DISCLAIMER: Anything that looks familiar is not mine. It's most likely J.K. Rowling's. Oh, how I wish they were mine.

eight. cotillion.

Draco stood impatiently by the women's staircase, waiting for Ginny to come down already. Most of the girls had already arrived, but his partner was nowhere to be found. He himself had only gotten ready half an hour prior, as he had little to prepare for. Looking at the watch on his left arm, he was about to let out a string of curses when he saw a familiar woman heading down the stairs.

Ginny Weasley came down looking a lot like a Slytherin, or at least in color scheme. On the one hand, he wanted to laugh, but on the other hand, he couldn't help but notice just how stunning she looked. Draco had assessed early on that she was never unfortunate looking, but it felt like he was truly looking at her as a woman for the first time. She made her way down carefully in her silver strappy high heeled sandals, the straps crisscrossing up her dainty feet and fastening at her ankle. His eyes trailed up to her forest green iridescent taffeta dress that ended a few centimeters above her knee, while the sweetheart neckline tastefully enhanced her breasts. The garment caught the light, shifting between varying hues of green in its subtle pleats as she moved about. Kind of like her hair. Her hair looked absolutely stunning, which was pinned back but her crimson curls cascaded freely down her back. He decided that red was now his new favorite color. Of course he would never admit that to former Gryffindor Weasley. Draco tried not to laugh at the grim expression on her made up face. Her cosmetics were in subtle hues, emphasizing her large dark eyes and lashes while brightening her cheeks and lips.

"Kindly put a sock in it, Draco," Ginny huffed with shapely knitted eyebrows as she stood before Draco. "I'm committing blasphemy to my own house. So much for being a loyal Gryffindor."

"You know Weasley, you clean up pretty nicely," he stated carefully, trying to subtly give her a compliment without giving her the wrong impression. They were just sort of friends after all.

"Thanks," she said awkwardly with a shy smile, absent mindedly tucking a non-existent lock of hair into place. "Apparently, your mother ended up choosing this for me."

"I see we'll make a fitting Slytherin out of you just yet," Draco smirked. Oh, mother truly does know best. He would have to thank her one of these days.

Nearly all of the couples had entered the hall, Draco realized as he glanced around the entry corridor. He was about to give her his arm to hold onto when he realized he was still clutching a bouquet of flowers in his hand. He had been so distracted by this new lovely form that was Ginny Weasley, that he had nearly forgotten the pink roses in his hand. Earlier that week, he had mailed the finest florist in Diagon Alley to deliver him the best bouquet he could find for his partner. Draco felt that it would be a good touch in improving relations with her.

"What are these?" Ginny inquired as he handed them to her, eyeing them questionably.

"Flowers. They grow out of the ground," informed Draco flatly with a roll of his eyes. "Honestly, Weasley, did you pay attention in Herbology?"

"I know what they are!" She snapped, gruffly taking the bouquet from his hand. "I'm asking what they're doing in your hands."

"It is custom in many cultures to bring flowers for your date," he noted casually before realizing what he had said. Wait, date? This was just another part of the program; not a date. Why had that even come out of his mouth? Draco did his best to keep his composure.

"Are you suggesting this is a date?" Ginny said, looking just as startled as he felt, her eyebrows raised.

"You are my date to this Cotillion, are you not?" Draco answered with another question, vehemently attempting to remain unfazed. That sounded like a valid counterpoint. And it got him out of explaining what he had actually meant by date. Draco breathed a sigh of relief.

"I guess…" Ginny trailed off, still eyeing the exquisite fully bloomed pink roses.

"Are we going to continue to argue semantics the whole night or head inside?" Draco questioned impatiently. The Cotillion was nearly about to start and they had better not be late, as per his mother's instructions.

He offered his arm, which she tentatively took, threading her arm with his. As he led her in, Draco noticed out of the corner of his eyes that she sniffed the roses, closing her eyes in contentment. He tried his hardest not to grin as they made their entrance into the ballroom.

