Once Upon a Hogwarts

By Lily in a Pond

Chapter One - Prologue

Summary: Midnight. A mysterious girl. A lost object.

Sound familiar? Think again...

Hermione didn't get her earring back, Draco never realized who his Cinderella girl was, and now, someone else is taking Hermione's place. In fairy tales, magic always does its thing, and the curtain falls as the characters ride off into the sunset. But when good magic and bad magic collide, that fairy tale may not end in happily ever after...

A/N-This is an idea I came up with while I was in Washington. My second story! Yippee! Crack open the beer people and celebrate Lily in a Pond's second story! Woohoo!

Hem hem. Please excuse LiaP's behavior as she is still hyped up from drinking eight Capital coffees, three shots of expresso, and five cappuccinos while in Washington over the space of seven days. (Hey, a girl needs her sugar to survive the wonders of Washington.)

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, or the song "Time After Time", by Cyndi Lauper. I also do not own the Yule Ball or Hermione, Harry, or Ron's memories.

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The Great Hall was dripping with icicles. The walls were covered with glittering frost. The tables and floor were lightly dusted with a shimmering layer of sparkles. The Weird Sisters were crooning a sad, slow song into the microphone. Girls and boys were slowly swaying on the dance floor. The Yule Ball was in full swing.

Hermione Granger pressed her head closer into Draco Malfoy's chest. She wished this moment could last forever. Hermione knew that if Harry and Ron caught her dancing with Malfoy, they would probably kill him right there and throw him into the kitchen to roast for tomorrow's dinner. But thankfully, Harry and Ron had mysteriously disappeared, hopefully not to the rose bushes to snog, Hermione thought. Besides, Hermione didn't care whether or not Ron saw. Ron was such an egotistical prat, it'll be all the better if he saw Hermione dancing with his worst enemy. And honestly...who was he to comment about Victor, or Vicky, as he had said.

Draco Malfoy smiled and pulled Hermione a little more closer. He didn't have a single idea who this girl was, except that she came with Viktor Krum. Strangely enough, he was reminded strongly of Hermione Granger, the Gryffindor bookworm. But judging by the way she talked, he was sure she was either a Ravenclaw or a Slytherin, and he was certain she was nothing short of a pureblood.

FLASH!

Hermione and Draco broke apart.

"Hi, Her-" Colin Creevey squeaked as Hermione clapped a hand over his mouth. It would be completely disastrous if Malfoy found out who she was now. Hermione had harbored a secret crush on Draco Malfoy ever since second year, when he had first called her a Mudblood. It made her feel rather good that she could pull on his strings like that and force him to say something like that. And though Mudblood was really a derogatory term, she knew he didn't mean it...after all, he hadn't used it too much over the years.

"What are you doing here, Creevey?" Hermione asked, trying to sound Slytherin-ish. Looking at Colin over Draco's shoulder, she frantically shook her head, hoping Colin would get the message. "The Yule Ball is only for fourth years and above, and I don't think you, a scrawny brat carrying a stupid Muggle contraption, got invited by an older girl." Hermione laughed meanly to add to her uncharacteristic behavior.

Draco was listening intently. She was definitely a Slytherin, he thought. Only a Slytherin would say something like that and not feel any remorse.

" - and I just wanted to take some pictures of Harry when I saw you…guys over here," Colin was explaining.

"Alright Creevey, you've gotten your picture, now get out of my sight," said Draco carelessly. He leaned forward and whispered to Colin, "Get me a copy of that picture."

Draco straightened back up, he had pretended he was checking the edge of his robes.

"So," Draco said, turning back to Hermione. "Care to join me for another dance?"

Hermione looked down. "I'm sorry, but I can't. My date just returned," she mumbled to her shoes.

"Oh," Draco replied. Inside, he was killing Viktor Krum for asking this girl to the Ball. How did Krum manage to get her under his big, huge, falcon nose? This girl was obviously a Slytherin, so how could he have missed her?

"Well, when Krum is unavailable, promise that you'll be back to dance with me," Draco said smoothly. No way was he going to lose this girl to Krum!

"I promise," replied Hermione, smiling. Who knew Draco Malfoy could be so nice? He's not nice, she chided herself after thinking of that absurd idea. He's only nice to you because you're all dressed up with your hair tamed and because he thinks you're a Slytherin!

"Ah, Viktor!" she exclaimed superficially. Hermione liked Viktor, but she secretly thought that he was a bit too rough for her. And though she hated to admit it, Ron was right. Fraternizing with the enemy felt...just strange. "Where have you been?" Their voices faded away as Hermione led Viktor away from Draco.

