Hogwarts Masquerade

Disclaimer: These characters all belong to JK Rowling and not to me.

Hogwarts Masquerade

by Milady

Chapter 1

It was just as Hermione was about to leave the dinner table and hurry to the library to do some extra studying before lessons that Professor McGonagall stood up and called for attention.

'I have a small announcement to make,' she barked, 'which I'm sure you will all be excited about, so if you would all pay attention please.'

'Probably another exam she's added to our normal timetable as a treat,' grumbled Ron loudly but fell silent when both Professor McGonagall and Hermione glared at him.

'To celebrate the visit of the French Principal of Magic, Madame Françoise Le'Mau next Saturday we will be holding a special ball in her honour.'

'I'm not finding a partner for this one!' Harry muttered crossly. 'We had enough trouble last time.'

'This ball is slightly different to usual, firstly all years are expected to attend.' Here the first, second and third years, gave a whoop of happiness since normally balls were restricted to the upper school only. 'And to also tie in with the 348^th anniversary of the day on which Alexander the Mad, defeated the last Giant Pixie in Britain, we will be holding our ball in his favourite style.' She paused here and Hermione smiled with glee,

'Don't you know about Alexander the Mad?' she asked exasperated at Ron and Harry's blank faces. 'Honestly! Have you not read 'Great Wizarding events of the Seventeenth Century'? Why on earth not?'

'Well, no Hermione, and I think I speak for both of us,' Ron informed her rudely, 'we have in fact not read that tedious and boring sounding book that you just mentioned.'

'Alexander the Mad,' she informed them sternly, 'was a lover of Masked Balls.'

'We will be holding our very first Masked Ball, here at Hogwarts, Professor McGonagall informed them and Hermione smiled knowingly at her two friends. 'All students are expected to prepare their very own mask during the next week, which is to be worn, with your dress robes. It will be a wonderful event and especially mysterious since no one is able to tell their friends apart. I'm sure you will all be looking forward to it, and I want maximum effort from everyone since we must be sure to impress Madame Le'Mau. That's all I have to say at the moment, so please think carefully about how you want your mask to look.

'There are so many things you can do,' Harry said cheerfully as they left the Great Hall. 'With magic, I mean.' He remembered the time at primary school when he and Dudley had had to wear masks. Dudley had been bought the latest scary horror mask from the costume shop round the corner, whilst Aunt Petunia had simply selotaped a piece of newspaper around his head and cut two eyeholes in it.

'There!' she had said proudly, 'And it even covers up that awful scar.'

His daydreaming was interrupted suddenly by a drawling voice from behind him.

'I know why Dumbledore has decided on a masked ball,' Malfoy said lazily to Crabbe and Goyle. 'It's because he doesn't want the French Principal to see how ugly some of the students here really are. I mean imagine if he saw Miss Granger...'

'You,' Hermione smiled sweetly at him, 'would look better if you had a paper bag over your head, permanently.'

Draco simply shrugged and wandered off in the other direction.

In Charms that day, Lavender brought up the subject of the masked ball by asking Professor Flitwick if he had thought of a mask yet. Professor Flitwick got terribly excited at the mention of the ball and offered, he thought, to make it more exciting still.

'I've been working at a voice-changing charm!' he said with much animation. 'And I'm going to bewitch my voice at the ball so no one will have a chance of recognising me.' Hermione doubted whether tiny Professor Flitwick would ever achieve that- he was simply unmistakable but nevertheless she joined in with the rest of the class,

'Oh please, Professor, teach us! Please! We can learn it!'

He looked delighted at such enthusiasm for his scheme and his face lit up! 'Certainly. I shall begin to teach you on Tuesday.'

Hermione was secretly worried that if he spent too much time on the voice-changing charm they would not finish the syllabus by the end of the year and risk not being properly prepared for the exam but, knowing that sharing her view with Ron and Harry would irritate them immensely, she held her tongue.

After supper they were all given boxes of masks to choose as a base for their designs. All of them were plain white, but there were a variety of different shapes and sizes to try on. Hermione and Ron both selected ones that only covered half of their faces, whilst Harry took a full one. There were also boxes of ribbons and feathers and pretend precious stones, to decorate them with. Unfortunately these were surrounded by a horde of swarming first years so they decided to return later.

Later, after going to the library and taking a book out on 'Costumes in the Wizarding World, 1500-1750,' Hermione found Ron in the common room trying to bewitch a ribbon to flash orange and black. He was failing dismally- so far it simply flashed up blue dots on the orange background.

'Ron,' she said in a stern voice. 'Surely you should be doing your Transfiguration homework before you start playing with masks.'

'Hermione!' he said crossly, 'just for once, loosen up can't you. Honestly, anyone could tell you a mile off even if you had a mask and a different voice. You'd be shouting at people all across the Great Hall about whether they should really be enjoying themselves when they had exams in three months time!'

'No I wouldn't,' she said hurt.

'Yes you would. In fact I bet you have already planned to decorate your mask with books and lesson notes and things like that!'

