Chapter 21
"...so Sophia doesn't mean anything like that to me. I just want to know how she and her mother are connected to my father and possibly to Voldemort. I don't want to do any work for Voldemort anymore, but I really have to find this out about Sophia. My father wants her necklace...a dragon claw necklace of hers, but he had actually given it to her mother three years ago in Knockturn Alley. This is why I think that something definitely happened between my father and Sophia's mother, but I have no idea what. It could have been something involving dark objects or dealings of that sort, but I just sense that it's something different than that. I don't think my father knew the importance of the necklace when he gave it to Sophia's mother...I know that you probably hate me after hearing all of this, but I just want you to know that I really do care about you, and I would never hurt you on purpose. Please give me another chance..." said Draco, finishing up his long narrative.
Violet just looked at him in shocked silence.
How could I feel so torn? His family is with Voldemort. Not only supporting what he does, but actually helping him do it! But Draco is different...he wants to change...but how can I trust someone like this? Someone who was taught to lie, cheat, or just completely eliminate all people in your way...Violet thought, completely confused by her contradicting feelings.
Ron started his search at one corridor by the Great Hall, but found no one. He then knew that they could only be in the one last corridor that he didn't search yet: the Charms Corridor. Walking down that hallway, he began to hear muffled voices.
Could that be Violet and the other guy? It better be! I really don't want to walk in on some strangers snogging...Ron thought, picking up his pace down the corridor.
When he was a few doors down from the room he heard the voices from, he distinctly heard a voice.
"I really don't know what to say..."
That's definitely Violet's voice! Ron thought.
"Hey, Violet! Are you down there?" Ron said.
This completely interrupted Violet and Draco, and for the moment, Violet forgot all about the things Draco just told her, and focused on just getting Draco out of sight.
"You've got to hide!" Violet whispered harshly.
"But –" Draco started protesting unheard to Violet.
"Get in the closet, now!" said Violet, pushing Draco in a closet that was in the classroom.
Seconds before Ron walked into the room, Violet closed the closet door, but in her hurry, the door did not shut completely and stayed open a crack.
"There you are, Violet! I've been looking all over for you!" said Ron, "What are you doing in here alone? Were you talking to someone?"
Ron knew that she was with someone else, but he did not know where they could have gone since the only way out of the room was through the door that he came in from.
"No." Violet answered shortly.
"Are you sure? I'm pretty sure I hear another voice..." Ron said unsurely.
"No. No one at all..." Violet answered forlornly.
As Draco listened and watched from the closet, he just wanted to hold her and make her know that he wasn't like the rest of his family was. Inadvertently, he moved forward toward Violet, but then suddenly stopped himself when he remembered that Ron was still in the room. But this movement caused something to shift in the closet and fall to the floor.
"What was that?!" said Ron, startled by the noise, "I think it came from that closet!"
As Ron began to walk towards the closet to investigate the noise, Violet stopped him.
"I don't care what it was. Let's go back to the dance, okay?" she said.
"But – " Ron started saying.
"Let's go." Violet said, pulling on Ron's arm, leading him out of the room.
When Violet and Ron left, Draco was left alone in the closet. He slowly stepped out, even more downtrodden then he was when Violet first thought that he had liked someone else.
I'm not going back to the Ball...I'm just going back to my room. That git Sylia can go bore someone else. Draco thought sadly, walking back to his dorm.
Now the dance was nearing the end, and George did not run into Fred once.
I think it's time that I tell her who I really am...thought George, but first I have to find her! I shouldn't have left the dance floor to get a drink! Now I don't have any idea where she is.
George began to search the dance floor for Sophia.
Fred and Katie finally decided to take a break from dancing. As they returned to their table to sit down, Fred was thirsty so he decided to go get a drink.
"Hey, Katie, I'm gonna go get some punch, okay?" said Fred.
"Yeah. See you in a bit then." Katie replied.
Fred got up from the table and went to the punch bowl. As he was pouring punch into his glass, he looked up and he saw that Cho was getting punch as well.
Hey, I think that Cho is one of Sophia's friends. Maybe I can ask her who Sophia ended up going with to this Ball since Sophia didn't tell me herself. Fred thought.
"Hey, so how do you like the Ball so far?" Fred asked.
"Yeah, it's going okay." replied Cho.
"So, who did you go with?" Fred asked.
"I came with Bill Jones. He's in Ravenclaw too." said Cho.
"Oh, cool. I came with Katie Bell, you know, our Quidditch captain." replied Fred.
"That's neat." said Cho.
"Hey, I didn't see Sophia anywhere around tonight, and I wanted to say hi. Who'd she end up going with anyway?" asked Fred.
George finally found Sophia, and knew that he didn't have much time now.
