AUTHOR'S NOTE: Look who's finally baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaack! Dang I missed this story.
This is probably the most sugary sweet thing I've ever written and I LOVE IT.
Thank you to puresteph, daswhoiam, Angela, Neakco, Guest, 21coolbeansbro and Fawnfeather for reviewing the last chapter!
ALSO TO THE GUEST REVIEW WHO IS READING THIS AND CHECKING ALL THE FLOWER MEANINGS, YAS BRO YOU ARE DOING THIS CORRECTLY WELL DONE!
Anyways, I hope this is worth the wait!
This chapter is dedicated to *cracks knuckles cause there's a lot of you lovely people for me to type* iplayviolin, daswhoiam, sweetoreopea, miel04, neverknowme, jessiemomo2247, jessie0017, vampire juhi, acorn is dotori, rcoach70, PrincessBellezza, Petit7Renard, N-MK07, 21coolbeansbro, Fawnfeather, Curiosity- Or n0t, BBaillie, Sachiko Heiwajima, gurmun, fitzpatrick kaitlin, geekykid123 and AlwaysMaraudersMap.
Disclaimer: I ain't J.K. Rowling. If I was the The Cursed Child wouldn't have sucked so bad :-P
Snapdragon
Hermione sighed heavily as she watched the snowflakes dance down from the sky, the warmth from the library fire contradicting the cold she could see from outside. The Durmstrang ship was frozen in the Black Lake, but luckily they weren't planning on leaving until the end of the school year when the ice would have melted away.
Normally Hermione loved the snow. Winter had always been her favourite time of year; there was no pressure to go outside and play and she could always sit in her room at home and read to her heart's content. But this year for the first time, the young Gryffindor found herself wishing that the snow and cold would pass…because then the Yule Ball would be over.
Thinking of the dance once again made Hermione grumble under her breath. She was supposed to be researching ways that Harry could get through the next task in the Tri-Wizard Tournament but despite the fact that her best friend's life could very much depend on her findings she was having great difficulty staying motivated.
She knew that Ron was considering asking her, but she was seriously hoping that he wouldn't. Hermione cared a great deal about Ron but she wasn't interested in him like that in the slightest. She'd also heard rumours that Viktor Krum himself was thinking about asking her, and she had no idea what she would do in that situation. He seemed like a genuinely nice person and she wouldn't want to hurt his feelings - not to mention every other girl in the school would think she was absolutely crazy if she said no - but she really wasn't interested in him in that way either.
In fact, there was only one person she really wanted to go to the ball with…
"Hey Brainbox."
Snapping back to reality from her daydream, Hermione looked up and smiled warmly when her eyes met with Draco's.
"Hi Ferret," she replied fondly as Draco sat down on the window seat next to her.
Draco groaned. "Out of all the nicknames in the world you could possibly call me, does it really have to be Ferret?" he asked, shuddering slightly as he remembered what had happened when he'd angered Professor Moody.
"Call it punishment for those awful badges you've been handing out," Hermione smirked.
Draco hung his head. "Oh come on, they were pretty funny."
"Draco, Harry's my best friend," Hermione stated simply. "Be nice."
"But I don't want to," Draco whined, grinning to let Hermione know he was just joking around with her.
Hermione gently pushed him in fake annoyance, trying and failing to hold back a smile.
The two had continued to meet in secret ever since their encounter at the Quidditch World Cup. The first time they'd seen each other at school had been rather awkward for them both, as they were very much aware of how close they'd come to taking their relationship to the next level, but after a silly joke from Draco and a laugh from Hermione the awkwardness had quickly been overcome. They often met in the library when it was late in the day, or in the corridor leading to the Hufflepuff common room as not many of their classmates would ever see them there. As such a couple of Hufflepuff first years had spotted them, but they'd all sworn to keep it secret in exchange for Hermione helping them with their homework.
"So what're you doing here anyway?" Draco asked, eyeing all the books Hermione had open around her. "Looking for stuff to help Potter with the next task?"
"Exactly," Hermione sighed, "but I can't stay focused tonight…"
"What's wrong?" Draco frowned, shuffling slightly closer to her.
"It's silly…but I keep thinking about the Yule Ball," she sighed.
"The ball? I wouldn't have thought you would be too bothered about that to be honest," Draco admitted.
Hermione cracked a smile. "Yeah, I know. But see…back at my old school we would have dances every Christmas, and I never ever got invited by anyone in my class. Nobody wants to take the bookworm to the ball," she murmured sadly. "I guess that now I'm at Hogwarts and I'm around other people like me, I'd really like to experience that at least once. But…"
"…But?" Draco prompted her.
