The big day had come. Hermione had woken up in panic, worried everything would be a disaster and it would be her fault. Oh, right, and the Dark Lord would stop by. And she hadn't spoken to Draco about the ball yet. Just great. It would be a disaster.

That was what Daphne found her like, silently panicking about everything that could – and probably would – go wrong.

"Give me one good reason you're still not ready for the big moment. It's almost seven and the ball starts at nine. You should know it, you planned it!" She almost shouted as she noticed Hermione was still in her uniform, after spending the day running through the castle, making sure everything would be in order for the night. And Daphne felt, as usual, it was her duty to remind her what bad friend she had been, not telling her about the ball regardless of Snape's threats, because, "Events like these are worth way more than a few threats Snape didn't even mean." Hermione was pretty sure he meant every word.

"Because I didn't have time to get ready, nor I wanted to," she was forced to admit.

"What do you mean you didn't want to? You're going to the ball with Draco Malfoy!" She said, not only like it was something pretty obvious, but like it was the news of the year. Which it kind of was at Hogwarts, but still.

"Yes, Daphne, I know." She rolled her eyes and sat back on the bed.

"And why exactly aren't you jumping and grinning like everyone else would?" Hermione refused to answer that. "Stop ignoring me and get ready, we're wasting valuable time here."

She all but grunted and felt Daphne pull her up, ignoring her complaints, until she was sitting in the armchair near her desk.

"Daphne, in the name of everything that is holy, what are you doing?" Hermione complained, looking at the barbaric way Daphne just took her bag and turned it upside down on her desk, as a mix of potions and makeup fell out.

"I'm getting you ready, since you're clearly not doing it by yourself."

Hermione sighed and mentally prepared for what was going to be a long evening. Daphne kept her in a damn chair for over an hour, Hermione had rolled her eyes so many times she was almost sure they would fall out and Daphne complained every single time she did it. By the time she was done, Hermione didn't even recognize herself, looking in the mirror.

That wasn't the same, light Hermione, the one that had fought for her friends and made it into the Death Eaters to save Ron from a sociopath. She was… well, she couldn't find a word to describe herself that didn't include "dark" in the definition. A darker version of herself, with a pale, perfect skin the plum lipstick made even paler. Her hazel eyes never looked so big, complemented by the black and gold eyeshadow, and her hair was flawless, in a sober, wavy bun. The dress, long and black, fitted her body like a shadow, and the uncomfortable heels Daphne had forced her into made her unusually tall.

While she was still staring at the dark figure in the mirror, that almost didn't look like hers, Hermione felt like Daphne understood way too well the importance of that ball, not in honor of Karkaroff or as a mere cover for the Dark Lord's plans, but as a symbol of loyalty to him. Hermione constantly had to prove her loyalty and that change in the image everyone had of her would make an impression. She would be officially one of them, even in the looks.

Hermione turned around and hugged Daphne, positive she would understand, and she was left alone. She knew she had to get out of that damn room, she just couldn't find the will to. Looking back in the mirror, she thought about all the things she had done since she had joined the Death Eaters. Hermione would have never done those things, ever. The woman in the mirror, on the other hand, would do everything all over again.

She could have run, tried to break the bond the Marks created between a Death Eater and Voldemort. It was hard, of course, but not completely impossible. So why had she stayed? For Draco? No. She had made the unconscious decision long before she actually began to care for him. For Daphne? Neither. She had got close to her way after killing and torturing for him.

Then why? Was she really on her worst enemy's side, although unconsciously? She realized the change had been gradual, like falling asleep. After months and months, just at that moment, when any stranger would call her a Slytherin, looks and brains, she noticed the difference. She was reasonably sure no one had given her weird potions or hexed her. She wanted him to win but was still fairly sure it was for the right reasons, for her plan. And now there she was, looking in the mirror, less than an hour away from a stupid ball her life could depend on and in the middle of an existential crisis. Great.

Hermione sighed and blackened the mirror with a spell, then turned around. When she saw a vial of Draught of Peace she had taken from the Hospital Wing on her night-table she took it without a second thought and drank every sip of it. It took a few minutes to start working, but then she immediately felt better, all the problems leaving her mind and her body relaxing. There was just nothing better she could ask for.

With her hand on her mouth to keep herself from screaming it all out, she felt someone touching her shoulder. Hermione jumped and turned around, wand in hand, but found out it was only Draco.

"Are you okay? I knocked, you didn't hear me?"