Hermione almost started sobbing at this outburst but she managed to stick her nose in the air and walk to her dormitory until she actually broke down. Luckily the dormitory was empty so no one saw her sitting on her bed crying. 'I can be laid back!' she said to herself fiercely. 'I don't have to be this studying obsessed monster all the time. People can enjoy themselves AND get good marks. At least I will. I'll show them all. I'm going to go to that ball and be lively and beautiful and no one will know that it's me. I can do it, I know I can.' Hermione knew that she could do almost anything she put her mind to if she was determined enough.

At supper she made a bet with Harry and Ron.

'I bet you anything you like, that we go to the ball and you can't spot me.'

'What are the stakes?'

'I'll do your transfiguration homework if you find me. And if you don't...you have to go to the kitchens and wash up an entire evening meals crockery so the House Elves can take a rest.'

'Done,' Ron said immediately.

'Hang on a minute,' said Harry, obviously not to keen on slaving away in the school kitchens for an evening. 'She's offering to do our homework - help us cheat! I don't think that she'll make it that simple for us!

'It'll be easy,' Ron said confidently. 'There's no way you can win- unless of course you sneak out of the hall or something. How about we say that at one point in the evening you HAVE to come and say something to us.'

'I'll stay the whole time, and yes okay, I'll make sure I speak to you at one point,' she reassured them. This had better work, she thought to herself grimly because there is no way that I'm going to help them cheat Professor McGonagall!

The whole of the following week, the conversations of almost every student were about the coming event. Even Professor Trelawney brought up the subject.

'You're mask will be beautiful my dear,' she informed Lavender who immediately beamed at praise from her hero.

'And yours was a good effort too,' she said to Neville, mistily. 'It's a shame that you sit on it near the end.' Neville went red and grimly made up his mind to prove the old fraud wrong for once.

Hermione sat leafing through her library book until she came across what she wanted. 'The Princess Aboo Silvia, in full evening dress,' danced gracefully across the page on the arm of Alexander the Mad, who rather than looking totally eccentric as he was generally believed to be, in fact looked rather handsome, Hermione could not help thinking. And although her own new dress robes did not quite match the Arctic princess', they were at least the same colour. She studied the mask carefully and decided how it could be adapted to suit her needs. She had to admit that the live doves that kept appearing from the headdress somehow, were a little optimistic. Although someone as eccentric as Professor Dumbledore might appreciate it, Professor McGonagall would probably have her marched from the Hall in disgrace when the birds attacked the French Principal and pecked at her expensive Parisian dress robes. The silvery threads that danced around her face looked nice though. And the snowflakes that fell prettily from her hair at the back looked good too, although maybe she should try it with fake snowflakes that wouldn't make the floor all wet so people slipped over whilst dancing and broke their necks. Oh, if she could make a mask only half as beautiful she would stand out from the rest.

The news of the voice-changing lessons had spread to other classes too but rather than being angry that he had to teach the same thing all day, Professor Flitwick was absolutely delighted at the enthusiasm in his lessons. In truth, it was understandable, since no one had ever been interested in his lessons before, as far as he could remember. However there were one or two problems that he had not foreseen.

'But I want to sound like Cameron Diaz!' Lavender complained bitterly. 'It sounds wrong!'

For Professor Flitwick, who claimed he had never even heard an American accent, let alone Cameron Diaz, it was a difficult problem. He gave Lavender a couple of charms to try out and told her to choose the nearest. Ron had made his voice ridiculously high and it sounded like he had just breathed in a lungful of helium. He gave a high giggle in appreciation. Professor Flitwick informed them that unless they performed a 'Vox' charm then their chosen voice would last about four hours- just enough to last until the end of the ball. Hermione was trying a variety of charms but couldn't find one she liked. It was very distracting to have Ron and Harry messing around next to her.

'Well, how are you today?' Harry suddenly said in her ear with the voice of a sexy female blues singer. She couldn't keep the laughter in any more and stopped her serious quest for the perfect voice, to fool around with them for a while.

The development of the masks was turning into a very private affair for some people. Fred and George, who were now in their final term at hogwarts, were planning something very secret and would let no one near their plans. Ginny kept begging Ron for help since she claimed that he knew more charms than she did, being a whole year older. 'She obviously hasn't looked at Ron's mask then,' Hermione thought to herself dryly as she glanced at the ribbons attached to it, which were now a very lurid Barbie pink.

Hermione looked at her mask for about the hundredth time. It was now painted silver and had blue twinkling stones around the edge with white feathers protruding from the sides. Beyond this, silvery spider threads would wrap the mask around her hair and little glittery snowflakes were softly falling onto the floor. She performed a freezing charm so that they stopped for the moment and mopped the snowflakes off the floor since she didn't want Parvati or Lavender coming in and telling Ron that her mask would be the one that left glittery snow all over the great hall. But there was still something missing, she thought again as she tried it on in the mirror. It did look beautiful, but not quite the graceful mask that Aboo Silvia had achieved. She tried a few extra things like more feathers but they just made it look too over-decorated. She tried drawing a white snowflake on the forehead like the Princess had. It needed work still, but it looked good.

Chapter 2

The night of the ball had eventually arrived after a long week of planning and most of the students were exhausted but they were now so full of adrenalin they forgot their tiredness and went to get ready.

'Are you coming down with us Hermione?' Parvati asked her, putting on her cat mask that she had been perfecting all day.

'No, I'll follow you in a minute. Nice mask.'

'I'm off to catch my mouse!' Parvarti giggled. 'He won't know what's coming!'