"…But I don't have anyone to go with," she confessed. "Ron's thinking of asking me but I don't feel that way about him. Viktor Krum is apparently thinking of asking me but I don't feel that way about him either."
"…Is there anyone you do feel that way about?" Draco asked softly, both anticipating and fearing the answer.
Hermione slowly looked up and met his gentle gaze. She could feel her heartbeat thudding in her chest and she was terrified that Draco might be able to hear it.
"…You know that there is," she replied, somehow managing to keep her eyes locked with his even though every instinct in her body was screaming at her to drop her gaze back down to the floor. "…But you also know why I can't go with that person."
Draco's shoulders dropped and he sighed slightly, nodding in defeat. It was true; he did know. And he knew that he was the reason. If they were to go to the ball together Hermione wouldn't really face any repercussions other than Potter and Weasley bombarding her with questions, but they'd probably both accept it pretty quickly and just keep a very close eye on both of them.
He on the other hand… Draco winced as he felt pain flash through the scars on his back at the memory of what his father would do if he upset him again. Going to the Yule Ball with a Muggle-born was out of the question and both he and Hermione knew it, despite what they both wished.
"If only the ball wasn't at Hogwarts," Hermione mused. "If the tournament had been held at Drumstang or Beauxbatons and we'd both gone we probably could have gone to the ball without anyone from back here finding out."
"If nobody was going to recognise us that would be perfect," Draco agreed.
The two were cut off suddenly when they heard footsteps approaching. Ready to move away from Hermione so their cover wasn't blown, Draco was stopped by Hermione when she realised the voices she could hear were speaking in French.
"They're from Beauxbatons," she said quietly. "We don't have to hide from them."
Draco nodded and relaxed next to her again as the two young ladies in blue walked past them without paying them any mind.
Suddenly one of them stopped. "Non non. We must speak in English, Madame Maxine says. We must get better English."
The other one sighed but nodded. "Yes, okay. Then I tell you again in English. Viktor Krum is not going to Yule Ball unless Harry Potter friend go with him."
Hermione and Draco's eyes widened as they continued to listen to this conversation.
"So if this girl say non, Viktor not go?" the first girl asked.
"Yes, that is what Fleur say to me," her friend confirmed before they both walked away, complaining that there would be less eye candy if Viktor didn't go.
Draco began to chuckle as he looked back at Hermione. "Seems like you have a duty to go with Viktor now, or else you'll have every French girl in the castle after you."
Hermione's head dropped into her hands. "I hate this… Why does he like me so much? I've barely spoken to him!"
"Are you serious? You're probably the prettiest girl in Hogwarts," Draco stated matter-of-factly.
Hermione's face began to burn bright red at how easy it was for Draco to say that, but she tried to not focus on the compliment.
"What do I do now?" she asked. "I really don't want to go if…if I can't go with you…"
Now it was Draco's turn to be embarrassed but as he stared at the winter sun's light shining off of Hermione's hair an idea dawned on him that took away the awkwardness.
"Hermione…I think I have a way that we can go to the ball together," he said slowly.
Hermione's head snapped around and her eyes were wide with hope. "Really? How?"
A slow smile spread across Draco's face. "…Do you think there's any way we could get hold of some of Viktor's hair?"
Draco paced the floor outside of the Great Hall nervously. He felt very uncomfortable in this red suit rather than dress robes but if this was the price he needed to pay in order to dance with Hermione then he would take it.
Thanks to the Time-Turner that Hermione still had and had sworn Draco to secrecy about and Hermione giving Viktor a very awkward pat on the shoulder after she'd politely said no to his proposal for them to go to the ball together, the Slytherin and the Gryffindor had managed to brew a Polyjuice Potion so Draco could be Viktor Krum for the night. Once they'd confirmed that Viktor was planning on moping in the Drumstrang ship all night in a huff because of Hermione rejecting him the pieces of their plan all started to fall into place, and they'd both decided to just let Viktor deal with the fallout of his friends asking about how he enjoyed the night. He'd be confused but that wouldn't be their problem; they were too excited about the fact that they got to spend the night together at the ball. The only thing Draco didn't know about was what Hermine was going to wear as she'd wanted that to stay a surprise.
Draco had already been approached by Professor McGonagall who'd said she was pleasantly surprised that he'd decided to come after all, but other than that nobody had spoken to him. A few Drumstrang boys had walked past him and raised an eyebrow but they'd been too distracted by their dates to ask him what he was doing there.
