CHAPTER 9
"Hey, Harry?" Ron called.
"Yeah Ron?"
The Weasley shifted somewhat on his feet, "Listen, I wanted to get something for, er—someone,"
"You mean Hermione?" Harry put in dryly.
Ron blushed, "How'd you know?"
Harry fought to keep from laughing and forced himself to speak normally. "Well, it's kind of known that you and Hermione are…together."
"Well known?" Ron asked nervously.
"Not outside Gryffindor Tower," Harry assured him.
He exhaled deeply, "Alright, 'cause I haven't officially asked her yet. Which is why I wanted to ask you somethin', a favor—sort of."
Harry smiled. "Anything I can do for you, I'll do. Just name it."
"Well, I want to get Hermione something for the dance, but there's not a Hogsmede visit for another week; so I was wondering if I could borrow your cloak." He finished in a quieter voice.
Harry looked around. "I've got a quicker way if you want."
Ron looked at him, "Really?"
"Sure," he whistled softly and Hedwig came over. "You can take the cloak too if you want, but if you ask her, Hedwig can take you to wherever you need to go."
Ron smiled. "Hedwig, would you mind taking me to Hogsmede for a short trip?" hedwig trilled a yes and fluttered over to Ron's shoulder, his smile widened.
"And here's the cloak, just in case." Harry said, taking it out of his trunk. "Be careful Ron," he finished.
Ron nodded. "Don't worry mate, I'll come back pronto if somethin' looks bad." Harry nodded and gave a wave, then Ron and Hedwig dissapeared; Harry went upstairs to wrap Alex's gift.
"So what'd you get her?" Harry asked as they got ready for the evening dance.
"Well, she didn't really care for the perfume I got her last year, so I bought her a necklace." Ron answered as he combed his hair . "What'd you get Alex?"
"A bracelet," Harry replied simply, smoothing his hair into form with gel. He made sure it looked alright, then pulled his hair back, trimmed it a bit and began to change from his normal uniform to his dress outfit.
He instinctively strapped the knife in its holster to his left arm, and the holster which held his normal wand, to his right. Harry'd thought of wearing muggle clothes, just to see people's reactions, but decided against it and instead chose his black dress robe with silver trim, a pair of black slacks, his dragonhide boots and a navy blue silk shirt; he'd chosen a dark color for the shirt since his sleeves would be visible. He took his second wand and holstered it, then slid it into his boot—just in case.
Harry went through a couple eye colors like blue, black and a lighter green, but decided to leave them their normal, vibrant green color. After getting Alex's gift and slipping it into his pocket, he put his mask on then looked at his best friend.
Ron was wearing a dark, blue-green robe with black trim; his thestral mask; and a pair of black dress shoes along with a pair of black slacks Harry'd leant him and lengthened. "Do I look alright?" he asked nervously.
Harry smiled, "You look brilliant."
"Thanks, same to you." Ron smoothed his robes and picked up the small box containing Hermione's gift. "Meet you downstairs?"
"I'll be down in a second," Harry replied and his friend left. Harry looked at himself in the mirror one more time to see if he'd forgotten anything.
"You won't get the girl if you keep staring at yourself," the mirror said in a dry, wheezy voice.
Harry rolled his eyes and left. A gasp met his ears as he entered the common room. Hermione had opened the box and was staring at it.
"I hope you like it," Ron mumbled, having taken off his mask for a second. "I saved up for it during the summer."
Hermione threw her arms around Ron and kissed him; the other Gryffindors applauded and cheered. "Well, Seamus wins." Ginny told Harry quietly. He grinned and then someone caught his eye.
Alex was coming down the staircase in a pearly white robe with gold trim that was unfastened. It was also sleevless and she wore a light blue dress underneath. Her arms were bare except for the circlets wrapped around the upper part; her eyes smiled from behind her mask. Her mask itself was furry, with pointed ears and gold whiskers. Two sapphire drops were at the corner of the eyeholes and there were several golden stripes coming down from the forehead and across from the sides; she was a white tiger.
Harry excused himself from Ginny and walked over. "You look beautiful," he told Alex.
He could here the smile in her voice as she replied. "Thanks Harry, you look handsome too."
Harry offered her an arm with a bow. "Shall we?" She laughed lightly and took it and together they walked to the Great Hall with the other Gryffindors.
The hall itself was spectacular. It was enlarged to one and a half its normal size. The ceiling was clear and the stars shone even brighter than usual. The hundreds of candles were gone, replaced by balls of pure flame in the colors of the four houses, that floated inside glass spheres which hung in the air. The tables had been pushed to the far side of the hall and were loaded with food and drink. Hagrid's enormous pumpkins were lined up against the walls. The staff members were waiting at the Headtable, which was in its usual place.
