Oops!! Sorry The Crimson Comet for getting your name wrong in the last chapter!! Sorry!! But see? I spelled your name nicely up there, didn't I? :D

Thanks to: TicklemeHelmo, DracosGirlMakayla, Jenni, S-Star, Dreamer, Steff, fb90, broken-Hermione, Jen Drake, The Crimson Comet, OneOfThoseAnonymousFolks, mulderluva, JAMtilldawn, Hermione18, Vegeta Jr, Pudmuffin, Bob, YingRui, KeeperOfTheMoon, The Adorable Kitten Fluffy, Starjade, Hyper_Shark, Hatokerei, Tom Felton's Babe, fawkes, Esperanza, Mainey, and Luna for reviewing!! Sorry if I forgot someone, I'm not sure if I did this time… let me know if I forgot you!!

Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended. Other citations will be made where necessary

******

Hermione was doing her Transfiguration homework when Harry opened the portrait and climbed in. He had a very sour face, so she could guess what had happened before he slumped on the couch and announced that Cho wasn't going to go with him to the masquerade.

"Going with some Ravenclaw boy," he muttered angrily.

Hermione smiled at him sympathetically, stood up, and patted his hand. "Well…" she stopped. She didn't know what to say.

Ron avoided the whole matter by becoming very interested in the fire, and glancing sideways at Harry.

"I'm…sorry, Harry," she said after a while of silence.

He tried to glare at her, but he ended up making a self-pitying face.

Ron cleared his throat. Hermione knew, since she had known him for six years now, that it was a dead giveaway he was uncomfortable.

Harry sighed, and stood up. "Guess I'll go have a shower. Being rejected can take the energy out of you…" he walked away.

"I hope he finds someone to go with," Hermione said.

"In six days?" Ron asked incredulously. "Nah. All the good ones taken."

Hermione glared at him before standing up and storming off into the dormitories, muttering something about boys.

In the dormitories, she found Lavender and Parvarti, fussing about what to wear again.

"Hermione!" Lavender exclaimed. She ran towards Hermione, took her by the wrist, and dragged her towards her wardrobe. "Since you know Ron so much better than I," she said, rummaging through her clothes, and pulling out two dresses. "Which would he like better?"

Hermione looked at both dresses Lavender was holding. On her right, she held a tiny, pale pink dress which seemed to have been made for a baby to wear, and not a sixteen-year-old girl. On her left, she held a long black dress which sparkled in the light. She didn't like neither of them. And… wasn't it supposed to have a medieval theme?

"But…" she said carefully. "Lavender, the masquerade has a medieval theme… shouldn't the clothes be medieval, too?"

Parvarti gasped, and looked at Hermione blankly.

Hermione shrugged.

"Dumbledore wouldn't…" Parvarti said. "Medieval clothes! As if! I want modern clothes, thank you very much!"

Lavender looked at Hermione helplessly. "Are you sure?"

"I was just saying… I mean, it wouldn't make any sense, would it?"

"I am not wearing twenty petticoats!" Parvarti insisted. "Never! I bought a gorgeous dress at Hogsmeade, and I'm not planning to return it!"

Then Lavender started laughing hysterically. "Imagine Sean in tights!"

"What?" Parvarti asked, annoyed.

"Men wore tights back then," Lavender answered, still laughing.

"Oh, no," Parvarti groaned. "Not that!"

Hermione chuckled. It would be something, seeing Sean in tights. Seeing Ron in tights! Seeing… Draco in tights? She found that so funny that she started laughing, too.

"I'm going to ask Dumbledore," Parvarti decided. "Or someone! Maybe I'll ask Professor Mcgonagal in transfiguration on Monday."

That reminded Hermione that she still had transfiguration homework, so, saying a hurried good bye to Lavender and Parvarti, she hurried down to the common room to do it.

***

Parvarti did ask McGonagall on Monday.

"Professor," she said, lowering her hand after being called upon. "Do we have to wear… medieval clothes to the masquerade?"

A murmur ran through the class.

Professor McGonagall ordered everyone to quiet before she said anything. "Well, miss Patil, it's voluntary."

Parvarti sighed with relief.

"As you all know, it's a Halloween masquerade, so you can put on a costume…or not put it on. But," she said, scanning the class. "Masks are obligatory. After all, it is a masquerade."

Another murmur ran through the class.

"Now, we will continue with the lesson,"

***

That afternoon, Hermione sat in the common room, looking into the fire. What Professor McGonagall said had made her think. 'After all, it is a masquerade'. Yes… Of course! It was a masquerade! She could go, and no one would know it was her… her face would be hidden by the mask, and no one had to know if she had gone or not! No one would know that… she didn't have a date.

