Hermione looked at herself in the mirror. She sighed. Even with her beautiful dress, hair straightened and makeup on, she didn't think she looked that pretty. It was almost time for her to go downstairs to the ball; she just wasn't quite ready yet. She sighed again and turned away from the mirror. Her high heels felt slightly uncomfortable on her feet, but she pushed on, heading towards her door and out into the hallway. She closed her door behind her and went towards the staircase.

"You look beautiful." Draco said from his bedroom door, just across the hall.

"Thank you Draco." She replied, smiling at him. She kept walking, however and didn't turn back until she reached the grand ballroom. It seemed that Draco had been following her the whole way. She didn't know just how close he'd been, but when she arrived, he was right behind her.

"Hermione! You look absolutely wonderful!" AJ exclaimed.

"AJ! You look stunning!" She returned. She looked around the room and saw Harry dancing with Ginny, Ron's younger sister. All of their families were attending. Hermione even saw Draco's parents standing in the corner. It seemed as though Draco saw them at the same time, because he made his way over to talk with his father. Paul came up from behind AJ and smiled at Hermione.

"Would the beautiful girl like to dance?" He asked. Hermione looked to the right and then to the left.

"Are you talking to me?" She asked.

"Oui madam!" Paul replied, extending a hand towards her. Hermione giggled at his random French and accepted his hand before following him to dance.

Hermione found the ball rather dull. She danced with Paul most of the time, when she wasn't dancing with him, she was talking with him along with AJ and harry. Ron seemed to be off somewhere else, probably being bothered by his mother. And Draco remained with his father the whole time.

Once the ball was over, she quietly made her way up to her room. She was tired, she had to admit. Having not gotten much sleep the night before, then the exciting events of the day, and the ball that evening, she was definitely worn out. Hermione made her way into her room and got ready for bed.

~.~

Hermione heard a knock on the door. It was almost an hour since she had gone to bed and she hadn't even started to fall asleep yet, she couldn't turn her brain off. She quickly sat up in bed. After the night before, she knew that it could be anyone.

"Come on in!" She called out towards the door. The door opened and AJ stepped in.

"Hey Hermione!!" AJ said.

"Hey AJ!" Hermione exclaimed. Personally, she was glad it wasn't one of the boys.

"I was just wondering if we could talk for a bit." AJ said.

"Yeah, sure thing, I wasn't going to get to sleep anytime soon anyway."

"Yeah, neither."

"So how are you and Harry?" Hermione asked.

"Well, we're good friends. To tell you the truth I picked him at random." AJ said.

"Really? You picked the future King, your husband? From random... out of those guys?" AJ laughed.

"Yeah, I guess I did!" There was a short pause before Hermione asked her next question.

"Have you kissed him yet?" She asked, it was time for the girl talk.

"No, no I haven't. It's sort of a family thing."

"Not kissing your future husband is a family thing?" Hermione asked. There was a pause before AJ answered. She was wondering whether or not to tell Hermione the full story. She decided to go for it though, Hermione was basically the only female friend that she really ever had, and she felt like talking with her about this.

"Yeah, it is... The family line wasn't always witches and wizards you know?" AJ began to explain. "There wasn't any married into the family either." Hermione was listening intently to what AJ was saying. "About a thousand years ago, there was a King, Howard, and he actually found out about the magical world. He found out about all of the witches and wizards and their magical schools and such. He kidnapped a witch, a very powerful one. I was never told what her name was. He ordered her to make him magical, and she did it. But, you know like in the fairytales, there was a curse attached. As he let the witch go, she yelled behind her what she had done. 'First kiss at the wedding altar, or the monarchy will falter, all the lands will then despair, for the queen shall not produce an heir' In other words, if you are not married to the one you're kissing, there will be no heir to the throne."

"Really?" Hermione was shocked.

"Yeah, so that's how it's been for the past thousand years."

"So when's the wedding then, when do you get to kiss him?" Hermione asked.

"It's the day after my 18th birthday. I have to be 18 to get married; it's legal anytime, since I had to make the decision within 30 days of my 16th birthday, but the tradition is to have it the day after the heir's 18th birthday."

"That's pretty cool, what a birthday present!! A husband!!" Hermione exclaimed.

"Yeah."

"So have you told Harry all of that?" Hermione asked.

"He knows the basic stuff. I didn't tell him everything."

"Interesting!" Hermione exclaimed. The two remained silent for a few seconds and Hermione yawned.

"I'd better go, it's probably getting late." AJ said.

"Okay then, I'll see you in the morning! Thank you for coming and talking to me!" Hermione said.

"That's alright. Thank you for listening to me; you don't know how much it means to me." AJ said.

"That's alright. Goodnight!"

"Goodnight!" AJ said as she closed Hermione's bedroom door behind her and made her way back to her room.

Hermione laid back down into her bed and closed her eyes. She drifted off to sleep easily and didn't hear a single noise throughout the night.