Important! PLEASE READ! I know for a fact that a lot of people are reading this but so far I've only gotten about four reviews. I want to make this story as good as possible, and I'd really like some input, so please, please, please, please, please review. It really does make me update faster! Thanks!

Hermione got up with the rest of the school, excited about the coming students. She got out of bed and walked over to her wardrobe. The others wouldn't be there until about noon, but she assumed she would be busy all day so she needed to get prepared for their arrival now. She put on her peach tank top, a cream v-neck sweater and a blue skirt Ginny lent her. They were supposed to dress nice for their arrival, so no uniforms, but the ball would be later on tonight, stepping into a pair of heeled boots as she walked out. I can't believe Ginny made me swear to wear this; I'm definitely slipping her a canary cream. She thought to herself as she walked down the stairs. Draco was sitting on the couch in front of the fire as he always was in the morning. She didn't know when he got up but he was always waiting for her, it had become a weird sort of ritual that they always walked down to breakfast together.

"You look nice." He said by way of a morning greeting, without a hint of sarcasm in his voice. He seemed to be taking the whole 'truce' a step further; he was not only polite, now her was down right friendly to her.

"So do you," she replied, he did look good, in a casual white shirt and trousers, his hair slightly mused in a casual sexy way. Wait! Did I just call Draco's hair mused in a casual sexy way? What is going on with me! She looked up at him to see him smirking at her.

"Well, thank you. I never thought I'd see the day Hermione Granger complementing my looks. I should call Madame Pomfrey to check on your head."

"Shut up. I just don't want to represent Hogwarts with someone who looks like a complete idiot."

"Like Weasely?" He asked innocently.

She laughed unconsciously then realizing herself, glared at him, "He's not an idiot!" she said indignantly.

"Whatever you say," still smirking as he opened the door. Why doesn't Ron open the door for me? She found her asking herself.

They walked down the hallway joking about the fact that Weasley's Wizard Wheezes products somehow found their way into the Hogwarts kitchens, by way of Peeves. When they reached the entrance Hall they split and went to there usual tables.

"Hey," Ginny greeted her as she sat down, " You nervous about later?"

"Not really. We've done everything we could to prepare so I guess, what's going to happen will happen. What I'm really worried about is what all the younger students are going to do in their common rooms during the ball."

"Oh, yeah. They're all going to be up there, unsupervised. I really need to remember to lock my trunk before the ball. So when do you want me to come over and make you look amazing?"

Hermione rolled her eyes, "Thanks, Ginny." She said sarcastically.

"Come on, you know you like it even if you complain the whole time. Plus I bet Malfoy'd love it if you looked amazing."

"What!" Ron screamed, snapping out of his quidditch tactic's talk with Harry, "What are you doing with Malfoy!"

"Thank you for joining us Ron." Said Ginny, with a Slytherin worthy smirk on her face, "Now, would you like to finally ask your Girlfriend, " she stressed the word with a deadly glare at him, "to the ball!"

"What? Oh, yeah. 'Mione want to go to the ball with me?"

"Sure Ron." She said glaring at Ginny for meddling.

"Great" he said, turning back to Harry and carrying on the conversation as if there was no interruption.

"Ugh!" Ginny moaned, with a look to Harry. Just then Malfoy appeared behind Hermione.

"What, do you want Ferret?" barked Ron glaring at the blonde Slytherin.

"You know Weasel, the worst part of that insult is the implications that I'd be related to you. Anyway, I'm just getting Hermione; McGonagall told me she needed us for a quick meeting this morning. Trust me I take no pleasure in being in this 'area' of Hogwarts" he said looking around as he finished, even though he was Head Boy most of Gryffindor still hated him, and the majority of the sixth and seventh year population was glaring at him.

"Fine, then just go."

"Believe me I will. " He said icily, he continued, in a softer voice. "You ready Hermione?"

"Yes, Draco." She said stressing his name and watching Ron glare even harder at him. She reached to pick up her bag, even though she didn't have any classes she still carried it with her. They walked out of the Hall, as Ron glared after them, grinding his teeth.

"What do you think they're doing?" he asked Harry as they left the Hall.

"Ron, calm down. Hermione's not doing anything with him. She's just got a meeting." Said Harry, staring at his best friend.

"Ron, you are a prat. How can you be mad at her for talking to someone else, yet you never do anything with her." Ginny, nearly shouted at her brother, "Maybe you should, I don't know, treat her like a girlfriend!" She stood up and walked over to the Ravenclaw table to sit with Luna.

