A/N: I wrote this before I truly started shipping Dramione, so forgive the lackluster of it all. I think it's truly a believable Hogwart's interaction that they could have had, however. Let me know what you think!

-Ashley

The entire castle was decorated and dripping in holiday spirit, and all of the older students in the castle were preparing to attend the Yule Ball.

Draco stood in the entrance hall with Pansy Parkinson hanging ridiculously off of his arm as she craned her neck to get a good look at everyone flooding the packed area. He rolled his eyes at her random snorts of disapproval or soft 'ooo's of admiration. He did see a lot of people who cleaned up nicely, and others who would have done well to stick to their regular school uniforms, but he wasn't making a mockery of himself in the process.

He caught sight of Viktor Krum waiting at the bottom of the stairs and he left Pansy standing right where she was so that he could go attempt to strike up a conversation with the famous Seeker. As he neared him, however, Draco noticed that he was greeting his date. She was rather pretty and Draco approved wholeheartedly of Krum's choice in a partner. At least he did until he caught a good look at her.

Just as he'd been about to reach out and take Krum's date's hand to give her a slight bow of polite approval as was acceptable at these sorts of events, Draco's nose immediately turned up as he realized he'd been about to compliment Hermione Granger.

She might have sleeked down her bushy mane and she might have shrunk her obnoxiously bucky teeth, but she was still Granger, and she was still a Mudblood. Just as he'd been about to slink away back to Pansy, Krum caught sight of him. "Ah, Draco! Haff you met Her-me-one before? I think you must haff because you are in the same year, are you not?" Hermione politely inclined her head toward Draco in greeting, trying her best to be friendly.

"Yes, we've met," snapped Draco, far harsher than he'd intended.

"Oh good," said Krum, clearly not noticing the tension. "Then perhaps you can stand wiff her for just a moment? Keep her company while I go get somethink from my ship?"

Before Draco could agree to his request, Krum was already slouching off toward the front door. Not wanting to disappoint Krum, Draco stood next to Hermione with his arms folded across his chest, trying to pretend as though it was just coincidence that they were standing in the same space.

"You don't have to wait with me, you know," she said, not looking at him. "I'm a big girl. I can wait for five minutes by myself."

"Shut your mouth for once, Granger," snapped Draco. "Krum asked me to wait here so he won't lose his precious 'Her-me-one', so I'll wait here. Merlin knows we wouldn't want anything to happen to his little sleeked-down, Mudblood date."

Hermione spun on the spot, facing him and spitting her insults with a fire Draco had never seen. "Now you listen to me, Draco Malfoy. I don't like you. I've never liked you. You've made Harry's life, and thus, my life hell for three and a half years. You are foul. You are vile. You are a liar. You are vindictive, lazy, and cruel. I don't want you standing here anymore than you want to be here, so please go back to Parkinson and leave me good and well enough alone!" She spun again, this time putting her back to him.

Draco gaped at her, unable to formulate a response. Finally he spit out, "Well you know what?" She glanced over her shoulder to indicate that she was listening. He couldn't come up with any insults for her that wouldn't have involved the words "Mudblood", "bushy", "bossy", or "buck-toothed", so instead, he went the opposite way. "You look nice tonight, Granger…"

"Oh that's rich! You think-" She turned her head further to give him a quizzical stare. "I look…what?"

"I won't get used to it," he added quickly. "I know you'll be back to your normal ugly mess by tomorrow but—"

She held up her hand to cut him off. "You complimented me." She seemed in shock. "And it sounded genuine."

"Well it was," he said lamely. "But if you tell anyone I said it, I'll deny it," he hissed through his teeth. Krum came back just then, allowing Draco to return to Pansy, but as he walked away, he couldn't help but catch the dumbfounded grin on Hermione's face.

Later that night, Draco found Hermione sitting on the steps to the entrance hall crying. He looked around, and seeing no one else, he approached her. "What's wrong, Granger? Krum finally notice that his dancing partner was a bush with legs?"

It wasn't surprising that his insult only made her cry harder. Feeling the slightest bit guilty, he sat down beside her. "You seemed to be having a nice time earlier, what happened?" he asked, trying his hardest not to sound genuinely concerned, as though he just was trying to pull another insult out of her misery.

She sniffled a little and shook her head indicating that she didn't want to talk.

"I know that I'm the last person you want to talk to, but I'm all you've got," he said truthfully and with a slightly softer tone, glancing around the empty hall.

She let out a wail, and to his surprise, slumped over on his shoulder. He patted her, what he hoped was comfortingly, on the back and tried not to make a comment about her getting Mudblood on his nice robes. (Force of habit.) "It's Ronald!" she sobbed. "He's such a stupid git!"

Draco wanted to agree, but he knew it wouldn't help the sudden fountains from her eyes. "He just doesn't get it, does he? I try to be kind. I do his homework, I help him study, I tell him when his face is dirty… But he's just so-so-so—"

But what Ron Weasley was, Draco never found out. He wasn't sure whether it was her temporary disguise as someone attractive, whether it was Krum's apparent fascination with her, or whether it was just to shut her up, but at that moment, for some reason or another, Draco Malfoy kissed Hermione Granger.

He pulled away and stared at her, torn between horror and hunger. She seemed likewise dumbfounded as she let out a small, "Oh," of surprise. He leaned in to have another go when he got the better of himself and stood up quickly. "Tell no one," he hissed, although it wasn't his usual tone full of vindictive spite, but a softer one filled with a mix of longing and confusion. Without so much as a backward glance, he sped off toward the door at the opposite end of the hall that led to his common room, leaving Hermione behind him in complete and total disbelief.