She stood up and ran towards the dormitories, with a plan ready. She couldn't buy a dress, because the next Hogsmeade trip was in two weeks, but she could fix one of her dresses. She rummaged through her wardrobe, and finally found what she was looking for: a light blue dress, with silver lace at her waist and handcuffs. There were some silver trimmings at the neck and at the end of the dress. She liked it because it was very old-fashioned. It would make a perfect medieval dress.

She put the dress on the bed, and to out her wand. She had learned this tricky spell by reading one of Parvarti's fashion magazines, and she knew it would come in handy some day.

Saying her well-chosen words, she waved the wand at her dress, and watched its effects. The wavy skirt started getting larger as it was filled with five petticoats. It parted a bit at the center, and revealed a silver skirt under it. The chest part got fancier, with some trimmings going all around it, and the sleeves got, on one side, shorter, and on the other, longer and wavier.

Hermione smiled at the effect and, without wasting time, tried it on, and looked at herself in the mirror. She thought she looked a bit funny with so many petticoats, but she liked it just the same. Her chest was tight in the dress, but she liked how she looked. She twirled, and liked how the sleeves twirled with her on the outer part of her hand. On the other side, they were normal sleeves.

She grinned, thinking she had done a pretty good job, being the first time she ever tried the spell.

The mask was no problem, because she already had one. She walked over to her desk and opened a drawer, from which she took out a mask. It was white, with tiny beads at the edges. It covered part of her forehead and cheeks.

She put it on, and looked at herself in the mirror.

Excellent.

No one would tell it was her. Or would they…? She frowned. She had to change the hair. Everyone would know it was her if just by spotting her bushy hair. On her fourth year, she had tried sleek and straight. She wanted to try something new. Curly? Yes, she decided. Curly it would be. She would curl it the day of they masquerade, though. She wasn't going to spend two hours just to see how it looked.

Happily, after putting her Hogwarts robes back on, she skipped down into the common room to watch Harry and Ron play wizard chess.

***

This time, Draco was the one early. He waited in silence, with his hands in his pockets.

He had no idea why he had told Hermione such personal things the other day. She had just listened so good, looking up at him with wondering brown eyes. No one had ever cared about him before. His father had no time for him, and if he had, it was to remind him that he must become a Death Eater. His mother did care for him, but she never had time for him, either, always having to be at Lucius' side to do this and that. He looked up when he heard footsteps getting louder and louder for, even if he was absorbed in his thoughts, Draco always noticed when someone was around.

"Hi, Draco," Hermione said, smiling at him. "Sorry I'm late, but… something happened," frowning, she got out the Joggart from her pocket. She couldn't get it out at first. It seemed to cost her a great deal, but she finally did. "He weights a lot," she explained, handing it to him.

The weight of the Joggart was unexpected, and Draco almost fell flat on the ground if he hadn't reacted quickly.

"What the…?"

"Ron," Hermione said angrily. "He was feeding his Joggart when he thought it would be funny to let Bluey and Navy- his Joggart- 'associate'. Well, at first it went great. Both Joggarts seemed to get on well enough, so Ron and I went to talk with Harry. Then, about ten minutes later, we heard shrieks from the box where we had left our Joggarts, and then a muffled cry, so we went to see what happened."

At this part of the story, Hermione was really angry, Draco could see, because her voice was getting louder, and she was clutching her fists. It kind of amused him, actually.

"Well! It was such a- a tremendously… strange thing!" she looked up at him. He hadn't said a word or moved a muscle since she had been talking to him, and she wanted to make sure he was really listening. He was watching her, so she kept on going. "Navy had, somehow, gotten a knight from Ron's wizard chess and, holding it between his teeth, was forcing it down Bluey's throat."

Now Draco was amused. Not only because of where the story had gotten to, but because Hermione kept crossing her arms, and her face was a bit red.

"Bluey ate it, and look what happens now! He's heavy!"

Draco bounced the creature up and down on his hand, partly because Bluey was trying to bite it, and partly because he felt like doing so. "A chess piece doesn't weight this much," he stated.

"Ron, for once, had done his Transfiguration homework. It was to make something light heavy. Well, Navy got just the one piece Ron had made heavy! I asked him how Navy could've gotten hold of that piece, and he said that he had left it lying around! Honestly…"

Draco tried not to chuckle as they walked outside. Seeing Hermione angry was funny. If it had been Neville, he would've backed away but, Draco, who was anything but Neville, was amused, and it made him like her a bit more.

