A/N: Thank you to everyone who reviewed!! I have received 111 or so reviews for this story so far, and I really appreciated each and every one of them. So, please keep it up!  Read and Review!

Disclaimer: I own nothing but the characters of Olivia Brenin and Haley Alisa Carter.

Chapter 13:

Hermione was perplexed. Extremely confused. More like confuddled. She was still trying to figure out why the Malfoys were inviting her to their annual ball, which she knew would be one of the social events of the season. The purest of the purebloods attended, and she knew that they still lived by the old hierarchy of the magical world: purebloods, half-bloods, and then muggle borns. Even though Voldemort had been defeated years ago, the purebloods still took pride in themselves and looked down on others. So the fact that the Malfoys were inviting her lowly self to the ball was something beyond her comprehension. Malfoy was avoiding her for some odd reason, and she hadn't been able to talk to him about it.

She called up Ginny and Harry, wanting to get the suspicions that she had off of her mind. Harry picked up the phone.

"Potter Residence."

"Harry, it's me, Hermione."

"Hi, Mia. What's going on?" Harry asked.

"Well, something's been bothering me, and I was hoping you could help me figure this out."

"Okay, hit me."

"Well, I received an invitation to the Malfoys' annual ball, and I can't figure out for the life of me, why they invited me."

"Yes, well, Mia, you're not alone. They've invited us too, and we are just as confused as you are."

Hermione sighed. "Do you know anyone else that was invited, who usually isn't?"

"No, I don't, but you might want to talk to Blaise. He might know what it's about."

"Yeah, I was thinking the same thing. Are you thinking about going?"

"Yeah, we'll go check it out, see what all the hype is about. At least you'll have us if you decide to go."

"Yeah, I guess. Thanks Harry." She hung up the phone.

DMHGDMHGDMHG

Later that night, a knock sounded on the door while Hermione was watching T.V. Draco was out with Blaise, so she was home alone with Haley. She got up and opened the door, and was surprised to find Jason standing there.

"Jason! What are you doing here?" Hermione asked.

"Well, I thought that I would just bring you some dinner," He replied, holding up a picnic basket.

Hermione kissed him on the cheek. "Thank you. That's really sweet."

They both walked into the living room and sat down on the couch, just comfortably watching T.V. and randomly talking about one thing or another.

"Hermione," Jason blurted out. "Would you like to go with me to the Malfoy Masquerade?"

"Oh, well, I wasn't really sure if I wanted to go. I received an invitation, but there's something suspicious about it, especially since I am a muggleborn."

"I wouldn't look too much into it. They're just trying to rebuild their reputation after the war, that's all."

Hermione nodded. "I'll go with you, but you have to promise me that we'll get out of there if I'm feeling umcomfortable."

"Deal," Jason said, giving her a kiss on the forehead.

DMHGDMHGDMHG

It was nearly midnight when Draco got home. The lights were turned off when he got in, but there was sound coming from the T.V. He went to investigate and found Jason asleep on the couch, Hermione snuggled up against his side.

Draco's face hardened and he turned around to turn of the television. He shook Jason awake rather aggressively.

"Billings! Wake up!" Draco said.

Jason stirred slightly, but Hermione was the first one to open her eyes.

"Draco! Hi! What time is it?" Hermione asked, rubbing her eyes.

"Around midnight," He replied coolly.

Hermione shook Jason awake and said something quietly to him. Jason slowly got up off the sofa, gave Hermione a kiss and nodded to Draco before letting himself out of the house.

Draco turned to Hermione. "I know that this is your house, but if there's a rule about me not having girls over, I expect that rule to apply to you and whatever guys you're with."

With that he stormed off and locked himself in his room.

DMHGDMHGDMHG

The day of the ball had come and Hermione was extremely nervous. She wanted to make a good impression on the families that would be at the ball and definitely wanted at least Narcissa Malfoy to like her. She didn't know why.