' I like the way the whiskers sort of move around.' Hermione refrained from asking what poor boy Parvati was planning to terrorise.

'It's a rotatus charm. It took me ages, but I'm not sure if I can actually put up with it all evening- It's very distracting to have things moving around in front of your eyes all night.'

'Ready for the voice, Parvati?' Lavender called from her bed. 'Cameron Diaz, here I come!'

It's going to be strange, Hermione thought to herself- not knowing anybody! Who am I going to talk to all night?

When the others had gone, she put on her brand new dress robes that her parents had bought her for doing so well in her exams last year. They were a sort of deep bluey purple, the colour of delphiniums and they looked really quite nice on. She tried to put her mask on, but found her hair was just too bushy for the spider webs to wrap around it properly so she performed the hair straightening charm and it became sleek and lovely. With her mask on, she looked in the mirror and was impressed- it didn't look like her at all. In fact the mask was very elegant and the snowflakes weren't even falling from it yet. She was pleased with her efforts and the Princess Aboo Silvia would have been proud. She didn't want to make her voice too different so she simply made it 'less-stern' and sort of softer and lighter. There! Now let Ron and Harry spot her if they could.

Hermione walked into the great hall and stopped in amazement. The hall was full of people in brightly coloured masks and it looked amazing, especially with the ceiling a deep blue, and all the stars shining strongly in the midnight sky. She walked a bit further into the hall and tried to see if she recognised anyone. There was a small clump of people sitting down at the high table- they had to be the teachers. On the edge a man turned around and Hermione nearly gasped in horror- the man had a face like a snake! It was the ugliest snake she had ever seen and to make things worse the man had bewitched his own tongue into a snake's fork!! He hissed at her, 'Evening Missssss!' Hermione shuddered and managed to nod at him before moving away. It had had to be Professor Snape. No one else could come up with something that hideous. Next, a man walked past her with a head like a lemon! It trailed a sort of white powder and it was only when the man stuck a finger into a clump of it that had gathered on his arm and eaten it that she realised it was sherbet! 'Dear old Dumbledore!' she thought to herself- only he could come to a party as a sherbet lemon!

'Good Evening Princess Aboo Silvia!' he waved at her as she walked past and she beamed at him with happiness. Her only worry was that in fact there had been two copies of the book in the library and the other one had already been taken out- she wanted to make sure that no one else had come as Princess Aboo Silvia as well!

Further into the hall she found two clowns distributing sweets to some smallish students that had to be first years. 'At least,' she thought to herself, 'no one else would be stupid enough to accept sweets from Fred and George.' And as she had imagined they would, the first years began to glance wildly around in horror. Slowly but surely they were rising off the ground and starting to float into the air! Hermione wondered if they would hit the ceiling or if, like the actual sky, if would simply go on forever. The Sherbet Lemon, a.k.a Professor Dumbledore seemed to also be wondering that since he leapt up from his seat, with an agility that would have credited someone a 15^th his age and held up his wand. The students who were clinging to gargoyles and statues that adorned the walls of the Great Hall were persuaded to let go, and they floated gently back to the floor without a bump. Looking slightly green, they went and sat down for a bit.

She saw someone with a mask, half black, half orange, with similarly coloured stripped ribbons that flashed. So Ron had finally worked out the charm! There were also two tiny balls that kept whizzing around his head- a golden snitch and a quaffle. She knew that she had to speak to Ron early on in the evening- later on he would be watching out for her more intently. Taking a deep breath she wondered past and then casually turned her head, 'What happened to the bludger?' she asked in her new voice. He grinned, and her heart went still for a moment.

'I couldn't get it to stay with the other balls!' he answered and she breathed a sigh of relief. 'It kept darting off and bruising people's noses even though it's so small. They are real balls you see- I stole them from the games cupboard this morning.' Hermione was about to say how appalling it was that he was stealing from the school but she stopped herself just in time, and giggled in a girly way,

'Well good luck with the other two. I'm a fan of the Wasps myself.' She was impressed with herself; Ron would be amazed that she even knew the name of another Quidditch team! Though to be honest, she had only thought of it after a boy with a wasps face walked behind him.

'Oh yes? Who's your favourite?' Ron asked interested and her heart sank.

'The seeker of course! He's brilliant.' She kept her fingers crossed that the seeker for the Wimbourne Wasps was in fact male, and held her breath. But luck was with her. Ron simply nodded, 'Gerry?! Yeah he's such a good player. Not as good as the Cannon's seeker though but never mind.' Hermione decided she had taken enough risks now.

'Well see you at the next match then,' she smiled and walked away. When her heart stopped beating so quickly she allowed herself a mug of butterbeer in triumph!

She wondered where Harry was since she hadn't noticed him yet. Could he be the griffin over there? Or maybe or maybe that one over there...no wait that wasn't a griffin it was a hippogriff! Hagrid! So obviously Hagrid, she laughed that she hadn't spotted him earlier with his wild hair and enourmous height. She walked over and said hello.

'Er...hello Miss,' he said politely. Hermione wondered if she could trust him. He had a heart of gold but he might give her away to Harry. She decided to leave it for now. A man with mask like a stag, with long horns protruding either side of his head, came towards them. 'Prongs!' she thought to herself in awe.

