I'm sorry that its taken me so long to update but I've had a lot going on and I've been feeling really uninspired. I definitely will finish this story but the updates will probably continue to be slow and random so please bear with me. Thanks so much for taking the time to read this though!

Chapter 22: The Christmas Ball Part One

"Hermione, are you alright? Have you been sleeping properly?" Mary's soft voice seemed to ring out like she was at the end of a long tunnel, not sitting right in front of her applying some makeup.

It was finally the night of the Christmas ball and Mary was right, she had not slept well recently. The dark blue rings and bags under her eyes were mostly unnoticeable, and yet when you're faced with hiding them with a concealer, they become that much more obvious.

"Thanks Mary, I guess I was just stressed because of the mock exams." Hermione lied, appreciating the small hand that clasped her forearm in support.

"Well then you'll be happy to get home for break tomorrow then, are you and Aberforth planning anything special for Christmas?" Mary must have been a saint if she was willing to change the subject away from Hermione's well known sleeping issues.

"Not really, the pub's pretty busy in the build up, but we're taking Christmas day, Boxing day and New Year's day off to relax. From what I've heard from previous years at the Hog's Head, it sounds like I'll need it."

The girls both chuckled as they continued talking about their Christmas plans, ignoring the flurry of activity surrounding them. Hermione had been sitting quietly for the last half an hour, letting the other girls dress and put makeup on her and now it was finally their turn to change, they had become significantly more stressed.

"Careful Alice! Make sure you don't step on the hem." Marlene shrieked from where she was crouched, finishing the last minute adjustments to the dress she had made for her friend and date.

"Isn't it unlucky to see your date before the ball?" Her friend teased back, trying to push all of her buttons today.

Marlene spoke around the pins that she had stuck between her lips for safekeeping, "That's just for weddings and you know it. Even then, I made the dress, so I at least deserve the right to see it on before anyone else."

Alice rolled her eyes and resigned herself to be pinned into the massive dress. "There!" Marlene finished and stepped away to take in her masterpiece, before swiftly turning and slipping her own dress easily over her shoulders.

"That's not fair! I've had to stand here for ages in this massive dress and yours takes seconds to put on?" Alice gaped in surprise.

Marlene chuckled, "Well, if you'd come to all of the fittings I asked, then this would have been a lot quicker." Alice only pouted in response and took in where everyone else was already ready.

All in all, they looked good. Marlene had only had time to make and alter the dresses for herself and her date, but she had made sure that everyone else also bought the best dresses for themselves.

She and Alice were striking in their matching bright red dresses, of differing designs, but both exuberant with ruffles and large trains. Mary, on the other hand, decided to go much more simple, and instead went for a velvet, floor length, purple dress that clung to her every curve. Lily's green dress looked simple until you came close and then you could see beautiful and intricate patterns of gold embroidered all across the bodice and heavy skirts.

The only direction that Hermione had given Marlene was that she wanted something simple and that would have sleeves. As a result, the dress she now wore was a black ball gown that had simple lace sleeves that effectively covered up her scar unless you were actively trying to find it. Unfortunately, Marlene had also added a few extra additions that she claimed 'stopped hiding the sex appeal'.

When Hermione had asked for sleeves, she had assumed that they would cover her shoulders modestly, and they did, yet the dress also left the entirety of the back bare. The fabric before the lace began dipped dangerously into a neckline that showed a little cleavage and whenever she walked her leg was exposed through the long slit up her right side.

If she didn't know better she would say she looked like one of those rich, gold-digger widows that would pretend the funeral of their spouse was an excuse for a fashion show. Although Hermione had argued against the changes, Marlene was adamant and it was now too late to change it, which a small part of Hermione was glad for. She looked pretty good.

"My lady," Marlene bowed to Alice and kissed her knuckle, "It would be my honour to escort you to the ball." Alice giggled in response and they led the way down the steps to meet the boys in the common room.

Given the looks that they received from them, it was safe to assume that Marlene's hard work had had the desired effect. It seemed that the majority of the other couples had decided to meet in the Entrance Hall, but because all of their dates were in Gryffindor this meant that the common room was empty except for the Marauders. The three boys were lounging about on their usual sofa, but all jumped to attention when the girls began to descend.

They looked very handsome in their dress robes except for Peter who seemed to be wearing a white Muggle suit. Hermione frowned in question, acknowledging that her date actually seemed to pull off the look quite well. He just shrugged and mentioned that it was a hand-me-down from his late father.