Ginny had agreed to come over and help her with her hair and make-up. Her gown was strapless and a red wine color. The bodice was lightly beaded and very figure flattering, while the skirt was asymmetrical, with layers of taffeta underneath to give it fullness. She had a mask that matched the dress perfectly.

Jason arrived to pick her up at precisely 5:30 and was dressed in a crisp black tux.

"You look lovely," Jason said with a smile on his face.

"Why, thank you. You don't look too bad yourself." Hermione replied playfully.

"Shall we?" Jason offered her his arm graciously.

DMHGDMHGDMHG

They arrived at Malfoy Manor promptly at 6:15. Hermione was taken aback by the sheer number of people that were at the ball. The ballroom was a high-ceilinged room near the back of the manor with a view of the gardens. There was an extremely extravagant chandelier hanging from the ceiling and there was a winding staircase on one side of the room.

Hermione spotted Ginny's flaming red hair with Harry's raven black and made her way over to them, pulling Jason along with her.

"Gin? Harry? Is that you?" Hermione asked, pretty confidently.

"Yes, Mia. I'm guessing you recognized the hair. I really should have done something about it." Ginny said.

"No, I can just recognize the two of you, no matter what." Hermione said playfully.

Jason cleared his throat.

"Oh, yes, I've forgotten my manners. Jason, these are my best friends Harry and Ginny Potter. Harry and Gin, this is Jason Billings."

"It's nice to meet you. I've heard a lot about you." Ginny said, shaking his hand.

"Have you seen Blaise yet?" Hermione asked, searching the crowd.

"No, but I have seen you-know-who." Ginny whispered.

"Ginny!" Hermione scolded. "Shut up!"

Ginny just smirked at her.

"Would you like to dance, Hermione?" Jason asked. Hermione took his hand and response and led him out onto the dance floor.

On the other side of the room, Draco watched the scene before him. He was utterly bored, and really had no desire to be there at the moment. He downed his drink and went to get another, but something caught his eye. A woman on the dance floor in a wine red gown, who was laughing at something her partner said. She looked absolutely beautiful to him.

Blaise crept up behind him. "Three guesses who that is." He smirked.

Draco turned around. "Do you know who that is?"

"Yup. But I'm not telling you. You have to go find out for yourself."

Draco handed his drink to Blaise and walked over to her. He tapped her on the shoulder. "May I cut in?" He asked Jason.

"Actually-," Jason started.

"Sure," Hermione said graciously. She looked apologetically at Jason.

Draco put a hand on her waist and took her warm hand in his.

"May I say that you look absolutely exquisite, tonight?"

"Oh, thank you." Hermione blushed. She met his eyes and immediately recognized them.

"Draco?"

"Hermione?" Draco asked, startled. "You l-look…"

"Thank you," she blushed again.

The two danced in silence until the dance ended. She excused herself and hurried over to where Ginny and Harry were talking to someone.

"Hey, Gin, can you come with me for a second?"

"Sure. What's this about?"

At that moment, the clinking of a fork against the side of a glass could be heard.

"May I have your attention, please?" Narcissa Malfoy called.

The room grew silent. "Thank you. Now, Lucius and I have an announcement to make. It is our greatest pleasure to announce that our son, Draco, will be getting married to the daughter of a good friend of ours, Olivia Brenin."

Then, a beautiful, tall and slender woman came down the staircase. Hermione recognized her immediately.

Draco's eyes widened in shock, but nobody saw it.

Hermione was even more shocked than Draco.

"Draco, where are you, dear? Please come up here." Narcissa called.

Draco slowly made his way to where Olivia and his parents were standing. Lucius presented Draco with a ring that he was supposed to put on Olivia's finger. As he did so, the cameras of the paparazzi went off like crazy.

Hermione fled the room as her eyes started filling with tears. She couldn't believe this. She and Draco were living together, taking care of a child together. And she finds out about the engagement like this? What was going to happen with Haley? And wasn't it just recently that Draco kissed her and basically admitted his feelings for her?

A/N: I wasn't very happy with it. Please review! I will try to update soon but I have finals this week, so I might not have time.