For the second time that week, they were back in the ballroom. Instead of appearing serious and daunting with its intimidating columns, cold marble floors, and expensive chandeliers, it looked much more inviting in Ginny's opinion. Draped curtains made of a sheer fabric hung from the ceilings and wrapped around the columns, all strung with live fairies that lit up and changed colors. The chandeliers were sparkling and emitting a warm glow. Each of the tables had beautiful floral centerpieces that looked like they were made from the Malfoy Manor gardens. While the adult students were milling about by the buffet table and at their respective tables, Ginny noticed a bunch of children who looked about half her age huddled in the center of the room. The girls were dressed in poufy little dresses with layers of tulle in different hues of pastels, while the boys were in their most formal dress robes.

"This room looks fantastic!" Ginny exclaimed as they moved closer to the buffet table. "Is our Ball going to look like this?"

"Not even close," Draco replied with a knowing smile as he handed her a plate. "It's going to be even better. This is just for the kids." Ginny could only wonder what Narcissa had in store for the actual Ball when these decorations already looked amazing.

She took the plate from his hands, stealing a glance at him. Draco looked quite handsome in his dress robes, though they seemed to be slightly less formal than those she had seen at the Yule Ball. His garments were all black from head to toe, which were tailored impeccably for his shape, as she noticed how it defined his lean frame. His black shirt was free of a tie, but stretched snugly across his fit upper body. Draco's platinum blond hair was neatly coiffed to the side. Upon looking closely, she saw that the stitching of his dress robes were a subtle dark green. What she most noticed however, was just how different he looked when he was actually pleasant and smiling. So different that it was infectious; she could feel her own smile growing as she continued to watch him. His eyes were illuminated with mischief and mirth as each of his features lit up. His eyes met hers inquiringly, but she quickly looked away so he wouldn't suspect anything. Or so she hoped.

Instead, Ginny focused her attention to the buffet table, which was piled with mouthwatering hors d'oeuvres, both savory and sweet. On the savory side, there were petite glasses filled with sauce paired with fanciful shrimp cocktail. There were very convoluted shaped tarts with some sort of sauce that was turned into a foam resting upon each bite-sized treat. She also saw some delectable baked fruits stuffed with a sweet cheese, nuts, and drizzled honey on top, to name a few. Her favorite part was the sweet side, where she saw chocolate covered strawberries and large leveled towers of French pastries all a variety of different cakes, tarts, and other miniature sweet delectable bites.

And then suddenly, her eyes fell upon the single most beautiful thing in the world. At the center of the spacious buffet table was a brimming chocolate fountain made of five tiers. Each tier was of a different flavor of chocolate, starting with white chocolate at the bottom, mint chocolate, dark chocolate, milk chocolate, and ending with hazelnut flavored chocolate at the very top.

Ginny shoved the plate that she had stacked a kilometer high with every bite she could get her paws on into Draco's hands, though it rather jabbed him in the stomach. Frantically looking around for a cup, she only found empty champagne flutes. She grabbed two and began gathering the chocolate into the glasses, switching every so often, layering the different flavors of chocolate in her flutes. Ginny carefully took a generous swig of one of the glasses, being careful as to not drop it on the most expensive piece of clothing she now owned.

"Why are you not amazed by this glorious creation?" Ginny asked curiously when she noticed that Draco was standing around looking rather bored.

"It's all right," he replied rather flippantly, shifting his balance as he held onto her plate along with hers.

"There's a bloody CHOCOLATE FOUNTAIN here! This is simply amazing," Ginny affirmed. It appeared that Draco had seen nearly everything if he was not amazed at this innovation like she was.

"I think you need to slow down there and not double fist all of the chocolate," Draco teased with a smirk.

That was then she realized she did look rather like a nutter with two flutes filled to the brim with chocolate. She lowered the glass that she was bringing close to her face, and tried to walk in a dignified manner to their table. Draco followed suit, falling into place with her.

"You know, you can always go back to the table. That's what a buffet is for," Draco explained in mock seriousness, raising her plate with his hand, which was noticeably more packed than his.

"Well, in the spirit of this Conservatory and creating new experiences, I'm leaving no stone unturned," she shot back, but with a smile.

