Disclaimer: I don't own anything. Boo Hoo.

Thank you everyone for your patience. My life has been crazy and unpredictable which has left little time for writing.

Chapter 54

Time to Dance

Harry sighed in annoyance at his uncooperative hair. He thought he looked quite dashing in his dress robes but his blasted hair just wouldn't lay flat. Not that it ever did but he figured the Sleek-Ease he borrowed from George would have at least helped. Giving up the hopeless battle with the mop on top his head, he ran a final comb through it and left the bathroom. Grabbing the bouquet of flowers from his dresser, he made his way out of his dorm room and headed to the common room.

Hermione was nervous. It really was silly of her, or so she thought, she saw Draco pretty much everyday, so why was tonight any different? Well, she wasn't in her robes for one thing. Plus there would be dancing. She was a competent enough dancer but she started worrying that she might get distracted, make a mistake and end of stepping all over his feet.

"Well don't you look nice?" Hermione was pulled from her worrisome thoughts at the sound of Ginny's chipper voice, as she descended the last couple of steps that lead from the girl's dorms to the common room.

"Thanks, so do you. That color green looks really nice on you."

Ginny snorted and looked down at her, layered, light green, dress, "It's okay I guess. I wish mum would have picked a different color, I feel like a Christmas tree."

Hermione gave a small laugh but shook her head, "Not at all, you look lovely, really."

"Hermione's right." The girls spun to left to see Harry standing just a few feet away flowers in hand. "You do look quite lovely."

Ginny's cheeks flushed at the complement. "So do you. I-I mean you look very handsome."

"Thanks, these are for you." Harry took a step closer and handed the flowers to his date. She really did look very pretty. He liked how she had her hair up in curls.

"Thank you," She said taking in their frequent scent. "They smell amazing. Did you buy these in Hogsmead?"

"Uh, no." Harry cleared his throat; "Professor Sprout allowed me to pick a few from Greenhouse 5. I hope that's okay."

"Oh Harry's it's more then okay, it's perfect, thank you so much."

"Your very welcome." Harry replied his smile pulling into a full on grin.

"Um, let me just go put these in my room really quickly." Ginny turned to head back up to her dorm room but was suddenly stopped by Hermione. "I'll do it, Gin. You and Harry go, I will meet you down in a few."

"Oh okay, thanks Hermione". Ginny was grateful for the offer, she really didn't want to climb all the back up the stairs, not to mention leave Harry's sight for a single second.

"No problem." Hermione replied, taking the flowers from her younger friend and heading back up back up the stairs. She though it quite sweet of Harry to pick flowers for Ginny, very thoughtful.

"So shall we go?" Harry asked offering his arm.

"Yes, we shall." Ginny looped her arms with Harry's and together they left the common room.

XXX

Draco pulled his pocket watch out his pocket watch to check the time. He didn't know why he was so anxious; he had done this before after all. Plus, it was just a ball; he had been to hundreds of them over his lifetime, it really should have been no big deal. Dozens of people had already made their way inside, including Crabb and Goyle and their dates. Crabb had asked some Huffelpuff girl in their Care of Magical Creatures class and Goyle took Millicent.

"Hey Draco."

Draco grinned and waved at Harry, who had Ginny on his arm. "Hey Harry. You haven't seen Hermione have you?"

Yah, she'll be down in a sec", Harry replied, "Well, we should head in, I'll see you in there, Draco."

Draco watched as Harry and Ginny headed excitedly into the Great Hall. Harry looked like he was on cloud nine. His face lit up in a way it rarely did, especially since having his name pulled from the Goblet. It was nice to see him so happy.

"Hello there handsome."

Draco spun around at the sound of her voice and when his grey eyes connected to her brown, his mouth fell open. Draco remembered what Hermione had worn to the Yule ball, and even though, at the time he pretty much hated her or, or at least he had convinced himself that he did, he had admitted, if only to myself, that she looked nice. He didn't know if it was because his first time attending the Yule Ball was so long ago or if he simply hadn't paid that much attention to her focusing more on showing off his own date and, of course, himself, but standing there in her lavender dress, her hair curled and pulled back from her beautiful eyes, Hermione Granger looked more then nice, she was breathtaking.

"H-hi," he stuttered.

"Hello. Sorry I'm a little late. Harry got Ginny flowers and I offered to take then to her room."

"Oh that's okay." Draco suddenly felt rather stupid. He should have thought of flowers, or chocolates, or something. "You look beautiful, Hermione." He said with dashing smile, taking her hand in his.

Hermione felt her body warm as his fingers intertwined with hers.

"Mr. Malfoy, there you are." Draco turned to see the Head of Gryffindor rushing his way. "Have you seen Mr. Potter?"

"He went inside already, why?"

Minerva sighed and shook her head. "You stay here with your date while I locate Mr. Potter. The Champions enter last and have the first dance." The Deputy Headmistress said quickly as she dashed off to find Harry.

"Why did Potter go in, he should have followed the rules and waited."

Draco turned at the ignorant words of Victor Krum, his thick eyebrows knitting together as his face pulled to a scowl. Beside him was his date, a blond girl he knew was a seventh year Huffelpuff but he couldn't recall her name.

"He didn't know, and neither did I." Draco defended his friend automatically.

"Your Headmaster did not inform you?" Aimee asked, her own date, a Bulgarian wizard who looked quite confused, looked at Krum briefly and then back at Draco.

"Professor Dumbledore? No, I think McGonagall was supposed to but must have forgotten." Draco explained with a shrug.

"She does have quite a lot to do," Hermione spoke up, "she a teacher as well as a Deputy Head."

