raisa – Woah yeah… her costume IS kind of like Gretchen's. I love that movie too haha.
Bagel – You poor poor grammar obsessed freak… its okay, I love ya anyway.
Hermione at 24 – Great to hear from you again! I was beginning to think you didn't read anymore :(
hermia's wings – Aww… thanks! What a nice review… it's really awesome that you went to all the trouble of finding my fic again. Hope you keep reading!
thescottishcat – I have nothing against Lavender or Parvati, I enjoy writing about them a great deal in fact. I just pictured them as very gossipy.
ON TO THE CHAPTER!
Chapter 29 – Halloween
Snape was droning again. Just standing there, talking AT the class, not to the class, and droning. He did this quite a lot, and to be completely truthful, no one, and I mean NO one, including Hermione, listened to him.
"And remember," he droned. "Practice makes perfect."
Such a familiar quote from the hook nosed teacher. He said it at LEAST twice a day.
"Before you leave, don't think that just because Halloween is tomorrow you get a day off of homework. It is on the bored, copy it down before you leave. Class dismissed."
Hermione warily rose from her seat, her legs wobbling as they often did right after she had been sitting down for a long time, and headed for the door, tapping Neville, who had falling asleep.
"Huh? What?" he asked, raising his head from where it lay on his arms. His hair was ruffled and a trail of drool was hanging from the corner of his mouth.
"Class is over," she said, smiling. "Oh, and Neville? You have something right here." She pointed at her mouth and he immediately wiped his own with a sleeve.
"Thanks." He blushed.
She walked out of the class room, walking up several flights of stairs and towards the great hall. She walked in, smelling the sweet aroma of pumpkin juice and took her seat, right in between her two friends.
"Oh, hey Hermione," Harry said, scooting over to make room for her. "Don't you just love the food this time of the year? It defiantly is the best." He was gnawing on a turkey drumstick.
"Totally!" Ron agreed brightly, his mouth full and cheeks bulging. "Oh! Hermione, I had been meaning to ask you, wanna go with me to the ball? I'm like the only one with out a date."
'No…' she thought. 'I want to go with Draco.' But she smiled and said something completely different. "Yeah sure! I don't have a date either." It was only as friends after all.
"Brilliant."
"Who are you going with Harry?" she asked.
"Jessica of course," he said nonchalantly.
"Jessica?" she screeched. "Why didn't you tell me? I'm so excited, I haven't seen her forever! Will Dumbledore let her come? Harry… Are you breaking the rules again? What am I going to do with you?"
"Whoa, whoa… Hermione slow down," he said with a laugh. "Dumbledore wont even find out… there are like a BILLION people bring friends from other schools."
Hermione scowled at him. "Well when is she coming?"
"Tomorrow. In the afternoon."
"I wish you would have told me, then I could have gotten ready. And now I have to go talk to her… so I wont be around for some of today, alright?"
"Sure." Ron said lazily, not really knowing what they were talking about, or caring.
XXX
Jessica sat at her desk, working on the entirely too long homework assignment that was due the next day. She yawned, stretching her arms up and it was at this exact moment that she heard a very loud POP!
She whipped around. "Herms!" she cried, running over and throwing her arms around her friend. "Why are you here?"
"Because, SOMEONE, meaning you, forgot to tell me she was visiting tomorrow!"
"Oh my gosh… I forgot?" she asked slapping herself in the head. "What was I thinking? Sorry!"
"It's okay. So what are you going to go as?"
"Go as?"
"To the ball, remember?"
"Oh yeah! Get this," she said sniggering. "Me and Harry-"
"Harry and I." Hermione corrected
Jessica rolled her eyes. "As I was SAYING, Harry and I are going as muggles!" She burst into a fit of laughter.
Hermione smiled. "You are so immature."
"Am not!"
XXX
Hermione gazed in the mirror one last time, making sure her costume was perfect. It was. Her long brown hair was pulled into two french braids, her eye lashes dark and her cheeks rosy giving off a fresh look. Her costume also fit the part, short and smooth with blue and white checkers and two legs popping out the bottom, adorned in milky white stocking and topped off in sparkly red slippers. She was no longer Hermione Granger, but was now Dorothy Gale. Wasn't it great how costumes could transform you so completely both inside and out? She smiled.
Three prompt knocks stirred her from her thoughts and she pranced out opening the door. "I should have known!" she exclaimed at seeing Ron's costume. He was wearing quidditch robes, but not just any Quidditch robes, the robes of his favorite team the Chudley Cannons, long and red and black. "I like your costume!"
"Thanks," said Ron. "I like yours too… but, if you don't mind me asking, what the hell are you?"
