The Beginning of the End

Chapter Six: Masquerade

-----------

Like any other girl, Hermione was excited about the upcoming masquerade. Although she didn't show the slightest interest in it, she secretly hoped that someone would ask her out. But her I-couldn't-care-less attitude scared off the young men who wanted to ask her. So on the night before the masquerade, Hermione found herself dateless. She sighed. Even if she had to go dateless, she would still go just to see the decorations.

She pulled out her costume and hung it on the door, gazing at it quietly. When she about nine, she used to complain about the lack of clothes her dolls had. Her mother, a patient woman, had sat her down and taught her how to create clothes for her dolls. It started out with simple things, such as skirts, and soon she was able to create miniature ball-room gowns for her dolls. She and her mother had created so many different outfits for the dolls that they sent them to the manufacturer to use for future dolls. After dolls, her mother taught her how to make clothes for herself. Hermione was always thankful for the lessons because they never had what she wanted in the stores.

She smiled at her outfit, wondering if she could wear something so bold and so unlike her. She had decided to be an impish fairy this Halloween. The costume consisted of a forest vinyl green mini halter top that showed just enough cleavage. It completely bared her stomach--ten centimeters of it! Her skirt was the same forest green vinyl and was cut in a zigzag manner. It reached to her knees and had a thin black fabric over it, so it would seem a mix of both black and green. She had black velvet stockings that were thigh-high and knee-length boots. But that wasn't all! She had vines that she would entwine from her shoulder down to her wrist and a string of small flowers and leaves to tie around her forehead. She also planned to charm her ears to look like elf ears. All in all, it was undeniably sexy, but was it her? Not at all. But Halloween was a time to pretend you were someone else, Hermione decided.

As she admired her piece de résistance, she couldn't help but think of her deceased parents. Smiling sadly, she thought of what they would say if she were to show them her outfit. Her mother would congratulate her on it and urge to her to wear it, while her father would give her a thumbs up on the costume, but thumbs down if she would wear it anytime soon. But in the end, her mother would change his mind and she would end up wearing it. Her eyes misted slightly.

"Mum," she whispered. "Dad. How is it up there? I hope you guys can see me now... Have you seen my costume? It's great, isn't it? Look, no magic, Mum." She forced a laugh. "No magic at all! And Dad, it isn't -too- bad. At least it's longer than a bikini. Well, you guys don't worry, all right? I'm perfectly fine down here. Good grades, great friends. What more can I ask of? Well, besides you guys being here with me..." She sniffled and wiped her nose. "I told myself I wouldn't cry, and look, I'm crying. But anyways, I won't leave you guys' death unavenged. I'm also terribly sorry I couldn't attend your funeral, but Professor Dumbledore wouldn't let any of us go out. I wish I could've, though. But you guys know I love you already."

She looked at the clock. It was almost nine. She needed to meet up with Ron, Lavender, Harry, and Ginny in the Gryffindor common room. They wanted to arrive as a group and see each other's costumes before going off with their dates.

Wiping her eyes, Hermione sauntered over to her door and grabbed her robes. She hoped that Draco wouldn't be in the common room tonight because she didn't want to see him. But as soon as she stepped out of her room, she saw his shock of blond hair. He was reading over some of his notes, she guessed from his hunched over position before the table. Good. This way, she didn't have to see his face. Silently, she opened the door that led to the Gryffindor common room. He didn't even look her way when the door creaked. She sighed. Guess he didn't want to see her either.

-------

"The feast ends at 7:30," pointed out Lavender. "Why on earth would we want to meet at nine?"

"Don't you girls need to do your make up?" joked Ron.

Lavender and Ginny gave him a dirty look and he grinned meekly.

"Well, okay, let's look at it this way," Harry said. "The feast begins at six. Six! We can finish in less than thirty minutes because there is bound to be food at the actual masquerade. Then, we can meet up at 7:30 over here, right when the masquerade starts."

"Oh, thank you, voice of reason!" said Ginny.

Harry flushed slightly. "You're, err, welcome?"

The others laughed.

"Is that a set time?" Hermione asked.

"You betcha," said Ginny, grinning. "We'll meet right here, 7:30 prompto. Everyone is expected to be here on time and in costume."

"You're almost as bossy as Hermione," Ron said, laughing.

"Oh, no one can be as bossy as me," Hermione chortled. "And I mean no one! You're my second, Ginny. I have to study for a test tomorrow, so I'll see you guys later. Bye!"

