A/N: Once again, thank you to my wonderful reviewers, you rock.

Kirsten: It was Lexi's idea to have Slytherin win, she's the brilliant genius. Really, I just asked her who should win and she randomly said Slytherin, so I don't know if she's really a brilliant genius, but oh well.

Big hugs and thank yous to my other reviewers, but I don't want to keep you waiting so here's the other chapter!

It's the MASQUERADE BALL!!!

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Chapter Sixteen

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"Harry, has Hermione told you what book the spell's bound to be in?" Pepper whispered to Harry a few days later. They were at dinner and Hermione and Ron were immersed in a flirty conversation, so Pepper figured it would be safe to mention the Curse to Harry.

"No, I don't think she knows," Harry whispered back.

"Well we've got to find it but we can't get in the Restricted Section without a note from a teacher, right?"

"In most cases, yes, but we've got an Invisibility Cloak..." Harry said.

"I take it you've done this before."

"More than once," was Harry's reply. "Tonight we can go down there, after the library's closed."

"Sounds like a plan," Pepper said.

That night after everyone was asleep Pepper and Harry met in the common room. "Ready?" Harry asked, pulling out his Invisibility Cloak.

"As I'll ever be," Pepper responded. They stood close together and Harry threw the cloak over the two of them, making them disappear to any onlookers. In unison, they headed out of the common room and made their way quietly down the stairs to the library.

The door creaked open as they entered, and they had to pause for a minute to let their eyes adjust to the musty darkness. Harry pulled out a flashlight as they headed towards the back of the library to the Restricted Section.

Pepper ducked out from under the cloak and began searching books for the Féminin Vivreencore Curse. Harry did the same, though he kept the cloak on. Pepper pulled numerous books from the shelves and flipped through the pages, but she found nothing in any of them.

"Harry, have you found anything yet?" she asked her partner in crime an hour later.

"No...ah! Yes, I have! Right here, come look," Harry replied.

"Where are you? You've got the Invisibility Cloak on!"

"Oh, right," Harry said, walking over to Pepper and dragging her under the cloak with him.

Harry and Pepper stared at a page entitled, Féminin Vivreencore Curse; the Potion and Its' After Effects. "This looks like what we're looking for," Pepper breathed, in awe that they'd actually found the potion. "I think we should rip the page out and put the book back or write the potion down. The latter might be the safest way to go."

"I agree," Harry said, pulling out a piece of parchment and a quill. While Pepper held the book, Harry copied the page as quickly as he could, since they had already spent enough time in the library. "Let's go."

The two invisible Gryffindors crept from the library and made their way back to their common room. Once they arrived there, they parted ways and went to bed, the potion in Harry's pocket.

The next morning the Gryffindors had Herbology and it was there that Harry and Pepper bent their heads over the parchment that held the secret to bringing Sirius back. It was a difficult task to do this; they had to make sure Professor Sprout didn't see what they were doing. Pepper's eyes widened in shock as she read the page that sported the potion and the effects it could cause. "Harry, I think we'd better finish reading this later," she hissed, snatching the paper from Harry's hands and stuffing it in her robe pocket.

During their free period that afternoon, Pepper pulled out the parchment once again when she and Harry were in a private place. "Harry, did you get to read this? These consequences are horrible!" Pepper exclaimed.

"No, I didn't get to read it, you pulled it away too quickly," Harry told her.

"Well read it, then!" Pepper said, shoving the parchment at him.

Féminin Vivreencore Curse; the Potion and Its' After Effects

The Féminin Vivreencore Curse was made illegal years ago by the Ministry of Magic who had concluded it was too dangerous to let witches and wizards to continue performing the Curse. Indeed, it is extremely dangerous and there are many things that can happen in any step of the potion or when performing the Curse itself.

Harry's eyes skimmed the potion ingredients as that was not an important piece of information to him at the moment. His sight rested on the things that could go wrong with the potion and he resumed reading.

There are many things that can go wrong during this Curse. Limbs have been lost for brewing certain ingredients wrong. If the potion is drunken one day too late the consequence is certain death. Witches and wizards have gone insane or have gotten amnesia from taking this draught and other nasty things have happened.