She frowned. "Dorothy of Oz, of course!"
He stared back at her blankly.
"From the Wizard of Oz… famous book…" she got no response from him, and let out a sigh. "Never mind."
"Okay, are you ready?" he asked.
"Yeah."
He extended one freckled arm out to her and she took it, heading off for the ball.
XXX
"Holy shit!" Ron exclaimed upon entering the great hall, and for once, Hermione had no scolding remarks.
"Holy shit," she agreed. "Holy shit indeed!"
The great hall had been transformed entirely, the normal night sky above was now enchanted to appear like a haunted forest, scraggly dead tree branches and a gloomy sky now visible. Several long tables stood by the wall with delicious aromas seeping from them, covered with turkey, potatoes, pumpkin pie and juice, and many tantalizing deserts. The rest of the room had been cleared for a dance floor which was packed, and music blared from seemingly nowhere.
"Oy! Ron!" They heard Harry's voice shout, and sure enough he trotted over Jessica not far behind. Hermione hugged her friend, and Ron burst into laughter.
"What are you wearing?" He asked between giggles.
"We are muggles!" He said, pointing at his tie.
"Cool… is that really what they wear? It looks so… prim and proper."
"Well… it's what they wear for business. Oh, Hermione you're Dorothy!" Harry said.
"Finally! SOMEONE who reads good literature."
Hermione craned her neck hoping to spot that tall blonde someone, but he was no where to be seen.
"Whatcha lookin' at? Asked Jessica, looking in the same direction Hermione was turned.
"Oh… nothing," she said airily.
"Okay…" Jessica said slowing, trying to register if she was telling the truth or not. "Right. Well do you want to dance or something?"
"Sure." She said, walking towards the dance floor."
"Hermione!"
"Oh god," Hermione said closing her eyes. She leaned in close to Jessica and whispered "Okay, so these two are the gossip queens of Hogwarts, just… don't take anything they say too seriously."
Jessica nodded confusedly, but several seconds later only one girl bounded over.
"Where's Parvati?" Asked Hermione, this was probably the only time she hadn't seen the two together.
"I don't know. I've been avoiding her… don't want her to see my date." She grinned, and sure enough, Seamus stood uncomfortably behind her. "Who's that?" She asked, nosily pointing at Jessica.
"Oh, this is my friend Jessica."
"Hm. Hello. What school do you go to? What do you think of Hogwarts? Oh! Who's your date? Is it Harry? I bet its Harry, I KNEW it! I saw you two walking together earlier, oh wait until I tell everyone. Harry has a new girlfriend from a different school! How did you meet anyway? This is positively juicy!" Her eyes were wide, and after finishing her very long rant, she let out a deep breath.
"Uh…" Jessica said, clearly not used to such interrogation. "Yes." She replied, not sure exactly what she had been asked.
"Yes what?"
"Uh…" Jessica said once again.
"Why is Seamus on a leash?" Hermione asked Lavender, trying to save Jessica from the many questions, and also really wondering.
"We are matching! See? He is a wittle doggy woggy, and I am a kitty… or sex kitten, which ever you prefer." She said, raising one eyebrow and clawing the air with her hand.
"That's… good." Hermione shuddered. "So the costume fit then?"
"Yes! It fits perfectly, don't you think? I know Seamus thinks so, isn't that right Seamus?"
Seamus was staring off into the distance, clearly tuning her out.
She didn't wait for his reply. "He does. He loves it."
"Yeah… me too… it looks…. Great." Hermione choked out, staring at the outfit. She was lying, it didn't look great on her at all. It WAS several sizes too small, leaving several inches of bare arm and leg peeking out of the bottom, and the rubbery fabric clung to her in all the wrong places. It was not flattering, to say the least and two fuzzy black cat ears perched on top of her head only added to her should-be-humiliation.
"Well." Lavender stated. "We better be going, people to see, places to go… you know the drill. Come on Seamus!" And with that she turned on her heel and began to trot off, pulling a miserable looking Seamus behind her.
The second she was out of ear shot Jessica burst into laughter. "What the hell?" She asked.
"I know." Hermione rolled her eyes. "Poor Seamus… I don't know why he would come with her…"
"Must be for the sex." Jessica chuckled.
"You're probably right actually, Lavender really does get around."
"Hey Herms," Jessica said absently, changing the subject. "Isn't that that one hot guy you share the room with? Drao… Dramo… Draco, yes Draco!" She pointed towards the doors.
Hermione turned quickly, hoping Jessica was right, and sure enough Draco had just entered the room… with a certain someone hanging excitedly off his arm. "Pansy!" She said sharply. "He brought… Pansy?" Her teeth clenched and her fists balled.
