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Hermione shook her head at Luna. "I get persuaded every single time they do one of these events and every single time I regret it. It's boring and I end up holding up the wall or talking about politics all night. I'd rather just stay home."
It was Halloween and that night Luna had helped the Ministry organize a masquerade ball. A Masquerade ball, which was supposed to be the event of the year according to wizarding news sources. An event that Hermione had every intention of missing.
"You go to work, then come home and do more work. When's the last time you went out at all?"
Hermione squinted at her, thinking. "Harry’s birthday."
"See? It's been months, and you didn't even go out for your birthday."
"Well, it's my birthday so I should get to do whatever I want—so I stayed home like I wanted." Hermione was still pretty cheerful about that, not about spending her birthday alone at home. That had actually sucked, even though she had thought she would enjoy it. But in order to get Harry to agree, they had dueled. And she had won.
Harry tended to win the majority of the time. He was faster and his spells tended to hit harder. But sometimes she still managed to trip him up with a sneaky plan. Hermione was still gleefully thinking of the duel last month when Luna continued speaking.
"Life is more than working, Hermione."
"What? Fine. I'll try harder, but really Luna...this ball thing... and really a masquerade ball for Halloween? Boring. Alot of our friends won’t be there either. You know Harry hates going out on Halloween, and Ron is out of the country with his family visiting Charlie."
"That's exactly why you should go. "
Hermione laughed. "What?"
"No one's going to be there. It's a masked ball. You can have some fun. Be someone else for a night. Maybe instead of smart hardworking Hermione for one night you're just a woman who wants to laugh and have fun?"
Hermione gave her a skeptical look. She liked being smart and hardworking Hermione.
"I'm serious. You are making yourself a caricature. Be someone else for a night. Sometimes pretending to be someone else can let us discover things about ourselves."
"That makes absolutely no sense."
"It makes perfect sense. So you'll go?"
Hermione shook her head again, but she was smiling. "You're not going to let up on this, are you?"
"No. And I've got a dress picked out and I've also learned some great disillusionments for hair and eye color! This is going to be so fun!" Luna clapped her hands, looking as if some complicated plotting was coming together.
“Why would I change my appearance?”
“So no one knows who you are.”
“Isn’t that what masks are for?”
Luna paused, then gently laid a hand on Hermione’s shoulder. “Your hair-”
“Fine!”
Hermione slipped into the side of the ball to avoid the eyes that were fixed on the entrance. She did not want to be made into a spectacle. She was determined to honor her promise to Luna to go and dance at least three times as quickly and quietly as possible.
Luna had gone all out helping Hermione "be someone else" and she was dressed in a daring tight black dress, with an open back that plunged down to her waist. Far more risqué than Hermione would normally choose for herself.
Luna had also disillusioned her hair and eyes, and Hermione was sporting straight black hair with green eyes. She had spent several minutes staring at her eyes in the mirror, admiring the shade, before she realized they were the exact shade of Harry’s eyes. She turned a little red as she admitted to herself she really liked Harry’s eyes. Not that it mattered. Friends admired friends' eyes all the time.
Luna was easy to spot as her costume was almost entirely white and in the dim light of the ballroom, she almost seemed to shine with her own light.
"Luna, I'm here."
"My friend! I'm so glad you could make it."
Hermione rolled her eyes. "Yes, I know."
"Let me introduce you to my other friend." Luna reached back and grabbed the hand of a man who had been standing slightly behind her, almost as if he had been using her as a shield to hide behind.
"This is my friend, Duke. Duke, this is my friend Viola. You both should dance!" The excitement in Luna’s voice made it impossible for Hermione not to smile.
She looked at the man Luna held captive and gave him a wry look that he returned. He had curly brown hair and dark brown eyes, with an elaborate black mask.
She apparently was not the only target of Luna’s machinations.
"Ah, that's if Viola doesn't mind?" His deep voice sounded familiar. He held out his hand to her, and she placed hers in his.
Duke... Duke.... Duke.... had she met him at work? She followed him to the dance floor, eyeing his broad shoulders, determined to place where she knew him.
They came together easily, their heights complimentary for the dance. Hermione looked up at him, studying his dark brown hair and eyes.
"Is Duke your real name?" He laughed and shook his head.
"Luna said that was the first thing you would ask. "
She grinned at him, not daunted in figuring it out. "I'll figure out who you are. Just wait."
"What if I'm someone boring or that you don't like?"
"Somehow I doubt that. Besides, there's very few people I dislike. I'm too busy to bother."
"Hmmm, that sounds like someone I know." Hermione winced. He was going to figure her out first if she couldn’t be appropriately mysterious.
Be someone else. What would Parvati ask? Probably about his clothes. Nope.
Ginny would ask about Quidditch. Nope.
Hannah would start talking about plants. Nope.
Umm. This was harder than she thought. He spun her around, expertly avoiding the other couples. Maybe he had a girlfriend, he was a good dancer.
"Do you have a girlfriend?"