Remus and James were both stood awestruck in their black and navy robes, both looking up at their dates where they arrived behind Hermione. James seemed to get over the shock first and smoothly complimented his girlfriend, reaching down to bestow a long kiss in her lips. On the other hand, Remus wasn't as composed, promptly stumbling over his next words and instead just offered his arm silently, smiling benignly at Mary. She didn't seem to mind.

As they all began to leave, dates on their arms, Hermione became aware that they were missing someone. "He's hiding at the moment," Peter explained when he saw her head flicking from side to side, "Sirius thought that it would be best to remain scarce until later in the evening, possibly when McGonagall has lowered her guard."

Smiling, Hermione quietly agreed before Peter continued, "You look beautiful by the way, I'm sure you'll make him quite jealous."

This surprise effectively shocked her out of her train of thought, "He? Who's that?"

Peter just chuckled again, "Whoever that dress is intended for, you look gorgeous."

Alarmed and slightly disgruntled, Hermione muttered under her breath, "Why can't I just be wearing it for my own pleasure? And I can assure you that I had no one in mind."

Peter only gave her a tilt of the head and a raised eyebrow in reply, which didn't help to quell her frustration.

By the time their group had made it to the Entrance Hall, the party was well underway and so the space was much more cleared out. Even then, James had to bear the unpleasant experience of letting down two of the girls who still thought that Sirius would be going with them. To Hermione's pleasure, they didn't look too surprised and each turned to the other and decided to just enjoy it together.

It wasn't until 20 minutes later that she saw the man involved. At the time, she had been none too subtly watching a certain Slytherin across the room and so failed to notice when Sirius entered, saw her, did a double take, and then walked into a wall. Unfortunately for him, she seemed to be the only one who didn't.

The large table where the Gryffindors had been grouped all guffawed loudly as he shook himself off and grimaced towards where McGonagall had clocked her eyes onto him. By the time Hermione had turned her head, he had begun sauntering towards them, pretending he hadn't made a complete fool of himself.

"What wrong Pads, cat got your tongue?" James sniggered from where he was sitting beside Lily after Sirius joined their table and seemed stuck for where to begin.

"Not at all mate," he replied, "I was just awestruck at the suit that Wormtail here managed to find."

Realising that Sirius was probably about to insult him, Peter interrupted, "What about you then? Unless my eyes deceive me, you are also wearing a muggle suit."

"Ah but you misunderstand my meaning, I am referring to the colour that you have gone for. Surely you would match your stunning date in a suit such as mine." He gestured to his own appearance, which much to Hermione's annoyance, did seem to go well with her own dress given how every inch was coloured pitch black. At her perusal of his form, he turned to her and winked, "Evening sweetheart."

Hermione couldn't help but scoff, "Thanks Sirius but I'll have to let you down. My date perfectly matches my dress, whereas together, we would just look like we're late for someone's funeral."

"It might be mine, if you keep undressing me with your eyes, kitten." He whispered teasingly back, just loud enough to be heard by Lily. Thankfully she was saved from replying when the redhead interrupted, hiding the momentary shock at hearing Sirius use his old nickname for her for the first time in the 70s.

"Don't lie to yourself Black, we all know that that look means that she is preparing herself to throw a hex your way."

Finally, he dragged his eyes away from Hermione and moved onto Lily, complimenting her dress before doing the same with the other girls. She failed to notice when his eyes ultimately returned to her when he took his seat, because she had been watching the Slytherins again.

Snape was looking particularly bored this evening, but nonetheless incredibly handsome in his deep black dress robes. He was sitting on a table of couples alone, much like how Sirius had joined them, and Hermione blushed when he caught her eye across the room. His eyes noticeably trailed over her body and he gave a small smile of approval which would have melted Hermione into a puddle if she hadn't just seen him do the same to Lily.

Feeling slightly dejected, Hermione felt her eyes drift across the rest of his party and was startled to find a number of them watching her as well. Deciding to just throw caution to the wind, she stared brazenly back at them, curious to see who would break first and look away.

After successfully not thinking about her missing horcrux for the past half an hour, her panic came right back to the forefront of her mind. If the wanna be Death Eaters were looking at her in this way then the only explanation could be that they knew something about her. She felt herself give an involuntary shiver when she caught the eye of Dolohov's in particular, who smiled lecherously at her before whispering something in Avery's ear.

It seemed that she wasn't the only one that had noticed considering the small hand that fell across her own, causing her to jump. "Are you alright Hermione? You've gone as white as a sheet." Peter's concerned voice and warm hand mollified her slightly and so she nodded, returning to the conversation at her own table so as not to think too much about her horcrux predicament.

