THE EIGHTH YEAR
CHAPTER 4
The Autumn Ball
By: hermioneeeeeee
A/N: Try to guess who the partners are before I tell you. Message me if you figured it out!
The girls dormitory was in a state. A messy one. Hair brushes were everywhere and makeup kits were sprawled out on beds. Finishing touches were being added and everything was looking impeccable. The girls stepped out and looked at their reflections in the mirror. Ginny's hair was in simple waves with a black rosette. Hermione had curls with black pearls ornately weaved into her hair. Luna's blond hair was crimped lightly with no extras (her request). Astoria's dark hair was pulled back into a sleek knot with silver ribbons. Hannah's hair was down with no waves or curls and a large sunflower by her ear. The boys came down and practically gawked at the females in the room. They had all ended up in a solid color robe and were surprised at how much effort the girls had put in. Draco was in deep green, Blaise in black, Anthony in navy, Ernie in dark gold, and Neville in scarlet. They all walked into the Great Hall together.
"Eighth years! Welcome to the Autumn Ball! We teachers will now be revealing how this Wizard Masquerade Ball works. We are going to cast an extreme darkening spell, powerful enough so that no spell will be able to counteract it unless performed by a teacher. I know that a few of you already know how to figure out who you will be dancing with. Also, your voices will all be slightly altered so that none of you can tell by voice either. Everyone is required to dance with a partner. Have fun!" Professor McGonagall said. The room went immediately pitch black and the crowd could feel a Disperse Spell being activated. The music started and everyone began to make their way around to a partner. Ginny, Hermione, Luna, Astoria, and Hannah were all swept off by a mystery person and began to dance.
Ginny waltzed with a gentle partner who was good at dancing and was rather shy. Remembering Hermione's idea, she quickly pecked the dancer on the ear and waited to see who her partner was. The two glowed and everybody looked towards the light to see a lit up Ginny and Terry Boot. Ginny smiled sheepishly as the room returned to its former darkness and could hear Terry mumbling excitedly. Hermione was right, she usually was.
Hermione swayed side to side with an unidentifiable dancer. He was alright at dancing, besides the occasional foot brought down on hers. She was glad to see that Ginny had remembered the trick and she tried it herself. A quick kiss on the cheek and the glow made Hermione and Neville Longbottom light up. She smiled and blushed fiercely but continued to dance with him for the rest of the dance.
Luna danced with a person who moved rather stiffly. She wondered if he was angry, he felt angry. She tried to console him by dancing slowly and gently before she remembered what Hermione had told her. Trying to fight the embarrassment, Luna stepped up to kiss him slightly and was surprised by a warm glow that surrounded her and Ron Weasley. Ron looked surprised and disappointed. Luna could tell from his eyes. She proceeded to talk to him.
"What's wrong?"
"Nothing."
"Obviously something is wrong."
"Fine! I wanted to be with Hermione, okay? Ever since she and Draco have started dating, I've felt jealous."
"She is a very nice girl. Hermione is actually one of my best friends."
"Could you tell her how I feel?"
"I'll do my best to remember. Sometimes the wrackspurts make my memory go funny and my brain sleeps for a little while."
Since it was dark, Luna couldn't see the rude face that Ron made.
Astoria was having fun with her dancer. He was elegant and talented at dancing, the perfect partner to have at a ball. As fast as possible, she kissed the chin of her partner and found a glow surrounding her. Her partner was none other than Ernie Macmillan. Ernie seemed as surprised as Astoria but seemed to be happy to dance with her. She was glad that he didn't seem prejudiced against her, seeing as she was a Slytherin. She danced with him happily and was wondering if she maybe had found a little spark in her.
Hannah's partner was a smooth dancer. He was light on his feet, gentle, and strong all at the same time. She was enjoying herself very much. She felt rather confident as she remembered what Hermione had told her and the other girls and went straight for the lips. His lips crashed against hers and a light glow surrounded her and Draco Malfoy. She pulled apart from the surprise. She smiled at him and pulled him in for another kiss before it went dark again. Too dark too see an upset Hermione leaving the ball.
Ginny decided to take a break from dancing and headed out into the corridor to get some fresh air when she saw a rather distressing sight. Hermione was practically sobbing with her head between her knees.
"Hermione! What on earth is going on?" Ginny asked, getting down onto her knees.
"Drmmhhhmm mhh Hanmmnnma murr neeeemmmee." she mumbled.
"Hermione, I can't understand you." Ginny tried to say as gently as possible.
"Draco and Hannah were kissing! They were partners and she kissed him!" Hermione wailed.
"What! He might not have wanted to, though. He didn't know it was Hannah."
"But after the first one, they kissed again and he seemed to be enjoying it!"
"I'll talk to him."
"NO! Don't, Ginny. Don't make it worse."
As much as Ginny wanted to respect her friend's request, she felt as if she had to drag Draco and Hannah out here. She did. A minute later, a disgruntled Hannah and confused Draco were out in the corridor as well.
"Hermione! Are you-"
"DON'T TALK TO ME!" Hermione yelled.
"I-"
"YOU KKNOW PERFECTLY WELL WHAT YOU WERE DOING!"
"I was da-"
"YOU AND HANNAH WERE KISSING! I SAW YOU!"
"I didn't want to! Honestly! She pulled me in to kiss her again, I didn't even know she was going to in the first place!"
