FOREVER FANTASY

Chapter Sixteen: The Masquerade


Hermione kicking Pansy’s ass was the talk of the school for the next month, until it finally faded away, along with the bruises that they had to endure. A couple of weeks before Halloween, Dumbledore announced to the students that there would be two masquerade balls, one for third years and up, and one for first and second years. Then he added that he has given them permission to dress casually every Friday, but they wouldn’t budge on the uniform issue.

Before the students realized, Halloween was fast approaching. Dumbledore had given permission for a Hogsmeade visit to find their costumes. Hermione decided to go with Harry, Ron, and Ginny.

They went into the costume shop where they got a good laugh over some of the costumes. Harry and Ron, having picked out their costumes said that they would meet them at ‘The Three Broomsticks’ for a couple of butterbeers.

Hermione looked around and picked out a pixie costume for Ginny. “Isn’t it kind of revealing Hermione? I mean, I don’t have the curves like you do,” Ginny grinned.

“I think this would look amazing on you. Especially with your red hair.”

Ginny nodded in agreement. “Well, okay, what are you going as?”

“You’ll see. All’s I need is an eye patch and a sword,” Hermione replied as she looked around.

They met up with Harry and Ron who were on their second butterbeer. “It’s about time. What did you two end up picking out for a costume?” Ron asked.

“We’re going as . . . ” Ginny started, but was interrupted with Hermione nudging her with her elbow.

“You’ll have to wait and see,” Hermione mysteriously said.

They all sat there chatting amicably when Hermione turned to Harry. “So, how’s the quidditch league going?”

“Surprisingly well, it’s a lot of fun showing the younger students how to play. Me and Draco discuss some of the coaching strategy while we’re sitting in potions,” Harry replied, as he took a sip of his butterbeer.

“Did I actually hear you say his first name without scorn?” Hermione teased.

“Well, he’s not that bad once you get by the arrogance. We’re both making the attempt anyway,” he sheepishly said.

“Yeah, he even asked me advice on keeper strategy. I guess he’s not that bad. He had said that his father was always on his back to be the way that he was,” Ron said. “It still doesn’t mean we have to be friends though, right?”

Hermione, Harry, and Ginny all laughed at the stricken look on Ron’s face.



The night of the masque ball, Hermione went to get ready with Ginny. The finished results were sensational. Ginny’s skirt had a ragged hem and brushed the tops of her thighs. The top was a short tank top which bared her mid-section. Her hair was tousled with green vines intertwined throughout the length of her hair. Green and silver sparkle cream was spread over her body, reflecting different colors when in the light. But what stood out, were the green gossamer wings that hung on her back, that reached the height of her pointed ears, then tapered down even with the hem of her skirt.

Hermione was dressed as a pirate. She wore lycra stretch pants that looked like a second skin, and a cream-coloured blouse that hung down to her hips with full sleeves, that cinched at the wrists with a ruffle. The top five buttons were undone to reveal the soft swell of her breasts. Around her waist she wore a red sash that tied at the side, and dangled down on the one side. A scabbard hung down her other side where there was a sheathed long sword. On her feet, she wore black leather boots that went up above her knees, the tops folded down and tied at the back of her knee. On her head she wore a bandana tied at the back, holding down long tousled black raven hair. Over the one eye she wore a patch which tied up under the bandana.

Ron and Harry were waiting for them in the Gryffindor common room. Ron stared at Hermione’s shirt. “How on earth do you stay in your shirt? One shift of your arm and you’d probably bare all to see,” he grinned.

“Magic,” Hermione smiled. “There’s no way it’s going to happen.”

All four of them entered the Great hall to colourfully dressed couples. The long dinner tables had been moved to the edge of the Hall to leave room for a dance floor. To the right there was a DJ playing some muggle music, where a lot of the students were already up and dancing to. She looked up at the bewitched ceiling to see a night sky with thousands of stars sparkling, lighting up the room. She kept glancing around, looking for a blonde head in the crowd. She had no idea what Draco’s costume would be. She shrugged her shoulders, and she and Ginny grabbed Ron and Harry’s hand to drag them out to the dance floor.

Draco stood off to the side wearing a Zorro costume. He was dressed in black leather pants; a black silk shirt that was unbuttoned half way down; and a long flowing cape that draped over the one side of his body. On the one side of his hip there was a sword hanging jauntily down his thigh. A black hat covered his blonde hair, and the mask he wore covered some of his facial features. The punk rocker beside him nudged him to get his attention, “Hey, isn’t that Hermione dancing with Ron?” Blaise asked.