Clunk the Clumsy attempted brewing this potion but it resulted in a coma-like state. He woke up months later thinking he was a rabbit, so he hopped out the window of a fifty-five story building, thus ending up a squashed man. Similar stories could be told of this potion gone wrong and specialists on this subject are convinced there are other after effects possible.

Harry looked up at Pepper, who was waiting anxiously for him to finish reading. "Sounds dangerous," Harry said, pointing out the obvious.

"No duh," Pepper sighed. "The question is, do you still want to do it?"

"I'm not sure we should risk it, though I'd love to see Sirius again..."

"I say we go for it. I'm not too fond of dying, but I'm sure if we do everything carefully and follow the directions exactly then we shouldn't have a problem. Though making it illegal is kind of a put off," said Pepper. "But I'd love seeing my dad, just as you want to, so I think we should do it. We should brew the potion at least, and if it looks too foul we won't take it. Please Harry," Pepper pouted.

Harry kissed her, noticing that, indeed, Hermione was right about Pepper being more withdrawn; as if she was guilty. "Hey Pepper," he said after they withdrew from the kiss, "is something wrong?"

"Wrong?" Pepper asked, a guilty look crossing her face. She wondered if Harry had found out about her snogging Malfoy. No, she decided, he didn't know, he would have said something – or yelled. Does he know about my self-mutilation? Pepper asked herself. No, she decided again, he would have said something about that, too. "No, there's nothing wrong."

"Are you sure?" Harry asked, wanting to get to the bottom of this. He knew there was something wrong, as did Hermione and Ron, but none of them knew what. He wanted to know, and figured it was important since Pepper hadn't told any of them, even her best friend.

Pepper knew he could sense something was up with her, so she made something up, hoping he would buy it. "I'm just worried about the Curse, that's all." To punctuate her point she kissed Harry on the cheek, looking at him reassuringly. "That's all," she repeated, trying to guarantee Harry that that really was all.

Harry looked at her skeptically. He was positive something else was wrong, as she couldn't have been worrying about the Curse for as long as Hermione had said she noticed something was tormenting Pepper. Plus, she wouldn't have been acting so guilty if she was just worried. He wasn't sure whether to push the subject, though, as it was apparent that Pepper didn't desire to discuss it. "Pepper," he said, not entirely wanting to bother her but wanting to get it out of her.

"Harry, nothing's wrong, really," she said, getting up and walking away, not wanting to let the conversation continue.

The day of the dance it snowed. The subject of what ailed Pepper had not been brought up by Harry in a few days, for which Pepper was very grateful. Harry and Pepper had begun to make a plan on how to get all of the ingredients for the potion, which would come into play this coming week.

As the dance was on a Saturday, Harry, Ron, Hermione and Pepper went outside to play in the snow because it was the first snowfall of the year. A snowball fight commenced, the girls fighting against the boys, and said fight lasted for a few hours before Pepper and Hermione said they had to go back to their dormitories to get ready for the ball.

At that point, the boys gave up as well, since they had no one to fight against, and decided to chase the girls up to their dormitory, trying to snog them instead of letting them get ready for the ball.

Once they got into their dormitory successfully, though both of them had been caught and snogged once before making it there, Pepper and Hermione changed out of their wet, snowy clothes and took showers before getting out their costumes for the ball.

Pepper pulled on her elegant Victorian dress and Hermione put on her bellbottoms and her tank top. As Pepper was adjusting her dress, with the help of Hermione, Lavender and Parvati entered the room. Pepper knew they were both mad at her after trying to get Harry to dump her and it not working. They passed her bed without a second glance and headed towards their own trunks, pulling out their own costumes.

Lavender and Parvati were going as Tinkerbell and Cinderella, Pepper observed.

When Hermione was done putting her costume, Pepper helped her with the hippie face paint and makeup. Hermione used a Glamour Charm on her hair to make it black and long and one on her eyes to turn them bright green. Her mask stretched across her eyes and part way down the bridge of her nose and there were strings of different colored beads hanging from it that covered much of her cheeks.

Pepper added some powder to Hermione's eyelids and some lip gloss to her lips before stepping back and admiring Hermione's costume. Pepper giggled. "Does it look bad?" Hermione asked.

