Time After Time

Chapter Five: Look and You Will Find Me

Hermione was slightly uncomfortable with the bevy of house-elves which arrived an hour before the ball to get her ready, while Severus retreated to his side of the suite. It was a traditional one, in which the wizard had a side, and the witch had another. There was a sitting room in the center of it all, where the wardrobes were kept upon the outskirts, and all was connected by ornately-carved doors. Hermione was systematically thrust into her own portion of the suite at the appointed hour; each side of the suite, in the bedroom side, boasted its own bathroom, and she was promptly shoved into its tub.

Hermione sputtered, coming up for air, bubbles from the soap becoming lodged in her hair, whilst the house-elves twittered merrily amongst themselves. She crossed her arms, wanting to complete her bathing and dressing rituals on her own, but she could not. In her lectures, Minerva had informed her at length of the traditions in Pureblood families, which included assigned house-elves to help the unmarried women for particularly formal events. Typically, this only meant the evening, which meant that Hermione would be free in the morning and afternoon to dress as she liked, provided that it fit in with the occasion in question.

When the house-elves decided that she had been bathed enough—which included shampooing, conditioning, and washing her body of any perceived imperfections—she was pulled out of the tub and wrapped in a towel which smelled of fresh lavender. Drying Charms were put onto her hair and body, and her silk robe was summoned as she was pushed over to the vanity table in the same room. She stared blankly at herself in the mirror, watching as two elves began elaborately curling her hair, while two others rubbed lotion on her hands and arms, and a further two afforded the same treatment to her legs and feet. She had already selected her gown for the evening ahead—a deep green with a ball-gown skirt and an oval neckline—and her fingernails and toenails were painted the same shade as its fabric.

Her hair was given an Immobulus before she was put into the gowns' matching undergarments, and then the gown itself was slipped over her head. She stepped willingly into the green silk slippers that went with the gown, and she was pronounced ready. The elves scurried off to attend to other duties, and Hermione stepped out of her bathroom, through her bedroom, and into the sitting room, where Severus awaited her, garbed in fine black dress robes.

"Severus?" she asked, calling out to him, as he stared out the window at the vast grounds of the Malfoy-owned property.

Severus turned to face her, his eyes widening at the sight of her. "I..." He cleared his throat as he stepped closer, reaching into the pocket of his robes and producing a black velvet box. "Minerva insisted..."

Hermione chuckled lightly at that and took ahold of the proffered box, opening it slowly, and gasping aloud at the beauty of the emerald necklace and earrings which lay within it. "Oh, Merlin, Severus," she whispered.

Severus looked proud of himself. "They actually come from the Prince family," he said proudly, and Hermione looked up at him. "You, no doubt, know how influential they once were. My mother was the last of them, you see, and, although they disinherited her, they reluctantly allowed me back into their good graces before their deaths. These," he went on, lifting one earring from the box and slipping it into Hermione's ear, "have unfortunately been gathering dust in the Prince vault at Gringotts. I assumed you would be wearing the green gown upon the opening night," he continued, putting the second earring into her other ear, "and believed that these would be plenty sufficient."

Hermione smiled as he gently turned her by the shoulders and guided her towards the floor-length mirror positioned on one side of the sitting room. "More than, Severus," she assured him, watching as he clipped the necklace about her neck, gasping slightly as his fingers lingered upon her collar bone for the briefest of moments.