Masks

Part 2 A Night Out

***

Ron and Hermione entered the Magic Pan and were greeted by the maitre d'. "Weasley," Ron informed him.

"Yes of course," the maitre d' said, leading them in. "Table for two."

Hermione looked suspicious as they headed toward their table. After being seated Hermione asked, "Table for two?"

Ron swore at himself inside his head while trying to keep his face innocent.

"I thought you and Harry were up to something." She smiled in spite of herself. This was so Ron.

"Well, I had to do something to get you out on a date," he said, deciding to come clean. "Are you angry?"

"No," she answered. "But it would have been better for you if I had found that out after I ordered."

She kept her expression light and happy. After all, what was wrong with going on a date with Ron? "It's not safe," said a worry in the back of her mind . "He could upset all your plans. You'll never become Head Mistress of Hogwarts if you become side tracked." She pushed that thought aside. If she could handle Viktor, she could handle Ron. "Yes, but can you handle yourself?" the voice added.

She peeked over her menu to look at him. He was biting his lower lip, completely bewildered by all the French dishes. He looked so....cute. "No," she corrected herself. "Not cute--silly". Yes silly, that's what he looked like.

"This looks very good doesn't it?" Hermione said, lowering her menu.

"Um, yeah. Know what you want yet?" he asked, hoping she would give him a hint.

"No, I'll need a little more time to decide," she replied, looking back at the menu.

It was fifteen minutes into his date, and Ron already felt he was in over his head. He glanced up at her and his heart fell. She looked radiant in her evening dress with her hair tied back in an elegant style. She was completely at home in these fine surroundings that made him so uncomfortable. "For the love of God, say something, you redheaded git," screamed a voice in his mind.

"You um... look nice tonight," Ron said in a would be casual voice.

"Oh.... Thanks," she managed weakly. "I forbid you to blush," she told her face, but it didn't listen.

Ron relaxed a little. This would all be so much easier if someone would just try to kill them. Where was a Deatheater when you needed one?

"May I take your order?" the waiter said, appearing at Ron's side.

"Yes, I'll have the Aile de Raie Aux Capres,," Hermione said. "And the Pommes Vapeur."

Ron's eyes widened slightly at her flawless pronunciation of the French dish.

"Excellent choice, and for you sir?" the waiter asked, with an air of superiority.

"Um, I...That looks good." He pointed to the menu at random.

The waiter sneered a little. "The Mousse De Foies de Volaille, very good, Sir."

The waiter left the table, leaving Ron and Hermione to stare at each other. Hermione knew that Ron had no idea what he had just ordered and he knew she knew it. She gave him her best innocent stare.

Finally, Ron broke the silence. "You aren't going to tell me what I just ordered, are you?"

Hermione hid her mouth behind her napkin so he wouldn't see her smile.

"No, you're just going to sit there and enjoy watching me sweat until the food gets here," Ron continued in his best deadpan voice.

Hermione was trying unsuccessfully not to giggle. Ron had her number now.

"But when they wheel the giant squid from the lake over here I just want you to remember that if I don't make it...," He gave an overdramatic sigh that finally made her break down and laugh. "You have to pay the bill."

Hermione continued to laugh quietly as she took a good look at the face smiling at her from across the table and thought. "All right, maybe he is cute after all."

***

Ginny Weasley stepped from the fireplace into a completely unfamiliar world. Despite what she had told Harry, the thought of going that deep into the muggle world frightened her. The room was dark and seemed unfriendly to her. Everything was new and cold, without the comforting sense of history that all the ancient and well lived in structures of the wizarding world. She pulled out her wand and whispered, "Lumos." The light fell on the fine furniture of the Dursleys, but there was no sign of life. A whooshing noise from behind her told her that Harry had arrived.

"There doesn't appear to be anyone here," she said, turning around.

"They're probably still at hospital." Harry walked to the window and peeked out. "You might want to douse that wand. The muggle neighbors here can be very nosy."

"Well then, how are we supposed to see?" she snapped back, annoyed that she might have made a mistake so early in their outing.