"Hermione you look like a hippie!" Pepper exclaimed. "It's a pretty good look for you."

"Thanks," Hermione said. "Now you've got to finish your costume."

Pepper added some gold shadow to her eyelids to match the designs on her mask and dress and Hermione (and her great Glamour Charms) turned Pepper's hair sandy blonde and put it into an elegant twist on the top of her head. Lastly was Pepper's mask, the same maroon color as the dress with gold accents.

Hermione looked at Pepper with an odd smile on her face. "Well, I don't know if I would call it Victorian...that dress looks more like it would have been the 1870's... anyhow, it looks gorgeous."

"Thanks," Pepper said. "What color should my eyes be?"

"Oh, I don't know...I like them the color they are," Hermione said. "Gray suits the dress I think."

"Alrighty then, shall we go down?" Pepper asked.

"Sure," said Hermione. "Did you take your Voice Altering Potion?" she asked suddenly, remembering that was part of their masquerade.

"Yes, I think it should be going into effect right about...well, now as you can probably tell," Pepper said, her voice growing slightly higher and more feminine.

Hermione chuckled. "Well I think we can go then because I s'pose I took mine when you took yours and – " Hermione's voice suddenly grew raspier and she broke out into a smile. "Well, you can tell mine's in effect right now. So let's go!"

They bounded down the stairs, (Pepper almost tripping over her dress), and were greeted by an empty common room. "I guess we're late..." Pepper said in her new higher voice. "Oh well, that just means no one will know who we are! Let's go!"

They headed out the portrait hole and down to the Great Hall, where most of the school was already assembled. "What d'you reckon Harry and Ron are dressed as?" Hermione asked, skimming the faces in the crowd.

"Dunno," Pepper answered, itching for the band to start playing so she could get to dancing. "When's the band going to start?"

"I'm not sure; I think Dumbledore will have to make some sort of announcement first..." Hermione said.

"Hermione, you realize you can't talk all proper-like, people will know who you are. You've gotta say 'dude' and 'totally' a lot," Pepper pointed out.

"I will not," Hermione scoffed.

"You have to, or you won't be a believable hippie."

"Oh, look, Dumbledore's coming onstage!" Hermione said, changing the subject.

Dumbledore was stepping onto the stage, as Hermione had said, and he presently cleared his throat so all the mindless chatter in the Great Hall stopped. "Good evening, students," he said. "Welcome to Hogwarts' first annual Masquerade Ball. Just to inform you of a few things before we begin the festivities. First off, you all look wonderful tonight. Secondly, I'm sure you are all wondering about dinner. As you see, there are tables lining the walls, you are welcome to sit down at any time you wish and order your dinner. Now, may I introduce to you Oddities Unknown!"

There was thunderous applause as five witches and wizards appeared onto the stage. Almost immediately, they began playing a song. "Come on!" Pepper yelled to Hermione over the din. She dragged the other girl into the middle of the floor and began swaying her hips to the music, the flowing dress mimicking her movements. She coaxed Hermione to dance before realizing that they were the only two dancing, the rest of the crowd was standing around or heading for the tables. "Hermione, we're the only ones dancing," she said, pointing out the obvious.

Hermione nodded and replied with a simple, I know, but I'm sure they'll all dance once they see us doing it.

Hermione wasn't exactly right, for only two other people began to dance a few minutes later, when two boys asked them to dance. Pepper accepted, as did Hermione and the two boys began moving to the music with them.

Before the song drew to a close, there were many more people out on the dance floor, and Harry had picked out the girl he thought was Pepper, as she had been the best dancer. When the song did end, he approached the girl, whom was clad in a Victorian style dress, and asked her to dance.

She obliged, and they began to dance, Harry recognizing her movements immediately. "You sure do attract a lot of attention, Pepper," he said.

"Excuse me?" Pepper said in her new feminine voice. She wasn't sure who it was, but this someone knew who she was, and it was a little unnerving. This boy had dark, slicked back hair and black eyes. His costume was that of a vampire, and his mask didn't cover very much of his face.

"C'mon Pepper," said Harry, hoping very much that this was, in fact, Pepper and he wasn't making a complete fool of himself. He flashed a nervous smile at her.