"What's, her problem?" Ron asked incredulously, and then resumed his quidditch train of thought.

xxxxxx

Hermione and Draco walked up to the Headmistresses office in silence. Suddenly Draco spun around and looked at Hermione square in the eye, stunning her there for a moment.

"Will you go to the Ball with me?" he asked, very quickly, and uncharacteristically shyly.

She looked at him shocked, his eyes were so dark, they looked like a starless night, "I'm so, sorry, " she said, her voice shaking. "Ron just asked me."

His eyes flashed and seemed to get even darker. His voice barely contained, he replied, "Oh, okay. I just didn't want you to think no one wanted to go with you. You deserve better than that." He said with finality, and continued walking.

When they arrived at the Headmistresses office, they were greeted by none other than the Minister of Magic himself.

"Good Morning Miss Granger, Mr. Malfoy. I'm sure you both know why I'm here. Today is a very important day in our mission to bring peace to our community and so I need you two to make sure everything goes smoothly. The guests will be arriving in just over three hours and you two need to be prepared. Professor Tsankov is the new Headmaster of Durmstrang and he is much more willing to help the goal of international friendship than his predecessor but, Durmstrang is still a much darker school than Hogwarts. You must remain careful, some of the students have parents and relatives that supported the Dark side and that allegiance may still be present. Madame Maxime is still Headmistress of Beauxbatons, though I have reason to believe she may be resigning next year." As Kingsley said this, he looked at Hermione knowingly. "The French are known to be a bit, uhm, superior. So do try not to offend them. We have placed a translation charm over the entire castle and grounds, as well as Hogsmeade. I've got to get back to London, but I would like to thank you for helping lead us to a, hopefully, more peaceful age."

He left and Professor McGonagall proceeded to inform them about the plans, "The Heads of the two schools will have private dormitories similar to yours next door to yours. Hogwarts is by far the largest wizarding school in Europe, so both of the other schools only have about eighty or ninety students. The Beauxbatons student dorms are in the north wing behind the portrait of Fredrick the Fanciful. The password is Poudlard, and you will be notified if it is changed. The Durmstang dormitories are in the south wing, next to the tapestry of Francis the Flyer; their password is Dobre doshal. They will arrive at about noon; we will have a welcome lunch. After breakfast I'm going to add the two new tables. Thankfully the Four Founders prepared for this and the castle will grow to accommodate more people. Some of there professors will be coming with them to help ease the burden on ours, as well as fill some of the remaining spots. You will give them a tour. After that the older students will prepare for the Ball, while the younger students return to their common rooms. The house elves will bring up their dinner. We trust you, so you will be unsupervised, but the portraits and the ghosts will be watching. My fellow teachers and I will be having a private dinner, but I think you two can handle yourselves. Anything else I'll need to tell you I can do it after the Ball. Thank you."

They took this as a cue to leave, so they said their goodbyes and left. It was about nine when they left, so they both headed back to their common room to relax. None of the teachers' assigned homework because of the ball, so they had nothing to do for a few hours, but Hermione didn't feel like letting Ginny dollify her. When they reached their common room Hermione flopped onto the couch, grabbing a book form her stack, as Draco started a fire. Despite the fact that it was only September, a sharp cold had pierced the air. He finished and sat down across from her.

"I'm sorry for asking you." He said, looking at her remorsefully, "I just didn't want to you feel unwanted. Because you aren't, even if Weasel's a wanker."

She looked up at him, "No, thank you for asking me. Ron only remembered to ask me because Ginny made him. I really appreciate it." She paused for a moment before continuing, "You've really changed."

As she said this, his eyes seemed to radiate happiness. "Thank you"

She looked away and reached over to her stack of books pulling out a few. "So, do you think that any of the coming students are your mate?" she asked curiously, "Unless you've already found her."

"No, I haven't found her yet. I really hope she's coming because I can tell that the link is getting stronger. I can't tell who she is yet, if she's here, but I do get flashes of emotion that aren't mine. I haven't transformed, which is good because I need her to help me change back."

"I found a few more books about third generation part-veela. This one talks about the transformation, do you want to read it, or if you're tired I could read it to you."

He nodded and closed his eyes. "Could you read it? Please." He added as an after thought, Malfoys, never say please.