"No. Do you have someone?"
"No, I'm happy on my own."
"That's nice." They both looked at each other awkwardly. He spun her again, and she accidentally stepped on his foot. She winced, looking up at him, but he didn’t react or say a word to her about it.
Shit. Shit. She was so bad at this. Something Something!
"So, what do you do for fun?"
"Probably quidditch." Hermione sighed. Why was every wizard she met a quidditch enthusiast?
"I take it you're not into that?"
"I'm more of a nerdy type than a sports type. I've been re-watching Star Trek Next Generation in my spare time."
"Star Trek?"
"It's a muggle show about outer space. It's pretty amazing."
"Oh, I haven't watched television in years." Hermione's eyes lit up with the fervor of a true trekkie and she set about converting him. This was a completely safe topic, as it was something she hadn’t shared with anyone else. So she went full out detailing plots and characters.
The dance had long since ended and they had found a quiet, dark corner near a pillar to talk quietly about the Enterprise and the Borg. Hermione felt like she was really convincing him at times to try out watching the muggle show.
"So they just reprogram people? Like imperious them?"
"No, no, it's different. They're a hive mind, they think it's better. They're all linked telepathically and they try to assimilate people."
"Ah, like cannibals."
She stamped her foot. "No, they don't eat them!"
He smiled at her. "What if they're really tasty?"
"You're messing with me, aren't you?" She narrowed her eyes at him.
He squinched his fingers a bare millimeter apart. "Maybe just a teensy bit."
"No, but really, it's so good. And the show is not really about fighting, it's about exploring and learning new cultures."
"Mmmm maybe."
"Resistance is futile. " His eyes widened a little bit, and she sighed to herself. "That was supposed to be funny, actually."
She was about to explain that it wasn’t really a threat, well, it was a threat, but she hadn’t meant it that way when a loud, pretentious voice made them both turn to look at a little commotion to their left.
"Did you see the wine selection at this party? What caterer did they hire so I can make sure never to do business with them?”
"Ugh. Malfoy." They whispered in unison before turning to each other, startled.
"You know-" they stopped and laughed when they started talking at the same time again and Duke made a courteous gesture for her to continue.
"So you know Malfoy too?" She asked.
"Unfortunately. I would definitely feed him to the Borg if I could."
"Well, he's already pale enough." They looked at each other and snickered.
Duke's hand moved and Hermione realized when they turned he had placed it on her lower hip, perilously close to the open back of her dress. She turned to look at him and found that his brown gaze was already on her. She suddenly felt unreasonably warmer and knew she was blushing.
"Um. Um. Maybe we should dance again?"
"I'd love to." His hand slid to the middle of her back to urge her forward, and she had to fight a shiver at his warm touch.
The song for their second dance was slower, more intimate as they swayed amongst the other couples in the glittering ballroom. She stared up at his familiar brown eyes, wondering who he was under Luna’s disillusionments. Maybe someone she worked with at the Ministry. Maybe someone she had gone to school with.
He was ...interesting.
"What are you thinking about?"
His low voice cut into her thoughts and she replied truthfully. "You."
"What about me?"
"You're very interesting."
He laughed softly. "But I haven't even really talked about myself. How would you know?"
Hermione lifted a shoulder briefly. "It's how you've acted."
"How have I acted?"
"You've been kind and funny. You didn't say anything when I stepped on your foot. You let me ramble on about a show you don't even watch. And you have good taste."
"I would think you would say I didn't have good taste, considering I haven't seen your show."
"No, you dislike Malfoy, that's enough."
"Ah, then it's a low bar." They both laughed at that.
There was a small lull in the conversation, but it felt comfortable to dance with him quietly and listen to the music. Hermione realized as they spoke he had leaned down, and her hands had traveled from his shoulders to around his neck. A little self-consciously, she lowered them down to his shoulders.
"You don't have to do that." His voice was husky, and she resisted leaning even closer to him.
"Sorry." Hermione wasn’t quite sure what she was apologizing for, but had no idea what else to say to that.
"Don't be. You know you're a very interesting person, too."
She met his gaze again. "You don't have to say that. I know I'm ...not."
"You are. You’re so passionate and funny and you let me lead, even though I can tell you want to." Hermione huffed a laugh at that. She thought she had resisted the impulse to direct him, mostly. "And you've got great taste."
That made her throw back her head in a laugh. "Because I don't like Malfoy?"
Duke froze though watching her, and another couple on the dance floor bumped into them.
"Are you okay?" His mouth was half open, and he backed away a step from her.
Hermione dropped her arms in confusion. "Duke?"
"I-I- have to go - I'm sorry- I just- " And he turned and strode off the floor without a backwards glance.
The whispers started almost immediately as a circle opened up around her and Hermione felt tears smart in her eyes at the embarrassment.
What had she done? Why had he run off like that? She turned and fled the ballroom, to the dark gardens outside.
