A/N: People! Here is the chapter 14!! I had few problems on doing this one because I have kinda tight schedule at the moment… well at least it's longer this time! I think it's the longest ever ;)

DISCLAIMER: Why, oh why?

-----------------------

CHAPTER XIV – Snow angel

On Sunday morning Hermione and Draco walked on the grounds making plans about the ball. There was white snow everywhere. Hermione could hear laughter around them. All the Hogwarts' students were playing outside. They were making snowmen or having snowball fights with each other. Everybody seemed to be very happy. Even some of the teachers were out having fun. Harry and Ron were also there, though Hermione couldn't see them anywhere.

"so have you talked to Dumbledore yet?" Hermione asked Draco.

They passed a snow castle.

"umm… about what?"

"about the music."

"er… music?" Draco repeated very astonished.

Hermione stopped in her tracks.

"yes. The music! Don't tell me you have forgotten!" Hermione exclaimed.

"er…"

"you idiot!" she snapped.

"hey! You didn't tell me I should!" Draco defended himself.

Hermione shook her head.

She continued walking. Draco ran next to her.

"but I can today, huh?"

"yeah. Whatever," Hermione said not looking at him.

"so… are you still against my idea of the spiders?" Draco asked smirking.

"spiders?"

"yeah. The ones that come alive after touching them", Draco grinned.

"oh, fake tarantellas, huh? Yes."

"whyyyyy?" Draco pouted.

"because I know what you have in mind", Hermione laughed.

"what do I have in mind?"

"you want to scare the living daylight out of Ron."

"ten points to Gryffindor!"

Hermione laughed though she knew that Draco wanted the spiders to hurt her best friend.

"McGonagall told me two days ago that she thinks that we should even plan the food."

"what?! I thought those house-elves do that!" Draco exclaimed.

"well yeah. Me too. I told her that you don't know anything about food except how to eat it and I don't want to plan this whole thing on my own. She said it was ok and said that maybe wouldn't have to plan it then…"

"I do know about food, Granger", Draco said.

"huh?"

"I do."

"ok. Then have you ever made anything? Baked or something?"

"well…"

"I thought so too", Hermione snickered.

"you think that the teachers are dancing too?" Draco changed the subject.

"I guess. They did last time."

"can you imagine McGonagall dancing with Snape?" Draco laughed.

"no", Hermione laughed as well, "but I don't think they even would."

"ugh!" Draco said making a disgusted expression and Hermione laughed at him.

"you know… one thing is funny", Hermione said.

"what?"

"I haven't seen your bodyguards with you for a long time ", Hermione thought.

"Goyle and Crabbe? I don't need them anymore, though I thought I might after you attacked on me when we had detention", Draco smirked.

Hermione laughed a bit.

"aren't you scared that I might hurt you again?"

"naw. I'm not scared of bookworms like you", Draco laughed.

They continued walking.

Hermione saw Lavender talking with Parvati near them.

"could you wait just a minute?" Hermione said to Draco and left him stand there.

Hermione ran to the girls.

"hi! Have you guys seen Harry or Ron today?" Hermione asked Lavender and Parvati.

"no. Why?" Lavender asked.

"no reason. I just haven't seen them this morning" Hermione said.

"care to join?" Parvati asked pointing a snowman next to them.

"no thanks, I can't", Hermione said glancing Draco who had found his Slytherin friends and was now talking to them.

"ohh!" Lavender said grinning and sharing looks with Parvati.

"don't worry. We understand", Parvati nodded.

"understand what?" Hermione asked astonished.

Parvati and Lavender giggled.

"if you want to be with him", Lavender said giggling hard.

Hermione burst out laughing.

"Malfoy? You two can't be serious! Hahaha! No way! We are listing things for the ball", Hermione explained.

"okey… whatever", Parvati and Lavender smiled to each other.

"er, which leads us to the ball!" Hermione said. "Do you have partners yet?"

"I'm going with Marc", Parvati said happily raising her index finger up.

"Marc who?" Hermione asked.

"a Hufflepuff", Lavender explained. "I don't have a partner yet. Really pathetic I'd say. Bet you are going with Draco then."

"no. I'm the pathetic one", Hermione said looking down.

"oh, sorry Hermione. I didn't know. Sorry", Lavender said putting her hand on her shoulder.

"hey, but I don't have to go with anybody. I mean I could always go alone, right?"

Lavender and Parvati looked at each other sharing doubtful looks.

"ummm…yeah….", they muttered.

"oh well I better go… so that Malfoy doesn't have to wait…", Hermione said and waived a good bye to the girls.

She walked back where she had left Draco but she couldn't see him anywhere. She looked around. Where was he?! She had just two minutes ago seen him here talking with his friend…

'oh great! Of course he had left with his friend. So typical! What else can you expect from Draco Malfoy?!' Hermione thought angrily.

Suddenly something hit on the back of her head. She turned to see smirking Draco behind her.

"hi", he mouthed cheerfully.

