A/N: To make up for the shortness of the previous chapter, this one is a bit longer. Thank you my lovely reviewers, you are all so wonderful. Now I will shut up and let you get on with the story.

Masquerade Preparations

"Hermione? Hermione…..Earth to Hermione… HERMIONE!!!!"

"Yes, Draco?" I said sweetly. I had, of course been listening. I just had some sandwich in my mouth. Possibly.

"We need to start planning the Halloween Ball. It's the first of October. The ball is on the 31st…Hermione?"

"I'm listening. A masquerade."

"What?"

"The theme. Masquerade ball. It is Halloween after all." Boys are so thick sometimes.

"Fair enough. Now we need to start planning decorations. Dumbledore gave us the next class off. It's Double History of Magic, thank the Lord we don't have to go. Those are brutal."

I wondered why the Slytherins hated him. Draco never told me. He always went silent when I tried to talk about it, instead asking me how things were with Ron, though he knew perfectly well how they were going.

"Thank God. So hmm…. Are we going to have the usual bat thing going?" I asked. Draco pulled something out of his book bag.

"Well, I've been doing some sketches…." I looked at the parchment he was handing me.

"These are really good." And I meant it. Spider webs covered the walls, bats flew around, and the usual hovering candles were replaced by floating skulls that lit up, which was creepy, but cool at the same time. "These are excellent. In fact, Fred and George have some cobwebs in their joke shop…." I trailed off, wondering if they would sell them to me.

"Let's take these to Dumbledore, see if he likes them." Draco said, noticing my distress.

"Alright."

We reached the stone gargoyle. "Slithering Lioness." The gargoyle sprang to life.

Dumbledore liked the decorations. "We still have to plan the entertainment… and we'll pick up the decorations during the Hogsmeade trip two weeks from now."

We reached our Portrait. "Slithering Lioness." I wondered briefly if our password would ever change.

We flopped down onto the couch. I asked, "Should we have the Weird Sisters perform this year?"

"Naw, we have them every year, let's get someone different. I heard a new group over the summer, they sounded promising. The Hex Girls."

"I think I heard them, are they the ones that sing Wands Aloft?"

"Yeah that's them."

"Do you think they would be able to do it on such short notice?"

"I wrote them two weeks ago. I'm expecting a reply…" A brown barn owl tapped on our window.

"Why didn't you use your own owl?"

"They can do it," he said. "They'd love too."

"Cool. That makes things easier. Now I think that's everything."

"We still have two hours before we have to go to class…" he looked excited.

"Maybe we should go…..Draco don't look at me like that I was only joking. We should get our Potions and Herbology essays finished though."

"Fine," he sighed, resigned to the fact I was intent on doing some work.

.I.I.I.I.I.I.I.I.I.I.I.I.I.I.I.I.I.I.I.I.I.I.I.I.I.I.I.I.I.I.I.I.I.I.I.I.I.I.I.I.I.I.I.I.I.

The sunlight streamed through the window. Snuggled against Draco again. Hermione, you are such a naughty girl.

"Draco… Draco wake up….DRACO!!!" He was always so hard to wake up on Saturdays. "It's Hogsmeade day today, Draco, we have to go pick up the decorations." He grumbled but got up out of bed.

"Hermione, are we going to this ball together?"

"What?" That was unexpected. While it was true I didn't have a date, I thought it would stay that way. Who would want to go to the ball with me?

"If we are going together, we have to coordinate costumes." He said, walking into the bathroom, shutting the door behind him. It must be because I'm the Head Girl. Maybe he thinks the Head Boy and Girl have to go together.

But I knew that wasn't it. It must be because we are friends, yes that's it, because we are friends. Draco and I are going to the ball together. I grinned. As friends, I reminded myself.

There was no use denying it anymore. I had a slight crush on Draco. How could I not? He was practically my only friend. And he was cute, I added mentally, before mentally slapping myself. I knew it would never work between us, so I might as well not think about it.

"Having an argument with yourself, Hermione?"

"Yes, in fact I am."

"May I ask about what?"

"No you may not." I breezed past him into the bathroom.

I mentally rummaged through my wardrobe. What to wear, what to wear. I settled on my favorite pair of jeans, and a periwinkle top that Harry said looked nice on me.

Or he used to say that, back when we were still good friends. We hardly talked anymore. Ginny and I kept up, though. Ginny was my only friend besides Draco.

I let my hair dry naturally again. The brown waves fell down my back. Makeup? I wondered. Might as well. With my lip-gloss on, I exited the bathroom.

"You look stunning, Hermione."

"Thanks, Draco. You clean up alright yourself."

"May I have the pleasure of escorting you to Hogsmeade, my fair lady?" he held his arm out to me.

