A/N – Welcome to my new racy short story – Masquerade. The story has 4 chapters and I will be publishing every day this week. On Friday I will then add an After The End for Masquerade. I hope you all enjoy it.

Sitting in a high-end muggle cafe with her friend, Ginny Weasley, Hermione Granger gazed down at the luxurious blue and gold envelope sitting between them. Inside the envelope was a ticket to the largest charity function that Wizarding Britain would play host to that year – a masquerade ball at Malfoy Manor. The ticket had cost Hermione a small fortune, and in order to attend the ball she would have to spend another small fortune on an outfit.

"I think I've made a mistake," Hermione announced in a quiet voice.

"What sort of mistake?" Ginny asked.

"The ticket," Hermione replied, gesturing to the envelope sitting between them. "The cost was astronomical, and it won't be cheap finding an appropriate outfit."

"Of course the price was going to be steep, the ball is being held at Malfoy Manor," Ginny said. "I bet half the people attending are only going to get a look at the place. I know I would love to go, but Harry isn't keen. You know he doesn't like these big social events."

Hermione nodded absently-mindedly, but she wasn't really thinking about her best friend and his desire to keep out of the limelight. She was thinking about the money she'd already spent, and the money she was about to spend, and wondering if it was all worth it.

"Don't go changing your mind now, Hermione," Ginny warned as if she was reading Hermione's mind. Although to be fair, her friends doubts were written all over her face.

"What if this is all a bit too desperate?" Hermione asked. "Do you not think it's a bit extreme to spend a small fortune attending a party just to try and grab the attention of one wizard? A wizard who had shown no interest at all in me, I might add."

The reason for Hermione buying the ticket was her colleague, Draco Malfoy. Hermione had been shocked when two years ago, Draco had joined the Ministry's law department as a prosecutor. As a fellow lawyer, Hermione worked in the same department as Draco, but their paths rarely crossed as she specialised in family law. However, Hermione had developed a deep crush on Draco over the past two years, and even though he was always polite, and sometimes even friendly, towards her, he'd never looked at her as anything other than his colleague.

"You could have just taken my other suggestion and asked him out," Ginny said.

For all of Hermione's brains and courage when it came to men she was pretty clueless and more than a little bit wary. So while Ginny would have just taken the bull by the horns and asked Draco out, Hermione was afraid to taking the initiative. She claimed it was because she didn't want to make their working relationship awkward, but Ginny suspected she was just afraid of rejection. Especially rejection from a wizard who had once made it clear he thought Hermione was beneath him. Not that Draco thought like that any more, and everyone knew both he and his parents had changed after the war, and these days they made a big effort to ensure that everyone was thought of equal and that a wizard like Voldemort would never get the chance to rally supporters and wage another war.

"Maybe what I should do is forget all about Draco sodding Malfoy," Hermione grumbled. "I don't get why he's gotten under my skin. Yes, he's changed and it's commendable the way he's turned his life around and hasn't let the past ruin his life. Sure, he's mouth-wateringly gorgeous and as sexy as hell. But we've barely had a handful of conversations. Why am I so bothered about him? And it's not like I don't have other options. I do date other wizards."

"Most of whom are intimidated by you," Ginny pointed out. "If they're not star-struck by your war heroine status, they're out-shone by your brilliant mind and promising career. Anyone who wants to get serious with you, will have to accept that you're going to be smarter than them and likely have a better career than them. Not a lot of wizards can do that."

"And you think Malfoy can?" Hermione asked with a chuckle.

"Yeah, because he faces a very similar dilemma," Ginny answered. "Anyone who is with him not only has to accept his past, but they have to live up to his parents high expectations. I can't imagine many witches will meet Malfoy standards."

"I certainly can't," Hermione snorted. "Or have you forgotten the fact I'm a muggleborn? As much as the Malfoys have changed, I can't see them welcoming a muggleborn into the family."

"They might surprise you," Ginny offered. "But let's not get carried away. First of all, you have to grab Malfoy's attention."

"I see him everyday at work, and he never notices me," Hermione replied. "I think it's safe to say I'm not his type."

"Which is why you need to show him a different side," Ginny urged. "And this masquerade ball is perfect. You can turn yourself into a tempting seductress, and best of all you'll feel safe behind the anonymity of a mask. If he does reject you, at least he won't know it's you."

"I guess there is that," Hermione conceded with a nod.

"And just think, if it does work, you can have a night of passion with the most eligible bachelor in the country," Ginny smirked, waggling her eyebrows at Hermione.

"You're a bad influence, Ginny," Hermione chuckled as she swept the ticket to the ball into her bag.

"A bad influence who is going to make sure you look as sexy as possible," Ginny announced as they got to their feet to leave the cafe and start shopping for an outfit.

The two witches had chosen to shop in the muggle world as Ginny had declared the choice of outfits in the wizarding world as too boring. She wanted her friend to look as desirable as possible, and in her opinion there was very little choice in their world. However, she was hoping the muggle world would be a bit more adventurous.

