Weeks passed by, months flew and soon it was time for the winter ball. Ron was going with Lavender as usual; Ginny with Harry and Hermione was going solo. She didn't want to go, she was in no mood for parties but if she really had to go then she preferred going alone. She didn't know exactly why.

The night of the ball came and Ginny and Hermione were dressed and absolutely gorgeous. Ginny's dress was white with little diamantes. It was Hermione's Christmas present to her. Her hair was down, sleek and smooth. Hermione was in full length red and gold beautiful dress. It was not very Christmas like but she didn't cared. She just felt great in it. Her hair was tamed in a nice tight bun with only a few streaks out to give it a messy touch.

In the Slytherin common room Draco was pacing around in his black tux and green tie. He was deciding if he should show up at the ball. He had no date and it would be probably really boring. "Ok I'll go and if it's too boring I'll come back here" he decided. He checked his appearance in a near by mirror, opened the portrait hole and walked to the great hall looking stunning and, of course, arrogant. When he was coming in he saw her. His confidence and arrogance just disappeared. She was stepping down the stairs alone in a red and gold dress. She looked so little walking down that big staircase. He looked up at her and she looked at him. Their eyes met. "Damn he looks hot" She thought. She almost tripped on her own foot but she got herself together just in time. She entered the great hall all alone and he followed a few seconds later. They both stopped, amazed with what the Heads made with the place. The enormous houses tables were replaced by small round ones and there were snow flakes falling from the ceiling. In the center of the hall there was a dance floor and a stage where the teachers table was. Everything was white and Ginny Weasley was hardly visible in her white dress.

Hermione on the other hand was too much visible and she was stating to feel uncomfortable and too exposé. She sat on a table near by.

"May I sit here?" Draco asked in a very confident voice. "Don't ever show your feelings, Draco!" His father said in his mind.

"Of course." Hermione said trying to stop her stomach to flip. "Don't ever show your feelings, Hermione." She said to herself.

"You're alone?"

"Yeah. What about you?"

"Me too."

"That's odd"

"Why?" He was actually intrigued. Why did this girl thought it was odd for him to be alone?

"Well, normally you come to this stuff to show off your pug faced girlfriend"

"Well, my pug faced girlfriend flipped so it's pug faced ex-girlfriend now."

"What did she do?"

"Laughed."

"Laughed? That's no crime." She was having a hard time trying to keep a straight face. She wanted to laugh but that would be weird since he said nothing incredibly funny.

"Yeah I know but she was laughing at something not funny really."

"What was she laughing at?"

"You would laugh too"

"No I won't! I swear! I can control my laughter very well!" "I'm controlling it right now you know?" She thought.

"Ok, I'll tell you. She was laughing at me."

"Well, can't say I blame her!" Hermione said laughing. She wasn't able to hold it in anymore. What's happening to me? I'm turning to giggly Lav-Lav!" She thought

"No it's not that! Listen remember that day I told you I didn't sleep?"

"Yeah"

"Well, it was like this:"

FLASHBACK

In the Slytherin common room a boy with blonde hair also had fell to the floor crying, frustrated and angry. Suddenly the door of the girls dorm opened and from there emerged non other than Pansy Parkinson that walked into the common room almost tripping over Draco.

" Draco??? Are you crying?" She said in an amused tone " Oh my god you are crying!" And with that she started laughing really loud like there's nothing funnier than Draco Malfoy crying.

END FALSHBACK

"Oh my god! She was really mean!" She wasn't laughing anymore. She was actually felling sorry for the boy that was sitting in front of her and worst of all she was felling anger towards Pansy for what she had done.

"Yeah. Why aren't you laughing?"

"Because I don't think it's funny!"

"Do you wanna dance?" He mentally slapped himself for asking her that. She was obviously going to say no. Why would goody two shoes Granger dance with the Prince of Slytherin?

"Ok…"

He wasn't expecting her to accept and he took a few seconds to register what she had just said. They walked to the dance floor with everybody watching but they didn't mind. He put both hands on her hips and she put her hands around his neck. The song was A Thousand Miles by Vanessa Carlton. She was intoxicated by his scent, all she wanted was to kiss him. He made her twirl. They were dancing as if they had practiced that choreography over and over again. He wanted to kiss her, to hold her, to have her. This was a whole new feeling to him. He felt desire. He had to have her or he would die! They were in their own world. The song slowed and he pulled her closer. Suddenly it ended and they looked around. No one else was dancing. Everyone was looking at them with confusion in their eyes. Then out of the blue someone started clapping. Then they all started clapping and smiling. The music started again with the song Underneath Your Clothes by Shakira. The couples started dancing again like they had never stopped and Draco and Hermione went to their table.

