Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.

Chapter 1: Unpredictable

Draco was at the Slytherins boy's dormitory, putting on his black velvet dress robes for the Yule Ball. Blaise Zabini entered the room, already dressed, looking very handsome. He had the usual haughty look on his face.

"Who's you date again?" Draco asked.

"Uhm Jessica Silver from third year." he replied.

"Ah anyways, where are Crabbe and Goyle?"

"Well, they aren't in the common room, so I guess they went ahead." Zabini shrugged.

"Do reckon they have dates?" Draco said, running his hand through his hair.

"I bet you 100 gallons that they went as each other's date." Zabini laughed out loud.

"Hahaha, nice one mate." Draco chuckled.

"Alright, let's go?"

"Yeah, I promised to meet Pansy outside the common room." Draco said fixing his collar.

"Wait, I've got an idea " Zabini started. "Let's make this Yule Ball more interesting "

"How?" he asked after taking a last look at himself.

"I challenge you to dance with the Mudblood friend of Potter and be nice to her!" said Zabini. "And you can't tell anyone that's it's a dare."

"That filthy Mudblood Granger girl? No way." Draco said shuddering.

"What are you? A coward?" Zabini taunted. "It- I mean she won't contaminate you or something It's just a dance, Malfoy." he cackled. "Don't be a wimp."

"Fine, fine. I will dance with that odious girl!" Draco said annoyed. "But you also have to do a dare. You have too kiss Goyle on the cheek in front of everyone!" he said. The dare came randomly into his head.

Zabini looked like he was going to protest and decline the challenge, but simply said "At least he ain't a Mudblood." He snorted then exited the room.

"Good point." Draco called out. Hmmm dance with a dirty Mudblood . Absorbed by his thoughts, he walked straight pass Pansy.

"Draco!" Pansy said. He turned around and spotted Pansy. She was wearing frilly dress robes in the shade of pale pink.

"Oh, Pansy."

"Come on, Draco. Let's go or we'll be late " she said pulling his arm. "And let me fix your collar..." she fretted.

"Yeah ,yeah." He said resisting the urge to roll his eyes.

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"Ohhh, I still can't believe you're going with Viktor Krum!" Ginny whispered excitedly to Hermione. They were standing outside the Great Hall. Couples were flooding the door way, all thrilled to be with their dates. People were greeting each other and commenting on each one's outfits. A number of people were staring curiously at Hermione.

Hermione's stomach grumbled; she was nervous. "What if he .what if he doesn't show up?" she asked Ginny, worriedly.

"Why the bloody hell would he not show up?" she answered back.

"Well, I-I don't know "

"Oh, Hermione! Of course he will come! "encouraged Ginny.

Neville Longbottom, Ginny's date was approaching them from a distance. "Sorry but I got to go .Neville's here. Good luck!" she said waving at Hermione then hurrying over to Neville.

Hermione waved back. She anxiously waited avoiding everyone's awed gazes at her. A few minutes passed by and no sooner after Neville's arrival, Krum finally came.

"Herm-own-ninny?" he tried his best to pronounce her name.

Hermione took a deep breath and turned around. "Good evening Viktor." She greeted him. He was wearing deep scarlet robes and looked gloomy and dark as usual. He took her hand together they preceded into the Great Hall, with all eyes on them.

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Draco and Pansy were slightly late, they hastily entered the Great Hall which was transformed into a majestic ballroom. Ludio Bagman was already calling out the Triwizard tournament Champions to dance the opening song. When Cedric Diggory's name was announced, Draco and the rest of the Hogwartians cheered. Next Viktor Krum was called: All the Durmstrang students shouted and wolf-whistled. Krum was accompanied by a very beautiful girl. She looked familiar yet he could not recognize her.

Pansy nudged Draco. "That's Hermione Granger!" she whispered in shock.

Draco raised his eyebrows in astonishment and disbelief. "Are you telling me Krum's with that long-molated Mudblood?" he replied.

