Disclaimer: "If only Harry Potter were mine!!! Then Harry Potter would.....well him and his friends and enemies and other people would be mine. Then I'd be rich. Darn. They aren't mine

AN: See! I'm trying to get these chapters up. My brain is working and is ready to go. So let's go on with the next chapter..........

Questions.....if you have them send them in I'll answer them at the end of the next chapter

CHAPTER VII

Snickering Hermione and Ginny looked down at Harry. The poor boy didn't know what was about to happen to him. Using a bit of magic they had somewhat transfigured their looks so that they looked liked Malfoy and Zabini. It wasn't a polyjuice potion so they didn't look exactly like them, but it was close enough. As quietly as they could they climbed onto the bed. Ginny, looking like Zabini, lay down next to Harry propping her head up on her hand, making sure they were facing each other.

Hermione winked at Neville whom they had woken up moments before and told him of their brilliant plan. He stood there with the camera ready, waiting for that Kodak moment. Hermione then climbed laid down on Harry's other side and gently stroked Harry's arm. Leaning towards his ear she whispered....

"Wake up my love."

Harry merely made a noise, still asleep. Ginny took this as her cue. She lifted up his arm and moved closer putting his hand around her. She then pushed the hair out of his face and gently rubbed his cheek. "Harry, sweetheart, it's time to wake up." Ginny whispered.

The only reaction they got was Harry's tightening of his hold on Ginny. Trying not to laugh, Hermione and Ginny nodded at each other. Time to step it up.

Ginny whispered quickly. "Potter wake up. You need to let go of me!"

"Hurry up Potter before your girlfriend comes up here and finds us in bed with you!" Hermione added.

At that Harry's eyes popped opened. His eyes still slightly sleep encrusted and without his glasses he could just barely make out what was in front of him. Squinting he just managed to see the image of Zabini two inches away from his face and looking straight at him. Quickly looking to the other side of him, he saw white blonde hair and realized it was Malfoy. He then noticed their positions. He held Zabini in his arms and Malfoy behind him stroking his arm in an almost loving way.

Immediately jumping out of bed he looked on horrified. Saying the first thing that came to his mind. "I'm NOT gay!" with and emphasis on not.

There was a quick flash and then laughter. Neville handed him his glasses and he immediately put them on.

Blinking to try and see what was going on, Harry saw a disfigured Malfoy and Zabini rolling around laughing on his bed. Confused at first he looked to Neville for an explanation when he saw that Neville too, was laughing. And in his hands was a camera.

'So that's what that flash was' Harry thought. Then he scowled when he fully realized what had happened. They had tricked him. Knowing he didn't have the best eyesight without his glasses and how horrified he had been when they mentioned him being gay before hand, they decided to pull a prank.

"Very funny you guys. Very funny." Harry said.

Neville, Hermione, and Ginny paused in their laughter to look at him, only to burst back laughter.

"Ha Ha! You should have seen your face Harry! Ha ha! It was hilarious!" Malfoy (Hermione) said.

"Especially when you realized how close I was to your face! HA HA!" Zabini (Ginny) said.

"Yes, yes, so very funny." Harry said. Then looking at them laughing so hard he couldn't help, but laugh too. "Could you guys change back, though, it's kind of creepy seeing a two 'guys' laughing like girls. Not to mention those guys are a disfigured Malfoy and Zabini who happen to be holding onto each other so as not to fall off MY bed."

Their laughter calming down, they wiped the tears of laughter off their face and Hermione changed them back. "Finite Incantartum" (sp?)

"Well, make sure you get everything ready Harry," Ginny said "that way we won't be rushing when we get back."

Harry nodded his head in understanding. Watching them walk out of the dorm he wondered, "How did you decide on who was going to be who?"

Hermione laughed. "Well we tried to turn Ginny's hair blonde, but with all that red the most we could get it to do was turn pink!"

Shaking his head, Harry turned to get ready and make sure everything was ready for the ball tonight.

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Inside the Three Broomsticks sat two Slytherins. They had a booth to themselves and glared at anyone who would dare to sit at the booths and tables next to them. They didn't want to be disturbed or overheard.

"I don't know what to tell you, mate." Blaise said. Draco had shown him the letter Lucius had sent him the other day.

Draco didn't say anything in response. Though really there wasn't much to say. By the end of the day, he was going to be a Death Eater. He was going to be branded whether he wanted to or not. And he did NOT want to. But that was the problem. It wasn't a matter of what he did or did not want. It was a matter of what had to be done. He didn't have a choice at all.

At that thought he snorted.

"What?" Blaise asked.