"Why, thank you good sir." I took his arm, and let him lead me down the stairs to the Entrance Hall.

Ron was there. He looked at me on Draco's arm. He looked stunned, and a bit angry at the same time. It was none of his business what boys I choose to walk with. He was hanging onto Parvati anyway. I noticed Padma glaring at her sister. She crossed over to me.

"Hello Hermione. Malfoy." Padma nodded to each of us. "How have you been? I haven't seen you at meals lately, and you're almost never in the library anymore Hermione."

"Yeah, we pretty much hang out in our common room most of the time. Most of the Gryffindors are still angry about that forty points I took from Ron and Parvat-" I stopped as I noticed Padma glare at the two of them.

"It is odd, isn't it? Parvati and Ron? I always thought he fancied you, Hermione."

"Apparently not," Draco said dryly. "He still hasn't apologized to her, or to you either, has he Padma?"

"No, that sc- no he hasn't Draco." Padma said. "I just can't believe she would turn on me like that." Padma looked like she was going to cry.

Just then Filtch appeared at the doors, checking names. Padma bid us farewell and went over to her friends from Ravenclaw, leaving Draco and I alone again.

"What are going as Draco?"

"I dunno. Vampires?"

"Sounds good." I didn't have a better idea. "Fred and George have some great fake fangs….well actually it's a pill you swallow and you grow fangs…you eat the other half and you're back to normal."

"Alright." We got into the carriages. I remembered the last time I had ridden in one, only a month ago. How is it that I went from my old group of friends to being friends with Draco? Ron. That's how, I reminded myself.

"Hello, Fred, George." I gulped.

"Hermione! Hello, it's been ages." Fred replied.

"Don't worry about Ron, he's a brainless git."

"He'll come around." I gaped, open-mouthed. I thought the twins would be on Ron's side.

"Think we'd be on Ron's side?" I merely nodded. "Well we heard his side, then we heard your side from Ginny." So I still had some friends, at least. "Anyways, what brings you and Malfoy here on this fine day?"

They didn't even glare at Draco. This was a change. I guess Ginny had told them that he was my only friend. "Well we need some of your cobwebs, enough to decorate the Great Hall, and then Draco and I need some of your Fang Fruit Chews."

(A/N: I own Fang Fruit Chews, too. Go Me!!)

"Going as vampires, then?" Fred, or George, maybe, they were moving around too much to tell.

"Yeah," Draco said. He looked a bit surprised that the twins were being nice to him. I was surprised also, to tell the truth.

We got what we needed from Fred and George, and continued throughout Hogsmeade, gathering decorations and such.

"I'm meeting Ginny at one in the Three Broomsticks. We are going shopping for our costumes."

"Hermione?"

"What?"

" It's one now." I ran to the Three Broomsticks.

"He- Hey Ginny," I panted. I needed to get in shape, or stop running.

"Hey Hermione. I forgot to ask, what are you going as?"

"Vampire."

"Cool. That means we can shop in just the one store!"

"Which one?"

"Count Crolier's Costumes."

"Alright." We wound our way through the crowd to Count Crolier's. The store was next to Honeydukes. "Funny, I never noticed this store before."

"It's new this year," Ginny answered. It was small, but packed to capacity with students buying costumes for the masquerade.

I immediately spotted a dress I loved, and it was also rather vampire-y. It was deep Slytherin green velvet that fell to the floor. It had silver around the edges of the sleeves and around the bottom. I checked the size. It would fit. I pulled it off the rack. Behind it was a cloak in a deep blood red cloak, with gold embroidery.

I showed them to Ginny. "They're perfect, go try them on." She shoved me into the fitting room. I put on the dress. It clung to me in all the right places. I tossed the cloak over it. Very Vampire-y. I smiled to myself and emerged from the dressing room. "Hermione, they are gorgeous! You're gorgeous!" I checked the prices. I had just enough birthday money left to cover it.

I noticed Ginny had a shimmery ice blue dress in her arms. "What are you going as Gin?"

"Harry is going as a devil, and I'm going as an angel."

"Put the dress on Ginny." It was my turn to shove her into the dressing room.

"You're getting that one, Ginny. Don't even bother trying anything else on."

I met Draco some twenty minutes later outside Madam Malkin's Hogsmeade branch. "Did you get your costume, Draco?"

"Yes. Show me yours."

"You'll have to wait until the ball."

We made our way back to the castle continuing in the same fashion. Draco kept trying to peek into my Crolier's bag, and I kept telling him to bugger off.

A/N: No hanky panky here either. I bet you all are just wanting to kill me. I can here you yelling, give us the goods already you imbecile…..maybe next chapter. Maybe not. It is up to me after all. Expect another chapter today/ tonight possibly.