DISCLAIMER: STILL NOT MINE, STILL NOT RAKING IN THE GALLEONS.
"Really, Headmaster?" Draco asked sarcastically. He and Hermione were sitting in Dumbledore's office, having their usual Head meeting.
"Yes, really, Mr. Malfoy. I believe that a little fun is what the school needs after the year we had. You both need to inform the Prefects of the details, as I expect ALL of you to be in attendance. Even the teachers will be," Dumbledore said serenely.
"But why not stick with the usual Halloween feast? That's always festive. We don't need a dance!"
"Not just any dance, Mr. Malfoy; a Masque. I expect all my Prefect's, teachers, and two Head students to be in costumes. I believe it will give everyone a chance to finally let loose and be creative," Dumbledore explained.
"What are the restrictions, Headmaster?" Hermione asked, vigorously taking notes, since last week Draco took the notes.
"Ah, yes; restrictions. Well, the obvious ones are no inappropriate costumes. Even if the student in question is of age, we have children attending who are not. Therefore, I will not have any students dressed like they belong in a Knockturn Alley brothel. Also, NO variations of any kind of: dementors, Death Eaters, dark arts, and of course, Voldemort. I will need the help of some volunteer Prefects, and you two of course, with the decorations. Today is October 13th, therefore everyone will have about 2 and a half weeks to prepare, which should be plenty of time to whip together a costume. I will make the announcement tonight at dinner. I trust that by then the Prefects will be well aware."
"Yes, sir. I'm calling a meeting right now, as I speak," Draco said, as he fidgeted with the galleon in his hand. Hermione had created them a few weeks prior, and they were reminiscent to the ones she had made for the D.A. in her fifth year. These coins would still heat up, and the numbers would change, but they could also inscribe short messages into them, such as A.S.A.P.
"Very well, Head Boy & Girl; do your stuff," Dumbledore said.
They both got up to leave, and as they reached the door, Dumbledore added, "By the way, Mr. Malfoy, I love what you've done with your hair."
Hermione started laughing hysterically at the scowl on Draco's face, as he turned to leave once more. That morning, Hermione had charmed his shampoo to turn his hair scarlet and gold as the ultimate prank, getting him back for turning her nails, backpack (including the contents), and eyebrows green and silver the morning before.
Holding his mock Gryffindor head high, Draco walked out of the office.
XXX
"So, what you figure? I can go as Beauty, and you can go as Beast?" Draco said, lazing in his chair (today resembling a large tongue, which Hermione thought was gross.)
"Oh, you're hilarious Draco. Besides, I'm not going with you; I have Severus remember?" Hermione laughed.
"Oh god, I didn't even think about what Severus would be wearing! Think I could convince him to go as a bunny?"
Still laughing, Hermione managed to choke out, "Not on your life!"
They had just finished the Prefect meeting 5 minutes prior. The Prefects were all in different states of excitement, and many volunteered for decoration help.
"Think if I go as a beautiful witch, Harry would go with me?" Draco laughed.
"Wouldn't work, because then he'd take you and wonder why you didn't dress up, not knowing that you are," she said.
"True, true; plus I don't think I could bear to pretend to be a witch. I mean, how do you perfect a face like this one?" A moment later a pillow hit his perfect face.
"Ok, so really, what should we go as?"
"Well, I think you had an idea when you mentioned Snape, even if you were joking. You two should coordinate, since everyone will think you will anyway. It's not unusual for a teacher to dance with a student, either. We know Lucius' spy will be there, so it's good to keep it up," he told her, his voice slipping into his serious, strategic one.
"That should be easy," Hermione said, rolling her eyes.
"If you explain what I just explained, he'll understand. I wouldn't be surprised if he already came to the same conclusion."
"Maybe," she sighed.
"I wonder how I'd look as the Phantom of the Opera. Or we could take a trip into Muggle London one weekend, and I could get a muggle costume. That would be hilarious," Draco said, back in his own world. "I'VE GOT IT!" he yelled, startling Hermione out of her own costume thoughts. "I'LL GO AS A MUGGLE!"
Hermione started laughing so hard, for a second she didn't realize that there was another voice laughing with her until she turned to see Harry holding onto the door frame, almost bent over laughing.