--------

The day went by relatively fast for Hermione and the rest of the students. The teachers, except Snape and McGonagall, decided to give them a free day, as the students' concentration were elsewhere. Hermione easily aced the test and in no time, the feast was upon them.

"I love the Halloween feast, more than anything else," said Ron, patting his stomach. "My stomach likes it more, though."

"I know what you mean," agreed Harry. "But maybe the meal we get when we come back to Hogwarts is the best."

"Too bad this is our last year." The red-head sighed. "I'm going to miss Hogwarts. It was fun."

"Now, don't say that yet," Hermione said. "We're not even halfway done!" She didn't want to think about the end of Hogwarts. She didn't want to think about leaving, about becoming an adult, and most of all, about her parents.

"True, true. Let's drink to Hogwarts!" Ron suggested and smirked. "I have some butterbeer under the table."

"How?" Ginny asked, narrowing her eyes at her brother.

"Oh...just somehow." He didn't want to tell her about the secret passages quite yet. "I'll tell you some other time."

"You better," she said, crossing her arms. "Now give me one of those butterbeers!"

Ron grinned and handed her a mug. Then he pulled out four more mugs. "One for me, one for Harry, one for Lavender, and one for 'Mione!"

"To the present," said Harry, holding his mug up.

"To the past and good times," said Ron as he placed his mug near Harry's.

"To the future," added Hermione as she, Lavender, and Ginny held up their mugs.

"To Hogwarts," the five chorused and their mugs made a loud CLANK as they hit each other's.

"Now, time to go get ready," Lavender said.

------------

Hermione examined herself in the full-length mirror meticulously and twirled a bit, letting her straightened hair flow about wildly.

"You look beautiful," called out Sapphire. "I don't see why you need to keep looking in the mirror every five seconds."

"Thank you, Sapphire," said Hermione. "I just feel so self-conscious in this outfit. And with this sort of make up and all. It's just different."

Sapphire laughed. "All you did was put, what? Eyeliner, eye shadow, and lipstick."

She blinked. "You know what it is?"

"I've been here for a while," he trailed off.

"Oh. Well, I must be off." She picked up her mask. It was a papier-mâché with crackle glaze, complete with a silver finish. The mask was called allegria and only covered her from her eyebrows down to the end of her nose. Hermione enchanted it so that it would stay on her face and looked at her reflection one last time.

The costume was rather clingy, but it was comfortable at the same time. She had dark green eye shadow on and had outlined her eyes with black eyeliner and mascara. She also had put on a dark plum lipstick. She smiled at her reflection, knowing full well she didn't look like herself at all. For a second, she thought she saw a man and a woman standing near her in the mirror. The man had his hand on her shoulder and smiling at her and the woman was grinning widely. But it was gone. She shook her head and then went to meet with the others.

------------------------

Ginny was dressed as a black cat in a velvet halter jumpsuit with marabou trim. She had on black gloves that reached to her elbow and wore two-inch heels. She even had the ears and tail to match the costume. She didn't stop there, though, oh, no, she also had drawn whiskers on her face and had black lipstick. Her mask was even shaped like a cat. It was also papier-mâché gilded with silver lining and encrusted in diamonds.

Harry was dressed as a knight, complete with a sword and armor. He even had the headgear to go along with it! Hermione wondered how on earth Harry would dance in it, considering that it look very heavy, but she realized he must've used the lightening spell on it when he moved about with complete ease.

Lavender was a French maid. She had on a strapless black dress with little sleeves on her arms, lined with white fringes. She had cleverly tied a small apron on her and put on lace cuffs and a lace headpiece. She wore fishnets, a garter, and held onto a feather duster. She only had on dark red lipstick for make up, and her mask had Harlequin diamonds in rhinestone.

Ron, on the other hand, was a pirate. He had on a white pirate shirt, black pants, and a waist sash. Like Harry, he was also carrying a sword. He, however, didn't have a mask and had settled for an eye patch instead.

"Hermione!" Lavender gushed. "That's a really nice costume. I didn't know it was you until Ginny said so."

"You too. Hold up, though. I just need to get Colin to take a picture of us." She waved to Colin and he came running over. "Can you please take our pictures?"

"Oh...yes, no problem," he said, grinning. "Say 'cheese'!"

Nobody said 'cheese'. They all smiled beautifully at the camera. *FLASH*

"Thanks, Colin," said Harry.