The meal that they shared together was predictably rowdy and it quickly became evident why Hogwarts didn't usually allow small segregated tables at dinner time. Sirius flirted with everyone present, and James made quite a few thinly veiled innuendos towards his girlfriend until he swiftly stopped when she began to respond, to the entertainment of the table, with much more clarity.

Marlene and Alice played their parts of doting dates to their fullest extent; feeding one another, sending joking winks and competing with how outrageous they could be with their fake flirting. This was thrown into strict relief to their table partners of Mary and Remus, who spoke privately to one another, chuckling quietly at various jokes and blushing furiously should they make any contact.

Content to just watch and take in the evening, Hermione was surprised to find herself easily jumping into various conversations around the table as if she had known them all much longer than just a few months. More often than not, she found herself verbally sparring with whatever outlandish topic Sirius would bring up, and took immense pleasure in watching Peter take him down a few pegs too.

Nonetheless, when it came to dancing Hermione was still nervous, even though she was comfortable with friends and had done this before, that feeling of self-consciousness never really went away. The table left a grumbling Sirius to find someone to take pity on him and all joined the dancefloor with their dates. To no one's surprise more than Peter, he was actually quite a good dancer and Hermione found herself uncontrollably laughing in no time at all at the quirky new moves he kept throwing in.

Before long, they grew thirsty and while Peter went to get them drinks, an interloper made his way into the dancefloor. "Ah, I see that we are finally alone at last. Would it be too bold of me to claim the next dance?" Sirius asked in a pompous voice that sounded so alarmingly like Percy Weasley that Hermione couldn't help but laugh and agree, with a short, "Only while my date is otherwise occupied, mind you."

In contrast to Peter, Sirius was absolutely dreadful at traditional dancing, and excelled where Peter was much too stiff; the contemporary music. Halfway through their attempted slow dance, she couldn't help but ask him why, "I thought you purebloods were meant to take dance classes or something?"

Sirius only smirked as he stepped on her foot yet again, "The key word in that sentence is 'meant' kitten, and we both know that I never do anything that I'm meant to do." His flirty comment fell flat as a flash of an older Sirius bidding farewell to Harry on the King's Cross platform flitted across her mind, Mad Eye whispering harsh admonishments from beside them. Within the blink of an eye, Hermione remembered where she was and her heart sunk at the thought that she had forgotten.

The feeling must have shown on her face because Sirius quickly stopped their movement and rubbed his thumb in a circle where it was resting on her waist. "You alright sweetheart? Looks like I lost you for a moment there."

At his voice, Hermione glanced up into his concerned face and there was such open caring in his eyes that a lump was raised in her throat. Attempting to hide her wet eyes, she rested her forehead against his collar and breathed in deeply, offhandedly noticing that he didn't smell half bad. "Sorry, you're a great friend for looking after me."

From their closer position, he wrapped his hand more securely around her waist and onto her lower back, rubbing it gently and continuing to sway. His quick heartbeat steadied her as she listened to his muffled comments, "I can't imagine that it would be very easy to spend Christmas without your friends and family."

She nodded and willed her eyes to stop tearing up as he continued, "Did you know that I don't really talk to my family any more?"

Gulping deeply, she looked up into his face, "You've mentioned it, but I didn't want to pry."

He let out a small chuckle, "Yeah, I guess I have talked about it a bit." They both paused for a second while she snuggled into his neck again, it was perhaps this lack of eye contact that allowed him to talk. "I still miss them you know." He swallowed, "They're all batshit stupid and terrible people, but they still cared for me in their own little ways, and I will always miss that part of them."

With his words, Hermione had the brief glimpse of her family sitting around the table at Christmas dinner and she felt a single tear fall into Sirius shirt as he continued, "You know, one Christmas when I was 6 I stayed up to see if I could catch Father Christmas and I found my dad eating the biscuits that we had left out for him. I expected him to be angry that I had caught him or just give up on the pretence but he just stood up and said 'If you think that Santa is getting those lousy cookies from a Black then he's got another thing coming!' The next thing I knew, he had gotten out his finest cigars and some whiskey and was telling me to go to bed."

Hermione couldn't help but smile at the levity in Sirius's tone but frowned when it fell, "It wasn't until two years later that he reprimanded me on still believing, but I appreciated that he kept the mystery for just a little bit longer." At the end of this story, he shifted her body forward until they were face to face, "I guess the point I am trying to make is that although I might not talk to him again and I can remember every foul thing he has said and done to me, I will always remember that Christmas."

