10One Of A Kind
AN: Every chapter is like a songfic…It doesn't necessarily follow the story line, but it has something to do with the chapter.
Chapter 1 – Don't Stop The Music
Hermione gently combed through her silky brown hair. She styled it into a glamorous messy bun and applied shiny purple eye-shadow to her eyelids and a glittery pink lip gloss. It matched her violet cocktail dress perfectly. She heard an indistinct voice call her from the floor below and a faint smile played at her sparkling lips.
For the first time since the war ended two years ago, Hermione and her best friend, Joanna, were going for a party. It was Joanna's boyfriend's 19th birthday and he was having a huge disco with over 100 people. It wasn't just any disco, it was a masked-disco. Hermione quickly brushed some blush on her soft cheeks, put on her highest purple heels and half-ran down the stairs where Joanna was waiting by the door.
Hermione was highly impressed with the way Joanna was dressed, normally she was a tiny bit of a tomboy, but if you looked at the amount of makeup she put on, you'd think she was the type of girl who'd scream and cry if she broke a nail.
Joanna's hair long wavy blonde hair was held up with a silver jaw-clip. Her long pink gown reached the tip of her red 4-inch high heels. She just about had pink-everything, pink eye-shadow, pink eyeliner (disgusting…), pink blush, pink lipstick, pink necklace and pink bracelets. But you can't really blame her; she's never dressed up so much. Hermione knew she had a LOT to teach her before the next party.
Hermione drifted her eyes to the brown chest of drawers next to the door. It had to eye-masks on it, a glittery pink one (obviously Joanna's) and an elegant indigo mask belonging to Hermione. It didn't really match her dress, but she thought it looked nice.
She picked up her mask and placed it neatly over her eyes; she pulled the string back over her head and adjusted it so she could see everything through the eyeholes. She watched Joanna follow suit.
'Shall we go?' Hermione asked. Joanna nodded and they both left the house.
Hermione suddenly stopped in her tracks. Her mouth dropped open at the sight of a long pink (duh) stretch limo.
She started stuttering like she had never before.
'Joanna! Oh my, this is – this is – this is–'
'Oh, think nothing of it. It's my early Christmas present to…us," Joanna joked, "Well, mostly you. I've still got a few of my own back home,'
Something rather vital that I forgot to mention is that Joanna Beryl is rich…stinking rich. She gets a thousand dollars a week for her pocket money…plus, every time she does her homework, she gets a hundred dollars. To her parents, giving a thousand dollars to charity is 'hardly a generous donation'.
It's crazy, really. But luckily for Hermione, Joanna isn't one of those girls who boast and brag about how much money they have. Joanna gives away gifts (such as stretch limos) as if they were glitter pens. She's amazing, she's honest, truthful, kind and caring…and smart.
But the fact that Joanna just practically 'gave' Hermione a stretch limo wasn't why she was gaping. Sure she was amazed, and shocked, but Hermione was also disgusted. Very, very disgusted.
'Joanna how could you?!'
'What are you talking about?' you could tell that Joanna was highly offended, it's not everyday that you get a limo with a personal chauffer as an early Christmas present…
'That's what I'm talking about,' Hermione pointed to the person, or elf, which was standing next to the driver's door. He was wearing as suit, really, tie and all.
Joanna instantly felt incredibly stupid, she knew very well that Hermione never really got over the whole 'elf abuse' thing. In fact, she is still handing out the S.P.E.W. badges at the Ministry.
'Oh come on Hermione! Just this once? It'll never happen again I promise!'
'That's what you said when you sent an elf to deliver my birthday present because you had a horrid cold and you parents wouldn't let you leave the house,'
'Well what d'you think I'd do? Would you send one of your parents to go send a birthday present as if they were your slaves?'
'No, of course not, but that didn't mean that elves are your slaves either,'
'You're right, they're not. They're just…helpers, in this case, Kodi here is just trying to help us get to the party so we don't have to walk all the way. He didn't spend three years trying to learn how to drive the 'Muggle' way for nothing you know.'
'Yes…but still. It's wrong; it just won't feel right,'
'Please Hermione, I know just as well as you do that you do NOT want to walk 5 miles. Just this once?' Joanna pleaded.
'Urgh, fine,' Hermione trudged over to the car and watched regrettably as Kodi 'insisted' on opening the door for her. She slid in to the window at the far right window.
She had to admit, she was impressed. Directly in front of her was a small tv which had every channel there was in the world…apparently. Next to that was a mini refrigerator which , when she opened it she found out, had two loafs of bread, the most expensive and best tasting cheese in Europe, loads of ice cream and cakes, cream caramel mustard, every meat you could think of and more! Next to that was a tiny wooden table with a microwave and oven on it. Probably for the ready-made things Hermione thought.
She suddenly felt a lurch in her stomach as the limo accelerated at 80 km/hour. Despite the fact that Hermione grew up in a Muggle world with Muggle parents, she never got around to getting used to cars. She hated it like anything; it made her want to vomit everywhere, and once she actually did puke…and all over her cousin (Caleb) when he came to visit. It didn't make it much better knowing that an elf was driving this particular car and if he got stopped by a police car because of speeding then Hermione and Joanna would have a LOT of explaining to do.
The car ride didn't go on for anymore than 10 minutes (without incident) and throughout the entire thing, the two girls sitting in the backseat didn't utter a single word. When the elf finally announced that they had reached, Hermione felt like her stomach had settled again. She quickly opened the passenger door and left the car without a moment's hesitation. Hermione waited patiently by the bouncer who was guarding the door to the disco. When Joanna finally caught up with the highly nauseous girl, she showed the huge bouncer their two invitations and he let them pass.
