Author's Notes: I'm in a writing mood, so here pops another chapter. That is, if my grandpa stops bothering me. lol. What is it with old men and feeling the need to pester?

Check it out! 20 chapters!!

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Whispers In the Rain

Chapter 20: The Dance

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Draco sat between Crabbe and Goyle, not even noticing the food on his plate. He kept taking peeks to the Gryffindor table. Harry met his eyes and smiled. The two shared a smile before someone interupted their silent stares. "Hey, Draco, did you hear?"

"Hear what, Parkinson?" Draco asked the girl sitting across from him.

"There is going to be a dance!" She squeeled.

"Why?" Draco questioned, giving a disgusted look. Pansy sighed in frustration.

"I dont' know!" She told him. "But there is gonna be an announcement tonight after dinner."

"Oh, joy." Draco muttered. The last dance, in his opinion, was not worh the time spent on it. He had to spend the entire night with Parkinson, who insisted on being clingy and pushy. It's bad enough having to remember her trying to kiss him, he didn't need to worry about what would be happening this time. He finished dinner in silence, listening to Pansy jabber on about what color dress she was going to wear.

"If I could have your attention please?" Dumbledore's voice echoed through the Great Hall. "I would like to make an announcement." Pansey bounced in her seat out fo excitement. "We have decided that come this Spring we will have a dance."

The room roared with cheering, mainly from girls. A few guys joined along, but mostly looked nervous. Ron and Hermione grinned at each other. Ron, since they started going out, has made it every chance he got to show her off. A dance was the perfect chance. Dumbledore waited for the crowd to die down before continueing.

"It will be at the start of spring. That gives you all one month to prepare. It will be open to years 4 and up." The younger students all groaned like they were in agony. "I'm sorry, but that is the rules. Now, you might all be wondering why we are having such a dance. Well, the teachers and I got together and thought that it would be very helpfull to ease all of your stress with the upcomming problems involving He Who Must Not Be Named."

At that reminder the students in the hall went quiet, giving each other uneasy glances. Dumbledore immediately brought up their cheerfulness. "I hope all of you will take part in the preperation of the dance. We need a full score of students for decorations, food, themes, everything."

The Great Hall started buzzing again with excitement. Dumbledore sat down and dessert popped up onto every table. Draco grabbed soemthing that closely resembled a donut and bit down. Chewing, his eyes roamed back over to his boyfriend. It was at that moment, spotting Harry's grin and green eyes, that a thought appeared in Draco's mind. Draco shook his head. No, it was immpossible. He couldn't do that. It would be suicide. Draco's grey eyes lingered back onto Harry's face. A slow smile crept onto his lips.

"What are you so happy about?" Pansy asked, batting her eyelashes. "Thinking about the dance?"

"Yes, actually." Draco said secretively. "I'm thinking about the dance."

Pansy grinned, apparently sure that he was thinking of her. Draco held back the need to roll his eyes, thinking it's probably a good idea she keeps thinking it.

The next couple of weeks went by slowly for both Draco and Harry. They managed to see each other in the halls, passing notes to each other while bumping up against one another. The students of Hogwarts had no clue as to what Draco and Harry's relationship was like. They hardly even noticed them not fighting anymore. Most just assumed they finally grew up.

"We decided on a theme!" Pansy bounded into the Slytherin common room one Saturday evening. Draco looked up from the fire and shot her a disgusting look. Pansy had spent a lot of the past days with the dance commitee, being the only one from Slytherin house to volunteer. She bounced over to them excitedly. "Well, don't you want to know?"

"Not particularly." Draco muttered. Crabbe and Goyle nodded in agreement. Pansy pouted a second, but was in too good a mood to let them ruind it.

"Well, I'm going to tell you anyway." Pansy grinned at Draco's pained face. "Lover's of Time."

"Lover's of What?" Draco asked.

"Basically, you have to dress up as a couple from history or literature." Pansy smiled. She slowly walked over to him, trying to be seductive, whispering. "I thought maybe we could be Romeo and Juliet."