"Hey, Sophia, you want to go outside a while? So we can talk?" said George.
"Sure, Fred." said Sophia, following George outside.
"Oh. Well, she actually ended up going with Fred." Cho said reluctantly.
"What?!" Fred said.
"Yeah...your brother Fred." said Cho a matter of factly.
"No, no, no. That can't be. I'm Fred!" Fred said, surprised.
"Huh?! You're not kidding, are you?" Cho asked, convinced that he was playing a joke on her.
An angry look crossed Fred's face while he said, "I have to find him."
With that, Fred stalked off, leaving Cho standing there with a puzzled look on her face.
Maybe he wasn't kidding after all...I'm going to follow him and see what's going on. Cho thought, starting after Fred.
Once George found a quiet spot outside of the Great Hall, he turned to Sophia to finally tell her the truth.
"It's a nice night, isn't it?" said Sophia.
"Yeah. Well, there is something I've really been meaning to tell you for a very long time..." said George.
He couldn't be telling me what I think he's going to tell me, could he? No...I jumped to conclusions last time, so I think I should just hear him out this time. Sophia thought.
"Look, I want to be straight forward with you. This whole time I've been deceiving you. From the time we met, you thought I was Fred, and I let you think so, but I'm really –" George started saying.
"GEORGE!!"
Both Sophia and George turned toward the voice. They saw it was Fred.
Oh no, I'm in big trouble now...thought George, feeling an ominous sense of dread.
"I can't believe you did this! If we were both in on this, then it would be funny, but this just isn't. You've just gone too far, lying to a girl that wanted to talk to me first." Fred said angrily.
"Well, Fred I –" George started saying.
"Just save it." Fred said while walking away angrily.
"How could you have lied to me, Fred, I mean, George, or whoever you are?!" said Sophia, disgustedly.
"I've been trying to tell you every time we met, but I just kept getting interrupted." said George.
"You could have told me if you really wanted to." Sophia said, also walking away angrily.
This left George standing alone outside. Suddenly, it began to rain.
Just my luck...George thought, sadly, walking slowly back inside.
Finally, the Ball ended around 12 o' clock and everyone went back to their Common Rooms, but Harry and Hermione didn't want this night to end just yet. Ron and Violet had started to walk up to the dorms and noticed that Harry and Hermione were still hanging around the Common Room.
"Aren't you guys coming?" Ron asked.
"We'll be up in a bit." said Harry.
"Okay...I guess we'll see you in a little while then..." Violet said.
Now Harry and Hermione were alone in the Common Room.
"It was a really interesting night tonight, wasn't it?" Harry said, smiling.
"Yeah...it really was..." Hermione replied, smiling back.
"So..." Harry said nervously, "Where exactly do we stand, Hermione?"
"What do you mean?" Hermione asked curiously.
"Well, what exactly are we? I mean, all I'm really sure of is that we're definitely not only friends after what just happened." Harry said, smiling shyly.
"Yeah, that's true..." Hermione replied, now also shy, "So, where should we go from here?"
"Well...we have been friends for a very long time, and despite the fact that you want to study a bit too much at times and boss Ron and me around, I still think you're fun to be around." Harry said timidly, smiling and taking her hands in his, "And over this last summer, I realized that I actually wanted to be more than just your friend...I want to be your boyfriend...Well, that is if you'll have me."
"Of course, Harry. I've wanted the same thing for the longest time myself." Hermione replied, smiling.
Harry then held Hermione close and kissed her lightly. Then he pulled away and they looked at each other, not sure what to do now.
"I guess we should get upstairs now..." said Harry reluctantly, not really wanting to go anywhere.
"Yeah..." Hermione replied, just as reluctant to leave.
"Well, do you just want to stay and talk a while more?" Harry asked, grinning.
"Sure." Hermione replied, smiling.
Then Harry and Hermione talked like they never did before, finally getting to know each other and sharing many things without embarrassment.
"Well, you know a lot about my family...or, so called family...but I don't know much about yours. And this is even after spending practically a whole summer at your house!" said Harry.
"What's to say? My parents are dentists and I'm an only child. I'm afraid that my family isn't nearly as interesting as yours." Hermione said, smiling.
"You're telling me that you have no interesting relatives at all?" said Harry, slightly disappointed.
"No, not really." Hermione replied.
"Too bad." Harry said.
"Oh, actually, I do have this interesting uncle..." Hermione said, remembering her very eccentric Uncle Will suddenly.
And so the conversation went on for a long time, and they both forgot about having to go back upstairs.
"I'm so tired..." Harry finally said, yawning.
"Yeah, me too..." Hermione replied, struggling to keep her eyes open.
"I think I'm just going to rest my eyes for a minute..." Harry said tiredly, settling his head on his chest.
