It's the second day at Hogwarts and working on my task for my father. I was sitting at breakfast when Theo started to talk to me about that evening. 'Are you ready for the ball tonight?' 'What are you talking about, Theo?' 'Every year we have a ball on the second night of the year to welcome everyone back.' I completely forgot. With everything I read about Hogwarts, the classes and Y/N, I completely forgot there was a ball the second night of the schoolyear. That does explain why I needed to bring dress robes according to the packing list. 'Who all is going?' I asked Theo. 'Well, I'm going. Pansy, Y/N, Draco, Blaise? You are all going too, right?' Everyone sitting around us at the breakfast table looked at us to answer. 'Yes, we're all going.' Y/N answered. Good, if she's going, then I'm going too. And as if Theo read my mind he said to me: 'So, you're going too.' I gave him a nod, before taking a bite of my food. After I agreed I would also go to the ball, everyone resumed with their own conversations and finished their breakfast.
Since we didn't have any classes until tomorrow, we had a free day. So, everyone went their own way after breakfast. Some when to Hogsmeade, a nearby village, and others just stayed in the Slytherin commonroom. 'What are you upto today?' Theo asked me once the rest had left. 'I think, I'm going to explore the castle. See where everything is and how the staircases work.' I wasn't completely lying, I was going to explore the castle, but not to see how the staircases work. I already read up on that and I don't think it will be that hard to figure out. I was going to find some of the secret ways through the castle. 'What about you, Theo?' I asked. 'Nothing much. I'll maybe take a joyride on my broom.' 'Okay, have fun. I'll see you later then.' I said before leaving Theo behind and looking for the first secret passageway.
First up, a short-cut between the Armoury and Charms corridor. It should be somewhere behind one of the tapestries and it should be somewhere around here. I was walking through the Armoury, when I found a tapestry that could be the one hiding the short-cut. I moved the tapestry carefully to the side and... yes. I was right. There's the passage way. It should take me to the Charms corridor, so let's see. I stepped behind the tapestry and in a short while I found myself indeed in the Charms corridor. First one, found and done.
Off to the second one, a hidden staircase leading from the fourth floor corridor to the Fat Lady's corridor. Since I was still in the Charms corridor, I made my way up to the fourth floor corridor and went looking for the bookcase, that was supposedly hiding the staircase. There were multiple bookcases, but after trying to move three bookcases, I was finally lucky with the fourth one. I pushed it to the side and was indeed met with a staircase. I stepped onto the staircase, moved the bookcase back and made my way to the Fat Lady's corridor. I don't know when I'll ever need these secret passageways, but it's nice to know that they're there and where they are.
I tried a couple more passageways, before making my way back to my dormroom. It was getting quite late and I still needed to get ready for the ball. Once I got to my dormroom, I took a quick and hot shower and I then got dressed in my dress robes. I just finished, when I heard a knock on my door. 'Come in.' I said while putting on my shoes. 'Hey, you're actually dressed for the ball.' Theo said once he saw me in my robes. 'Yeah, what did you think?' 'I thought you might skip out on the ball.' 'No way, I'm here at Hogwarts for a year. Might enjoy it a bit don't you think.' 'Sure.' Theo said while showing doubt about my motivation for going to the ball. Ofcourse I wasn't going to have fun, I was only going for Y/N. We both knew that, eventhough neither of us said it out loud. I'm here just for my task. The sooner the task is over, the sooner I can leave this school again. It stayed quiet for a second, while I finished tying my shoes. Once I was completely finished, I stood up, grabbed my wand, put it in my robe and looked over at Theo. 'I'd say, let's go.' 'Yes, let's go... and Mattheo?' 'Yes?' 'Don't forget to really also have some fun while you're here. It shouldn't have to be all about your task. You deserve some fun without your father on your back.' He was right, but it felt weird. I never really got to have fun at home. There was always something I needed to do for my father and he was always there to check on me and what I needed to do. Right now, he would ofcourse still be on my back about Y/N, but he wasn't physically there to control my every move. I could indeed have some fun, while I'm here...
Before I could spiral more in that thought, I was brought back by Theo, who opened the door of my room to go out. 'Are you coming?' 'Yes, I'm coming.' I responded before following him out of the room and to the ball. Once we got there, we walked straight over to the drink table. I needed a drink, but soon came to the realization that there won't be any alcohol, since it's a school function. Luckily, I knew a few spells that could change that. I changed my punch with a small incantation into something a bit stronger. 'Did you just spike your own punch?' Theo said to me, when he heard me whisper something. 'I might.' I smirked. 'You want yours spiked as well?' I offered him. 'Yes, please.' He smirked back, right before I spiked his punch with the same incantation. 'Where did you learn that incantation?' Theo asked me. 'When you live at my father's house, you can somehow always find time to find spells, charms and incantations to make boring events or meetings a bit more fun.' Theo wanted to ask me more, but before he could we were distracted by noise coming from the stairs.