"I'm not sure I like this," Pepper said, dislodging herself from the boy's grip and making her way over to one of the tables to get something to eat, leaving Harry feeling very stupid.

Hermione, seeing Pepper storming off, followed her friend to one of the tables. Pepper was looking at the menu. Hermione sat in the chair across from Pepper, smiling, bemused, at the look she wore on her face. "What happened?" Hermione asked.

"Some creepy guy came up to me and started talking like he knew me," Pepper answered. "How do you order from this menu?"

"Just say what you want and it appears," Hermione instructed. Pepper followed Hermione's instructions and food appeared on her plate seconds later.

Hermione ordered something, as well, and the two ate in silence for a while. "The guy I danced with was really nice," Hermione said, finally breaking the silence.

"Oh?" said Pepper, looking at Hermione with a quizzical eyebrow raised. "How so?"

"Well, he kept giving me compliments on my dancing, and saying how pretty I looked..." Hermione trailed off.

"Remember, hippie girl, you do have a boyfriend...well, you sort of do," Pepper told Hermione.

"Yes, but I can say a bloke is nice, can't I?" Hermione asked.

"Sure..."

They finished their meals with a few words of conversation and then Pepper suggested they dance again. They danced together for one song before someone came up to Hermione and asked her to dance. After asking Pepper if it was alright, the boy led Hermione away to dance and Pepper was left to dance alone.

For the next few songs Pepper and Hermione both had a couple different dancing partners and then the two of them decided to ditch their current partners and get drinks. "I'm getting rather bored," Pepper announced, sipping at her punch. "It's still an hour till the unmasking."

"I know, I'm getting bored, too. Do you want to go out to the garden?" Hermione asked. Pepper shrugged so they headed out of the Great Hall and towards the grounds. They both shivered as the cool November air hit their bare skin. A light snow was falling.

Sitting down on a bench that was enchanted to be warm, Pepper wondered aloud when their glamour and voice would be changed back to normal. "Knowing Dumbledore, he's worked out a way so that when we're unmasked, the charms wear off," Hermione said smartly.

"I see...so have you found anyone you think is Ron yet?" Pepper asked.

"Not really...though there was someone who was as sweet as he can be," Hermione responded, her voice beginning to sound spacey.

"Hermione...back to earth please," Pepper said, waving a hand in front of Hermione's face. "I could use a dance with a sickly-sweet guy; care to point him out to me?"

Pepper led Hermione back into the hall, where a slow song was playing, and Hermione began scanning the crowd for the boy she had been dancing with earlier. "Wonder if it is Ron?" she wondered, craning her neck to see over the dancing mass of people. "There!" Hermione gasped suddenly, pulling Pepper over towards the beverage table. The two girls pretended to be interested in getting a drink, but they both stole glances at the boy.

He was leaning against the wall, with more than a few girls surrounding him. Pepper almost spat out her drink. "Are you sure he was sweet, Hermione?" she hissed at her friend.

"Yes, why?" Hermione asked.

"That's..." Pepper tilted her head to try and get a better look at the boy, though she didn't want him to see her looking. "That's Malfoy," she finished finally. "Can't you tell? He's standing so cockily..."

"That can't be Malfoy," Hermione said. "He was such a gentleman..."

A smirk now adorned Pepper's face. "I'm going to go ask him to dance," she decided.

"Pepper, you don't fancy him, do you?" Hermione wondered worriedly. "Harry is your soul mate...and Malfoy's our enemy..."

"I know Hermione," said Pepper impatiently. "I just want to be with him during the unmasking, let him see who he's dancing with..."

"Alright fine, go see if he'll dance with you. Though, I doubt it, what with all those girls hanging on him. They're probably in a line to get him to dance with him," Hermione said.

"Well, I shall try nonetheless!" Pepper cried valiantly, walking over to Malfoy. "Hello," she said suavely, making her way through the clinging girls. Malfoy looked at her, acknowledging her presence by nodding his head. "Care to dance?" she asked him.

He shrugged lightly before grabbing her hand in his own and leading her onto the dance floor, leaving protesting girls in his wake.

