Disclaimer: I only own the plot and my Ocs, you know the deal...
AN/
Me: "So here I go again with a new chapter!"
Pansy and Mione waving pompons in the background: "Wahooooo!"
Draco smirking: "And that so soon, do you want to punish us and the readers?"
Me smirking, too: "Do you want me to make you develop a fetish for wearing pink tutus in this fic?"
Draco sweating: "I meant of course if you wanted to punish us by making us wait any longer, hehehe..."
Mione rolling eyes: "That was sooo smooth Malfoy!"
Draco glares at Mione
Pansy giggles
Me grinning: "Well then, if you so much want it, let's go on with the story. By the way, this chapter is dedicated to
And the chapter is dedicated to: Lusiki, Reb, hottennissport88 and Lynx Irisa Black
Chapter 9: HOW COULD YOU?!? or HALLOWEEN
Last chapter....
"If you excuse me now, I have to get ready for dinner!" Hermione said walking to her room, "See you later Malfoy!"
"Later Granger."
When she closed the door behind her, closed, not slammed like she usually did after their conversations, Malfoy leaned back in the couch and continued staring at the fire, his mood was considerably better though.
After taking a shower and changing into a pair of black hip hugger jeans and a red, tight fitting shirt and putting her hair up in a high ponytail, Hermione entered the common room once more, finding Draco where she had left him, on the couch. He was however not staring at the fire but reading a book.
"Hey!" she greeted him, "What are you reading?"
When the Head Boy turned around to face her he had to make a great effort not to let his jaw hit the floor, she looked ravishing. Quickly he gulped and drew a huge breath in, the he answered.
"Uhm, nothing special really..." then he thought, "Great job Draco, really .Now she'll think you are retarded!"
Fantastic, there was the little voice in his head again! The last thing he needed!
"Why should I care what she thinks of me?" he asked himself.
"Because you want to be friends with her. Besides, when did you start not caring what an impression you cause on a hot girl?"
"Granger isn't hot, she's a bookworm, a muggle born and a know it all!"
"And that's why you almost couldn't breathe a second ago, huh?"
"Ermh..."
"That's what I thought, now I'll better leave you alone before she starts wondering about your faraway look, that would damage our rep, bad boys don't zone off into lala land!"
"Malfoy?" Hermione tried to get his attention back, "Is everything OK?"
"Yes, I was just... thinking?" he answered, hey it was the truth, he had been thinking!
"Well then... you really don't want to tell me what you are reading?" she asked again, having noticed that his former answer had been a bit evasive. She wondered what a book it would be if he didn't want to tell her, something about Dark Arts perhaps?
Draco meanwhile considered what to do? Should he tell her? If he wanted to join the light side he better start trusting its members. Besides, if he didn't tell her she might think he was reading about Dark Arts and somehow he didn't want that. Taking a quick decision he said, "I'll tell you if you keep it to yourself!"
He sounded embarrassed, Hermione noticed, why would he be embarrassed and why should he want her to keep it to herself. Nevertheless she put her right hand over her heart and lifted the other.
"I solemnly swear that I'll keep it to myself," she said and then she crossed her heart, just to play it safe.
"OK,... um.... it's Shakespeare... Macbeth..." he reluctantly informed her showing her the book's original cover.
"Really!" Hermione squealed in delight, "You are reading muggle literature? That's great! You like it?"
Draco stared at her in disbelieve, he had thought that she would use the situation to at least partially get back on him for all those years of taunting her for her muggle heritage, instead she just asked him if he liked it. She was really a forgiving person!
"Yes, I like it so far. Lady Macbeth is very Slytherin for a muggle!"
Hermione grinned, "I should have figured you would say that!"
They talked about Macbeth for a few more minutes and then went together down to the Great Hall for dinner. When they passed the doors together chatting amicably with each other and parted like civilised people without arguing, every jaw in the Great Hall dropped and hundreds of eye-pairs followed the two to their respective seats under an in Hogwarts never experienced silence.
Hermione and Draco both had to suppress grins when they sat down at the places their friends chose for them, or rather, Hermione sat down with her friends and Draco went to sit with the traitors, another step towards his new goal in changing sides.
"What was that about?" Harry asked his smart friend as soon as she sat down between and him and Ron.
"Oh, since we're going to live together for the rest of the year and we had some problems at the beginning, Malfoy and I decided to call a truce..." Hermione said casually while loading her plate with food.
"YOU DID WHAT??????" the two boys screamed shocked at her actions.
"We made a truce, you know, that thing were two people who don't get along agree to be polite to each other?"
"We know what a truce is Mione! But why with him?" Ron whined.
"Well, because, like I said, we have to share our living space. At first the verbal spats were funny... but after the hundredth it gets boring, believe me."
