So the "within a week" thing didn't really work out this time. I had a brief camping trip to go on, and as a fair warning right now, it might take two weeks for this next update. I'll be out of town for a week next week with no real time to write (nor will I really be of any mind to). But I'm sorry for the wait and I hope you enjoy this chapter!

Chapter Three: United We Stand

"Really, you don't know how to dance?"

"Honestly, Harry, get down from there before you hurt yourself."

Prince Harry, a sixteen-year old carefree soul, was currently lounging up in an apple tree, from which Hermione had been assigned to pick apples for Harry's approaching birthday, and the chefs had been asked to cook a marvelous apple pie - one of the many grand desserts that would be served at his birthday ball. She was eyeing him with disapproval as she continued to browse the lower hanging branches for apples suitable to use for the pie.

"I'll come down if you tell me the truth," Harry teased her. "Do you know how to dance or not?"

Hermione made a face at him. "Don't you have someone else to go bother? What about Ron, where is he?"

"You're not answering my question."

"I don't even understand why you're asking it in the first place," came the sharp retort. "It's a stupid question that doesn't deserve an answer."

The grin he sent down at her was almost infectious, and she had to fight smiling back at him. "Come on, humor me, 'Mione."

Hermione huffed, and angrily yanked an apple from the tree. Avoiding looking up at the prince, she gave in. "Fine. No, I don't know how to dance. I've never had to learn, considering as servant girls don't exactly need to know how to twirl around in pretty dresses."

"Have you ever wanted to learn?"

H&Hr&R&H&Hr&R

Much to Harry's chagrin, planning for the All Hallow's Eve ball was only delayed by half of a day.

By nightfall, he was back to helping Remus and Sirius pick color schemes and music selections, and feeling ready to cast an Unforgiveable on himself. The only difference between a few days ago and now were the guards that constantly followed his every move, and the constant companionship of an animal of some kind from Sirius's Animagi squadron.

Right now he had a dark tabby currently curled up near his feet. The only hints that the animal wasn't asleep were the perked ears and the twitching tail.

But having a number of guards like this posed its own difficulties other than virtually having no privacy around the palace.

He hadn't seen Hermione all day, and the guards weren't letting him wander the grounds in search for her, and she hadn't sought him out. Though he wasn't even entirely sure if the guards would have let her near him. He'd had to convince them that Ron was completely safe earlier today when they wouldn't even let the young knight enter his best friend's chambers to check up on him and to see what was going on.

Ron had told him that Hermione was being kept busy with chores around the castle, and that he had a sneaking suspicion that it was because one of the head matrons of the maids hadn't found it amusing that Hermione had chosen to help Harry sample possible foods for the ball. Harry had felt a stab of guilt in his abdomen at the thought of his best friend being forced to do extra work because of him, and at this point he was keeping a special lookout for her to that he could at least get the chance to apologize to her if that was indeed the case.

"Red and gold just gets too dull after using it for three years. I think we need to mix it up a little." Harry didn't even look up from his roll of parchment to see who'd said it.

"But what other colors can we use? Red and gold are the colors of the house of Potter, and the house of Potter is not only hosting the event, we have a Potter right here who defeated the Dark Lord on All Hallow's Eve. Or are you all forgetting the reason we even have an All Hallow's Eve ball?"

Harry stopped paying attention to what was being said, and it sounded like the argument was really beginning to get heated when he finally saw a flash of familiar bushy brown hair from outside the hall.

Without really thinking about it, he said, "Er, I'll be right back. I think I'm in need of a little bit of a walk."

One of the guards that had been standing nearby made a move to follow him, but Sirius, who'd been sitting next to Harry, held up a hand and gestured for the dark tabby to follow Harry instead.

"Go on, Andrea, I trust you enough to keep Harry safe in our own halls," the knight said, sending pointed looks to the guards who'd meant to follow the prince. The tabby twitched its tail before trotting off after Harry, who was already halfway out the door and into the corridor.

Harry looked around, hoping to see where she'd gone. He felt a burst of disappointment when she was nowhere to be found, and was almost resigned to go back into the hall when the dark tabby passed him.

