A/N: Thank you for all of the follows and favorites for my first chapter. I've been trying to add lots to this one as well, and have restructured some things. As well, I've thought of some new twists and turns!
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter and I am not making any money off of this.
I woke with a start, as Blaise bellowed "Draco!" I shot up out of my bed, and had instinctively grabbed my wand. Clenching it firmly in my fist, I turned to my chuckling asshole friend, and scowled at him.
"What is wrong with you?" I demanded, crossing my arms and glaring down at him.
"You were talking in your sleep mate," he said grinning mischievously.
I cringed and sat back down on my bed. I plopped into the pillows and let out a dramatic sigh. This surely would be embarrassing. "What did I say?" I grumbled, preparing myself for some jabs and insults.
His grin grew even larger, "You kept saying: "Hermione! No, wait! Come back!" What was that about mate?" I groaned and stuffed my pillow against my face.
"I thought You didn't like her?" He continued, looking at me quizzically.
"It was just a weird dream," I mumbled from underneath the pillow.
"Well, it sounded to me like you were harboring a secret crush on that brunette bookworm," he wiggled his eyebrows and chuckled. I rolled my eyes under the pillow and sat up to look at him.
"Oh Merlin's beard, you do don't you?" His eyes grew wide, no longer joking around.
"What? Uh no, it really was just a weird dream," I blurted quickly. He looked at me with his head tilted and an expression that said he was not at all convinced.
"Then why did you rush out of potions yesterday after she left?" He kept pushing, trying to break me down. How could I lie to him? He was my best mate after all. We've known each other as long as I can remember, due to our families. To be honest, he knew me as good as I knew myself.
I let out a sigh and a small smile danced across my lips.
"I knew it!" He shouted triumphantly. Goyle stirred on the bed to the right of me so I put a finger to my lips to quiet Blaise. He nodded and tried to contain his gleeful expression. His brown eyes twinkled with glee over learning this new piece of information.
"It's a Hogsmeade weekend you know," Blaise continued with a drawl. "Why don't you ask her to go with you?"
"Wait wait wait. Granger and I are not an item or anything like that. I only asked her to the ball last night- oh you sly dog!" I stuttered. His grin grew even wider which frankly seemed impossible. "You can't tell anyone, got it Zabini?" I snarled, giving him a hard glare.
"Alright, alright," He held up his hands in surrender. "But what would your parents say about this?"
I shifted in my seat. The plan was for them to actually never find out. I know my father would react for harshly if he ever did. I knew I could trust Zabini not to say a word, but in three weeks when everyone saw us go in together, I knew it would get to my father somehow...
Gryffindor Common Room-10:00pm, last night
"What took you so long Hermione?" Ron demanded as soon as she walked in. Him and Harry were still sitting in front of the dying fire, with Ron spread across the couch and Harry draped in an armchair.
"I told you I was going out for a walk," Hermione replied evenly. Walking towards the spiral staircase as she spoke.
"For an hour?" Harry inquired, raising an eyebrow quizzically. He shifted up in his seat and looked at the witch, trying to gauge anything else from her.
"Yes for an hour. Gosh, you boys make it sound like I can't watch out for myself. I AM a big girl you know," Hermione joked, a tinge of annoyance evident in her voice.
"Apparently a VERY big girl. Whose jacket is that?" Ron demanded, quickly jumping up and reaching for it. Startled, the witch stepped back, and tripped on the hard stone steps. She fell hard and groaned in pain. Ronald was not dissuade, and continued to tower over her, seething.
"It's mine Ronald," she stated angrily, glaring up at him.
He continued to glower at her, not offering her any assistance up, or backing down. "No, it's not. You weren't wearing that when you left!" He exclaimed, his face turning red like his hair.
Hermione looked at him angrily, but her eyes still glistened from the pain. Not just of the fall, but how harsh and unreasonable Ron was acting. "I conjured it during my walk. I got cold because it's bloody freezing outside. It's winter for goodness sake!" She stood up and crossed her arms defiantly in front of the redhead.
"Why is there the initials DM on it then? That's the bloody snake's jacket, isn't it? You were out with him!" Ron yelled, his face was now a deep red, almost purple. Harry remained seated, but his face was just progressively getting whiter as the realization dawned on him.
"Quite down Ron. There are kids trying to sleep," Harry hissed, finally breaking out of his stupor.
"I don't care if there are kids trying to sleep! Hermione was out with the snake!" Ron yelled again, angrily stepping closer to Hermione. "What's that?" He demanded, reaching for the glint of red from Hermione's pocket.
"It's nothing Ronald," she said firmly, stepping backwards onto the bottom step. But Ron disregarded her words and lunged forward, grabbing roughly at the thing in her pocket. He yanked out the rose and gasped audibly.
