Chapter 2
The week passed on with more homework than ever, the hogsmade trip was looming nearer and everyone was anxious for the ball.
"Ginny hurry up! I want to get there first before anyone else does" Hermione yelled to her redheaded friend who was lagging behind her and Lavender a considerable amount. They were walking fast to get to the Hogsmade shops first before all the good dresses were gone. "OI! You guys are going too fast, I can't run like that my legs are killing me!" "Fine" Lavender said and her and Hermione waited a few moments for Ginny to catch up. "Ok now can we get a move on?" Hermione asked itching to get to the store. "Geeze Hermione it's just a ball." Ginny said to her and started to jog. "Lets go then"
Meanwhile:
Harry and Ron were walking out of the Hogwarts grounds and on to the road to Hogsmade. "Why are all the girls so exited for this ball thing, I mean its just a dance" Ron complained to Harry. "I don't know" Harry responded. Both of them had to go to Hogsmade to get their tuxedos and masks to wear. All of the guys were going to wear black tuxes and probably black masks as well, but of course the girls had to get the most fanciest, intricate and most expensive dress as well as an exquisite mask to go with it. It was this fact that Harry and Ron didn't understand.
Once they got into Hogsmade city, Harry and Ron went down a few side streets and ended up at a mask shop called 'FACES' and under it, it said 'for all your mask needs.' When they entered the shop an elderly plump lady welcomed them. "She reminds me of my mum" Ron whispered to Harry, and he laughed. "OK dears, what kind of mask are you looking for?" she asked in a kind voice. "Well just plain black ones I guess to match out tuxedoes please." Harry said to her. "Ok sweetheart, just step over here so I can take your measurements" she asked kindly to Ron. He followed her to a stool and she told him to sit down, as she pulled a tape measure out of one of the various pockets in her apron. She tapped the tape measure once with her wand and it sprang up like a snake and coiled itself around Ron's head, and then the other way.
There were a few more measurements involved and when it was done the tape headed over to the lady and she wrote down the measurements. She told Ron to go get Harry and that's what he did. The same procedure happened with Harry and moments later he was back out at the front of the shop standing with Ron who was looking at an all gold mask. When the plump lady came back from the front room she held two identical black plain masks. "That'll be a sickle each darlings" and they rummaged through their pockets to find enough change to pay her. Once they paid, both of them headed out to find the tux shop.
Meanwhile:
"Does this dress look good on me Hermione?" Ginny asked stepping out of the change stall. Hermione stepped out of hers and looked at her friend. Ginny was wearing a green long silk dress with a long slit that went down the side of her leg. "OOH I like it. The color goes really well with your hair" Hermione said. Ginny considered this and after a second of looking in the mirror she said, "HMM Lavender what do you think?" Lavender stepped out of her stall in a white off the shoulder long dress. "WOW Ginny! You look really really good!" Lavender said. Ginny's mouth was agape. "Forget about me look at you!" Lavender had a hint of a blush starting to crawl up her face. "You are defiantly getting that dress" Ginny continued "Well we've both decided what we are going to buy, now what about you Hermione?" She said turning to her "We haven't seen you in a dress yet have we Ginny?" Lavender asked. Hermione looked down shyly. "Well I did have one in mind." She said. "Well what are you waiting for get it on and show us!" Ginny said and shooed her into the change room.
When Hermione came out she looked down at the ground. Her face was as red as Ginny's hair. "Holy Moly" Lavender said, "Hermione you look gorgeous!" Ginny said to her. Hermione blushed more and then turned to look at herself in the full-length mirror again.
The dress was an all black strapless dress with a corset in the front that had silk strings doing it up. The corset was tight until it reached her hips, showing a bit of her womanly figure and then went into a cascade of black silk and lace. When Hermione turned around to view the back it showed that it went into a very low dip, to the small of her back, and the silk straps that were in the front laced criss-cross all the way up. She didn't want to admit it to herself but she thought herself OK in the dress. "Ok I'm buying it." She decided aloud and then in unison all three went into their separate change rooms and changed into their normal clothes.
When they got out they paid for their dresses and decided to head over to the mask shop.
Back with Harry and Ron:
Both of them by now had gotten fitted and they had bought their tuxes and they were now heading back to the school. They decided to stop in at Zonko's and HoneyDukes on the way.
"Hey isn't that Ginny, Lavender and Hermione?" Harry asked. "Yeah I think so." Ron answered looking at the three girls who were up the street. Harry recognised them by Ginny's hair. When the two groups met there was an exchange of hellos. "What have you gotten so far?" Hermione asked her two best friends. "Everything really, we've got the mask and the tux so we're thinking of going to Zonko's or HoneyDukes maybe even stop off at the Three Broomsticks." Harry responded "and you gals?" "Oh we're headed off to the mask shop now, we've got our dresses" Hermione said. "Well when we are done do you want to meet us in HoneyDukes or something and then we can go to the Three Broomsticks?" Ginny proposed. "Sure meet in half an hour then?" Ron responded. They all agreed, and they parted ways.