The cat thumped his leg with its tail, and it turned a pair of bright brown eyes on him and looked impatient, as if the creature were saying: coming or not? Without waiting to see if he was following, Harry watched as the tabby trotted off, its tail held high in the air. Without thinking, Harry went after it.

Harry and the cat rounded a corner, and suddenly Hermione was in sight. She was walking away from him, holding her wand out and levitating a heavy-looking basket, and Harry brightened considerably.

"'Mione!"

She turned, and Harry paused in his approach as he realized how… well, how tired she looked. Her back was slightly hunched, and she stared at him with exhaustion evident in her chocolate brown eyes. But even at the sight of him, she offered a small smile.

"I can't stay too long to talk, Harry," she told him warningly as he came closer. "Romilda needs these blankets delivered to the washroom as soon as possible. If I dawdle, they'll probably give me even more work to do." Her voice turned slightly bitter towards the end of the statement, and as she said it, Harry could see that she was, actually, extremely dirty. Her hands were spotted with filth, and he raised his eyebrows.

"What have they had you doing?" he asked. "And why are they making you carry blankets if your hands are so dirty?"

Hermione looked down to see what he was talking about and grimaced. "They've had me working in the gardens all day, without magic. I would have come to see how the council meeting went, or the meeting with Dumbledore, but I keep getting slapped with last-minute jobs to do," she remarked, blowing an errant strand of hair away from her face. "I hope you don't think I've been avoiding you, it's just I-"

"'Mione, this wouldn't have to do with the fact that I asked you to sample foods with me yesterday, would it?"

This stopped her short. She blinked. "Er, why would you think a thing like that?"

Harry caught on to the hesitancy in her voice immediately. "Would it?" he pressed.

"Oh, I… it's not your fault, Harry, it's just not my place-"

"'Mione, I'm sorry they-"

"Oh, Harry, come now, I just said it wasn't your fault-"

"But it was my fault, considering I'm the one that invited you to-"

"And I should have had enough sense to refuse, but-"

"Oi, what're you two talking about?"

Harry and Hermione both turned to the opposite end of the corridor to see Ron standing there in some of his standard riding clothes, his red hair tousled as if the wind had been blowing through it. His blue eyes sparked in the dim hall, and his riding boots clicked against the stone floor as he approached them.

"Hermione's being punished with extra chores because she sampled food with me yesterday in the kitchens," Harry told him, at the same time that Hermione was trying to say,

"Harry's blaming himself for something that was entirely my fault."

Ron rolled his eyes as he got closer. "You two need to get over yourselves," he drawled. Eyeing Hermione, he remarked, "Did I hear something about you needing to take those blankets to the washroom? D'you want us to go with you?"

"I suppose," Hermione replied almost immediately. "I just don't want to be given any more jobs tonight. I'm in the need of a bath. And some supper."

"You haven't eaten?" Harry looked horrified at the prospect.

Hermione frowned at him. "I've been a little busy. I had a little bit of a snack earlier, but it's nothing to worry about, Harry. Really."

"C'mon," Ron said, patting Hermione on the shoulder and giving Harry a warning glance. He turned his head and looked at the dark tabby that had been sitting watchfully behind them. The cat was gazing at them with its brown eyes, and Ron asked it, "Is it alright if Harry comes with us to the washrooms?"

The cat mewed and stood, stretching, and padded over towards them.

The three of them started walking, side-by-side, just as they always had throughout the years. They hardly noticed the tabby tagging along behind them - it was keeping enough distance to give them a semblance of privacy, which Harry greatly appreciated. He noted that this was something the other guards that usually tailed him weren't willing to do. He would ask Sirius about it when he got back. He definitely liked this tabby compared to the others he'd been given - like that irritating finch that twittered constantly, or the terrier that practically tripped him every five minutes.

"So what have you been doing today, Ronald?" Hermione asked almost as soon as they set off, and the way Harry saw her glance at him suggested she was just trying to avoid the topic of her chores.

Harry listened as Ron launched into an animated description of his duties today. He'd been assigned to patrol duty, and had been sent out into the city to watch out for troublemakers, where apparently he stopped a thief from robbing an innocent little girl (though from Harry's perspective, it sounded a little embellished and from the way Hermione rolled her eyes, he could tell that she thought so too). And lastly, he'd been riding around the palace grounds with Seamus Finnigan, another young knight and a loose friend of theirs, before having returned his mount to the stables and grooming him.