He clasped her face in his hands and looked into her eyes, "Whatever happened to the people that you cared about, you will always have the memories of what they did that made you love them. No one can take that away from you."

As she took in the sincerity in his eyes, Hermione couldn't help but let a few more tears fall, which he quickly brushed away, "Hey none of that," he breathed in deeply as he gathered himself before reverting to his usual smile, "You've still got us lot to ruin your Christmas anyway. Did you hear about the party James is putting on on Christmas Eve?"

Shocked that there would be another one so soon and that she hadn't heard about it, she stuttered out, "Party? No one told me anything about that!"

Sirius rolled his eyes, "James is a dozy git, I told him to ask you weeks ago. It's a small family thing that the Potter family do each year with the cousins, aunts and stuff, and I thought that it might make Lily feel better if you were there for her initiation into the fray."

Hermione felt her eyebrows slowly raise, "So this is a party of family members and their significant others and you want me to what? Gatecrash as moral support?"

He shook his head slightly, rushing through the next comment, "Not necessarily, we could always play the poor orphan card who has nowhere to go on Christmas, or you could just pretend to be my date."

It was all said so quickly that Hermione barely had time to unpack the first part of the statement before he came out with the latter, "The poor orphan card, who the…..WHAT DO YOU MEAN GO AS YOUR DATE?"

"Shhhhhh!" He hushed her, looking around, "I have a reputation to uphold as a man the girls fight over, not someone who so evidently repulses you. I sai D." He enunciated the last word so clearly and as if he were talking to a child that Hermione couldn't help but narrow her eyes at him in warning.

"If the only way that I can get into this party is by pretending to like you, then I'm starting to think that it's really not worth it."

Sirius gasped loudly in mock outrage and leaned away from her slightly in order to reply, "I'm truly hurt, kitten. Here I was offering to mend your broken heart and you just…" Whatever bollocks that he was about to spout suddenly faded into the background as a scene was revealed to Hermione over his shoulder.

Through the throngs of dancing couples, there was quite obviously a heated conversation taking place between none other than Avery and their very own Peter. It was clear that they were attempting to remain inconspicuous from their placement in the room, and yet it was probably that which drew her eye. Hermione's stomach dropped at the look on Peter's face; the fidgeting eyes flickering in fear and apprehension in the exact same way they had when he had been working for Voldemort.

All thoughts of Sirius and what they had been talking about fled from her mind as the lost horcrux returned. Could it possibly be Peter? Had her presence actually had no effect whatsoever and he was already betraying them? She very much doubted that it was the Hogwarts food that caused her to suddenly feel so very ill.

She was distantly aware that they had stopped swaying as she took in the conversation that was taking place, absentmindedly observing the number of Avery's friends who were also paying attention to the altercation. They were both gesturing with their hands for some reason and Hermione stifled a gasp when Peter just scowled in response to something and made for the door.

Aware that she wouldn't have long to catch up with him, Hermione quickly turned to Sirius to apologize, but he already looked as if he were distracted by something James was doing across the room. They swiftly dismissed one another and parted ways in opposite directions, both attempting to be subtle with their movements, but probably failing.

Peter's footsteps scuttled away from her from the other end of the long corridor, thankfully alerting her to his direction so she didn't have to find her Marauders Map from her room. Hermione cursed her dress and it's lack of pockets as she realised that the cloak and Map would have been very useful right about now. She also cursed the length of her skirts as they rustled with her footsteps, finally thankful of the slit up her leg that aided her movement.

They continued to run throughout the castle for a couple of minutes with no obvious goal in mind, though Hermione was more than aware that they were slowly heading upwards. Whether it was towards the Room of Requirement or somewhere else, she could only guess.

On the third floor Peter suddenly stopped at a junction between two corridors and Hermione had to yank herself down an adjoining corridor to stop him from seeing her. Fortunately for her, Peter had unwittingly decided to wait at the entrance to a hidden passageway and so Hermione quickly hid herself inside and began to wait on the other side, hoping that the tapestry blocking her view wouldn't also block her hearing.

It was only a matter of moments before she heard footsteps approaching and she couldn't for the life of her work out who it was. Unfortunately, they began to whisper to one another and all that Hermione could hear was the deep murmur of male voices, but couldn't distinguish the words. Knowing that the risk of them finding her spying would put her in a lot of trouble, she attempted to very slightly push the flap of the tapestry forward, effectively breaking the sound seal.

