Ok, I know it's been ages and ages since I posted anything on this, but I really have an excuse. I didn't say it was a good excuse, mind you, but an excuse nonetheless. After puking for nearly 9 months straight, I was rewarded on July 11 with a gorgeous baby boy, named Charlie. He's the cutest thing ever! Anyway, so in addition to the newborn, I am still homeschooling my other 3 kids, plus I've gotten really lazy and just like to read everyone else's stuff. ANd, this is so AU now, since book 6 came out, I don't know what I'll do with it.
Chapter 30
It was only a few hours before the ball and Gryffindor tower was bustling with activity. Ginny waited until all of her roommates left before she started to get ready for the Ball. She and Draco had agreed that they wanted to make an entrance, so they would be the last Gryffindors to arrive. Ginny slipped her gown over her head and marveled at the layers of white silk with crinolines in between for added pouf. The bodice was beaded in intricate designs of flowers. The gown had long sleeves, which suited Ginny fine as the weather couldn't be considered warm this time of the year. She admired herself in the mirror in the gown, which had once been Narcissa's wedding gown, and sighed. This gown is the second good thing that came out of her marriage to Lucius, I guess. The first good thing obviously being Draco. She cast charms on her hair and her make-up to complete the ensemble and made her way down to the common room to meet up with her handsome prince.
When Draco looked up and saw her standing at the foot of the stairs, he said, "Wow, Gin, I've never seen you look like this before. Don't get me wrong, I like how you normally look, this is just…Wow." Ginny giggled and replied, "You look wow, too." He offered her his arm and they made their way down to the great Hall together.
When they entered the dance, every head turned in their direction. Some mouths audibly dropped and Draco smirked at Ginny. "You'd think they've never seen Frankenstein and his bride before," she commented. Ginny's Hair was charmed to stand straight up and she had put streaks of white in it for effect. The make-up made her look sickly green with scars in a roadmap on her face. Draco had on a Muggle suit and had charmed his hair black. He also looked green and had numerous scars and both were sporting the requisite bolts in the sides of their neck. "Shall we dance?" he asked her with a bow. "Of course."
They made their way to the middle of the dance floor and took notice of several other costumes on their way. Harry and Lavender looked absolutely adorable as Cinderella and Prince charming. "Is he wearing tights?" Draco whispered. Ginny did a double take and nodded with a chuckle. Neville and Parvati were dressed as ice cream sundaes. "Hey Draco, I charmed them so they won't melt," Neville whispered as they walked past. Draco gave him a thumbs up and continued leading Ginny to the center of the room.
As the new song started, Draco grabbed Ginny at the waist and started twirling her gracefully around the floor. As they danced, she scanned the crowd for Ron and Hermione, but didn't see them anywhere. Draco leaned in and whispered in Ginny's ear, "Did you see Zambini yet? He's dressed as some sort of stand. I can't quite make out the sign. Let's swing over closer." Ginny agreed and burst out laughing as they approached Blaise. His costume resembled a lemonade stand but his sign read, Free snogging lessons. Line starts here. Not surprisingly, there were several giggling girls approaching him with happy gleams in their eyes. Draco rolled his eyes at his friend. "Hey! Zambini, where'd ya come up with that?" Blaise smiled and shot back, "I found it in your old closet. Funny there hasn't been any other costume balls since you've been going here. Whatever could you have used it for?" If Draco hadn't had a green face, he undoubtedly would have been several shades redder. He led his date away from Blaise and they went over to get a drink of butterbeer. Ginny finally noticed Ron and Hermione and wondered how she could have missed them before. Ron was decked out in a very orange Chudley Cannons Uniform and Hermione was wearing a Muggle cheerleading costume that was bewitched to look like it was for the Cannons as well. Ginny made her way over to chat with them.
"Hermione, how did Ron manage to talk you into wearing that? You don't follow Quidditch." Hermione blushed. "I know that, but Ron thought that I should broaden my horizons so to speak. Plus, he keeps telling me I look really great in this." She did a little spin as Draco walked up. "Whoa, Hermione, who knew you were hiding that under all those school robes and book bags." Ginny playfully slapped him as Ron spoke up, "I did," he said with a grin.
The only ones who didn't seem to be enjoying themselves were Pansy, Crabbe, and Goyle. They were dressed like Dorothy, the Cowardly Lion, and the Scarecrow from the Muggle movie 'The Wizard of Oz.' Ginny turned to Draco and saw him with his wand aiming at the three. "What are you doing?" Draco flashed a mischievous smile and said, "Just making sure their costumes can't come off. A little permanent sticking charm is all." Ginny clasped her hand to her mouth. "Oh, and a bit of an itchy rash to make things interesting." She grasped his hand and took away his wand. "You can have that back when you can behave yourself," she chided him while trying to hide the amusement in her voice. "Yes Mum," Draco replied with a smirk. "Now come here and kiss me, woman!" He pulled her close and pressed his lips against hers passionately.
He only stopped kissing when he felt a tap on his shoulder. Thinking he would get reprimanded from one of the Professors, he was relieved to see Blaise standing there. "You're bad for business Mate," he said with a grin. " I don't think we've been properly introduced," he said as he took Ginny's hand and kissed it gently. "I'm Blaise Zambini, and you are the ever enchanting Ginny Weasley, am I right?" "Yes, I am. It's a pleasure to finally meet you. Draco has told me so much about you. I love the costume by the way. Obviously, so does Luna." "Who?" She pointed over his shoulder at the blonde haired girl dressed as a fairy. She was inching her way closer as if trying to get in line. "Is she a friend of yours?" Blaise asked and Ginny nodded. "Can you introduce me?"
"I'd love to!" Ginny squealed. "Luna, come over here!" she called to her friend. "Luna, this is Blaise Zambini, Blaise, Luna Lovegood." Blaise took the hand she offered and brushed his lips over it never tearing dark blue eyes from Luna's pale blue ones. "It truly is a pleasure to meet you, my dear." Luna blushed and Draco rolled his eyes. Blaise always did lay it on a little thick to suit him, but it seemed to work. Looking around the room, there were several girls looking enviously at Luna with Blaise still grasping her hand. "I am charmed to meet you. It was brave of you to come out tonight without fear of the dumplewonks. They take pride in eating wooden costumes on this night." Blaise's eyes widened in surprise for just a moment, but covered quite quickly when he said, "I would risk much more than dumplewonks to spend the evening with you." Ginny, deciding her job was done, led Draco away from the other couple. "What in the world are dumplewonks?" Draco asked her as they made their way to one of the gardens. "Well, you see," Ginny began, "Luna's father is the editor of the Quibbler." Draco nodded, "Ok. That makes sense then. She's completely off her rocker." Ginny slapped at him again and said, "No, she's just a little eccentric. It's one of the things I love about her." They started walking again and heard some very curious slurping noises. Suddenly they came upon Neville and Parvati. They were eating each other's costumes. Draco and Ginny decided they didn't want to see what was under all that ice cream so they made their way back inside for the rest of the dance.