Masquerade!

Harry and Ron were sitting in the Great Hall, eating dinner and discussing Quidditch plays. Hermione was reading. Ginny and Dean were talking. Neville was once again, looking at his Remembrall, trying to remember what he forgot. The whole room was noisy with chatter of Hogwarts students when Dumbledore stood up and rang a bell.

The whole room fell silent. Headmaster Dumbledore had something important to say, and everyone wanted to know what it was.

"I have an announcement to make," he began. "The year of the Triwizard Tournament, we had a Yule Ball, which was quite a success. Last year, we didn't have a ball and I admit, I was somewhat sad. So I decided that this year, we will have another ball. But this ball will be different."

Dumbledore paused. Everyone stayed silent wanting to know what was different. "This ball," he continued. "is going to be a masquerade ball." There was a murmur amongst the students. Many of them didn't know what a masquerade ball was. "The rule at this ball is, along with dress robes, everyone must wear a mask. The ball will take place on New Year's Eve, at eight o'clock." He sat back down. The hall burst into conversation.

Hermione had to explain what a masquerade ball was.

"It's sort of a Muggle event. It's a dance, but there's classical dance music. Everyone dresses very formally, and everyone wears masks."

"What kind of masks?" Ron asked.

"They're marti-gras kinds of masks," said Hermione. Clearly, this didn't work when she got confused looks from everyone around her. "They're half shaped, that is, covering the nose and holes for the eyes, and that's it. And you can decorate them with all sorts of colors, and stuff like ribbon, feathers, beads, sequins--"

Hermione was cut off by Dumbledore making another announcement. "The day of the ball, each house will have a mask decorating party. That will be all."

~

The Christmas holidays came quickly with presents on the end of their beds. Harry and Ron got their usual Weasley sweaters. Christmas was fun, but everyone was looking forward to a week later when they would all come together again to enjoy New Year's Eve.

Not long after Christmas, students started to get dates for the dance. Dean had asked Ginny. Neville had asked a 5^th year Hufflepuff named Katie. Seamus had asked Lavender Brown. Ron had a particularly hard time asking Hermione formally to the dance, even though he and Hermione were already a couple and he knew Hermione wouldn't say no. Harry, however, had no one in mind to go with.

The Gryffindors had their decorating party in the common room. Laid out on one of the tables were the masks to decorate. There were different shapes; some were oval shaped, some covered the whole forehead, and some were the traditional wing-shaped masks. On another table were the supplies; ribbon, feathers, sequins, paint, beads, and other various decorations.

Hermione took an oval-shaped mask and tapped it with her wand to turn it red. "I've got some new dress robes, and they're red this year," she said. Harry and Ron had both grabbed masks that covered the whole forehead.

"Are we supposed to make them match our dress robes?" Ron asked.

"Yes," Hermione said. "You should make yours maroon, Ron."

Ron grumbled.

"They don't necessarily have to be the same color," said Harry. "There's other things you can decorate your mask with that can be the color of your robes." Harry decided to make his black with a glittery-gold lightning bolt on the forehead of the mask.

"Who are you going to the dance with anyway?" asked Ron as they went to the supply table.

"No one," said Harry.

"Why not? You know, there's a lot of girls that will go with you."

"I don't know." Harry replied. "I didn't really like the last ball, and the last experience I had with a girl wasn't particularly good either. I think I'm just going to go and see what happens."

They went back to the table where Hermione, Ginny, Dean, and Neville were decorating their masks. Hermione's turned out to be red, with blue and gold ribbons hanging off each side and a stack of blue feathers off to one side. Ron's mask was grey with a maroon ribbon lining. Harry had trimmed the sides of his mask with green and gold paint to compliment the lightning bolt.

After the decorating party was over, everyone ran up to their respected dormitories to get ready for the ball. The 6^th year Gryffindor boys seemed just as nervous, perhaps even more self-conscious, than they did two years ago. Harry decided to wear wizard contact lenses tonight (they automatically corrected one's sight; he had gotten a pair at the last trip to Hogsmead). As much as he hated them, he thought he'd look stupid wearing glasses over his mask.

