Last Time

"I screwed that up, didn't I?"

'Yep, you sure as Hell did.'

Now

It was half an hour to the dance; he stood in front of the freestanding full body mirror in the boy dormitory.

He wore the black Ichigo Ban-Kai costume, wearing black jeans in place of the hakama pants, which he had to admit looked damn cool. He ran a hand through his orange hair. 'How the Hell did I change my hair color?'

He felt Refero's shrug. 'No idea; maybe it's a birth gifted magic ability, like parseltongue?

Harry nodded. 'I'll look it up tomorrow... If I survive tonight that is.'

'Sigh. Harry, I don't think she wants to be 'just' friends with ya, only reason I can think of her responding like that.'

Harry nodded dazedly, starting to walk out of the room.

'Ha ha, I just thought up a finishing touch to your 'Ichigo' costume; give me control of your arm for a sec!'

'Which one?'

'Doesn't matter.' With a calming sigh, Harry relaxed control of his right arm. A second later it twitched and came up to his for head. 'It won't give you any powers, but I'm sure my mask will be a good mask for the dance!' With that, Refero brought the borrowed hand down, showing a bone white mask with deep blood red marking on the left side that fitted to his face so that required no strings to stay on (1).

After regaining control of his arm, Harry reached up and pulled off the mask to take a look at it. 'This... is going to have people running from me.' Harry thought, eying the grin that made the mask look like it wanted to eat his soul.

'Which it should!' Refero grinned as he caught the thought. 'Now, go meet your date! Oh, and don't screw it up this time!' With that, Refero's presence faded deeper into his mind and was gone.

"Hn." Slipping the mask back into place, he headed for the Great Hall.

Hermione huffed at the lustful looks she was getting; though no one new it was her as she had had dyed her hair, as well as using a hair-straightening potion. Hearing some gasps she turned towards the staircase, wondering what costume someone had worn to get actual gasps of fear, she too gasped as the person came in to her sight.

A sleek black long-sleeved, ankle-length black coat with red lining with a tarnished end closed at his upper chest and black tight fitting jeans. On his feet he wore plain zōri and tabi. But what truly drew everyone's gaze to him was what was on his face; a mask.

Not just any mask, mind you, but a mask that seemed to practically be drenched in blood lust and insanity along with a animalistic hunger; somehow, Hermione had the feeling it hungered for souls. The mask was bone white and seemed to be framed especially for the man's skull. A row of upper and lower flat teeth were positioned above the place where the mouth would be, forming a grin that spoke of insanity. There was a series of blood red markings that ran about the white skull weaving around the slanted, thin left eyehole.

Despite all that she felt... save, with that mask in sight, like the wearer would, and could do anything to protect her

'Who in Hogwarts...?' At this distance, she couldn't make out the eye color through the thin slits of eyeholes.

She shivered a bit as the man approached her, and couldn't help but feel like he towered over her even though he was physically her height.

"Hey, Hermione." Harry greeted. 'Refero, you didn't say it would echo my voice!'

'Didn't know if it would, just say it's a spell on the mask.'

Hermione blinked. 'That voice... Harry?!' "Harry?"

He nodded, pulling the mask to the side of his head to reveal his face. "Yep." 'Guess my voice only echoes if I'm wearing the mask fully...' He paid no mind to the people around them starting to gossip about either apparently Harry and Hermione had come as a couple, or the formers mask. He chuckled lightly as he took in her costume. "An Angel?"

Hermione blushed; running a hand through her magically turned blue hair. "I was originally going to come as Mia, a character from a muggle game, but she wears very heavy robes and it's still hot out for the time of year. So I changed it a bit and came as an a blue haired angel." While the there were still several layers to her costume, they were thin.

Harry laughed. "You came as an Angel...? Did you really have to dress up to do that?"

"Eh?" Hermione squeaked, blushing as he caught the implication.

"You're an angel 24/7 as far as I know." He waved dismissively, as if stating common knowledge, causing Hermione's blush to deepen. "You came as an Angel, and I came as some form of Demon... how... symbolic... of what, not quite sure..."

Hermione grinned like a cat. 'I'm sure I know your 'Demon', if your looks now are any indication of your future ones; you'll be a real heart throb... wait, you already are...'

Harry smirked. "Did you just call me devilishly good looking?"

A blush replaced the grin; she hadn't realized she had spoken out loud.

Before any more could be said, the doors to the Hall opened, allowing people in to the dance. Sticking a finger in the eyeholes of his mask, Harry pulled it over his face with a mock bow. "Shall we, Lady Angel?"