The story lasted nearly all the way to the washrooms, and Harry was glad for the distraction today. This was the way things had always been between the three of them. Oftentimes pestering Hermione while she had work to be doing, and helping her out when she needed it. Whenever Harry and Ron weren't training with their swordsmanship, this was often where the pair of them could be spotted.

Over the years, many noblemen from around Gryffindor, and even around Hogwarts, came to visit the palace and to see young Harry. And more often than not, they were incredibly shocked (and in some cases, if the nobleman from Slytherin was a stiff pureblood, disgusted) that the prince spent so much time in the presence of a muggleborn servant girl.

Never, of course, had anyone's opinion of them ever stopped the three dear friends from spending time together.

"So how're things going with the ball?" Ron asked, half-teasing, half-curious. "Is everything going to go on as planned, even with all that's happened?"

Harry scowled, and upon seeing it, Ron grinned. "I'm supposed to help oversee the setup of the Great Hall tomorrow," Harry grumbled. "And the ball will still be on Saturday. Guests'll be getting here Thursday, Remus said."

"Oh, dear, that means that there's loads of cleaning to be done," Hermione said with a sigh.

"But you'll be able to use magic - it won't take that long," Ron scoffed.

Hermione sent him a withering look. "It's a very large castle, Ron. This happens every single year, and every single year I have to tell you the same exact thing-"

And just like every other single year, Harry only smiled and listened to them bicker.

H&Hr&R&H&Hr&R

The guests, true to Remus' prediction, started arriving Thursday evening.

Harry and Ron were standing just outside the palaces' main doors, awaiting to greet the three carriages that had arrived in their midst. The first three families to arrive in what would surely be a long line of appearances throughout the night and the day following.

All of Hogwarts heard about the All Hallow's Eve Ball, and most wealthy and noble families throughout the land attended. This year, however, there would also be an influx of knights, to assist Kingsley in the hunt for the Death Eaters that would be departing the day after the festivities.

Harry stood with his godfather, Sirius, and Remus, dressed in his stuffy red and gold prince's garb with the crimson cloak that marked him as the heir to the House of Potter. A thinly laced silver crown sat atop his messy raven hair, and he uncomfortably pulled at the collar of his robes with a dragonhide-gloved hand. Sirius took note of his displeasure, and smirked.

"Now you see why your father absolutely couldn't stand wearing his royal dub," he muttered in Harry's ear, to which the prince smiled in good humor.

The first carriage rolled up in front of them, and the herald announced it to be King Xenophilius Lovegood of Ravenclaw, and his daughter and heir to the Ravenclaw throne, Princess Luna.

The pair of them emerged from the carriage, and Harry couldn't deny that he'd ever seen a stranger pair of nobles in his life. King Xenophilius and his daughter came to the All Hallow's Eve Ball every year, and every year they seemed to wear stranger things. The two royal families greeted each other cordially, as Ravenclaw and Gryffindor had always been on reasonably good terms, and Harry had never begrudged Princess Luna's company when she stayed at the Gryffindor palace, despite her oddities.

The second carriage contained a knight - Sir Cormac McLaggen, a knight who resided at one of the outer castles of Gryffindor. He'd come to go on the expedition with Kingsley, and Harry got the impression that he was a rather arrogant young man, and was glad to not have to deal with him.

The third carriage, however, contained Harry's least favorite people in all of Hogwarts.

The Slytherin royal family was currently based in the Malfoy bloodline. Rumor had it that they were major supporters of Lord Voldemort during his reign of terror, though they vehemently denied it after he was defeated here in this very palace. Harry had always disliked seeing King Lucius and his bitter wife, Queen Narcissa, who was one of Sirius' older cousins. But the person he truly couldn't stand was their arrogant and uppity son, Prince Draco, who treated Harry and his friends as though they were nothing more than a dirty speck of mud on his boot.

"Lucius," Remus greeted the Malfoy patriarch, albeit stiffly, dipping his head in acknowledgement. "We're glad you could make it."

"I wouldn't miss the famous All Hallow's Eve Ball for the world, and nor would my family." The way the King of Slytherin said it, it almost felt like a sneer. "We've been traveling quite a long way. I expect our accommodations have been prepared and are waiting for us?"