Hermione and Joanna gasped when they entered the disco. There were loads of people; way more than a hundred…and they were 5 minutes EARLY!
Joanna scanned the room. She saw a 10-seater table on which her boyfriend had already taken a seat on. Next to him were two other boys who she didn't recognise, mostly because of their masks. She grabbed Hermione's hand and rushed to the table. She sat next to her boyfriend and kissed his cheek.
'Happy birthday sweetheart!' she exclaimed.
'Hey David, happy 19th birthday,' Hermione smiled at him.
'Thanks. So, what do you think of the party?' David asked.
'We just got here! But so far it's amazing! There are so many people!' Joanna said.
'Yes well, my parents spent a fortune on this. My little brother, Joey got so jealous, it was a riot seeing him get all huffy and annoyed whenever we discussed the party in front of him. Then he cross his arms and his face would turn red like a tomato, and then he'd just stomp out of the room.' David took Joanna hand. 'You wanna dance?'
'Well…' Joanna glanced back at Hermione. She obviously didn't want to leave her alone. Even if she did know anyone at the party, she wouldn't be able to tell who was who.
'Its okay, it's okay. Go ahead, have fun, make the birthday boy happy.' Hermione waved her hand dismissively. She grinned as she saw David take Joanna to the dance floor. Just like any other Cinderella story, when David and Joanna started dancing, a huge circle formed around them and the spotlight was shining directly at them.
Hermione laughed silently at the irony of it all. Her smile didn't last long though. After a few minutes she got bored of watching her best friend dance. She stared aimlessly at her perfectly painted fingernails.
Please don't stop the music
Please don't stop the music
Please don't stop the music
Please don't stop the music
It took a while to realise that someone was standing right in front of her with his arm stretched out towards her. She looked up and figured out that he was asking her to dance. This man whoever he was, was clearly deluded, he obviously didn't know who she was. All the same, she let him learn the hard way that there's a reason that boyfriends don't last long in her life. She placed her hand in his and let him take her to the dance floor. She suddenly felt a tingle, kind of like a not-so-painful shock, a spark if you will. She had a 2 second flashback of her third year. Just when she had found out about Buckbeak being sentenced to death, she heard Draco Malfoy sniggering about it to his 'friends'. She marched right up to him and punched him in the nose as hard as possible. For the nano-second that it lasted, she had felt the same tingling feeling, she thought for a second that the man standing before her now could possibly be…no, no way! She quickly brushed away the idea that she was about to dance with the second person she hates most in the world.
The mystifying masked man put his hands on her waist and she put hers on his shoulders. They slowly rocked to the soft music.
It's gettin late
I'm making my way over to my favorite place
I gotta get my body moving shake the stress away
I wasn't looking for nobody when you looked my way
Possible candidate (yeah)
Who knew
That you'd be up in here lookin like you do
You're makin' stayin' over here impossible
Baby I must say your aura is incredible
If you dont have to go don't
After a few minutes of silent dancing he said: 'You're quite a good dancer you know?' Hermione blushed; it's been years since a guy complimented her. He used a completely fake thick British accent. He was obviously trying to hide his identity.
Using the same accent, she replied: 'Thanks, you're not so bad yourself,' the rest of the dance went on without a word being spoken from either of them. They just kept on gazing into each other's eyes.
Do you know what you started
I just came here to party
But now we're rockin on the dancefloor
Acting naughty
Your hands around my waist
Just let the music play
We're hand in hand
Chest to chest
And now we're face to face
After what Hermione thought was only a few minutes, she glanced at her watch and realised that a whole two hours had passed since she had arrived! She had no idea that so much time had gone by since she started dancing with the mystery boy who had stupidly asked to dance with her. She smiled shyly and rested her head on his shoulder. In a second the music took a sudden change and instantly turned into 'Don't Stop the Music' by Rihanna.
The mystery man took her hands off his shoulders and started freestyle dancing. Hermione just stood there watching him and laughing. For a second her smile faltered, she could've sworn that saw a strand of platinum-blonde hair fall on his face. But no sooner had she seen it then it had gone. She decided that the disco ball must've just created that illusion.
I wanna take you away
Lets escape into the music
DJ let it play
I just can't refuse it
Like the way you do this
Keep on rockin to it
Please don't stop the
Please don't stop the music
She stared swaying with the music; she clapped as the masked dancer did a backward flip and landed right in front of her. She could feel his hot breath on her skin. He was panting…a lot. He took her hands in his and started dancing with a very pleased, shocked, embarrassed and happy Hermione Granger.
Baby are you ready cause its getting close Do you know what you started
Don't you feel the passion ready to explode
What goes on between us no one has to know
This is a private show (oh)
I just came here to party
But now we're rockin on the dancefloor
Acting naughty
Your hands around my waist
Just let the music play
We're hand in hand
Chest to chest
And now we're face to face
Hermione was highly surprised with herself. For the first time in months, maybe even years, she was finally enjoying herself…and with a boy. This guy was maybe stupid enough to ask her to dance, but this guy was an excellent dancer. He sent the heebie-jeebies through her spine…but in a good way.
I wanna take you away
Lets escape into the music
DJ let it play
I just can't refuse it
Like the way you do this
Keep on rockin to it
Please don't stop the
Please don't stop the music
The music ended and a slow song started. There were a few groans amongst the crowd, but Hermione and the unknown man just kept dancing, staring into each other's eyes as if trying to uncover the truth about their identities. A few minutes later, Hermione's dance partner took her hands off his shoulders and kissed one of them.
'I am sorry, I must go now,' he apologised.
'But…!' but Hermione was too late. She watched hopelessly as he disappeared into the crowd.
AN: So what do you think? Please R&R and try not to be too harsh