The kids had begun their program of performing the waltz out on the dance floor. As she munched on her goodies, Ginny scanned the room. She saw Lena and Blaise on the other side, and gave them a quick wave. Lena looked gorgeous as ever in her delicate silky butter yellow dress that landed just at her knees radiated her exuberance. It had a subtle lace trim running along the top and bottom. Lena's smile looked dazzling against her vibrant pink lips while her jet black hair was in thick, glamourous curls. Blaise in comparison looked ever the handsome in his sophisticated charcoal dress robes, looking like he had just stepped out of a wizardwear catalog. They both looked perfectly content to be with each other, hardly registering what was going on around them.

"That's the happiest I've seen Blaise, to be honest," Draco acknowledged, leaning over to her so she could hear him over the music. She felt a shiver go down her spine upon hearing his deep voice, his lips millimeters away from her ear.

"Really?" Ginny said, surprised. "He seemed to be quite the charmer when we first met." She reflected back to their introductions when he had assertively taken Lena's hand and proceeded to kiss it.

"Oh, that's all an act," Draco admitted to her as he munched on a fruit tart. "Blaise is actually pretty careful with who he lets into his life." Ginny was rather surprised that Draco was having such an honest conversation with him. It really was like they were friends.

"You wouldn't think he would have any trouble," Ginny commented, turning to face him, as she sipped away on her chocolate drink, carefully making sure to wipe her mouth. She would have thought that a good-looking man like Blaise would have had his share of girls.

"Trouble? Most definitely not," Draco said with a chuckle. "Personally, I think it's because of his many former step fathers. He seems to have issues with commitment. But I think this time it's different."

Ginny said nothing as she continued to observe them. It really wasn't fair that they were both so good looking with charming personalities and had managed to find each other. However any envious thoughts she had about them quickly dissipated upon seeing the matching blissful smiles on both of their faces. It was then that she noticed something behind the couple. What had caught her attention was a long counter that was discreetly situated at the back corner of the ballroom.

"Draco, look!" Ginny exclaimed, pointing in the direction of the counter. She tugged at his sleeve like an impatient child when he wasn't paying attention, shaking the food out of his hand. "It's a bar!"

"Am I that bad company that you need to be drunk to be in my presence?" Draco irritatingly raised his eyebrow. He dusted off the crumbs that had landed all over his dress robes. When they continued to cling to his garment, he quickly cast a quick cleaning spell to make the mess disappear.

"Well… no…" Ginny answered, slightly taken aback by her answer. He had gotten much less aggravating over the past several days. "But come on!"

Ginny dragged Draco over to the bar, forcing him to leave his snacks behind. He continued to lament over the loss of his food as they stood side by side, waiting for a bartender to arrive.

"I thought your mum said no alcohol," Ginny asked, while she kept an eye out for someone who looked like they were there to tend the bar.

"I guess she decided to treat us," he mused, sounding as surprised as she was.

They stood there for at least ten more minutes making small talk, when Draco eventually griped, "I can't wait around all night."

"Well, it's not my fault the bartender disappeared," Ginny responded. "He probably saw your face and ran away," she joked. Draco responded with a customary roll of his eyes at her feeble attempt. The elusive bartender was nowhere to be found as she scanned the room a couple of more times.

"Where is this bloke? Is he out fermenting the alcohol himself? Manually squishing the grapes for wine?" Apparently unwilling to wait a second more, Draco moved away from her and walked around the counter onto the other side.

"What the hell are you doing?" Ginny asked, resting her elbow atop the bar. It was probably completely unladylike, she realized, but she was much too curious to be following the rules at that moment.

"I'm making us drinks," he replied sensibly, shrugging off his robe and rolling up the sleeves of his shirt. Draco handed her the robe, which she handled with care. It was overwhelmingly soft as her hands clutched the cloth. "So, Miss Weasley, what will it be?"

Ginny never thought in a million years that Draco Malfoy would be escorting her to a dance, let alone standing behind a bar ready to serve her a drink. She giggled as she ordered, "A gin martini please, with a twist."

