Disclaimer: I do not own the Harry Potter franchise, nor anything affiliated with it
Draco's POV
I'm sitting in the Room of Requirement with Granger, and about 15 of the prefects are here already. There should be 26 total as there are 2 per house per year starting with 5th, except for the eighth years who just have two total. We decided to do the meeting here as the Room can conjure samples of the decorations that we will be using, and space won't be an issue. After waiting an additional 20 minutes, everyone arrives and we start. I start with the basics first.
"Alright, so as prefects, you will be responsible for the set-up and cleanup of the ball. It won't be too complicated so don't worry about whether or not you'll have enough time to get ready."
"Malfoy's right. We are getting the decorations and equipment custom made, so we just need to stick them up with spells. It shouldn't be too hard to do."
"Now the point of this meeting is just to finalize stuff with you and make sure everyone knows what's going on and what you need to do. The theme is Costumes vs. Formal Attire. The group that wins, that theme will be used the next year. The colour scheme is this." I pull out a strip of fabric with all the colours Granger and I discussed. "The food will be done buffet style, and mostly finger food. We've gotten the Weird Sisters to play music for the first half and the end, but in the middle we will be doing a karaoke thing for anyone is interested. The top 5 performers or groups will win 20 points each for their houses." I say with a bit of a smile. I thought of that prize after Hermione and I had spent almost a week trying to find a good prize that most people would be interested in.
"Yes, we decided that most people don't like to go up and perform, but a lot of students are highly competitive about points, so more people will try to go up. Now I'll talk about delegation of tasks. Since there are a total of 28 of us, I'm putting all 5th and 6th years on setting tables. It's very tedious, but important. 7th and 8th years, as well as Malfoy and I will be doing the actual hall decorations. We will meet just after lunch to set up. We should finish about 4 hours before the ball starts. The ball is from 7-12 in the evening, and seeing as how there are classes the day after, we will have an hour late school start. Classes will each be 15 minutes shorter." Hermione finishes. It will always amaze me that women require 4 hours or more to get ready for a simple dance. After Hermione finishes with her part, I conclude the meeting.
"I think that's it. Are there any questions?" No one speaks up or raises their hands. "Alright then, you're dismissed."
Once we finish the meeting, Granger and I head back to our dorm to finish some last-minute preparations. We sit at the counter and write letters to our suppliers to make sure that our orders will come on time. After double checking that everything is set up, we head down to the Great Hall for dinner. We've now started sitting together with Blaise and sometimes Neville. Since Hermione has started becoming friends with me, Neville and Ginny have been more accepting of us. We sit and talk about the crazy shenanigans we got up to in our first few years here, and how Granger punched me in the nose in third year. We all laugh at that, Blaise thought it was really funny at the time. Granger apologizes about it, and I tell her it's okay.
"Look Granger, I completely deserved it. I remember being so embarrassed about it though. I didn't even go to Madam Pomfrey to get it checked out as I was too ashamed to admit that I got punched by a 'Mudblood' Gryffindor know-it-all."
"That was stupid Malfoy, you officially win at being a complete moron." She says. She finds it extremely funny and I can see her trying not to laugh for the whole school to hear.
"Yes well, I found that to be a turning point in how I looked at you. I still treated you like garbage, but I was doing that to keep up appearances, and because I refused to believe that a muggle born girl could be so much better than me at everything. I also tried to tone down how much I antagonized you because I really did not want to provoke another hit to the face. It became my life goal to be better than you at everything. Haven't reached it yet, and probably never will." I say.
"That much is obvious to everyone, including me." Says Neville. I laugh at his comment and agree with him. Neville isn't exactly the sharpest knife on the chopping block.
I find it amazing that I can talk to Hermione and other people who aren't in Slytherin with such ease. For the first time, I have friends. Real friends. Not just one friend, but two; Granger and Blaise. Neville isn't quite my friend but he's more than just an acquaintance.
We finish up with dinner, and Neville and Blaise leave to their dorms. Granger and I leave together to our dorm. We head inside and both set up for homework. I pull out my laptop and turn on some music. It feels really nice to have my own earbuds, and I'm glad Granger helped get some new tech on our last trip to Hogsmeade. I go to YouTube, and put on Granger's playlist. It's strange, I feel happy just knowing that this is what she uses and that she picked the music for it. You can tell a lot about a person based on their music choices. I know that Granger really likes to pick songs based on lyrics, and listening to the music makes me feel close to her thoughts, like I can understand her better with it. One thing I've noticed is that she has a lot sad music on it. I guess she must have some really sad memories. I wonder if Weasel has anything to do with it.
Once I've started the playlist, I pull up my e-mail to check if Professor Carrington has posted any homework for us on our online classroom. I see that she's put up an end of unit project to choose one song and one movie/tv show to write an essay on each. We are supposed to explain why we like it, and how we might identify with. The essays will be completely confidential, and she will not share anything in them with anyone else. The project is due in about 3 weeks to allow time to explore more media and really get in depth. I create a doc to come up with a list of music and movies that I might want to use for this project. Most of the songs are from my playlist and by extension, Granger's. After finishing that, I move on to my potions, and transfiguration assignments.
It's almost 11pm when I stop. I turn to Granger and tell her that it's getting late.
"I'm almost done Malfoy."
"I know, that's what you say every time. Yet you still bang away on the keyboard for an additional 20 minutes after I tell you without fail."
"Fine I'll stop, but if I fail these assignments, it's on your head."
"By all means Granger, if it means you get some sleep." As I say this, she looks at me weirdly. "What is it Granger? Did I say something funny?"
"No, I've just been thinking, maybe we should switch to a first name basis. I think that we've become too friendly to keep acting like we're enemies. I mean our actions don't say it, so why should we speak like it?"
"That's a great idea Gr… I mean Hermione. Wow that felt weird."
"It also sounded weird to hear you say my first name, but it shouldn't be like that. If we use them often enough it'll become natural... Draco."
"Well this another thing to add to our growing list of friendship developments." Maybe it'll someday lead to relationship developments. However, I just leave it for now. Careful not to push it too far. I'm glad Hermione suggested using first names. It feels nicer in a way, though our classmates may look at us a little weirdly if they hear us talking like this.
"Goodnight Draco." Hermione says as she gathers her stuff and we walk up the stairs to our rooms.
"Goodnight Hermione." I say as she enters her room, and she looks back to smile before closing her door.
I enter my room and feel so peaceful. I don't have any trouble falling asleep tonight, and I let my dreams consume me.
Author's Note: Please read and review. I truly appreciate your support, it makes doing this instead of homework totally worth it. Thanks for reading, have a great week. Till next time.