Title: Helping Her
Genre: Humor/Romance
Category: Harry Potter
Summary: Draco Malfoy is always the center of attention, not the attention giver. When he and Ron Weasley accidentally turn Hermione into a five-year-old, Draco will have to give all the attention he has to the small girl.
Crys: Don't get too excited now...haha. Psh, really, though. And all of you Ron lovers out there trust me. I thought I told my readers to trust me!
Review Thanks: (17th) Sunflower 18, LBuccalo, blkmagicklily, WannaBArtist, Losing Track, HelloLonely, Michelle Felton, iheartbadboysa.k.a.draco, silkyblackboxers, Dom-Basher CHAMPION. (18th) Dom-Basher CHAMPION, WannaBArtist, HelloLonely, PoE-dA-hOe, LBuccalo, Nuria VanWelick, Aria DeLoncray, KiKi, Sam's Firefly, mesaqt, Sesshie 101, Michelle Felton, lostone22, sisterclara, Angelo Del Ghiaccio, shewhodanceswithdragons. (19th) snapehermionelover, Nuria VanWelick, LBuccalo, Sam's Firefly, WannaBArtist, Pprincess17, Aria DeLoncray, HelloLonely, Michelle Felton. (20th) shewhodanceswithphoenixes, Michelle Felton, Aria DeLoncray, LBuccalo, Kandygurl4, WannaBArtist, Pprincess17, Nuria VanWelick, Inspyred, Star Arrow, Dom-Basher CHAMPION, Obnoxiously Peachy Twit, DaveysMommy, Draco's-numbah-1-fan, Thuyen, DaOnleeSam, Angeleyes15, mesaqt. ginnyfan88.
Thank you especially, for your kind reviews: LBuccalo, Inspyred, Star Arrow, Dom-Basher CHAMPION, Daveys Mommy.
If This Isn't Good: If I can't read the 7th book yet...this is what I want to read! I have nothing bad to say about any of the chapters. This is by far one of the best fanfics I've ever read. Can't wait for the next update!(DaveysMommy for Chapter 20)
Make sure you head to my forum and answer my question about my sequel! If I don't get answers, there, I won't take them through review!
Chapter 21: Close Encounters and Masqueraded Love
Draco and Hermione sat boredly through the Prefects meeting which was scheduled for after dinner. Hermione had been regulating it while Draco dozed off quietly. He didn't really care about the Masquerade Ball and didn't plan on going. The Prefects were mapping out every detail of the ball with Hermione and he had nothing to contribute.
Well, he had said, "I don't like the bloody ball, it's a waste of my life," and fell asleep. No one was really paying attention to whether he was awake or not, seeing as he had nothing to add on the subject of the ball that would positively help the Prefects.
Hermione was annoyed at her co-Head's behavior. Sleeping during an important meeting was treachery in Hermione's eyes, and the comment he made before showed where he'd be the next night. In his room sleeping. Hermione snorted and continued her thoughts on the theme and attire. With a sigh, she recalled her tutoring session for Arithmancy with Lisa. She had brought up the subject of Draco, luckily, at the end, so Hermione could walk away.
After the meeting was concluded, Draco woke himself up and started off towards his room, before he heard a voice ask, "What the hell was that for?" Turning around, he came face to face with an angry Hermione. Her arms were folded across her chest and her cheeks were flushed pink.
"What was what for?" He asked innocently. She glared.
"Don't act like you didn't do anything, Malfoy. The whole, 'I'm not going to pay attention during a Prefects' meeting' thing. Malfoy, you're supposed to be setting an example." Draco laughed loudly at her, before facing her.
"How much of an example are you putting on? You turn back to normal and hate me again, shows how loyal you are to Inter House Unity." Draco walked away, towards his room door.
"Wait a minute, Malfoy, I'm not done talking to you." Hermione insisted angrily, following him to his room door. He stopped and turned around.
"Oh? You aren't done? You still have more back lashing of my name, my friends, and my house?" Draco asked, making Hermione hang her head in disappointment.
"I-- er, bugger it. I'm sorry." She said. Draco couldn't help it. He cupped her chin softly and tilted her head up. Her eyes were teary and sorrowful.
"Don't be." There was silence afterwards. Draco looked at her surprised that she had actually acknowledged that she was wrong, and Hermione watched him back, afraid of what was happening. Just when Draco went in for the kiss, she backed away.
"I--I can't." She said softly, before turning and fleeing towards her room. Draco sighed and ran a shaking hand through his hair.
He walked into his room and lay himself across his bed, staring at the ceiling as the previous scene replayed, still fresh in his memory. The blonde sighed and rolled over onto his stomach, burying his face into his pillow. She had finally opened up to him, as it was small, though. It was something. Draco decided that he was going to the Masquerade Ball to capture Hermione once and for all. He would just have to alter a few items to fit, but it seemed like a perfect plan.
