A/N---To all my readers: I am so sorry this chapter took so long. I had a lot of stuff going on and for about a week and a half I forgot my fanfiction password, and couldn't log in. However, I still feel terrible that a few of my readers lost hope. I hope you haven't given up on me completely (especially Marauder Angel, a loyal reader), because here's the next chapter and I'm nearly done with Chapter Seven as well. Again, my apologies for making you wait. I hope you can all forgive me. I hope you enjoy---and please review!
CHAPTER SIX: MASKLESS
PRINCESS MYA GRANGER
HOME OF KING CHARLES
I woke up the next morning when Rosalie knocked on the door.
"My lady, there is much to be done today," she told me as she entered the room. "You must get up, my lady. Final preparations for the ball are today, and the ball is this night."
"Is it?" I asked teasingly, grinning. "I'd forgotten."
Rosalie laughed. "Come, my lady, get up. Here is your dress," she told me, placing a neatly ironed and folded dress at my feet, "and His Highness expects to see you in the throne room as soon as you are dressed."
His Highness? I thought. Then, Oh, King Charles.
"I'll leave you to get dressed," Rosalie said as I sat up in bed and picked up the dress.
"Rosalie," I said, bewildered. She stopped and turned in the doorway.
"Yes, my lady?"
"This isn't a calico dress. Why am I wearing a nice dress today?"
"You are expected by His Highness, as are your sisters," she replied. "You are expected to greet suitors today."
"Ah," I said.
"I take my lave, my lady," Rosalie said, and closed the door behind her.
I dressed quickly---or as quickly as it's possible to put on a corset and dress by yourself---then went into Annamaria's room.
"Annamaria," I said, "What does Rosalie mean by 'greet your suitors'?"
Annamaria looked up from the mirror, in front of which she'd been applying a thin dark line around her eyes. "Oh," she replied. "She just means that some of the men from the ball wish to meet us."
"But isn't that what the ball tonight is for?" I asked. "I assumed the Masquerade ball was the quick decision, and then this one was a more...in-depth meeting."
"It is," Annamaria replied. "But these suitors are all royalty, and are not just knights. Princes and Kings and the like."
"I see," I replied.
"It's terribly boring," Annamaria informed me. "Mostly they sit around and try to impress Father. Most of them think that if Father likes them, he'll force us to marry them. Little do they know, Father would never dream of doing such a thing."
"That's terrible!" I exclaimed.
"That's men," Annamaria corrected, smiling. "Well, shall we go?"
"If we must," I replied, sighing.
"We must," Annamaria assured me. "Otherwise, I wouldn't be going either."
SIR DRACO MALFOY
HOME OF SIR DRACO
I was bored.
Which was kind of odd, considering the past few days had kept me busy. However, the moment that there wasn't anything to do, I was bored. I didn't even have swordfighting to amuse myself today; the sword-servant was sick or something. The only thing I had planned, according to Dora, was the ball this evening.
Worse, I couldn't stop thinking about a certain brown-eyed girl in tall boots and trousers. She wouldn't get out of my head. I couldn't figure it out. I thought of her eyes, her hair, her body, her voice, her laugh, her smile...
Stop it, Draco, I told myself. You will not fall for her.
But it's Mya, a sweet and funny and beautiful and wonderful girl, and she likes me...
She's a Gryffindor!
Like I care.
She's a muggle-born.
Whoa. Full stop, Draco. Had I just thought that? As if her blood mattered to me anymore? Man. I'd have to thank Lucius next time I saw him for royally screwing up my views on life. Once a Death Eater's son, always a Death Eater's son.
Yeah, right. More like once an asshole, always an asshole.
It's Granger!
Ah. That helped clear my head.
Think of her as Granger, not Mya.
But I like calling her Mya. It lets me pretend she's...mine.
She's not yours.
But I want her to be!
Well, there it was. Plain and simple. I wanted Hermione Granger to be mine.
And being a Malfoy, I'd never been denied anything I wanted.
PRINCESS MYA GRANGER
CASTLE OF KING CHARLES
Meeting the suitors wasn't as boring as I'd expected. Basically, they came into the throne room, where Elizabeth, Annamaria and I were, and walk once around the room with whatever Princess they wanted to marry, talking to us and trying to impress us. King Charles, who sat on his throne, then asked them to leave.
It was boring at first, but then I actually started taking an interest in the men coming through the door.
A man came in the door at that moment; the first thing that struck me was that he exactly fit the description "tall, dark, and handsome." Everything about him was dark; black eyes, deep brown hair, tanned skin. He was tall, a good few inches taller than me, and handsome to the extreme. Totally inappropriately, I thought to myself, I wish Ginny were here; he's got a nice body. She'd appreciate this.