"Just thinking about how I don't have a choice, when it comes to being a Death Eater." Draco answered. "Though if you go out and ask any Gryffindor if I had a choice, they'll say I did."

Blaise nodded. He knew what Draco meant. Most Gryffindors think it's all black and white, yes or no. They didn't take into consideration the things in between or the shades of grey that hid in the middle.

Draco sighed and took a sip of his butterbeer. He would prefer some firewhisky to calm his nerves, but he was underage. When he met the Dark Lord a couple of weeks before school, he was told he would be given the honor of being marked as a follower. Though it was an honor he didn't want, and once home immediately told his parents so.

Surprisingly his parents were relieved. Lucius then told him about how at first he had been proud to join the Dark Lord. About how great it was getting the opportunity to show the world he was better.

And then Lucius told him about when he started regretting joining the Dark Lord. About how the Dark Lord tortured his mother, Narcissa, the first time, but most certainly not the last.

Draco knew the Dark Lord had tortured his mother and father. He had seen him to do it. The Dark Lord had done it when they made a mistake, and when they didn't make a mistake. He made them torture each other, just to amuse himself. He was a sick bastard and Draco was completely disgusted by him.

"Weren't your parents trying to get you out of it?" Blaise asked, interrupting Draco's thoughts.

"They've been trying to ever since I told them I didn't want to join. They've tried telling the Dark Lord they didn't think I was ready yet." Draco paused. "That didn't work out to well; they were punished for thinking they knew more than the Dark Lord."

Draco sighed again. "They told me to be nice to Potter and his friends, said we would need their help."

"Which you were doing up until last week." Blaise said, not really thinking about what he was saying.

Looking at Blaise with a critical eye Draco asked, "What do you mean until last week?"

"Um…Well, you see… I might have been following you a bit last week." Blaise said. He looked at Draco sheepishly (AN: is that a word?).

Raising his eyebrows in question….

Blaise tried to explain, "You were being really quiet, and moody, angry, and…and…not like yourself…And so as your best mate, I took it upon myself to follow you around for a couple of days to try and figure out why."

"You couldn't have asked?" Draco said, smirking at Blaise as he stumbled over his words.

Realizing Draco wasn't mad, Blaise only smiled and shrugged, "Why make things easy? Life's no fun if your given everything."

Taking the opportunity to laugh while he could, Draco did just that, he laughed.

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Also laughing, though they had know idea that they were the only ones doing so at the moment, were Hermione, Ginny, and Harry. Harry was looking at the picture that Neville had taken that morning. Somehow Hermione had gotten the camera to also record sounds, so not only did the camera take a picture of him being horrified at being in bed with "Malfoy" and "Zabini", it also recorded him screaming he wasn't gay. Hermione was going to put it in her Hogwarts Album with the caption of "Harry's Worst Nightmare: Voldemort's dreams couldn't scare him more!"

Putting the picture away, the three of them walked into the office. It was 1:15pm when Hermione checked in with the lady at the front desk.

Waiting for her turn to be called, Hermione perused through some of the books with Ginny and Harry.

"Do you want us to go in with you?" Ginny asked.

"Yes." Truth be told Hermione was scared and didn't want to go in there by herself. She had been alone so much during the summer, and hadn't felt so alone since she told Harry and Ginny about being pregnant. And she didn't want to feel that way again. Plus she wanted someone to be there with her, in case they told her something was wrong. She knew there most likely would be something wrong. Being beaten by her father and barely having any food couldn't be good for the baby.

Hermione sighed. That was why she was here. She was going to do her best to take care of this baby while it was in her. Even though her life was so messed up, she was going to do whatever needed to make sure the same thing didn't happen to the baby.

"I think I'll stay and wait out here." Harry said.

Hermione and Ginny laughed.

Forty-five minutes later, the trio walked back to school. All was well. The baby was developing great, and the only thing the doctor admonished her on was her weight. She was underweight and if needed to work on it. Hermione promised she would. In three weeks she would come back and be able to tell if it was a boy or girl.

The next thing Hermione knew was pain. On her head that is. Ginny was pulling and twisting, brushing and pinning her hair. She had to meet Malfoy at the entrance of the Great Hall in thirty minutes, and Ginny was doing her best to hurry. Unfortunately, hurrying made it more painful.

Ginny had already gotten her hair and make-up ready first so that she could focus more on Hermione once she was done. They had each taken a nice relaxing bath and gave each other a manicure and pedicure. And now they were perfecting themselves. Well, at the moment, Ginny was perfecting Hermione. They had already perfected Ginny.

"Careful Ginny!" Hermione said. "I'm going to be lucky if I have any hair left, from the way you keep yanking on it."

"Sorry Mione." Ginny said. "I'm just trying to fix it. I'm almost done anyway."

