd wouldn't have been very wise…" He looked out of the window. Outside a heavy wind was blowing and red and brown leaves were fluttering through the air, blown off of their trees. Nora looked outside too and then fixed her eyes back on Malfoy, trying to read some expression on his face, but it was expressionless.
"That was very decent of you. Should we go, then?" she asked. Malfoy nodded and he offered her his arm. She took it. Just then Hermione and Terry came down. Terry was doing a very good job indeed at goggling at his date. The four walked down towards the Entrance Hall together and as the reached it, they noticed that the doors to the Great Hall were already open, so they walked inside with the rest of the people who were just arriving. They all looked around in aw. The whole room had black and orange banners crossing the ceiling. There were very large pumpkins everywhere and a stage had been placed where the Staff table usually was. There was a large dance floor in the middle. The house tables had been removed and instead there were small tables that could seat two to four people. These were placed around the dance floor. There were also tables that could seat eight people near the walls, and further from the dance floor. Hermione noticed Harry, Ron, Parvati and Lavender sitting at one of these tables and she dragged the rest over to them with her.
"Hi," she said beaming, holding a currently black, and agitated, Crookshanks in her arms.
"Hermione, you look fabulous!" Parvati squealed. Lavender nodded her agreement, petting a now purring Crookshanks.
"Well, you two look wonderful, too." Parvati and Lavender were both going as princesses. They were wearing green and blue dresses that looked like the ones women wore in medieval movies. They did look really great, though perhaps a bit childish with the small tiara's on their heads. "Harry, Ron, what do you think? Hello?" Hermione asked them, but the two were to busy glaring at Nora's "date".
"What's he doing here?" Ron said, pointing rudely towards Malfoy.
"I already told you, Ron: We're going together," Nora said, infuriated once more. Didn't they ever listen?
"Well, you don't have to bring him over to our table," Harry told her.
"Fine then, we'll both leave!" and she stomped off, dragging Malfoy along with her, who didn't look at all pleased.
"Honestly, you two could at least try to get along with him!" Hermione scoffed. "It's not easy for her either you know. It's not like she wants to be here with him." Then she turned and walked over to the table for four, where Nora now sat sulking, frowning in frustration. She sat down next to her.
"Where's Malfoy?"
"He's getting some Butterbeer." Nora sighed as Terry sat down next to Hermione. Malfoy joined them with two cups of punch.
"Hermione, would you like to dance?" Terry asked. Hermione nodded blissfully and they both got up and walked towards the dance floor.
"I've been thinking.." began Malfoy, "since we have to be here together I was thinking that maybe we should call each other by our first names."
"All right, sure. Sounds like a good idea," agreed Nora, her anger slowly subsiding.
"So… erm, d'you want to… dance?" he asked her awkwardly. She nodded and Mal… Draco led her towards the dance floor as a slow song began. Draco looked around and noticed couples slow dancing together all around them. He didn't know what to do, or rather: he was torn between wanting to dance with Nora and fearing what it might do to his reputation. Nora put her arms around his neck and Draco thought he'd figure out a way to save his reputation later. Nora looked towards Harry and Ron, who were glaring at the pair of them, and to annoy them even more she put her head on Draco's shoulder. Hermione and Terry were dancing contentedly a few feet away. A few people were pointing at Nora: Draco's bat was now flying in and out of her Halo, doing a few minor stunts. People laughed at it, until they looked to whom the bat belonged to and noticed Draco.
When the song ended the two of them walked back to their table to eat something. Nora picked up her menu and after looking it over, she said clearly: "Chicken menu three." Her food appeared on her plate: Chicken breast with French fries and some salad. Draco couldn't decide what to choose so just ordered what Nora had.
"You know," he said "I've never eaten fries that much,"
"Really? Why not? I usually eat it once a week when I'm at Hogwarts," Nora replied, astounded.
"Well, whenever I want to eat fries, Pansy, Crabbe and Goyle always reach them before me and eat them all. So I usually don't get a chance." Nora snorted and looked over at Pansy, who was on the dance floor dancing with a very unlucky fifth year Slytherin, who was trying to get people to switch partners.
"She is very fat." They both laughed at the sight of Pansy, who had dressed up as a belly dancer, but because of all the fat, it looked pretty horrific. Nora looked around and saw a few gypsies walking around, some witches, though they had different costumes than Hermione, there were some more belly dancers and princesses and she even saw a few of the youngest students going as Dumbledore and Snape, as if Good and Evil had human forms. The two chatted some more and they had a really great time, until Nora found two pairs of eyes boring into her. She looked to the side and saw Harry and Ron still glaring at her, a bored Parvati and Lavender at her side. Her anger rose and, because her mood-swings sometimes got out of control, she felt absolutely furious with them. She got up and heatedly made her way around tables and chairs to get to them. Some people who noticed her, because she pushed them roughly aside, pointed and stared shocked, not only because she looked as if she could kill, but also because her Halo had turned dark red. She stopped.