"But Mione, it's Malfoy!"
"I KNOW Ron!"
"Well I think that's a great idea!" Ginny chimed in, "This whole argument between you and Malfoy has been getting on my nerves for quite some time. What Hermione did was very mature."
"Thanks Ginny!" Hermione said smiling at her friend, Ron only glared at her.
"You know Gin... I think you and Mione are right, perhaps we should make a truce with Malfoy, too..."
"Harry! Now you, too?" Ron asked exasperated, "Is the whole world crazy?"
"No Ron," Harry explained trying to calm him down, "But remember what the sorting hat said in fifth year, it's time that the houses unite. We already made a start with Pansy, Blaise and some others, why shouldn't it be the same with Malfoy?"
"Well, because he is...Malfoy," he said weakly.
"You already said that brother dearest!"
"Well but it's true, he treated us the worst for all our time at Hogwarts!" he said pouting.
"Maybe, but we didn't do anything to make the situation better, we just fought back," Hermione reasoned.
"Let's do the following, we see how his truce with Mione goes and if it's successful we propose doing the same, what do you say?" Harry asked.
"Fine with me!" Ginny agreed.
"Yermhphfhm..."Ron grumbled, Harry and Hermione simply looked at him and then questioningly at Ginny.
"That means something like OK, if it's really necessary..."
After dinner Hermione, Ron and Ginny went together with the other Gryffindor Prefects to their reunion room in order to hold a Prefects meeting which was scheduled for the night. The meeting was the first which would also be attended by the Heads of Houses that year, as they wanted to give them some instructions for the organisation of the Yule Ball.
"Well, we'll start checking if everybody is here," Hermione said.
"Fifth year Prefects: Slytherin, Clarisse Renier and Geoffrey Pendelton; Hufflepuff, Sue Ellen Mc Pierce and Steven Glover; Ravenclaw, Lara Barns and David Mitchell; Gryffindor, Sharon Clarke and Benjamin Rivers." Draco began, seeing that the fifth years were all there.
"All right then, next the sixth year Prefects," Hermione continued, "Slytherin, Malcom Braddock and Stacie Lange; Hufflepuff, Rachel Warren and Peter Carter; Ravenclaw, Jade Perry and Chris Perry; Gryffindor, Virginia Weasley and Colin Creevy."
When they saw that the sixth years were also all there, Draco concluded with the seventh years, "Slytherin, Pansy Parkinson; Hufflepuff, Hannah Abbott and Justin Finch-Flatley; Ravenclaw, Michael Corner and Claire Higgins, Gryffindor, Ronald Weasley."
"Us two heads and the professors are also here, so we can start the meeting right away." Hermione finished, "the professors will begin this meeting by telling us all about the Yule Ball. Afterwards we'll decide who'll be responsible of preparing what for the ball."
"Before we officially start the meeting though," Draco chimed in, "I'd like you to remember your housemates that on Halloween everybody is supposed to wear a costume."
A few groans were heard when he said this, mostly form the boys.
"Don't groan now, the motion for this was approved last year, you were warned before summer vacation so you had a lot of time to think about and buy a costume. Just remember that no magic is allowed for the costume. Of course you are allowed to dress as something magical, what you may not do is put a charm on your costume, it's a costume day muggle style. On Valentine's Day however there will be a costume ball and then you can't put as many charms on yourself and your dress as you want," Hermione explained.
"Well, now that that's clear the professors can tell us all about the Yule Ball," Draco finished.
"Thanks Mr. Malfoy, Ms. Granger. Like every other year you Prefects and the Head Boy and Girl will be responsible for organising the whole thing. You'll have to take care of the decorations, of the music and discuss a menu with the house elves. There's another thing.... As you may remember it's tradition that the Prefects and Head Students open and close the ball. You'll be required to dance with one another the first and the last dance. You can choose your partner among yourselves though, except for Mr. Malfoy and Ms. Granger, they, being Head Boy and head Girl will have to dance together. For the rest of the evening though you can be with your respective dates. I hope there's no problem for you?" professor McGonagall asked lifting an eyebrow.
"You must be kidding! That's impossible!"
"I'm not kidding, and I believe this matter is none of your concern Mr. Weasley. I asked Mr. Malfoy and Ms. Granger and as long as you didn't suddenly become either of them you have no saying in this. So, is there any problem with the two of you?" she asked her brightest students again.
Hermione and Draco exchanged a quick glance and came to a silent agreement.
"Not at all professor, I'm sure Malfoy and I will be able to pull it through, we are grown up people after all and it's only two dances."
"I agree with her, I'm sure there'll be no problem. Granger and I already sorted out our differences and decided to make a truce. This should be no problem."