He had knocked? She just nodded and put her wand back in her black clutch.

"Are you sure you're okay? It feels like I'm talking to you and you're not even here. I'd say you're high, but I know you're not the type," he smirked and she smiled in response. Gods, had she missed him. "Though, I suppose the Draught of Peace isn't that far from it."

Hermione looked at him and found no trace of judgement on his face. He understood. Smiling, she just took his hand. "I can't believe I'm saying this, since I have to put up with your ego every day, but you're quite the view tonight." To be completely honest, Draco was always handsome, no matter what he was wearing, but he didn't need to hear her say it out loud.

Draco grinned and let his hand wander around her bare back. "You're quite the view yourself. This dress all but screams that you're mine and I can't help but love it."

Hermione rolled her eyes. "I'm sure you do. I want your word that you will not even as much as point your wand at Viktor tonight."

He sighed and rolled his eyes. "Why are you ruining the moment?"

"I want your word," she smiled and ran her hand through his hair. He eventually nodded, visibly trying to comply with her request without complaining about it.

"Come on, it's about to start and you have to be there for the Dark Lord's arrival."

Hermione could only hope for the best.

Almost everyone was already there by the time the entered the Great Hall. Hermione knew perfectly well not everyone was as used to the Dark Lord as they were, and the students had probably arrived way earlier than they had to just to make sure they wouldn't be late.

The Great Hall was glowing, silver and emerald decorations were everywhere and the sky was unsurprisingly cloudy. There was now a buffet where the staff's table usually stood and Draco didn't fail to repeat his complaints about the lack of alcohol. She had asked Snape, but he said he spent quite a few years being the Head of Slytherin House, so his answer would have to be no.

When the ball properly began she couldn't not notice the stares, certainly not for lack of trying. She knew the dress Draco gave her drew quite the attention, but there was just so much she could do. Hermione was too distracted to actually listen to Theo and Draco's conversation, although they had tried to get her to commit to it so she could decide who was right.

"How can you-" Theo started, but stopped his rambling and just stared at something behind her. As she felt Draco's arm tighten around her waist, she knew Viktor was probably standing right there. And there he was, with an amused smile on his lips, asking her to dance.

She turned to leave a kiss on Draco's cheek as warning and smiled at her friend, following him on the dancefloor. "I'd be honored."

"You is beautiful," Viktor told her, and Hermione was sure she could feel some warmth on her cheeks. Every time she moved, Hermione could feel the cold, golden snake on her back and remind her how important that stupid ball actually was.

Draco was in the entrance courtyard with Daphne and Theo, who weren't making him feel any better. He left the Great Hall to take some air after bloody Viktor Krum had asked Granger to dance and she obviously accepted.

He was sick of that story. He had thought he could do it, keep on that farce with being just friends in public and all the bullshit. He had been sitting there for some good ten minutes already, along with the happy couple that was trying to get him to calm down. He was pretty sure they were utterly failing.

As he heard both of them shut up, he knew Granger was back from the stupid dance with Krum and Daphne and Theo left them alone.

Hermione sat next to him and sighed. "Draco, we've talked about this."

"I know, alright?" He forced out. "It's not your fault."

"It is." She put her clutch down and crossed her legs, which she tended to do when she was nervous. He just kept staring at the lake.

"I'm not angry, if that's what you're worried about. He's not the problem. They're all the problem, really."

"We've already talked about Viktor, there's nothing going on. And who are they?"

"The blokes looking at you the way I should be allowed to look at you in public." Useless blokes whose lives he would gladly end, he wanted to add.

"We've talked about this," she repeated, her voice low. It was difficult to get the words out. "I thought you were okay with it and, quite frankly, you're the only one who sees these guys. Almost everyone here's a Pureblood or something very close to it, they would never look at me like that."

"Please," he snorted, "There are very few people like that at school. Not everyone is so disgusted by Muggle-borns as my aunt is, most of them pretend they are in order to stay alive. And yes, I thought I would be okay with it and I was clearly wrong."

She sighed and turned towards him, even if he still wouldn't look at her. "Draco, I can't afford to lose you, whatever the reason is. You know perfectly well I couldn't forgive myself if anything happened to you because of me."

He tried not to let the pain in her voice affect him.

"We can take care of ourselves. I can take care of myself," he spat out.

"I'm not taking the chance." She shook her head.

"So what, you plan on avoiding any type of relationship for the rest of your life?"

"I'm not saying this."