"I'll give you guys the picture tomorrow," he said as he walked over to take more pictures.

The five looked at each other and smiled. Time for the masquerade!

----------

"We have to what?" said Lavender to Professor McGonagall.

"But we already have our masks," said Ron, pointing to his eye patch.

"It's Professor Dumbledore's orders. -Everyone- has to be charmed," Professor McGonagall said sternly.

"Fine, fine," Ron mumbled.

She pointed at the group with her wand. "Cambio Persona*."

"So, what's different about us?" asked Ginny, looking around. "Hey, your eyes are all changing colors every few seconds."

"So are yours," said Ron. He watched as her eyes changed to green, red, orange, silver, black, blue, etc. "Wicked. Your voice, it's different too... It's a bit higher."

"And your hair is blonde," said Hermione to Ginny.

Ginny instinctively patted her hair. "Blonde? Do I look okay? Whoa, Ron's right. Your voice is lower, though."

"Yes, you look fine," responded Lavender. "What color is my hair?"

"Yours is brown."

She grinned. "At least I match. Ron your hair is dark brown... I can't see Harry's hair because of his helmet. And Hermione, your hair is black."

"I'm glad we went as a group. Otherwise, I never would have guessed who you guys really are!" said Hermione.

Professor McGonagall coughed behind them. "The spell will wear off by tomorrow morning. And please step inside--others are waiting for their turn."

"Oh, right," mumbled Harry. "Sorry bout that."

They stepped inside and froze. This didn't look at all like the Great Hall. The lights were dim and there were pumpkins of various sizes all over the place. There was fog on the ground and over to the side, there was a refreshment table.

"Ohhhh," said Lavender. "And look, the Three Witches are actually here!" She pointed to three women standing near a table. "I don't believe it." She dragged Ron with her to get their autographs.

"Let's get some punch," Ginny said to Harry. They walked off as well.

Hermione sighed. Such was the life of the lonely. She contemplated going back to her room, but realized that it was be stupid to get dressed up for nothing. She briefly wondered if she should come back later, but also realized that it would be stupid. There was no place to go, especially if she was dressed like -this-. She tried to cover herself up with her hands, feeling horribly embarrassed that she had actually decided to walk out in public half-naked.

Hermione heard a few wolf-whistles as the room began to fill, and she wished had her robes to cover herself with. She knew she should be happy getting even getting looked at, but she thought it was vulgar to exhibit herself like this, like some sort of meat on display for wolves.

"Why did I ever decide to wear this?" she whispered to herself. She sat down in a chair, arms wrapped around her stomach.

A few boys ventured out to ask her for a dance, but she refused. She hated the way their eyes stared at her hungrily. She hated the way they would try to rub against her, try to touch her, and even tried to kiss her. It felt so wrong and at times, disgusting.

She shook her head. What was she doing? This was a masquerade/dance! And here she was, sitting by herself for the past two hours. That wasn't any fun. It was pathetic.

"Maybe one song won't hurt." She stood up. "One song. And I'm leaving."

She went off to dance by herself, letting the music engulf her. Now, Hermione wasn't a bad dancer, nor was she a fantastic dancer. But tonight, she was a marvelous dancer. She danced to forget her discomfort, her parents, Voldemort, and herself. Before she knew it, she had been on the dance floor for an hour and a half.

"Okay, so that was fun," she admitted to herself as she went to the refreshment table. She picked up a cup of water and sipped it. She slowly retreated back to her seat, and started fanning herself. It was unbearably hot and stuffy in the Great Hall, she thought. She decided to go outside in hopes that the cool October air would refresh her.

She opened the back door of the Great Hall and walked outside. The wind reached out to her the second she stepped out, cooling her body. The back had a medium-sized balcony, enough to fit about eight people. It also had a splendid view of the lake. Hermione leaned against the railing and looked up at the sky. It was a full moon that night.

"Excuse me?" she heard someone call behind her.

Hermione quickly turned around and saw a black-haired man dressed in a tuxedo and wearing a pearl satin eye mask. "Yes?"

"May I have this dance?" he asked. His voice was soothing... gentle.

"Only if you tell me who you are," she said.

"Me--I am Gentleman Death," he answered, bowing. "And you are?"

"I am nothing as exquisite as you," she said softly. "I am just an impish fairy."

He raised an eyebrow. "Oh? Interesting. So may I have this dance, dear lady?"

