A/N:

Hi all. I wrote a slightly longer chapter today because I really wanted to get to the next part in the story.

In response to a comment left by a guest reviewer. I can see where Friday eve would be interpreted as Thursday night. I meant to put Friday evening and looks like I missed out on the rest of the word , my apologies for that. To clarify I did mean for Draco's note to say Friday evening.

So now on to the Story!


Sprouts


Friday evening came and Hermione made her excuses to the other occupants in the Gryffindor common room that she was going to go study. No one thought twice about it as her studious nature was often the subject of a lot of teasing and so she left without incident. The soles of her sensible shoes made low clicking sounds that echoed of the stone walls as she briskly walked through the torch lit hallways towards the seventh floor of Hogwarts castle. Her curls bounced around her shoulders with the small current created by her swiftness. She was unsure why she was walking so fast but she knew she was determined not to be late, although no specific time was stated on the note she received. Hermione had decided to approach these lessons with the same determination and passion that she gave all her other studies, knowing that all knowledge was useful especially when it would further her goals. Breathing heavily, she paused outside the wall that would lead her to her destination. She paced back and forth grateful for the moment to calm herself as she thought about what she needed. Hermione watched as the door began to materialize, she always found it a magnificent event to watch. Seeing first the outline as it began to run along the wall shaking fine grains of stone from its path. Next the inside of the door outline formed in to thick oaken planks held together by bits of iron and rather imposing hinges.

'I wonder where the sand that is shaken from the wall goes once the door is formed. Perhaps it rejoins the wall to hide it once the door is shut again" she pondered while she tugged gently on the door handle and stepped inside.

Greeting her inside was the same courtyard she and Draco had occupied during their last encounter however this time the trellises of honeysuckle were accompanied by a few benches adorned with pillows providing a more comfortable place to sit versus the cobblestone floor. She wandered over to the benches and lowered her school bag onto the closest one. Feeling the left-over warmth from her earlier physical exertion she removed her school robe and placed it on top of her bag. Walking to the closest trellis, she reached out to take hold of the blooming flowers. A sweet scent engulfed her senses as she closed her eyes and inhaled, taking her back to the summer holiday she spent in Japan with her parents. She smiled, lost in her memories, forgetting about school assignments and prejudices while she waited for Draco to arrive. That was how said young wizard found his new protégé, blissfully unaware and seemingly content with all that was happening in their small world.

He paused just inside the entrance to the room unwilling to disrupt the scene before him. Even though she was only in her school blouse and skirt Hermione looked like she came from an entirely different realm. Her chocolate and honey colored hair had tamed down over the previous summer but still fell in unruly curls around her face and down her back. At thirteen years old she had yet to grow much taller than when they had started their first year at Hogwarts and would probably top out at about five feet four inches which will bring her to about shoulder height of what Draco projected would be his final height of six foot. Deciding to make his presence know. He cleared his voice gently to break her from her thoughts.

Hermione opened her eyes at the sound Draco made and turned to face the newest occupant in the room. Draco tilted forward in a slight bow of greeting, "Good Evening Hermione." he spoke. She smiled broadly at the gesture and remembering the expected response was to curtsy she bent slightly at the knees and decided to throw a small head tilt forward for good measure. She had remembered reading about a young debutant acting in a similar manner when looking through the lackluster collection of very ancient etiquette books in the school library. "Good evening to you as well" she replied. It still felt odd to the two of them at how easy it was for them to get along when no one else was around to influence their actions. Even if neither of them was ready to admit it out loud just yet to an outsider witnessing their interactions they would appear to have the ease of long term friends. Draco gave a nod of approval at her display of greeting. "Nicely done Hermione. We will need to work on the different levels of curtseys to perform dependent on the person and the situation you are in" he said.