"What on earth are you two looking at," she snarled at them, arms folded.
"At you and ferret boy there," Harry replied bitterly, though he avoided her eyes.
"May I ask why?"
"Because he's a sleazy slime ball, that's why," Ron told her, also avoiding looking straight at her.
"Look, this is none of your business! You should be out there dancing with Parvati and Lavender!" Nora looked around to see where they were, and found them taking cover near the dance floor.
"Why? So you can have a peaceful time snogging Malfoy?" Nora's eyes widened in fury and shock.
"Excuse me?" she said, hardly believing that she was having this conversation.
"Terry told us you two were snogging in your Common Room before the four of you went down to the Ball," Ron said, looking up straight into her eyes. Nora felt as if her stomach had vanished. There was an awful feeling of dread flowing through her, like the feeling you get when you're caught doing something not allowed, like stealing. She hadn't noticed that they had seen her.
"That… that is none of your business. It was… it was just a promise I had made him."
"A promise? You promised our worst enemy you'd snog him before the Ball? Nora, you betrayed us!" Harry said, standing up in anger.
"I did not betray you! And I promise you, it won't happen again! But if you just got to know him, like I do, he's actually really nice!"
"Yeah, well I'd rather hate him, than get to know him by snogging somewhere in an 'empty room'," Ron muttered, but Nora still heard.
"I meant, if you talked, you'd notice that he's actually quiet nice," she told them, almost in a plea.
"No way! He's still our enemy," Harry said resolutely, shooting another glare at Draco.
"Well, he may remain your enemy, but he's my friend, so you'll have to back off on the glaring and the comments," she said dangerously. "Now, please, go have fun with Parvati and Lavender, they deserve it, ok?" The two boys glared at her, but then, knowing it wasn't getting them anywhere, they agreed.
"Fine." They shrugged, admitting defeat, and the three of them walked over to the dance floor. Nora's halo had gone back to its original color now, and she began dancing with Draco again. After that the Halloween Ball was really great, and although Nora had to give them a few warnings, Harry and Ron were trying to get along with Draco. It didn't really work, but they stayed short of the nasty comments and that was all that mattered. At one o'clock Dumbledore told them that the dance was nearly over and that that the last song would be played. All the couples, including Nora and Draco, danced together to the slow song. Dumbledore grabbed Professor McGonagall and waltzed around the room with her, though waltzing didn't fit the music at all. They made their way through the dancing couples and McGonagall was actually smiling. After the song they all made their way to their common rooms. Hermione, Nora, Terry, and Draco talked for a while with the other prefects.
After a while the Great Hall began to empty but the Heads and Prefects stayed to clean it up. When they were finally done they all went to their common room and plopped onto the chairs and sofa's resting and talking about the success of the Halloween Ball and that morning classes were canceled. When it was very late in the night, or very early in the morning, the prefects all went to bed, soon followed by Hermione and Terry. Draco got up to leave too, but Nora stood up quickly and grabbed his arm, turning him around.
"What?" he asked her. Nora kissed him deeply. He looked shocked, but there was a slight grin on his face.
"That was because you couldn't kiss me during the Ball," she said with a faint smile on her face. "I have to tell you something though… erm…" she looked away and stood for a moment in thought, one hand on her forehead. Then she took his hands and sat down on the sofa, Draco sitting down beside her.
"Is it a good something?" he questioned. Nora shook her head.
"Well, half. I just wanted to tell you, that… that nothing will happen between us… ever. You said you had feelings for me and I know you were hoping that I might get feelings for you somewhere along the way, but I don't… and won't, and it wouldn't have been a good idea for us to date, anyway."
"How is that half good?" Draco asked, heartbroken. He looked on the verge of tears, but so did Nora.
"You did get one thing you wished for."
"Which is?"
"You told me, after the Truth or Dare game, that you wished you could be my friend so that you could hang around with me, like Harry and Ron do."
"So?"
"Well, these last few weeks you've become a good friend of mine. So, at least you get one wish granted. But it is better if we don't go out, and just remain friends." She gave him a quick hug, before running up the spiral staircase to her room, letting her tears fall freely, not knowing why that had been so difficult. She fell onto her bed and cried into the covers. She didn't even know why.
Draco slowly walked up to his room. Nora had left her door open, in her hurry to reach her bed, and he peeked in and saw her lying there, crying. He entered his own room and fell onto his bed facing the ceiling, his face once more expressionless. They were both deep in thought when they fell asleep.
A/N: Review?