The beat was fast and complex, a sort of tango if you will. Hermione smiled—it was good music to dance to. "Yes, you may."

He took her left hand in his and placed his other arm on her upper back. She placed her own arm on his back. Something seemed very familiar about this position, she thought. But she couldn't place her finger on it. And surely she would remember his scent, this wonderful winter fresh smell... Like the smell after it rains in the country, not that asphalt smell of the city. Hermione thanked her aunt for sending her to all those dance classes every summer.

Then they begin to move, slowly, sensuously with the music. The music steadily grew stronger and faster. Her partner was wonderful, she complimented mentally. He leaned back slightly and she felt his hand push her close to him. Then she moved back a few steps back, hand still on the unknown stranger, and he followed her. She wrapped a leg around his and he suddenly dipped her.

"Who are you?" she asked again, staring deep into his ever-changing eyes.

"Gentleman Death," he told her again.

"No, really."

"What if I say I don't want to tell you? Let's just dance the rest of the night."

"Okay. Let's make a deal," she whispered.

He stared down at her. "Hm?"

"I will dance with you the rest of the night--as long as we don't tell each other who we are. I don't want to know who you are. I don't want any of my prejudice against other students to destroy tonight--right now," she said, licking her lips nervously.

"I understand," he said. He pulled her out of the dip as the music stopped. He whispered something and her mask fell off. He caught it with one hand.

It didn't matter anyways, she thought. Placing a hand on the mask, she whispered a charm to take his off. She still couldn't tell who he was and she knew for a fact that he had no clue about her identity.

"Souvenir," she heard him say as he placed her mask in his pocket. "Now, I believe you promised more dances?"

A slow, French song started. She laughed. "Wow, they play international songs!"

He smiled at her, a beautiful carefree smile. She once again wondered who it was, but didn't say a word.

"I just so happen to know this song," he said. "Lara Fabian's ‘Je t'aime’."

"'I Love You'," translated Hermione. She felt him place his strong hands on her bare lower back and she shivered slightly. Wrapping her hands around his neck, she looked up at him. He was so pale... It must be because of the moonlight, she thought.

They moved slowly in a circle. It would have been a waltz, except the hand positions were all wrong. He tilted his head down to look at the beautiful fairy in front of him. Only for tonight...

He began to whisper the lyrics in perfect French to her:

"D'accord, il existait d'autres façons de se quitter

(Of agreement, there was other ways of being left)

Quelques éclats de verre auraient peut-être pu nous aider

(Some glares of glass could perhaps have helped us)

Dans ce silence amer, j'ai décidé de pardonner

(In this bitter silence, I decided to forgive)

Les erreurs qu'on peut faire à trop s'aimer

(The errors which one can make with liking too much)."

Hermione concentrated on hearing his baritone voice singing those words to her. This was almost too much for her. Nobody has ever song to her like this, nobody has ever feel like melting, nobody! And she would probably never know who he was.

"I can't sing the next part," he said, smirking. "Unless you want me to say I'm a female..."

She laughed. "Then sing the next part, please."

"Right after this," he promised. They continued to sway in silence. His thumb began to rub her back and she sighed wistfully. This was bliss, pure bliss. If she could freeze a moment in time, this would be it.

"D'accord je t'ai confié tous mes sourires, tous mes secrets

(Of agreement I entrusted to you all my smiles, all my secrecies)

Même ceux, dont seul un frère est le gardien inavoué

(Even those, whose only brother is the unavowed guard)

Dans cette maison de pierre, Satan nous regardait danser

(In this stone-built house, Satan looked at us dancing)

J'ai tant voulu la guerre de corps qui se faisaient la paix

(I so much wanted the war of bodies which were made peace)

Je t'aime, je t'aime

(I love you, I love you)

Comme un fou comme un soldat

(Like insane like a soldier)

Comme une star de cinéma

(Like a star of cinema)

Je t'aime, je t'aime

(I love you, I love you)

Comme un loup, comme un roi

(Like a wolf, a king)

Comme un homme que je ne suis pas

(As a man who I am not)

Tu vois, je t'aime comme ça

(You see, I love you like that)."

And they continued to dance into the night, each wishing that the night could last forever.

------------

"Lucius," said Lord Voldemort.

"Yes, my lord?" Lucius Malfoy stepped forward in his hooded robe.

"I have a job for you that concerns the Ministry..."

---------------------------

*Cambio Persona – Change Person