Walking further into the room he summoned a piece of parchment and handed it to her. On it was a well laid out plan on how he was going to teach her the etiquette and customs of their world. Hermione took a moment to admire the elegant way his letters scrolled along the parchment. "As it is still fairly new in the year we shall start with traditions for All Hallows' Eve and then on to the Yule Holiday season. He walked around her appraising her for how she was dressed. Her hair was an untamed mass of curls, no longer frizzy but could still use some more time and effort. Her shoes were sensible which meant boring and unflattering. Draco braced himself for what was going to be a sore subject as he spoke "first lesson is that a young witch must always place her best face forward in all aspects of life. This means with brains and with beauty. " he said while holding up his hand to stop the argument that could already be spotted forming on her lips " trust me Hermione I knooooooooow that to a lot of people looks do not matter and yes I know you are one of them but a larger portion of our world is so very shallow. And as such if you want to be a part of this world and you want something more than just getting by in life you must work on this aspect. "

Hermione bristled at what Draco had just said, she knew that she did not put much effort into her looks but to her, her studies were more important and she would rather get her day started as quickly as possible to avoid being stuck with all the other students for breakfast. Sure, she knew she could be pretty when she set her mind to it but she never set her mind to it, plus all the girls at the school knew makeup and hair care charms while Hermione had to make due with Muggle products that she didn't like using and so went without. "It's not like I don't care " she mumbled looking down at her hands that had been clasped in front of her when she began thinking, a delicate tint of pink spread across her cheeks and her amber eyes held I touch of resentment in their look. This was not the reaction that Draco was expecting, yelling he was prepared for, threats of being hexed he could handle but a seemingly docile and embarrassed response was out of realm of comforts.

Decide it best to stay as neutral as possible in this situation Draco decided to ask her questions instead "What is it you mumbled a moment ago?" He asked. He had stopped his pacing around Hermione once he had finished his statements and was preparing for the possible argument. Now that the tension in his shoulders eased away when she did not begin to shout he sat down on the bench closest to where Hermione had placed her things and indicated for her to do the same. He admired the architecture of the ornate bench while he waited for her to make her way over to her bench. There was a delicate scroll detail along the edge of the wooden bench slats that mimicked the same vine pattern in the trellises. He traced a finger along the wood and was surprised by how polished it felt.

Hermione internally chided herself at how feeble her reply sounded when said out loud and on the second time around she attempted to speak more loudly and clearly. She breathed deep and then launched into repeating her thoughts about styling earlier. " So I mentioned, it is not like I don't care, about the way I look. It is just I am self-taught, my mother can't exactly teach me beauty spells and there is no electricity in the wizarding world for me to use muggle hair equipment. " she said. She looked away as she trailed off, sometimes she wondered why she was sorted in to Gryffindor because she rarely felt brave and knew she wasn't brave enough to tackle her own appearance. "What if I get it wrong?" She said to herself not realizing she had posed the question out loud. Draco heard her question and was shocked at the time of her voice. He filed that question away for a later date and time.

Draco spoke to her saying that for now they would set aside the discussion on look and focus on the social customs and norms. They sat down to discuss the various rules for a little while longer and then agreed to meet back at the Room of Requirement in a week's time. This continued for quite some time, each using various excuses and charms to get away unnoticed from their dorm mates. Over the following months the two became very close and avoided each other when there were people around to avoid having to through hollow insults at one another because they knew that even if the other didn't mean it that it would still hurt their heart some.

This year at Hogwarts the school was hosting a tournament and was playing host to two other schools with participants so during one November night's feast the headmaster announced that there would be a Yule Ball just before the winter holiday season. The school was buzzing with excitement. There were awkward moments being displayed throughout the halls as students asked each other to the ball. All Hermione's dorm mates could talk about where the dresses they wanted to wear and who they would go with. It was all a bit much for Hermione and she found herself spending most of her free-time in the Room of Requirements. This is where Hermione found herself late one Tuesday evening as she sat studying a small booklet she picked up on her last trip to Hogsmead. 'Spells and Charms to Enhance the Self' read the title. Hermione sighed and closed the book, pinching the bridge of her nose in a feeble attempt to calm herself. She was upset at herself for being upset at the girls in her dorm. She didn't want to admit that a large part of her was bothered by the girls was because she had no one to go with and didn't even know what to wear. She felt hopeless. She sighed again, the ball was about three weeks away, maybe someone would ask her soon.