"Is that so?" professor Dumbledore inquired, amusement barely hidden in his voice, "Well, I'm more than pleased I must say, a great example for the other students."
"Ermh... thanks professor..." Hermione answered awkwardly, she had the strange feeling that he was up to something, that this whole 'truce' business had given him ideas.
"We only did what we thought was right, in fact, it was actually Arianne's idea..." Draco said sharing Hermione's feeling, suddenly he thought that he didn't want to be thought of as the person starting the truce.
"Oh, yes, Arianne is a wise woman, she knows exactly what she's talking about... especially in regard to this."
"What do you mean professor?" Hermione asked curiously.
"It will be better she tells you herself when she feels she is prepared, let's just say it's personal and I don't want to betray her trust."
Hermione nodded.
"Uhhhm, sorry, but are we gonna start organising the ball or what?" Chris Perry, the most impatient of them, asked.
"Hmmm, yeah, sure..." Draco and Hermione said in unison, embarrassed to have trailed so much out of topic.
When they were finished, everyone had something to do, the seventh year prefects were going to take care of the music (they had decided they would make a sort of disco with both muggle and wizard music), the sixth years would design a decoration plan for the Great Hall and the rest of the castle which would be approved by the rest of the Prefects (or not) and then they would do the decorating together and the fifth years would put up am menu and talk to the house elves as well as design the menu cards.
"I'll ask Alex if she could be D.J., that way no student would have to miss the ball to do so and she has knowledge of both types of music anyway." Hermione suggested when they were finishing.
"Good idea!" Claire Higgins agreed, "She would be perfect!"
"When and where can we meet to discuss what bands and which songs to play?" Michael Corner asked.
"How about we meet first tomorrow at five in the Head Common Room? Our password is 'Tibbelupp' (they had already changed it). Hey! We couldn't think of something better!" he defended himself noticing the amused glances he was receiving from the Prefects.
When they were about to exit the room Hermione and Draco were held back by professor Dumbledore.
"I was very pleased about your decision I must say. I wanted however to ask a favour of you. As you already are on speaking terms, would you mind calling each other by the first name? I think it would make an even better impression on the students and help even more to restore the inter house relationships."
The brunette and the blonde looked questioningly at each other and came once again to a silent agreement.
"Sure professor, we can do that." Draco said nodding.
"I don't think there'll be a problem with that, we'll just need some time to get used to it." Hermione said.
When they came out the door they found Ron, Ginny and Pansy who were obviously curious about what Dumbledore had wanted from them.
"So, what was that about? What did he tell you?" Pansy asked eagerly.
"Oh he wanted Mal...I mean Draco and I to be on a first name basis!" Hermione informed them.
"And you agreed to it?" Ron asked scandalised.
"Please Ron, I don't want to start this discussion all over again! Yes, I said yes, if you have a problem with that... well, then it's your problem!" Hermione snapped at him.
"Really, you should stop being so childish!" his sister scolded him.
"I get you have something against Hermione's and my truce then Weasley?" Draco asked with his trademark smirk.
"Draco, for the sake of this truce, better leave Ron alone!" Hermione warned him.
"OK, OK, but only this time. I'll leave you to talk to your friends and see you later in the common room."
"Thanks Draco, see you later!"
"Good night Draco!"
"Night Pansy, Weasleys..." he said and walked off, leaving Hermione alone with Pansy, Ron and Ginny.
"I think it's really cool that the two of you are starting to get along Mione!" Pansy said enthusiastically, "He's the only other Slytherin in our year that I'm currently friends with, except Blaise of course."
"May I repeat, we are talking about Malfoy here!" Ron insisted, the girls ignored him.
"Well, he isn't so bad once you stop arguing, he can be a nice guy if he tries. We already had a pretty interesting discussion about literature," Hermione said.
"He definitely is the best speaking partner for you, after all his grades are only a few points below yours..... Smart and sexy, a rare combination!" Ginny sighed dreamily.
"Hey!... What? Ginny, how can you..." Ron stuttered... and was once again ignored.
"He does look good, doesn't he?" Pansy agreed, "It's no secret that there was a time when I fancied him. Another person took over his place though," she said grinning sheepishly.
"I don't blame you for once fancying him, he is awfully good looking... What?" Hermione defended herself when she saw the amused glances her two best female friends were giving her, "I'm not blind after all and a girl just like any other. The fact that we argued constantly didn't make me immune to his looks you know?"
"Ugh, too much nasty information, brain about to melt, nervous breakdown near... I must go... eat some sweets...by girls," Ron mumbled incoherently while turning around and tumbling down the corridor.
Ginny grinned, "Poor Ron,I think that was a little bit too much for him!"
"You should hope he doesn't tell Harry that you think Draco is hot though," Hermione warned her.
