"Hermione! Wait for me!" Ginny Weasley came running up behind Hermione Granger. "Have – gasp – you – gasp – heard – gasp – the news?" Ginny asked breathing heavily.
Hermione hid a smile at her friend's behavior and shook her head. "No what news?"
"We're holding one of those muggle balls where you wear masks," Hermione smiled again at her friend who had caught her breath.
"A masquerade," Hermione supplied for her friend and Ginny nodded.
"Yeah one of those, we're having it Friday and the prefects are hosting it." She smiled slyly. "No Head Boy or Girl." Hermione scowled at her friend. Hermione was Head Girl and hated that she wasn't allowed to help.
"Great it is going to be a disaster. Who are you going with?" Hermione asked making her way to Gryffindor tower.
"No one has asked me yet," Hermione rolled her eyes.
"Who do you want to go with?" She restated.
"Oh," Ginny went pink. "Well you see…"
"What house is he in?" Hermione asked immediately, whenever Ginny got like this it was usually because her brother would disapprove of the guy. Ron disapproved of most guys though; he was very protective of his little sister.
"Hermione! Ginny!" Harry came running down the stairs.
"Hey Harry," Hermione said when he came to a stop in front of them. She noticed that a dark bruise was forming around his right eye.
"Have you heard the news?" He asked, thankfully after he caught his breath.
"About the masquerade?" Hermione asked lightly.
"No," Harry looked at her confused. "Ginny I hate to break it to you, but Ron found out about Neil." Ginny moaned despairingly. Neil was a Slytherin boy in Ginny's year, Hermione wasn't too happy about her choice, but you can't help who you fall for.
"But we broke up months ago," she said her eyes widening at the thought of what her brother may have done.
"Yeah, well that is what I told Ron and he ah; well he wasn't so happy that I knew." He motioned to his now swollen, black and blue eye.
"Harry you should go to the Hospital Wing, Ginny and I will find Ron and straighten him out." Harry nodded at Hermione and disappeared. "Ginny you and I better go find Ron." Ginny nodded and they started up the stairs that Harry had come down.
It didn't take them long to find out where Ron was. The noise was proof enough as well as the small knot of students that had formed around them. Ginny and Hermione pushed their way through to the center of the crowd, but didn't find what they expected. Instead of Ron beating up Neil, they found Ron shoved up against the wall by Draco Malfoy. Both looked like they were ready to kill each other, though Hermione secretly thought that Malfoy was in a better position to do the killing.
"Alright, this fight is over." Hermione yelled to the crowd and with sighs they departed leaving Ron, Malfoy, Hermione and Ginny. "Malfoy put him down." Hermione instructed.
"Why? He was beating up a kid who wasn't even as half as tall as him." Malfoy spat.
"This kid also happened to be a Slytherin, which is the only reason that you stepped in. Now put him down, this is not Head Boy behavior." Malfoy snarled, but put Ron down.
"How did you know it was a Slytherin?" He asked suspiciously.
"I know everything?" Hermione smiled and Ginny laughed.
"Right," Malfoy said and he rolled his eyes. Ron gave a moan and Ginny turned to him fire in her eyes.
"Why did you have to go and beat him up?" She yelled. "We aren't even dating anymore!" Malfoy smirked and Hermione hid a smile. Ron had gone a violent shade of red.
"I… I…" He stammered.
"You made a mistake! Now I want you to apologize!" Ginny was really loosing it. He muttered something to her and she exploded even more. "Not to me! To Neil!" Hermione and Malfoy were trying their best not to crack up laughing. Ron lagged his shoulders in defeat and headed off to find Neil.
"Now," Hermione turned to Malfoy. "You better make sure this doesn't happen again. The Head Boy is not supposed to get into fights."
"Which means the Head Boy isn't supposed to have fun." Malfoy drawled at her. Hermione rolled her eyes and turned her back on him. Ginny smiled broadly at her.
"So who are you going with?" She asked.
"What?" Hermione asked confused.
"To the Masquerade Ball, who are you going with?"
"Oh, no one's asked yet." She answered.
"Who do you want to go with?" Ginny said rolling her eyes.
"Hey you changed the subject. We were talking about who you wanted to go with." Hermione said.
"I hate to break up this oh so important conversation, but what are you two talking about?" Malfoy asked they both jumped just realizing that he was still there.
"There is a Masquerade Ball on Friday." Ginny said smiling happily. "And the Head Boy and Girl can't help."
"Great it is going to be a disaster." He said repeating Hermione's words from earlier on.
Ginny's smile broadened. "That is what Hermione said, but is going to be great, just you see. It will be way better then the other balls that the Head Boy and Girl have helped with." With that she hoped off leaving a very confused Hermione and Draco.
"Wait!" Hermione yelled running after her. "What are you implying?"
Draco watched the two girls disappear out of his eye sight. A Masquerade Ball huh? He thought, maybe it was just the thing that he needed. To finally tell her the truth, he watched the red headed girl walk away as the bushy haired girl followed. Maybe he could get Blaise to help. Draco went off in search of Blaise. He found him in the Slytherin common room.
"Hey man," Blaise said smiling ass Draco sat down.
"You know that girl you like?" Draco asked him and Blaise brightened up.
"Yeah, she is best friends with the girl you like."
"Well what if I told you that there is a Masquerade Ball on Friday and they are both going." Blaise smiled broadly.
"You have a plan don't you?" He asked eye shinning bright. Draco nodded and began telling Blaise all about his plan.