And then, of course, I remembered that I wasn't in the twenty-first century anymore and pulled myself together, hoping this dark stranger was here for me but knowing, with some deep-seated certainty, that he wasn't.
The man knelt just inside the doorway, as all the suitors had done. "May I approach, Your Highness?" he asked, and his voice was deep. He spoke quietly, respectfully, and bowed his head.
"You may," King Charles replied, and the man approached me. I nearly smiled in surprise that he'd chosen me; I managed to catch myself and curtsied instead, a long, sweeping motion that he watched with interest.
"I am Princess Mya," I told him, as I had all the others, though it was hardly neccesary considering he already knew who I was.
He bowed low. "I am Prince Kevin," he replied. "Eldest Prince of Spain."
"It's a pleasure to meet you," I told him.
"And you as well," he answered. "Well, shall we?" he asked, offering me his arm.
"Would you like to go for a walk? I know you haven't been in the castle gardens yet---they're really nice," Draco told me.
"Really?" I asked, surprised.
"Yeah," he replied, smiling almost shyly at me.
"I'd like that," I decided, and he led me over to the cave entrance and held out his arm to me. Laughing a little, I took it.
I shook my head slightly to clear it, then took Prince Kevin's arm and began to walk with him.
"If I may say so," he said, "You are absolutely beautiful."
"Thank you," I replied. "You're quite handsome yourself."
"Thank you," he replied, smiling. His smile dazzled me; the white of his teeth against the tan of his skin was such a sharp contrast that, quite frankly, it rendered me speechless. He had a gorgeous smile.
Hermione, you're attracted to him, I told myself in surprise.
Well, it could have been worse. At least he wasn't a servant or anything.
"My lady," he said, but I stopped him.
"Please," I said, "Call me Mya."
He looked surprised, but replied, "Then I am Kevin to you."
"All right," I agreed.
"Mya, I will be attending the ball this night. I wonder...would you honor me with your first dance of the evening?"
I smiled. "I will," I told him.
"Next suitor," King Charles boomed from his throne, and Elizabeth, Annamaria and I all released the arms of our suitors.
"Until tonight, then," Kevin said, bowing. I curtsied, and the three suitors left. Kevin, however, stopped in the doorway and turned to catch my eye one more time before leaving. Then, at King Charles' cleared throat, he turned and closed the door behind him.
"How many more suitors do we have, Father?" Elizabeth asked
"Hermione has twelve, you have three and Annamaria has eight," King Charles replied.
"Why so few for me, Father?" Elizabeth asked.
"It's the horses' fault," Annamaria whispered in my ear, and I stifled a snort of laughter as King Charles comforted Elizabeth.
With this knowledge, Elizabeth realized that she didn't have her pick of royalty as she'd thought. She therefore greeted her next suitor with so much enthusiasm that he ended up leaving much more quickly than he might normally have done.
I managed not to burst out laughing at my sister's actions, but it was a close thing.
When we'd met all the suitors---all the Princes and even two young Kings---it was time for dinner. The entire meal, thanks to Elizabeth, was spent discussing the reason for Elizabeth's lack of suitors. I was sorely tempted to say something along the lines of, "The reason no one wants to marry you is because you're a snobby bitch," but I didn't dare.
It was odd; when I'd first come here I hadn't considered either Elizabeth my sisters, because I didn't have any sisters in my time. It was possible I'd get some, what with my father passing away and my mother finally remarrying, but as of yet I remained an only child. But I'd come to consider Annamaria a sister; even a friend. Elizabeth, on the other hand, remained a snobby little bitch in my mind. Frankly, she seemed like a combination of Pansy Parkinson and Rita Skeeter.
Neither of which endeared her to me.
I sighed.
"Mya," Annamaria said, and I looked up, startled.
"Yes?"
"It's time to get ready for the ball."
I stared. "But it's not for two hours more," I objected. "I'd planned on painting for awhile."
"There's much to do, Hermione. We've got to go and get our dresses on," Elizabeth told me. "Come on, hurry now."
I looked at Annamaria, who was standing just behind Elizabeth. She crossed her eyes and stuck out her tongue at a totally oblivious Elizabeth. I laughed, standing, and Elizabeth crossed her arms, tapping her foot with impatience.
"I fail to see what is so funny, Hermione," she informed me.
"Oh, do you want to? Find a mirror," I replied flatly.
I headed up to the fitting rooms where our dresses waited with Annamaria's laughter ringing in my ears and Elizabeth's baffled face pasted in my mind.
SIR DRACO MALFOY
HOME OF SIR DRACO
Dora came into my room at eight o'clock that evening with a small pile of neatly folded clothes.
"What's this?" I asked blankly.
"Your tuxedo for the ball, my good sir," Dora replied, bowing slightly and placing the pile on my bed.