When Harry was entirely ready, he looked into the mirror and put on his mask. "If it wasn't for this lightning bolt, I would hardy recognize me," Harry said to himself. He wondered how many people he was going to recognize. This was going to be a very interesting dance.

~

Harry, Ron, Hermione, Dean, Ginny, Seamus, and Lavender had decided to go down to the ball together. Neville had already left to meet his date at the doors.

The Gryffindors awed at the way the Great Hall had transformed. The room was very bright; around the edges of the room were tables with yellow tablecloths, each seating about 10 people. There were twisted streamers of bright colors decorating the ceiling, and string quartet provided the music. In the middle of the hall stood a great, classic fountain with multiple levels.

On one end of the ballroom there was a buffet. Dean, Ginny, Seamus, and Lavender wanted to dance first but Ron suggested that they go get something to eat. Harry and Hermione followed suit. The buffet consisted of different kinds of meats, pasta entrées, bread, salads, and fruits. Harry, Hermione, and Ron filled their plates and then got some punch from a small punch fountain before heading back around the dance floor to their table.

"Well, this is different," said Ron, looking around at the decorations.

"It's a masquerade ball," Hermione said in her matter-of-fact tone.

"I'm not sure who is who," said Harry.

"Yeah," said Ron between mouthfuls of ham. "Unless you know what their masks look like, it's hard to tell who they really are."

"That's what makes a masquerade ball fun." Hermione said. "It's a sense of mystery."

People were starting to dance more. Ron suddenly started to look very nervous. Harry shot him a "you'd better ask her to dance right now" look.

Ron started to sweat. He drew a breath, and turned to Hermione. "Hermione, would you--would you like to--I don't know if you'd..."

"Sure Ron, I'd love to dance with you." Hermione said. "We'll be back soon, Harry."

Harry nodded as Ron nervously led Hermione to the dance floor. Harry ate alone for only a few minutes before Neville and his date came to sit down. Neville introduced his date to Harry and they talked over their food. Harry needed some more punch, and when the song ended, Harry got up to get some more.

He decided to cross the dance floor to get his drink, since the crowd wasn't dancing. He pushed his way through, going slower than he would of if he took the long way around because there were so many people on the dance floor, waiting for the next song to play.

Harry wasn't even halfway to the punch bowl before the music started again. It was a waltz, and people suddenly started moving again. Because of the density of the crowd, Harry couldn't help dancing as well; he found himself dancing with the closest person to him.

Not knowing how to waltz, Harry thought he would trip over his feet right away, but he seemed to do fine. He looked down at the person he was dancing with. She was about a head shorter than him, wearing dress robes of a light-blue material. Her mask was wing-shaped with cat-like holes for her blue eyes. The mask was a beige color, decorated with blue feathers on each side and silver and blue lining around the eyes and the edge, with silver and blue ribbons hanging down the sides. Her hair was pulled up into a loose bun, with tresses of curly dirty-blond hair framing her face. She looked up at Harry, her pink lips slightly parted in surprise. Harry was sure her expression mirrored his own.

Despite their sudden pairing, Harry and the girl kept dancing. She wasn't leading; neither was he. They just danced. Every move they made went perfectly. This girl seemed to react perfectly with Harry's every move. Harry never thought dancing could be this easy.

When the song was over, they let go of each other. Before Harry could say "who are you" the girl had vanished into the crowd.

Harry scratched his head, and went to the punch bowl where he was originally going to go. After filling a glass, he went around the crowd back to his table. There he found Hermione and Ron.

As Harry sat down, he decided to tell them about the encounter. "You'd never guess what happened," said Harry.

"What happened?" asked Ron.

Harry told them about accidentally dancing. "It was amazing! I was actually able to dance! It was so easy with this girl, and I want to know who she is. But she ran away after we were done."

"That's weird," said Hermione. "Did you talk at all while you were dancing?"

"No,"

"What kind of girl just runs away after you dance with her?" Ron blurted, looking at Hermione. Hermione shook her head.

"I don't know," said Harry "But that makes me really want to know who she is. And I want to dance with her again. Dancing's fun if you can do it." Harry craned his neck to look around. "I'm going to look for her."

