The weeks passed quickly and uneventfully. Draco and I were spending every spare minute together and we had assimilated our lives to the point that I couldn't imagine a day without him. I was starting to think that taking this position and agreeing to date Draco could very well be the best decisions I had ever made.

As for the dance, that was coming along quite well. There were enough details put together that today, December 14th, Professor McGonagall would be announcing the event as everyone settled down to dinner.

I was finding that I was actually quite excited to be a part of the event and proud of the work the prefects had done. Draco and I were discussing such feelings when McGonagall took her place at the podium.

"Ahem. If I could have everyone's attention for a moment." The great hall quieted quickly. It wasn't every day that announcements were made and when they were, it was usually wise to listen.

"Thank you. I would like to discuss an upcoming event. You school Heads and prefects have been hard at work the last several weeks preparing an event for us all to enjoy. They felt the last day of term would be an appropriate day to hold a ball." The students broke out in excited murmurs. "Yes, I know, it is quite exciting. A note of importance about said ball. The theme of the evening will be unity. Your prefects of all houses worked hard together to make this happen and the committee was overseen by Professors Malfoy and Granger which, as you all know, are from rival houses themselves and carried quite the dislike for each other as a result during their own time as students at our fine school. Time and war taught them that such rivalries are trivial and they were eager to help. There are a few rules to comply with this theme. First, the event is open to fourth year and above. Your partner, which does not have to be a romantic interest by any means, must be from another house. You are to wear formal attire with something that represents your date's house. During the evening, I encourage you to learn a thing or two about each other. My hope is that this evening of fun will result in new friendships and alliances between the students of Hogwarts. I have seen what happens when we are divided and as long as I run this school, that will never happen again so please do take these stipulations seriously. Any questions can be addressed to any prefect. An extra trip to Hogsmeade has been scheduled for this weekend to accommodate any attire needs for the event."

With that, she stepped away from the podium and the chatter broke to a near ear splitting volume. Draco grabbed my hand in reassurance under the table. As far as we could tell, the talk was all positive, but we would know more once the message had had time to sink in.

As we were preparing to leave dinner, McGonagall stopped us and asked us to accompany her to her office. We made our way out of the hall quickly, discussing minor details about the ball on our way. When we finally arrived, she indicated for us to sit and one look on her face told me the upcoming discussion would be serious.

"Thank you both for coming. Draco, I know you have patrols tonight so I will try not to keep you too long. With the announcement of the ball and the attention being brought to the pair of you for your involvement, I wanted to make something quite clear. You have my full support of the romantic relationship you share and I approve of the way you two have been handling it discretely."

My mouth dropped open. Clearly, we weren't as discrete as we thought if McGonagall knew we were dating.

"Don't look so surprised my dear. I have many years under my robes of paying attention to fine details to sniff out any riff raff. As you have not publicly announced your relationship, I wanted to assure you there is nothing in your contracts that prohibits dating among staff. However, while I appreciate your professionalism and discretion, I wanted to make sure you understand that your involvement with the along with, I'm assuming, escorting each other to the event will cause a lot of speculation. I want to make sure you are both prepared for the effect that may have, especially as the Daily Prophet will be present."

I bit my lip and glanced at Draco. He returned my gaze and gave a small shoulder shrug before returning to the Headmistress.

"We appreciate you taking the time to approach us. Both to give us your blessing as well as the warning of the press. This gives us a chance to discuss amongst ourselves how we want to present things as well as prepare us for any blowback. Thank you."

By the sound of his response, Draco wasn't keen on the information that the press would be covering the event. We clearly had much to talk about.

"Of course. You were always two of my favorite students and it has quite pleased me to see how you have blossomed into fine adults. It is very clear to those who know to look the adoration between the two of you. You have both been through such traumatic childhoods and it warms my old heart to see the happiness between you." She paused and if I didn't know any better, I'd say she wiped a tear away. "Alright, now that that is out of the way I won't take up anymore of your evening. Off you go."

I nodded in farewell and we took our leave.

We stayed silent until we were out of earshot of the gargoyle guarding McGonagall's office.

"You have a bit before patrols, care to come back to mine so we can discuss all of that?" I waved my hand vaguely in the direction we just came from.

"Of course."

Not wanting anyone to overhear, we stayed silent until we made it back to my room. My nerves were on full force as the implications of our conversation started to sink in. This conversation could go either way.

"What are your thoughts on the matter?" I asked as I poured us both a glass of wine.

"Well, I knew that some of the students might start to suspect something after the ball, but having the press there is a game changer. We need to decide if we are ready for our relationship to be public. The Malfoy name is still big news in the Wizarding World and with your Golden Trio status, just us having a dance together will be front page news with much speculation. Are we ready for the fall out of that?"

I crinkled my nose. "I understand we would get press, but I hardly think people will care that much."

Draco set down his glass and started to pace the room. "Hemione, as much as I would love to think that our relationship is only between us, as soon as the public finds out there will be trouble. There are those that still hold the pureblood standards that will be upset with me dating a muggleborn, and I suspect there is a larger number of people who will be furious that you are dating a known Death Eater."

"Come on now, everyone knows you were forced. Besides, our personal life is our business."

He looked at me with an expression of pain. I couldn't help but show my confusion.

"Hermione, the wizarding community is highly protective of you. You and I both know that you can do a lot better than me. They have a right to be upset that someone so pure is settling herself with someone capable of such evil. There are going to threats and speculation. I won't be surprised if people suspect I have fed you a love potion or put you under the imperious curse."

That pain and bitterness turned into sadness as I saw the trauma of his past surface on his features. I will never forgive Lucius Malfoy for what he did to his son.

"Draco, look at me." His gaze turned toward me, but our eyes didn't meet. I grabbed one of his hands in mine, and used the other to force his stare. "Draco, you are a good man. No, listen to me. You are good. I saw it then and I see it now. I don't care what anyone else thinks. You are more important to me than anyone else and I refuse to let them bully us into hiding out of fear. I've had enough of that thank you very much. You make me happier than I have ever been. Draco, I love you and I have no intention of what we have ending any time soon. It is inevitable that the information would get out eventually and it's just something we will need to deal with. No amount of delay is going to change that. At least we have a warning and we can be braced for whatever the outcome may be."

Something had changed in his expression, but I couldn't quite identify what. "You love me?"

My mouth hung slightly agape. Did I love him? I don't think I had thought in those terms before this moment and quite honestly, I hadn't realized the words had slipped out. But now that he asked, I didn't have to think about his question very hard.

"Yes."

His lips were on mine with a heat I hadn't felt before.

"I... love... you... too... for... so... long..." His words were punctuated by feverish kisses that I felt all the way to my toes.

I had lost track of how much time we stood there, exploring each other's mouths, until I felt a slight buzz from Draco's pocket. He felt it too and pulled back, resting his forehead on mine.

"Damn responsibilities. I have to go do patrols. It really sucks when we are split up. Flitwick is nice and all, but it's just not the same." I nodded. We were often paired up and I now wondered if it happened as frequently as it did because McGonagall was trying to encourage us to spend time together. "It'll be late when I'm done. See you in the morning?"

My lips were swollen and my brain was still fuzzy from our previous activities but I managed a nod in response.

He left to attend to his duties while I sat coming down from the high that is my boyfriend.