"Of course," Remus replied, and he gestured for a servant to come forward. Harry's stomach dropped when he saw that the servant was Hermione. "We'll have one of our staff take you to your rooms. A feast will be starting in a little over an hour for our guests should you feel hungry."

"Thank you for the invitation," the King of Slytherin answered firmly, before turning and smirking down at Hermione, who showed absolutely no signs of fear or annoyance at his expression.

"This way, your Highness," she said softly, before turning and leading the Slythering royal family into the castle.

Anxious, Harry looked over his shoulder to watch her lead them away, and his eyes met Ron's, who was standing just a little ways away. Ron's expression mirrored his own concern, and he dipped his head at the silent request Harry made. He muttered something into the ear of a brunette young woman standing next to him, and she flashed him a smirk before she disappeared from sight and the same dark tabby cat from a few days before trotted off in the direction that the Malfoys had gone with Hermione.

More guests arrived by the minute, and it was getting to the point where Harry was getting extremely bored with smiling and greeting the nobles that had come for the Ball. A few were knights, such as Sir Cedric Diggory of Hufflepuff, that had responded to the call for knights from around Hogwarts for Kingsley's expedition (though Harry duly noted that none of the knights who'd arrived were from Slytherin.)

The tabby returned about twenty minutes later, and it quickly became the brunette Ron had asked earlier. She muttered something back into Ron's ear, and Harry took immediate notice of the exchange. Ron looked at Harry and nodded, as if to say, She's alright.

Harry wasn't sure why he was so relieved, or why he'd even thought that the royals from Slytherin would have tried anything in the first place.

He was excused (thank the heavens) from greeting the guests a few minutes after the tabby had returned, and Ron immediately followed him as the pair of them disappeared into the castle, hopefully to find Hermione and ask about what had happened.

"What happened?" Harry asked immediately.

Ron wasted no time in explaining. "Andrea said they asked her a bunch of questions, questions they really shouldn't be asking, and she just kept brushing them off. She didn't exactly tell me what they kept going on about, she said she'd find me and tell me later."

"Sooner rather than later, Weasley."

The pair of them turned around to see that the brunette had followed them. She bowed to Harry, making him feel slightly uncomfortable, as she formally introduced herself.

"Andrea Brennan, Highness. One of General Black's officers in the Animagi squadron. You wanted to know about Granger?"

Harry looked to Ron, who nodded encouragingly.

The Animagus guard hardly waited for an answer before continuing. "I'll have to talk to King Remus and to General Black about the whole thing, of course. They didn't do anything to Granger, of course, but they were asking rather specific and curious questions about security."

"Security?"

"Wanting to know how many guards would be posted, and where, and all that. With everything going on, it could never hurt to be too cautious," Andrea replied, as though she were reciting this off from a report. "The Malfoys were strong supporters of the Dark Lord when he rose to power. There's a reason he was allowed so much lenience in the kingdom of Slytherin, you know. It's possible that they were just nervous, but it I don't want us to be caught with our guard down."

Ron and Harry exchanged a look. They too had had their personal run-ins with Prince Draco, and none of them had ever been pleasant. "And Hermione, what did she tell them?" Ron questioned.

"The brilliant little tart," Andrea chortled in an approving tone. "Lass didn't exactly tell them off, but told them she had no business telling some royals about security, not that she really knew much in the first place. Said if they needed any questions answered about that sort of thing, they'd have to bring it up with King Remus."

Harry grinned at the thought of Hermione telling off the Malfoys, though it did spur some worry. Prince Draco was the kind who was easily offended, and tended to take his revenge in particularly nasty ways. He sincerely hoped that King Lucius was not the same way. But then again, he was also aware that Hermione was capable of taking care of herself.

"You'd better go get ready for the feast, Harry," Ron warned him. "Come to think of it, I think I want to get on a fresh doublet beforehand. This one's beginning to feel stuffy."

Grinning, the two best friends made their way back to their respective chambers, both dreading and feeling somewhat anxious for the welcoming feast for the first of the guests.

Please read and review! It's always appreciated. (And for anyone who's worried about Andrea being a major character, she's something like Damien. There for now.)

- Harp