Pansy nodded.

Apparently they weren't the only ones who were surprised. People too were murmuring about. Draco overheard a Ravenclaw boy say to his friend, "Who's that attractive girl Krum's with? I bet she's part veela "

Hmm At least the Mudblood Granger looks pretty today; not with her usual bushy hair and deranged look Draco thought.

Fleur Delacour was called and the Beauxbatons students applauded. She was escorted by the Ravenclaw Quidditch team's captain: Roger Davies. Then Harry Potter was the last name broadcasted. Draco booed and hissed with some of the Slytherins. Everyone watched as the four Champions and their partners dance. Draco intently observed Hermione. She looked extremely gorgeous in her lilac gown and her wavy hair tied into a loose bun.

"Draco, let's dance?" Pansy suggested. She noticed that Draco did not seem to pay attention to her. She nudged him again. "Draco? Did you hear me?"

"Yeah, sure." He said absent mindedly.

They joined in as other couples entered the dance floor. Draco would once in while glance at the direction where Hermione was. After dancing with Pansy a few times, he took her hand and led her of to the table where Zabini and his date were.

"Have you seen Crabbe or Goyle, yet?" Draco asked.

"Nope."

Pansy started conversing with Jessica about Hermione. "Who does she think she is? I heard her myself say that she wasn't interested in Krum "

"I know right! The nerve of that Mudblood! And I bet it took her hours and hours to get her preposterous bushy hair to look like that " replied Jessica.

"Speaking of Granger," Zabini whispered to Draco," Shouldn't you be doing something?" he reminded.

"Yeah, yeah I still remember." Draco retorted. "And how about you?"

"I can't find Goyle, not my fault." Zabini chuckled.

"You're not looking hard enough." Draco said. He gazed at Hermione who was dancing with Krum. "Alright, let's get this over with." he motivated himself. Draco pushed his chair back and stood up.

"Where are you going?" Pansy demanded immediately.

"Er- bathroom " he said then quickly left the table and disappeared through the crowd.

Zabini burst out with laughter, leaving Pansy and Jessica with confused looks.

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Hermione was having the time of her life. She was dancing with Viktor Krum, the famous Quidditch Seeker. The music suddenly stopped and the speaker spoke.

"Alright you love bugs! Time to switch partners." Lee Jordan declared.

New music started playing; Hermione went with Neville and Krum with Ginny. Neville was an awful dancer, although he had practiced. He kept treading on Hermione's toes. Ginny was over delighted to be paired up with Krum, she was beaming. Lee Jordan announced to switch partners once more. Hermione saw Krum partner up with a Slytherin girl, who had a smug look on her face. Hermione looked around for her next possible partner. She caught Ron's eyes but he was sitting down with Harry, both determined not to dance. Their own dates had gone off with Beauxbatons boys. Hermione started off toward Harry and Ron, feeling slightly disappointed. Suddenly someone tapped her shoulder. She spun around and was surprised to see Draco Malfoy.

"Never in my life have I dreamed of asking a Mudblood to dance, unless you were the last person here," Draco paused. "Well, what do you know? You are!" he laughed.

Hermione frowned then turned the other direction to leave, but Draco caught her arm.

"Wait, I was just kidding, Granger." he said.

"What do you want?" Hermione asked, irritated.

"I wanted to, you know dance." he said with a slight trace of timidity.

Hermione wasn't sure if she was in the right mind, but accepted the invitation for some reason. Maybe she was just desperate and eager to dance and have a good time again. At first it was awkward: Hermione was still startled by his approach. Why on earth would he want to dance with her?

"You know, Granger " Draco hesitated. " you look incredibly beautiful this evening."

"T-thank you." Hermione said, perplexed.

Draco looked straight into her eyes but she refused to look at him back.