"Woah… What's the big deal Herms? I thought you hated him…"
"I'll explain later, right now just trust me, he is being a royal jerk."
"Ooh…" Jessica sighed, fanning herself. "I'd forgotten how he looks. He is a hot jerk…"
Hermione had to agree. He did look hot… too hot. He was wearing a black tail coat, a white dress shirt just visible under it and a black and red cape cascading down his broad shoulders. She could see one of his slytherin friends run over to him and say something, and when Draco smiled a bit, she could see that he had enchanted his teeth to look like fangs. He was a vampire… HER vampire, NOT pansy's! Maybe this secret relationship wasn't such a good idea in the first place. She saw him glance over at her…
"Ron!" She yelled, stomping over to him and grabbing his arm. "Let's dance"
"Wha?" He mumbled, right in the middle of stuffing his mouth with the delicious food. "But…"
"Now Ron! I like this song."
"Er… okay?" He asked unsurely, while she dragged him out to the floor and began to dance.
Her eyes shot over to where Draco was standing. He was looking at her, she was sure of it, no not looking, glaring. She smiled triumphantly, looking away for a minute then back. He was gone. Where was he? She looked around until…
She felt her heart beat quicken and jealousy course through her veins… He was dancing too. But in a much dirtier way, all bumping and grinding and… yuck. She thought she might vomit. He smirked at her and gave a sly wink. She would show him, she knew she could. She turned around so that her back was facing Ron's front, and began to sway, now in contact with Ron's body. Ron seemed uneasy, but did not stop, and the look on Draco's face showed her that it was paying off. Draco rubbed even more furiously on Pansy, and Pansy was loving every minute of it. What was this? A race? Whatever it was, Hermione was determined to win. She bent over and brushed up against Ron in his most private place. He gasped, and jumped away from her.
"Hermione! What are you doing?" He exclaimed, breathing deeply.
"Uh… Uh…" She stalled thinking of an answer. "Sorry! I didn't mean to… Ron, please don't…" But he was already backing away, a horrified look on his face.
"I-I've got to go!" He stuttered, turning around and running off.
"Ron…" She said but it was no use, he could not hear her… He was already gone. "Great!" She said to no one in particular. "I'm SO stupid! Ugh!" She slapped her forehead, walking over to the far wall and sinking down at one of the tables letting her head fall into her hands.
She scanned the crowd wishing she could find Jessica, but gave up shortly realizing that the mass of people was far too big to be able to find anyone, and she strongly suspected that Jessica and disappeared off somewhere with Harry. And so she sat, waiting for someone, something, anything to happen. And it did.
"Ahh!" Sounded a high pitched scream from the crowd. "AHHH!" It came again. A hush came to the room, and many people looked around, trying to decipher where or who it had come from. It would have had to be something very loud to be heard over the mob of bodies, and Hermione was pretty sure just exactly what it was. She rose, pushing her way to the clearing and finally popping out the front, joining the others at gazing at the scene. And who else could it be making a scene? Of course, the two drama queens, and one rather uncomfortable and fidgety Seamus Finnigan.
Lavender was standing with a pout on her face and one hand on her hip, looking towards Parvati who was pale under all her makeup, and holding one shaking finger out towards her friend… or should we say ex-friend?
"You!" Parvati screeched, her eyes remarkably wide. "How COULD you, you miserable excuse for a friend!"
Hermione got the sudden urge to applaud Parvati who almost always took the dismissive role and let herself be bossed around by the slightly more outgoing and outrageous Lavender. And by the look on Lavender's face she hated it, and wanted nothing more than to yell right back at Parvati, although she knew that what she did was wrong and couldn't rightly say a damn thing.
"How COULD you?" Parvati bellowed again.
Lavender said nothing, just scowled at her.
Parvati threw her head back with a wail, drawing the back of her hand to her forehead for added drama. "Woe is me!" She cried, proving the point that her goal was to be an actress. She let out a very long, drawn out sigh, and sauntered towards the door, looking back once more, then sobbing and running off.
This night had proven to be more drama than Hermione had bargained for.
A/N: Whew, this was a pretty long chapter for me. I'm on spring break right now so hopefully I can write a bunch, but today I started feeling really nasty, I guess it's a cold or something, so it took me a while to drag myself over to the computer and write. Also, I've decided to lower it to 7 reviews per chapter since I feel 10 is a lot and sometimes I might not get them all. Although 10 reviews would be FANTASTIC, I will update the next chapter after at least 7. Okay! GO REVIEW:)