She sat there in deep thought imagining what sort of dress she should wear and pondered over the colors. Her favorite colors were blue, silver and green and she pictured various styles of dresses in combinations of the three hues. She smiled as she thought she had imagined the perfect dress when the door opened to the Room of Requirements, the familiar sound of stone on stone pulled her back to the present. Hermione was surprised to find Draco walking into the room looking rather green in the face and he looked equally as shocked to see her sitting on one of the benches, her feet tucked under with her school skirt spread neatly in her lap. "Oh! I um … I can leave you be, I know this isn't our regular time… so I will just go hide out somewhere else." He turns to leave when Hermione calls out to him "wait you don't have to leave. I am sure that our civility is not limited to a specific time of a specific day. I am in here hiding out myself." She smiles at him as he reverses his previous actions of trying to leave and walks over to, surprisingly, sit on the same bench as her. He leans against the back rest and lets his head fall backwards with a low groan. "That bad?" Hermione asks. He turns his head slightly to look at her and scoffs "it's this bloody yule ball. If I have one more girl flutter their eyes at me and drop rather crude attempts at hints that they have not been asked yet I may end up in the hospital wing for the remainder of this month till it is all done." Hermione can't help but giggle slightly at his dramatics.

"What are you going to do about a date? You are going to have to pick one of them eventually." She asked him. "I don't know. All the girls that have approached me have been dreadful and uninteresting. I would have to suffer through the most dreadful and boring conversation all night. I am sure you already have an intelligent beau lined up to take you to the ball." He winks at her. She blushes slightly and looks down at her hands "no one has asked me yet to be honest." She says with a slight quiver in her voice. Draco is shocked that no one has asked her, sure she was not a pureblood but that didn't matter to the rest of the wizarding world. He was sure those sentiments were outdated and only existed in a few of the delusional sacred twenty-eight houses. He didn't like seeing her upset as she has been working particularly hard since the beginning of the school year to learn the customs and get herself prepared to fully integrate into their world once she graduates Hogwarts. "Well if no one can be a man enough to appreciate you for who you are than they are all truly unwise for they would be missing out." He said.

Hermione snapped her head up, eyes wide to look at him after he spoke. The two of them had become somewhat friends since the beginning of the year but she would have never thought she would hear such a sentiment from him about her. When she looked up with a slight blush and looked at Draco in wonder he did something he would not have thought himself to have the courage to do. He asked her to the ball. Grabbing her hand, he holds it tenderly and clears his throat "Go with me to the Ball Hermione." She blinks for a moment before what he asked her sinks in. She pulls her hand away and stands up to pace. Her mind has gone into full blown fight or flight mode and she starts throwing out excuse after excuse as to why she can' go, she doesn't have a dress and she is sure that all the good ones are gone, she hasn't learned all the proper customs for a ball or any dances they might have to perform. Then she mentioned the one thing that she knew would put a spike in his idea "Draco we cannot go together you are a pure-blood and I am not. Your family and your school house will not let it slide. I can't begin to imagine what you will go through as a result. I won't do that to you." She shakes her head but Draco had made his mind up. He was tired of hiding behind antiquated beliefs and he knew that there were a lot of his classmates in Slytherin that were the same way but to afraid to do anything about it. He stands up and places his body directly in Hermione's pacing path. He places his hands on her shoulders saying "I don't care about the rest of them, you would be surprised by how many of my year and below don't care about that stuff plus with you demonstrating your willingness to learn the customs like you have will go a long way. A lot of the prejudice is just fear that muggleborns will want to expose us to the rest of the muggles and a repeat of the ancient witch hunts will begin again. It isn't really about your blood. "

He smirks at her and continues "plus I know just what to do about the dress and everything else. We will have a crash course on dancing starting tomorrow. Meet me back here at 6 o'clock. I promise it will be smashing." He says as he hugs her real quick and bolts out the door to set some things in motion. Hermione stands there for a moment unsure of what to feel about what just happened. Her nerves were already starting to get the best of her. How was she supposed to go to a ball with her supposed school bully, house rival and the only person she competed with in academics? She pondered this for a moment before one thing popped in her mind, she had been asked to go to the ball. A sudden bubble of butterflies starts in her stomach, she grinned widely and spun around in a circle. Promising herself she would sort this out with Draco the next day she set it aside in her mind and left the room, making her way to her dorm in Gryffindor tower, where the girls were chatting away about their dresses as most of them had finally found the perfect dress. Hermione discovered that she didn't mind the chatter of the girls this evening as she had in the last few weeks and once she was ready for bed she drifted off to their mentions of red and gold colored hues of taffeta and silk.


I am so excited to share the next Chapter with you! I have a surprise visitor or two to Hermione and Draco's "classes". HueHueHue. It will be fun. Most of the next chapter will be dedicated to the Ball with just a little bit in the beginning of before the time.

Also I am thinking it will end up being a very large amount of words, would you all prefer one giant chapter or two smaller chapters? Leave me a review and let me know.

As always until next time, 3