Draco gave her a pointed look as he waved his wand to summon all of the ingredients. "You've got to be joking with your drink of choice."

"I'm quite serious, Draco. It's a fine drink too," she responded indignantly.

"Really though? A gin martini? Gin… as in Ginny?" Draco asked again with a ghost of a smile, beginning to carefully measure out the right amounts of the components. He seemed to know the right ratios off the top of his head.

"Yes, but with a twist. That's quite important actually," she added, emphasizing the need for the zest. "Well either way, what's it to you?"

"Nothing. Just a bit surprised really. You're actually taking a page out of the Malfoy handbook for self-centeredness," Draco seamlessly replied with a grin.

"Hey, I thought it was ingenious at seventeen!" She cried. Upon realizing how incredulous her statement sounded, she burst into giggles.

"Well," Draco started as he looked at her as if she was a bit mad. "I think it's time for an adult drink."

He easily finished combining the liquids, creating two drinks – one for her and one for himself. Adding a slice of lime at the end for garnish, he handed one to her.

"There. There's your twist," Draco teased as she sniffed the drink uncertainly. He took a sip easily, so she took a generous swig, only to nearly choke on how strong it was.

"Merlin's balls, that's a stiff drink!" She said, wiping the excess liquid off her face and chin with a small napkin. Her tolerance level diminished as she hadn't had a strong drink. "What was that?"

"A gin and tonic," he replied, easily taking another large sip. "Thought I would upgrade you."

"Are you trying to get me drunk, Malfoy?" Ginny accused playfully. "So you can have your way with me?" She inwardly cringed upon hearing how she sounded. It almost sounded like she was flirting. Ginny hoped he didn't pick up on that in her comment.

"So, it's back to Malfoy now?" Draco drawled with a small smile.

"Only when you muck things up," she huffed, taking small sips in an attempt to prove that she could handle the strong drink.

Just then the bartender returned from out of nowhere, shooing Draco away from the back of the counter. Draco scowled at the bartender but did eventually return to his spot next to Ginny. Seeing their drinks were finished, the bartender swiftly replenished their glasses with spirits.

"He better not expect a tip, I did all of the work," Draco muttered when the bartender's back was turned to fill other orders. He took the robe from her hands and pulled it back on.

"I bet that was the first time you ever did menial labor in your life," Ginny teased with a laugh.

"Possibly," he responded, with an air of dramatics. "And it was hard work!"

She smacked him on the shoulder playfully before she realized how it looked. Ginny ignored the voice in her head that said to retreat and maintain a platonic disposition. She didn't care anymore at this point. It was a lovely night, she was wearing a fantastic dress, and she was on the arm of a good looking fellow. Perhaps it was the drinks talking at this point, but Ginny was more than ready to have a good time.

She saw that a couple of the other couples had made their way onto the dance floor by now, also participating in the dance with the younger crowd. It seemed Draco had picked up on the moment, as he set his drink down and bowed in front of Ginny. He offered his hand as a gentleman would, saying, "May I have this dance?"

She couldn't help but chuckle again at the theatrics of his actions. She proceeded to curtesy, though the skirt of her dress wasn't really long enough to do so. "Yes, you may."

It was then that Ginny noticed one of the lapels were still overturned, and without thinking, she reached out to smooth it out so it would lay flat against his chest. Her hand lingered a second longer than they it have as she realized just how fit he really was. She quickly moved her hand back before she had a chance to think anymore unnecessary thoughts about Draco.

This seemingly went unnoticed as Draco escorted her onto the dance floor, placing his hand in hers and the other on the small of her back. They easily glided around in the usual box motion, swaying to the music. The familiar scent of his cologne infiltrated her nostrils. Ginny did all she could do to not bury herself into his chest to inhale the intoxicating aroma.

They continued along for a while in the same manner. While it was nice, Ginny was beginning to get rather bored of the repetitive dance. Wasn't he getting tired of the formalities as well?

"You must admit that the waltz is rather boring," she hinted. "Don't you want to step outside of the box? ...so to speak?"

