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Hermione couldn't help but feel a little excited about the meeting tonight after Tom's suggestion that they should have a masquerade. For one thing, she had
really enjoyed it a few years ago when they'd had a Yule Ball, and a masquerade would be even more exciting because everyone could pretend to be whoever and
whatever they wanted.
Muggle masquerades were exciting enough, but of course the Wizarding world just had to do them even better. Rather than just wearing a costume that represented
the creature being portrayed, wizards actually tended to turn themselves into those creatures for the night, making for a very exciting evening, to say the
least.
Of course, Hermione would rather go in the traditional domino and mask herself. She was already considering just what color she would want her ensemble to be,
and she was leaning very much toward a nice shade of Slytherin green.
Though if Malfoy saw her wearing it, he would probably get some cork-brained notion that she'd worn it with him in mind. She had no idea what had set him
off ever since the war was over, but for some reason he had been hot on her tail all year. It was getting annoying.
Hermione sighed deeply. It seemed like such a wonderful idea, if only Tom could be there to share it with her. She supposed she could bring along her compact,
but it just wouldn't be the same thing. She wanted to feel his arms around her, to smell the scent of his skin and his cologne, and to taste his stolen kisses
she was sure they would share.
As thoughts of dancing with Tom Riddle swirled through her head, leaving her breathless with unfulfilled desires, she headed into the dorm room she shared with
the surly Slytherin Head Boy. No one else had arrived yet, so she headed for one of the couches to have a seat.
She could just see the look on Malfoy's face, if only Tom could be there. He would have somehow managed to get her out onto the dance floor, when a dark and
dashing stranger would appear and cut in, whirling her out onto the dance floor as Malfoy just stood there and stared.
Hermione tried her best to ignore Malfoy as he joined her in their dorm room to wait for the prefects to arrive. She did her best to blank him out completely
and continue her reverie, but unfortunately her resolve did not last long.
"Don't ignore me, Mudblood," Malfoy growled as he leaned close to her ear. "We both know that you're well aware I'm here."
"I thought I proved that I didn't have dirty blood, Malfoy," Hermione said, and Draco winced as he flexed his recently scarred hand. She tried to hide the
smirk this action caused, but she was wholly unsuccessful.
Malfoy moved so that he leaned above her, one hand to either side of her head, his face just inches from her own. "You had no right to touch me, wench," he
snarled, his face looking much like that of the fire breathing animal for which he was named.
"Someone needed to show you the truth," she answered with wide-eyed innocence.
Draco lifted one hand and pulled it back as if he was ready to strike her across her face, but he froze when they heard voices outside the painting that hid
their entrance.
"Someday, someone is going to teach you to respect your superiors," he hissed at her, touching his nose to hers. "And I hope to Salazar himself it's me."
Draco returned to his seat and watched as the prefects all filed into the room and took seats wherever they could find them. While he seemed calm and collected,
Hermione was leaning back into the cushions and taking deep, steadying breaths to slow down her heart. She swore if he would have hit her, she would have made
him pay.
She felt completely exhausted now, and right this moment she dearly wanted to return to her room and just fall asleep, and maybe even never wake up again. Or,
she amended, at least sleep until the night of the ball, confident that as in all good fairy tales, her prince would come and save the day in the end. Of course,
in this case, he would be a dark prince, but hey, that was okay, too.
Malfoy trod on her toes as he stood to call the meeting to order, and Hermione glared up at him. He just sneered before turning to the others. She tuned out
most of what he had to say, because she didn't really need to hear it anyway. In her own little world she danced with Tom, and he was wearing the finest dress
robes she'd ever seen.
Of course, he had escorted her to the ball on his arm, and all the other girls were completely jealous over her because she was with the most handsome man
of them all. She did not hang on him, but stepped alongside him with confident elegance, and that made all the men wish they could have her, which they could
not, because she belonged to Tom.
Her face flushed red as she imagined Tom taking her into one of the many alcoves, hidden only by a Silencing charm, and how he would take her into his arms
and kiss her for an eternity there. And then, once the clock began to strike midnight, they would retreat together to her bedroom and make passionate love
all night long.
Glancing down at the blank page on her notepad, Hermione tried to make herself focus on what Draco was saying. He saw her watching him out of the corner of
his eye, and flexed his scarred hand a few times. Hermione rolled her eyes at him for being such a drama queen.
Finally Malfoy was done discussing rules and regulations, and other issues pertaining to patrolling and prefect duties, and he moved on to the main topic. "So,
we have a few weeks left before the winter break, and I'm pretty sure everyone must have some ideas about the sort of entertainment we'd like to have for Yule,"
he said.
A murmur rippled around the room, and a few suggestions were called out, but then Hermione stood up beside Malfoy and said, "I think that it would be lovely
for us to have a masquerade."
Almost everyone grinned and nodded their agreement, and an air of excitement filled the room as Hermione smiled and took her seat again. She watched as the
others grinned and nodded and pushed each other about playfully, and shook her head at their childish antics. She hadn't thought the idea would receive even
half the attention it did.
Still, she had to admit she was a little excited herself. The thrill of getting to be someone else for just one night was overshadowed only by the thought that
perhaps Tom would figure out some way to attend, just to be with her. It would mean everything to her if he did, if she could actually touch him in the flesh!
"The masquerade is an excellent idea," Malfoy agreed enthusiastically. "And we could even have some kind of feast as well as the dance. But I think the
entertainment might be best suited to the fourth years and above, and we should all agree upon a few ground rules, like no devouring prey or causing any other
types of injuries to fellow students. Headmistress McGonagall would demand that stipulation anyway, if we didn't make it ourselves."
"True," piped in one of the other boys.
"All right, I will be assigning three different committees to get this thing planned," Malfoy decided. He summoned a piece of parchment and a quill to take
down everything he was about to say, which floated beside him as he continued. "We will need a decoration committee, a music and entertainment committee, and
a food committee. I, of course, will be in charge of the Music and Entertainments. Granger can take charge of the decorations--and try to be tasteful about it,
Granger, the last thing we need is a bunch of Gryffindor colors all over the place to the exclusion of the other houses--and lastly, we will need someone to do
the food."
"I'll head that committee up," declared Hufflepuff's female prefect, Jane. Her male counterpart gave her hand an appreciative squeeze, and Hermione saw Malfoy
flex his sore hand again in response.
"Very well, then," said Draco. "You lot can all sign up to the committee you like, and after that this meeting is adjourned. We can begin working on the project
first thing tomorrow. We'll hold meetings for each committee in different places to cut down on the noise. I will post your locations and the list of committee
members outside this dorm by tomorrow morning. That is all."
Hermione sighed with satisfaction as she headed up the stairs to her bedroom. Now, if only there were some way that her Prince could attend the ball.
Tom was not there when she reached her room, so Hermione took the opportunity to do a bit of research. She had spotted a spell in the Mirror Spells book that
she had yet to try, which allowed one to actually take an object from the room the mirror was viewing. She looked curiously into her mirror at Tom's room and
noticed that he had left his bottle of aftershave close enough for her to grab it.
"Pervenire in Speculum," she said briskly, then pulled the item through without any trouble. "Mmm, lovely. I bet it smells even better when it's on him!"
Then she put it back where she'd found it and plopped down on her bed as if nothing had happened, waiting as long as she possibly could before she drifted off
to sleep. In her dreams, her dark prince smelled absolutely divine, and she slept with a smile on her face.
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