Hermione looked down at Draco's offered hand, hesitating. She glanced over to see that Blaise was also reaching a hand out to Ginny, who seemed just as hesitant as the brunette. Hermione looked back to Draco and found that he was only smiling patiently, and her fingers twitched at her side.
"What's going to happen?" She asked nervously.
"I promise that you will enjoy it," He said earnestly. "And if you are uncomfortable, simply say the word and we will return to this spot so that you can continue on your way."
She searched his face for any sign of trickery or deceit but found none. Without thinking, she reached up and took the hand he offered, his smile widening at this. As his fingers clasped gently around her hand, she felt his hand squeeze hers ever so slightly before he transported her away.
They landed at the edge of a large ballroom filled with other people dressed in some of the most glamorous outfits that Hermione had ever seen. She was surrounded by a sea of satin and tulle of all different colors, the twirling skirts and beautiful music almost enchanting her. But Draco taking her hand and resting it on the inside of his elbow grounded her, and she was content to look around as he led her through the crowd of dancing people.
She was somewhat surprised when he led her straight to Ginny and Blaise; the red head was as much in awe of their new surroundings as she was and barely noticed when her friend approached. Blaise seemed to be just as amused at Ginny's reaction to the ballroom as Draco was with Hermione's reaction.
"Ladies," Blaise announced then, catching both their attention as he gave a slight bow. "If you'll excuse us momentarily, we will be checking on a few details for tonight."
With that, he gave Ginny a warm smile before leaving her side as Draco stepped away while squeezing Hermione's hand, and the two kings disappeared into the sea of dancers.
Ginny immediately moved closer to Hermione with wide eyes, looking her up and down. "I didn't get the chance to look closely at your dress earlier, but it is absolutely stunning!"
"Yours is too!" Hermione said happily, stepping back to look her friend up and down. "It's such a beautiful color for you!"
"I'm shocked by how much I love it," Ginny admitted, looking down and running a hand over her skirt. "You know I'm not one for sparkles, but this is just beautiful."
"I wonder what the occasion is," Hermione said then, looking away towards the crowd of dancers.
Both girls fell silent after this as they watched everyone around them, with Hermione taking a silent note of the fact that she and Ginny were both dressed much more extravagantly than the rest of the attendants. Not that their attire wasn't fancy; the outfits seemed muted in a sense as the colors were more natural tones of browns, tans, and greens. It was as if Hermione and Ginny were truly meant to shine amongst the others.
"Still think it's a genuine thing?" Ginny asked quietly to Hermione, catching her friend's attention.
After a moment of contemplation, Hermione nodded. "I don't get the sense that they're trying to stall us right now. I think they're legitimately wanting to give us a break from the labyrinth."
"Why though?" Ginny asked, her brow furrowing in confusion. "They have no reason to do this."
Hermione didn't answer immediately, thinking back to all of the things the two kings had done that they had no reason to do for her and Ginny. While she wouldn't put it past either of them to simply want to mess with their heads, she had a feeling that there was a legitimate reason for Draco and Blaise suddenly checking on them every so often and assisting when the girls were in trouble.
She glanced towards where the two kings had disappeared into the crowd before saying quietly, "I could be very wrong but...I think they do have a reason for doing this."
Looking towards Hermione, Ginny's eyes widened slightly as the realization hit her and the tips of her ears turned red. "You're not saying..."
"No, I'm not," Hermione answered quickly, cutting her friend off. "I don't know where I was going with that; forget I said anything."
Ginny watched her silently before nodding and looking away into the crowd as well. After a minute of silence between the two of them, she asked, "Where do you think they went?"
"I have no idea," Hermione said, looking around as well. "They said they were checking on details for tonight, whatever that means."
"They made it sound like we might be here for a while," Ginny said somewhat skeptically as she raised one of her eyebrows at her friend.
Looking at Ginny, Hermione smiled. "Are you really complaining though? We're in the middle of a ball wearing two of the most beautiful gowns either of us has ever seen. Twelve hours ago, this was just a daydream of ours."
Ginny tilted her head back and forth, thinking it over before sighing and smiling as well. "I suppose we should enjoy this while we can; we won't be able to after we complete the labyrinth."