"I'm fine with this," he replied with finality. Though, as if on cue, the tune changed to a faster tempo. Recognizing the song, Ginny decided to take the lead during this dance, showing him a few new moves. He kept up admirably, looking slightly uncomfortable while dancing, though trying his hardest to not let it show through. She tried not to laugh as clearly Draco was out of his element for once. It much more enjoyable being the one with the upper-hand in a situation.

Just as Draco looked like he was having a good time and had gotten the hang of it, she heard a voice say, "Is it alright if I cut in?"

She looked up to see Maxwell looking inquisitively with his brown eyes at the both of them. "I think Malfoy here may need a break," he laughed. Maxwell also did look rather handsome in his own exquisite dress robes, his hair tamed for once as opposed to the messy hairdo he had day in and day out.

Draco seemingly reluctantly let her go and decided to rest up back at their seats. However, he was trapped on the dance floor as Daphne took her chance to dance with an unoccupied Draco. She could have sworn that Draco had shot Max a look, but it happened so quickly that she couldn't really confirm. Though she felt a slight pang of sadness upon looking at a retreating Draco, she let it go. After all, she was moving from one handsome guy to another. Her current situation was a nice predicament to be in.

Maxwell easily slid into Draco's spot and placed his arm around her. They began to sway to the music easily, though it wasn't the easy sync she and Draco had accomplished in their practice session. His chocolate eyes twinkled back at her rather impishly, and it left her slightly unsettled. Ginny was unaccustomed to getting this much undivided attention from more than one male at a time; she was unsure of how to handle a situation like this.

"So…" Ginny began awkwardly, trying to break the awkward tension.

"Did Draco happen to tell you that you look gorgeous tonight?" Maxwell complimented smoothly with a beaming grin. "I bet he didn't even notice."

Ginny's face flushed at his statement. Was he flirting with her? "Uh, sort of. Perhaps, not in those words," Ginny answered. He had noticed she looked different, though it wasn't exactly a forward comment like Max's.

"I'm actually surprised he let me cut in. If I was your partner, I wouldn't let you go," Max said as he spun her around.

If it was possible, Ginny was blushing even more, though it was also slightly from discomfort. They had barely spoken a paragraph to each other since the program had commenced, and he was so blatantly flirting with her. It was unnerving, in the most disconcerting way.

She decided to change the topic from herself. A sudden thought popped into her head, one that she had been wondering since earlier that day "Say Max, were you at the pick-up Quidditch match this afternoon?"

"Yes."

"Did you happen to witness what exactly triggered that peacock to beak Draco's eye?" Ginny probed, unable to hide her curiosity.

Max wholeheartedly laughed. "Well, it went like this..."

Draco wished someone would hex the living daylights out of him at that moment. Since Maxwell had taken Ginny away from him, he was stuck dancing with Daphne the shrew. While she was babbling incessantly about Merlin knows what, Draco couldn't but keep a vigilant eye on his partner.

Just as he turned Daphne around so he could get a good look at the twosome, he saw Ginny lean in closer to Maxwell as he leaned closer to her ear. He seemed to be telling her something which evidently made her laugh. Draco didn't like it one bit, shooting imaginary daggers with his eyes at Max. What was he telling her? I could make her laugh like that, Draco thought to himself. He wasn't exactly sure why this situation was eliciting this type of reaction from him.

"…and then I was about to- Hello? Draco? Are you even listening to me?" Daphne asked, snapping Draco out of his trance.

Daphne turned slightly to see what he was so mesmerized by and her eyes fell on Ginny and Max.

"I think Mad Max may give you a run for it, Draco," Daphne said with a smirk. Only on her face, it looked much more evil.

"What are you talking about?" Draco questioned carefully. He settled his face into a blank expression to not arouse her suspicions.

"Don't play coy with me, Malfoy. Maxwell told me all about your guys' little bet," Daphne replied triumphantly. The bet. Draco had forgotten all about the bet over the past couple of days. He had been busy improving their burgeoning relationship simply out of his own desires rather than for some ulterior motive. That was probably why he was so concerned as to why Maxwell was cozying up to Ginny like that. Right? Max was probably telling Ginny something that would make Draco look bad so he would lose the bet.

