Chapter Twenty-Nine:

(A/N. Guess who's back? ME!!! So that, of course, means new and wonderful UPDATES!!!!!! Well I know this one's short but I promise I will give you some better chapters. I'm sorry it was a little sappy and fluffy I got carried away. Birthday vibes and all that…(and me not having a boyfriend…) anyways read on and I promise I will try to read as many stories as I can. And the three legs thing is cuz the man gets a cane.)

Draco, Hermione and the prefects started to note ideas for the upcoming dance, which was set for mid-November, which they needed to plan. It was Hermione who came up with the perfect idea. She announced to them all at the first meeting.

"Winter Wonderland. A masquerade ball." She said. The idea was greeted enthusiastically.

"We could make it like a 16th century thing." Ginny Weasley added shyly. Her idea was also voted favorable. The four prefects were split into two teams. One to work on the food and music, one to work on decorations. Hermione and Draco would coordinate from the outside. The weeks passed by and the four prefects were hard at work. Draco and Hermione continued to meet in the Heads Common Room to study and talk together. She was helping him in Herbology and he would help her with Potions.

"Potions is simple. It's all about putting the ingredients together and creating something new and wonderful." Draco said. Hermione looked at him and laughed. He raised an immaculate eyebrow. "What?" He demanded.

"You're just so serious sometimes. It makes me laugh. No wonder I fell in love with you." She smiled. He smirked.

"It's that the only reason you fell in love with me? Because I make you laugh?" He said playfully. She smacked his arm and pulled him into a deep kiss. He pulled away and looked at her wisely. "Ah, so it wasn't the humor. It was the kisses."

"Well you know what they say." She said cheekily. He grinned at her and pulled her into his lap.

"No I don't know."

"That if you truly want to know if a man loves you, it's in his kiss." She said, her eyes twinkling.

"Oh really? Well let's test that theory." He whispered huskily and pulled her into a fiery, loving kiss. She pulled away, breathing heavily. "Well?" He panted.

"I don't know…I think we have to try again." She smiled. He chuckled loudly and pulled her down to his lips again. The seasons changed and Draco felt no remorse about how little time he was spending with his old 'friends' but he knew that Hermione missed them and it hurt him to see her gaze longingly at them at breakfast as she sat by herself reading a book. He tried to ignore it but her happiness was all that mattered to him. He continually got messages from his father who told him how anxious he was for his upcoming Initiation. Draco couldn't help the bitterness that rose in him every time he read those letters. You never cared about me until the Dark Lord decided he wanted to make me his bloody heir. He would cry at them silently. He burned them all. October soon slipped away and November brought snow and cold, biting winds. Hermione and Draco found themselves locked inside sitting by the warm fire of their small, circular common room more and more. Draco couldn't help but think wistfully that id they stayed inside they could lock out the world. It would make everything so much simpler. Damn fate.