Chapter 17: Halloween Ball
Hermione was wearing a midnight blue, sleeveless set of dress robes. They clung to her every curve like a second skin, yet the bottom flailed out, letting her legs move easily. She was standing the doorway that led to the girl's prefect dormitories, smiling at Harry.
"How do I look?" she asked innocently.
"You- you look-" Harry was stammering, he couldn't get across to her how beautiful she was.
"That bad, huh?" she asked, faking a frown.
"No, you look beautiful." Finally. What is it with me and women that makes my voice freeze up?
"Heh, you finally gain your voice back?"
"Well you looked breathtaking coming down those stairs, and I need my breath to speak." Hermione chuckled softly, and looped her arm through his.
"Let's get going, I can't wait to get there."
"Neither can I."
The statue opened for them to walk out, and they saw Colin waiting for Ginny right by the statue.
"Damn thing locked me out. I said the password five times."
"Nobility at heart?"
"Oh, right…"
"What did you actually say?"
"Ginny at Heart. She was the only thing on my mind at the time." he said, grinning sheepishly.
"Well, at least you got your priorities straight." Ginny said, laughing at Colin, "Who are you going with?"
"Millicent Bullstrode." Harry fought the laugh threatening to come out.
"You could do better than her, you know that, right?"
"Not when it comes to your kind."
"What do you mean by that?"
"Women in general."
"Oh, I see." she said, she herself now fighting a laugh, "and why is that?"
"Because you scare the bejesus out of me."
Then she started giggling, and Colin turned an even deeper shade of red, "Well, I have to go. She's waiting in the Entrance Hall."
"See ya. Colin." He walked off, and Ginny starting in the same direction.
"Same here, see you two later!"
"Bye Ginny." She ran ahead, leaving Harry and Hermione walking down the way to the Great Hall. Harry suddenly stopped, and reached into his pocket.
"Before I forget, there's something I'd like to give to you." He pulled out a silver, heart-shaped locket from the inside pocket of his dress robes, and gently put it into the palm of Hermione's hand. She stared at it with surprise.
"Harry, this must have cost a fortune."
"Does it matter?" he said with a grin on his face. She opened it up, seeing his face on one side, hers on the other.
"When did you get this?"
"Right after you came back up here to get ready for the ball. I was walking past the Jewelry Shop in Hogsmeade, and this was in the window. I knew that it would look great on you." He took the clasp from her hand, "May I?"
"Oh, yes, please." Harry walked behind her, opened the clasp, and slipped the chain around her neck. He then fastened the clasp, and dropped it onto her skin.
"Have I told you that you look amazing tonight?"
She grinned, 'Once or Twice."
"Well you look absolutely beautiful tonight." He said, taking her arm again, and continuing to the Great Hall. They didn't have to go far, and everyone was standing in the entrance hall, waiting for the doors to the Great Hall to open.
Ron was standing by Lavender, who was trying to start up a conversation with Ron only half interested in what she was saying. Parvati was throwing scornful looks at them Lavender, and looks filled with pity at Ron. Harry and Hermione both saw this, and started heading in the same direction.
"Parvati, what's-"
"Don't ask, please?" Harry's face softened, "Don't ask about this, and I won't ask what's going on between you two." She said, grinning.
"There- there-"
"I never asked." Parvati said, the right side of her mouth curling into a smirk.
Then there was a large crash of a gong, and another, and another, and four more after that. Then the doors to the great hall slowly opened, a shimmering, silver mist came floating out of them, slowly.
The couples started walking in, picking tables as they passed them. Harry and Hermione got one near the dance floor, and Ron sat with them. Ginny and Damian sat down as well. Ron looked at Ginny at disbelief, his thoughts on the verge of coming out of his mouth, and everyone at the table could hear them at that moment.
Dumbledore was walking to the front of the room, and everyone quieted down, "Not I would like to say- Oh, forget it, dig in!" The menus appeared in front of them, and Dumbledore joined the other teachers at the staff table.
Harry picked up his menu, and saw a variety of foods inside. From French to American to even Australian, every country in the world had a spot inside. Harry finally settled on a small steak, while Ron settled on the same thing, only three times the size of the plate.