“Looks like it,” Draco said as he gazed longingly at her tight and revealing outfit.

Blaise whistled. “God, she looks hot. How does she not fall out of that shirt?”

Draco watched as the foursome sat down to drink their butterbeers. A slow song came on and he could see Hermione looking around the room.

“She’s looking for you. Go ask her to dance,” Blaise said as he pushed him forward.

Draco looked back threateningly. Blaise just laughed and asked the blonde girl beside him to dance.

As Draco was making his way across the room, Pansy came over and clung to his arm wearing a Grecian dress that didn’t leave much to the imagination. He looked down at her in disgust, and peeled her fingers off of his arm. “Leave me alone Pansy. I want nothing to do with you,” he said, then advanced towards Hermione who was watching him walk across the room. Pansy glared daggers at the two of them, then stormed out of the Hall.

Draco reached Hermione and held out his hand. She took it and let him lead her to the dance floor where he wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her close.

Hermione looked into his eyes. One arm around his neck, the other on his chest, touching both skin and silk where his shirt gaped open.

Draco leaned down and kissed her lightly on the mouth. “You look very swash buckling tonight,” he said with a smile.

“And you, Sir Malfoy, look very dangerous,” she replied back with a smile, as she slid her hand in the opening of his shirt to touch the firmness of his chest.

He pulled her close to his body, their legs rubbing together at the closeness, her head resting on his broad shoulder.

Dumbledore looked at the couple on the dance floor, his eyes twinkling. He nudged McGonagall and motioned for her to look. “So what do you think Minerva, will we be invited to the wedding?” He asked.

Minerva looked at Hermione and Draco on the dance floor, and then looked back at Dumbledore, “Albus, you are a sly one. What made you think that they would fall in love like that?”

“Well, hate is a very close emotion to love. I am not sure if they realize that yet, though,” he replied.

The night was a smashing success. The different houses were laughing, dancing and having a good time together, with the exception of a few Slytherins. Draco even danced with Ginny and some other Gryffindor’s, but saved the slow dances for Hermione.

Hermione was dancing with Draco, swaying slowly to the music, when she glanced over at Harry who was dancing with Ginny, looking stiff as a board. She shook her head.

Draco saw the movement. “What’s wrong?”

“It’s those two. I know he’s my cousin and one of my best friends, but he can be such a yutz sometimes.”

“What on earth are you talking about?” Draco laughed.

Hermione motioned over to Harry. “See those two? Well, they deeply care for each other but neither one of them want to make the first move.”

“Hmm,” Draco hummed. “I might have an idea, but we’ll need help.” He bent down to whisper the plan in her ear. “That sounds perfect. We’ll ask Ron and Lavender to help,” she smiled.

Ron and Lavender were dancing when they saw Draco and Hermione approach. “We need to talk to you two. We’re planning something to get Harry and Ginny together, but we’ll need your help,” Hermione said. “There is a room Draco knows of, and we need for you two to lure them into it one at a time.”

“Is it safe? It won’t hurt them, will it?” Ron asked worriedly.

“No, it stops at a certain point. It will definitely do them no harm,” Draco reassured him.


Later that night Harry was awakened by Ron, “Harry, wake up. Something’s happened to Ginny. She seems to have disappeared. I looked on the Marauder’s map, and she’s in this room in the dungeon.”

Harry was immediately awake and pulled on his robe and shoes. “Does it show that she’s by herself?”

“Yes, the map shows her by herself, but it’s flickering. I’m really worried about her,” Ron said close to tears.

“Come on, show me where this room is then,” Harry said, as he grabbed his wand, following Ron to the dungeon.

When they got down to the dungeon, Ron pointed to a big black door. “This is the room it shows that she’s in. You go first, and I’ll go get a professor in case she’s hurt.” Harry opened the door and slowly went in, his wand at the ready. The door slammed shut behind him, where he heard a distinct click of a deadbolt being slid into place.


And on the other side of the Gryffindor dormitory, Ginny was being shaken awake by Lavender. “Gin, Gin, wake up. Something’s happened to Harry,” she cried.

Ginny came instantly awake. “Where is he? Is he hurt? Where’s Ron?”

“Ron’s downstairs waiting for you, he has Harry’s Marauder’s map,” Lavender said, rushing her down the stairs to see Ron pacing back and forth, with the map clutched in his hand.

