Draco and Hermione walked into the great hall and were very pleased. The hall was beautifully decorated. It was very similar to the decorations during the Yule ball. They were very busy admiring their work and neither noticed that almost every pair of eyes in the great hall was staring at them. There were gasps, whispers, giggling and muttering everywhere. They decided to ignore them and made their way to their friends. "Hey guys! Are you enjoying?" asked Draco with his hands around Hermione's waist. "Of course!" beamed Neville. They had drinks and sat together talking all the time. Finally it was time for the dance.

Draco stood up and stood next to Hermione. "Would you do the honors ma'am?" he asked. "I would love to!" she giggled. He offered her his hand and she took it and together they swayed to the dance floor. It was slow waltz and they were moving with the music. Hermione stared into Draco's eyes and wished that she would get lost into those swirling silver orbs. "What did I do to deserve you Draco?" she asked him softly. Draco looked at her slightly surprised. "You are a princess Hermione. It is me who doesn't deserve you. I am a demon and you are a goddess. I don't know what I did to deserve a princess like you. Thank you for giving me a chance Hermione" he said looking at her.

Hermione smiled at him "all that matter s is the person who you are now Draco. You are not the same old kid who made all mistakes due to the wrong upbringing. But you have grown up into a man who people admire and respect and I truly like you for that" she said. He smiled at her taking her words in. he leaned down and kissed her. It was very soft and sweet and showed them how much they cared for each other. It was indeed very romantic.

Cormac mclaggen was terribly irritated. First he did not have the girl he wished for in his arms. He was very confident that Hermione would go with him that he did not consider asking any other girl to the ball. He had no other choice but to ask a sixth year hufflepuff who immediately agreed to go with him. He sat in one of the tables with the girl who was biting his ears off when he saw a couple making their way to the dance floor. He looked at Hermione granger. Oh how beautiful she was! He wanted to snog her senseless and did not know what made him long for this book worm. He saw the way they danced and his fists clenched the wine glass. He saw them kissing and couldn't take it anymore.

Hermione and Draco were having their moment when suddenly a purple curse came their way. "Draco no!" screamed Hermione, pushing him out of the way. The curse hit her square in the chest and she collapsed unconscious on the floor. "Hermione!" screamed Draco rushing towards her followed by their friends. "Out of my way! What is going on?" yelled professor McGonagall making her way through the crowd. She enquired the students and looked at cormac who was standing in the corner with his head hung down. " , follow me to my room. I would like to know more about it from .Malfoy, please stay calm I have sent a patronous to madam pomfrey and she will be here soon" she said.

Just then madam pomfrey arrived. She examined Hermione and summoned a stretcher at once. She levitated the stretcher and made her way towards the hospital wing. Draco went with her followed by the others. Pansy held Draco's hand. Madam Pomfrey laid Hermione on one of the beds and shooed them all out. The waited for a long time till the door opened. Draco rushed to madam pomfrey, "how is she? Is everything okay?" he asked. "She is alive and she is fine but there is a problem. I don't recognize the spell she was hit with but it was hard enough to take her to coma. I have given her the necessary potions and she is fine but I don't know how long it will take for her to wake up" she said looking at Draco.

Draco merely nodded." Can we see her?" asked harry. "Yes you can! But don't take too long. She needs a lot of rest" she said walking out of the room. Draco was the first to enter the hospital. He saw Hermione lying on the bed. She no longer wore her ball gown but was wearing the normal hospital gown. She looked as if she was sleeping peacefully. She was very beautiful. A single drop of tear fell from Draco's eyes. He went near her and squeezed her hand. But he did not receive anything back. Ginny held his shoulders and harry stood next to him. "Don't worry Draco. She will be fine" said blaise. They all sat near the bed and were engulfed in silence. Madam Pomfrey rushed in." it is time for all of you to go to bed. But on the request of professor McGonagall, I will permit any one of you to stay overnight to be with " she said.

Draco immediately stepped forward. "I'll stay here" he said." Alright! That is settled then. Now off to bed the rest of you" she said. Ginny, pansy, Luna and Daphne hugged Draco, comforting him and the guys patted him on the shoulders. They all left leaving Draco alone with Hermione. He sat next to her bed holding her hand. He thought about the conversation that they had minutes before she got attacked. He wanted to kill Mclaggen for doing this to her. It was supposed to him laying there not her. She was hurt and it was because of him. Draco did everything to control his anger. He put his head to her shoulder and fell asleep there.

The next morning, Draco was awaken by Ginny who came to bring him breakfast. "Did you talk to madam pomfrey?" he asked immediately after getting up. "Yes I did. She said the potions are working faster but still she is not able to find a way to wake her up" Ginny said sadly. Draco nodded his head and went out of the hospital wing. He walked directly to the headmistress office. He muttered the password and went inside "I want to know what happened to mclaggen" he roared, " , please calm down. Mclaggen has been taken care of. He has been expelled from Hogwarts and his wand has been confiscated for another five years. He has proven guilty. How is ?" she asked. "Thank you professor. Hermione is fine but we don't know when she is going to wake up. Madam Pomfrey is treating her well. I hope she gets well soon" he said his voice breaking. "Don't worry Draco! She will!" she said patting his shoulder.

A week had passed and Hermione had still not recovered. Madam Pomfrey was trying hard. Her condition was improvising. Draco stayed with her all day and all night. Ginny offered to stay one night so that he could get some sleep but Draco flatly refused. One night Draco sat next to Hermione's bed holding her hand.

"'Mione, I miss you! When are you going to get back to me? I hate being like this. This was supposed to be me. Why you? Why you my princess? I want you to talk to me, to laugh at me for being like this, to walk with me. We have so much work to do. Come and yell at me for skipping classes. Please come back 'Mione. Please?" he said tears rolling down his eyes. He couldn't take it anymore. He didn't want to lose her. He knew he was falling badly for her. He wanted her in his life forever. He put his head to her shoulders and cried. He felt her stir. He looked up at her face and saw that she was trying to open her eyes.

"Hermione?" he called. "Hermione?" he called again. She opened her eyes halfway and looked up at him. "Draco?" she called out smiling.