Hermione looked disgusted, "I'm not even going to ask if you'll be able to eat all that, because I'm sure that you will." Ron had stuck a large piece of steak into his mouth, and grinned with the fork hanging out. Just to add more insult to injury, Ron stuck his tongue out at her. After he finished swallowing his bite big enough for a giant, he turned to Damian, who was having a small conversation with Ginny.
"So, Damian, why, if you are in Slytherin, here with my sister?" Ron asked, eyeing the boy suspiciously.
"Well, my housemates aren't exactly the best people to put up with, and I'm the only person who doesn't have at least one Death Eater in their family. And your brother Percy said wonderful things about her." Ron's face turned dark, along with Ginny's, thought hers was more depressed then angry.
"When the last time you spoke with that bastard?"
Damian looked shocked, "August, actually. I haven't heard from him in a while. What's going on." Ron's softened.
"It's nothing, nothing at all."
Neil Shaw, a UN intelligence and covert operations officer was descending from a chopper, completing his first mission objective, hot drop to the consulate roof from the chopper. He walked over to the side of the roof, and clipped a McNeal descender to the edge.
He then climbed on top of the little mini wall, and pressed a small button. It started releasing cable from the winch on the side, allowing Shaw to rappel down the building by the cord which is secured by the harness around his waist.
Fiftieth floor, forty-ninth, forty-eighth, Neil plummeted head first down the side of the building, connected by only a thin cable that looked like it could break at any moment. Then the winch stopped at the twenty-sixth floor, letting Neil turn himself over and pulled out a silenced 9mm Beretta and fired a test shot into the air.
He then put the gun back into the holster, and grabbed two suction cups and a small laser. Neil attached the suction cups to the window, and used the laser to cut the seal around the glass that was holding the window in. His hand held on the cups once more to pull the window out of the wall.
Neil turned around, overlooking the busy New York street below, and started swing his legs back and forth. Momentum started flowing through his body, and he started swinging back and forth. Finally, Neil's went inside of the building through the open window.
In one swift motion, he released himself from his cable, and hooked the pane of glass to the clip on the descender, and landed grabbing the pane, steadying it so it can go up the side of the building without damage. He pressed a button on a small keypad and sent the pane up. Neil took out his 9mm, and started down a hall.
With his weapon raised, Neil opened doors down this hall, to see nothing but dead bodies. But they didn't look like normal dead bodies. Not ones that had been killed with his own hand.
These looked different. They looked like they had been decomposing for hundreds of years, yet the muscle tissue was having a hard time doing what it was supposed to do. It was falling off of the bones in small parts, red blood on the floor.
"What the hell happened here?" Neil asked himself, looking at one of the bodies in disgust, "Novak."
"Yeah, what's up?"
"Is there anything that Hooks left out of the intelligence report?"
"Why do you ask?"
"Because all I have seen so far is half a dozen dead bodies and nothing that suggests connections with the triads."
"What about filing cabinets?"
"Cleaned out, nothing left. Look, I'll send you a picture."
"Maybe-"
"Novak, let me send you a picture.' Neil pulled out a small digital camera and photographed the scene.
"We're receiving."
Bly, who was in the security/donut van with her, started talking, "We're receiving it now, Shaw. Dear god, what the hell happened?"
"That's what I was asking you. Do you think Hooks left something out?"
"I don't think so. Maybe the triads-"
"Janet, the triads don't skin your body. Scalp you maybe, but even that's rare."
"Well, it doesn't look like she did, but either way, there is no way that we can contact her right now about this matter. We're on our own."
"Right, comes with the job."
"Yeah, now stop experiencing the moment and get a move on." That's when Neil heard something else. Screaming, yelling, questions being asked. What in the hell is going on here?
"Shaw. Shaw, are you there?"
"I just heard something."
"What?"
"I just heard something." He bent low and turned down a hallway leading to the right as he was coming up at an intersection. He then came around one last corner and saw five men in black robes with their hoods up, a woman that was glowing white wearing white sweatpants and a tight-fitting tee-shirt, who was holding a staff and another man, taller than the rest, with black robes, no hood on, and the reddest eyes he had ever seen.