'Harry! Is that you? Ah, you do your father proud.' Hagrid roared and she took the opportunity to slip away.

The music began to play and Professor McGonagall, dressed in tartan robes and a mask with bagpipes at each side, called everyone to the dance floor. 'Please take a partner, and then Professor Dumbledore will teach us all Alexander the Mad's favourite dance tune.' Hermione looked around and saw Ron standing on his own but she couldn't dance with him- it would give it away. Harry was with Lavender, whose mask had a butterfly wing covering half of it which flapped about.

'May I have the pleasure, Princess Aboo Silvia,' asked a voice and Hermione nearly fainted. In front of her was Alexander the Mad himself. But not the eccentric wizard of old age- this was the man from the book, stunning and charming in everyway.

'Please!' she said eagerly and took his arm to dance.

Hermione found the next few minutes very difficult indeed as she struggled to do three things at once. Even Hermione with all her talents found it hard to pay attention to Dumbledore's instructions, AND wonder who else had taken the book from the library, AND stare intently at her gallant partner. He was quite tall, well-toned, and his dress robes were a striking navy blue. His mask gave nothing away, covering startling blue eyes, and showing only a firm jaw and nice skin. Hermione's heart was beating so loudly she was surprised he didn't ask if she was about to collapse or something. Slowly she pulled herself together- this was all part of the act, and if that meant being a Princess to this charming Prince for the evening, well she could jolly well do that too! The dance was quite easy and she found herself enjoying herself immensely. But WHO was he? It was at the back of her mind all evening. Not a Gryffindor, she'd have known him. Maybe he was from Ravenclaw- they were bookish sorts of people who might well visit the Hogwarts library! Yes, that would be about right- he was a Ravenclaw in his 6^th or 7^th year. Anyway, she was going to enjoy dancing with him whoever he was. In the next part of the dance Professor Dumbledore instructed them to hold each other much closer. Hermione thought she would faint with happiness as the tall strong boy held her closely in his arms. He seemed to like it too!

'I'm enjoying myself tonight. Are you?' he asked her softly.

'Yes. So much more than normal.'

'I'm not sure I do enjoy myself normally.' He confessed. 'It's nice to be someone else for a change. Do you know what I mean?'

'Yes. Tonight I'm more...'she searched for the word, 'attractive, than normal.'

'I'm happier- gentler! It's nice. Maybe I'm not who I thought I was. Maybe I'm not who I'm expected to be.'

'You seem perfect to me!' Hermione said rather quickly and then blushed.

'Cheers.' He smiled at her, and it seemed to Hermione that he found it hard to smile. 'I'm enjoying being someone no one expects me to be. You seem lovely.'

'But you can't see me!' she replied confused.

'You have a nice aura!' he smiled, 'And I'm sure you are pretty. You look lovely in your robes.'

Suddenly, two great hulking men, with faces like trolls, almost tripped over them. Alexander looked at them with annoyance.

'That'll be Crabbe and Goyle,' Hermione laughed. 'You can tell them a mile off.'

'Do you know them then?' Alexander asked carefully.

'Sort of.' Hermione realised she was giving away who she really was.

'I don't want to know who you are just yet.' Alexander said softly.

'You might be disappointed,' she said sadly.

'No. No it isn't that. You're beautiful now, and that's all that matters. Do you want to know who I am?'

'No.' She thought about it some more. 'No, I don't think I do. The magic might disappear.'

'Come close again,' he said. 'And let's dance some more.'

They danced together almost all of the night, and Hermione wished she could remain Princess Aboo Silvia for ever. None of it was real- but it didn't matter in the slightest. She felt like she had found a soul mate; And he was sad like she was, unhappy with his real self. What a pair they made. But in everyone else's eyes they were the Prince and Princess of the night without a doubt. Even the French Principal of Magic, Madame Le Mau, had came up to Hermione and taken her hand.

'Enchante!' she had said and Hermione had beamed with happiness.

They went for a butterbeer to cool down and Alexander drank his down immediately. Hermione, not wishing to appear weak, did the same. Her head was spinning slightly and she excused herself for a minute to go to the toilet. On her way to the toilet she passed Ron and Harry who were deep in discussion.

'She HAS to come up to us soon,' Ron was muttering.

'Are you sure you haven't missed her?'

'No way.'

Hermione nearly exploded with laughter in front of them but managed to walk past serenely before coming over all giggly in a very un-Hermione like way. Fred and George were standing by the door and she caught a bit of their conversation too.

'So you put the whole bottle in?'

'Yep. All of it. Two whole litres of Madame McIver's Intoxicating liquor. The first years aren't going to know what hit them!'

Hermione thought about it for a minute and then realised that they must have spiked the Butterbeer! No wonder she was feeling a bit light-headed. She wondered if she should tell Professor McGonagall. But no, the old Hermione would have done that and there was nothing wrong with a bit of alcohol really, she felt fine having drunk it so there wasn't a problem.

When she came out of the toilets, Alexander was waiting outside the Great Hall for her.

'Wait!' he said when she took his hand to lead him back in.

'What is it?'

'Do you think you might take your mask off, just for a minute.'

'But then you'll see me.'

'I know...it's just that....'

'What?' she asked curiously.