Harry went to the dance floor first, to see if she was dancing with someone else. He didn't see her, but the floor was quite crowded so she could have been there. He looked around the fountain and the buffet, but he couldn't find her. The music stopped, and the crowd on the dance floor cleared a little. He looked around the dance floor again; he still couldn't find her. He decided to head back to the tables to sit down again when he saw her; sipping a glass of punch alone at one of the tables. She was still wearing her mask.

"Perfect," Harry said to himself. "She's alone."

The music started to play again; a somewhat fast sonnet. Harry drew a breath and approached the girl. She looked up at him but said nothing.

"Would--would you like to dance?" Harry said nervously, holding out his hand.

The girl smiled slightly and rose to take his hand. He led her to dance floor. They stood, and Harry bowed as she curtsied before they started dancing. Once again, they danced perfectly with each other. Harry found himself doing moves that he would never had tried before, and in no time, a crowd had formed around the couple. He dipped her, spun her around, and danced around with her like he was a natural at dancing. He danced with passion and emotion; instead of letting his emotions out as anger he expressed them dancing with this girl. Harry was sad when the song was over and the crowd of people around them started clapping. Breathing heavily, Harry and the girl held hands and bowed to them.

Just as the crowd started to disperse, the girl let go of Harry's hand and started to run away. "Not this time," Harry mumbled as he pushed through the crowd after her.

He saw her dart behind the fountain. "Wait!" he called, but it was in vain. She kept going. He chased her around the fountain, through the tables, around the buffet, and through the crowd again. Just when he thought he had lost her, he saw her run through the doors of the Great Hall.

Harry ran out the doors and chased her down the hallway. He was faster; she was wearing heeled shoes that kept her from running very fast. Finally, he managed to trap her against the wall when she had gone around a corner.

It was a minute before Harry had realized that he had her pinned against the wall. He let go.

"I'm sorry," he said.

She said nothing.

"I--I just wanted to say thanks. For the dance, I mean. I've never danced so well with anyone before."

"Neither have I," said the girl, speaking for the first time that evening. "I've never liked dancing much. I just thought I wasn't good at it."

Her voice sounded familiar. Harry tried hard to think about whom it belonged to. He gave up. "Can I have your name?"

"No, I can't tell you," the girl said simply.

Why?"

"I just can't."

"Then can I at least see your face?"

"No, you can't."

This is getting frustrating, Harry thought. Emotion started overcoming him again. This girl was amazing, and he wanted to know her, he wanted to see her, he wanted to touch her again...

Suddenly, he heard a bell start to tone. It was midnight, New Year's Eve. As it rung, Harry remembered what people do at midnight for the new year. He took a breath, not believing what he was about to do.

"Can I--I mean..." He finally mustered his courage. "Can I kiss you?" he asked, looking straight into her blue eyes.

There was another pause. She didn't break eye contact.

"Okay," she said quietly.

He leaned down and closed his eyes. He suddenly felt soft lips pressing on his. They stayed with their lips locked together for a moment before they finally pulled apart. As they stared at each other, Harry felt a sudden urge of guilt.

"I'm sorry," he said.

"Why?"

"I--I don't know you."

The girl sighed. "Yes, you do." She pulled off her feathery mask. Harry's eyes widened in shock; it was Luna Lovegood.

Harry said nothing, but stared in awe. He'd seen Luna occasionally this year, and talked to her sometimes, but he didn't think that this girl could be Luna.

"Why didn't you tell me before?"

"I didn't want you to know it was me," she said. "No one would want to be caught dead dancing with 'Loony' Lovegood."

"You're not loony," said Harry, remembering that she could see thestrals and could hear the voices beyond the veil just like he could. "If you're loony, then I must be loony to."

Luna smiled. Harry took off his mask.

"You don't have to do that," said Luna. "I knew it was you. Your mask gave you away."

"Oh yeah," Harry said as he remembered the scar he had painted on it. He took Luna's hand. "Come on, let's go back to the dance. And don't wear your mask."

They went back to the dance, and enjoyed it until the night passed them by.

The End.