"I'm going for a walk." Hermione suddenly said. She needed to get away from him. The room was getting too hot and it looked like it was getting smaller by the second.

"I'm going with you!"

"No, you're not."

"Yes, I am. You don't look so good and I'm afraid you might faint somewhere and then I would be without you. And you know that I can't live without our daily bickering!" Draco said in a sarcastic tone.

Hermione sighed and they exited the great hall felling the stares of thousands of students on their backs. They walked away from the school and into the grounds. They could ear the music inside the great hall. It was cold but somehow Hermione couldn't feel it. They went to the lake and he turned her so that she would look at him. He was looking straight into her eyes. She was confused but looked back. He was grabbing her arms but was careful enough not to hurt her.

"It was you that night in the common room weren't you?"

"How did you know?"

"Your eyes. I knew all along that it wasn't Pansy I just didn't know that it was you." He let go of her arms and placed his hands on her hips.

"I'm glad you knew it"

He pulled her close and their lips collided. Her arms found their way around his neck. It was a soft, tender kiss but soon became passionate and fierce. She pulled him closer and slid her hands through his hair. A loud scream pierced the cold night air.

"That was why you broke up with me?" Pansy yelled. Hermione covered her ears trying to protect them from that high pitched voice.

"No, Pansy, you know why I broke up with up." Draco said in a strangely calm tone. He was screaming inside but, as usual, he wouldn't show it outside.

Hermione wanted to run from that crazy bitch but Draco held her tight and she didn't know why she couldn't move. She was too comfortable and warm.

"Oh! Now I got it! It was because of this Mudblood you were crying the other day!"

At this point, most of Hogwarts was outside watching Pansy Parkinson blow up. Draco said nothing. He was too ashamed. He pictured the new gossip in all Hogwarts and started blushing. People were already talking. He was done, his reputation just went down the drain. Pansy folded her arms with an expression that clearly stated that she had won.

"We don't have to sit here and listen to this crap! If you're hallucinating, Parkinson, we don't need to know about it!" A very angry Hermione said. Pansy had succeeded in making her mad what right now it wasn't an easy job.

"Hallucinating? I'll give you hallucinating, you filthy Mudblood!" She took out her wand and pointed it straight to Hermione. She knew what the other girl would do. She was going to kill her. She had seen Pansy angry before and she knew what she could do and this time it was personal, it was about Draco.

"Stupefy!" A voice yelled. But it wasn't Pansy's it was Draco's. Hermione looked at Pansy and saw her lying on the floor with a surprised expression on her pug like face.

Hermione was shocked but held a straight face. They started walking away back to the great hall.

"Can someone wake her up?" Draco said with a very bored tone

They went back to the Great Hall were they resumed dancing to Innocence by Avril Lavigne in an empty room. Soon people started to gather around them whispering about the dancing couple. Then someone decided that it wasn't worth the effort and started to dance.

The song ended and Draco pulled Hermione away from the dancing, distracted crowd and to an empty classroom that happened to be the room where they had Potions together. Draco closed the door and Hermione locked it. The room was dark but soon their eyes got used to the darkness and they could see again.

They started kissing. Tender little kisses that soon succumbed to the passion that grew bigger and bigger.

"I love you…" Draco said into Hermione's neck

He sat her on their table. Hermione kissed him and he started trailing his kisses down her neck. He started taking her dress off. Slowly, sensually. He wanted to take her over the edge. She was now with the dress by her waist revealing her lacy black and red bra. She jumped off the table surprising Draco that was pushed against the wall. She pinned him to it and started kissing him while taking off his jacket that quickly fell to the floor to join her dress that now lay there too. Then she started unbuttoning his shirt but soon got bored so she pulled it off making the buttons fall.

"I'll sew that up for you later" Hermione said in a whisper

"Don't worry about it"

She was pushing in over the edge. He couldn't take it any longer. They fell to the floor and Hermione started to loose his belt and to slide his pants off. Her bra fell to the floor like his pants. His boxers slid off with the smoothness of silk. His hands made their way down her hips removing the black silk thong.

After it they dressed quickly and Hermione fixed her hair with a simple spell. They couldn't ear any music anymore. They knew they would have troubles by morning but for now they just wanted to go to sleep. They walked out of the classroom together and went upstairs to the Gryffindor common room. The Fat Lady didn't like the idea of having a Slytherin boy in the Gryffindor common room but let them pass after Hermione whisper something at her ear. They passed the portrait hole into the magnificent red and gold room.

Draco lay on the couch with Hermione on top of him. They fell asleep like that. They knew that morning would bring trouble but for now that didn't matter at all.

A/N: I'm going to be out of town for two weeks so you won't be hearing from me til September! Sorry but I need vacations too!