--
Hermione leaned against the back of her door, breathing deeply. What had just happened? One minute they were arguing about the Prefect's meeting and the next, she was a couple of millimeters from kissing the Head Boy. She groaned, smacking a palm to her head.
She hated him--of course she did! But she was convincing herself that. She had to hate him, he was Malfoy! A voice inside of her spoke. 'Don't call him Malfoy!' Hermione wanted to rip the inner child out of herself for that, but she couldn't help but think that she shouldn't have called him Malfoy.
Getting dressed for bed, Hermione wondered whether Dra--Malfoy was going to actually stay in for the Masquerade. Somewhere deep inside of her, probably hiding next to the voice of her inner child, was the hope that Draco Malfoy would attend the Masquerade Ball.
--
The next morning, Draco rolled off of his bed and fell sleepily to the floor, not wanting to wake up. Finally deciding that he had to, he picked himself up off of the floor to realize he was in his robes from yesterday. Walking out of his room, he walked into the bathroom to shower for breakfast, when it hit him exactly what had happened yesterday.
"It's definitely going to be more awkward between us, now." he said to himself dryly, before stepping into the shower.
--
Once finished, Draco tied a towel around his waist and walked back into his room to get dressed. Getting on the essential garments, Draco pulled out his grey jumper and black school pants, making sure that his Slytherin emblem was on the jumper first, before pulling it on. Facing himself in the mirror, he fingered his damp hair. He brushed it down and left it that way, not really caring that it looked two shades darker than his original blonde. He picked up his schoolbag, stuffed his textbooks for class inside, and headed off towards breakfast.
He saw no trace of her in the Common Room or in the hallways on his way to breakfast, but she was already seated in the Great Hall, chatting animatedly with Harry and Ron, most likely about the Masquerade Ball. He figured that she had left the Common Room early again, but didn't let it bother him as he took his usual seat at the Slytherin table. Blaise looked content and sat quietly, drinking from a goblet of pumpkin juice.
"Hello, mate." Blaise said, as Draco started sitting down and helping himself to some breakfast, which consisted of waffles with blueberries, whipped cream, and syrup. Draco smiled.
"Hey. What's up with you? You looked like you've had a decent snog with Ginny..." Blaise grinned.
"No, the Masquerade rules have been changed. We used to need a partner, but now you go around without one and find one at the ball, not knowing whom it is." He answered a grin on his face.
"Well wouldn't that mean that your girlfriend would be flirting with other people?" Blaise shook his head.
"There's no way we'd end up spending the night with each other and not knowing." Draco laughed, before eating another piece of his waffle. Today is going to be interesting.
--
The school was in a flurry. Dumbledore had cancelled all classes for that day, seeing as none of the teachers were up to teaching. Everyone was getting ready for the masquerade and having fun while at it. Sadly, they couldn't clam together and do it, so many girls and boys alike dispersed themselves all over the castle.
Hermione was equally excited. Showering again, she scrubbed her face to clean it and applied the makeup that went along with her masquerade costume. Finishing it up, she pulled on the dress and the shoes alike, making sure that it was all even toned, then fixing her hair and tying her mask on. Hermione Granger was ready for the Masquerade ball.
--
Meanwhile, in his room, Draco looked at himself in the costume. He wore a black cashmere jumper with black casual slacks, with silver over robe. He had decided on not changing his eye color, but changing his hair black. Seeing as he washed it again, it curled up from the dye and Draco couldn't get it to do anything other than that.
Tying his own mask on, he looked at himself. The mask was silver and broad enough to mask his eyes and nose, but not to take away from the intensity of his eye color. It was round and metallic, as plain as could be, but tied to the back of his head with a silver ribbon that stood out from his newly blackened locks. He had charmed the mask upon removal, to turn all of his changed features back to normal.
Peeking out into the Common Room, Draco saw no trace of Hermione, save her room door being open. She didn't look to be inside, so Draco headed off to the Masquerade Ball.
--
The Great Hall was slightly darkened, aside from hanging lights, which shone in every direction. The music was playing loudly and people were already in the middle of the floor dancing. There were a few tables and chairs set out and couples of people were there. Cool November air filtered in through the open
Draco looked around. Could he really find Hermione? Oh...that had to be her.
He tapped the girl's shoulder and she turned around, looking at him questioningly.
"Would you like to dance?" He asked her. She smiled and nodded as he led her to the dance floor. It was definitely Hermione. Bright brown eyes shielded with a blood red velvet mask and her dark curls were held up with a dark red clip. She wore a strapless, clingy black dress with a solid red, lacy corset. Her face was pale, probably from applying make up.