"Ow!" Daphne shrieked. "You're crushing my hand, Draco!"

"What?" Draco said looking down at her. He saw that his hand was gripping hers a little too strongly that his knuckles were beginning turn even paler. "Oh, sorry about that," though he sounded rather unapologetic.

"Whatever," Daphne snapped. The music began to shift to a different tune, and Draco did not want to spend another moment with the miserable Daphne.

"Oh, thank Salazar," Draco muttered when the new song came on.

"What was that?" Daphne asked owlishly, her harsh, cool brown eyes looking up at him.

"Oh, nothing," Draco covered up, quickly letting go of her. "Well, I must be getting back to my date, er, partner. Duty calls."

He quickly walked back over to Max and Ginny, the latter of whom seemed to be enjoying the former's company. Draco fought hard not to roll his eyes at them. She was supposed to be enjoying the night with him! After all, they were partners.

Draco cleared his throat, and the two of them looked at him with a little surprise.

"Oh, Malfoy, good to see you. Had a good time with Daph?" Max asked with a smile, still holding onto Ginny.

"Oh, the absolute best," Draco replied sarcastically. Would he stop manhandling his date already? Wait, his partner. Not date. This was not a date. Not officially, anyway.

"Hey, Max, I think Daphne looks a little sad that she's neglected over there," Ginny said, pointing out a very lonely looking Daphne sulking with her arms crossed.

Maxwell sighed. "Well, I better get back to her before she bites someone's ear off. Or worse, mine." He let go of Ginny and made a great show of bowing. "It was an honor dancing with you, Miss Weasley."

Ginny giggled and returned the gesture with a curtsey. "No, thank you, Mr. Fawley."

"Yes, yes, now move along already," Draco muttered rolling his eyes, nearly shoving Maxwell towards Daphne.

He easily went back into his former position leading Ginny around on the dance floor. As they began moving to the music again, he heard a laugh from below him. Looking down, he saw Ginny smirking.

"What?" Draco said irritably, his eyes narrowing.

"Oh, nothing. Just thinking of what Max was just telling me before you got here," she said with a playful twinkle in her russet eyes.

"Alright, what did he tell you?" Draco demanded, slightly panicked at the many anecdotes Max could have shared with her.

"A bit jealous now, are we? You do get me most of every day, you know," Ginny replied with a rather impish smile.

"What do I have to be jealous of?" Draco scoffed, trying to cover up his over eagerness to know what had just transpired while he was gone.

"Well, if you must know," she began. "Maxwell was telling me about how you got attacked by the peacock earlier today. It kept bothering you while you guys were warming up, so he said that you tried to chase it away with your broomstick."

"And then," Ginny started cracking up. "When you guys were playing. It flew up to you and pecked you in your eye and messed up your hair." She could barely get the rest of the words out as she was laughing so hard.

While normally Draco would have been livid that Maxwell had told her this embarrassing story, he was just relieved he didn't tell her anything about the bet. Things between him and Ginny were going pretty well at the moment, and he was really beginning to enjoy their time together. The bet was beginning to become more of a nuisance rather than some interesting challenge he had taken upon himself.

"Well, messing with my hair is a serious offense," Draco acknowledged, heaving a sigh of relief.

The song changed again, getting faster. Draco was ready to show off the dance moves he had learned earlier this evening from his partner, but she had other plans.

"Can we take a break, Draco?" Ginny asked. "My feet are beginning to kill me. These shoes are gorgeous but they're murdering my toes."

"Works for me," Draco replied, feeling thankful that he didn't have to deal with a second round of looking like a fool. "You head back to the table and I'll get us something to drink."

Draco returned with two drinks in his hand, this time with gin martinis. Walking back, he noticed she had slipped off her heels while he had gone to the bar. He also noticed that Ginny's eyes lit up when she saw that he remembered, and eagerly took a glass from his hands.

