Title: Bal Masque
Rated: PG-13, nothing terrible, but I wanna be safe
Summary: It's Valentine's Day at Hogwarts, and Dumbledore has announced a Bal Masque. What new surprises lie before the students now...?
Pairing: It's slash, other than that, I wanna keep it a surprise:-P
Disclaimer: Ya, ya, not mine, no characters, oh and the song isn't either. Blah, blah, etc. le sigh
A/N: After request, I decided to quickly write a Valentine's Day oneshot. Enjoy!

Bal Masque

Valentine's Day was quickly approaching the students of Hogwarts and all were preparing for this 'Bal Masque' that Dumbledore had announced to them a month prior. They were all now rushing to get nice dress robes and masks for the party, seeing as most of the students waited until the last minute to accomplish anything at Hogwarts.

Among these people were Ronald Weasley and Harry Potter. They were on their way up to the owlery to mail out delivery forms for robes, a week before the party. Hermione was quickly behind them, scolding them all the way for waiting until the last minute for everything.

"You two...I swear, I could kill you right now..."

"'Mione, we know. But what's done is done, we'll have the robes and masks in time, no need to worry." Ron was getting a bit tired with Hermione's constant reminders of things they should and shouldn't have done.

Hermione, being the pillar of virtue she was, had ordered her robes the day Dumbledore had announced the masquerade.

"So Harry, have you gotten a date yet?" asked Hermione

"Umm...well..." Harry blushed a little at his loss for words. Of course he hadn't, and it wouldn't be easy either, he didn't know who to ask. None of the guys at Hogwarts seemed to be into the whole guy-on-guy thing, and if they were, they definately didn't show it.

"Well you better hurry up then...lucky Ron doesn't have to worry about THAT too..." Hermione smiled at Ron, who smiled back. The two, having finally realized the other had feelings for them, had started dating back at the start of term.

"Well yeah, I'll figure it out." And with that Harry turned his head, blanking out anything Hermione could say then. He didn't care, as long as he got his costume ordered, the rest would come to him later...he hoped...

The next week flew by as everyone talked of nothing but the Bal Masque. They talked about costumes and dates and the different rumors about Dumbledore's plans for this dance.

At breakfast, Dumbledore announced that the classes for the day would be canceled in preparation for the Masquerade and to treat the students on Valentine's Day. The students cheered and began to quickly chatter again.

"Harry, the ball is tonight and you still don't have a date...what are you going to do?" Hermione nagged him once again.

"It'll come to me, no worries, something will come to me and everything will work itself out. Who knows, by the end of the night I might have a boyfriend." Harry laughed at himself, he didn't think that was possible, but Hermione didn't seem amused by the statement, and Ron was too focused on her to have heard anything going on anyway.

"Whatever you say Harry...do you at least have an idea of what you want? Who you would like to go with..?"

"Not really, I mean, there are some cute guys around, but none of them seem like the kinda guy to be into that."

"Yes well, you never know do you?"

"I suppose not, but still..."

"Well, if by tonight you don't, then you'll have to learn your lesson won't you?"

Harry rolled his eyes and went back to eating his breakfast.

The school went about it's day with hustle and bustle as people tried to peer into the Great Hall to see what the ball would look like, they were all unsuccessful. Other's were making last minute touchs on their robes or making their masks, turning them different colors and trying to find what worked best with them.

The time came, the ball was about to begin, the doors were about to be opened. Everyone was standing outside the hall in their masks. If you hadn't seen them getting dressed, or talked to them about their costume, you would never know who was who. You couldn't tell your best friend from your worst enemy behind all the masks.

"Harry" whispered Hermione.

"What?"

"What are you going to do, you don't have a date..."

"Stop nagging me 'Mione! I'll work it out, is it totally necessary to have a date? It's just one dance, this day isn't any different than any other."

"Whatever you say Harry..."

Harry walked away, leaving Ron and Hermione together to converse, or snog, whatever they preferred. He didn't know where he was going to go, or with who, especially since you couldn't tell who was who.

The doors began to open, and a blinding bright light was coming through the crack. A lot of eyes were tearing from the intensity of the light, but once it was possible to see, they all gazed in amazement.

The Great Hall was decorated amazingly in all pink. The ceiling had little candy hearts raining from it, as cherubs flew through the sky about the ceiling. The tables were gone and small, circular tables were set up. Each table had a pink tablecloth and a rose at every spot. In the middle lied a card that was animated to show a young wizard being struck by Cupid's arrow and falling for the young witch. There was plenty of room on the floor for couples to dance to the music, which happened to be the song 'Masquerade'

Everything was so perfect. The decorations, the music, the room, everyone was amazed, they hadn't seen anything like that ever. Dumbledore had truly outdone himself this time, no one had pictured such a beautiful scene.

Breaking the trance, Dumbledore escorted everyone inside the hall. Couples immediately took the floor as the others went to the tables to converse with whoever else was there. Of course, no one knew who anyone was behind the masks and so many people began talking to people they didn't know at all, which was good because a lot of new friendships would be made over the course of the night.