"Bah! Harry knows that he's the one and only, I was just stating the facts, and fact is that Harry being my boyfriend doesn't make Malfoy any uglier!"
"That's wisely spoken my young friend!" Pansy said in a teacher to student tone (or rather Jedi knight to his Padawan (sp?))
"So, now that Ron is gone what shall we do?" Ginny asked.
Hermione thought for a moment and suddenly an idea popped into her head, "What would you think if we fetched Luna and the four of us have a sleepover in my room? We can chat about school, guys, movies and everything else which comes into our minds!"
"Great idea! We could also tell ghost stories! Pansy does that so good!"
"I also think that would be great , but are we allowed to do this and won't we disturb Draco?"
Hermione shrugged Pansy's concerns off, "McGonagall told Draco and me that we could have people sleeping over in our rooms as long as they were of the same sex, for an exception we would have to ask for allowance, but as the three of you are girls... and referring to Draco, there's a silencing charm on the bedrooms ,just to ensure the privacy, else I wouldn't always sing on top of my voice whenever I feel like it!"
"What would be the problem if he heard you? Your voice is nice enough!" Ginny inquired.
"Singing is a very personal thing for me, I do it according to my mood. You girls are the only ones I actually told about it and who heard me sing, not even Harry and Ron have an idea, they wouldn't understand."
Pansy nodded, "I get what you want to say, so if there's no problem with the sleepover thing let's do just that. Where's the Ravenclaw common room?" she asked Hermione who, being Head Girl was bound to know the location and the password to the room.
"This way!" the brunette answered leading the way. After they had collected Luna who was instantly thrilled by the suggestion the four girls went to the Head Common Room.
"Whoa! What is this?" Draco asked when he saw them all enter.
"We are having a sleepover!" Hermione answered grinning.
"Great! Can I take part in it?" he asked smirking playfully, shortly before being ambushed by an avalanche of couch pillows thrown at him, "I reckon that's a no!" he said nonchalantly.
"If you excuse Ginny and me now, we are using your direct accesses to the Slytherin and Gryffindor Common Rooms to get our things for the nigh," Pansy said.
"All right, Luna and I will be waiting for you in my room! Good night Draco!" Hermione told him before entering her room with Luna.
"Night Hermione, night Lovegood!"
"Night Malfoy!"
About ten minutes later the girls lay on mattresses Hermione had conjured up for them. She lay down on one, too, feeling she would miss part of the fun if she just slept on the bed.
"Soooo, Pansy, did Blaise ask you to the ball already?" Ginny asked grinning at her older friend.
"No, he didn't, but there's still a long time to go, I'll get him to ask me though don't worry. And if the worst comes to the worst I'll just ask him. That's it!"
"Yes, after all we are in a modern society were women have just as many rights as men, or at least should have. It's your very right to ask him!" this came from Luna who received some strange glances from her friends for it, that did so not sound like the dreamy, absent minded girl they were accustomed to, Of course she noticed it, "My mom was pretty much into this feminism thing, my grandmother, too. She marched in all those protest marches for equal rights and stuff, I grew up with it and I guess some of it just stayed stuck in my head."
Her friends nodded and then Hermione asked her with a mischievous smile, "Does that mean then that you are going to ask Neville to go to the ball with you if he doesn't dare do it himself?"
Luna's face turned a nice shade of red and she nodded embarrassed, "Yes, I might actually do that."
Their discussion revolved around the ball for some more time and then they started telling ghost stories, in most of which the bad guy had a strangely great resemblance to professor Snape, what a coincidence....
Th rest of the weekend passed by rather quickly and soon classes started again. First thing on Monday morning... double Potions, yay!
Gloomily Harry and Ron walked down the corridors towards their doom, together with Hermione.
"Remind me again why I took advanced Potions on my own free will?" Ron asked darkly.
"Same reason as me mate, it's necessary to join Auror's Academy!" Harry answered in just the same tone of voice.
"Come on guys, it won't be that bad! Neville is a not in our class anymore so no cauldron blow ups." Hermione said cheerfully.
"Why are you so happy? We are having double Potions remember?" Ron asked her suspiciously (when somebody who isn't a Slytherin is happy before Potions it is highly suspicious!).
"It's nothing, I just had a good weekend and am still in a happy mood. A little tip, if you have the feeling you want to strangle Snape during class just think about the result of the Quidditch match, that will bring a smile to your face!"
"I thought you didn't think too much of this ego boosting on Quidditch matches?" Harry asked her confused.
"I don't, but I know you two."
"Hey! What exactly is that supposed to mean?" Ron cried indignantly.
"It means that I know Quidditch is one of the most important things for you, even more than school," she answered grinning sheepishly
"Hmmm, I don't know, I think there was an insult hidden somewhere in there," Harry said mock suspicious.