"You are despicable!" He screamed at her. He promptly dropped the rose and stepped firmly onto it, rubbing his toe into it before kicking it off to the side.
"I'm despicable!" Hermione retorted, her face flushing with anger. "You're the one who just destroyed a beautiful gift! I've had enough of you Ronald. Get out of my face!"
She turned and stomped up the stairs, not even glancing back as Harry mumbled a quiet, "I'm sorry Hermione."
She rushed up the stairs and slammed the door loudly behind herself. She collapsed onto her bed and the tears quickly began to dampen her pillow. Why did Ronald always have to ruin everything? If he would only take his head out of his arse for one minute, everything could have been different. Had he just asked her to the ball first, none of this would have happened. She rolled over and wiped her eyes. Maybe this would be a good thing. Malfoy seemed to been sincere and had put himself all out there with his speech. Ronald on the other hand had been driving her crazy with his constant bickering, annoying demands about the Yule ball, and simply his attitude towards everything seemed to have shifted over the summer. He certainly was not the Ron Weasley she had grown so fondly over the last three years...
Present Day-Great Hall
"This is your chance mate!" Blaise whispered, spotting Hermione walking into the Great Hall by herself. I promptly stood up and marched defiantly over to the Gryffindor table. Every eye in the room was on me as I sat down at the end of the table, next to Granger. The hall was deadly silent, as everyone held their breath. While they were expecting a vicious fight to erupt between us, I asked, "Granger, would you like to go to Hogsmeade with me today?"
You could hear a pin drop in the Great Hall, as everyone's expressions became one of shock. I smirked, Merlin they could be so dramatic.
"Like a date?" She asked, also shocked. Her eyes darted around the room at the many eyes on her, and her cheeks turned a light pink.
"I guess you could say that," I replied evenly, a smile gracing my lips. Out of the corner of my eye, I swear I saw Snape pass Dumbledore a gallon. Do the teachers really bet on the students live lives? I held back the will to roll my eyes.
"I would love to Draco," Granger said smiling at me, as her eyes darted to Weasley and Potter further down the table. Weasley was as purple as a plum, and Potter had his mouth dangling open, bits of egg barely remaining in it as he ogled at the scene before him.
"Cool. I'll see you at nine o'clock by the entrance doors," and with that, I stood up and walked back to my table. The moment I sat down, the room burst into rapid conversation. It was evident that people were beyond shocked at the exchange, and would surely be some hot gossip over the coming weeks. I glanced over at dumb and dumber and smirked, Weasley looked like he wanted to murder me. He was glaring daggers at me, and only seemed to be restrained by Potter who had his hand on his shoulder. I made eye contact with him and let myself have a self satisfied smirk. He stood up and marched out of the Great Hall, Potter trailing along behind him.
"Well done mate," Blaise said, clapping me on the shoulder. "That took a lot of nerve."
I smiled at him and sighed, "Thanks. But now comes the worst part." I looked over at the brilliant witch, munching away slowly on a piece of toast.
"And what's that?" Blaise asked, taking a sip or juice.
"The wait," I replied, nabbing a potato from his plate. "And it's going to feel like hours."
9 am
"Hey Granger!" I drawled upon seeing her walking down the last few stairs to where I was seated. She was wearing black jeans, a dark red low-cut sweater and had her hair up in a bun. She was pretty hot, I had to admit.
"Hey Malfoy! Are you ready to head out?" She asked me, motioning to the door. I nodded and stood up.
"Yeah sure," I opened up the large wooden door and gestured for her to exit through it.
"Oh, how gentlemanly of you, " she said grinning and walking out. I smirked and followed behind her. We walked in companionable silence for several minutes, stealing glances at each other nervously.
"So Potty and Weasley didn't seem too pleased this morning," I attempted to sound nonchalant about the remark, eyeing her to gauge her reaction.
She let out a sigh, "Yes, we got into a huge fight last night, and of course you aren't exactly someone they like..." She trailed off, her expression unreadable.
"Why did you give me a chance?" I inquired, gazing straight ahead at the winding snowy path.
"Well, to be honest I at first assumed it was a joke or some nasty prank. And frankly, I'm still not sure that it's not..." She paused, the air palpable between us. "But at the end of the day, if you mess with me I could hex you into the next century." She laughed and the tension melted away. I knew she wasn't being completely honest, but decided to let it slide for now. She would reveal the real reason to me later, I was sure.
We continued our trek in silence, until we reached the edge of the snowy village. The buildings looked like gingerbread houses covered in a dusting of powdered sugar. The streets had a few people milling about, but the cold had surely ushered everyone inside the pub for a warm butterbeer.