Ten minutes later and Ginny was done with Hermione's hair. "All done!" Ginny announced, happily.

"Finally!" Hermione said dramatically while getting out of her chair. That only resulted in Ginny pushing her back in it.

"What now?" Hermione asked.

"Make-up!"

Groaning, Hermione attempted to make herself more comfortable in the chair.

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TIME FOR THE HALLOWEEN BALL

Each of the girls took a deep breath and placed the masks on their face. Taking one last look in the mirror, they headed down the stairs to meet up with Harry.

Ginny came down first, and just as she hoped she took Harry's breathe away. Her hair was done in an elegant twist. Her face half covered with her white mask that had light green feathers. Though the mask covered her face it only placed more emphasis on her blue eyes that were surrounded by green eye shadow. Her dress accentuated every curve, bringing out only the best in Ginny. It too was green. It was a spaghetti strap dress that flowed down to the floor. Overall it was a sexy dress that was modest at the same time. Showing her beauty, but not shoving it out.

(AN: Harry's wearing almost like what he wore to the Yule Ball, but with a touch of green to match Ginny.)

Harry gave Ginny a kiss. "You're so beautiful" he said. Proud that he would have her on his arm tonight. She said thank you and they both turned to watch Hermione come down.

Hermione came down next. Though she didn't have the same beauty that Ginny did, it didn't mean she wasn't beautiful. Her hair was pulled up. A few curls had fallen free from the pins, but it only added to it. Hermione's mask was also white, but with dark blue feathers to match her midnight blue dress. Her dress was a spaghetti strap and was flowed out. It didn't follow her every curve, because well, every curve included a bump she didn't want everyone to know about. Hermione was nervous and excited. She was going to make the most of this night.

Hermione took Harry's other arm and they left the common room to go to the Great Hall, where Hermione would meet with Malfoy.

…………………………….

Just as Ginny had taken Harry's breathe away, Hermione took Draco's breathe away. He didn't recognize her at first. It hadn't been until she stopped in front of him and spoke to him that he realized who she was. And for that moment when he really looked at her he forgot about what was going to happen that night. So mesmerized by Hermione that he completely missed out on Harry's little speech about how he would regret living if he hurt Hermione.

The moment didn't last long, though. McGonagall had called them to tell them it was time to enter.

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Hermione and Ginny came back to the table Harry was waiting at. Laughing and exhausted they sat down.

"I'll get you two, something to drink." Harry said as he stood up.

"Thank you!" Both Ginny and Hermione said. They had been dancing all night. Each taking turns to make sure they didn't lose their table.

Thanking Harry again, when he came back, they happily sipped their drinks.

"What time does this ball end, Mione?" Harry asked. Looking at his watch.

"Midnight, that way we can do an unveiling sort of thing. Everybody will take off their masks at the same time." Hermione answered

"Is that why we weren't supposed to tell anyone who we were?" Ginny asked

"Yes!" Hermione said.

"My bad!" Ginny replied laughing. It was too now. Turning to Harry she asked, "What time is it?"

Taking another look at his watch, "It's 10:20."

"Good." She said.

"Why's that good?" Harry asked

Grabbing his hand and pulling him towards the dance floor she answered, "We still have plenty of time to dance!"

Laughing, Hermione shook her head and turned to Neville who had just joined her at the table.

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(Meanwhile)

Draco stood in the corner, sipping on his butterbeer. At first glance he looked annoyed at having to be there at the ball, but on a closer inspection his hand could be seen shaking slightly while his eyes kept glancing at the clock. He was waiting for something.

Blaise joined him in the corner. "It's 10:15, mate."

Looking at the clock again, Draco nodded. He put his drink down and nodded his head to Blaise, before taking a deep breath to try and relax.

"Good luck." Blaise said. There wasn't anything else he could say. It wouldn't change anything.

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Lucius laid his son down in his bed. He carefully tucked him in, just as he had done when Draco was a young boy. He placed a pain relief potion on the stand next to the bed, and watched as his wife kissed Draco on the forehead.

Together they watched their son sleep. They had never felt so low in their life. What would surprise most people was the fact that they loved their son. And to watch as he forced to join something he didn't want to be part of was hard. Watching as he was branded with the Dark Mark. Watching as he screamed out in pain had hit them hard. They would do anything to keep him safe. And now they would do anything to get him and themselves out of this mess.

So thats another chapter for you. I think thats the fastest I've ever put up a new chapter.

Anyways.. if you have any questions or want to know why I made certain things go a certain way feel free to ask. I'll answer them at the end of the next chapter.

More importantly....THANKS for the reviews. It means a lot to me.....THANKS