Her words quieted towards the end of her sentence and she shifted uncomfortably; there was something off about the way that sounded. Hermione seemed to feel the same way as she looked away in an attempt at distracting herself. She didn't want to think about the labyrinth at that moment, nor the deal they had struck with the two kings.
"What's this?"
She looked over to see Ginny wandering towards a small group of masked people, one of whom was holding a small box with her hand on the lid. The mischievous grin on the woman's face as she looked at the two of them made Hermione hesitate but also filled her with intrigue, and the blonde woman encouraged both of them to come closer.
Hermione decided it would be best to not stray too far from her friend and stepped closer, eying the masked woman cautiously as she did. The woman continued to grin mischievously as she gripped the lid tighter, waiting until both Hermione and Ginny were close enough to open it dramatically.
The two girls jumped as what appeared to be a bald bird's head on a cane jumping out at them, causing the group around them to laugh loudly at their reactions. Ginny's face turned red with anger and she stepped forward but was stopped as Blaise suddenly appeared at her side, placing a hand at her waist as he calmly glared at the woman holding the box.
"That's enough, Imelda," He said sternly, giving the woman an icy look as he gently pulled Ginny away.
Hermione felt a hand take hers and she looked to see Draco had returned to her side as well, and he shared the same expression as his fellow king.
But when he looked at Hermione, his gaze warmed and she started to wonder again about his possible reasoning for doing all of this.
He gestured towards an open door on the opposite side of the room and said, "If you two don't object, there is a feast awaiting us in the other room."
Ginny straightened up at this and looked at Blaise, who was smiling towards her as well. She found herself returning the smile as he said, "I've made sure to remove any frying pans from your reach."
This caused her to laugh loudly as he led her away after Hermione and Draco, the crowd parting for the two couples. There were whispers and pointed looks aimed towards Hermione and Ginny, but Draco and Blaise quickly led them through the crowd and through the doorway.
Awaiting them was a large table with two chairs on either side and beautiful platters galore filled with food. There were candles and wine goblets, and she saw crystal balls of varying sizes which made her laugh slightly.
"Is this how you eat every day?" She asked, giving Draco a curious look.
He laughed and said, "Not every day; maybe once in a while though."
He led her towards one of the chairs and sat her down, pushing her chair in as Blaise did the same with Ginny. The two kings settled directly across from the girls and Draco gestured towards the food while smiling at the two girls.
"Please, help yourselves to as much as you'd like," He said. "You've been in the labyrinth for quite a while now without food."
As he and Blaise began to fill their plates, Hermione and Ginny shared a glance before slowly reaching for the food. Hermione paused though and looked up at Draco.
"The food isn't going to enchant us, is it?" She asked. "It's not a trick to keep us here?"
Draco looked at her for a moment before laughing slightly. "I promise, it's not a trick; if we were wanting to trick you into staying, we'd have a much more intricate plan than simply feeding you."
This made her smile as well and she began to fill her own plate, seeing Ginny do the same next to her.
"I'm surprised you don't have someone set up to serve you your food," Ginny quipped playfully as she glanced towards Blaise.
"You sound disappointed," He said in return, grinning. "I could change that."
"Oh no, that would be a bit awkward," Ginny said quickly, shaking her head. "We aren't used to having anyone serve us."
"Are you sure? It wouldn't be too difficult to have one of the goblins serve wine," Blaise offered jokingly.
"That's if they don't drink it all between the door and the table," Draco muttered before taking a bite, causing Hermione to hold back a laugh.
"Are your goblins always chaotic?" She asked, taking a bite as well.
Blaise answered instead with a grin. "I've watched them drink directly from the wine caskets in Draco's throne room."
Her nose crinkled slightly at this but she still smiled as she said, "Sounds like there's never a dull moment."
"Oh there isn't," Draco sighed. "Would be nice though if they wouldn't try to stage an uprising every other week."
"Why would they want to do that?" Ginny asked curiously.
"Because they get bored," Blaise shrugged. "They do it in my kingdom too; Draco's goblins are terrible influences."
"I told you, just get yours more chickens," Draco said.
"I will not," Blaise said in an offended tone. "You have plenty of chickens for all of the Underground!"
"Then why is it that your goblins keep stealing the chickens from my goblins?" Draco asked, raising an eyebrow at the other king.