"why did you do th–" she was cut off by a new snowball coming from Draco.

This time it hit her face.

"this means war!" she exclaimed.

Hermione started gathering snow and made a huge snowball. She threw it on Draco. It landed perfectly on his head and he accidentally dropped his half-done snowball. Hermione grinned. Draco took quickly some snow and started running towards her. At first Hermione didn't realize what he was about to do. Then she did.

'oh my God!! Is he…? He is!'

Hermione started running away from him. Draco chase her the snow in his hands.

"eeeek!" Hermione screamed.

Draco laughed as he chase her. They ran around the grounds. Hermione tried to throw some snow at him but couldn't do it properly as she was running. Draco laughed an quickened his pace. Hermione soon noticed that he was quicker than she was because at some point he grabbed on her cloak. Draco tried to push her down but Hermione was faster and she pushed Draco. He fell on his back. Hermione started to laugh hard. While lying on the ground, Draco seized her hand and pulled her with force. Hermione fell next to him and Draco rolled on top of her. He grabbed some snow and massaged it all over her neck and face area. Hermione shrieked as she felt the cold snow touch her warm skin. Draco laughed and held her hands so that she couldn't move them. He massaged more snow on her neck and cheeks.

"stop Malfoy!" Hermione screamed, "I'm going to catch a cold!"

Draco stopped but still laughing, and still sitting on top of her.

"will you let me go?!" Hermione demanded.

"naw… I don't think so…", Draco said smirking.

"look… it's getting kinda cold…so…", Hermione tried.

Draco didn't move. Hermione started feeling pretty troubled lying on the cold snow…under Draco. When he freed her hands she pushed him off her and he landed on his back next to her.

"hey!" Draco exclaimed.

Hermione stood up smirking to him and dusting her robes.

"awww! Poor you", Hermione laughed looking down at Draco.

"stop laughing Granger. Help me get up", he demanded and stretched his right hand. Hermione grabbed on it and was about to pull him up but fell when Draco pulled her down. Hermione screeched as she fell on top of him. He just laughed.

"I didn't know you fancied me, Granger", he said somewhat smugly.

"very funny, Draco. Very funny", Hermione said and stood up.

Draco also stood up. He had snow on his head and he didn't seem to notice it. Hermione burst into laughter.

"You know what Malfoy?" Hermione laughed.

"what?"

"you are such a snow angel", Hermione giggled and removed the snow from his head.

"talking about snow angels Granger", Draco said pointing to the ground where they had just rolled a second ago.

Indeed, it looked like a snow angel. Actually a fat snow angel. Hermione giggled once more.

"yeah."

Hermione looked at Draco and he looked her back. Hermione could've lost into his blue eyes forever. She stopped giggling and Draco's expression changed. He wasn't smirking anymore, he was smiling slightly. Hermione smiled back. He suddenly stroked the tip of her nose.

"a snowflake", he explained.

Hermione gave a faint smile and cut the eye contact. She blushed at bit. How can someone be so cute and awful at the same time? Draco was her sworn enemy for years but how could she like him now? Did she really like him? Like really like? Or was it just a crush that was going to pass? What ever it was, Hermione felt something inside of her. She felt like she had a rush to ask Draco to be her partner. Who cares about principles! She wants to go with him.

'it's now or never!' Hermione heard her head scream.

'ask him now! Ask him as your partner for the ball!!'

Hermione hesitated. Should she? Yes! Hermione opened her mouth to ask him but she was quickly cut off by a high-pitched voice:

"Draco!"

Both Draco and Hermione turned to see Pansy running towards them. She had her friends with her too.

"here you are! I've looked all over for you!"

Hermione rolled her eyes.

'ugh!' was the only thing she could think of now.

Pansy and the other girls gave cruel glares to Hermione as they came closer. Pansy smiled sweetly to Draco. He smiled back.

"so. About the ball…" Pansy drawled, "I know you haven't asked me yet but I assume you will, right?"

Draco glanced at Hermione.

"er…"

He glanced her again. What was he doing? Asking her permission? Hermione turned her eyes away from him. She had wanted to ask him but Pansy apparently was quicker.

'and we all know who he is going with', Hermione thought angrily and somewhat jealous.

"er."

"so?" Pansy drawled.

"yes", Draco said giving a last glance to Hermione.

Hermione closed her eyes in disappointment. He had said 'yes'… of course… of course…

"wonderful!" Pansy let out a cry of joy and clapped her hands happily. "It'll be so much fun Draco hun!"

"sure", Draco said.

"I have this beautiful dress and I bet you're going to like!" Pansy said.

"ok."

Then there was a silence between them. Pansy turned to Hermione giving her a you-are-such-a-wimp –look. Then her expression changed.

"oh my god!" Pansy gasped sounding very shocked.

"what?!" Hermione paled.

"there's something on your forehead!" Pansy pointed her forehead looking very terrified.

"what? What is it?!" Hermione felt her forehead.

"I think it's a… it's a…. a big L…?" Pansy pondered.