Half an hour later they met in HoneyDukes and bought some candy. They then went to the Three Broomsticks and bought a couple of rounds of Butterbeers. Neville, Dean and Seamus joined the table and after one more round, this time of fire whisky they headed back to the castle.
The eight of them spent the rest of the weekend walking the grounds, and just messing around outside. They spent most of the time playing Quiddich, taking turns on Harry's prized Firebolt, except for Hermione.
The week went by without any trouble until the last class of the day of the ball, which was incidentally Potions, which spells trouble.
The Trio, plus Neville, Lavender, Dean and Seamus were sharing a table in the Potions classroom which was with the Slitherens. Snape was being more cranky than usual because he had to be one of the chaperones to the ball.
The trouble came when he was writing down the ingredients and the procedure to making a potion they had to do. Everyone was getting out his or her cauldrons and ingredients out when Hermione's hand shot up. Snape didn't see her. She gave a little cough but still no response. "UMM Professor?" she asked. He turned around clearly annoyed. "Yes Granger" He answered through clenched teeth. "You made a mistake." She said to him looking him in the eye. Most people-who were listening- took their eyes off of whatever they were doing, forgetting to be stealth and they looked, no more of gaped at Hermione and they were all silent. Harry whispered to her, "Hermione not smart, don't do it" But that didn't work she didn't listen. She didn't want everyone to be failed by his stupid mistake. "What was that Granger?" He asked angrier than ever. "I said you made a mistake sir." she said more clearly and louder than before. "You aren't supposed to finely chop the bixleweed, you have to ground it into a fine powder" She said putting extra emphasis on the powder. Professor Snape was just staring at her. He had a huge vain in the middle of his forehead that was popping out but most people were too scared to laugh. Then suddenly he yelled, "50 POINTS FROM GRIFFENDOR MISS GRANGER!" He took a breath and then said "and Detention for tonight, Now I suggest before you correct me again you think twiceyou are to be here at 4 o'clock sharp and no later." he finished with a wicked smirk. "But sir with all due respect, tonight is the ball and I was just telling you for the benefits of others." Hermione protested. Snape's smirk grew even bigger. "If you continue to talk I will make your detention even longer" She shut her mouth immediately with huge watery eyes. She sat down and discontinued to talk for the rest of the class. Harry tried to talk to her but all she did was sit there with a distant expression and still, with watery eyes.
At the end of potions she didn't hand in the potion that they were doing and she rushed out of the class, not waiting for Harry, or Ron. She rushed through dinner without a word to anyone, and at four she was knocking on the door to Snape's office down in the cold dark dungeons. "Come in" He said and he entered the door quietly and discreetly entered the room. "Sit" he said pointing to an empty desk. She did. Snape went over to one of his many filing cabinets and took a stack of files.
"First you will copy out these files into good copy, and then you will go into my store cupboard and take down all of the ingredients and dust them off and also the shelves." he paused to see if she caught all of that. Then he continued, " Then you will document all of the ingredients, and how much I have." He smirked again like he always does when he's happy. "I'm going to be here for the first hour because the dance doesn't start for that long, so use this time to copy documents." As he said this he sat down at his desk and began to look at a paper. Hermione got to work by grabbing the files and copying them down onto blank pieces of parchment.
At three-quarters past 4, Snape got up abruptly. He pulled out his wand and conjured up a black mask. He tied it roughly around his head. Before he left he said, "Don't steal anything from my store cupboard!" and he left the room.
At this point Hermione was still writing out documents, but due to the tears welling up in her eyes she had to stop and wipe her eyes on her sleeve. "Why did I have to open my big fat mouth?" Hermione said to herself and cried even harder. "Ooh miss shouldn't say that to herself, tis not true, your mouth is wonderful for knowledge." Hermione heard a familiar squeaky voice say to her. "Its just sometimes you have to let things go."
She turned around in her chair and said "Dobby, what are you doing here?" "Well Dobby heard about your predicament miss, and Dobby's here to help" The former house elf of the Malfoys said. "What do you mean, how could you possibly help me?" Hermione asked wiping her eyes again. "Dobby will clear out the store cupboard for miss so miss can go to the ball." Dobby insisted. He took off one of the many hats Hermione had made a few years back and he handed her a tissue. Hermione muttered thanks and wiped her face. "Now Miss needs to get ready" Dobby said from the store cupboard. Dobby snapped his fingers and her dress and mask appeared. "You better get dressed miss, the dance has already started."