"You puzzle me," she started. "First you insult me most horribly then you compliment me "

"I'm unpredictable." Draco smiled. It was not his usual arrogant grin. It was the type of smile that would make your insides melt. Hermione's heart pumped faster all of a sudden. Why was she feeling like this?

"Why are you dancing with me? I thought you despised me?" she blurted.

"Yes and no." he replied mischievously.

Hermione was now beyond confused. He never seemed to give straight-forward answers. Then the music ended.

"See you around, Granger. " Draco said then went of with Pansy, who was glaring at Hermione angrily.

"Bye " Hermione walked off to Harry and Ron, who were slumming around in a corner.

"Having a pleasant time?" asked Harry as Hermione approached them. Ron had his arm crossed and had a stern look on his face.

"Yes, I think wonderful." Hermione sighed and took a seat beside Harry.

"Krum, eh? He thinks he's all that " muttered Ron.

"What are you saying?" asked Hermione, who was still thinking about her experience with Draco.

"I bet you call him Vicky or something " Ron continued darkly, ignoring her question. "And oh yeah, we saw you dancing with Malfoy "

"Yeah, he asked me too." said Hermione completely forgetting the part about Krum.

"Why did you?" he asked a somewhat aggressively.

"I said he asked me too. It would be extremely rude to decline."

"Well, it would be extremely rude to call someone a Mudblood! Do you realize that you are talking about Malfoy?" reminded Ron.

"Of course! He was actually nice to me, although he insulted me first but " Hermione paused. "Oh, I don't know!" she exclaimed .

Harry and Ron exchanged confused looks. "Hermione, I think you need to rest " Harry said calmly.

"You're mental, I swear. Malfoy's just messing with you. You're the genius, you should figure it out. And by the way, why are you fraternatizing with the enemies?" said Ron. "I mean Krum is from Durmstrang, Harry's opponent in the Triwizard tournament! And Malfoy has been awfully terrible to us, all these years! What's gone into you?"

But before Hermione could reply, Viktor Krum appeared out of nowhere. "Vot is going on?" he said in deep tones. Ron's ears turned bright red.

"Oh nothing, Viktor " Hermione said.

"Can ve go somevhere quiet?" he requested.

"Absolutely."

As they left, Hermione turned and scowled at Ron. He pretended not to notice and began to stare at an ornament, apparently interested in it. Hermione followed Krum out to the garden.

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Pansy glowered at Draco and clutched his arm. "What in the world were you doing with her?" she demanded once more.

"Obviously, I was dancing." he philosophized.

"Seriously, I know you well enough. You wouldn't dance with a Mudblood."

Draco caught Zabini's eye. "I wanted to, okay." He said in an annoyed tone.

Pansy was shocked to hear that answer, but stopped asking more questions for she knew not to persist on Draco any further.

Draco avoided conversations with Zabini and Pansy for he had things occupying his mind. He seemed to be distracted for he kept thinking about Hermione. He kept glancing over his shoulder towards her direction, as if he had a nervous twitch.

Never did Draco notice till this night how beautiful and admirable Hermione was. He wanted to hit himself on the head for thinking so. That Mudblood is getting on my nerves, I need to stop thinking about her... he thought. He glimpsed again at the table Hermione was in: She was leaving Harry and Ron, and was now going outside with Krum.

"Lucky git that old Krum is." Draco thought out loud.

"Pardon me?" Pansy said.

Draco was flustered he said it almost audible for the others to hear. "Nothing." he mumbled. What was going on with him? Did he fall head over heels for Hermione?

It's just a dare, nothing more. I Draco Malfoy will never speak nicely towards that Mudblood again. He reminded himself.

But that promise was going to be brokens.

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A/N: Hey! I really do hope you like my story! I know I'm not good yet, so please tell me what I should improve on. Please Review! It would make me extremely happy. :)

Chapter 2 is coming up soon! Expect the next chapter to be more intense.

Anyways, don't forget to review, okay?

Love,

.Alessandra Weasley.