"Me? Insult my friends? I am insulted, whoever gave you that idea? How can you be implying this? I'm seriously considering to end our friendship!" Hermione exclaimed acting hurt.
"Oh, please Mione, accept our apologies, we are deeply sorry, we'll never do that again!" Ron said exaggeratedly while throwing his arms around her.
"Yes Mione, we are cold, unfeeling bastards, please be our friend, pretty please with Hogwarts: A History on the top!" Harry mock begged putting on some really bad, fake puppy dog eyes.
"Hmmm, I can't say no to that!" she said patting them on their heads, soon the three of them were laughing and still were when they entered the classroom and sat down on their respective places.
"Care to share what is so funny you three?" Snape asked them rising a eyebrow.
"Nothing much professor, we were just joking around," Hermione answered politely and the three of them instantly stopped laughing.
"Very well, then I think we can start the class. Today we'll start with the Polijuice Potion, it's a very complicated one and it takes a long time to be ready. For this I'll put you in pairs. When I call your name go and sit with your partner."
As such few people had signed for advanced Potions the class held all four houses and still they were only ten.
"Well, as I want at least one Potion to turn out right, Mr. Malfoy and Ms. Granger will work together, I think this should be no problem as the two of you made this wonderful truce," he said sarcastically.
Hermione simply nodded and went to sit beside Draco who was already putting out the items they needed.
"Next is Mr. Zabini with Ms. Parkinson."
"I wonder if Snape is aware of the fact that he is doing the two of them a favour," Draco whispered to Hermione.
At first she was surprised, how did he know? She quickly dismissed this however, he was an observant boy and Blaise was a good friend of his, he had probably told him he fancied Pansy, so she simply answered, "I don't think so, he doesn't look like the matchmaker type to me. If he knew he was helping them he would probably run to the infirmary to check if he got some kind of disease from it."
Draco chuckled, "He isn't that bad you know? Though I guess for the Gryffindors he is bad, he seems to hold a special grudge against your house."
"Let's say he's got an unpleasant history with it!" Hermione answered grinning.
Meanwhile Snape had partnered everyone off and Hermione could see Harry was with the Ravenclaw prefect Claire Higgins while Ron was with Jeremy Lakeside, a Hufflepuff guy.
"The ingredients are written on the blackboard, copy them all down and then come forward to fetch the ingredients. I want to see you all work, if I find one of you leaving all the work to your partner points will be deducted from your house," he instructed looking directly at Ron and Harry.
"Honestly, can't he let it be? He knows exactly that Harry and Ron would never leave all the work to their partner!" Hermione muttered to herself, Draco heard her anyway.
"Don't bother, he just enjoys pissing them of."
"I know, I know!" the brunette answered with a sigh, "Did you already copy all the ingredients? Good, then let's fetch them!"
For the rest of the lesson both worked harmoniously together and were able to deliver a perfect potion (at least start a perfect potion as it takes weeks to brew it completely) before the rest of the class had worked out the problems they were having with theirs.
Snape was very pleased with himself for pairing those two together, they were a great team, he had to admit that, even if it itched him that one of them was a Gryffindor. Nevertheless he would inform the other teachers so they could take profit out of his discovery, it was always difficult to find ideal partners for projects. Oh and how he had handled that matter with Parkinson and Zabini! Now don't get it wrong, he hadn't had the intention of playing matchmaker, such thoughts caused a great revulsion in him, he was only tired of the longing glances the two were throwing at each other, of course he had noticed them, he wasn't blind and not solely focused on catching 'the boy who lived to remind him of his annoying father' doing something wrong! Of course, so Snape thought, this stares and silent sighs disturbed his classes and broke the students attention (even if most of them were oblivious to those exchanges) and the two didn't pay attention to what was said in class (even though they participated normally and their grades hadn't dropped). No, Severus Snape did not want to play matchmaker! He had just done it for the sake of his class... or at least that was what he told himself when he thought the day over later in his quarters. His reverie was interrupted when he heard an owl tapping on the window.
Meanwhile Alex was sitting in hers correcting some essays written by the sixth years. She just wrote an 'O' under Virginia Weasley's when an owl flew through her window and stretched its left paw so she could get the letter it had been carrying. After doing so Alex stroked the feathers of the all too familiar animal.
"Hey Scythe, are you bringing me a letter form Zack?" the eagle owl nibbled affectionately on her finger and hooted friendly.
"Well then, let's see what he writes... Oh, wait a minute!" she cried and then conjured up a small tray with some fresh water for the pet, "Here, get some refreshment, you must be terribly tired, just rest while I read the letter and write an answer."