'Well,' he said cagily, 'I was just thinking how nice it would be to kiss you.'

Her heart missed a beat and she swallowed nervously. 'It would be nice,' she said shyly, 'I'd like that.'

'I've been wanting too but these masks are a bit...intrusive.'

'Then let's go outside,' she whispered in what she hoped was a seductive voice. 'It'll be dark and we won't be able to see properly.'

'Good idea.' Alexander took her hand and they crept outside together. Hermione couldn't believe what had come over her. What on earth was she doing? But he seemed so reassuring she knew it would be okay.

'I can still see you.' She said sadly. He might not want to kiss her when he found out she was only bossy old Hermione.

'I'll count to three then we'll shut our eyes and take of our masks.'

'And you won't cheat!' she challenged him.

'I promise.' And she believed him because he was as lonely as she was and really he seemed as desperate as she did to be someone else.

'One...Two... Three.' The last thing she saw was his startling blue eyes beneath the gold, then everything was dark and she pushed back her mask and her face felt suddenly alive with sensation as he reached out and took it in his cold palms. Then as she tipped her head to him and felt his lips on hers she thought she would burst. It was so easy to keep her eyes shut and relinquish all connections with the world. When he had stopped kissing her she rested her head against him.

'That was lovely,' she sighed. 'Have you still got your eyes shut.'

'Yes. Thank you for listening to me tonight. It's been so nice.'

'It has. I think we understand each other.'

But suddenly there was lots of shouting coming from the hall and their peaceful moment was disturbed.

'Put your mask on,' he said quickly and then they ran back to see what was happening.

Inside the hall Professor McGonagall had stopped the music. Next to her, Dennis Creevy and two other young students were looking very green.

'Everyone is to go back to their common room now. The ball will have to finish an hour early since it seems a couple of the first years have caught some sort of sickness. We will discuss how this happened tomorrow.' Hermione watched the twins shifting uncomfortably. 'For now everyone is to go to bed immediately.' Hermione began to feel guilty that she had not told someone about Fred and George's little trick earlier. A horde of grumbling students began to head for the door and she and Alexander were suddenly separated. It was a while before the stream of people had gone and she looked around for him but he seemed to have vanished. She wandered around the hall looking for him but couldn't see him anywhere.

'Can you go to bed now please.' Professor McGonagall tapped her on the shoulder. 'Everyone else has left.'

'Oh, er...yes sorry Professor. I didn't realise...' Hermione dimly noticed her old voice coming back.

'Are you okay,' Professor McGonagall asked concerned, she obviously thought she was another person with who had drunk too much Butterbeer. 'Come with me, what house are you in?'

'Gryffindor.'

'Oh...?' she sounded surprised.

Hermione pulled off her mask. There didn't seem to be any point in hiding who she was now. Everyone else had gone. 'Oh, Miss Granger!' Professor McGonagall was clearly surprised and Hermione smiled wryly. She had fooled a few people at least even if the evening had ended far too suddenly.

'I'm fine thank you Professor. I'm on my way to bed.'

She toyed with leaving her mask off but put it back just incase she should see Alexander on the way to Gryffindor Tower. She felt suddenly weary, and as Princess Aboo Silvia began to fade away from her and Hermione began to return, she wondered if she would ever find out who he was?

Chapter 3

Wearily Hermione paused outside the door to Gryffindor tower. She had imagined entering in triumph after Ron and Harry had failed to spot her but somehow that didn't seem important anymore. Still, the Fat Lady was having none of it, and was practically asleep as it was and Hermione was not prepared to sit outside in the corridor all night so took her chance and went in.

Fred and George were standing on the tables cheering in triumph. They looked like they had drunk a little too much of their own concoction. Next to the doorway Neville was also looking rather triumphant. His broken mask was in his hands.

'I just realised!' he exclaimed happily, 'She said I'd sit on it!! And I didn't, I tripped over! So she's wrong! For the first time she's wrong.' Hermione smiled at his childish happiness.

Ron and Harry were sitting on the chairs in their dormitory glumly. She overheard their conversation and couldn't help laughing some more.

'What about the girl with the peacock feathers?'

'No. Too short.'

'The bat?'

'To stuck up.'

'But that might have been part of the disguise.'

'Just admit it Ron. She beat us!'

Hermione sat down in front of them and took off her mask. Ron's eyes nearly fell out of his head. Harry's jaw dropped.

'That was you?!!!' they exclaimed simultaneously.

'Yep.'

'But...but...you knew about the wasps?!' asked Ron incredulously.

'No I didn't! You told me all I needed to know.'

'Hermione,' said Ron solemnly, 'I promise never to call you work-obsessed or uptight ever again.'

'That's okay.' She was enjoying this much more than she thought she would.

'And we keep our part of the bet, without complaining,' Harry swore. 'You beat us fair and square.'

'Thanks. But can you do me a favour? Keep what I looked like to yourself.'

'Sure,' they shrugged.

'So...who was it you were dancing with all night?' Harry asked curiously, eager for some scandal. Hermione blushed.

'You don't know? Do you!' Ron said amazed, then teased, 'What has come over you Hermione? First dressing like a Princess and then dancing with strange men!'

'I don't know. Does it really matter who he was?'