Pepper wasn't fully ready for this to be his reaction to her request, but she followed him onto the floor and began to dance with him. A slow song was playing so he drew her close. She was painfully aware of Malfoy's hands on her waist, leading her, and that his head was very close to her own. Daringly, she rested her head on his shoulder. She could hear his heart beating steadily and imagined that her heart was beating increasingly faster with every move they made.

Malfoy led her around the dance floor for three consecutive songs, each minute drawing them closer to the unmasking. "You look very nice tonight," he complimented.

"Thanks..." said Pepper, happy that he'd finally said something. She was wondering when he would start acting sweet – like Hermione said he'd acted when she danced with him. Wanting to keep the conversation going she said, "You don't look bad yourself."

"Of course I don't," Malfoy retorted, not at all gentlemanly.

Pepper scowled. What was his problem? Hermione said he'd been sweet! Though this was the real way Malfoy acted. To get him back, Pepper accidentally on purpose trod on his foot. It didn't seem to faze him, however, and they continued dancing. Pepper noticed he wasn't a bad dancer...and that his hands were drawing her in closer to him.

"Students!" said a booming voice once the song had ended. The couples, including Pepper and Malfoy, pulled apart and turned their attention to Dumbledore, who was standing on the stage.

"Time for the unmasking," Malfoy murmured. He turned to Pepper. "But we won't need to show our faces, since you already know who I am, right Halliwell?"

Pepper gasped inwardly and took a step back from Malfoy, glaring at him.

"Eager to get close to me, are you?" he smirked.

Pepper stuck her nose in the air and walked away. "Insufferable bastard," she muttered, searching in the crowd for Hermione. She was vaguely aware of Dumbledore telling everyone to take off their masks so she tore hers off. This and the fact that everyone's glamours were fading made it easier to look for her best friend and she found Hermione where she had abandoned the girl. Hermione was standing with the vampire had danced with...it was Harry. Pepper swore.

"Hey," she greeted, joining her two friends.

"Hi," Hermione said cheerfully. "How'd it go? Was he surprised?" she hissed in Pepper's ear, so Harry couldn't hear.

"Ha-ha, yeah right," Pepper answered. "He knew it was me, though I don't know how. Unless my charms had already faded..."

"Who?" Harry asked.

"Malfoy," Hermione replied. "Pepper wanted to surprise him but it turns out he knew who she was."

"Oh," Harry said, utterly confused. "Pepper, can you come with me? I need to talk to you," he said suddenly, grabbing Pepper's wrist and dragging her from the hall.

He dragged her all the way to the seventh floor and into the deserted common room. "There's something wrong with you Pepper," he stated calmly. "I don't know what it has to do with but I know there's something wrong."

"Nothing is wrong Harry, for the last time," Pepper said impatiently. "Why do you have the idea that something's the matter?"

"Kiss me," he said, pulling her mouth to his. "That's why," he told her when they'd pulled apart.

"Harry what are you talking about?" Pepper asked, getting worried. Did he know about the kiss? Did he suspect she was having a secret affair with Malfoy?

"Pepper, I know there is something wrong with you! When we kiss you seem more... withdrawn. And you act guilty all of the time. You jump at the smallest things...and you won't even tell Hermione what's the matter! I'm worried about you, Pepper, why won't you tell me?"

"You know what's wrong with me, Harry!" Pepper yelled, deciding the hell with it. She was getting tired of being asked what was wrong with her. He wanted to know, so she'd tell – well, more like yell an explanation at him.

Harry nodded, crossing his arms expectantly.

"What's wrong with me is that I cut myself! You and your damn friends deserted me and I CUT myself! I got depressed cos I had no friends and tons of work! I sliced my arms with Hermione's effing COMPASS!"

Harry's jaw dropped and he reached for Pepper, but she took a step back, not done with her ranting.

"And you know what else is the matter? Malfoy wants to SCREW me! That's what else is wrong! He snogged me and I felt guilty! So I didn't tell you! He kissed me after my detention! And I ENJOYED IT! I enjoyed it..." At this Pepper broke down into tears, worried about what Harry would think and do. (A/N: Like I said, Pepper's dramaticness is really annoying!)