Aimee took fast steps to her dormitory room, and she heard another pair of footsteps travelling up the stairs behind her. Reaching her door, she whipped her head around to see her follower. Unsurprisingly, it was Pansy.

"What have you got that I don't?" she pouted at Aimee, "It's definitely not money, power or class" she said with a look of slight disgust on her face. Aimee scoffed at the childish insult. She was used to being teased by Pansy.

"It could be my ability to mind my own business, or the fact that I don't follow him around like a puppy dog all the damn time" she countered

Pansy screwed up her face at Aimee, without managing to think of a witty comeback she turned around and ran back down the stairs.

Content with herself, Aimee opened the door to her dormitory room and walked over to her four-poster bed where she twirled around and collapsed onto her bed.

Red would definitely be her color, she thought. The girl turned around and pulled a piece of parchment and a quill from under her bedside table, rolled onto her stomach and started scribbling down what she wanted for her dress. After a few minutes she had a list;

Red

Silk

Corset?

Floor length

No ruffles

Capped sleeves

She didn't have much money, so she knew she'd have to find a way to make this dress herself. The trip to Hogsmeade was in two days, so she planned to buy red silk and ask Professor McGonagall to help her create it with magic. For the next couple of hours until bedtime, Aimee sat on her bed sketching a design for her dress. Being the perfectionist she was, she didn't stop until she was completely happy with what she had.

It was morning. The sun streamed in on Draco's face. He blinked a few times before opening his eyes fully. Rolling over, he pulled off his blanket and placed his feet on the floor before stretching and yawning. He looked up at his calendar. It was the Sunday they were meant to go to Hogsmeade. He quickly got dressed and went to the bathroom. Before he left his dormitory for breakfast he grabbed a bag filled with gold, and stuffed it in his pocket.

At breakfast he helped himself to a few pieces of toast and some pastries. Whilst munching on his food, Draco was giving some thought to which robes he would buy, deciding a dark emerald green would be the most suitable color.

Under the special circumstances, Dumbledore had allowed students without a permission slip to come on the trip to Hogsmeade, but they had to be paired with a student who did have a permission slip. Draco met up with Crabbe and Goyle and they walked together to Hogsmeade. When his comrades were not looking, he slipped away and walked briskly through the cold, crisp air to Gladrags Wizardwear and stepped in. As soon as he opened the door, the soft tinkle of the bell above him rang, and almost instantaneously a short, wide man with white crazy hair and a thick moustache came out from the back. He immediately recognized who Draco was,

"Good morning Mr. Malfoy!" he greeted kindly, with a large smile on his face, "I see you are here to order dress robes for the ball?"

"Yes, I am. Tell me," he answered, slightly haughtily, "do you have robes in emerald green?"

"Why, yes of course. Just received a shipment last night! You know, Dumbledore warned me about the ball," he explained, bustling around the room to retrieve the necessary materials, "and I'm glad he did! Otherwise, I would've been completely unprepared for all the students!" he motioned for Draco to come over and stand in front of the mirror, "You're the first to come in today." he added cheerily

The rest of Draco's measuring was done in silence. In the few minutes this was being done, students entered the store, looking around for robes that they liked, examining the colors, designs and sizes. Before Draco could ask for samples, a folder of fabrics was placed gently in his hands and was opened to the greens. He ran his finger over some of the fabrics, whilst the man helped a group of Ravenclaw girls who had just entered the shop. Finally, Draco decided on an emerald green so dark, it could've passed off as black. He gave the folder back to the man, indicated which color he wanted, and left the shop. He didn't watch where he was walking because he collided headfirst with someone, and fell on his rear-end.

"Oh, I'm so sorry!" apologized a familiar voice, he looked up and saw bushy hair over a pretty face, it was Hermione Granger. As soon as she saw it was Draco, she muttered to herself "Never mind"

A hand from behind her, hoisted her up by her upper arm, but he didn't see who it was under the beanie.

"Watch where you're going Mudblood" he snarled viciously, he knew it was his fault too, but nonetheless, he hated her. He suddenly found himself at the wrong end of a mahogany wand.

"Say it again; I dare you." whispered Aimee coldly, "Say it"

Draco was bewildered. Why was Aimee sticking up for Granger? A Slytherin defending a Gryffindor was completely absurd, unheard of. Yet, it was happening right in front of his eyes. She was glaring darkly at him; the short exhales of breath coming from her nose looked almost like steam in the cold air. Hermione was tugging softly on her arm, whispering in her ear "It's not worth it…"

"Put that thing away before you poke someone's eye out" he snapped, pushing it out of the way, and walked away.