Crabbe snorted. Draco shot him a glare, before responding. "I'm not going to dress up as someone from some stupid Muggle play, Parkinson."

"But!" Pansy protested. Draco held up a hand to silence her. Pansy gave him a dirty look before storming over to her girl friends and complaining. Draco let out a relieved sigh at having her gone. Feeling the need for some air, Draco stood and head for the exit. He walked through a few halls, in thought. Suddenly to the left he heard a giggle.

Stopping, he slowly crept over to what looked to be a janitor's closet. Another giggle came through the wood of the door. Draco held back a small laugh and knelt down to look through the keyhole. No, Draco wasn't a peeping tom, but he was extremely curious. All he saw was darkness and a few whispered voices from inside. He was about to stand when the door swung open, knocking him in the head.

"Woah!" A voice exclaimed as Draco fell back and landed on the floor. Blinking, Draco tried to clear his head, but was only able to see a blur of red. "Hey, you okay?"

"Who? What?" Draco muttered, sitting up.

"Malfoy, you okay?" A female voice asked.

"Mudblood?" Draco question. He heard a sudden growled and the sound of someone holding another person back. Draco shook his head, his vision finally clearing. He looked up to see Ron calming down Hermione.

"What do you think your doing, Malfoy?" Hermione asked in a low, dangerous voice.

"'Mione, calm down." Ron whispered in her ear. He gripped her hand and slowly she calmed down. She let out a sigh.

"Well?" She asked.

"I uhh..." Draco coughed, standing up and brushing himself off. "I just heard some people getting a little, what you say, comfortable in there and..."

"Thought you'd take a peek?"

"Well, yeah." Draco said. He held back a smirk, remembering that these were Harry's friends.

"You know, curiosity killed the cat." Hermione informed him.

"But he had nine lives." Draco said, giving her a lopsided smile.

"A joke?" Hermione said in awe. "Did I just hear Draco Malfoy tell a joke?" She turned to Ron. "He told a joke. A lame joke, but none the less a joke."

"Yeah, sure did." Ron said. Hermione shook her head in disbelief, then quickly excussed herself. As she turned and went back to the Gyrffindor common room, Ron turned to Draco. "I think all the snogging has effected her brain."

"Seriously." Draco said, unable to hold back a small laugh. Suddenly realizing him and the Weasley were alone together, Draco shifted uncomfortably.

"So..." Ron said, searching for a topic. "Did you hear about the dance theme?"

"Yeah, it's so corny." Draco replied. "Lover's of Time."

"Yeah, but you know how girls are!" Ron said. He suddenly fell silent, then cleared his throat. "Well, guy in your case." Draco blushed slightly. "Umm, so what are you and Harry gonna do about this dance thing?"

"We haven't talked about it." Draco told him. "In fact, we haven't had a lot of time together here lately. This dance is... confusing. Me and Harry agreed on keeping our relationship a secret, but..."

"You want to take him." Ron finished. Draco nodded.

"I do. I really do." Draco said softly. Ron gave him a half smile. "But, I dont' think Harry would go for it."

"Why not?" Ron asked. "You could always ask him."

"No, I couldn't do that." Draco insisted.

"Oh, okay. Too bad he heard everything you said, though." Ron grinned. Draco's eyes widened and he turned around and came face to face with Harry. Draco gave him a sheepish smile. Ron walked over to them and slapped Harry on the shoulder. "I'll leave you guys to whatever you gay people do!"

Harry gave him an exasperated look. Ron pretended not to notice and he followed the direction Hermione had gone, leaving the couple alone.

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You know, it doesn't seem like it, but this is actually my longest chapter yet. lol. 8.22 kb worth. *grin* So, will Draco ask Harry to the dance? if so, what will they go as?! More importantly, what will the school's reaction be?! *dun dun dun*

Also, i've already started on the story involving Snape and his past! oooo!! muwahahah!! The first chapter is nearly done! I'll probably post it along with this one.