"Yes, you are. Daphne, Theo, hell, even Blaise, and you never stopped being their friend because of the Dark Lord."

"I'm not friends with Blaise," she snorted.

"Really? Then why haven't you turned him in yet?" He laughed at the thought and she glared at him.

"This is not the point."

"Then what is? We are nothing because you think the Dark Lord will kill me, period." And he could barely say that out loud with a straight face.

"Look, I don't know how to deal with this, alright? I have no clue, Draco." She got up and, quite annoyed he wouldn't look at her, she stood in front of him.

"I do. Let it go, Granger. I can take care of myself. He cannot afford to lose you, he can't hurt me. He knows perfectly well if he were to kill any of us you wouldn't be on his side anymore and he can't risk you roaming around free, spilling his secrets. You're not stupid, you know this already, so what's stopping you?" He stood up as well and almost laughed. That was not the day Hermione Granger would answer his questions without making more doubts pop up in his mind.

She hesitated for a moment, then stared at him arms-crossed. "I'm scared, okay? I know you're right about the Dark Lord but I can't control it. Besides, I don't know how any of this will turn up, I'm used to planning every single thing so I can have control on everything, make sure it all goes the way it's supposed to without surprises of any kind. But I have no control over us and it freaks me out."

He knew of her obsessive mania to plan everything and organize every aspect of her life, obviously, but he had no idea that could actually affect her so much. He never thought that would be the problem.

Draco took her hand and drew her into his arms, feeling the bare skin of her back under his hands. "I will not let this end with my head on a spike."

"Sorry to interrupt but the Dark Lord's here. Your presence is required." Theo was his serious self, as usual when Voldemort was around. Draco sighed and touched Hermione's shoulder, so she would focus on him.

"Look at me, it will be fine. We can talk later but I need you to focus now. The sooner we do this, the sooner we can leave." She nodded and closed her eyes, taking a deep breath. When she looked at him she was absolutely indifferent, a stranger. Theo smiled at her and turned around.

"Hermione, my dear, and Mr. Malfoy as well. It's good to see you haven't killed each other." the Dark Lord was waiting for them at the entrance of the Great Hall.

"My Lord. My apologies, we were just outside taking a break." Hermione was the perfect Death Eater anytime he was around, he was used to it by now, but it was off to see her like that when merely minutes ago she was just a normal human being.

"Nothing's wrong, I hope."

"Nothing, my Lord."

"Good. Hermione, you have done a great job with the ball, Karkaroff if very pleased with it. I hope we can soon have an old friend back in our ranks." His red eyes were, as usual, blank.

"Of course, my Lord."

The party continued as she had planned it to, without too many problems, apart from a few students, like Theo – whom she would deal with the next day – trying to sneak in Firewhisky.

After an awkward discussion with the Dark Lord and everyone staring at them, Hermione only lasted for other ten minutes before she decided she had had enough.

Draco didn't give her any particular problems either, even after seeing her with Viktor multiple times during the night, and she had been happy to verify that she hadn't seen two Blaises in a while, which was reassuring, to say the least.

Hermione only allowed herself to breathe when Draco approached her to get back to the dungeons and she let the Death Eater mask fall off.

After muttering the password to the common room, Hermione almost ran to her room, but Draco took her hand and shook his head, opening his door instead. If anyone had the brilliant idea to ruin her night, her room was precisely where they would look for her. The last thing either of them needed was a ginger-headed Weasley blaming Hermione for whoever the Dark Lord might have killed that night.

She let herself fall on the green silk sheets and sighed, looking at Draco undo his bow tie, leaning with one hand on the wall and staring into the depths of the lake.

Hermione took off the damn heels Daphne had given her and untied her hair, leaving her clutch on the desk, then finally walking towards him.

"I'm not a bloody child, Granger," he sighed.

"I've never say you were."

"Yes, you did. I've been in the game since the day I was born, don't come tell me I can't protect myself."

"I'm not saying that, Draco, but it's dangerous and you know it."

"Dangerous for who?" He confronted her, his anger quite clearly a shadow on his features. "For you or for me? Because I've been risking my life for the last eight years, since Potter walked into the Great Hall and the bloody Hat put him in Gryffindor." Draco looked like he wanted to punch someone, most likely Harry, and wasn't even looking at her anymore.

"What do you expect me to do?"

"I expect you drop this nonsense, Granger. You can't live like this forever."

"You're underestimating me, Malfoy," she snorted. She had given up her parents when the war started, believing it would be forever, and she still couldn't entirely have them back. She could give up anything, at that point.

