Yule ball
Hermione Granger grew to regret the day she'd let Harry read her book of muggle fairy tales. She'd had good intentions- she knew Harry's home life was terrible, and wanted him to experience the magic that all muggle and muggleborn children experience when they hear these stories: the feeling that anything, and everything, is possible.
For children who come from magical backgrounds, this illusion of possibility is broken from a young age. It is not long before they learn that all magic has rules, can do terrible damage when used incorrectly or with the wrong intention and that there are things even magic cannot fix.
Had she known that these fairy tales would have bought upon them the carnage that they did, she never would have lent Harry the stupid book.
"RAPUNZEL RAPUNZEL, LET DOWN YOUR HAIR!" She heard one of the Weasley twins bellow as Draco's hair grew. And grew. And grew some more.
Draco was shrieking, Hermione was honestly surprised he wasn't crying.
"The yule ball is in 4 hours, cut it out Harry!" Ginny snapped as she turned away from the mirror to glare at him before returning to tending to her eyebrows. Harry just grinned at her, throwing a chameleon plushie at her.
The ballroom, which was now basically just a clubhouse, had been refurnished by the group, with the help of Remus (And Sirius, but only Harry, Ron and Hermione knew that). There was a few dressing tables with mirrors, plenty of comfortable seating and games, and lots of books at Draco and Hermione's request.
Hermione just closed her eyes and sighed. Luna giggled and continued to tend to her hair, applying all sorts of products Hermione had never seen before in her life.
Her head was hurting already. Harry and the twins had been loud and annoying all morning, and there was nothing Ginny or Hermione could do to stop them. Ron was useless as he found it hilarious, and Neville didn't want to get involved. Draco kept sulking, and Luna was, well, Luna.
Cedric, Fleur and Krum were getting ready with their own friends, which just left Harry, Ron, Hermione, Ginny, Draco, Luna, Fred, George and Neville.
Daphne had been nowhere to be found all day. Which sucked for Hermione, cause Daphne was excellent at keeping Harry and the twins in line, and anyone who was joining in with them by extension.
"HA! IT'S ALL MINE!" Harry cackled, carboard cut out of a mermaid tail from a cereal box he got from who knows where clutched in his hand.
"NOOOOOOO!" Fred wailed, throwing himself to his knees. "MY TAIL!"
"And your voice, stupid." George said
"NOOO, MY VOICE! Wait. OH!" Fred starting dramatically sobbing in silence.
Harry rubbed his hands together evilly
"NAH NAH NE NAH NAH, I'VE GOT YOUR VOICEEEE!" He taunted, and was instantly pounced on by a silently raging Fred. George shrugged and joined in too.
Hermione put her head in her hands, grateful that Luna had let go of her hair so she could do so. The room was getting louder, lights bright, and there was so much shouting and noise and -
"Enough!" The door slammed open. Everyone froze. Hermione looked up. Harry, Fred and George had stopped mid-fight, looking guilty but still slightly entangled. Ron and Neville's amused grins quickly slid off their faces, and Luna and Draco smiled in relief. Ginny was still plucking at her eyebrows. The girl had six brothers, seven if you included Harry, so she was used to nonsense.
Hermione finally settled her eyes on Daphne, who was stood in the doorway, looking unimpressed.
"Potter, Weasleys, listen up. The Ball starts in 4 hours, Harry and Hermione are needed earlier that that for the opening dances. So we do not have time for fun and games right now. Get yourselves together and go and shower, you smell gross!"
Harry opened his mouth.
"Argue with me Potter and I'll take away Ron and Hermione for a month." Daphne said sternly. Harry spluttered. So did Ron.
"You can't just-"
"Don't make me take away Luna too." Daphne stepped to the side and held the door open, not breaking eye contact with Harry.
"Ughhhhhhh. Fine, but ONLY because I want to." Harry stomped out like stroppy toddler, followed by Fred and George, who stuck their tongues out at Daphne as they left, earning them stinging hexes to the backsides.
"They're just like overgrown children, I swear." Daphne sighed. "Come here Draco, I'll fix your hair."
"Thank you!" Draco exclaimed, sighing with relief. Ron snickered.
"You too, Ronald. Go shower. Take Neville with you."
"Doesn't he need to shower too?" Ron pointed at Draco, looking mildly offended.
"Nah, Draco showers in the morning, he smells fine." Draco smiled smugly at Ron. "You know how vain he is, I would honestly be more surprised if he hadn't showered." The smile dropped from Draco's face and Ron laughed loudly.
"I am not vain." Draco pouted, running his hand through his hair as he caught a glimpse of the tangled mess in the mirror. Daphne slapped his hand away.
"You are. Now be quiet."
Hermione smiled slightly as the room was quiet once again. She wasn't keen on noise, or being surrounded by loads of people. Let alone people like the Weasley twins, who were like the energy 20 people in two bodies.
All of the boys that were banished to shower returned slowly within the next half an hour, and started to help each other with their hair. Daphne, who had finished with Draco, sat down in Draco's vacated seat in front of another mirror and made a start on her makeup. Hermione switched places with Luna and started to work on Luna's hair, whilst Ginny made a start on Luna's makeup.
After hair and makeup was finished, everyone split up to go and change in their respective common rooms. Luna went with Hermione and Ginny.
"Wow! You look incredible, Hermione"" Harry said, bowing as Hermione descended the stairs. She smiled at him and took his proffered arm, the pair heading straight to the entrance. They were running late, otherwise they would have waited for their friends.
