Masquerade

Chapter 4: Revenge

The next week leading up until N.E.W.T.s found Hermione and Blaise together often. Mostly it was time also spent with the rest of their study group. When they were alone, neither quite knew how to use their new information in a beneficial way. They were shy, shared more looks, and flirted slightly more than usual. One night at the end of one such meeting, Blaise stayed back to talk with Hermione about the details of one study problem.

"How are you?" Hermione's attention was brought back to Blaise after a moment of silence.

"I'm good," she said as she began to stack her papers. She wasn't sure what to say. "You?"

"Glad to get a chance to review this stuff with a group. After the next three days, it'll all be over." Blaise seemed to have something he wanted to say. Both had unspoken thoughts that needed to discuss. "You know Venus is in alignment with the moon and Mars tonight."

Hermione grinned, "You sound like a centaur."

"No, I mean it. They are aligned for exactly two days, after tonight it doesn't happen for another 86 years." Blaise spouted the information off easily.

"I didn't think you were lying."

"Oh." He looked at his shoes, before bringing his eyes level with Hermione's. "Want to go see?"

When Hermione nodded he simply took her hand in his leading her away from the room. He turned left in the hallway. "Where are you going?" Hermione asked.

"The Astronomy Tower." Blaise continued in what Hermione thought as the wrong direction.

"But the stairs are that way." She tried to turn back pointing.

"Yes. But that's not the best way to go." Blaise continued set on his journey to the Astronomy Tower, even if he was headed away from the stairs. Hermione followed stubbornly believing he was delusional. There was no other way to the Astronomy Tower that she knew of and she knew more than her fair share of this castle.

After a couple more minutes in pleasant silence Blaise stopped abruptly in front of a blank wall. He passed he hand over the surface looking for something. Hermione did not notice the small indentation that Blaise finally used to make the solid wall disappear. In front of them now stood an ornate Victorian lift with gold accents adorning the sides that, while beautiful, did not afford much room for its occupants. The lift reminded Hermione of the one at Harrods in London in that it was more decadent than anything needed to be. The doors opened smoothly, making no noise, and Blaise led Hermione in the small space.

"I had no idea this was here." She looked at the complicated panel of knobs and buttons.

"Wouldn't be much good as a shortcut if the whole school knew about it, would it?" Blaise made a number of combinations with the knobs before pushing a series of buttons.

"I suppose not." Hermione looked around as the doors slid shut quietly.

Blaise turned from the panel facing her, bare inches separating each from the other. He lowered his voice before speaking again. "Slytherin upperclassmen have passed the secret of this handy lift for centuries. We aren't supposed to let anyone else know." He pressed a finger to his lips. She thought of his lips for a moment, before banishing the thought of them against hers.

"I'm honored that I am worthy of such prestigious information." Hermione felt her whole body grow hot in the cramped space, not just from the poor ventilation. She tried to hush the thoughts running through her head of the two of them. She shyly glimpsed up at Blaise before looking away. He caught her quick glance, pleased that his looks were returned even if she had not noticed them herself.

Hermione directed her full attention to the detailed etchings on the wall of the lift. She was tracing them with her forefinger when the ancient piece of magical machinery halted roughly, putting her off balance. She threw her hands out instinctively. They met Blaise's arms that had gone out to catch her. "All right?" he asked.

Hermione nodded, "Yes, I'm fine, startled, but fine." She looked up at Blaise and saw in his eyes the boy Millicent and Theodore talked of, one with feelings for her that seemed so apparent now as she was caught in his gaze. The air between them crackled with electricity. His hands stayed on her arms, one sliding hesitantly to her waist. She looked down at its movement, a smile creeping up on her lips.

"Good," Blaise's whispered, his voice still low. "I wouldn't want anything to happen to you." Hermione turned her face back towards his. His hand was comfortably on her waist now, a simple touch that said she was wanted through its gentle pressure. She stayed where she was holding on to his upper arms, enjoying the contact.

Hermione found her head moving towards Blaise by some unknown force drawing them together. His lips came closer, as the lift sputtered into life again, shaking them both from their waking dream. Blaise let go of Hermione hastily crossing his arms over his chest. Her body missed his touch.