"Drao! There you are!" Draco groaned. A huge mass of horrible, frilly, pink robes was flying towards him.

"Pansy," he acknowledged, grimacing slightly as he spotted her atrocious outfit for the second time.

Pansy opened her eyes wide and batted her three-layer mascara covered eyelashes. "Do you want to dance?" Draco looked instantly horrified at this.

"Er…I've got to go to the bathroom," he managed out before running out of the Great Hall at top speed.

Pansy pouted. "Oh, darn. Hmm...where's that Anthony Goldstein? Anthony! Get over here, we're dancing!"

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About an hour later, Hermione came over to Draco again, who was slouched in a discreet corner.

"So," she whispered nervously. "Is that offer still up?"

Draco jumped and looked up at Hermione. Then his face broke into a smile. Stop smiling! he yelled at himself. You've done enough smiling to last you a lifetime! Start smirking, you fool!

Draco smiled cooly. "Always."

Hermione carefully around for Harry and Ron, but she couldn't see them anywhere, so she happily took Draco's outstreched hand.

A new song came on and Hermione recognized it.

"Hey, I know thi-" Hermione quickly coughed to cover up her slip.

"Are you alright? Do you need some water?" Draco asked.

"No no, I'm fine," replied Hermione, smiling brightly as she placed her other hand on Draco's shoulder. It felt velvety and soft...just like him, Hermione thought, smiling.

Lying in my bed I hear the clock tick

And think of you

Caught up in circles of confusion-

Is nothing new

Flashback-warm nights-

Almost left behind

Suitcase of memories

Time after-

"How come I've never noticed you before?" Draco asked softly as he swayed with Hermione slowly.

Hermione thought about how to answer that and then replied carefully, "Maybe you've looked, but you've never actually…seen."

Draco contemplated this for a moment, then frowned. "So, what's your name?"

"I'm not telling you. You'll just have to figure it out. But in the meantime, just think of me as Cinderella," winked Hermione. This was a tribute to her favorite childhood bedtime story.

"Well, Cinderella, I know that you have brown hair and brown eyes. You're smart and you're a Slytherin. But that's all I know about you."

"Well those clues should be enough to figure out who I am. There aren't many girls in this school that are smart and brown haired with brown eyes." Hermione bit her lip and decided not to mention the Slytherin part.

Draco laughed. "That's true. Not a lot of pretty girls are smart." Hermione immediately thought of Lavender Brown and Parvati Patil and laughed. "I like a girl who's smart. She can hold her own."

If you're lost you can look-and you will find me

Time after time

If you fall I will catch you-I'll be waiting

Time after time

Time after time

Time after time

As the song ended, Hermione reluctantly drew away from Draco.

"I have to go. It's almost midnight," she whispered. "I'm sorry."

"Wait!" Draco called out desperately. "Come back!" For a second, it looked like his mystery girl was crying as she waved goodbye to him. But that was probably a trick of the light, he reasoned. Why would she be crying? They would see each other again.

Hermione ran across the Great Hall, sobbing. Her magical night was ending. Tomorrow she would wake up and be bushy haired, bookworm Granger to Draco again. And that hurt.

Hermione stopped when she saw the bottom part of the Fat Lady's portrait. Her feet had automatically taken her to Gyrffindor Tower.

"Fairy lights," she choked out and stumbled inside.

"Why, my dear, what's wrong?" asked the Fat Lady before Hermione slammed the door behind her. "Well, excuse me for trying to be helpful!" came the muffled reply.

"Hermione?" came a groggy voice near the fire.

"Oh, it's you, Ron," said Hermione flatly, remembering the fight they had had before she had first danced with Draco.

"So? What's wrong with me?" said Ron angrily, the tips of his ears heating up. "I'm good enough for you? Unlike Vicky?"

"No Ron, you're perfectly fine-" Hermione started to say, but Ron cut her off.

"Oh, really? Perfectly fine? I suppose Vicky must be dashingly fine then!"

"Don't call him that, Ron! This is all because you're jealous of him, isn't it? You're jealous, Ronald Weasley, that I managed to get a wonderful date to the Ball and you had to take leftovers!" Hermione was getting really angry now and her elegant hair was starting to fall apart.

"I'm jealous? Why would I be jealous of an egotistic, hook-nosed, duck-footed person like him?"