Harry waved to Remus, who was a wolf wearing a light grey robe, and to Hagrid, who was dressed in a light brown robe, and was a very large hyppogriff. They waved back, and Harry inspected the other professors' attire. Trelawny and Firenze were the only two not wearing costumes. Sprout was a Forest Sprite in a dark green robe; Flitwick was a chipmunk (which amused many people) and was wearing a robe that looked just like his animal. McGonagall was a cat just like her animagus form with a dark grey robe; Dumbledor was a phoenix in a robe that matched his mask in flaming colors; and Splikvin was a shark in dark cerulean next to her brother, a hawk with silver-grey robes (both were clearly not excited about being there, and glared at Flitwick on occasion).
The students began to enter and two bands walked in and onto the stage that was placed in front of the Headtable. It was The Weird Sisters and a group Harry didn't recognize. "The Splinters," Alex told him, "They're pretty good, I've been to one of their concerts."
At that moment, Dumbledore stood up, greeted the bands and adressed the students. "Welcome to the Halloween Masquerade!" he waited for the polite applause to die down before continuing. "I'm glad so many of you are here and took advantage of Professor Flitwick's mask-making session. Now, I would like to welcome The Weird Sisters and The Splinters, who will be entertaining tonight. Thank you and have a wonderful time!." The applauded again and the bands began to play.
"Want to dance?" Harry asked.
"I'd love to," Alex replied and they went onto the floor. It wasn't a slow song, but it wasn't very fast either, so Harry wasn't quite sure what to do. Luckily, Alex did and Harry soon caught on. They talked as they danced, about the other pairs, classes and other peoples' masks. Alex could dance as well as she sang and Harry was really enjoying himself in no time.
They dance for half an hour as each band played a song then the other band played after. Harry realized that he and Alex were dressed in complete opposite colors; he was black and silver, she was white and gold, the thought made him smile. As the song ended, they went down to sit for a bit.
"Oh come on Selena, you can't come to a dance and not dance!" Remus said in exasperation behind his wolf mask.
Harry and Alex were only a little ways away and hear the sneer in her voice. "Might I remind you that I was forced to come?"
Remus chuckled. "I heard about that. Flitwick was certainly pleased. Still, you ended up coming, so you should dance."
She rolled her eyes, "I'd have to be drunk to dance."
"Alright then, if I get you drunk, you have to dance." Moony said, "Deal?"
She sighed. "Fine, and good luck." Lupin immediately put a glass of wine in her hand; she downed it in two gulps. As Harry and Alex went to get some punch, they talked about the deal. "A sickle it takes twenty glasses," Harry said cheerfully.
"A sickle on fifty, you're underestimating us women." Alex replied. Laughing, they returned to the dance floor. Occasionally, Alex would teasingly say what glass Splikvin was on. They danced for another hour to faster songs and then sat down to rest and happened to overhear a conversation between Remus and Snape.
"Honestly, she's not even dizzy!" Remus sighed.
"How many glasses?" Snape asked.
Lupin rubbed the back of his neck, having taken off his mask for the moment. "Fifty two, I think."
"We both loose," Alex whispered, drawing a surpressed chuckle from Harry.
"I'm not surprised," Snape commented. "The first time she got drunk was after, I believe it was after a hundred or so, it was in Durmstrang a year or two ago."
"And why did she drink that much?"
"It was a bet, I'm told, like yours, though on different stakes." Snape replied.
Remus groaned. "This'll never work…"
Snape's eyes glittered mischeviously behind his mask. "Give her Butterbeer."
"What?"
"Butterbeer," Snape repeated in a murmur, "One sip and she'll be falling over her own toes. We found that out during school." Harry and Alex looked at each other, ready to burst with laughter.
There was laughter in Remus' voice as well. "And how am I going to do that? She looks at everything she drinks."
"Mix it," Snape suggested. "I'll get her sobering potion, she always keeps a spare." The potions master left and Remus put his mask back on then slunk off towards the drinks.
The two Gryffindors finally were able to laugh. "That was an interesting conversation," Alex commented, finally calm after three minutes. "Think it'll work?"
Harry grinned, "I'd be funny to see her reaction." He looked around and saw that the other teachers had joined in on the dance floor, his grin widened, some of them weren't the best dancers. "Want to dance again?" he asked Alex.
Alex mock-curtsied, "Of course, young sir." Harry laughed and followed her on to the dance floor again.
They occasionally watched Lupin, Snape and Splikvin while they dance, along with the other teachers. Harry spotted Snape's hand reaching into his twin's pocket to remove a vial which vanished into his own robes. Alex was the one who saw Remus mixing the Butterbeer and wine together. They really are ganging up on her,Harry thought with amusement, I never thought I'd see Remus and Snape work together.
The two of them took a break half an hour later and decided to eat. They each got a plate from a table, chose their meals and sat down at one of the smaller tables made for dining. They talked while they ate until they were approached by Remus. "Harry, could you talk to Sel- Professor Splikvin for a minute or two?"