"Oh, right," I said. "When is it again?"
"Half before nine o'clock," Dora replied.
Eight thirty. Good. I had just enough time to get ready and fly over.
Dora left the room and I changed quickly into the tuxedo. I didn't feel like wearing the bow tie, so I stuffed it in my pocket and unbuttoned the top two buttons of my shirt. Then I made sure no one was around, transformed, and flew to the castle, where I landed behind a boulder near the pond in the front garden. Then I simply stepped out from behind the boulder and joined the rest of the women and the men who were pushing towards the door.
A woman finally opened the door---a servant, judging from her clothes.
"All right, ladies and gentleman," she said, smiling, and swung the door open wide. She sent two men who didn't have invitations home, then allowed the rest of us inside. The men pushed and shouldered their way past other men and women in order to get inside; there wasn't really any point in it, however, because the hall was empty.
The hall had been beautifully decorated---not that it needed it; in my opinion, the hall was beautiful enough on it's own not to need decoration---but it remained empty save for them men and women who'd just arrived and the woman who had opened the door.
"Refreshments are on the table over there," the woman said, pointing to a table piled high with food across the room. "The servant's chambers are to your left, so knock if you need anything."
"What's your name?" I asked kindly, and she looked surprised.
"Rosalie," she said quietly, honoring me with a curtsy.
I bowed. "Sir Draco," I replied.
"Pleasure to meet you, good sir," she answered, and curtsied again before running off.
"What, going after the maids now, are ya?" said one of the other men, and several men laughed.
"Just being polite," I replied smoothly.
"Think you're big, introducing yourself to servants, do you?"
"No," I replied. "As I've said, I was only being polite."
And then they all left me alone, for a door in the front of the room had opened. The women went to stand in the back of the room, for they were really only there to keep the rest of the men dancing while the Princesses chose men.
The youngest Princess stepped into the room. She wore a beautiful dress in pale blue, the skirt of which was swept out as she curtsied. The men promptly bowed; I imitated them, then looked up as Elizabeth, the middle child, flounced into the room in a dress of light pink. Many of the men rolled their eyes as they bowed; apparently there wasn't much of a demand for Elizabeth's hand in marriage.
And then came Mya, in a dress of deep, royal blue. The bodice was tight to the waist, where it flared out to the floor. It seemed to me that she glided into the room, as her feet were surrounded by her dress. Gracefully, her hands clasped the skirt of her dress and swept it outwards as she lowered herself into a curtsy. All of the men bowed in response.
After Mya came King Charles himself, for which all of the men went down to one knee as his daughters inclined their heads.
"Rise, rise, gentlemen," he said cheerfully, and we all did so. "For you are here not for myself, but at the request of one or more of my daughters. Therefore, in my view, you are worthy of standing while in the presence of royalty. Among all of the other men, you gentlemen are the ones whom my daughters chose. Dance! Eat! And gentlemen, above all, enjoy yourselves."
With that, King Charles left the room as the music began.
I tried to get to the front of the room so that Mya could see me, but she wasn't even looking. She went straight into the arms of a dark-haired guy near the front, smiling as if she knew him already. She curtsied for him; he bowed. I was standing watching in jealousy when I felt a tap on my shoulder. I turned to see a small blonde woman behind me, who was at least old enough to be my mother, if not my grandmother. I smiled anyway.
"Yes?" I asked politely.
"Would you like to dance?" she asked.
"I'd love to," I replied, and bowed.
The music got louder then, and everyone began dancing, each pair slowly revolving around the room. I tried to steer my dance partner towards Mya, but could only get a glimpse of her.
They were very close to one another. Their noses were just short of touching, and he looked as if he was about to kiss her.
And then some bloody fool danced between Mya and myself, blocking my view.
They were probably kissing by now, I thought jealously. he was probably going to take her into the garden after the ball and make out with her and touch her and---
She's mine!
But she wasn't. And she didn't seem like she ever would be, if I didn't get her now.
The moment the dance ended and everyone was picking partners, I ran over to where she'd been dancing before, hoping to grab the next dance with her. She was still standing very close to the dark-haired guy, and they both looked reluctant to let go. And then they did, and I moved forward to ask her to dance, but she was already heading into the arms of some forty-year-old fart with a bald patch and glasses, looking slightly revolted that a man old enough to be her father wanted to marry her.
Looking good. Now if only she'd keep that horrified expression on her face while she was looking at that bastard she'd been dancing with earlier...
I quickly asked the woman closest to Mya to dance, and she accepted. I was so keen on getting near Mya that I almost forgot to bow for my dance partner as the music started.
But, as luck would have it, the old fart was an enthusiastic dancer who bounced around the dance floor so fast that I simply couldn't keep up with them. I lost Mya to the crowd within the first twelve seconds of the dance.