"Harry! How're you?" she exclaimed. Since that day a little over a week ago, Harry had become more cheerful. She'd seen him smile more in a week than she had in the whole last month.
"I'm good. I walked in on time to hear Draco say he could pass for a muggle, and I couldn't help it," he said, wiping his eyes from laughing.
"I don't see what's so funny. I could pass for a muggle," Draco sniffed haughtily, but the corners of his mouth were turned up.
"Sure, man; whatever you say. So why is he dressing like a muggle?"
Hermione and Draco filled him in on the Masque plans, and he groaned. "Oh great; this should be entertaining."
"Weren't you always crying about how you didn't want to be Harry Potter anymore?" Draco pointed out. "Well, now here's your chance."
"Funny, Draco. Real funny. How about I go as you, and you go as me?"
"No, I don't think I could pull off black hair," Draco said casually, choosing to ignore the sarcasm. "So, are you going to take Ginny?"
Hermione figured she was the only one to notice Draco tense when he asked Harry, and she busied herself with pretending to get comfortable, and acting like she didn't notice how thick the air had got.
"God no; Ginny's like my sister. No, I haven't really thought of anyone to take," Harry said mildly.
"It's probably because we just told you," Hermione said, but no one paid attention.
"I was just wondering, because I noticed you were spending a lot of time around her, and I knew she used to be taken with you when she was younger," Draco said, trying to sound blasé.
"No, I've just been helping her through some stuff about Ron, that's all," Harry answered quietly.
"Oh, ok," Draco said indifferently.
A moment of tense quiet followed, and then Harry broke it by asking casually, "So, have you thought of anyone to take? You've known for almost the whole day."
"No. No, I've just been thinking about the perfect costume. It'll be nice not being Draco the Death Eater for a night," he said, cheeks tinged a light pink color. "So have you thought about anyone yet? Oh, I just asked that, huh? Well, have you thought of anyone since I asked?"
"You mean about 15 seconds ago? No. I'm not sure I'll have a date," Harry said. "I won't know who'll be going with me because they like me, or because they want to be seen with me. Not many girls I'm interested in here, either."
"No girls here up to your standard, huh Harry?" Hermione said idly, smirking when Draco shot her a glare.
"No, not really," he answered, not noticing.
"Yeah, I'm not really interested in the girls here either. So I'll probably wind up not taking a date," Draco said.
"Not even if someone asks you?" Harry said, with a very faint, almost unnoticeable pink tinge on his cheeks.
"Well, if the right person asked, I might consider it," Draco trailed off.
Another second of silence and Hermione stood up.
"Alright then! That was productive. I'm going to go see Snape now," she said, and left the two boys in the living room trying to make conversation.
XXX
"Hermione, what a pleasant surprise," Snape said sarcastically, opening the door for her to enter his office, smirking when he heard her mutter, "Oh, I'm so sure."
Snape offered her some tea before he went to sit back at his desk to continue grading.
"To what do I owe this honor?" he said as he slashed through a whole paragraph with red ink.
"A couple reasons actually. One, I wanted to get out of my rooms; the air was a little too thick. And two, I wanted to discuss the Masque."
"Ah, yes; the Masque. Albus certainly gets a kick out of his festivities," he said, then paused with his quill suspended over an essay. "What do you mean the air was 'thick'?"
"Oh, nothing really; it's a muggle expression. It's just Draco and Harry in there right now, and I couldn't sit around and hear them attempt to make conversation with one another," she said mildly.
"Ah, so has Mr. Potter fallen under my godson's love spell?" Snape resumed his grading, ignoring Hermione when she choked on her tea. "Yes, yes, I know all about Draco's, ah, affection preference. And I also know to whom his affection is aimed towards."
"How? I had to sneak the subject into a conversation to get him to tell me!"
"How very Slytherin of you," he said in an offhand voice. "I spent the last six years of your schooling watching Mr. Potter's almost every move, trying to protect him. Old habits, Hermione; I notice when people stare at him oddly or for longer than normal periods of time, even if I wish I didn't."
"Hey, that's what I said too!" Hermione laughed, and Snape's lips actually tipped up in the corners.