"Your feet doing okay?" Draco asked, taking a sip. She was busy massaging her tired feet.

"They're alright. I'm just not used to being on my feet like that with these kind of shoes," she replied.

He took his wand out and murmured a few charms at her feet. A blue hue swirled around her feet before evaporating into the air. She wiggled her pedicured toes and looked up with a stunned look on her face at Draco. He had applied a charm to sooth her sore feet while cooling the inflammation she was feeling.

"What? You're not the only one who knows Healing charms," Draco replied smugly, as he returned the wand back inside his jacket pocket.

They sat in a pleasant silence for a short while, observing the rest of the party. It was a seemingly strange mix with young adults and adolescents dancing about, but it looked like everyone was enjoying themselves. Ginny found it was rather fun people watching with Draco over a delicious piece of cake, as he would always have some type of snarky observation to throw out.

It was strange; Draco had been the perfect gentleman all night. He would pull out the seat for her to sit. He got her drinks and dessert while she sat and waited for him. It had been so long since she had a true night out like this, enjoying fun company and dancing the night away.

She noticed a peculiar cube sitting in one corner of the room, and she suddenly connected what it was. "Draco, look!" Ginny suddenly shouted, shaking his arm that was on the table, to look in the direction she was pointing out. Draco nearly sloshed the remainder of his martini on his dress robes due to her disturbance. "Isn't that a photobooth?"

Draco whipped around, now seeing the box that she was pointing out. As if reading Ginny's mind, he set his drink down and pulled her out of her seat. She yelped from surprise, his hand still holding hers, as they made their away over to the photobooth.

"Draco, I'm barefoot!" Ginny squeaked as they neared the booth. "I'm pretty sure your mother would knock points off for that! It isn't exactly ladylike!"

Draco scanned the room once over then turned back to her. "I highly doubt she'll care seeing as she isn't even in the room." Ginny quickly whipped her head around behind her and saw that he was quite right.

He moved the curtain aside from the entrance of the booth, motioning for her to get in. "Now, do you want to do this or not?"

Recognizing that she was getting a rare opportunity in which Draco was complying to do something silly with her, she quickly hopped into the booth. Draco smirked, following behind, closing the curtain behind them. They were sitting so closely that her thigh was rubbing against his. Any tighter of a space, and she would have been sitting in his lap.

"Now, how do we get this thing to work?" Ginny looked around, furrowing her brow and biting her lip. She hadn't been able to strap her wand under dress, and so it was in her purse at the coat check. She looked around for a button or a dial or a lever or something that would get it to start.

Luckily for her, Draco pulled his wand out again and tapped at the screen which came to life. Returning the wand to its rightful spot, they both came closer towards the center of the very cozy booth, head to head, in order to fit properly in the camera's viewfinder.

The screen began to flash numbers, counting down until the camera captured the action in front of it. Ginny settled in, leaning closer to Draco, flashing a beaming smile at the camera. He kept a solid, solemn look in his face when the camera flashed. Ginny tilted her head towards his, bringing her lips together, as if she was about to kiss the camera. Flash. Again, she changed her expression, making a silly face with gestures. Flash. On the fourth one, she sighed, taking a glance at Draco's never-changing solemn expression, readying her face into a serious one replicating his. Flash.

She quickly ushered him out of the booth so they could take a look at the results. The booth spit out the strip of pictures at them, and Ginny eagerly reached to see what came of their photo session. She frowned upon seeing Draco's face in their photos.

"You didn't even try! You look the same in every picture," she grumbled.

"I look just fine," Draco replied, crossing his arms. Draco had the same serious expression in each of the photos, which were charmed just like all other magical photographs. Their counterparts moved within the confines of the frames of the picture.

"You could at least do something in the pictures! Be spontaneous! It's not like we're in the Dark Ages." Ginny reprimanded.

"Excuse me, I can be spontaneous whenever I want," Draco asserted, straightening up and bringing himself to his full height.

"Please enlighten me then," Ginny suggested, placing her hands on her hips, photographs still in hand.