Luckily, Ginny was right and they easily found a couple of shops which made the exact sort of dresses Ginny was after. Not quite sure what she wanted, Hermione handed over control to Ginny and allowed the younger witch to pick which dresses they would try on. A couple of times she did downright refuse Ginny's options, but on a whole she bowed down to Ginny's experience when it came for fashion and looking sexy.

"That is nice," Ginny remarked as Hermione tried on a deep blue dress which had a short mini skirt at the front and a large trailing skirt at the back.

"I don't think it's quite what I was thinking," Hermione said as she took in her reflection in the mirror.

"Onto the next then," Ginny said, not at all bothered by Hermione's lack of interest in the dress. After all, they still had more to try on and she wanted Hermione to feel comfortable.

Over the next half hour, Hermione tried on a dozen of dresses in a variety of colours and styles. However, while several of the dresses were stunning, none of them had the wow factor Hermione was hoping for. If she did want Draco to notice her, she would have to pull out all the stops.

"You stay here, and I'll go and see if we've missed anything," Ginny said after Hermione had changed back out of the final dress they'd picked for her to try.

Ten minutes later, Ginny returned with a breathtaking emerald dress. The top of the dress was an old-fashioned strapless bodice, covered in an intricate silver pattern, which would hug her breasts and give her a rather impressive cleavage. The skirt of the dress flared out dramatically at the back, and was cut at the front to reveal a figure hugging silver skirt with thigh high slits.

"Any red-blooded Slytherin will be unable to resist you in this," Ginny declared confidently.

"Let's try it on before we get too excited," Hermione replied, even though the dress was by far the best one she'd encountered so far, and it was the only one which had captured her imagination.

Taking the dress from Ginny, Hermione slipped into the changing room and changed into the dress. Even before she stepped out of the dressing room, she knew she'd found the dress, and Ginny's excited squeal proved it.

"Amazing," Ginny breathed as Hermione turned to study herself in the mirror.

The dress really was stunning, and even Hermione had to admit that with her hair and make-up done, and a matching mask covering half her face, she would be truly captivating. If she didn't capture Draco's attention in this, then she would never catch it.

"You don't think the skirt is too daring, do you?" Hermione checked. Even though she loved the effect of the green over the silver underskirt, she didn't want the thigh high slits to make her look cheap.

"I think it's perfect," Ginny gushed. "This is the dress, Hermione. If this doesn't grab Malfoy's attention, nothing will."

"I can't argue with you there," Hermione muttered, taking one more look at her reflection before turning to Ginny and announcing she would buy the dress.

With the dress sorted, attention turned to the rest of Hermione's outfit. When it came to the mask, they were heading back into the wizarding world, but while they were in the muggle world, they bought a pair of strappy silver sandals and some racy black underwear. They also found a delicate set of silver jewellery shaped like stars, which consisted of earrings, necklace and bracelet.

Once they were finished in the muggle world, they headed back to the wizarding world, where Ginny took Hermione to a bespoke mask designer. Using magic the mask she would buy would mould perfectly to her face, and only a spell she knew would release it. Once the basic mask had been created, Hermione and Ginny then described the sort of mask they wanted and the designer used magic to turn an ordinary plain mask into a dazzling green mask with silver details that exactly matched the colour of the dress Hermione had bought. For an extra flair, Ginny also suggested that a few feathers were added to the mask and Hermione had to admit that once the mask was complete and she was wearing it, she felt like a different person.

"You will be here to help me get ready, won't you?" Hermione checked as they returned to her flat with her purchases. As expected she'd spent a small fortune, but she didn't regret any of it and she was now looking forward to the masquerade ball.

"I'll be here," Ginny promised. "But we will have to think about how to do your hair. Do you have any ideas?"

"Not really," Hermione replied with a shrug. "You know how much I struggle to do anything with it."

"You really should try more often, it's so silky," Ginny remarked, running her fingers through Hermione's thick curls. "What did you do with it for the Yule Ball? It looked lovely then."

"I spent hours using potions and lotions to get it to behave," Hermione admitted. "I do know a spell to straighten it temporarily, that might help."

"No, you can't straighten it," Ginny insisted with a shake of her head. "I love your curls. We need to make the most of them. Maybe we should try some hairstyles."

"In that case we need wine."

Heading into the kitchen, Hermione retrieved a bottle of chilled rose from the fridge and grabbing two glasses, returned to the front room. Settling down with their wine, she then allowed Ginny to experiment with her hair while they chatted about the masquerade ball and what Hermione hoped to get out of it.

Hermione just hoped that she hadn't wasted a lot of time and effort trying to grab Draco's attention. She hoped it worked and he did notice her at the masquerade ball, but more importantly, she hoped it was all worth it and that if she did grab his attention that he was everything she imagined him to be.