"And I should trust you?"
"Yes! Please! Ginny, get some Veritaserum! Anything!"
Ginny ran off in search of the truth serum, leaving the three alone.
"I don't see why you're mad at me. I only did what you said." Hannah said, making a move to take Draco's hand and go.
"I understand the first kiss! I already told you that! You knew that I was dating him, though and you kissed him again!" Hermione insisted. Hannah started to talk again but was interrupted by Ginny entering with some Veritaserum. She quickly splashed some on to both Hannah and Draco and motioned to Hermione to begin asking questions.
"Do you like Hannah Abbot?" she asked Draco.
"No. I like Hermione Granger."
"Do you like Draco Malfoy?" she asked Hannah.
"Yeah. He's really good at dancing. And kissing."
"Would you kiss Hannah again?"
"No."
"Would you kiss Draco again?"
"Absolutely."
Hermione stopped asking questions and let the Veritaserum wear off. Draco and Hannah were both coming to their senses again.
"Let's go, Draco." Hannah said.
"No! For Merlin's sake, Hannah, I don't like you!" Draco said exasperatedly.
"Why not? I'm good at dancing and kissing and-"
"I'm with Hermione, Hannah. You can't compare yourself to anyone else, especially not to her."
Hannah went back into the Great Hall to find another partner. Hermione looked relieved to see that Draco really didn't like Hannah. She took his hand and the two walked back into the ballroom with Ginny following suit.
The Autumn Ball had finished and the lights came back on to reveal everybody's partners, if they hadn't figured out how to already.
"I hope you have all had a lovely evening. You may go back to your common rooms. Thank you very much!" Professor McGonagall said. Groups of people flooded out of the Great Hall and upstairs. Hermione found Ginny, Luna, and Astoria so that she could tell them about Hannah.
"She kissed him the first time to figure out who it was but then, she kissed him again!" Hermione said. Except for Ginny, they all gasped.
"That's not right!" Astoria said.
"She shouldn't have kissed him again." Luna noted.
"Thanks, guys. I'm glad you understand." Hermione said.
"I know this is rather Slytherin-y but, we could always just ignore her in the common rooms and dormitories." Astoria suggested.
"We don't need to do that. Only if she keeps flirting." Hermione replied. Astoria nodded, glad that Hermione had even thought about her idea.
"Oh! Hermione, I have a message from Ron. he wanted me to tell you that he really loves you very much and is sad that he couldn't communicate his feeling earlier." Luna said.
"Thanks, Luna. But I still don't want to be his girlfriend." Hermione said.
"Let's go to the common room." Luna suggested.
"I'm actually going to go spend some time with Harry. Anyone want to come to the Gryffindor Commons?" Ginny asked.
"Thanks but, I think I'll head to the Slytherin Commons. I'll ask Draco and Blaise if they want to come." Astoria said.
"Ginny, I'll go with you." Luna offered.
"I'll go with Astoria, then." Hermione said. The girls split up for the rest of the evening.
Hermione and Astoria walked up to the Heads and Prefects Commons to find Draco and Blaise.
"I'm so glad that you decided to come with me. I thought for sure that you would go back to Gryffindor." Astoria said.
"I'm going to try something new. After all, I better get used to Slytherin because I'm dating Draco." Hermione smiled.
"Did you have fun at the ball?" Hermione asked.
"Yes, lot of fun. I actually think that I might like my partner." Astoria said, turning pink.
"Oh! Who?" Hermione asked again, smiling.
"Ernie Macmillan. I never would have thought that I'd like him." Astoria said. The girls stopped talking as they entered the Heads and Prefects Commons. Draco appeared to be talking to Blaise about what happened with him and Hannah.
"Hey! We're going down to the Slytherin Commons, are you coming or not?" Astoria said.
"Sure, we'll join you." Blaise said, getting off of the couch. Draco walked over to Hermione and held her hand. The two walked down to the Slytherin Commons as Blaise and Astoria conversed about the ball. Astoria said the password and stepped through the portrait hole. It was sadly quiet. Draco, Blaise and Astoria were the only ones there and the other years were each in their own year's common room.
"It's too bad that we're the only ones who came back." Astoria said.
"Hogwarts seems a lot smaller. Not a lot of people came back for the eighth year. The numbers for each house are definitely uneven." Hermione said.
"For Gryffindor, Hermione, Ron, Ginny, Harry, and Neville came back. For Hufflepuff, Justin, Ernie, and Hannah came back. For Ravenclaw, Luna, Terry, and Anthony came back and it's just us for Slytherin. You can obviously see that Gryffindor had the most." Blaise counted.
"Yeah. I mean, I like space but this is just emptiness." Draco said.
"Well, do you want to stay here or go back up to the Heads and Prefects Commons?" Blaise asked everyone.
"Here. I don't want to see Hannah for the rest of the night." Hermione answered.
"Okay. Hey, Blaise, who did you dance with?" Astoria asked.
"Remember, there's an uneven number of people. There are more boys than girls so some of the partners didn't work. I danced with Harry Potter first, actually. Then I got to dance with a girl. Luna Lovegood. She's an interesting person. She might think funny but, she is a nice girl." Blaise said. They spent the rest of the night talking about the night and when it was finally time for bed, the common room didn't seem so empty after all.