Chapter Ten - Halloween Part I

Draco woke from the first nightmare he'd had all week, drenched in sweat. He assumed his magical night with Hermione had been the reason the nightmares were kept at bay but he still hadn't slept as well as the night she spent in his bed. In this dream, Draco saw the Dark Lord killing professor Charity Burbage time and time again. Her screams echoed through the manor and his ears were left ringing as he woke up. He shivered violently upon recalling the horrors of that night and every night he spent in the manor with the devil himself. He slowly propped himself in bed as he regained control over himself. A grey light caught the particles of dust swirling in the air as it snuck through a crack in his bed curtains. It dawned on him then that it was Halloween morning, which meant the school would be alive with anticipation of the ball soon enough.

Draco willed himself from the comfort of his perfectly charmed bed, laying his bare feet on the cold floor of the dormitory. As he opened the curtains of his bed, he saw Harry leaned over, head in hands sitting on the edge of his bed across the room.

"Nightmare?" he asked quietly. Harry only nodded. "Same here," he said, standing up and stretching. He padded to the foot of his bed, grabbing a towel and fresh clothes, heading to the boys' showers across the hall. The bathroom was freezing as none of the other boys had yet to wake, let alone shower. Draco quickly turned the nearest shower as high as it would go, hoping the steam would warm him quickly as he was still only clad in boxers from his sleep. As mirrors began to fog with steam, Draco stripped and stepped under the scalding water, adjusting the tap slightly to keep himself from melting entirely. The night's terror was still throbbing at his temples, he heard screams of the innocent punctuating his every thought. He held his aching head under the hot stream of the shower, his platinum locks were plastered to his face by the water. As he stood, he tried to chase the terrible thoughts from the forefront of his mind, back to being locked away somewhere safely in the depths.

He thought of Hermione, of their night together a week ago now. A warmth bloomed in his stomach and began to take the edge off his headache. The consequence of this, of course, was that his imagination would take flight every time he thought of their kiss. He imagined what she felt like, what she looked like, what she… tasted like. He wanted to taste more of her.

His hand moved south, taking himself in hand. He was achingly hard. He slowly began to stroke himself, long and languidly. A low groan escaped his throat and he bit down on his lower lip to quiet himself. In his mind's eye, he was undressing her, trailing kisses up her abdomen as he pulled a cotton t-shirt over her head. As he began to unbutton her jeans in his imagination, the door to the bathroom creaked open and slammed shut, taking his fantasy with it. His hand stopped its ministrations as he dropped his forehead to the cold tiles with a thud.

"Alright over there?" Harry called from the next stall as the water rushed on.

"Just dandy, Potter," was the frustrated reply.

"Good to know you're a morning person," Harry laughed.

"My morning was going perfectly fine until you arrived".

"Gods forbid I interrupt a morning wank to shower in a public bathroom," came the laughing voice again. Draco just sputtered in reply, and quickly began washing himself in an effort to escape the cripplingly awkward situation the Chosen One had so elegantly dragged him into.

"Are you coming?" Potter asked after a pause.

"Am I what?" Draco cried.

"Are you coming, I asked, to the ball?"

"Oh, right, the ball. I… I don't have a date".

"Neither does Blaise, Pansy, Padma, Seamus, Theo…" Harry rattled off a list.

"No one wants to see me there," he muttered, hands paused halfway through shampooing his gold locks.

"Sure they do. Come to the dance, it'll be fun".

"Fun?"

"Yeah, fun. Ever heard of it?"

"Wanker".

"Prat. You can't even tell me you have nothing to wear, as if you don't currently have two sets of dress robes in a wardrobe".

"Three sets, actually". Draco said haughtily as he turned off his shower. Harry burst into laughter at his remark.

"So, I'll see you tonight, then," Harry said matter-of-factly, stepping out of his own shower stall with a towel draped around his waist. He shook his head in what Draco could only assume was both his way to dry and style his unruly hair. When Harry left, Draco leaned against a sink, eyeing his reflection in the mirror. He looked down across his chest that was still criss-crossed with the scars left by Harry's sectumsempra curse. How the times had changed between them, from bathroom duels to friendly banter in the showers in a matter of years.

.oOo0oOo.

"It's hopeless!" Ginny moaned, dropping her millionth attempt at a tiny braid.

"You're making it too complicated, Ginny," Hermione said kindly, circling around Ginny to inspect her canvas. "Here, let me help you".

For herself, Hermione had opted to use the same potion she had chosen for the Yule Ball to tame her mane. As she stood now, wrapped in a cozy robe, her hair cascaded down her back in loose spirals. In a matter of minutes, she had nimbly braided several strands of Ginny's fiery locks into an intricate pattern at the back of her head. She conjured a small mirror and held it up to the younger girl as she inspected Hermione's work.

"Perfect!" she beamed. "Onto your makeup, I'm thinking a smokey eye".

"Absolutely not," Hermione argued. Across the room Pansy giggled and turned around to face the two Gryffindors.

"You're insane, Weasley, if you think you're getting Hermione to do that on top of that dress," she laughed.

"Well, as it happens I haven't seen the damn thing! And, I have more than enough charms to make it decent so we need not make me look like a slag," Hermione was practically hysterical.