"Me too..." Hermione replied, resting her head on the couch above Harry's shoulder.
But since it was so late and the two were so tired, they both slipped quickly into sleep. Hermione's head fell onto Harry's shoulder while Harry's head began to lean against Hermoine's.
At about 8 o' clock the next morning, Violet woke up.
It looks so early! Violet thought as she opened her eyes, noticing that there seemed to be very little light in the room, Maybe I can ask Hermione how her experience at the dance was with Harry...I lost track of them on the dance floor when Ron and I decided to take a break.
But this brought her mind quickly back to her dilemma with Draco and Ron.
I knew that Draco's family was bad enough, but to find out that they actually work for Voldemort themselves! And the fact that Draco is involved in the plot to bring Voldemort back to power...Violet thought with a shudder, But Draco did say that he didn't want to be involved in it, but how can I trust a person in a family like that? I am definitely better off with Ron. At least I know what I'm getting there...
As she thought this, she knew it wasn't that easy. She still had feelings for Draco and they would not go away just because she wanted them to.
I'm going to just ask Hermione about Harry now...at least that way I can escape my own problems a little while...Violet thought, getting out of her bed.
She looked to Hermione's bed, and realized that Hermione wasn't there.
That's weird...Maybe she got up early to study? Violet thought, I guess I can just go see if she's in the Common Room or something.
Violet then dressed and walked down to the Common Room. She noticed that there were only two people in the Common Room on the big couch there, and they appeared to be asleep. As she looked closer, they looked familiar.
Oh, no way! That's Harry and Hermione!! Violet thought in surprise as she walked up to the couch to make sure she wasn't mistaken.
She wasn't. They were still in their formal robes and in much the same position as they were when they fell asleep, except now Hermione was leaning completely on Harry and had a hand on his chest. And apparently the house elves that usually cleaned the Common Room had also put a blanket on them both. Violet smiled at how cute they looked.
I've got to get Ron. Violet thought, running up the stairs to the dorms to get Ron.
She finally got up all the stairs and walked quietly into Ron and Harry's dorm since all the boys there were still asleep. She went up to Ron and shook him lightly. When he just grumbled and turned over, she shook him a little harder.
"Harry...would you let me ride your Firebolt one more time?" Ron mumbled.
"Ron, wake up!" Violet whispered harshly.
Finally Ron woke up.
"What is with you people, bloody waking me up all the time?!" Ron grumbled when he got out of bed.
Violet smiled and said, "Get dressed and come with me to the Common Room. You've just got to see this for yourself."
Ron just looked at her in puzzlement a second and then hurried to get dressed. Then he and Violet descended the stairs into the Common Room. By this time, there were more and more people coming down the stairs.
"No way!" Ron said in surprise, "Did they ever come back to the dorms at night?"
"I don't think so." Violet said, smiling.
Just then Ginny came up to them.
"What are you guys talking about?" she asked.
"Harry and Hermione." Violet said, smiling and pointing at Harry and Hermione on the couch.
This caused Ginny to start laughing.
"Why don't we wake them up?" Ron said slightly mischievously.
Ron walked up to Harry and Hermione and poked them until they woke up.
"Good morning." Ron said in a teasing voice as Harry and Hermione opened their eyes sleepily.
"Wha –?" Harry mumbled sleepily as he woke up.
Sleep quickly left Harry when he realized that he was still in the Common Room with a bunch of people surrounding him. He looked down and saw that Hermione was draped on his shoulder and chest. She also seemed to be waking up. When Harry and Hermione were both fully awake, they finally jumped apart from each other.
"Well, you two seemed to have a fun night." Violet said, also teasing.
Both Harry and Hermione smiled in embarrassment.
"Well, we just...uh..." Harry said, trying to explain.
"We were talking and I guess we just sorta fell asleep here..." Hermione said, completing what Harry tried to say.
Then Harry and Hermione realized that they were still in their formal robes from last night, and that Hermione's hair had back its frizzy qualities since the Sleak-easy wore off.
Harry then said to Hermione, "Are you as hungry as I am, Hermione?"
"Famished." Hermione replied, catching on to Harry's plan.
"Let's go change so we can eat." Harry said, quickly getting up from the couch and starting up the stairs.
Hermione followed him. After Harry and Hermione hurried upstairs to get out of public view and to change, Ron turned to Violet.
"Well, we didn't talk much about the Ball yesterday, but I really did have a fun time...except for when I had to track you down!" Ron said playfully.
"Aww...well..." Violet said awkwardly, not knowing what to say to Ron about that.
"Why don't we get down to breakfast already? I'm starving. And when Harry and Hermione come down, we can tease them some more." Ron said, smiling.
"Yeah, let's." Violet said, smiling back, hoping Ron didn't see her awkwardness.