"As for his sexuality, that much is obvious if you know him close enough," Snape finished, still crossing out lines on the poor student's paper.
"Or if you live with him," she added.
"Precisely."
"Well, I don't know about Harry, but it definitely seemed tense when I left. Not an angry tense, though. Just nervous."
"So you escaped to the dreaded Potions Master's office. How nice."
They sat for a few minutes longer in a comfortable silence, her taking in her surroundings and getting lost in her tea, and he grading more essays.
Finally, Snape said, "What did you have in mind for the Masque?"
"Oh, I don't know," Hermione said, blushing faintly. "Draco's actually the one who suggested it."
"I'm not surprised; he has a knack for strategy," he murmured. "Well, go on; throw some ideas out."
"Hmmm…Beauty and the Beast?" Hermione smiled, remembering the conversation from earlier.
"Not a chance."
"How about I can go as a professor, and you can be the student."
"Hilarious. My sides may burst from the laughter I'm containing."
"Well, Draco mentioned that he wanted to see if he could convince you to be a bunny," Hermione trailed off.
"Not a chance in hell."
Hermione sighed, and blew her bangs out of her face as she thought.
"Ok, how about this," she hesitantly began. "We can go from Victorian times, or something of the sort. We can wear the formal ball dance clothes they wore. We'd match, but not obtrusively."
"That's actually a fair idea," he said.
"Good. Now I just have to find a place that sells old fashioned dresses," she laughed.
"I may know of a few places. I'll look into it for you."
"Thank you, Severus."
He hesitated above his paper again for a second before murmuring, "Your welcome, Hermione."
Hermione finally left 3 hours later. Both of them had lost track of time over the course of those hours, for after he finished grading, they both sat in front of his fire place drinking tea and just talking. They only noticed the time when she realized that dinner was going to start in a half hour.
XXX
"So, did you two decide what you're going to go as?" Hermione asked Harry when she sat next to him at dinner.
"No. We mainly talked about quidditch and stuff," he answered.
Just then, Dumbledore got to his feet and the Hall got quiet.
"Good evening, everyone. I know I usually save announcements for after meals, but I figured this would give everyone a nice dinner conversation," Dumbledore said serenely, eyes twinkling away. Behind him, Hermione saw Snape roll his eyes, and she stifled a giggle.
"As you all know, Halloween is approaching in two weeks time. I regret to inform you that our regular Halloween feast will be cancelled." At this, groans and exclamations went up over the hall, but Dumbledore merely raised his hand for silence. "Now, the reason it's being cancelled is that we professors,"-again, another eye roll from Snape-"have decided to throw a Halloween Masque Ball!"
Excited twitters and whispers went up all through the hall at this, and Dumbledore waited a few more seconds. "Everyone please see your House Prefects tonight or tomorrow, and they will tell you the restrictions. Let me just warn you, if ANYONE breaks one of the restrictions, the punishment will be severe," he said in an unusually serious tone. It was the voice that commanded people to heed his message. Fast as lightening, however, his voice was benign as ever. "Now, tuck in!"
Hermione cast muffliato and told Harry of her costume plans, and he made a face.
"Sorry," he apologized when she glared. "I just don't want to think about you and Snape dancing and matching. Next you'll be picking out curtains."
Hermione laughed. "Not quite. Now I just need to find the time and money to go get a dress. I could always transfigure one, but I don't like to trust transfigured clothes."
"Yeah, I think we did well enough with the rumors that you don't need to have your dress disappear on the dance floor to get anyone to believe you're together, thank you." He laughed as he dodged a grape.
XXX
That next week, there was a package lying on her bed when she went in to go to sleep. Wary of it, she cast a few unveiling spells on the box, and when nothing showed up she walked closer. She breathed a sigh of relief when she saw Snape's familiar scrawl written on the top. It said:
Hermione,
I went and got this for you, seeing how I figured you wouldn't have any idea where to go, nor would you have the time to travel to such places. This also makes it easy for me, since I bought mine at the same time and I know we'll match.
Think of it as a gift; no need to pay me back.
-Severus
Fingers trembling slightly, Hermione opened the box and gasped slightly at the beautiful gown lying folded inside.