Theo and I looked up at the stairs and saw, Y/N walking down it, right behind her sister. The noise we were hearing, were people talking to Hermione. 'You look amazing Hermione.' 'Such a beautiful dress.' 'Care for a dance?' All for the beloved sister. But, for Y/N there was nobody saying anything. I read what she was thinking: 'They're right Hermione does look amazing. My dress is just simple, I know. The sooner you're down the stairs, the sooner you can leave again.' This is what I was thinking about when my father told me about Y/N; an insecure girl seeing her sister be beloved by others and talking herself down in the meantime. Easy target, I suppose my father would say. I walked up to Y/N, who was now at the bottom of the stairs looking at where to go. I got close to her ear and whispered something to her. I felt her move away first, but once she heard what I said, she relaxed a bit. 'You look gorgeous in that dress.' I said, my voice barely above a whisper. Y/N looked a bit confused at me and I could hear her think about how this must be a joke, because no one other than her mother and Pansy had outspokenly said that about her. And eventhough, my comment was to win her trust, I wasn't lying. She did look amazing in her dress. 'Really?' She asked me, waiting for me to tell her I was joking. 'Yes, you look amazing, Y/N. Now, care for a dance?' I asked while extending my arm. She hesitated for a moment, but soon intertwined her arm with mine and walked with me towards the dancefloor.
There was a slow song playing, so I placed my arms around her waist while Y/N placed her arms around my neck. She looked at me questionably waiting to ask something, but keeping her mouth shut. 'What are you thinking?' I asked her. 'Why are you being nice to me?' 'Why not?' I responded to her question. 'Because, my sister's better looking and gets more attention, so why wouldn't you give her that attention?' 'Because, I'm not interested in getting to know your sister.' 'What do you mean?' She gave a small smile at the thought of someone not being interested in her sister, but soon dismissed it, still thinking this could all be some sick joke. 'I mean, that I'm not interested in some high and mighty Gryffindor. I'm more curious about her twin sister.' 'Sure, you are.' What do I have to do to make this girl believe and trust that I am more interested in her than her sister? Because, I truly am more interested in her. Ofcourse not in the way she would want me to be interested in her, but still. I'd rather get to know Y/N, than Hermione. 'Yes, I am. Otherwise I wouldn't be dancing with you, now would I?' 'Maybe not.' She said hesitantly. Finally she's starting to believe me.
We danced for about ten minutes, before Pansy interupted us. 'I'm sorry I have to steal your dancepartner for a second.' Pansy said. I glared at her with a smile. I knew exactly why she wanted Y/N away from me. Unlike Y/N's mind, Pansy's is as easy to get into as a bag of crisps. Pansy wanted Y/N away from me, because she doesn't trust me. With her parents being deatheaters, she has heard a lot about me and none of them are nice things according to her. So, last night when she and Y/N got to their dormroom, they talked about how I could be a murderer. Eventhough I would do a lot for my father, I would never kill for him. He has never asked me to, but even if he would, I could never do that. Not unless he would inflect the Imperius curse on me. That they talked about this, also gave reason to why Y/N was quite hesistant to trust me. She talked to Pansy about treading carefully around me, so getting closer to her, might not be as easy as I would have hoped. As I was looking through Pansy's mind, I handed her Y/N's hand and let them walk away. Pansy grabbed Y/N's hand and while walking away she reached towards her head with her other hand. 'Is everything okay?' I heard Y/N asking her. 'I'm fine, just a tiny headache. That's all.' Pansy responded. She must have gotten that headache because I was searching through her mind. So, I got out of her head and walked away from the dancefloor to get something to drink.
Once I had a drink in my hand, someone came up to me. 'I see you don't take it slow with any task of your father's?' 'Good evening, to you too, Theo.' Theo had danced with Pansy, before she walked away to get Y/N, so now that we were both alone again, he had walked back to me. 'Can you really not back out of this task?' 'Theo, you know what I told you. She'll either join the deatheaters or she will be murdered. And I can't have the second thing happening. I do a lot for my father, but being the reason someone dies, I couldn't handle that.' 'I know, Mattheo. But, she doesn't deserve this.' 'I know she doesn't. But, my father doesn't care about that. He just cares about his own gain.' 'I'm sorry to say, but that makes him an enormous asshole.' 'I agree.' We stayed quiet for a couple minutes before I broke the silence. 'Whatever happens, I'll make sure she's safe. I promised you that, Theo. You mean a lot to me and she means a lot to you, so that makes her important to me.' 'Thank you, Mattheo.' 'Anytime.' 'Now, let's get out on that dancefloor as well.' Theo slapped me on the back of my arm before leading the way towards the dancefloor. He has always loved a good party, so him wanting to dance all night is nothing new to me.