'Er...Yes!' said the boys excited. 'What a story! Rita Skeeter would have loved it. I can see the headline now 'Lonely Muggle Girl Finds Love with Mystery Prince.'

'Shut up!' she giggled. 'It really wasn't like that.'

But as she lay in bed, she realised that it was like that. Very much so. And she was determined to find who Alexander really was.

At breakfast Hermione's eyes scanned the room wildly. She half expected someone to turn around and wink at her, but no, that was silly because he didn't know who she was either. How was she going to find out?

In Transfiguration she found it hard to concentrate and Professor McGonagall kept her behind at the end. She was suddenly terribly worried that she was going to get into trouble and made to banish the thoughts of Alexander from her head. However Professor McGonagall asked her very kindly if she was feeling all right.

'You were looking a bit peaky last night, and you haven't been concentrating this morning. Are you unwell Miss Granger? Did you have any of the Butterbeer last night?'

'I did have some, yes,' Hermione nodded. 'But thank you Professor, I'll be fine in a minute.'

'Well if you still feel unwell later on, then go and see Madame Pomfrey. She'll sort you out and I intend to get to the bottom of this mystery.'

'Thank you Professor.' Hermione didn't mention that she had her own mystery to solve.

In potions, Snape was in the opposite mood. He was feeling very vindictive and promised a horrible fate to the 'poisoners' as he called them. Hermione felt nervous for Fred and George but relaxed since she knew it was nothing to do with anyone in the class.

'Doesn't Malfoy look a bit different to you?' Ron asked her, when Snape was busy on the other side of the room.

'Not really,' she glanced at him.

'Are you sure?' Harry interrupted. 'You hardly looked at him.'

'Sorry, I have more important things on my mind than examining Malfoy's features.'

'Still thinking of your mystery man eh?' Ron teased.

'Shh!' she said exasperated and looked at Malfoy again. There was something odd about him, to be honest. 'Yes, there's something different but I don't know what it is.'

'No, we can't work it out either.'

'Potter! That's 10 points from Gryffindor for talking!' Snape barked and was with them in a second. Angrily, they forgot all about Malfoy.

Hermione's mind was a blank all day as to how to find Alexander again. She just couldn't work it out. In Arithmancy, she sat determined to concentrate but their teacher was late, and it was five minutes into the lesson that Dumbledore turned up.

'I'm afraid your lesson is cancelled today. Spend some extra time studying and Professor Vector will be back tomorrow where you shall be expected to work doubly hard.'

Disappointed, since Arithmancy was one of her favourite lessons, she was putting her books into her bag slowly when she heard him say,

'Very nice, Mr Malfoy, I much prefer blue eyes myself.' Hermione's eyes shot up and stared at him. That was what had been different about him- his eyes were blue not the usual grey! How had they not noticed. Hermione began to go weak at the knees, it couldn't have been...not Draco...surely not. Not her charming Alexander...oh...god! He left and she found herself alone with Professor Dumbledore.

'I thought you might like some help Miss Granger.' He smiled. 'And if you need some more...look in your bag.' Then he was gone.

She rummaged through her bag, her stomach swirling around just like the contents of it. What had Dumbledore been referring to? And how had he known who she was, and how had he known who Alexander was? But Dumbledore was omniscient and there was no way she could fathom the way his mind worked. Puzzled she put the books back into her bag. What was it he meant? Then she saw it and wondered how she, Hermione Granger, top of the year, could have been so stupid. She looked at the library book carefully and then putting it away, set off for the library itself. Nervously she laughed to herself- she should have guessed that the answer to this little problem lay in the same place as all her answers!

The library was quite busy, but unobtrusively she crept to the back. Guiltily she knocked down a pile of books with a crash and darted out of the way when Madame Pince, came to pick them up. Hermione practically flew to the large desk and grabbed the library book register. She found the page for books taken out last week and ran her finger down the list of names. Hermione wondered whether she wanted to find what she was looking for or not. Wait! There it was, written in the librarian's neat sloping writing. 'Malfoy, Draco,' and an S for Slytherin. She scanned along the page. 'Costumes of the Wizarding World, 1500-1750.' Hermione nearly fainted right there but managed to put the book back and hurry out of the room before sinking down on the stairwell in shock.

Malfoy! Draco Malfoy! She couldn't believe it. The fact that she had kissed him seemed immaterial to the fact that she had liked him, and he had seemed to like her. What would he say when he found out? It didn't bear thinking about. Although she hardly supposed he would go around boasting that he had kissed Hermione Granger! But he would find out, without a doubt. It was so easy- all he had to do was come up here to the library and do what she had done.

'What shall I do!' she said aloud in despair and unfortunately Nearly Headless Nick was just passing at the time.

'Can I help?' he asked eagerly. 'I've been in a few tight spots myself y'know!'

'No thanks,' she said wearily and trudged back to the common room.

As far as she could make out, she had two options. One was to tell Malfoy, go up to him and say 'Hi Malfoy, guess what? It was me.' Somehow that option wasn't tempting. The other was to leave it in his hands and see what he did when he found out. That didn't sound too good either. Although he'd probably never look at her again either way. But was that what she wanted? Surely she hated Malfoy...but she had loved Alexander and Hermione was so unsure of what she actually felt about him now, she couldn't decide what she wanted.

