Unwritten

Chapter Nine



"I won\'t hear another word of it!" Ginny said, holding her hand in front of Hermione. "You are taking on way too many things. The least you can do is allow me to help with the costumes. I understand why you argued with Susan about it, because she\'s not a Gryffindor and cannot come into the tower at night. But, I\'m different."



"You have studying to do, too," Hermione tried, though she already knew she was defeated.



Sighing, the older Gryffindor went to her trunk and pulled out the sewing supplies and sketches she had. "Everything is here, if you want to help," she said, starting the intricate work.



The girls began sewing in companionable silence.



(II)



"Staring at a blank page before you, open up a dirty window, let the sun illuminate the words that you could not find, reaching for something in the distance, so close you can almost taste it, release your inhibitions..." Hermione quietly sang to herself. She stopped and repeated the few words.



Smiling, she added them to the song she was working on. Feeling a hand brush her shoulder, she looked up and smiled at Draco. "I suppose you heard?" she asked.



He nodded. "I like the sound of it, though, I\'m not too keen on a \'dirty window.\' Sounds... Muggle."



She wrinkled her nose and stuck her tongue out at him. "There\'s nothing \'Muggle\' about a dirty window. Have you been to Diagon Alley lately? Just about all the shops there have dirty windows. As do most of the shops in Hogsmeade."



He shrugged. "I have a couple new songs as well," he said.



She looked at him in surprise. "How is it that you can write so many songs so quickly when it\'s taking me months just to get a second verse out of my song?" she asked, astounded.



He laughed. "Because I\'m not as tedious as you are. I already know my song will be great and adored," he answered. "You, on the other hand..."



She threw him a daggered glance. "It\'s got to be perfect, Draco," she said.



"And it will be, dove," he assured her. "How are the costumes coming?"



Her smile returned. "I\'m finished with Anthony\'s and Susan\'s. I\'m working on yours now," she told him. "And, I\'ve been talking to Ginny and I think we should get some dancers."



"Dancers?" he inquired, raising an eyebrow.



She nodded. "I think it would be good at the concert if we could have a couple people dancing to our songs. Ginny\'s very good at dancing and she could choreograph something for us based on our music," she explained.



"So, Weasley would be one dancer," he said. "Where would we find others? I don\'t want our music getting to too many people. And, we need to keep in mind that this has to be about school unity. They can\'t all be from the same House."



"I know," she said. "Doesn\'t Zabini know how to dance? And I\'m sure Ginny could find people in Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw with little to no problem. If you know of any other Slytherins who might be interested..."



"Perhaps the Greengrass sisters," he thought aloud. "Or, at the very least, Astoria. Daphne is still a bit angry with me." Coming to his conclusion, he nodded his agreement. "Tell Weasley to do it, but we want two dancers from each House. One male, one female. Tell her not to worry about the Slytherins. I\'ll convince two of the Slytherins to join up."



She nodded. Looking around the small practice room, she sighed. "We need a bigger room."



(III)



She was standing in the Great Hall. It was late. The tables had long been cleared of any and all students and staff. The tables sat dormant and elegant.



Hermione gazed around her. The Great Hall had been decorated for the holidays and she was, as always, quite happy with the decorations. She allowed her mind to wander to the Yule Ball held in her fourth year.



She imagined that her own concert would be just as wild as that night when the Weird Sisters showed up. Then, she finally pictured what the concert would look like. In that moment, she could see in her mind\'s eye where the stage would be set up at. She could see rows and rows of chairs, each representing a different House. All four Houses would be represented that night. The walls would be draped in emerald, ruby, topaz, and sapphire.



"Miss Granger?" came a voice from behind her.



She opened her eyes and turned to see Professor McGonagall standing at the door. "I\'m sorry, Professor," she said. "I was just thinking about what the Great Hall will look like."



The older woman nodded. "It will be interesting to see, yes," she agreed. McGonagall entered the room and glanced around as though she, too, were envisioning the night of the concert. "Professor Dumbledore would have liked to have seen it."



There was a sadness in the headmistress\'s eyes when she said this and Hermione could not help but be overcome with a sense of sadness herself. "Professor Snape would have been horrified," she added.



Both females chuckled. Then, a thought occurred to Hermione. "Professor? Is there a way to get portraits into the Great Hall? I mean, what if Dumbledore and Snape could be here?"



McGonagall\'s lips pursed. "I am sorry, Miss Granger, but I do not believe that will be possible. As much as it pains me to admit it, there have never been any portraits in the Great Hall. And, honestly, I wouldn\'t see why there should be."



Hermione sighed, but allowed it to be left at that. After all, the headmistress was giving her so much already. "Just one last question, Professor."



"Just the one?"



The young Gryffindor smiled. "You wouldn\'t mind if we used the Room of Requirement for practice, would you? We\'ve decided to add some dancers to our music and it\'s impossible to practice with them in that small room we\'ve been using."



"Miss Granger," Professor McGonagall said, softly, "you do not need my permission to use the Room of Requirement. You did not need Dumbledore\'s permission three years ago and you don\'t need mine now."



Hermione nodded. "Thank you, Professor."



McGonagall smiled. "I look forward to your performance. All this care and attention to detail... Well, it should be wonderful. Interesting, to say the least."



With that, the headmistress and her favourite student left the Great Hall.

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Author\'s Note: And? What\'dya think? I know it\'s a bit splotchy. But, I like it nonetheless.