Both were shaken from their reveries as the door of the lift opened revealing the final staircase up to the Astronomy Tower. They climbed the stairs finding Professor Sinistra's third year class also looking at the alignment of Venus, the moon, and Mars. She seemed pleased that two of her former students voluntarily came to look at the sky, going off about the importance of star study that each had heard a million times in classes before.

Euan Abercrombie and Jack Sloper, two Gryffindors in the class, looked at the two older students confused. "That's the Head Girl, right?" Jack asked.

"Yeah, she's friends with Harry Potter," Euan said as he added Mercury to his star chart.

"If she's in our house than why is she talking with a Slytherin?"

"Because they're in love." Vicky Frobisher had overheard them and being all knowing on important subjects such as this felt it was her place to educate the two ignorant boys.

"With a Slytherin?" Jack's world had been flipped upside down. "If she's Head Girl I'd have thought she was smarter than that."

"It doesn't matter, Jack, because we didn't ask Vicky's opinion," Euan said.

"Fine, so you didn't ask. Doesn't mean I'm not right." Vicky was always right even when she was wrong. "Look at them and tell me they aren't in love."

"I don't know what love looks like," Jack confessed.

"Boys," Vicky walked back to her star chart shaking her head.

"They can't be in love. He's in Slytherin."

"Leave it alone, Jack. I don't understand it anymore than you, but I don't know that I want to either." Euan looked back at his work and then again to the sky.

"But -"

"Mr. Sloper," he had caught the professor's attention. "Are you working on your star chart?" Jack, who had long forgotten about his star chart, looked back at the couple as they smiled goofily at each other and hoped he would never appear that stupid if he ever fell in love.

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After a Nastily Exhausting three days the seventh years collapsed in relief that all the work was done. Everything from this point on was beyond their control. Their only task for the next two weeks was to avoid thinking of their tests that would now be graded. Obviously this led the seventh years to enjoy two weeks of blissful nothing often filled with parties and other such farewell gatherings and end of school events.

The second night after the N.E.W.T.s was an established celebration night. The now recovered seventh years met that night around a bonfire in the ruins by the forest. The professors had long since given up on controlling the students at this point and felt it was better to leave them alone. A mutual agreement arose between the two groups. The students celebrated on the grounds, but far enough away from the castle itself to not disrupt the other students who still had exams.

As Hermione arrived with Harry and Ron she looked around immediately searching for a certain tall, dark, and most definitely handsome Slytherin. Her eyes contracted with familiarity when they met his from across the bonfire. His smile turned her lips up at the corners as well. The heat she felt came not from the fire in front of her, but the connection between her and the boy across the party.

"Hermione?" Harry asked tentatively behind her.

She turned and the flush on her face was obvious even in the dark. "I'm going to mingle, you good?"

"Oh, yeah," she said absentmindedly. Maybe now is the time to do something with Millicent and Theo's information.

She wove her way through the people pressed together moving as one to the music. She felt someone's hand snake around her waist and turned expectantly hoping to see Blaise, but instead found Ian Cooper, a very attracted Ravenclaw, but yet an unwelcome and unexpected touch. He smiled at her meaningfully pulling her into the dance and she tried to get away. As she turned she bumped into the chest of the tall Slytherin she had wanted Ian's arm to belong to. Blaise circled his arms around Hermione and pulled her away from the group giving Ian a menacing stare. Ian didn't seem too affected by the whole exchange as he turned back to the dancing mob pulling a giggling Parvati to him.

Blaise and Hermione stopped a bit off from the group, his arms still around her waist. She looked up at him, "Thanks," she whispered, her voice was lower than she expected.

"Of course," Blaise said looking for something in her eyes. The firelight flickered across his face tracing out patterns and shapes not there in the daylight.

"No, leave them alone," they heard Neville tell someone not far off from where they were. "The plan is working." Someone had to tell Neville that his whispers weren't.

Something changed in each others eyes. The plan? they simultaneously thought. Blaise dropped his arms reluctantly to his sides and turned towards Neville to get a better view of him telling Seamus to leave the two of them. "Neville?" Hermione called out hesitantly.