"L?" Hermione felt her forehead now even harder.

"L for a loser!" Pansy said looking very mean.

Pansy and all the other Slytherins burst out laughing. Even Draco laughed at her.

"I bet you don't have a partner yet for the dance" Millicent said.

Hermione didn't say anything. The truth was she didn't have anybody who would take her to the dance. She knew she was pathetic but she felt sad when other people told her that.

"very sad Granger", Pansy said like she felt sorry for her. "you know, there's always Neville if nobody else wants you."

Pansy and other Slytherin girls burst laughing. Draco smirked and tried to hold his laugh. Hermione gave a death glare to Pansy and a longer one to Draco. He turned and looked down. Hermione stormed away without saying a word.

The way back to the castle she saw Ron and Harry.

"Hermione!" Ron called.

"what!?" Hermione snapped.

"whoa! Calm down. What is it?" Ron asked putting his hand on her shoulder.

Hermione looked down.

"It's Slytherins", she mumbled so quietly that Ron and Harry couldn't make any sense of her sentence.

"what did you say?" Harry asked.

"It's Slytherins!", Hermione repeated yelling.

"ok, ok! You don't have to yell", Ron said.

"what happened this time?" Harry asked.

"nothing new. They mocked me and I got angry. That's it", Hermione said angrily and tried to leave but Ron pulled her back.

"no, seriously. What is it?"

Hermione hesitated a bit.

"I don't have a partner", Hermione said quietly.

"a partner?" Harry repeated.

"yes. A partner for the ball."

"I thought you and Malfoy have to go together", Harry said.

"well he already has a partner, Pansy", Hermione spat in disgust.

"oh… but that's a good thing righat?" Ron asked.

"er… yeah", Hermione nodded. "But I have no-one!"

Harry and Ron shared looks and Harry nodded to him.

"er, Hermione…?" Ron started.

"yeah?"

"do you want to go with me?" Ron asked.

Hermione's angry expression changed into astonished.

"are you… are you asking… me?"

"yes."

Hermione glanced at Harry. He nodded. Hermione turned her head back to Ron.

"you're only asking me because you feel sorry for me."

"no Mione. I really want to go with you. So please say yes", Ron tried to convince her.

Hermione thought about it a second. There was always the possibility that he was asking her because he felt sorry for her. It also could be like he couldn't get anybody else so he had to ask her. But… if he really wanted to go with her…

"yes!" Hermione said grinning.

She hugged him happily and ran back to the castle. Harry and Ron looked each other astonished.

"I have a partner! I have a partner!" Hermione sang happily as she ran to the Heads' common room.

In the same evening Hermione was sitting on one of the common room sofas eating biscuits and reading books. Draco came in looking pretty tired. Suddenly Hermione remembered that she was supposed to be angry at him. She frowned. Draco yawned. He noticed that Hermione was there too, and walked to her. He stopped in front of her and looked down at her.

"are you still mad?" Draco asked.

Hermione didn't answer. She didn't even take her eyes off the book.

"Granger?"

Hermione just turned a page. Draco was like air to her.

"hello? Can you hear me?" Draco asked waving his hand in front of her eyes.

Hermione turned her head to him. She gave a death glare to him and looked back to her book. Draco sighed and sat down next to her. He leaned back.

"so this is how it's going to be, huh? Silent treatment?"

Hermione didn't give any answer.

"can I ask you one thing? What are you exactly mad about?" Draco asked. "Is it what Pansy said or is it that I'm going with her to the ball?"

Hermione shot her head to face him.

"no!" She snapped.

"so you can speak!" Draco said mockingly.

Hermione frowned.

"I couldn't care less who you're going with!" Hermione exclaimed.

"ok."

"no, really! If you're going with Pansy, fine! I'm going with Ron anyway!" Hermione yelled.

Draco burst out laughing.

"with Weasley?! Couldn't you get anyone better?"

Hermione had it. She slammed the book she was reading to the coffee table and stormed to her room and locked the door.

"ouch!", Draco said to himself.

---------------------

A/N: Please don't send me flames about the Ron-going-with-Hermione thing!!!!!! I know what I'm doing, ok?! He's just a friend, a good friend, that's all! Ok?

But REMEMBER TO REVIEW!!!!!!!!!

Special thanks to:

Kate – Lol!

Feather-quill – Thank you! I'm glad that you liked it :D

CrackHead – Yeah. Maybe I should… but there's coming one in later chapters but it's not fully Draco's POV…. It's more like a preview of what he thinks….oh, you'll see then. And I agree, he is cute! :)

Anonymous – Lol!

Meg – Lol! It might be confusing. But it's like this: Hermione likes him a little and doesn't want to admit it. We don't know how Draco feels. I mean even I don't! LOL! So anyway, Draco might like her…. After all he has flirted with her… like I said: boys are mysterious. Lol!

Babybeauty – I won't let it hanging like this, I promise ;) Lol!

Angel Innocent 0:)