The music was such a powerful tune, it represented the dance so well it was scary. Couples began dancing to it and listening closely to the words as they did.

Masquerade!
Paper faces on parade
Masquerade!
Hide your face, so the world will never find you!

Masquerade!
Every face a different shade
Masquerade!
Look around there's another mask behind you!

Flash of mauve
Splash of puce
Fool and king
Ghoul and goose
Green and black
Queen and priest
Trace of rouge
Face of beast

Faces
Take your turn, take a ride
On the merry-go-round in an inhuman race

Eye of gold
Thigh of blue
True is false
Who is who
Curl of lip
Swirl of gown
Ace of hearts
Face of clown

Faces
Drink it in, drink it up,
Till you've drowned
In the light
In the sound

But who can name the face . . .?

Masquerade!
Grinning yellows, spinning reds
Masquerade!
Take your fill let the spectacle astound you!

Masquerade!
Burning glances, turning heads
Masquerade!
Stop and stare at the sea of smiles around you!

Masquerade!
Seething shadows breathing lies
Masquerade!
You can fool any friend who ever knew you!

Masquerade!
Leering satyrs, peering eyes
Masquerade!
Run and hide but a face will still pursue you!

The song ended, but then began to repeat itself. The students figured Dumbledore imagined it to be the perfect song, and everyone was fine with that for it truly was an amazing song, and too perfect for the occasion.

In the midst of all this, Harry noticed a cute boy that he couldn't recognize (behind the mask) across the hall. He could tell it was clearly a boy by the robes, but he had no clue who it was.

He stepped up and walked over to him and sat down, hoping to figure out from the voice who this mysterious boy was.

"Hey"

"Hi, who is this?"

Harry knew the voice, but he couldn't figure out who it was, damn masks. Of course, as this was going on, Harry created a very clever plan that would assure he'd find out who the boy was before the end of the night, and would dance with him, it was too perfect.

"Well isn't that the point of this ball, to not know who is who?"

"I guess, it'd still be nice though..."

"Well in that case, you'll have to dance with me. We dance, then we reveal to each other who we are, sound good?"

Harry was taking a dive at asking this, he couldn't be sure this boy was gay, but he had to try anyway. The boy seemed to contemplate it before talking again.

"Ok then. Let's dance"

The two walked out onto the dance floor, Harry ecstatic that he had found a cute boy who was gay and willing to dance with him, for now anyway, who knows what the reaction would be after the unmasking.

The two began to dance to the music, a very formal dance, as though it were a very fancy ball. And although it was a school, many students seemed to be taking this Bal Masque quite seriously, and Dumbledore seemed pleased with this. No one else complained either, I think they all liked this idea, no one could be happier then, well, except maybe the people behind masks sitting alone at the tables dateless on Valentine's Day.

The music stopped again, and then restarted. Harry asked the other boy to dance one more time with him. He loved the feel of the boys hands on him, it felt so nice and warm and refreshing, leaving this patch of rejuvinated flesh wherever his hands had touched. Harry didn't know who this boy was, but he was a good dancer, cute, and made him feel so wonderful, hopefully everything would turn out alright after they demasked each other.

Harry could seriously see himself falling for this boy, even if he had no clue who it was yet, it didn't matter really. He was sweet, cute, and made him feel happy, and that's all he felt he needed. This Valentine's Day was going too perfect for him, for now anyway.

The song ended and the two boys went back to a table. Harry saw the rose and contemplated giving it to him before they saw their identities, but decided against it because the other boy had asked him too quickly.

"So do I get to see who you are now?" asked the mysterious boy.

"Ya, as long as the same holds true for your end."

"No problem. So let's get these masks off."

Harry fiddled with his mask and began to take it off as did the other boy. When Harry had his mask off, he found himself staring at the wonderful face of Cedric Diggory, and Harry smiled, it could not be a more perfect person.

"Hey Cedric" said Harry, slightly blushing at the fact he was falling for the boy.

"Hey Harry, nice to know who you are now." Cedric chuckled and Harry followed suit.

"Ya it is."

At that time, Cedric leaned in towards Harry and whispered in his ear.

"You know, that dance was amazing, and I realize now, I really like you."

The warm breath on Harry's skin felt so amazing, but Harry was more concerned about the words he had said, he could hardly contain his joy and almost shouted.

"Really! That's great! I was so worried that this wouldn't happen, that once we were revealed thatd it'd be over. But everything felt so perfect out there dancing, and I really like you too Cedric!"

The two boys shared a small, short, but lovely kiss and then looked at each other for a moment. Cedric looked down, and leaned down to the floor. Harry couldn't see what he was doing, but when he came up he began to talk.

"Harry, will you be mine?" asked Cedric, holding out a candy heart that said 'Be Mine'

And Harry ended his Valentine's Day on a perfect note, with a boyfriend and valentine as cute as the cherubs flying above them, and as sweet as the candy hearts under their feet.

A/N: I hope you liked that, it was quickly written because it was a last minute idea. I do hope you all liked it though, and the song in the middle is 'Masquerade' from The Phantom of the Opera. Gotta love that song, and it fit so perfectly too, haha.