Being hidden behind a mask gives you the ability to be anyone you want, the act of wearing a mask allowing you to drop the one you hide behind every day. The masquerade ball was the one night of the year where there were no divisions between the Hogwarts students, regardless of house or family. Slytherin and Gryffindor mingled peacefully for once, unable to distinguish their enemies from their friends. For this night, it didn't matter who your family was, whether you were pureblood or muggle born, or what house the Sorting Hat had put you in. The freedom of it was intoxicating.

It was the only night they could be together the way they wanted to be; the only night they weren't hiding behind the masks they wore for their house and their friends. It was a night without hurled insults and years of resentment. For one night and one night only, they were merely a boy and a girl, in love and happy with the simple joy of being in each other's arms. The sight of her filled him with emotions he'd never felt before, and still wasn't quite sure what to call them. Lust he recognized, but these others, the ones that left him breathless and in awe of this girl, this girl who was everything he'd been brought up to hate, those he simply accepted, trusting that they were good and that they in some way meant he was worthy.

He slowly led her onto the dance floor. Their bodies fit together perfectly as they began to sway with the music. Their eyes seen only each other. The crowd surrounding them had faded away into nothingness.

They would spend every second of this night together. Not a moment was to be wasted. They both wished they could freeze time, making the night last forever.

But time could not be stopped, and the minutes continued to creep towards midnight. Both knew that when the clock struck twelve, they would remove the silk masks they were wearing and once again don the mask that they had to place over their emotions yet again.

Moments before midnight they both slipped away, needing to be alone when the masks were removed. They would have this one moment together before they returned to stolen kisses in deserted rooms and longing glances across crowded dining halls. With this knowledge, they clung to each other tightly, grasping those last few minutes of magic.

The clock began to chime, signaling the end of their freedom.

As Hermione turned away from him, Draco felt his heart breaking. Allowing himself one more look at the girl who had stolen his heart, in spite of all odds, he slipped the mask of indifference and coldness back on, wishing for the day when names and loyalty would no longer keep them apart.

A/N: Yes, I know, it's insanely short and probably not very good, but after reading another Dramione involving a masquerade ball, I couldn't keep from writing it.