The now audible voices didn't stop or make a comment about the small movement so she let out a silent sigh of relief and began to listen.

"Have you got it?" The first voice began, and Hermione's heartbeat sped up knowing that she knew the voice, although she still couldn't quite identify who was speaking.

"Yes, though I still don't know why we couldn't have gone with our Plan A, it would have been much simpler." Peter's voice replied, sounding disgruntled.

The second unknown man replied, "You know we tested it, there's no way that the potion would have been ready in time for tonight." Yet again, the voice was distinctly familiar and yet in the darkness of the passageway, Hermione couldn't put her finger down on it's owner.

The comments that were being passed backwards and forwards chilled Hermione to the bone and yet also only proved to confuse her more. What potion were they talking about? Was the object Peter was handing over the diadem, or something else? And if it was her horcrux, did they know what they were handling?

She shuddered at the thought of them testing out unknown potions in order to get into the Room of Requirement, remembering how the Death Eaters would often use other people to test out their new inventions. Of course, to cause possible harm to a pureblood would be such a waste.

It wasn't until the next statement that Hermione got really confused, "Come on Wormtail, you've seen how they keep looking at her, we need to do something to distract them."

The 'her' in that statement could have been any number of people and yet something inside Hermione just told her that they were referring to her. So they knew that she was connected then? This kept going from bad to worse; firstly she had lost a horcrux, and now they knew that it was her looking for them. By the end of the week they will have told Voldemort and he will have moved them!

Hermione felt her breathing increase and her eyes bulge as her mind went into panic mode. She was already exposed, and now they would be even more lost than how it had been before she had arrived here. Distract who? Why do they need to distract anyone from her? And who was watching her, the teachers or her friends?

A million questions raced through her mind before promptly stopping when she realised what the man had said. Wormtail. Hardly anyone called him that. Of course in her timeline, it was what all the Death Eaters called him, and yet here they all still called him Pettigrew. That nickname was only reserved for a few privileged few.

"Come on Padfoot, you know they're just suspicious because she's new, you don't always have to assume that they're out for us." At Peter's resigned reply the other two voices suddenly became clear to her.

"It doesn't matter, we were going to pull a prank on them anyway. What does it matter that it's now instead of on the train home, at least this way Hermione will be able to see it. I'm sure she'll like to see the Slytherins taken down a peg after the way they keep treating her." Sirius's self righteous and oddly caring voice rang out clearly.

James let out a very Lily-like sigh, "We've just got to make it work then. This new technique of getting scraps of their robes to charm is relatively new, and without Moony, it might be hard to pull off."

Hermione felt her breathing become more even as she realised that she was essentially just spying on her friends orchestrating a prank, as long as they didn't find her here then she would be safe. Even she couldn't explain her way out of every situation, and if she was found spying on them then all of her hard work to become their friends might go out the window.

The items that Peter had been collecting must have been the scraps of the Slytherin's robes and he was handing them over in order for his friends to charm them. His conversation with Avery must have been a rouse to rip a part of his robes off. She hadn't been found out, it was just her friends caring for her and looking out for her.

Hermione's sigh of relief very quickly turned into a shriek of surprise and terror as a large hand descended into her shoulder. She jumped about a foot into the air as she turned to look into the face of her attacker, jerkily whipping the tapestry back into place, and praying that she hadn't been found out.

Snape's questioning face was darkened considerably by the cramped corridor, and she was left momentarily speechless by her shock at finding him there. All she could hear was the sound of her rapid heartbeat, and the approaching footsteps of the Marauders as they attempted to find the source of the noise. Snape's brow furrowed as he asked, "What are you doing spying on your friends?"

Within a matter of seconds Hermione's mind whirred in an attempt to remedy herself out of this situation. If she were found spying on her friends, let alone with their sworn enemy and who they thought was a Death Eater, then she knew that they wouldn't trust her again. There was no time to run without being seen and absolutely no way to hide themselves without the cloak.

As she heard the voices halt just behind her, she made a decision, if they found her, then they should be angry at her in a way that can be remedied.

Without thinking about the consequences, Hermione reached up and took hold of Severus' face, ignoring his surprised expression as she whispered, "Please just play along!" She didn't let him reply or react in any way before she had pulled his lips down to meet her own, light promptly flooding the passageway from the opening of the tapestry.

Up next is Chapter 23: The Christmas Ball Part 2 (sorry, I couldn't really be bothered to think of a fancy name)