"Because they're bored and they like to cause chaos," Blaise said with a huff.
Hermione and Ginny were both quietly laughing at this, and Hermione took a drink before asking, "Why don't you do something to redirect their attention from being bored? I'm sure having some sort of competition would go very well."
Draco and Blaise both gave her a curious look before looking at each other, with Blaise muttering, "That's not a bad idea, actually."
"Of course it's not, it's Hermione's idea," Ginny said then with a grin. "She's full of brilliant ideas."
Hermione smiled at this but rolled her eyes, shaking her head slightly before taking another bite of food. Draco smiled warmly at her before leaning against the arm of his chair and asking, "What sort of competition do you think?"
"I'm not sure, you know your goblins better than I do," Hermione said with a laugh.
"You could probably do some sort of skills competition," Ginny suggested. "If anything, you'd at least get a laugh out of their attempts and fails."
Hermione gave Ginny a surprised look, but Blaise was grinning as he said, "How delightfully chaotic of you!"
Ginny grinned as well, shrugging at Hermione's astonished look as she took a drink of her wine. "Don't tell me you wouldn't laugh, 'Mione!"
"That just seems rude though," Hermione said turning slightly to face her friend. "Laughing at their attempts to win a competition!"
"They most likely wouldn't take it seriously," Draco interrupted, catching Hermione's attention. "I mean, these are the same goblins that pick fights with chickens."
"You're not serious," Hermione laughed then. "They pick fights with chickens?"
"They seem to favor pelting spitballs at them," Draco smiled before taking a drink.
Both Hermione and Ginny laughed at this while Blaise muttered, "Can hear the fighting all the way in my castle."
The four of them shared a laugh now as Hermione and Ginny glanced at each other, smiling and silently acknowledging that they were more comfortable in that moment than either of them would admit.
Hermione wasn't sure how much time had passed at that table; she kept looking around for a clock of some sort to let her know if they were truly keeping their word, but she would keep forgetting every time the four of them laughed.
She didn't want to acknowledge just how much she was enjoying Draco's company at that moment, or that Ginny seemed to be enjoying Blaise's company just as much. She caught Ginny eyeing Blaise every so often and found herself smiling at this. The two of them got along better than any of Ginny's previous potential boyfriends, and Ginny seemed to pick up on this as well.
It wasn't long after their plates had been cleared that Hermione and Ginny were led back into the main ballroom by Draco and Blaise, both of them trying to ignore the whispers and stares they were receiving from the other guests.
Hermione noticed that the song had changed then as Draco and Blaise led her and Ginny out to the middle of the room while the rest of the dancing group split into couples. This song was slower than the previous one, and she smiled as Draco turned to face her. He took one hand while she placed the other on his shoulder and felt his other hand gently rest on her hip, and the two of them began to slowly dance around within the rest of the crowd.
"So, Hermione," He started with a smile. "How are you enjoying my labyrinth?"
She was quiet for a moment as she thought about how to respond. But after a few seconds she smiled again and said somewhat snarkily, "It's a piece of cake."
He laughed at this, causing her to smile more as they continued to dance. The faces around her blurred and for a brief moment it was only the two of them, and she was happy.
Never in a million years did she think that she would be where she was in that moment, dancing in a beautiful ballgown with a king let alone a handsome one. If she didn't know any better, she would have thought it was just a dream inspired by one of her books. And never had she wanted to stay dreaming more in her life.
"So my labyrinth is a piece of cake, is it?" Draco asked then, pulling her out of her thoughts. "Then how about upping the stakes?"
She raised an eyebrow and waited for him to continue. He gave her a mischievous smile before gently gripping her hand and waist slightly tighter.
"Say you don't complete the labyrinth," He started, pulling her closer against him. "You stay here in the Underground."
"I thought that was the agreement already," She laughed.
"Think of this as a slight alteration to the agreement," He smiled.
Giving him a playfully skeptical look, she said, "I'm not sure if that's allowed."
"I believe amendments are perfectly normal to rules," He countered innocently.
With another laugh she asked, "What would this amendment be?"
He grinned then before answering, "You stay here in the Underground as my queen."
A/N: Have a nice, looong chapter for the wait lol thank you all for your patience, this one simply didn't want to be written but I hope you all enjoy! <3