A puzzled expression claimed his face as he scrambled to think of an answer "…Things," Draco answered lamely, when it was clear nothing was coming to his mind at that moment.

Ginny scoffed knowingly. "Alright then, Miss Queen of Spontaneity, what have you done?" Draco challenged.

"I've skinny dipped loads of times by the pond near our home. Almost got caught by Mr. Diggory once," Ginny retaliated. She was satisfied by how large Draco's eyes grew from shock, and how his cheeks lightly flushed upon hearing her memory.

"Now, let's try this again," Ginny said. Before Draco had the opportunity to object as she could see from his expression, she quickly pushed him back into the booth and pulled the curtain shut after them.

Just as it had begun before, the screen promptly began to flash different numbers across the screen, signaling a countdown. Ginny quickly primped herself a little bit, brushing her hair off of her shoulder and smoothing out her dress. She blew a kiss to the camera while Draco infuriatingly had the same serious expression as he had before. Flash. Ginny shifted around, putting a hand on her hip, posing as if she was a model. Finally Draco changed his expression, although he had a peculiar smirk on his face. Flash.

The camera restarted for the third frame. As she tried to quickly come up with another pose, she noticed Draco coming closer to her, which seemed almost impossible as she was nearly in his lap as it was. Before she knew it, she felt surprisingly soft, tender lips against her own, confirming her suspicions that his lips were made more than just for smirking. At first she stiffened, but he continued tantalizing her lips in a way she had never experienced before. While her brain was sending warning signals telling her that this was incredibly wrong, it felt incredibly right. His lips were soft and inviting yet commanding. She felt his hands tangling into her hair. Her lips surrendered, beginning to return his advances, letting out a moan. And just as she did she swore she could feel Draco smirking against her lips as he was kissing her! Flash. Before she knew it, he broke the kiss off, sliding out from underneath her. Somehow during the ordeal, she had pushed herself onto his lap. Feeling dazed, she opened her eyes while she was still gasping for air. He shot her a devilishly handsome grin and disappeared behind the curtain. Flash.

"How's that for spontaneity, Ginevra?" Ginny heard Draco's familiar drawl reach her ringing ears as he walked away from the booth.

She sat there, stunned for several moments, unable to move. What had just happened? Who did he think he was kissing her like that? Realization set in and Ginny indignantly whipped the curtain back, returning to the ballroom.

"Malfoy?" Ginny called out. The ball had been winding down as it was, with only a couple of the adult couples left on the floor. She couldn't see Draco anywhere. Figures. Draco Malfoy would snog someone brilliantly and then just disappear into thin air, never to be found again. "Malfoy?"

"Stupid tosser," Ginny muttered as she collected the second set of pictures the booth had dispensed.

Her heart raced as she saw the whole action play out in the strip of pictures. She narrowed her eyes at the Draco figure in the pictures. She saw how he smirked and then proceeded to slyly plant one on her. The prat was planning the whole thing!

Grumbling about a certain silly blond man, Ginny collected her shoes and other belongings and proceeded to make her way back to her room. Luckily, it was empty seeing as how Lena still hadn't returned. She chucked her expensive shoes and purse aside as she closed the door.

Ginny glanced again at the photo strip still in her hands, watching the scene play out again and again. Her breath caught in her throat as she saw from her expression she enjoyed it! Especially in the last frame, with her looking wide-eyed and breathless. She wasn't merely wondering what was happening, the expression on her face demonstrated that she was questioning why Draco had decided to stop.

She leaned against the back of the door, slowly sliding down until she was sitting down on the bedroom floor. She found herself fanning herself as she continued to relive the moment again and again in her mind. She literally felt like she was on fire, just like her blazing mane, but in the best way possible. An epiphany occurred to her:

Ginny Weasley liked snogging Draco Malfoy?

A/N: I hope that was an exciting chapter! I've been looking forward to this scene for so long! I promise not to take too long with the next chapter. In the meantime, I also posted just a one shot, "Constant Vigilance", featuring Aurors!Draco&Ginny, which you can check out (and which is not cliffhanger-y).