A/N: So here it is! The chapter you've all been waiting for! Once again I was amazed at the reviews from the previous chapter, thank you all so much!
Just want to say that there is a fair bit in this chapter that is taken either directly from or adapted slightly from the movie "A Cinderella Story", so credit to the writers of that where it's due.
Thanks again for the continued support and lovely reviews, and I hope you enjoy the chapter!
"Draco Malfoy?" she asked, her shock evident.
"Yeah," he grinned, almost nervously, something she had never thought she'd see from the Slytherin. "I guess I didn't do a very good job of hiding who I am."
"No. I know exactly who you are." She shook her head. "I'm sorry, this was a really big mistake. I've got to go…" She turned and started to walk back to the hall doors, but felt a hand grab her arm gently.
"Wait." She turned, looking at him. "It's not a mistake."
"You don't know who I am." She said softly.
"Of course I do." He smiled. "You're Gryffindor Girl, the girl I've been waiting to meet."
"What about Pansy?" She asked.
"Pansy?" He looked at her, almost confused. "What's she got to do with any of this?"
"Aren't you two together?" To her surprise, he laughed.
"That's nothing more than a rumour. She'd like it to be true, though, which is why she's never corrected anyone. If anything I reckon she only fuels the rumours."
"And you?" She raised an eyebrow. "Do you want them to be true?"
"Would I be standing here with you if I did?" He asked solemnly, his eyes burning into hers with such intensity that she had to drop her gaze to the floor. "I guess you were probably expecting some guy who spends all his time in the library?"
"Something like that." She nodded. "I mean, you're Draco Malfoy. You were part of Umbridge's Inquisitorial Squad last year, and your father…" She broke off, not wanting to start on what was no doubt an uncomfortable topic for him. "You've always come across as a pure-blood elitist, and yet you quote Shakespeare… you can't be both guys."
"I'm not."
"Then who are you?"
"On November 15th, I wrote you 'I live in a world full of people pretending to be someone I'm not, but when I talk to you…'"
"'I'm the guy I want to be.'" Hermione finished for him, remembering the line all too well. It also made her think of what Ginny had told her earlier in the week, and how House prejudices had a lot to do with how everyone in Hogwarts acted towards each other.
"Give me a chance to be that guy." Draco said, smiling. "Do you want to go for a walk outside?"
She had surprised herself by saying yes, and surprised herself further when she found she enjoyed his company. He was intelligent, which she had known already, but she had not known how much he enjoyed reading. It turned out he had quite the taste for the literary arts, both wizard and muggle.
"So, Gryffindor Girl. Would you tell me who you are if I guess it right?" He asked as they walked.
"Maybe." She said, after a slight hesitation. Their conversation had thus far avoided the more serious subjects such as blood purity, and she wasn't sure she was all that keen to find out how the real Draco Malfoy felt on that matter. She had not forgotten him calling her a mudblood in second year.
"Alright, how about we play twenty questions?" He asked.
"You know that game?" She turned to him, surprised.
"Don't tell anyone." He mock-whispered, causing her to laugh a little.
"How about ten questions?"
"I'll take what I can get." He grinned. "Ok… you do actually go to Hogwarts don't you"
"Of course!" She laughed, and he laughed in return. It was a sound she liked a lot.
"I'm just checking! You never know with these mysterious diaries. Remember what happened in second year?"
"How could I forget." She said, all traces of laughter gone. Tom Riddle's diary had come to Ginny from none other than Malfoy's father, and the results had been catastrophic. Several students, herself included, had been petrified and Ginny would have been killed and the school closed had Harry not been able to defeat the Basilisk.
"Ok next question." Draco cut through her thoughts, realising the sobriety he had brought upon their conversation. "Were you disappointed? When you found out I was Slytherin Boy? Be honest."
She looked at him, and a small smile formed at her lips.
"Surprisingly, no." He smiled back at her.
"Would you rather have a salad or a chocolate frog?"
"A chocolate frog." Hermione answered immediately, then laughed. "What has that got to do with anything?"
"Well you just eliminated about fifty percent of the girls in our year." He grinned, his grey eyes twinkling as they met her own. "You think I'd remember those eyes." He said softly, causing her to break eye contact, blushing as she looked away.
A short while later, they found themselves back in the Great Hall where the band had just started to play a waltz.
"If I ask you to dance," he asked suddenly, "does that count as a question?"
"No." She replied, and with that he took her hand and led her onto the dance floor, taking her in hold as they began to dance.
They danced in silence until the music changed, their eyes locked. It was like a moment from a fairytale, Hermione thought. She felt like Cinderella at the ball, with her prince not knowing who she was and her not having the confidence to admit her identity to him for fear he wouldn't like her as much as he appeared to.
"All out of questions?" She asked, a playful smile on her lips as they stopped dancing, though they remained in hold.
"Do you believe in love at first sight?" He asked after a pause, surprising her. He really wasn't the Draco Malfoy she thought she knew.
"I'll let you know." She smiled. After all, it was a strange situation they were in. It had not been love at first sight for them at all, but now they were seeing each other in a different way. They were being completely honest about who they were, minus her name. Looking through different eyes, perhaps it was love at first sight.
"But I've seen you before?"
"Yes."
"How could I have seen you before, and not know who you are now?" He asked, though it was almost a question to himself. She answered anyway, having just been thinking similarly to his last question.
"Maybe you were looking, but you weren't really seeing." The way he looked at her in response was like no one had ever looked at her before, as if he truly was seeing her now.
"You've got one more question left." She told him.
"Ok." He smiled, breaking their hold and leading her to the side of the hall as he thought.
"Do you, Gryffindor Girl, feel like you made the right choice meeting me tonight?" He asked, picking one of the white roses from a vase on a table and offering it to her.
"I do." She replied honestly, taking the rose. "And do you, Draco Malfoy, ever want to see me again after tonight?"
"Well I'd have to think about that." He said seriously, though his grin and the the twinkle in his eyes gave him away. "Absolutely."
His hands reached up to her mask, and she made no move to stop him, but before he could reveal her face she felt a warmth in her shoe, and she gasped, her eyes flying towards the clock. Ten minutes to midnight!
"What?" he asked, concerned.
"I've got to go." She said, really wishing she didn't have to but not wanting to face the plethora of questions she knew she would receive from Lavender and Parvati if she wasn't in the room when they returned, much less when she showed up looking the way she did now! "I'm sorry, but thank you." She said as she started to walk away. "This has been the most amazing night!"
She hastened out of the Great Hall, increasing her speed as much as she could in heels once she was in the entrance hall. She pulled her hairpins from her hair as she hurried up the stairs, wanting to leave as much time as she could back in her room to change her dress and her hair. She didn't notice as one of the pins dropped to the floor, where a certain Slytherin Boy picked it up.
A/N2: I know I don't normally put one here, but I just wanted to say now that I know a lot of you were hoping that Draco would recognise Hermione or find out who she is in this chapter, but I'm following the plot of "A Cinderella Story" and, as lovely as it would be for him to find out who she is and just not care, I couldn't differ from the plot that much :/ But he will find out who she is soon enough, and I hope you like how everything unfolds from this point on!