She nodded and started, " Third generation part-veelas are very rare because, by that time most of the veela blood has either died out or become so diluted with non-magical blood that it becomes impotent. If one does exist, they are likely from a very old, pure-blood wizarding family." She saw Draco smirk at this, "while full-blooded veela transformations are completely voluntary, part veela transformations are not. They will occur when the veelas mate is in danger, or being "unfaithful". The veela's eyes will darken, they will sprout large feathery wings out of their back. These wings are functional but require huge amounts of energy, so most cannot fly them for very long. When the part veela finds their mate, they can produce handfuls of fire to defend them if necessary. While transformed, the veela will not let anyone especially anyone of the opposite sex near their mate and will attack them if they approach. The only way to reverse the transformation is for the mate to be out of harm, and then for the mate to calm the veela. When a veela is transformed, all rational thought is lost and their sole goal is to protect their mate at all costs." She finished the entry and looked up at Draco.

He was lying back looking extremely content. "Please, don't stop." He said opening his eyes and looking at her, pleadingly.

"Okay," she said, questioningly. She opened another book and continued reading for what seemed, to Draco, to be a blissful eternity. All to soon, in Draco's opinion there was a knock on the door. Ginny walked in, having been given the password for the room by Hermione.

" Hey." She said to Draco, with whom she was on better terms now. The she turned to Hermione, "Were have you been? I've been looking for you for an hour. It's nearly noon."

Hermione bolted up and started to gather her things, "Oh Merlin!" she said pulling on her boots and grabbing her cloak. "Come on Draco! We need to go!" she said throwing him his shoes.

He sat up, rumpled his hair with his fingers, and looked at the clock on the mantle. "Hermione, calm down," he said laughing as she grabbed her bag and started cramming it full, "Ginny just wanted you to get up so she could dress you up. It's only eleven." He laid back down and closed his eyes.

"Ginevra Molly Weasley!" she shouted turning to her friend who was red in the face with holding in laughter, " You are going to pay!" she ran over to her, just as Ginny ducked out of the way.

A chase to, rival the time the twins stole Percy's badge, ensued. Until, the girls collapsed onto the couch, both exhausted from the running. Ginny, a little worse for wear, having been hit repeatedly with a tickling charm.

"You know. If you would have just agreed to let me do your make-up in the first place, none of this would have happened." Ginny said, smiling in spite of herself at Hermione. "Now, you have to let me do it."

"And why is that, may I ask?" said Hermione in her dangerously sweet voice.

"Because I am sitting right next to a stack of your library books with my wand pointed right at them." Replied Ginny, chuckling at the look of horror on Hermione's face.

"You wouldn't!" she said, standing up.

"I wont if you let me dress you up like a person for the greeting, and the Ball!" she said raising her wand higher, her eyes glinting evilly.

"Fine!" Hermione, resigned angrily, " But I'll get you back!"

"Sure you will," she said grabbing her elbow and leading her to the bathroom.

Twenty minutes later the girls emerged, Ginny looking triumphant and Hermione looking extremely embarrassed. "See, doesn't she look nice now." she asked Draco who was staring at her open mouthed.

He just gaped at her, before mumbling, "Amazing," under his breath.

"See." She said turning toward her captive. "Now let me find you some clothes!"

"What's wrong with this?" Hermione asked, defensively, "You told me to wear it this morning!"

"That was before I knew we were going to play chase in your room! Anyways, that was just insurance in case this plan didn't go well. Now I've got a real treat!"

She let Ginny guide her upstairs, before sitting down on her bed, admitting defeat. "Nothing slutty!" she pleaded at her friend, "I have to represent today, and I don't want to do it looking like Lavender bloody Brown."

Ginny just laughed, digging through her wardrobe to find what she was looking for. "I hid something in here ages ago because my trunk was too full, and I knew you'd have room." Hermione looked indignant. "Here it is!" she withdrew holding a vintage looking blue ruffle skirt, and a white baby-doll linen top. "Put these on and don't mess up your hair." Hermione did as she was asked and stood in front of Ginny looking sheepish.

"You look great!" she said walking forward and handing her a pair of shoes and some pearl earrings. "Now, just put these on and we'll be done. For now." She added evilly.

Hermione sighed and put on the accessories. "Fine!" she said standing up and attempting to scowl, but finding it hard at the look on Ginny's face as she received the nonverbal Tarantallegra Hermione placed on her. "Ha! I said I'd get you back. That'll wear off in about five minutes, Bye." She said as she walked downstairs leaving her friend behind, her feet flailing around like a jig dancer.