'Oh Crookshanks!' she said wearily, 'Which should I do?' But Crookshanks only purred contentedly and flicked his tail in her face.

'You are awfully quiet at the moment,' Ron remarked to Hermione through a mouthful of mashed potato.

'Me?!' She did her best to look cheerful. 'I'm fine.'

'You know what we found today?' Ron kept his voice casual.

'What?'

'Tiny little snowflakes all over the outside steps. It seems like someone with a snowflake shedding mask went out there during the ball.'

'Really?' she kept her voice light.

'Wonder what they were doing out there?' Harry chimed in.

'We just went for some fresh air...' she said evasively.

'Hmmm...well that's obviously what we thought. I mean some people might jump to other conclusions as to why two people went outside but not us eh Ron?'

'Of course not. Still feeling fine eh Hermione?'

'Of course I am.'

'Someone isn't!' said Harry as Malfoy stormed in front of them, clearly irritable.

'Can't you stupid numbskulls shut up for a minute!' he was snapping at Crabbe and Goyle. 'I've never met such a pair of morons!'

Hermione pushed a forkful of potato into her mouth miserably. The last thing she needed to see was Malfoy.

Outside the Great Hall, Hermione walked trance like to the stairs. It was time to send her dratted book back to the library. Suddenly she saw Malfoy behind her again- honestly, could she not escape him? She turned to see if Ron and Harry were behind her but as she did so, a small first year at full pelt, raced in front of her and she felt herself go sprawling. She let go of the book in order to reach out for the floor as she fell. She wasn't hurt, she knew that- but as she crouched on the floor, instinctively she knew who would have caught the book. Slowly she looked up and saw him; standing there holding the book and staring at it, looking at it so fiercely it seemed he was trying to burn it with his new, bewitched, blue eyes. He looked at her, kneeling on the floor, and she met his gaze unflinchingly and then gave the slightest of nods. She doubted if anyone else had seen it, it had been such a tiny inclination, but it was enough for him. He dropped the book, turned and disappeared.

'Are you okay?' Harry and Ron asked concerned.

'Fine,' she heard her own voice say distractedly. So now he knew...

Chapter 4

Hermione couldn't sleep. Her mind was thinking over the situation again and again but it wasn't helping. 'What did I expect?' she thought glumly. 'That he would drop the book and run into my arms and kiss me again. No.' And had she even wanted that anyway? Not from Malfoy ...but maybe from Alexander. 'He won't say anything; He'll feel mortified. Just like I won't say anything. It's finished and done with and we both just have to put it behind us.' Her determination was as firm as ever, but in the back of her mind, Alexander still danced.

The next morning she set off for breakfast with a grim determination that she would be neither mooning over Alexander, nor brooding over Malfoy. She had wasted all of yesterday's lessons by not concentrating. Today would be different.

But for Hermione, her well laid plans went awry almost immediately with the arrival of a school owl at breakfast. It dropped a note into her lap and fortunately Harry and Ron also had post so she could read it quickly before they examined it too closely. It read 'I think we should talk. I'll be in our Arithmancy class after dinner tonight- bring the mask.' It was not signed, nor addressed to anyone and written in very neat flowing script. She put it in her pocket quickly. Ron looked up,

'So who was yours from?'

'Oh just my Arithmancy lecturer. Wants to go through something with me,' she said casually. 'Yours?'

'News from ''The Burrow.' Bill's got a tattoo!'

'I take it your mum isn't too happy,' Harry laughed. 'But I think their cool.'

'That's because Bill is your hero!' Ron teased and Harry went red and told him to shut up. Hermione was wondering how she would be able to sneak away to meet Malfoy but the solution was obvious.

'Are you two doing anything after supper?' she asked.

'No, why?'

'Oh good, I'll tell the house elves that you're coming then,' she said cheerily.

'But Hermione,' Ron said in horror, 'It's spaghetti bolognaise tonight!' Harry moaned as well but then sighed,

'We did promise...okay, we'll be there. But don't expect us to agree to anymore stupid bets like this again.'

'No problem, so long as you wash up nicely this time!' The easy part was done- but now she had to figure out what exactly she was going to say to Malfoy.

Hermione, felt as though she was playing truant, or doing something else expressively forbidden and against her character, as she sneaked up to the classroom after supper. She still really wasn't sure what she was intending to say but then it so much depended on his reaction. She opened the door and slipped in. He was already there, sitting a desk, wearing Alexander's mask, and Hermione felt her heart skip a beat when she saw him again.

'Where's your mask?' he asked and she held it up.

'Is there really any point wearing it? I mean we know who each other is!'

'Do we really? To be honest Hermione, I don't think we really do.' He took off the mask.

Hermione sat down, her mind reeling. This was Malfoy but he sounded reasonable and fair and she couldn't get her head around it- was he really saying that he wanted to get to know her properly?!

'You're right about that,' she acknowledged fairly, 'And the other night we started to see each other properly.'

'Was it really you?' he asked disbelievingly.

'I told you, you would be disappointed,' she said sadly.

'I doubt if you were all that happy either!' he admitted. 'You think I'm a monster.'

'Well are you? You didn't seem like one earlier.'

'I'm not sure which is the real me anymore,' he confessed then suddenly hardened, 'Are you going to report all of this to your friends later? Because...'