Harry reached over and touched something on the wall and the room filled with brightness. Ginny extinguished her wand, put it away and muttered, "I knew that."

Harry surveyed the house and found signs in every room that things were not well. The remnants of breakfast were still on the kitchen table, having long gone cold. The furniture in the living room had been quickly moved aside, making a wide path from the front door to the kitchen. Even Uncle Vernon's hat and coat were still by the door.

"The car is still in the driveway. They must have ridden with him in the ambulance." Harry walked over to the telephone in the living room. "I hope that Aunt Petunia remembered her mobile phone," he mumbled as he picked up the receiver.

Ginny was starting to feel bad about coming. Harry seemed so in control of the situation and understood everything so well that she couldn't see what good she would be.

His usually kind features hardened after he finished dialing the numbers. "Hello Aunt Petunia, it's Harry. We just arrived at the house...."

Ginny could only hear one side of the conversion but she was getting a pretty good idea what was being said just the same.

"Yes, 'we', I brought along some help." Harry's face went from hard to hostile in a flash. "Well I might need some!" Another pause. "I've just come from school, of course she is!.....I'll take care of it, now what do you need?..... Yes I know it....I can do that....and that....All right I'll see you later tonight." Harry seemed to hesitate "How's ..Um ..How about we clean up around here?....OK, see you later." There was a trace of pain in Harry's eyes as he hung up the phone, but when he turned to Ginny it was gone. "Ready to help?" he asked, with a smile that came too quickly to be natural.

"You bet," she said brightly.

"Do you know how to clean up without magic?" he asked, taking off his jacket.

"Well, I've done a few detentions in the kitchens," she answered, a little less enthusiastically.

"Filch isn't here so it won't be that bad," he said, escorting her to the kitchen.

In fact it wasn't bad at all. Before long they were talking and laughing while they worked to put the house back together. Harry was very kind and didn't even smile at her ignorance of things most muggles took for granted. Ginny would never admit it, but it was a little like playing house and she was quite enjoying it. After cleaning everything Harry went up stairs and packed a bag of clothes and personal things for his aunt, uncle and cousin. He even thought to take the book from Aunt Petunia's night stand and some comic books for Dudley.

"Well, I think that's it. Are you ready?" Harry asked, as if he were preparing to go off to war.

"Um...yeah, sure," Ginny answered, not sure that she was. Harry picked up the car keys from a hook by the door. She suddenly recognized what they were. "You do know how to drive one of those things, don't you?" she asked, a little apprehensively.

"Sure," Harry smiled. "They're a lot easier to control when they don't fly."

***

After dinner, Ron and Hermione went for what she thought was just a random walk in the moonlight. It wasn't until Ron stopped beside a dark storefront that she realized he had a few more surprises in store. He pulled out a key and bowed as he opened the door to let her in. Hermione entered the dark room with some trepidation, and as she did the sound of a violin playing came out of the darkness.

"I thought you might like some after-dinner dancing," Ron said, taking off his cloak. With a wave of his wand a hundred candles suddenly ignited, filling the room with a warm light. Gold and red curtains lined the walls and tablecloths were covering what must have been boxes stacked along the outside of the room. Standing on one of the boxes, expertly playing the violin, was Dobby the house elf.

"Good evening sir and miss," Dobby said with a toothy grin as he continued to play.

"Dobby, what are you doing here? What is this place?" Hermione asked in amazement.

"Is Dobby's day off, it is. And Mr. Wheezy offers Dobby a whole month's wages to play sweet music for sir and miss." Dobby smiled over the violin.

Smirking, she whispered at Ron. "Four galleons; big spender!"

"If you can get him to take more I'll be glad to give it to him," he whispered back taking off his black tie and loosening the neck of his dress shirt. He walked to the open area in the center of the room, held his hand out to her with a small bow and asked "May I have this dance?"

Hermione felt confused. She couldn't remember ever seeing him look like this before. Standing tall in the center of the room with his hand out to her he looked elegant, even dashing. With some trepidation she took his hand and allowed him to lead her to the floor.