"Allison Gazten, what does you and your government know of our movements as of late?"
"I know nothing, I swear. We don't getting anything about our world passed through here."
"You lie. You lie like your mother, pathetically. She couldn't lie anymore than you can right now. I will ask one last time, and then I will kill you."
She was on her knees, looking into the blood red eyes of the man who was threatening her life. Neil could see the seething hatred toward this man. How could she not? His men surround her, ready to kill, how could she not hate him?
"How much does you and your government know about our movements?"
"I told you, nothing. The Chinese and American governments have kept a strict separation of ignorance. Although I think that the American President's threat matrix report is updated to add the wizarding world."
"Threat Matrix? What is this?"
"The Threat Matrix is a report that the President of the United States receives every day, updating him about terror attacks and anything that can threaten the country's national security."
"Hmm, is there any way to alter it?"
"No, one person types it, five minutes after completion it is in the President's hands. If the schedule is not followed to the letter, then everyone in the presidential party is moved to a different location throughout the world within minutes of its absence."
"So it is impossible?"
"Yes."
"Fine, you are of no more use. Saaneraa, take her DNA." Neil watched as the woman in white walked forward.
"You Allison Gazten, picked the wrong world, the wrong kind to deal with. Goodbye." She stuck her right hand out, aiming at the Allison's face, and created a ball of light in her hand. It then extended, and engulfed Allison in white light. A second later, the skin was gone. All that was left was the muscle tissue, which was barely hanging on to the bone.
Neil ducked back behind the corner. What in the hell are these people? He took a small throwing knife out of his boot, whipped around the corner, and threw it into the head of the nearest enemy to him. It went into the back of the person's head, and Neil threw himself behind the wall again.
"What the hell was that?" answered the cruel voice of the red-eyed man, "Find the source of that blade!"
The music had started, and couples were starting to get out on to the dance floor. Faster songs were being played by The Weird Sisters, who were booked for the ball once again. Harry and Hermione were just sitting at the table watching the other couples dance with each other, perfectly content to be together.
Hermione saw one of his hands lying on the table, and she slipped her own hand into it. He moved, looking down at their intertwined fingers, and then looked at her with a smile.
"Alright, now's a time where we're going to play some slow songs for you guys. This one's called Epiphany."
The strum of guitars filled the air, and the first slow song of the night began to play. Harry stood up, "Would you like to dance?"
Hermione looked at him, surprised, but accepted, "Yes, I would love to." They walked out onto the middle of the floor, his arms wrapping around her waist, hers going around his neck, their bodies just inches apart.
Your words to me just a whisper
Your faces so unclear
I try to pay attention
Your words just disappear
'Cause it's always raining in my head
Forget all the things I should have said
They stood in one spot, just swaying to the beat of the music. Harry pulled her even closer to him, letting the warmth of each other close in. Hermione rested her head on his shoulder, sighing in comfort as their swaying continued.
So I speak to you in riddles because
My words get in my way. I smoke the
whole thing to my head and feel it
Wash away
'Cause I can't take anymore of this,
I want to come apart,
or dig myself a little hole inside
your precious heart
'Cause it's always raining in my head
Forget all the things I should have said
Harry listened to the words carefully, connecting with them with no effort. He bent his head down and kissed Hermione on the forehead. She looked into his eyes, searching for the reason why. She found one, and started raising her face to his, their lips met softly, but the kiss got more demanding as the seconds ticked by.
I am nothing more than a little boy inside
That cries out for attention,
though I always try to hide
And I talk to you like children,
but I don't know how I feel
I know I'll do the right thing
If the right thing is revealed
They stopped moving, the beat of the song was lost to all of their senses. All that mattered at that moment was each other, and no one or nothing else could be worried about less. Her hands moved up to his face, while his moved up and down her back. The whole world around them had stopped.