Hermione giggled. "Of course, Lord Demon." She answered, taking the hand Harry offered as he straightened from his bow. "You have calloused hands, Harry." The two walked into the Hall, everyone giving them, more Harry a wide birth.

The Hall had been changed for the dance. The four house tables removed, replaced by four person tables scattered along the sides of the room. The staff table had vanished, the Weird Sister were setting up in its stead.

Harry grinned behind his mask. "You should shake hands with my sword instructor, 'Mione; calluses earned from years wielding swords, make my not even year old calluses look like melted butter." He had shook hands with the Hollow, and he knew his words were true.

"Is this the same as the 'Refero' that advised you on your courses?"

Harry nodded. "The same. Shall we dance, or wait till there are others out there so we aren't the center of attention?"

Hermione giggled. "Can you even dance?"

She got the impression her date was sticking his tongue at her behind his frightening mask. "You'll just have to wait and see, now won't you?"

Those who watched agreed it was an odd sight indeed to see a blue haired Angel dancing with a masked Demon.

"Hey, Harry?"

"Hmm?"

"What's with the orange hair, hell your whole costume?"

What was visible of Harry's eyes under his mask showed his shock. "Hermione… did you just swear?"

She huffed, pulling her arms away from Harry and fisting her hands on her hips. "Yes, it looks like it took your bad influence finally got to my vocabulary."

Harry couldn't stop his laugh; at least not after getting over how cute she looked when she was huffing. He leaned over and whispered into her ear. "You look cute when you're huffing, you know that?"

The blush on her face returned with a passion. "Oh, shush."

"But if I shush, how will I answer your question?" Harry retorted.

"Fine, wise guy." She stuck her tongue at him.

Seeing how they wouldn't go back to dancing for awhile, Harry led them to a side table, the crowd parted like the ocean before Moses for the demonic mask. "The mask..." He said, sitting down with Hermione, pulling off the mask and setting it on the table between them. "Is a gift from Refero, my sword instructor."

"Your voice is back to normal...?" Hermione interrupted.

Harry waved his hand. "The voice distortion is part of a spell on the mask."

Again Hermione cut in. "Then how did use the distorted voice when talking to Buckbeak and… "

Harry smirked. "When I called you a 'pretty angel' on the train?" Hermione blushed horribly, and dropped the topic.

'Good, 'cause I don't quite know myself why that happened... '

"The costume is a... friend's of Refero's battle wear, who has orange hair; thus the orange hair... though I have no idea how I got it."

Hermione raised a bemused eyebrow, knowing that Harry had dodged the question but knowing she'll get an answer later, though she still couldn't quite meet his eyes. "You don't know how you dyed your own hair?"

"Nope, all I know is that one second I'm looking in the mirror, thinking about having orange hair, and all the sudden my hair turned citrus."

Hermione tapped her chin thoughtfully. "Hmm… that sounds familiar, I just can't recall from where; we can look it up tomorrow." She reached over and picked up the mask. "Can you show me?"

Harry shrugged, closing his eyes and focusing on his natural raven hair. He opened his eyes when he heard Hermione gasp; looking up he saw his now black hair.

Around them, the people who had been watching Harry, to see who he was behind the mask, gasped as they recognized him. The two were oblivious as they just sat there in silence for a bit.

"Well, your looking good, Harry, Hermione." A voice said to their side. Blinking they turned to face the speaker, a red headed blue eyed girl wearing a more fiery shaded version of Hermione's costume.

"Ginny?" Harry guessed.

"Yep!" She said cheerfully, sitting down next to Hermione. "I'm a character from the same game as Hermione, she had red hair so it was easy." She picked up the mask from the table, looking at it intently. "I feel... like I owe this mask for something..."

'She must have a strong sixth sense, to recognize the masks presence so easily.'

Harry mentally agreed.

After another moment of over looking the mask, Ginny sat the mask down and looked at Harry. "So, what spell are you using on your hair? Didn't know you knew any cosmetic spells, and I doubt you made a potion."

After Harry explained it to her, as well as showing her proof by turning his hair back to orange, Ginny gasped. "Harry! You a metamorphagus!"

Harry merely blinked in confusion at the term, but Hermione gasped. "Your right! I remember now. A metamorphagus is a person born with the ability to alter their appearance." Hermione added, seeing Harry's confused look. "I read about them in Rare Magical Abilities."