"Ah! There you are! Quick, into a line." McGonagall ushered Harry and Hermione to the back of the short queue. Cedric and Cho were leading the way, Fleur and Viktor behind them.
They watched their gaggle of friends quickly hurry past them into the hall. Draco, arm in arm with Pansy, shot them a look that clearly said he would rather be anywhere else. Harry poked his tongue out at him and Draco somehow managed to give him the finger without Parkinson noticing. Daphne strolled passed and grinned at both of them, before continuing on her conversation with Susan and Padma, who were also flying solo. Harry nudged Hermione and pointed at the Weasley twins.
"Look." He snickered.
They watched as Fred and George, dressed in identical dress robes, kept ushering their dates forwards and then swapping places behind their backs, all whilst keeping a good flow of conversation.
"Katie and Angelina both know exactly what they're doing." Hermione pointed out to Harry. She wasn't wrong - the two girls kept exchanging long suffering looks, and waited to be ushered forwards again. When they did, they quickly turned around before the boys could swap again and dragged them into the hall by their ties. Harry and Hermione giggled.
Neville, Ginny, Luna and Ron bought up the rear. Luna seemed content, chatting away as Ron nodded. He seemed to be listening intently. Neville and Ginny both waved at Harry and Hermione before entering the hall.
A couple of minutes later and everything was ready to begin.
"Sorry for the delay, the band was late." McGonagall sniffed disapprovingly. "As soon as the music starts the doors will open. You will all file in, take up your positions, and begin to dance. Are you ready?"
"As we'll ever be." Harry said, grinning, taking a gentle hold of Hermione's arm.
As the music began, the doors opened wide, and Cedric and Cho led the way into the hall.
Unfortunately for Draco, he was unable to stand with the group due to his rather unfortunate date, Pansy Parkinson. She dragged him over to Theodore Nott and Millicent Bulstrode instead. Thankfully, he managed to catch eyes with Blaise, who swanned his way over, Hannah in tow. Draco watched Daphne smirk at them, shamelessly alone. Draco wished he could have done that.
The rest of the group, not including the Weasley twins, who stayed with their dates and Lee Jordan, who was accompanied by Alicia Spinnet, remained together. They were all watching the doors eagerly.
As the music started and the champions filed into the room, Susan gasped.
"Is that Hermione? She looks amazing." Hermione's hair was still curly but there was more of a pattern to them, and she'd pinned them back in an elegant half up half down style. Her dress was a soft pink, and floor length. It suited her. Really, really well.
"Yess queen!" Ginny exclaimed under her breath. Ron gave her a look. "What? She was going to go with the boring green one but this? SO much better."
Ron rolled his eyes at her, watching his two friends dance with something akin to fondness in his eyes.
"Uh, no. Don't get soppy!" Ginny whacked him on the arm.
"But it's a coming of age." Ron said, wiping fake tears from his eyes. Neville laughed.
After a couple of minutes (blimey, his feet couldn't be tired already, surely?) the music drew to an end, and the champions took their seats at the head table.
"Harry, my boy-" Dumbledore didn't finish his sentence, however, because as soon as he started to speak Harry had opened his mouth and taken a deep breath, ready to scream. Cedric, noticing what was going on, quickly grabbed Harry and Hermione by the shoulders and led them to the other end of the table, where he and Cho were sitting.
"Is that Percy?" Harry asked, looking at the ginger haired young man sat close to Dumbledore.
"Yeah, looks like it. I wonder what he's doing here."
Harry just shrugged, He didn't really care either way. There was no sign of Crouch to Harry assumed Percy was there as his replacement. Harry was just fine with that, he'd take a Weasley over Crouch any day.
Once the everybody present was seated, Dumbledore cleared his throat and stated his order to no one, and the food appeared on his plate. Everyone followed suit.
"Fish and Chips please Dobby." Harry said, grinning when his favourite food, introduced to him by Draco of all people, appeared on his place.
"Harry, you're supposed to order off the menu."
"But Hermione, I've got a Dobby subscription for 10 sickles a month! It includes whatever food and drinks I like, plus foot massages, but I don't think I'll take him up on that last part." Harry grimaced and Cedric chuckled.
The dinner passed with little chaos, as everyone relaxed and enjoyed their evening. Except for our resident Potions Master, who knew something was afoot.
Literally. Because a shaggy black dog was sat on his foot. And it wouldn't move.
"Off me, mutt." He whispered. The stupid dog just wagged his tail and panted. Snape rolled his eyes. Remus watched him, smirking.
"Wipe that smug smile off your face, Lupin." Snape muttered. Remus just laughed.
After dinner Dumbledore and Bagman both made incredibly boring speeches and dancing resumed. Harry and Hermione joined the fray, finally letting completely loose, jumping up and down and singing at the tops of their lungs with their friends. Then everyone started to scream and cheer when the Weasley twins were invited on stage, grabbing two spare electric guitars and playing along with the band.
Harry's inner circle had decided to meet back in their special room after the ball, to end the night with a group sleepover. They all left around midnight, Draco the last to arrive, looking slightly dishevelled.
"She tried to kiss me!" He said, stricken.
Susan decided not to stay in the end, claiming she and Hannah had something similar planned with the Hufflepuffs in their common room.
It was the perfect end to a great night, and everyone fell asleep that night with bright smiles on their faces.