When Hermione reappeared down stairs Draco was lost for words for a moment after seeing her. Thankfully she didn't notice as she was searching for her Hogwarts a History book at the time.

"Where's Ginny?" he asked looking at the door from which she had come.

"She is in my room, dancing uncontrollably," Hermione said, nonchalantly.

Draco looked at her in shock for a moment then started laughing.

"Which reminds me. We should get going before the charm stops, I know what she can do when she's angry." At that, they both left, getting a slight head start on the infuriated redhead. They both were still laughing when they reached the entrance hall.

"Do you want to see the Great Hall?" Draco asked, as they had a few minute to kill.

"Sure." Hermione replied and they walked in. Hermione was the first one to speak, "Wow." She said looking around at the splendor. "Say what you will about the professors, they sure know how to decorate." The hall was splendid, covered in drapes of silver, tasteful flowers hanging at intervals of the cloth. The, now, six long tables bedecked with there own house colors. Now with lavender and white gold for the Beauxbatons, and rusty red and steely grey for the Durmstrang. The high table had expanded as well, making room for about four new people as well as two new Heads chairs. The noon bell rang just then, and they both rushed out to the shore of the Black Lake, where a large platform had been set up. All of the older students were hurriedly telling younger ones of the previous arrivals, looks of awe on their faces.

They stood there in silence when suddenly a great wave erupted of the water in the middle of the Black Lake. A giant sea serpent burst out of the water, glittering, black and beautiful. On its back was a huge glass compartment, the water rolling off of it like a cascade of crystal. It swam gracefully to shore, quickly and soon they were able to see the people inside. When it reached the shore the serpent paralleled with the platform and the glass cage disappeared in a whiff of smoke. The Hogwarts party applauded generously as they disembarked.

"'Ello I'm am Provesser Tsankov. And zees are my pupils." Said a short Bulgarian man dressed in fine white furs to Professor McGonagall, waving a hand to the students arrayed. About ninety students, dressed in their fine furs, looking up at Hogwarts, in awe.

"Welcome to Hogwarts. The arrivals from Beauxbatons will be here shortly then the Welcome feast will begin. Please make yourselves comfortable."

Just then a loud swoop arose as something came soaring over the Forbidden forest shortly followed by several squeals of surprise.

An enormous dragon had appeared, toting an equally large load behind it. As it came lower it became clear that this load was the same powder blue carriage as last time. The dragon swooped lower and lower before alighting softly in the ground next to the platform, with uncanny precision. The double wand flanked doors opened automatically and out stepped the impressive, Madame Maxime. The younger students of both schools, both let out involuntary gasps at her impressive stature. She walked over to the other two Heads, and greeted them as her pupils walked out. They arranged themselves in front of the carriage, looking as proper as ever.

After welcoming everyone, Professor McGonagall led them into the Great Hall and the feast commenced. After everyone finished eating she stood up to greet the assembled students.

"Welcome visitors, and guests. Welcome to Hogwarts. It gives me great pleasure to see all of you gathered here, alive, happy and well, after that long trying war that has ripped our communities apart. I hope that this year, we will all be able to put past prejudices, fears and hates out of our hearts forever and bring forth a new age of unity among our people. My Head Boy and Girl will lead all of you on a tour of the Castle and Grounds, please, make yourselves feel at home." She sat down with the other professors as Hermione and Malfoy stood up and led the new arrivals out of the Hall.

An hour later they both returned to their common room Draco flopped onto the couch, exhausted.

"That was fun." Said Hermione sarcastically, standing in front of him.

"Come on." Said Draco, grinning up at her, "It wasn't that bad."

She looked down at him, "Wasn't that bad! Peeves dyed them blue!"

He smiled at her, "Come on. You must admit it was funny."

A smile cracked unwillingly through her lips. "Fine, it was a little funny. But still! That could have gone really bad!"

He just sat there laughing. "Lighten up, you fixed it! They're all fine. Just relax. You deserve a brake." She sat down next to him huffing indignantly.

"Fine, I've got a few hours before Ginny comes and makes me look ridiculous. Can you believe how stupid she made me look today?" She said gesturing toward herself.

He looked at her, 'I wasn't lying, you look nice." He said smiling at her.

OH MY GOD! 7 PAGES ON WORD!

Also any of you non-English people (my self sadly included) should know that the English have some of the best insults EVER! 1 Wanker included in this. If you don't know what it means you should look it up.