Harry nodded. "That would explain a few things." He said, remembering the time that he grew his hair back in a night after aunt Petunia gave him that horrendous hair cut. "So, yet another thing to ad the 'Why I'm Special List'?"

Hermione giggled. "Looks like it." They spent awhile sitting and talking, laughing at some of the more outrageous dance moves and screw-ups.

"Would you ladies like a drink?" Harry asked, standing and picking up his mask by an eyehole. Both girls nodded, so Harry slipped on the mask and headed towards the punch bowl at the other side of the hall.

Dumbledore frowned from his spot in the crowd, where he could get an amble view of Harry as he left Hermione and Ginny. 'He's become so radically different from before, he is far more confident. You can see it in the way he moves that he's become more sure of himself since last year. Not only has he gained confidence, but the teacher's tell me he has tripled his efforts in their classes, even Severus has begrudged that he is now a 'decent' potion maker.'

His attention now shifted from Harry's personality changes to the mask. 'Such a frightening thing... where could he of gotten hold of such a thing? I feel as if it belongs to a person drenched in blood death and destruction... who like that could have given something to Harry?' Dumbledore had questions and no answers, a situation he hadn't found himself in for more then half a century.

"So..." Ginny asked as soon as Harry was out of earshot. "You and Harry..."

"Came as 'just friends'." Hermione snapped irritably. "Honestly, Ginny, I told you he didn't like me like that. Besides, don't you like him like that?"

Ginny sighed, looking wistfully at Harry, who she could pick out even though he was surrounded by a large group of people thanks to his vibrant citrus hair. "I won't deny that I haven't entirely gotten over my crush on him, but..." Here she let eyes travel from Harry to meet Hermione's. "I've seen how you two interact with each other, you compliment each other, Hermione; you have enough in common so you don't bicker all the time but enough differences to keep the other entertained."

By the time Ginny finished, Hermione was blushing the deepest she ever had. "That doesn't mean he likes me..."

"Who wouldn't like you?"

Hermione and Ginny jumped, turning to face a blond boy wearing high-end wizard robes and an eye mask.

"That's a lame costume, Malfoy, costumes are supposed to hide who you are." Hermione grinned, happy for the distraction from the embarrassing topic;

Draco tilted his head to the side confusedly. "Well, the pretty girls know my name, may I know theirs?"

"If you're trying to flirt, Malfoy, you suck." Ginny mocked, waving her hand in front of her face.

Malfoy sneered, grabbing Ginny's waving wrist. "Look here you little..." He was cut off as he hand grabbed the wrist holding Ginny in a strong grip and a finger tapping his temple.

"I would refrain from assaulting my friend and or my date, Malfoy; unless you like to know how having a bolt of white lightning go through your skull feels..." Harry spoke, his voice's distortion slightly greater then normal.

"Who the hell are you...?" The blond managed to keep a mostly even voice, though he felt like crapping himself.

"…" Harry said nothing, a white ball of energy gathering at the fingertip resting an inch off of Malfoy's temple. "Well? Release your grip, and I'll release mine, Malfoy."

Grunting, Draco let go of Ginny's wrist. Nodding, Harry dropped his hand from Draco's, dispelled the Byakurai and sat down; passing around the goblets he had set down before interrupting. "You're still here?" Harry asked curiously, looking at Draco who hadn't budged from his spot.

"Who are you...?"

'I don't have a na… holly shit, I've become automatic in my response to that question…' Refero sobbed. 'I have truly heard that question to many times in my life…'

Rolling his eyes at his tenant, Harry answered. "Here's a hint; we've hated each other since we met on the train first year, I'm best friends with a muggle born and the Weasleys."

"P-potter?" Draco sputtered.

"Your a genius, you know that?" Harry asked sarcastically. "And by the way, Mr. Pure blood racist ponce, when did you start liking muggle borns and 'undignified' witches?"

Realizing that he meant the two girls were Hermione and Ginny, he spun on his heel and stocked off.

"What was that?" Hermione asked, sipping from her goblet of butter beer.

"I believe the term is a 'threat', 'Mione." Harry grinned, taking off and setting down his mask.

"You're a regular wise guy, you know that?" Ginny asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Proud of it, Ginny."

The girls giggled, they sat there talking for another half hour.

Ginny blinked, realizing how long they had been talking. "My god, we came to a dance and we've been talking this whole time!" She stood up. "I'll see you guys later, I'm sure I can find some one to dance with around here!" With that, Ginny rushed off, leaving Harry and Hermione sitting at the table.

"She has a point, 'Mione." Harry said, standing up and offering a hand to help Hermione up. "Shall we dance?"