“Ginny, we have to get down to the dungeon straight away. Harry’s been hurt and you’re better at the healing charms that I am,” Ron said.

“Well, come one then, lead the way. There’s not a moment to lose if he’s hurt,” Ginny ordered.

Lavender and Ron winked conspiratorially to each other behind Ginny’s back. When they reached the large black door, Ginny was about to open the door. “Are you coming in?”

“Yes, we’ll run up to get Pomfrey and Dumbledore, just in case it’s more serious than we think. You go ahead. He might need some minor healing right away.”

Ginny walked into the darkened room, when the door slammed shut behind her with an audible click. She went back to try the door, but found no door knobs.

“It’s no use. We’re locked in here for a while. I suppose this is Ron’s idea of some kind of joke or something,” Harry said, as he lit a nearby candle.

Ginny turned around and saw Harry lounging back against the wall, his arms crossed across his muscular chest. “This was not funny. He told me you were hurt.”

Outside of the door, Hermione and Draco stepped out of the shadows, and approached their fellow conspirators. Then Draco touched his wand to the door and muttered a spell.

In the room, Ginny jumped at a grinding noise coming from the walls, “What. Is. That?”

As Harry was leaning against the wall, he was the first to realize what was happening. “The walls seem to be closing in on us, I think.”

Ginny ran to the door again, and used her wand to try to charm it open, while Harry was feeling about for any secret doors or levers to stop the walls moving. All four walls moved in, closing them in tighter together. Ginny faced Harry. “We’re going to be terribly thin after this,” she joked nervously.

Harry tried pushing the walls behind Ginny, his arms on either side of her head. All of a sudden the walls stopped moving, their bodies pressed closely together.

“Maybe they’ll retract now,” Ginny said as she squirmed to stand straighter.

“Gin,” Harry said.

“What?”

“Please don’t move around like that,” he said through clenched teeth.

“Why?”

“Because . . . ” Harry swallowed as he ground his hips into Ginny, “it is turning me on.”

Ginny felt the hardness pressed against her. “I did that, I didn’t think . . . ”

“Yeah, you didn’t think. I’m going to do what I have been wanting to do for a long time, since last year,” Harry said, as he leaned down and kissed her, his tongue gently probing her mouth.

Ginny’s hands came up to his chest where she felt the wild beat of his heart. As the walls slowly receded, the two didn’t take too much notice of it. Harry lowered his head to nibble on her neck, where Ginny then pulled him closer.

Ron, Lavender, Draco, and Hermione slowly opened the door to step in. They looked on at the couple who was oblivious to anyone. Hermione cleared her throat . . . loudly. “Maybe you guys should get a room,” she laughed.

Harry looked up, as did Ginny, whose hair looked definitely love tousled. They looked over at the four who were all smiling at them, then went back to what they were doing before they were interrupted.

Hermione grabbed Draco’s hand, and tugged at Ron’s robes. “Well, have a good night. I’m off to bed. I am sure you all need to get back to your dorms before the Head Boy and Head Girl catch you,” she said mischievously.

Draco and Hermione went to their dorm, where Draco pulled her close as soon as they closed the door. He kissed her deeply, his tongue swirling around hers. He backed her against the wall and lowered his head to her neck. “Maybe Potter had a good idea back there. I’ve been going crazy holding you, and trying not to finish unbuttoning this blouse of yours,” he said as he slid his hand in the opening of her shirt to find bare skin. Hermione moaned deep in her throat as his hand squeezed her nipple. Their hands fumbled, trying to get their clothes off until they were skin to skin. He pressed her harder into the wall, while Hermione lifted her legs to wrap around his waist. He slid into her wet heat, as he held her by her bottom and pounded into her hard and fast. He kissed her neck, and then started to bite the skin as he came within her. Hermione soon followed, as her nails dug into his back and shoulders.

After they got their breathing back to normal, they washed up and got ready for bed. Hermione wore the two-piece boxer set from the ‘Temptation’ shoot, while Draco wore the pair of cotton pajama bottoms from the shoot also. Draco lay on the couch and held his hand out to her. “Come here, I want to wake up beside you again.”

Hermione took his hand, then lay on her side, her face nuzzled into his neck, and her arm around his waist. Draco pulled the blanket that was on the back of the couch over them, and tightened his arms around her. They fell asleep within minutes.


~*~


(re-edited Nov. 2/05)