As he took her right hand in his and placed his left on her waist an alarm went off inside Hermione's head. He had never touched her like this before. It caused a reaction in her that didn't fit in with her plans but she quickly composed herself before it could show. Ron gave a nod to Dobby and the house elf began to play a waltz.

As Ron guided her around the floor Hermione suddenly realized this was not his usual ungainly manner. They circled gracefully around the room for a while, with Hermione too amazed and confused to speak. By the fourth dance she had to ask. "When did you learn to dance so well?"

"Last summer, I had Fred and my mother teach me," he said, obviously pleased she had noticed. "Even dad helped out and taught me a few things."

"Oh really? What did he teach you?" Hermione asked, hoping to start a more mundane conversation and get her mind off this new side of Ron that caused her insides to react so.

An evil grin crossed his face and she knew she had just walked into something. "I was hoping you might ask," he said, and nodded to Dobby who began to play a fast paced and dramatic tune. Ron snapped his fingers and most of the candles went out plunging half the room in darkness. His eyes shone in the dim light as his face was thrown in stark relief. Ron proceeded to show her a few of the dance steeps he had learned, some of which were quite good.

"Mum says that Dad was quite the dancer when he was young." Ron smiled, glad that he might have impressed her.

"It must have been a lot of work to learn all that. Why did you go to so much trouble?" Hermione asked while he was showing her a particularly fancy step.

Ron had to think fast. He didn't want to say, "I learned them for you," at least not yet. On the other hand, he didn't want to stray too far from the truth either. "You never know what might come in handy," he said evasively.

Hermione didn't believe him but she let it go and watched him show off his new tricks. It was fun. He had obviously been putting a lot of work into this. He took a quick step and stood in a particularly striking pose. It was so unexpected that Hermione caught her breath gave a laugh and clapped. "Who is this man?" she thought, amazed that he could still surprise her. Suddenly the shock of what had just gone through her mind hit her. "Man?" she thought. "Where did I get that?" But looking at Ron she could see that there was nothing even remotely boyish about him.

"Would you like me to show you some of it?" he said, offering his hand to her again.

"Um.... I guess so," she replied uncertainly. Hermione felt that she was losing control of the situation and she didn't like that, but he was just so intriguing that she couldn't refuse.

He lead her around the room, showing her the things he had learned. It wasn't hard, in fact it was a lot of fun, learning how to move like this. The pace of the music increased and they began to dance faster and faster around the room until the only thing Hermione could see clearly was Ron's face. She became aware that her heart was pounding and her mouth was dry, but she told herself that it was just from the dancing.

"Then it's two steps back and we bend back for a dip," he was saying.

A sudden wave of panic gripped her and that feeling she had been suppressing on and off all night threatened to take over. She broke away from him. "I can never get those dips quite right," she lied, stepping away and sitting in a chair near Dobby. "Do you have anything to drink?"

"Yeah, sure." He retrieved two goblets and a large container of pumpkin juice from one of the boxes. Something had just happened, but he didn't understand what. It had all been going so well.

"Where did you get this place from?" she asked, hoping to steer things back to a safer topic.

"Fred and George lent it to me," he said, taking a sip of pumpkin juice.

"How did they get a storefront in Hogsmeade?" She was even more confused.

Ron hesitated a moment before replying. "They, ..uh.. bought it." He leaned over and pulled back a tablecloth. On the box underneath was a logo with three W's on it. "This is the future site of Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes."

"The sons of the new Minister of Magic running a joke shop in Hogsmeade." Hermione laughed. "Your mum must be so proud."

Ron didn't squirt pumpkin juice out of his nose, but it was a near thing. "Well, she's warmed up to the idea a little more now that Fred and George have shown that they are serious," he laughed. "And she has other reasons now," he added, his smile fading a little.

They spent the next hour or so talking about their classes, Harry, the Death Eaters, the Dark Lord, and the future. In fact, it seemed to Ron that were talking about everything but what he wanted to talk about. Every time he tried to bring up the subject of how he felt about her, he would lose his nerve.

"It's getting late. We should be getting back," Hermione finally said.

Ron wasn't ready. He needed just a little more time, then he could tell her. "What about that drink at The Three Broomsticks?" he asked, trying to sound casual. "Some hot butter beer would be nice before we call it a night."