"It's so lovely, though," Luna said kindly. The younger girls had been invited to the eighth year dorm to help the older girls get ready, seeing as they had been so helpful in choosing their dresses.

"Fine fine fine, a natural look it is," Ginny said, descending upon Hermione, brush in hand.

Just as five rolled around, each eighth year girl, plus Ginny and Luna were dressed, dolled and shimmering. All that was left, quite intentionally, was Hermione's dress. The bright witch eyed the silver fabric skeptically, sure there was not nearly enough fabric to cover any important bits. Ginny pushed the dress into her hands, turned her around, and pushed her behind the dressing curtain the girls had set up.

"You haven't given me a bra!" Hermione moaned.

"You won't be needing one," Ginny giggled back.

"How many sticking charms will I be needing then?"

"No more than two I swear!" The girls erupted in laughter, not at Hermione's expense but rather in excitement that the ordinarily conservative witch had somehow agreed to their antics.

"Just pass me the shoes," she said wearily. Ginny threw a pair of strappy silver heels over the curtain. Hermione lowered them an inch and slipped them on.

"No fucking way!" She yelled through the curtain. "Absolutelyno fucking way!"

"Yes fucking way, get that cute arse out here," Pansy called. Hermione stuck her head out from the curtain first, looking at the group of girls with a cold glare. Remembering who she was, what she'd accomplished, she threw her chin up, squared her shoulders and walked out into the room amidst a chorus of squeals.

.oOo0oOo.

Draco stood in the corner of the dorm, sulking. He was dressed to the nines, hair done and bowtie knotted perfectly by the time it was time to leave. A Malfoy was nothing if not punctual. Neville was actively attempting to unknot his shoes from one another, hands shaking with nerves at his evening with Luna approached. Harry was attempting to tie Ron's bowtie for what Draco estimated to be the tenth time.

"Step aside, Potter," Draco elbowed him, and made quick work of Weasley's bowtie despite the redhead flinching away from him.

"Right, everybody ready?" Harry looked around the room.

"Ready as I'll ever be," Draco muttered. The boys opened the door to the dormitory and walked down the corridor to wait in the common room. They settled into the couches and chairs, fully expecting the girls to be another while.

Harry's battle-hardened reflexes heard the door to the girls' room click first. His eyes snapped up as his fire-haired witch lead the parade of girls arm in arm with Pansy, around the corner to the common room. She grinned as the golden boy stood up and made quick work of the space between them, scooping her into his arms and kissing her soundly. He was briefly oblivious to the world around him apparently as he kissed his girl. Pansy came next, walking confidently to the center of the room and turning with her hands on her hips to watch as the girls entered. The Patil sisters came next, Padma smiling shyly at Ron who crossed to offer her his arm. Parvati stood somewhat awkwardly near Pansy to watch the entrance as well. Luna skipped into the room, butterflies fluttering to keep up and galloped over to Neville, embracing him warmly. Daphne was second to last, walking briskly into the room and smiling boldly at her Hogsmeade date, Dean. The tall boy returned her smile with a grin of his own.

Draco was still staring adimentally at the rug under his feet when Hermione walked in. As if sensing her presence, he slowly raised his gaze, starting from her bedazzled sandals. She was a vision in her dress, which looked like she had bathed in mercury. The gown was adorned with barely there straps, as though they'd been spun from spider's silk. Silver fabric draped over her chest in a low v-shape and the light fabric kissed her flat stomach and womanly hips before falling straight down all the way to her feet. As if she expected Draco's awe-struck look to be directed towards someone behind her, she slowly turned, revealing now that the dress had almost no back. The fabric of her skirt started just above her hips, and everything above that was just creamy skin, shining hair and spider-silk straps.

Draco hadn't fully shut his mouth when Hermione realized it was her she was staring at. She smiled at him and he snapped his mouth shut, turning it into a trademark crooked smirk. He wished he could keep a photo of her like this, blush creeping from her chest to her cheeks. It took nearly all his willpower not to run over to her and kiss her like the desperate man he was.

Incidentally it was Ron who first approached Hermione, smiling affectionately at her and hugging her briefly, if not a little awkwardly. When Harry resurfaced from kissing Ginny, he too hugged Hermione. Draco was suddenly overcome with possessive frustration that he could not touch his witch. Well, he supposed she wasn't really his… yet. He vowed in that moment he would change that as soon as he could. He couldn't tear his eyes off her as she walked over towards the other single girls. When she joined Padma and Pansy, Draco locked eyes with the Slytherin girl who raised an eyebrow and rolled her eyes at his far-from-subtle stare.

Draco stood, eyeing Theo, Seamus and Blaise, "shall we?" He asked. The group gathered their things and filed towards the door of the dormitory. Draco hung back until Hermione had passed him last in the line. He placed a warm, firm hand on the small of her back. She jumped slightly, nearly stumbling, then turned and shot him a glare which quickly melted into a small smile.

A/N: I meant to write all of the Halloween Ball this chapter but got a little wrapped up in imagining Draco in the shower… can you blame me? This is my first, teeny-tiny attempt at writing dirty. I know every author says this- but please continue liking, following and most importantly commenting! Your feedback is wonderful and encouraging and most importantly it is helpful! I am so so grateful to everyone who takes time from their day to comment, it never goes unnoticed.

Love eternal,

OmniaExtares