But it's always raining in my head
Forget all the things I should have said
The song ended on one final slow note, and the two were just standing there with the whole of the Great Hall staring at them. They pulled away from each other, and looked around. Ron, Ginny, everyone was looking only at them. Then they heard a person clap, then another, and another, until everyone was clapping. Even Ron, who they thought was angry at them the whole time. He was supporting a broad grin, clapping as loudly as he could.
Ron started walking over to them, along with Ginny and Leah, "You know, I was wondering when you two would finally realize this."
"Ron, I thought you were angry at us."
"Hey, don't blame me. Blame brainiac over here." he said, pointing to Ginny, "It was all a part of her plan."
"What do you mean, plan?" Harry asked. Looking at Ron's sister.
"Hey, you'll find out tomorrow, just enjoy the ball." she said with a grin on her face as well. Harry and Hermione softened.
"Well, I guess you're right, we'll enjoy tonight, then grill you later." Harry said, his smile returning.
"Alright!" Ron said, "Let's restart the music!"
The ball was spectacular for all. Everyone had a great time, dancing, eating and laughing with their fellow students. Harry and Hermione walked to the Prefects Common Room with Harry's arm over her shoulder, their relationship now public to the entire school.
The statue opened and let them inside, when everything went cold. An awful cold that felt like death had entered the room. Hermione was suddenly filled with a feeling of dread, and clung to Harry.
"Harry, please don't leave me."
"Hermione, what's wrong."
"Something happened, something bad." Then Harry seized his scar, which was searing in pain. He fell to the ground..
Voldemort was staring at two graves, side by side, by the wreckage of their previous home in Godric's Hollow, which was destroyed by fifteen years ago.
"I know you're here, Harry Potter. Just think, that if I had killed you fifteen years ago, there would be three graves here instead of two. That if your stupid Muggle relatives had succeeded in their mission to keep you from going to Hogwarts, there would be four graves in stead of three where that house use to lay.
Now, here we are, fifteen years later. And I think of how many people that have died because of you, and the new intelligence that I have now. Just think, you're putting that worthless mudblood at an even greater risk. Do you really want to get rid of her that bad?"
"You shut vile little rodent. I sho-"
"Ah ah! I would be careful with your word choice. I would want you to say the wrong thing and end up having her dying a lot faster then she should. Now, I want you to take a look at these graves, and then think about it. Do you really want her to die?"
"Giving me a choice? Why the uncharacteristic generosity?"
"Heh, I'm no philanthropist, but I do want a fair fight amongst us. With her, the odds are so unfairly tipped into my favor. Ciao." He Apparated away and Harry looked at the gravestones. Lily and James Potter. My parents. Harry's mind came back to his body and he opened his eyes.
"Harry!" Hermione yelled, trying to get him to wake up. Then he bolted upright, and grabbed onto Hermione tightly.
"What happened?"
"Don't leave me, please don't leave me."
"Harry," she grabbed his right hand and placed it over her heart, intertwining their fingers, "do you feel this, I won't leave you. If you need me to stay with you tonight, I will."
"Would you?"
"Yes." Harry started nodding his thanks, "C'mon, let's go to bed." She grabbed his hand, and walked him upstairs to his bedroom. They got under the sheets, and Harry was facing Hermione's back. He wrapped his arms around her from behind, and kissed the back of her head. They both relaxed, and fell asleep together.
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Hey! Just like to give a couple shout outs to all, and before anyone asks, no, I will not explain what that scene with Neil Shaw is doing there, and I will not explain why it ends like that. So, onto the shout outs:
Everybody's Fool- She has reviewed and listen to all of the things that are going on, and has patiently been waiting for this chapter to come out. Thank you!
Harry&Hermione4ever- Same as above, but she has been hounding me ever since she read Chapter 16 to get this one done. She has really pushed me. Thank you!
britt- She gave me the design for the dress robes (At least, I think she did. I don't really remember if I came up with it or if someone else did, anyway) and she has been a great help with the story Thanks!
Amynoelle- This woman is amazing (although one or two flaws i.e. sleeping through The Matrix. How that's possible, I don't know. J/K!) She writes awesome stories, and actually has the time to read stories as well. Thank you so much. Check out her writing when you get the chance. It is very good.