When she opened her letter however she found it wasn't from her fiancé but from her soon to be sister in law, Jeanne.
Hey Alex!
What's up? I bet you are wondering why I'm sending this with Scythe, easy, I also wrote to uncle Sevie and used my owl to send him the letter, so I needed and owl for yours and which one is better than my dear brother's very own one? Ok, I'm ranting about non interesting stuff and you want to know why I'm writing (except for the fact that we are friends but you know how much I hate to write letters, I'm just plain lazy and I had promised Mione I would write.... Tell her I'm very sorry and that I'm a lazy no good asshole and that I will write soon... hopefully) arrgh!!!! I'm going off topic again. What I wanted to tell you and uncle Sevie is that I'll be visiting over the winter holidays for a few days so I can spend time with you, uncle Sevie and Mione... well and my brother of course by I'm not coming specifically for him even if I do not see him as often as I used to now that he works.
Well, that's all (amazingly long letter, huh?), give my regards to Mione. I'll make sure to get her a cool book for Christmas to make up for not answering to her coughfivecough letters.
Love, hugs and kisses,
Your "sister" Jeannie.
P.S.: Someday I'll kill my brother for giving me that nickname, unfortunately I can't come up with something better!
Alex lay the letter aside laughing, Jeanne had always been a crazy chick and awfully fun to hang around with, some of Hermione's new confidence came also from spending time with her, they had become great friends and could be found talking about their common passion, reading, for hours. Jeanne had also helped Hermione become more outgoing, she had taken her to parties and dragged her to the beach (she loved doing both and was convinced that such activities were compatible with love for books). Soon Alex' cousin had discovered that she was able to let go, have fun and forget about studies for some time if she really wanted to and she had needed it badly, the stress with Voldemort and the NEWTS had been nagging on her energies for quite some time and for the first time in a long period she had really relaxed, now she would be able to face everything with a clear head and it would be important, for everyone knew she was the brains behind the trio's (now rather the group of seven with growing number) adventures.
Remembering Scythe was waiting for a letter to carry back she quickly wrote a few lines of response and send the owl back, then she took out a new parchment, wrote a few lines down and asked her own owl, Nefer, to deliver it to her cousin.
Head Boy/Girl common room
Hermione sat on one of the sofas in front of the fireplace in which a fire was already cracking merrily for, despite the fact that it wasn't even winter, the weather was very cold and heavy rain clouds were building in the sky, promising a heavy storm for the night. At the moment she was reading the second book in a trilogy by Nora Roberts which she loved very much.
"Studying again?" Draco asked when he entered the room after he had had a shower.
"No, just reading!" she said absent minded, obviously too caught up in the plot.
"What book is it?" he asked curiously for he had never seen her read something which wasn't somehow related to school.
Hermione simply lifted the cover so he could read the title, when he saw it he grinned, "That suits you!"
Puzzled she looked up at him, "What do you mean it suits me?" she asked frowning.
"Well, 'Key of Knowledge', the title suits you! Is it a book about how you gain an overall knowledge?" he asked grinning.
"Haha!" she said sarcastically, "For your information Mr. Smart-ass, it's a romance novel with some fantasy elements, my life doesn't revolve around studying only."
"I never would have thought I'd live to see the day were I would see Hermione Granger read a romance novel!" he said shaking his head in wonder.
"Are you making fun of me?" she asked, mock suspicious.
"Innocent little me? Never!" he cried innocently.
Hermione huffed amused and was about to answer when her cousin's owl tapped on the window.
"Nefer? Why on earth would Alex write me a letter? Let's see..." she said opening the envelope while Nefer disappeared into the night to catch some mice for dinner.
The short note read:
Hey Mione!
I just received a letter form Jeannie and thought you'd want to know she'll be coming over during the winter holidays for some time. I thought I'd write to you immediately before I forget to tell you tomorrow, I would have come by personally, but I still have a lot of exams to correct.
See you tomorrow in class,
Alex
P.S.: Good night!
"Good news?" Draco asked her when he saw her grin.
Hermione nodded, "My friend Jeanne, the little sister of Alex' fiancé, will be coming here to spend a few days during the Christmas holidays!"
"Those are Snape's nephew and niece, aren't they?" he inquired.
The brunette nodded, "I still wonder how Snape will act towards the other Gryffindors and me in front of those two, they are close friends of mine," she informed him.
He grinned at the thought, "It will be fun to watch!"
Before they knew it, the rest of the week had passed and it was Saturday morning, also known as Halloween or All Hallows Eve. On this special morning everybody was up early, getting into their costumes and, depending on what you went as, applying make up.
