Masquerade

HP is not mine and nothing is made from this.

*******

The blond poked his head around her door and peered inside the room, wondering if it was safe to enter. From the mutterings about death and crushed balls coming from under the mountain of hair that was piled on her desk, he was guessing it wasn’t smart or safe to enter, but then again, he liked to live and play dangerously.

“Hey, Granger!” he said as he strode into the room. She lifted her head from resting on her hands on the desk, and with no warning whatsoever, he was immediately met with a large flock of yellow birds attacking him from all directions.

“How fucking dare you do that to me! Do you have any idea how frustrating that man is? And you locked me in a room with him? Are you insane? Oh, wait, look whom I’m asking. Of course you are; it clearly runs in the family,” she shouted as she threw her hands up in the air.

“I’m sorry, Hermione, I didn’t realize. You two are so similar I thought it would have been a good match. Apparently, I was wrong, and I am the first to admit that. I apologize. How about I make it up to you? I found another guy for you. He’s young, handsome, super intelligent, very charming, and I think he would be perfect for you,” he said with a smile.

“What makes you think that I would ever allow you to set me up again after that fiasco?” she questioned with anger in her eyes.

“Okay, well, how about I give you an out this time? Do you have a date for the New Year’s Ball yet?”

“No,” she mumbled.

“Well, how about you take my guy? That way if it doesn’t work out, you are in a public place, and you can just leave or just dump him and go hang out with Potty and Weasel.” He grimaced at the low growl that she emitted. “Sorry, that was low. You can come and hang out with me. I will keep you company if the date is a dud, but I am 99.9% sure that this guy is perfect for you. So please, for me. I feel so bad about how things went with my father; please let me do this to make up for it.” He batted his eyelashes in a ridiculous motion and gave her the only child puppy pout face, the one that always got him his way.

“Fine. You know what? Whatever. I don’t even care anymore. Have him pick me up at seven that night. Don’t forget to tell him it’s a masquerade, so he needs to wear a mask.” She placed her head back down on the desk, closing her eyes and remembering that kiss, the fire, the heat, the passion that it held. But she knew it would never work out. He was Lucius Malfoy, former Death Eater, supposed Muggle-born hater, smug, arrogant, pompous, and all other words that mean the same thing. She sighed with resignation. It was over, and nothing would come from it except for the fantasies… because if his kiss was that good, Gods know what the sex would be like.

Draco watched her drift off into her mind, and he left the room, closing the door with a soft smirk on his face because he knew something neither Hermione nor his father knew: the only way they could have gotten out of that room was if they had kissed.

**************

She placed the mask on her face and looked into the floor-length mirror in front of her. Her deep ocean blue gown flowed like water, covering every curve, flattering everything. She ran her hands down the front to flatten it out and checked her mask once more to make sure it wasn’t falling off. Her hair was straightened and pulled back into a French twist on the back of her head. She was almost unrecognizable, just what she wanted. Men, eat your hearts out. There was a knock at the door, and she went to answer it. When she opened it, she was met with a glorious sight. He stood a foot taller than she. His crystal blue eyes shone at her from behind his mask, which covered almost all of his face. His robes were clearly expensive and very debonair. His hair was a light sandy brown, that color that is almost blond but not quite. Her first thought was Draco did well; her second was that he wasn’t Lucius, and for some strange reason that made her sad.

“Hi,” she said.

“Good evening, Madam,” he stated as he took her proffered hand and gave it a gentle kiss. He took her arm and Apparated them to the Ministry ballroom.

The room was gorgeous; every table had a pumpkin lantern on it, the ceiling covered in candles, just like the Great Hall all those years ago. As she scanned the room for another familiar face, she came across several that she hadn’t seen in a long time, and for once, she was thankful that she was disguised. Her eyes met a pair of green ones for a split second, and a flash of recognition occurred in the green-eyed boy wonder. But when he looked again, she was gone. Her date was strangely quiet, but oddly enough, that was currently soothing for her. It was as if he knew she needed quiet.

“I’m sorry I’m not much of a date. I understand if you want to leave,” she said, sitting down in the chair that he had pulled out for her.

“Nonsense, you are a beautiful date. Well, what I can see of you anyway, and from what I have been told, you are a very intelligent woman, which is rare to find. Why would I leave a chance to spend time with you?” he asked as he pushed her chair in and took his own, pulling it slightly closer to hers. She smiled at him, a light blush suffusing her cheeks.

“You’re good,” she whispered as Kingsley stood up to deliver his opening feast speech. After he delivered his required speech, everyone began eating. Hermione and her mystery date discussed the latest innovations in potions and charms, movies, which he was surprisingly a big fan of, the war, and many other topics. When dinner was finished, he got up to go get her another flute of champagne. A few minutes later, she felt body warmth next to her again and turned to him.

“It’s about time. I thought someone had kidnapped…” she stopped talking when her eyes once again met the clear green eyes of her best friend.

“Harry,” she breathed.

“Hi, Hermione, how have you been?” he asked awkwardly, staring at his hands twisting over themselves in his lap while still somehow managing to watch her face.

“Lonely. I’ve missed you very much,” she stated as she looked down in shame at what she knew he was going to say.

“You know we never wanted you to run away like that. We all hated Charlie for what he did to you. You didn’t have to hide. We’ve all missed you,” he stated shyly.

“I know. I just knew it would be hard being around all of the Weasleys, knowing that Charlie had cheated on me and having the constant imagistic reminder of him. So I ran. It was stupid, I know, and I have regretted it ever since, but I felt bad going back. So I just stayed away. I figured it was easier,” she cried as he leaned forward and pulled his long lost best friend into a fierce hug.

“Oh, Hermione, you might be the brightest witch of our age, but sometimes I really wonder about you,” he chuckled as he hugged her even tighter to him, so glad to simply have her back in his life. He pulled away and looked at her tear-stained face. A quiet whisper and she could feel the tears on her face disappear. She muttered a quiet “thank you.”

“I better get back to Ginny, but we are seeing each other again. I will owl you tomorrow, okay?” he asked, cupping her face and kissing her on the forehead.

“So, is that my competition?”

***********

Many thanks to sirsevchick and DeeMichelle for looking this over!

Please review and let me know what you think!