"You're just that selfish, aren't you?"

"That's not true," Hermione whispered, hurt.

"Isn't it? Who are you thinking about right now? Yourself. You only think about yourself." Draco was still staring at the lake.

"For the last time, what do you want me to do?"

"You already have my answer. I know you need to control everything but you can't always plan your life away. Let me deal with this, for once," he whispered and turned around.

Hermione hesitated and just stared at him for a few seconds, then took a deep breath to calm herself down. "I swear, if you let anything happen to you, I will kill you myself."

Draco closed his eyes at that and smiled. "I won't, I promise," he whispered, drawing her near.

"Are you sure?"

"Positive. You need to trust me, Hermione."

"I do trust you," she admitted and was sure that was the truth.

"I know not knowing goes against every cell in your body but it will be fine."

Hermione smiled and kissed him.

"Did I mention how gorgeous you are in this dress?" He chuckled and kissed her neck, his hands now under the snake on her back.

"Why do I get the feeling you don't like the dress as much as the idea me in it?" She laughed and started unbuttoning his dress shirt.

"That's a minor detail."

The next day, Hermione woke up because of the tickling on her shoulder and found it was only Draco's breath. She stirred and pulled the duvet up to her chin, trying to make the moment last a little longer. Turning around, she looked at the man next to her, tempted to touch those beautiful traits he usually kept behind a mask and that, on a random Sunday morning, were relaxed and quite adorable, if she had to be honest.

"You're staring," he suddenly murmured.

His sleepy voice made her smile. "I'm not."

"Are too." Draco drew her closer and yawned.

"Should we go to breakfast?"

"No."

Hermione was about to answer but a loud knocking stopped her. For some reason, Theo was demanding they opened.

"Go talk to him, or he won't go away." She laughed at his annoyed expression and leaned in to kiss him, "Good morning."

Draco eagerly kissed her back, only stopping when the knocking started again.

"Theo, it's Sunday," he almost growled, opening the door.

"I don't give a damn. I need you. Now. Nice to see you, Hermione."

"Likewise."

She took her dress, wand, shoes and clutch and made to leave Draco's room, dressed in another one of his dress shirts. Right as she was walking out, he pulled her back and kissed her, ignoring Theo's complaints. Luckily, his room was right in front of hers.

Draco Malfoy couldn't make out if Theo was just bored out of his mind or if he plain enjoyed ruining his day. They were walking to the Great Hall for breakfast after he'd ruined his morning in bed with his witch, and Theo was blabbering since.

"Why you couldn't ask Granger."

"Because she would tell her and it wouldn't be much of a surprise, now would it?" He answered like he was talking to a child.

Draco rolled his eyes and sat next to his witch.

"A birdie told me you slept together." Daphne Greengrass turned towards him and he smirked.

"We always do." Hermione commented without as much as looking at her, reading the Prophet.

"It's Sunday, we should have fun. What do you want to do?" Draco turned to her and smirked.

"Why do I feel like you already have an idea?"

"We could go to Hogsmeade and disappear for a while," he proposed.

"Wait, what?" Daphne interrupted.

"I miss Diagon Alley, I'm dying for some ice cream."

"I like the sound of that," Draco smirked and handed her the last piece of the toast he had stolen.

"You can't go to Diagon Alley." Daphne looked annoyed.

"You're right," she reflected. "Everyone would recognize us. How about muggle London? We can have lunch there and be back for dinner."

"Muggle London, where no one knows who we are," Draco muttered and grinned. He could see where that conversation was headed. No one that could possibly know who they were and no Viktor Krum pissing on his parade.

Seeing Draco among Muggles was hilarious. He kept trying not to accidentally touch anyone or anything, moving when someone walked too close to him and growling whenever he couldn't avoid someone bumping into his shoulder or arm while walking. He only relaxed when they managed to found a relatively quiet bench in St James' Park, though he kept glaring at the birds around them with suspicion.

"Calm down, they're not going to hurt you. They're used to tourists and they just want you to give them something to eat," Hermione explained, quite amused.

"Vile creatures," he snorted and looked around, then eventually leaned into the bench and circled her shoulders with his left arm, sighing. "At least there's something good in this awful city full of Muggles and animals."

"And what would that be?" She smiled and leaned into him.

He caressed her cheek and leaned in to kiss her. "No one knows us."

Hermione smiled into the kiss and tugged his coat to draw him closer.