Draco Malfoy, clad in an 'Spike from Buffy: The Vampire Slayer' inspired vampire costume, his hair like always stylishly held out of his face with gel, paced the common room waiting for Hermione. Since they had started the truce they had started to really get along and he had the suspicion that their relationship was heading towards the status of friendship. Surprisingly to him, he found that this thought didn't disturb him, it rather intrigued him and he wanted to know how it would feel like, being friends with Hermione Granger. Right now however he was waiting for her to come out of her room so they could walk together to the Great Hall like it had become their routine since the truce. Suddenly he heard her calling out to him.
"OK, I'm coming out now!"
He turned towards her door and saw it open, when the space was wide enough to reveal her he would have sworn his heart skipped a beat and his breath was cut short as if somebody had punched him in the stomach, ...hard.
She looked... well, breathtaking. She wore a knee long, red dress. It was a spaghetti straps dress, the top was tight fitting and the skirt was loose and of the kind which twirled around you when you turned. Over the dress she wore a cape with a hood which was currently draped back so you could see her hair which was in a high ponytail with two bangs framing her face, in her right hand was a basket.
"So? What do you say?" she asked twirling around so the skirt danced around her legs flatteringly.
He fought hard not to stare at them and then for words, "Uhm... WOW! You look fantastic! Just... who or what are you supposed to be?"
Hermione grinned mischievously, "I'm Little Red Riding Hood!"
"Little Red Riding Hood? Last time I heard the story she was an innocent little girl. She surely didn't look like that!" he said, his mouth agape.
"Yeah, well, I'm the Chanel Nº 5 advertisement with Estella Warren version of her!" she answered as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.
"Care to explain?" he asked confused.
"Chanel Nº 5 is a muggle perfume and Estella Warren is an actress. There's an advertisement for this perfume where she wears a costume pretty similar to this and there's also a wolf in it."
"Aha!" he answered although he still didn't understand a thing, however he preferred not to appear dumb and let go of the topic, "So, let's go downstairs?" he asked her.
She nodded happily, "Let's!"
When they entered the Great Hall a few minutes later almost every guy followed Draco's example at Hermione's appearance, needless to say that many girlfriends were pretty pissed and several guys earned themselves a swat over the head for staring.
Ginny grinned at her friend as soon as she sat down beside her.
"That's a killer outfit you have there, I knew the second you showed it to me that it would be a complete success! Look at this!" she said still grinning while wawing her hand in front of her boyfriend who was staring with an open mouth at Hermione, "Completely gone, no reaction! And they are your best friends, they haven't even seen you as a girl for the longest time... Hey Harry! Snap out of it!" she told her boyfriend snapping her fingers in front of his face.
"Huh? What?" he asked coming out of his daze, "What's up?"
"You were staring at me as if I was an alien!" Hermione told him amusedly.
"What? No, that's utter crap! I mean... you do look...hot, but you are my best friend and I have a girlfriend and I don't look at other girls and..." he stammered.
Ginny had to fight hard not to laugh at his helpless attempt to get himself out of the embarrassing situation, "Oh, I don't know, for me it looked an awful lot like staring!" she said evilly.
"Ginny please, it wasn't my intention, please forgive me!" he desperately said, looking pleadingly into her eyes and taking every word seriously.
"Hmm, I don't know if you should forgive him Gin, after all, if he looks like that at his best friend, how will he look at other girls?"
Harry looked at Hermione in alarm, why was she doing that? As one of his best friends, as his surrogate sister, shouldn't she be on his side?
"I share Hermione's opinion Gin, you should dump him, the best thing you can do is say goodbye to the guys forever and become a nun!" her brother joined in the conversation.
"Dream on Ron!" Ginny answered dryly.
"Besides," Lavender said smiling mischievously, "You were ogling at Hermione just like he was!"
Ron turned his usual beet red, "What? I? No! You got that wrong! I wasn't..."
The girls laughed, "Relax guys!" Lavender said. "I was just a joke!" Ginny agreed.
"So, you are not mad with us?" Harry asked with a hopeful look in his green eyes.
"Of course they aren't!" Hermione said grinning.
"Well, then I can eat with a clean conscience!" Ron declared and immediately began piling food on his plate.
"What did Malfoy say to your outfit?" Ginny asked her curiously in between two bites of pancake.
"He was flabbergasted! He hardly brought a word out... and he couldn't believe this is a Little Red Riding Hood costume!"
"THAT is little Red Riding Hood?" Ron asked incredulously.
"Chanel Nº 5 ?" Harry asked knowingly.
"Yup!" Hermione answered before explaining to Ron what that meant (she had already told Ginny when she had showed her and the other girls the costume on the night of the sleepover.