Harry smirked, eyeing the glass Remus had. "So you can get her drunk?" Remus grinned, though it wasn't visible. Harry chuckled, "Alright, I'll do it; but she'd better not attack me for it later."
"Don't worry, she'll get mad at me if anybody." Remus assured him.
So Harry took a breath, got up with Alex and went to where Splikvin was standing with her brother in conversation. "Did you need something Potter?" Snape asked, though not with the usual spite.
"I just wanted to ask Professor Splikvin something," Harry replied as Remus walked over, handing the glass to Splikvin.
"What is that?" she asked, and took a drink; nothing happened.
Harry thought quickly. "What the next lesson'll be, Hermione's been asking me what I tought for two days."
Snape muttered something like. "Doesn't Granger think of anything else?" and Selena nudged him with her elbow then turned back to Harry. "Well, we'll most likely continue with partner dueling; however, I'm brining in a creature that will be the basis for the next week's lessons." She took another drink and froze, her arms moved out slightly to steady herself as her feet stumbled. "What the-" she took off her mask and sniffed the beverage she held, becoming more unbalanced. "Butterbeer?" she glared at Remus, then at Harry and slammed the glass down on a nearby table and reached into her robe pocket. "Where'd it—what the hell'd you do Remus?" she demanded.
His shoulders shook with surpressed laughter, "I won the deal, and you know it. Time to dance."
"I refuse to fall over my feet in front of my students and my colleagues." She said, and crossed her arms, still swaying a little.
Snape held out his hand, palm up, to reveal the vial he'd taken earlier. "Then drink this."
Splikvin glared at him like a true Slytherin. "Some brother; stealing can get your fingers broken." Nevertheless, she took it and drank its contents, then put her mask back on. Remus offered his arm and she rolled her eyes. "First Flitwick now this," she grumbled. "If there is one joke made about this, or a single photo taken," she warned in a growling voice,"I swear on pain of death, I will hex the person responsible to hell and back." She glared one more time at all of them, then allowed Remus to take her onto the dance floor as Snape chuckled quietly.
Harry and Alex also began to dance again just as the first slow song came up. He like this one better than the others and was glad when the next few songs were slow as well. He actually had to show Alex what to do, not that he minded of course.
Many of the students stared when Snape tapped Remus on the shoulder and cut in to dance with Splikvn.
"I never thought I'd see Snape dance and live to remember it," Harry joked.
Alex laughed. "I don't think you're alone." Harry smiled and caught a glimpse of Remus. Lupin had taken his mask off and was watching Selean with a smile and a strange look. Harry raised and eyebrow, and Remus realized he was being watched and blushed, then hastily put his mask back on; Harry laughed.
After five more songs, they took anouther break and sat down after taking their masks off and Harry decided to give Alex her gift. "This is for you," he said, getting out the small box.
She looked at him quizzingly then took it. When she opened the gift, she let out a small gasp of surprise. The bracelet was made of silver and gold. There were two bands, one of each of the metals, and were joined by other, smaller bands of pale copper. The silver band had a snake head in the middle, the gold band had a lion's head. "It's beautiful," she whispered, "Thank you Harry."
"You're welcome," Harry replied, gald that she liked it. Alex leaned over and gave him a kiss on the cheek before putting the bracelet on. Harry smiled, her reaction was more than he could have hoped for, and the highlight of the night.
The day after the dance was still cheerful and Harry actually talked to Malfoy outside of class, during free time, namely about quidditch. Malfoy wanted to know about Harry's broom, but the Gryffindor just grinned and said tat it would be coming out to the publice soon enough. SO, they moved on to other conversations about classes and such. Malfoy was interesting to talk to, Harry found; he supported his claims with details, and Harry now found himself agreeing with the Slytherin on certain topics. After a little while, they began to talk about the dance last night.
"Pansy isn't the best dance, Malfoy admitted,"But that's more than I can say for the rest of the Slytherins."
Harry laughed. "Did you see the teaher's dancing though?"
Malfoy grinned, "You mean Professor Snape, Splikvin and Lupin? Yeah, I don't think I'll ever forget that."
"Or Hagrid after the dance," Harry added with a tiny smile. Malfoy laughed; Hagrid had drunken a bit too much and ended up smashing four of his pumpkins while trying to make it back to his home.
The bell gonged, summoning them to lunch. "Well, I'll see you in Hagrid's class." Harry said.
"See you then, and hope Hagrid's sober now." Malfoy replied. As he began to walke away, he turned back, "Hey, are me friends?"
Harry smiled slightly, "Sure Draco, I think we are."
Draco smiled back. "Alright Harry." Harry waved good-bye and they went their seperate ways.
Naturally, all good things come to an end.
Coming Up:
Bad Happenings
Then:
Catch Up
Dreams of hope and heartache