"Where do you want to go first?" She asked, gazing at the many storefronts.
"Um...how's about the bookshop?" I asked shyly, eyeing it to my left.
"Really?" She asked, slightly in awe.
"Yeah why?" I asked confused about her awed state.
"Well, whenever I come with Harry and Ron, they never want to come, and only want to go to Zonko's or something," she explained.
"How many other guys have you gone with?" I asked, making a mental note about who I was going to meet up with in an empty corridor.
I nodded. "Well in Weaselbee's defense, he probably doesn't even know how to read." I snickered and Granger slapped me playfully on the arm.
"Malfoy!" She chuckled. "Now come on before I change my mind about this whole date!" She said, grabbing my arm and running to the bookstore. I felt my cheeks warm at her touch. Even through my jacket was enough to satisfy me, and send me over the moon.
We walked in and a little bell rang when we opened the door. Wow, there was a lot of books here! I had only been here a couple of times before, and every time there had been the most breathtaking plethora of novels on display. When I had been quite young, my mother had brought me in here and had bought me a book about Hogwarts. I remember her saying to me, "One day, you'll be there Draco." And I had, eventually, despite my father's wishes for me to go to Durmstrang. But with all the daft people who have come here from there for the Triwizard tournament, I was glad I came to Hogwarts.
"Malfoy, check this out!" The witch exclaimed gleefully, pointing at a propped up book. I walked over and read the title, "Hogwarts A History, The Chamber Revealed". She grabbed the book in her gloved hands, and attempted to flip through pages. Frustrated, she ripped off her gloves and managed to grip them better.
"It's about what happened in year two, remember? When the snake was here and Ginny got kidnapped," she paused.
"And when you got petrified?" I asked her. She nodded. After longingly gazing at the book for a few more seconds, she put it back on it's stand. "Why don't you buy it?" She clearly wanted it, badly.
"I'm saving my money for my dress. You know, for the ball," She said with a shrug.
How could I have been so stupid? I completely forgot to get my robes! "Want to head to get some robes now then? Before we spend all our gallons on books," I asked with a light laugh. Knowing how we both were, it was best to get out of here if we wanted anything presentable to wear for the ball.
"Sure! I know this really cool store, where they have ladies and men's robes. I saw a dress there that I'm thinking of buying. Could I maybe get your opinion on it?" She asked, nervously biting her bottom lip.
"Of course!" I exclaimed, a little too enthusiastically. I saw a couple of people glare at us in the otherwise quiet store and Hermione laughed.
"Come on," She said, leading the way out. I followed behind her and we walked for a few minutes before arriving at the shop. There was a blue dress and black dress robes on mannequins in the window box. The blue dress was quite pretty. I could just imagine Granger in it, dancing in my arms. Snap out of it Draco! Stay in the game, this is your night. It has to be perfect. With that last thought, I briskly opened the door for the witch and we escaped the cold morning wind. We shook the snow off of us and then started to look around the store. She quickly located a shop attendant and asked her for something. I saw her point to something and followed her gestured. I saw that she was pointing at the blue dress in the window and my heart skipped a beat.
The shop attendant led the brunette further into the store and I followed behind her slowly. I pretended to be interested in some bright green robes at the back of the store and watched as the shop lady handed her a brown box. She looked around and then, upon spotting me, gestured for me to come over. I marched over briskly and she carefully opened the box.
"Do you like it?" She inquired nervously.
"Well, I would love to see it on you," I replied grinning.
"Okay. We'll go to the changing room and I'll "model" it for you," her face was glowing with excitement. I followed her to the left of the store, and into a little side room. There were a bunch of stalls and Granger quickly opened one of them and walked in. After some rustling of clothes, she emerged a few minutes later bedecked in the beautiful dress. It went down to the floor and went from light blue to dark blue. There was different layers of fabric all over the dress, with it fanning out a little at the hips. From the waist down were many ruffles of a silky fabric, while the top part's fabric crisscrossed across her chest. The sleeves were just a thin layer of sheer fabric which just covered her shoulders.
"What do you think?" She asked me, nibbling her lip nervously.
"Beautiful," I mumbled. I couldn't drag my eyes away from her. I had never seen her in more than her usual school garb, and nothing ever as extravagant as this.
"Thanks, I think the dress is very pretty as well," she said, blushing slightly. She twirled and a soft laugh escaped from her pale pink lips.
"I wasn't just talking about the dress Hermione," I blurted out. Oh no…
A/N: I hope you all are enjoying it thus far! I will try and update it again in a few days, as unfortunately, I am exceptionally busy. Until next time!