The boy turned to look at them and at once the expression on his face changed. He knew immediately what he had done and was sure his girlfriend would kill him. Seamus had left and Neville slowly walked towards the couple. "Oh! Hullo. How are you both?" Neville figured his best tactic was ignorance.

"Neville, never play dumb," Blaise said calmly. "It's unbecoming in anyone."

"I, uh -" Neville looked trapped.

"Neville," Hermione's voice was entirely too calm. It reminded Blaise of an elementary school teacher trying to calm six year olds. "Blaise and I heard you say something about a plan. We may be mistaken, but we were sure you were in some way referring to us."

Neville nodded, eyes darting around looking for an escape.

"What was the plan, Neville?"

Neville gulped at the air. Why is it always me? Why am I the one trapped and forced into telling the truth? "It's not my fault," he spurted out.

"We never placed any blame on anyone," Blaise also adopted Hermione's clam manner.

"I really had nothing to do with it. If I wasn't dating Ginny, I wouldn't even know."

"Know what?"

"And since it's your friends who came up with the plan, you'd think they'd know what they were doing." Neville was nervously babbling at this point, not really giving them any new information.

"Which friends? And what did they do?" Hermione asked.

"Harry, Ron, Millicent, and Theo were at the bottom of it. They wanted each of you to hear that you liked each other so that you'd fall in love." It came out in one gulp of breath and a rush of noise.

"They were playing Much Ado About Nothing with us?" Hermione asked as Blaise looked at her quizzically. "Shakespeare, he's a Muggle," she said offhandedly in way of explanation.

"No, it wasn't that -" Neville tried to fix the damage, but Blaise stopped him.

"Shakespeare wasn't a Muggle!" Blaise looked insulted. "He was from one of the truest wizarding families of the age. It was a huge shock for him to denounce his heritage for the muggle theatre."

Hermione crossed her arms and turned to him with a raised eyebrow. "Are we debating literature here or getting information from Neville?" They turned back to their victim. "So, it's not true?" Hermione's tone had changed.

"It -uhh." Neville looked from one to the other trying to figure out what the best way out of this situation was.

"Not that there was anything wr-" Blaise began to say looking at Hermione now and not Neville.

"Oh, of course. I understand. This just seems to be some kind of joke, a trick," Hermione said. Both their hearts fell finding out that what they had heard earlier had been a set-up.

"Not that that would be bad," Blaise ventured.

"Oh no! Just - we're friends?"

"Yes, friends."

Neville's eyes darted quickly between the two unsure what they were really thinking, knowing that there was more. How can two of the smartest people I know be so dense? If I can tell something's going on the whole world should know.

A light came to Blaise's eyes in a flash. "I have a plan." He paused dramatically. "We make sure their plan works."

"How would that be revenge?"

"If their plan works so well they wished they never meddled." Blaise was trying to figure out how any of the possible ways for them to act this plan out wouldn't end with him admitting his feelings, a release he'd been waiting for over two years now. Perhaps it was just what he was hoping for. A chance to admit his feelings and hopefully receive them in return would be divine. The pair walked off deep in discussion on how to best torture their friends for their interfering.

"Neville!" This time the nervous boy was confronting with his girlfriend's brother coming after him.

He gulped. "Yes?"

"You told them what we did?" Harry came with Ron.

"My sister's going to kill you," Ron laughed.

"No, don't tell her."

"She's going to find out." Harry knew Ginny was smart enough to figure out this small matter. "Why didn't you just explain to them what really happened. That they really do like each other."

"I don't know what you saw, Harry. But they really didn't give me a chance." Neville started to calm down. "Besides, it looks like they are carrying out the plan anyway." He attempted to smile.

"But under different pretenses." Ron scratched his head. "Besides, the plan looked like it was on the right track as it was when they were standing there together."

"And if Ron can see that, they must be blind not to," Harry pushed Ron's shoulder jokingly.

"Well, things have been altered slightly. Let's not tell the girls though," Neville said. The three boys agreed, none of them wanting to unleash the wrath of either Ginny or Millicent.