Hermione smiled, taking the offered hand. "Let's." She picked up the mask, placing it on her date's face. "There."

They danced for what felt like a far longer time then they truly had, the five hours seeming to stretch into ten, but Dumbledore had announced the next slow dance as the last and after wards all dancers would have to head of to bed.

Hermione sighed happily, resting her head in the nook of Harry's neck as they swayed back and forth, they were among the last dozen or so couple's yet to leave. Both were thinking back to the songs they had heard that night, so many seeming to have been picked out just for them both for their current relationship and the one they both wished to have.

Gathering her courage, Hermione spoke as the last minutes before the dance ended twinkled away.

"Yes, 'Mione?" Harry asked, his voice normal as his mask had been removed and tucked inside his costume.

Opening her eyes, she picked her head off of her dates chest and looked him in the eye. "What I'm about to do... if you think I want to be 'just friends' after I do this... well, you're even more an idiot then Ron."

"Huh?" Harry asked, feeling a hand trail up his spine and get tangled in the mess of his black hair.

The response was anything but what he had expected; grabbing a fistful of his hair, Hermione pulled his lips crashing down to meet hers in a kiss.

"Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha." Refero laughed, though he made sure he was deep enough in Harry's mind he wasn't heard by the aforementioned boy; not that the Hollow personally thought the boy was aware of more then the kiss. "I pictured her being more like Orihime had been; shy, and her first kiss would be as such. But damn, she took the kiss the same way Rukia and Tatsuki did! Fierce and demanding!" The Hollow could still remember the emotions of shock that had traveled far enough through Ichigo psyche even he had felt it.

"You truly do enjoy watching humans growth, do you not, 'Refero'?"

Refero grinned, turning to see Zangetsu floating on his pole of doom, he rolled his eyes. "And you enjoy floating around on that damn pole almost as much as I like a good fight, Zangetsu."

The sword avatar simply nodded thoughtfully. "Hmm, Ichigo always said the thing a bit to much..." This received a 'har-har' from Refero. "How do you think that boy is, 'Refero'?"

Rolling his eyes again, Refero laid down... several feet up thin air, using the same technique Shinigami used to fight in mid air with. "You can stop quotationing the new name already, Zangetsu; it's the name I shall be using while in this dimension. As for how I think Ou(King) is, I'm sure he's finished those years of required academy classes and become a ranking officer, if not Captain or Vice-Captain, by now. And I'm sure the Joou(Queens) have achieved their own individual ambitions... other then having the Ou as a lover, of course, as they have already achieved that one." He reflexively scratched his left shoulder, where the indistinguishable black mark stood out on his white skin.

Zangetsu, of course, noticed the action. "Refero..." He had dropped the quotes. "It wasn't your fault that Lady Hal-" He was cut off by the Hollow.

"Don't say her name!" The inverted form of Ichigo yelled. "Only I am allowed to say that name, Sword!"

Zangetsu winched, Refero only called him 'Sword' when he was incredibly pissed off. "Of course." Zangetsu bowed, true apology in his voice. "I should have known it was still a fresh wound, Master." The avatar knew better then to think he could use his master's given name when he had angered him so.

The man sighed, waving off the apology. "It's OK, Zangetsu..." He turned around, beginning to walk towards on of the spaces between the side ways skyscrapers. "I know..." He said, pausing at the edge, but not looking back. "That we need to share our stories; both in order to grow to understand each other and to better use our shared strength. But... that is one story I'm not ready to share yet..." With that, he jumped over the side.

Zangetsu nodded. "Take all the time you need, Refero..."

While this was going on inside the depths of his mind, Harry had finally registered that Hermione, his Hermione, was kissing him. 'What do I do...?'

'You kiss her back, you idiot!'

Finding this to be the best idea so far, he ignored that had not been Refero who had spoken and took the advice. The two kissed for a good minute, until they had to break for breath.

"Wow..." Was all either got out as they panted for breath. They didn't notice everyone was watching them until people began to clap, instigated by the twins of course, whistle and cat call. The two were blushing profusely, beating any shade Hermione had demonstrated that night by several darkenings.

Harry was so embarrassed he didn't pay attention to that new voice as he, it was a male voice, seemed to wonder off. 'Wonder if Zangetsu is up to a game of chess…?'

(A/N) Yo! (Hides from readers of my other stories) Huh… lack of inspiration…? is anyone else sick of that excuse?

(1) The mask is the same one Ichigo had after he won dominance over Refero in the Vaizard training.

Laters