He smiled and twirled her. "You look beautiful." He told her. She smiled back up at him.
"Thank you. You look quite dashing yourself." She answered him, as the song ended. He extended his arm kindly to her.
"Would you like to join me for a drink?" He asked suavely. She took his arm with a smile.
She looked at him. "Where's the harm?" Walking over to the refreshment table, they each got themselves a drink and sat down at an empty table.
"So, are you having a good time?" He asked politely. Might as well get on her good side while he could, he thought. She smiled thoughtfully.
"Yeah. Your mask--" She said softly, reaching over to touch it, the tips of her fingers brushing the sides of his faces nimbly. "--it's so beautiful and it matches your eyes." She smiled and sat back down.
"Thank you. I really liked it--took forever to find it, though." In reality, Draco bought it with his robes, so he didn't have to find it at all. She leaned her chin on her hand.
"Well, my friend insisted red was a good color on me, but I liked the black. So, I just wore a red corset with it...and my mask looked better red than black." She did look better in red, though. Being a Gryffindor suited her. Draco sighed.
"Care for another dance?" She smiled and followed him to the dance floor.
--
They had danced and had fun together the whole night, neither of them wanting to dance with anyone else. She looked up at him with a smile.
"It'd be much better if we knew each other." Draco immediately shook his head.
"Oh, I already know who you are. You don't need to know me yet; it would ruin everything... Hermione." She looked at him and pouted, crossing her arms.
"No fair, you already know who I am! How come I can't find out who you are?" She said, but couldn't help smiling. He took her hand as the song speeded up and twirling her so she wasn't facing him.
"But dear, that makes it more fun." He said in her ear, dancing to the pulsing beat of the music. She relaxed against him, letting the back of her head rest against his shoulder. His arms were around her waist and her hands dangled limply.
"How did you know it was me anyway?" She asked curiously, changing her position so that she was facing him. He smiled knowingly.
"Your etiquette. The way you hold yourself, the way you walk, the way you look, is it." He told her. She grinned.
"How would you know all of those things about me?" She asked quietly.
"I fancy you, of course. Why else would I pay attention to you? You're beautiful." Hermione had to blush at the statement. "And you look adorable when you blush." He pinched her cheeks cutely, making her slap his hand away.
"It's fifteen to midnight, you know. Professor Dumbledore says masks off at midnight." Hermione told him. He nodded.
"I know." He said softly. "I just want to dance until them." The pair danced together in silence, neither of them daring to speak. They didn't want to ruin the moment. It seemed as if time went slowly for Draco, and he'd rather it stay that way. He'd never want Hermione to find out who he was. Curse him for putting that charm on his mask. As soon as it came off, his features would return to normal.
A loud bell sounded and everyone looked to the front of the Hall. "Well, students, it is midnight. As you are aware, this is the time to remove your masks from your current partner. I'd like to thank you all for being a part of this." Students around the Hall were beginning to remove masks and gasps of "Oh my" and "I can't believe it was you all this time!" reverberated through Draco's ears.
He looked around and spotted that Blaise had in fact been right. He was standing with Ginny's mask in his hands and she held his, smiling and hugging. Hermione looked up at him and he smiled.
"Well, it's time." Just as she was about to remove his mask, her hands halfway to his face, he caught them. She looked at him curiously.
"Not yet. I want you to take yours off first." Hermione gave him an incredulous look.
"Why? You already know who I am." She said.
"I want to see your face before the night is over." Confused, but compliant, Hermione let him remove her mask slowly. His hands held her blood red velvet mask. He handed it to her and looked at her, before leaning down and kissing her. Without a sound, Draco bowed his head and allowed her to take his mask off as well.
Hermione was nervous. Here she had been, dancing with this wonderful gentleman all night, and now it was time to find out who he was. Did she want to know? From the way he talked, somehow, he thought Hermione wouldn't want to know. Although, on the other hand, they had spent most of the night talking about herself. She could never find anyone who was that interested in her. Slowly, she pulled the silver ribbon and handed him his mask, watching carefully.
The dark curls fell away to straight blond locks and he looked up, his eyes remaining silver. Hermione's mind only produced one name. Draco Malfoy. She was deathly sure it wasn't working. It couldn't have been him--he had been nothing but kind to her--and she had been completely rude to him. With tears in her eyes, Hermione exited the Great Hall.
Chapter 21: Close Encounters and Masqueraded Love
Quick Note: I know, I know. You're all going to skewer me for this chapter, but it's a DHr story, now isn't it? So, no need to worry! And you Ron lovers, since we all know what the Fidelis Charm did, you would know what happens next chapter.
And Michelle Felton figured out what the separation was! It was Hermione becoming a teenager again! Good job Michelle!