Rubbing his hands to keep them warm, he headed into the Three Broomsticks, where it was much warmer, and he took off his gloves and scarf, and bought himself a butterbeer. He spotted Blaise Zabini, Goyle, Pansy and Crabbe sitting together at a table in the corner, he went to join them. He pulled up a chair for himself and sat down, greeting them with a quiet 'Hey' and they responded.

"Where did you get off to?" asked Crabbe

"I told you, I was going to get my robes fitted." He half lied. He'd gone to get his robes measured, but he had told them no such thing

"Okay" Crabbe seemed to accept this without argument, and Draco assumed it was because he was so thick, he couldn't even remember.

They sat at the table enjoying their butterbeers in awkward silence, and when they'd all finished they all went to Gladrags Wizardwear, except for Draco, who went back to the castle.

"You really shouldn't have done that," Hermione told Aimee, as she browsed through the rack of gowns in the shop, "you should've just, let it go"

Aimee turned to face Hermione, who was standing to her right,

"Let it go? He needs to finally learn that he can't just go around, willy-nilly saying whatever he likes, to whomever he likes and not care about the repercussions!" Aimee said, her voice getting increasingly higher with each word she spoke, with a little pink reaching her face,

"Besides, you're my friend, I wont just stand back and let people call you that… that… word" she turned around, so Hermione couldn't see her anymore, and pretended to be interested in a pair of silver high heels.

"I'm flattered," answered Hermione genuinely, "but as I said before, he's not worth it."

"I'm going to the ball with him" mumbled Aimee; she hadn't told anyone she was attending the ball with Draco, partly because she had nobody to confide in, but partly because she was a bit embarrassed.

"What? I didn't hear"

"I said," she sighed heavily, "that I'm going to the ball with Draco… Malfoy"

Hermione looked at her skeptically, narrowing her eyes.

"Surely not?"

"I'm not joking"

"Well, then, that's your choice" Hermione said indifferently, but Aimee knew she didn't completely agree with the idea

"I only said yes because he wouldn't leave me alone until I did, and besides," she sighed, "it's not like I can show up with a Gryffindor, because if I could, trust me, I'd be going with one" She turned and started looking through a section of yellow dresses.

"I don't understand, why are you in Slytherin, if you'd rather be in Gryffindor – you hate Slytherin!"

"I don't hate Slytherin but… well; it's not exactly my first choice"

"But why?"

"I'll tell you later" she lied, she had no intention of telling Hermione, she had no intention of ever telling anyone. Hermione bit her lip, she knew Aimee wasn't going to tell her, but didn't say anything. Instead, she pulled out a mauve chiffon floor length dress, with floor length pieces of fabric coming from under each side of the bust and crossing over each shoulder.

"Oohh" she ran her hand down the side of the dress, "I like this!"

"Yeah, it's pretty" agreed Aimee, as Hermione rushed off to the dressing rooms to try it on.

While she waited for Hermione to try on the dress, she walked around, looking for suitable fabrics for her dress. She spotted several that she liked, but finally decided on a cherry red silk, and bought several meters, then decided to buy even more, just incase she ran out. As soon as she finished her transaction, Hermione came out of the dressing room, half the store stopped to look at her. Because of her bushy hair, and her previously large front teeth, Hermione's beauty was often over-looked, but in the dress, she was undeniably beautiful. The color suited her skin tone perfectly, and looked soft against the color of her hair, the bust of the dress fit her perfectly and the waist nipped in just nicely. She looked like pure royalty wearing it (except for the hair of course).

"Well, what do you think?" she asked Aimee hopefully

"I think if you don't buy it now, somebody else will. It looks amazing! Turn around!" she motioned with her finger as she said this, and Hermione did a small twirl, giggling. She went back to change into her clothes and came out a couple minutes later, and paid for the dress.

"Are you sure you want to make your dress on your own? You don't want any help?" Hermione asked

"Positive"

Notes:

So sorry, it took so long! I've just been preoccupied with other stuff! Hopefully you'll enjoy :)

For a better visual of Hermione's dress put this: photobucket

before this: .com/home/heartsmoe

password is: heartsmoe

in the URL bar and it's the red dress titled 'Hermione's Dress'

It's the same thing, only hers is mauve :)

(Or you can just type 'chiffon' into Google Images and it should be the first two dresses)

Enjoy!

P.S for some reason I can't post links, so yeah :/