Hermione and Her Prince

As Harry, Ron, and Hermione took their places at the Gryffindor table in the Great Hall for dinner, Dumbledore stood up to make a speech. They all waited with baited breath. Dumbledore used to only give speeches before feasts, but they had become more frequent with every passing day, because of the war.

"Good evening, students," Dumbledore began. "I can see that you are all holding your breath...let me tell you, I've seen one too many people pass out that way. Breathe! This is good news."

Hermione obeyed and let out a long, deep sigh of relief.

"Much better," Dumbledore continued, his eyes twinkling. "Instead of a Yule Ball this year, we are twisting it up a little. We've decided--that is, the staff and I--to hold a masquerade ball in its place, to be held on Christmas Eve. For those of you who don't know what that is, it's a sort of ball where everyone is in costume and wearing masks. What do you think?"

They all clapped and cheered.

"Marvelous," Dumbledore said. "And now, let us enjoy this wonderful supper!"

***

After dinner in the common room, all anyone could talk about was the masquerade ball. Many had never been to one, and the ones who had shared stories about their past costumes.

Hermione sat alone in a corner and watched as Hary, Ron, Fred, and George messed around with some sort of (probably very dangerous) purple substance in crystal bottles the twins had created. Or rather, she watched Harry.

Ever since the Yule Ball in fourth year, Hermione had begun to think of Harry as more than just her best friend. He was smart and talented and funny, he had manners, and she could talk to him about serious things, like the war. Whenever she brought the subject up around Ron, he mumbled something about homework and refused to talk about it.

Harry was just so perfect. He would (and had on many occasions) lay down his life to save the people he cared about, and even the people he didn't know well. Some people said he was just 'playing the hero', but he wasn't. He was the hero.

She watched as Ron took a swig of the shimmery purple stuff, and his hair turned acid green. They laughed and talked, but Hermione couldn't hear what they were saying. Fred muttered something, and she saw the grin slide off Ron's face as he became red with rage. He was shouting, waving his arms around and pointing to his hair. George reached towards him, but Ron put a finger in his face and shook it, much like Mrs. Weasley would do. Harry sidled away unnoticed and sat next to Hermione.

"What happened?" she asked.

"Well, Ron drank that stuff that made his hair turn green, then Fred muttered something about there not being an antidote yet, and that his hair would change to a different neon color every day. Needless to say, Ron got really mad and started shrieking like his mum."

Hermione laughed softly, shaking her head.

"So...are you going to the masquerade ball?"

"I don't know," she replied honestly. "I've got no idea what to dress up as. Besides, I wouldn't be able to find a date."

"Says who?"

"I do. Why would somebody ask me?"

Harry shrugged. "You're smart, talented, pretty..."

She blushed against her will, hoping he wouldn't notice. "You're just saying that."

"I'm not. You could get anyone you wanted. What about Seamus?"

"No. I mean, Seamus is perfectly fine, but I've sort of got my eye on somebody else."

"Who? I could help set you up," Harry offered.

"No," she repeated. "You'd think I was completely crazy."

"How do you know I don't think that already?" he grinned.

"Harry!" I pushed him playfully and stuck out my tongue. He pulled a face in response, making me laugh.

"Honestly," he said, looking serious. "Just tell me. I don't care who it is."

"Snape."

"WHAT?!"

"Kidding, Harry."

"Oh," he said. "I knew that. Who, then?"

"I'll never tell."

"Be that way, I'll find out eventually."

***

Hermione had indeed planned to go to the ball, but to never show her face or let anyone know who she was. This way, she could still go, but would avoid the date thing. She had no desire to go with someone she didn't care for.

Christmas Eve apporached slowly as she planned her costume. She figured she could magically create it, and set to work on her design. Within a week, it was all planned out, down to the last stitch.

Finally, it was the morning of Christmas Eve. Hermione had hidden her sketches of the costume under her mattress for that evening and headed downstairs.

After breakfast, everyone went outside to have fun in the snow. There had been a huge snowstorm the last couple of days, so it was almost three feet deep in some places.

The trio waded through it, avoiding the deeper parts, and started a snowball fight. It was Ron and the twins against Hermione and Harry. Fred and George had developed the antidote for Ron's hair, and now that it was back to normal they were as close as ever, though they still teased him sometimes about the blinding hot pink it'd turned one day.

Harry and Hermione built a large fort and crouched behind it, hurling snowballs over the top and laughing. Hermione took several well-aimed ones to the head, and Harry got pelted with at least twenty when he ran out from the cover of the fort to retrieve his hat, which had been knocked off in the frenzy.

After a few hours in the snow, They headed back up to the castle for lunch. Afterwards, they lounged around in the common room waiting for the ball to start.

At six o'clock, they went down for a quick dinner, then back up to get ready. Harry and Ron had refused to tell her who they'd asked. Hermione sat on her bed and watched the others get dressed up, squealing over each other's costumes.

Lavender was wearing a shimmery silk dress the color of her name, with a matching sequined mask around her eyes. Parvati put on a shimmery dress similar to Lavender's, but it was pale pink instead of pale purple. She too wore a matching sequined mask. Hermione wasn't sure who they were going as (if anyone), but she knew they were double-dating wtih Dean and Seamus.

In order to keep the story moving, I'm going to skip the other few costumes and get to the main part of this tale. Basically, all the girls were beautiful, and when they left they gave Hermione sypathetic smiles, saying over and over thahow they wished she was going.

Hermione needed to wait for them to leave, in order to have privacy to create her costume. She pulled out her sketches and spread them out, concentrating hard. She imagined the outfit fully, down to every last detail, and waved her wand in a complicated motion.

It worked! She smiled with happiness as she looked at her gown, which was floating in midair. It was a deep, rich blue, floor-length with a small train in the back. It was made of a wonderfully soft velvet, with a pretty neckline and long sleeves, which ended in a bell shape.

She put it on, stood in Lavender's full-length mirror, and gasped. It fit her absolutely perfectly. It was form-fitting, yet not too tight, and the small train in the back flowed gracefully when she walked. It was simple in design, without embroidery or sparkles, but there was something magical about it. Though, that was probably because she'd created it with magic.

There was only one problem--things pulled literally out of thin air only lasted so long. According to the spellbook, she had 5 hours. Glancing at the clock, she saw it was 7:00. She had until midnight.

Hermione used a special charm to lengthen her hair to her waist and smooth it from being bushy to soft and wavy. She created a set of sapphire earrings and a simple necklace. The necklace was a thin sliver chain with small sapphires glittering along it every so often.

The last thing was her mask. She had planned this out as well--she concentrated and created a small blue mask, made out of a soft material and it went around her eyes like Lavender's and Parvati's. It was plain, lacking the sequins and sparkles. She then slipped on some wonderful blue velvet heels she'd gotten for her birthday (custom fit for her feet) and hurried through the empty castle.

Hermione paused outside the doors to the Great Hall. She could hear talking and slow music coming from inside. She took a deep breath and pushed the doors open.