The feast that night was extraordinary. Pumpkins with scary faces carved into them and lit with candles floated in the air and were the only source of light that evening, the tables looked as if they hadn't been dusted for ages, cob webs were everywhere and it turned out they were made of sugar and therefore edible, all drinks had been charmed to look like blood and the meals were also made in a way they looked suspicious but were still as tasty as ever. For dessert there were cakes in various forms: witches, ghosts, monsters...
During all of this, Hermione had enough time to register what everyone was wearing. Lavender and Parvati who had developed a great love for muggle teen movies during summer were both dressed as cheerleaders in matching outfits, a costume which definitely suited them. Dean was dressed in a David Beckham soccer outfit for which he received strange glances from all those who weren't familiar with the muggle sport. Seamus was clad in a Leprechaun costume which looked very good on him. Ginny was dressed as an elf (the tall, Lord of the Rings type), she even carried a bow and a quiver with arrows with her, her hair was in a long braid which she had tossed over the shoulder. Harry was dressed as medieval knight and sported a long plastic sword which hung by his hip. Ron wore a costume which represented a very famous wizard singer who also had red hair, just like him, the resemblance he now held to him was amazing. Luna was a unicorn, she wore white tight fitting pants and shirt, had let her hair loose and a horn which she had made herself somehow bound to her forehead, it looked really good. Pansy was dressed as devil, she wore a red dress of the same length as Hermione's, the difference being it was all tight fitting. She had also let her hair loose and sported some red plastic horns on her head (of the kind you find attached to a bow in costume shops) which matched her dress in colour. Blaise was a vampire just like Malfoy (sometimes guys have such a poor imagination) he wore similar clothes to his best friend's and his dark brown hair was also gelled back.
The teachers had also put on the funniest costumes. Snape was a bat, an extremely fitting choice as Hermione thought; McGonagall was dressed as Morticia Addams, how she knew the series the Head Girl didn't know, another mystery about her Head of House she'd have to solve beside the thing with the Lord of the Rings books... Professor Dumbledore wore a Marshmallow-Man costume, no comments needed on that one! Professor Flitwick was Cupid, he looked really horrible in diapers! Professor Sprout was a ghoul and Hagrid a caveman, all in all the costumes muggle style had been a success!
Me: "OK, that was the ninth chapter, guess I was wrong last time when I said it would take long to have a chapter as long as chapter 8, this one is even a bit longer! And, the last chapter and this together are as long as all those coming before are together, cool huh?""
Pansy: "That's at least a way of making up for the long wait for chappie 8"
Me: "You could say that!"
Draco: "This was a revelation to me, I didn't know you could look so hot Granger!"
Mione: "Shut up Malfoy!"
Me: "Children, behave!"
Draco: "We are not children, I am eighteen years old since the end of August!"
Mione: "And I since middle of September!"
Pansy: "I won't be till March, but I'm still a grown up in the wizarding world."
Me: "Maybe, but you are still younger than I am, so I can call you children, If I can call my younger sister baby to annoy her (she's 15 ) I can do that to you!"
Draco: "Yes but we can curse you!"
Me sweetly: "Have you already forgotten what I told you about my powers as an author?"
Draco nervously: "Uhm... call me whatever you like, just don't make me kiss Snape or wear a pink tutu!"
Me mischievously: "Or both...."
Draco horrified: "Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh"
Pansy & Mione amused: "Hahahahahaha!"
Me: "Goodbye everyone! Don't forget to review and tell me your opinion on the Crabbe and Goyle thing please!"
I STILL NEED ANSWERS TO THE CRABBE AND GOYLE SURVEY!!!!! PWEAASEEE!!!!
Answers to your reviews:
Lucius Sikilmituile: Hey Lusiki, thanks a lot for your wonderful review, I love getting reviews, especially from my best friend (hint, hint). HDL
Reb: I'm glad to know at least some people read the final discussions, they are almost a story in itself, I'm happy that you like them so much. Poor Draco gets tortured by us, perhaps we should be friendlier... nah! It was great finding a review from you again and thanks heaps for your support hugs.
Hottennispro 88: Thanks for answering the survey, so far I have two (different) answers. I still don't know what to do, well, time will tell. I also don't particularly like stories where they jump right into a relationship, but I have one where they are already together, post Hogwarts (the fic is not about their romance specifically). In this one their friendship will develop, I'm thinking about letting them have their first date for the Valentine's Day ball.... But before that, Christmas and Ariannes's sad story... and of course Zack's arrival and his and Alex's evil plot to bring them together (sparks but denial...) Anyway, keep the reviews coming please grins sheepishly I know I sound desperate, but I am!
Lynx Irisa Black: Cool name, I love it! Heh, good to see that somebody likes this story so much to bed for 10 minutes for an update, didn't think it was that good... your review was definitely an ego boost! Thanks a lot! I hope you liked this chapter as much as the ones before.