"Humm... that would be nice. Sure, maybe just a little bit longer," she smiled.

***

Harry and Ginny stopped to pick up some food and then headed toward the private hospital where Uncle Vernon was being treated. The uneasy feeling Ginny experienced when she first arrived at the Dursley's house came back when they approached the huge sterile structure. Even in the muggle world this place seemed very non-magical. As they parked and went inside, she was surprised at how rigid everything was. There were low walls and guide rails separating everything from everything else. Lines were painted on the floor in some places, to tell you where you could walk. Hogwarts, which Ginny always found very restrictive, seemed free and open compared to this place.

They entered the waiting room to find Harry's Aunt Marge and Dudley sitting in a row of seats near a door with a sign that read "Coronary Care Unit." Aunt Petunia was nowhere to be seen. Dudley sat staring blankly at the door, a pile of chips and candy lay untouched in the seat next to him. Aunt Marge, who had been patting Dudley's hand, looked up and scowled at their approach.

"So they've turned you loose for this, have they?" she sneered. "And who is this, may I ask?"

"My name is Ginny Weasley. I know Harry from school and came down to help," Ginny said, in as cheerful a voice as she could manage.

"I see you have picked up Harry's bad habit of lying, child. Or do they now let girls into a Secure Center for Boys?" Aunt Marge said, looking down her nose at Ginny.

Harry appeared at Ginny's side with a livid expression on his face. "Ginny goes to St. Brutus's sister school, and we share some classes," he growled. "Not that it's any of your business."

"Humph, I might have known. Well, boy, did you come here to help, or not?" Marge barked, unable keep Harry's eye.

Ginny handed out the sandwiches and drinks they had picked up on the way. Harry noticed that Dudley just placed his sandwich on the pile next to him and went back to staring at the door. Marge gave Ginny a condescending look as the food was handed out. "And just how did you come to be in a Secure Center, girl?" she asked, taking a bite of her sandwich.

"Oh...well, I poisoned my mother," Ginny said in a grave voice that made Marge choke. Ginny winked at Harry who, in spite of himself, smiled.

Just then Aunt Petunia came out of the Coronary Care Unit. "Your father is awake and they are allowing two visitors at a time," she said, looking at Dudley expectantly, but he just fidgeted a little and looked away uncomfortably.

"Let's go see your daddy, Dudders," Aunt Marge said, in a simpering voice which rang as inappropriate to Harry.

Dudley fidgeted even more at this. He began to look from the door, to his aunt, to his mother, and then to Harry's astonishment, to him. Harry gave him a barely perceptible nod of reassurance that both Marge and Petunia missed. Dudley pulled up his trousers and walked slowly to the door, with his aunt babbling baby talk at him. Maybe Dudley did know that all the nonsense his mother and father had always spouted wasn't true, or maybe it was just that Harry was the only one not treating him like an infant, but Dudley had seemed to be looking to him for guidance.

Aunt Petunia sat next to Harry but did not look at him. Instead, they were both looking at the doorway Dudley had just gone through. Neither one of them looked at the other for, what seemed to Ginny, a very long time. Petunia opened and closed her mouth a few times as if she wanted to say something.

"Did you remember to bring my hair nets?" she finally said, still looking at the door.

"Yes," Harry said, staring straight ahead.

"And Vernon's robe and slippers?" she continued, hesitantly.

"Yes," he responded, rolling his eyes.

Ginny sat on Harry's other side while Petunia opened her mouth, trying to say something. She sighed and asked, "How long can you stay away from school?"

Ginny pulled out another sandwich, but passed it to Harry instead of handing it straight to Petunia.

"As long as I need to." A note of annoyance was creeping into his voice, as he passed the sandwich to her.

"Thank you," she said automatically, taking it from his hand. She froze and looked up into Harry's eyes for just a moment as she realized what she had just said.

Harry was amazed to see genuine gratitude in her eyes before she busied herself by looking in her handbag for a napkin.

It wasn't as much as he deserved, Ginny noted to herself, but it was something. She cast her eyes down and smiled.

***