This pattern, to my irritation, continued for nearly the entire ball. I couldn't get near her; and every time I did, she was either with someone already or accepting an invitation to dance.
I didn't get near her until the end of the ball, when the last song of the night began playing. As fast as I could, I ran up to Mya and bowed to her. She didn't even look at my face as she curtsied, and so gasped when she finally did.
"Dr---Sir Draco!" she said, aware that several men were standing near us, listening. "Have you been avoiding dancing with me? Only it's the last song and I haven't seen you once this evening."
I took her in my arms as the crowd of men dispersed, off to find dance partners. "As a matter of fact, I haven't," I replied. I didn't bother telling her that I'd been obsessively noting every man she seemed even remotely interested in. "How's a bloke to get near you? You've got so many men after you, I'm thankful I've even gotten to be in the same room."
Her face was flushed from all the dancing; she smiled shyly. "I'm terribly sorry," she replied.
"That's quite all right," I replied. "At least I've managed to grab a dance with you at last."
And then we just danced, and it felt so right to me that I didn't ever want to let her go.
PRINCESS MYA GRANGER
CASTLE OF KING CHARLES
"So," Draco said after a long moment of silence, "Who was that bloke you were dancing with at the beginning of the ball?"
I replied with a breathless laugh. "Which one?"
"The first one," he replied, looking around at the other dancers as we talked. "The very first dance."
"Oh," I replied, "That's Kevin; I met him earlier today, and I promised him the first dance of the ball."
"Kevin, huh?" Draco replied, a distant look in his eyes.
I eyed him carefully. "Something wrong?"
He started slightly and pasted a smile on his face. "Nope, everything's great," he replied, never looking me in the eye as he spoke. He was starting to worry me; he was acting strangely. I saw him hesitate, then he looked down; not at me, but almost...through me, as if I weren't standing in front of him.
"Look," he said. "Am I allowed to take you outside?"
"Yes," I replied, searching his eyes for some explanation of his behavior. There wasn't one.
"Good," he replied. "You want to go sit outside for a minute?"
I tilted my head to the side, completely mystified at his behavior. The Draco I knew was full of dry wit, sarcasm, pride and arrogance. The young man in front of me was uncomfortable, anxious, and nervous. In fact, he was making me nervous.
"Of course," I replied.
He took my hand and pulled me gently through the crowd, shielding me from other dancers with his body as we went. When we got outside, he wrapped my hand around his arm and began walking. I allowed him to lead me around for awhile, then asked, "Draco, what's this all about? Why are you acting so strangely?"
Draco looked at me then, looked right in my eyes, and I saw an emotion I'd never seen there before: love.
I was stunned.
"It's all your fault," Draco mumbled, looking at his feet. I stopped walking and just watched him.
"What is?"
"Me, acting like this. Like a stupid Hufflepuff," he told me, looking across the moonlit pond.
"There, that sounds like the Draco Malfoy I know," I told him, smiling a little.
He looked back at me, looking deep into my eyes.
"I---" he began, then sighed. He looked at my dress, then said, "You're beautiful."
I hadn't felt self-conscious about my outfit until that moment. Now I hugged my waist with my arms, suddenly very aware of the low neckline and tight bodice of the dress. It wasn't like he was staring---well, he was, but not at the dress.
He was staring into my eyes. He shook his head slightly, never taking his eyes off me, and stepped closer. I swallowed as he took my hands in his and pulled my arms away from my waist.
"Are you afraid of me, Mya?" he whispered, and his voice gave me chills---but in a good way. I felt a vacuuming sensation in the pit of my stomach as I looked up at him.
"No," I replied softly, and he smiled.
"Good," he replied.
And then Draco Malfoy, pureblooded Slytherin Prince, leaned down and kissed me.
SIR DRACO MALFOY
GARDEN OF KING CHARLES
I didn't know what had come over me, but I had just kissed her. Kissed Mya.
No kiss had ever felt so right in my entire life.
When I pulled away, she looked at me and said, "What was that for?"
I laughed. "For being beautiful and sweet and funny and for not hating me, and for a million other reasons that I can't tell you because I haven't put a name to them yet."
She looked at me for a long time, and I was scared that she was going to slap me or run away or scream, "Off with his head!" or something along those lines.
She didn't do any of those things. She put her hands on either side of my face, pulled my face down to hers, and kissed me.
In that moment, as I felt my heart soar and I kissed her back, I knew I was in trouble when it came to Miss Hermione Granger.
A/N: Ah, the moment we've all been waiting for: the kiss. Short-lived happiness, I'm afraid...but that's all I'm saying about it. Hope you enjoyed; I should have Chapter Seven up in a week or so, probably less. Thanks for reading and please review!
blackxhole21