The bright lights of the Masquerade ball made the darkness of the garden seem impenetrable. Once she turned the corner of the pathway, the trees and bushes obscured the lights of the ball from view and muffled the noise and music. Hermione didn't have to walk long before she found a bench that she plopped down on with a sad little sigh.
Even trying to be someone else, she ran people off. She hadn't even talked about her progressive wizarding politics, which is usually what turned people off her. Although at first it seemed as if Duke had liked listening and talking to her, maybe all the talk about the muggle TV show had been too much.
She took off her mask and then her high heels, digging her fingers into the arch of her bare foot. Not like she would have to worry about dancing anymore, anyway. She would just tell Luna it wasn't meant to be for her.
Some people were very happy alone, and maybe she would be too. Her stomach hurt as she tried to psych herself up to that viewpoint.
The muted sound of gravel crunching underfoot alerted her to someone coming and she quickly grabbed her wand to cast a quick notice me not. She wasn't in the mood to deal with ballroom revelers. She held her breath as a wizard came into view, his face shadowed by the moonlight.
He stepped forward cautiously as if he was expecting an ambush and she remained absolutely still to help her spell work.
He took a step. Then another. He was so close she could reach out and touch him.
But then he froze again, lifting his head. "Hermione?"
With that one word, his outline became familiar, and she picked out the signs she had missed in the darkness of the garden.
"Harry!" He let out a yelp, almost stumbling back, and she reached out to tug him forward, helping him balance while she grinned at him.
"Merlin! You scared me. I was ready for a duel with someone lurking in the bushes."
"I was lurking on this very nice bench, actually. What are you doing here? You never come to these."
Harry came to sit down next to her and patted his lap, and without any self consciousness she put her feet on his lap.
"You never come to these either. What are you doing here?"
"I was- oh ow-" She gave a soft moan. His hands froze from where he had started to rub her foot.
"Sorry, do you want me to stop?"
"No, it hurts so good. Do it more, please."
"Okay." He laughed softly. "So...why did you come?"
"Mmmm. You have amazing hands! Um. You know. Trying to be someone else." Hermione cocked her head. "How did you recognize me? Am I back to normal?"
Harry's attention was down on her feet, and he didn't look at her. "Why did you want to be someone else?"
Hermione thought of her sad attempt at connecting with someone and sighed, pulling her feet away from him and slipping back into her shoes. This time she remembered the cushioning charm to help her feet.
"It doesn't matter."
Harry's hand shot out and caught her. "Please? Why?"
"I'm happy alone."
"I know." He muttered.
"But... sometimes I wish I didn't have to be." Her voice caught a little on the end, despite her attempt at keeping it light. Even with their history and everything between them, it still embarrassed her to admit it to him.
"Hermione..." He stood up in a rush before pausing. "Okay, I can't have this conversation with those glamours still on you."
That made her smile. "So, do you like my eye color? I liked it so much it took me a minute to realize it was your eye color Luna used for my glamours."
"I had the same experience."
"What...?"
"It made me realize how much I love your eyes. And how much I still don't know about you? How could I not have recognized you the very second you were in my arms?"
Harry pulled her closer, and her hands went automatically to his shoulders. This was familiar... Oh Merlin.
"Duke?"
"Yes, Viola.”
How strange to know someone so well...and yet not know them. She looked into his familiar green eyes, half in wonder. "How did I not know?"
"That's how I felt when I realized I'm sorry I panicked and left you... it was just....." He gave a slight shrug. "It was a little disconcerting to realize the witch I had been flirting with all evening was you."
"Flirting?"
"If you couldn’t tell, I'll have to try harder." Her eyes were so wide she was afraid she might look like a deranged owl. Harry wanted to flirt with her?
He smiled widely at her. "I think this is the first time I've ever seen you look so bewildered. "
"I just...we're ….you're...." She half stuttered her reply still grappling with the idea of Harry flirting with her. After so many years, she had so labeled him so immutably in her head as a friend that the idea he might be more than a friend...
The tantalizing idea....
Harry …. and Hermione?
She floundered, staring up at him, and Harry leaned further down, his lips so close to hers.
"I promised Luna three dances.... I'm guessing you did too?"
She swallowed hard and nodded, never breaking his gaze. They were already in each other's arms and he began to rock slightly in place. It could barely be called dancing.
It was intimate.
Hushed.
Electric.
The music from the ballroom was so faint, and eventually he hummed along with it. Moving slowly in the dim garden alone, while he hummed the music to her... It could have been the scene of a romance movie and for once she was the heroine, instead of the nerdy side character.
He paused his humming to ask. "Maybe we can spend this weekend together and watch your Star Trek."
She smiled, okay so maybe she was the nerdy heroine. "I'd love that."
"I'm so glad Luna convinced me to come tonight." Harry said fervently.
"Definitely." She pushed up on her tiptoes, and he leaned down at the same time. Their arms tightened around one another, both shocked at what they had found tonight in each other. And they both had the same thought as their kiss deepened.
Thank Merlin for interfering friends and Masquerades.