"Because he's better than you in all ways! Yes, Ron, he's always done things one step ahead of you, hasn't he?" snarled Hermione dangerously.

"Well-" Ron started to say, but then Hermione interrupted him as she saw Harry enter the Common Room out of the corner of her eye,

"Well, if you don't like it, you know what the situation is, don't you?"

"Oh yeah?" Ron yelled. "What's that?"

"Next time there's a ball, ask me before someone else does, and not as a last resort!" And with that, Hermione turned on her heel and stomped upstairs to the girls' dormitory. She heard Ron sputter to Harry as she slammed her door,

"Well, well - that just proves - completely missed the point - "

Hermione sighed deeply and burrowed deeper in her pillow. In the space of one night, she had fallen in love with someone, had her heart broken, and had a huge argument with one of her best friends. And to top it all of, she had just discovered that one of her precious sapphire earrings was missing. Tomorrow was sure going to be a hell of a day.

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Meanwhile, in the Slytherin Common Room, Draco was pacing around in front of the fire. In his hand, he clutched a tiny sapphire earring that he had almost stepped on when he ran out of the Great Hall following his mystery girl. Draco was absolutely sure that the earring belonged to his mystery girl, his Cinderella. He was determined to find his Cinderella and he was going to see who had a missing sapphire earring in Slytherin that also had brown hair and eyes.

Draco looked up as Daphne Greengrass and Theodore Nott came stumbling in, laughing and talking. Daphne appeared to be drunk, because she usually was a reticent girl. Theo had an arm slung around her and he appeared to be enjoying the feeling. Then Draco sat up straight and rubbed his eyes. Was he seeing things? he wondered. Daphne Greengrass was wearing a blue dress and one of her sapphire earrings appeared to be missing. Her brown hair, exactly the color of his Cinderella, was flying into her eyes, so he couldn't tell whether or not they were brown. But, Draco reasoned, she fits all the physical characteristics so far. Was true love possible or was this just pushing it?

"Daphne," Draco said. "Nott." Theodore gave him a tight-lipped smile.

Brown eyes, check. Brown hair, check. Blue dress, one sapphire earring, check, check. Slytherin, check, Draco thought. Now for the missing clue.

"Daphne," he started. "Is this your earring?" Draco held out the small, but elegant, blue sphere.

And for a moment, Draco thought Daphne's eyes suddenly gleamed, but then the look was gone, and Draco supposed it must've been a trick of the light.

"Oh my, it is! How did you ever find it?" Daphne clutched the earring to her chest.

"I have my ways," replied Draco smoothly. "But more about that later. Daphne, will you be my girlfriend? Forget about Theo and be with me. You're the girl I danced with a few minutes ago...just admit it."

The whole of the Slytherin Common Room fell silent, except for the anguished shrieks of "No!" by Pansy.

"Shut up, Pansy," said Draco, without taking his eyes of Daphne. "So, will you be my girlfriend?"

"Are you kidding me? YES!"

Draco smirked and then kissed her on the lips, feeling extremely self-satisfied with himself. He had gotten his Cinderella girl and they were destined to last forever. So why did the kiss feel so wrong? he wondered. It's just because you're in a very public area and Blaise is making wolf-whistles, Draco reasoned.

Draco tore his lips of Daphne's to shoot, "Shut up, Blaise," in his direction before returning to snogging Daphne. Nobody noticed Theodore Nott, forgotten as the crowd cheered Draco on, slinking into the boys' dormitory with a betrayed expression on his face.

0o0

Ginny Weasley staggered into the Gryffindor Common Room with Neville Longbottom. They had danced all the way until midnight and Neville wasn't the best dancer; he had trod on her feet quite a lot.

Ginny collapsed in a chair near the fireplace and saw a children's book near her foot.

"Cinderella," she read aloud and started reading, tired as she was. Scanning the pages, she smiled in satisfaction.

"Happily ever after," Ginny mused after finishing. "I guess we all got our happy ending tonight, didn't we?"

Little did she know that a certain bookworm upstairs in the girls' dormitory was crying herself to sleep because of her own unhappy ending at this very moment.

Little did she know that another person in the Slytherin Dormitory was having his mistaken happy ending.

Little did she know that not one person tonight has truly had their happy ending.

But, of course, this was Hogwarts. Magic can fix everything.

...Right?

0o0

A/N-So, how was that? Please review!

P.S. Any type of review is welcome. Forget the whole, "If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything," motto. I like criticism, as long it gives me tips for improvement.

-Lily in a Pond