'I'm not,' she interrupted, 'I'm hardly going to tell them that I danced all night with you, just like you aren't going to tell anyone that you were with me.'

'Sorry...I just wanted to check, before I started telling you things.'

'I won't tell a soul. So why are you so untouchable normally?'

'It's my father...I've started to hate him so much for moulding me into what I've become. I used to look up to him so much but recently...I've started to see him for what he is and it isn't pretty. I don't want to become him, Hermione. I've promised myself that I won't.'

'What is it that he's been doing? He's involved with 'You-know-who' isn't he?'

'Yes. And he's tried getting me involved too, tried forcing me to those meetings he has. It's dangerous stuff.'

'Yes,' she agreed.

'But I'm not a coward!' he defended himself quickly.

'No. By standing up for yourself, you show your bravery better,' Hermione said admiringly.

'Thanks. I'm not going soft! I mean I'm not going to end up like Dumbledore or any of those daft old loons, but I don't want to be a supporter of 'You-know-who. It's turning my father into a monster. He...he hits my mother you know.'

'How awful!' Hermione asked aghast. Malfoy's mother had always seemed perfectly well groomed.

'I didn't find out until quite recently, but he's been doing it for years. Sometimes I just see the bruises, other times I've heard her screaming, begging for him to stop it. It's awful and I can't stop him. I told him to once and he gave me a black eye as well. And when I'm here... there's nothing I can do to prevent it. If I ever become like that I shall kill myself.'

'You won't become like that, not if you're strong. Hitting his wife is a choice that your father made and it won't necessarily happen to you.'

'I'm glad you understand.' He sighed, 'So what about you? What drove you to become a Princess when you've always been a bossy, workaholic.'

'It was a bet with Ron, that he wouldn't be able to recognise me. I wish I wasn't so uptight but I've worked as hard as I possibly could since I realised that I might not have had the chance to come here. I mean, there aren't many people in this school whose parents are both dentists! I've been given the benefit of the doubt being allowed here in the first place and I don't intend to disappoint anyone. I think anyone who wastes their potential in life is just stupid!'

'It's true I suppose,' Malfoy said grudgingly, 'And to be honest I've always worked really hard and I've always been a little stung that someone with Muggle blood can do better than me- when I'm descended from a long line of pureblood witches and wizards. It's pride I suppose.'

'Then the question is...' Hermione faltered, 'Can you get over your pride? And can I get over my prejudice!' She laughed. 'Mr Darcy and Elizabeth Bennett managed it.'

'Who?' Malfoy looked blank.

'I'll lend you the book,' she smiled wondering what Malfoy would reckon to Muggle literature like Jane Austen.

'The thing is,' he said slowly 'people don't just have the potential to work, and you haven't filled your potential to have fun yet so your argument could work against yourself.' She thought about this and realised he was absolutely right. Why not let her hair down once in a while.

'How did you find out it was me?' he asked, interrupting her thoughts. 'I was so careful.'

'I looked up in the library register who took the other book out. And Dumbledore drew my attention to your eyes.'

'I forgot to change them back! The night of the ball was my chance to be a totally new person inside, and to do that I had to be a new person outside as well. I didn't intend for anyone to ever find out who I was so I took no chances. I guess I should turn them to grey again.'

'Maybe, but it doesn't really matter anymore does it- like you said, so long as people see the new Malfoy inside.'

'You are quite perceptive Hermione, you know that?'

'What are we going to do tomorrow Malfoy?' Hermione said slowly. 'I think we understand and respect each other now but what about everyone else.'

'Well I don't think I can spend another hour with Crabbe and Goyle- boy, those guys are stupid! But then I hardly want to chum up with Potter and Weasley either. Maybe I'll take it slowly and find some new friends who didn't really know me before.'

'Well that's good but I meant about me as well?' she pushed. 'Are you going to talk to me tomorrow?'

'If you'll let me. It would be a shame to drop what we started.'

Hermione remembered that she was looking at Alexander and her heart started racing. Did he mean as a friend? Or more than that? For the first time in her life she wanted to be more than friends with Malfoy! The world had been turned upside down totally and completely. 'I'll meet you in here again tomorrow if you like.' He sounded open and friendly.

'Okay.' Hermione didn't want to sound too eager but her heart was jumping for joy.

'I'd best go now.'

'Yes, so should I.'

'Well bye then.' He stood up.

'Yes I'll see you around.' This was it, he was leaving.

'Thanks for listening Hermione.' He suddenly darted forward and kissed her on the cheek. She held her breath and looked at him for a minute.

'Oh Malfoy! How is this going to work?' She couldn't help the sudden outburst.

'It will work out, don't worry.' He grinned at her amiably. 'But for starters it might be nice if you called me Draco.'

'Okay then Draco, can I have a proper kiss please?' The words rushed out and Hermione could not believe what she'd just said. She opened her mouth to apologise but he took her face in his hands and did as she'd asked with no hesitation.

'Seeya,' he said when he had drew away and hurried out of the classroom with a bashful look that Hermione would never imagined possible. She sat for a moment, unable to stop herself smiling and then when she could control herself again, went out into the sea of thronging students to relieve her friends of their duties in the kitchens. It seemed that the rest of the year could turn out to be very interesting indeed- and not just because they had exams coming up.

THE END