"No excuse," Krum grunted.

"It's not that big a deal," Krum's Huffelpuff date said flipping her hair over her shoulder.

It was at that very moment that McGonagall returned with an extremely annoyed looking Harry and Ginny following behind her. "Professor, we were already in there why couldn't we just stay." Harry asked, extremely embarrassed having been practically dragged through the Great Hall in front of hundreds of people.

"No, Mr. Potter. It is tradition that the champions enter together and have the first dance. Now everyone pair up and get in line. It's time!" She clasped her hands together and grinned. Draco had a hard time not laughing; he didn't think he had ever seen the stern Transfigure teacher so excited about something.

XXX

Walking into the Great Hall on Draco's arm felt beyond wonderful for Hermione, she could do without all the stairs and whispers but she wasn't about to let that ruin her night. Once the music started the dancing began as well. While she had been nervous at first the waltz was going well, Draco was an amazing dance partner.

"You are very light on your feet," she told him.

"Naturally, it's just more of the thing I am perfect at," He joked with a cheeky grin.

Hermione laughed but then added, "Yes, well maybe I should keep my complements to myself, I wouldn't want to add anymore to your already full ego."

"Oh, by all means add to it." Draco replied, grinning.

Hermione just laughed and shook her head.

The playful banter between the couple continued until several minutes later when the song ended and the real music began.

Eight men, whom Hermione thought looked and dressed just like any muggle rock group would, hurried onto the stage. Hermione thought that the fact that eight grown men called themselves the Weird Sisters was honestly funny, at least in a non-conformant sort of way.

"Hello everyone, are you ready to rock!" The lead singer of the group called out, lifting his microphone high in the air.

The students cheered wildly, and the rock music began playing, "Do you dance like a Hippogriff!"

XXX

Harry couldn't remember having so much fun. They danced and ate and just had a totally wicked time. Ginny was a great dancer and apparently knew a ton about the wizarding band.

"They're my favorite group by far." She had told him. "I like Counter Curse and Rebel Wizards, but Weird Sisters is by far my favorite. What about you Harry do you have any favorite bands."

Harry scratched the back of his head nervously. He didn't grow up in the wizarding world and even though he'd been apart of it for four years now he still didn't know a lot about wizarding culture outside of Hogwarts.

"Well, there are a couple of muggle bands I like." Harry replied.

"Oh really, who?" Ginny asked taking a sip of her pumpkin juice.

"Um, well, they're an older group, The Beatles. Remus said my mum really liked them, which was what got me interested in them. I also like David Bowie and Duran Duran."

"Well, do you think maybe this summer you can come over and bring over some of their albums?" Her question was followed by a blush; though her face was already so flushed from dancing it wasn't really noticeable.

"I can certainly try. Maybe you could come to my house. It gets kind of boring with just Remus and Sirius around."

Ginny really liked that idea. "I'll see if I can convince my parents."

"Great, so you want to dance some more."

"I'd love to."

With that Harry took Ginny's hand and made their way back onto the dance floor.

XXX

It was getting late, most students had gone back to their rooms. There were a few still scattered about, Draco and Hermione were one couple that simply did not want to let the evening die. They danced slowly, Hermione's head on his shoulder, their arms placed gently around each other's waists. It had been one of the best night's of Hermione's life, it's was like a fairytale and she was Cinderella and Draco was her Prince Charming except the magic didn't end at midnight.

"Do you want to take walk in the courtyard," Draco whispered into her ear.

Lifting her head from his shoulder she nodded, "sure."

Taking her hand Draco lead her out of the Hall and into the cool night air. He found the courtyard empty which was perfect for what he had in mind. Spending the evening in Hermione's arms made him realize something, despite the possible fall out from his dorm mates, his mother and Severus or even the Dark Lord himself, Draco Malfoy could not live without Hermione in his life. He had been a fool not to realize what a precious gift she was in his first life, he wasn't about to squander his chance this time.

Motioning to a nearby stone bench they both sat. The courtyard had been decorated with white lights, a warming charm placed around it so even though the surrounding grounds were quite cold and littered with snow the small stone area was comfortable and dry.

Taking a deep breath to help calm his nerves, Draco turned his body so he could gaze directly into her beautiful chocolate brown eyes. "Hermione," he took her right hand in both of his, running his thumb gently over the top of her hand. "This evening with you has been, well the most amazing night of my life."

Hermione's cheeks instantly reddened, she felt the same way but didn't know if she could gather the courage to vocalize it. "You have been my best friend for four amazing years. Your have defended me, encouraged me and believed in me even when most wouldn't. I am beyond lucky to have you in my life."

"I feel the same," she managed to say.

"That's good because I want to ask you something, something that would really change the dynamic of our relationship." Draco then moved his hand to cup her cheek. "So beautiful, inside and out," and then he did something he had been considering for months, he leaned in and kissed her.

Hermione briefly wondered if she was dreaming, as his soft warms lips melted against hers. Everything she had hoped, wished and dreamed of for, for months was finally happening.

When he eventually pulled from her sweet lips, he tilted his head so his forehead gently touched hers, and spoke the words she so desperately wanted to hear. "Hermione, will you be my girlfriend."

There it was. The moment she had been dreaming of and longing for. "Oh Draco, yes. Yes I will be your girlfriend."

Draco grinned before once again kissing her, this time as his girlfriend.

A/N: Hello all, sorry it's been a while. I don't have a BETA anymore, not really sure what happened to her. Anyway, I hope there aren't too many mistakes, I think I got most of them. Anyway. I hope you enjoy the chapter. Next up, a little Draco/ Hermione, Severus/Narcissa.