Potter and Weasley were currently walking towards him down the stairs – and Weasley looked completely ridiculous in his old-fashioned dress robes – and he tensed up automatically when he realised they would see him walking in and dancing with Hermione, but then he remembered that all they could see was Viktor, not Draco, and he relaxed again. They were going with the Patil twins and Draco actually felt rather sorry for the girls and neither Potter nor Weasley looked like they were going to enjoy themselves.
Then Draco watched one of the twins gasp and look up to the top of the stairs. "She looks beautiful…" she murmured.
Draco's eyes turned to the stairs at the same time as Potter's did, and he felt his heart skip a beat. It was Hermione and she looked absolutely stunning. Her periwinkle-blue dress robes cascaded down her like a waterfall, and her hair was pinned up into a twisted knot at the back of her head with just a few strands down to frame her face. Her eyes met with Draco's and she smiled shyly, holding his gaze as she continued to walk down the stairs.
As she finally stood in front of him Draco wished he could say something to her, but he couldn't manage Viktor's Bulgarian accent. Knowing that if he spoke Potter, Weasley and the Patil twins would realise something wasn't quite right he simply gave her a little bow and offered her his arm. Hermione giggled slightly and took it, waving slightly at Harry as they walked towards the entrance to the Great Hall, falling in line along with Fleur, Rodger, Cedric and Cho. Hermione glanced behind her one last time to grin at Harry and Parvati before the doors opened and the four couples walked into the hall to the applause of their fellow students. Hermione just started laughing with pure joy; she was so happy that she was here with Draco and she didn't care if everyone else saw her with Viktor instead. She was going to enjoy tonight and nothing could stop her.
After a few hours of dancing together Draco gently took hold of Hermione's hand and led her out of the Great Hall. The two of them kept glancing at each other and giggling as they headed towards the gardens.
"Draco, are you okay?" Hermione asked, after checking that there was nobody around.
"I'm fine," Draco nodded, finally able to speak properly for the first time that night. "But you said the Polyjuice potion would only work for two hours, right? It's nearly 10 o'clock and I didn't want to risk anyone seeing me change back."
"Oh right. Clever!" Hermione smiled before she started to laugh again.
"What is it?" Draco asked, frowning.
"You are starting to change back," she giggled. "Your hair is going blonde."
Draco looked down at his hands and saw that they were shrinking back down to their normal size. He knew that the dress robes he was wearing would soon practically engulf him but he was planning on sneaking back into his room without anyone seeing him, then he'd return the Drumstrang robes the next morning.
Hermione stopped laughing once Draco was completely back to normal and just smiled again. "I do wish we could have gone together normally," she admitted softly.
"I do too," Draco agreed, taking hold of Hermione's hand and squeezing it slightly.
Draco slowly led Hermione to one of the stone benches that were dotted around the garden and they both sat down. Draco pulled his wand out and murmured something under his breath, Hermione watching as a beautiful bouquet of snapdragon flowers appeared in his other hand.
"They're enchanted so they won't wilt," Draco smiled as her handed the flowers to her, putting his wand back in his pocket.
"Oh Draco…they're beautiful," she breathed, taking in all the beautiful colours of the flowers.
"…Nowhere near as beautiful as you," Draco replied after a pause.
Hermione's eyes slowly rose to meet with his once more, her heart speeding up again. This time she was sure Draco would be able to hear it but she didn't care.
Draco tucked one of the loose strands of hair around Hermione's face back behind her ear before resting his hand on her cheek.
"I wanted to wait till I changed back to normal to do this," he murmured, his voice lower and more husky than normal, making Hermione shiver as he moved closer to her. "I don't think I can wait any more."
Hermione swallowed slightly in nervousness, still keeping her eyes locked with his. "…Then don't," she replied shakily.
Draco smiled softly before he allowed their noses to touch…and then slowly he brought his lips to meet Hermione's. Hermione kissed him back, softly and slowly and full of fear but also excitement. Draco's other hand rested gently on Hermione's waist and Hermione brought one hand up to Draco's cheek, the other resting on his knee, the snapdragons lying on the bench behind her forgotten for the moment.
It was exactly how they'd both imagined it.
AN: Hope that makes up for how long this bloody took!
Also if you like Dramione Yule Ball cuteness then feel free to check out my completely unrelated to this story Yule Ball oneshot I've written called First Name :3
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