They sat down, Hermione still fussing about the now heavy Joggart. She got out a parchment and a quill and wrote furiously, pressing very hard on the paper.

Draco snatched the parchment away. "Look, you're going to break the parchment if you keep on like that," he drawled, getting her quill, too. "So I'll write."

Hermione watched as he wrote in neat, straight lines across the parchment. Then she felt something furry brush past her hand, and she stared angrily at the Joggart as he examined her hand, as if it was his fault he was now so heavy.

"What'll Hagrid say?" she groaned. She looked at Draco. "Do you think chess pieces are toxic?"

Draco chuckled. He couldn't help it.

"Well, maybe they are after being transformed!"

"Granger, I thought you were smarter than that,"

"Hermione," she corrected automatically. "And don't think you're so smart! You're-"

"Easy, 'mione, just a small, simple, helpless comment, no need to get worked up…"

"Don't call me 'mione!" she exclaimed.

Being Draco, he was having a pretty good time. He might have started to like Hermione, but he still loved to see her angry.

"Alright, 'mione,"

"Don't!" she hissed.

Then she saw a smile fighting its way onto Draco's lips, and she calmed down a bit. He wanted to see her angry. He liked seeing her angry! Well, she thought, at least he's more relaxed than when we began about a month ago. That made her feel better, so she smiled and leaned her back on the tree, thinking it was amazing she was now feeling relaxed because of the boy she had beside her.

***

Hermione jerked her head up from her potions essay to the sound of Harry's and Ron's laughter.

They were both doing their divination homework, hiding grins and chuckles from Hermione's careful watch over them, but they couldn't stop laughing this time.

"You've been making it up again, haven't you?" Hermione asked, getting up and walking towards them.

Ron laughed again. "Obviously,"

Hermione frowned and snatched Ron's predictions to read them over.

"Uh-huh," she said. "Getting trampled by a carriage, being bitten by a giant Joggart as you were trying to open its mouth with a quill…" she looked up and glared at both boys, who were trying to muffle their laughter with their hands. She kept on reading over decapitations, murders, and drownings, until she got to the last one. "I will unluckily be put under the Imperious Curse," she read aloud. "making me dreadfully turn Malfoy into a jumping ferret."

She got so angry that she threw the predictions into Ron's face, which shocked him, and he stopped laughing.

"It's not funny!" she yelled, surprising herself.

Harry and Ron both gaped at her.

"Just… stop being like that! You don't have to be so mean towards Draco, he hasn't done anything to you these past few weeks!"

Ron stood up, furious. "Draco? Draco? Since when have you called him Draco?"

"Since I felt like it!" she snapped.

Then Harry stood up. "He's bothered us these past five years and he can't make it up by not bothering us for a few weeks!"

"Yes he can!" Hermione yelled.

"I can't believe this," Ron said, gaping at her. "You're actually defending Malfoy?"

"Yes, I am!" and with that, she turned on her heel and went to the dormitories.

She had surprised herself by getting so angry, by yelling so loud, by defending Draco. But he wasn't nasty anymore. At least, not to her. He was cold, but she was getting closer to him. Harry and Ron shouldn't always take it out on him! It wasn't fair! He hadn't done anything to them lately! She sighed, and sat down on her bed.

But he has done something to me, she thought, I can no longer stand someone talking badly about him. I want to know him better, want to understand him, want to be near him.

She closed her eyes and was soon asleep.

***

The day before the masquerade, Dumbledore stood up in the Great Hall. "As you all know," he said. "The first day of the masquerade is to be held tomorrow,"

An excited murmur spread across the Great Hall.

"The ship is almost ready. Just a few more spells on it, and a bit more cleaning," he smiled, and his eyes twinkled. "I must remind everyone that it is not obligatory to wear a costume, but you must wear a mask. Be on the ship tomorrow evening at nine o'clock. That'll be all,"

Harry looked at Cho sadly.

Hermione patted him. "It'll be ok," she said, trying to comfort him.

He shook his head. "No, it won't." he sighed, and picked at his chicken.

Hermione looked across the Great Hall and looked at Draco, who was looking at her. She smiled and waved.

He didn't do anything. Should he wave? No. His pride wouldn't let him. At least, not when he was around all these Slytherins, looking at him with beady eyes, watching his every more.

He looked away.

***

Draco looked at himself in the mirror one more time, and secured his black mask tightly. He went out of the Slytherin common room, and made his way towards the Entrance Hall. He looked pretty impressive with black pants, black shirt, black cloak, black mask, and silvery hair. As he passed by, people seemed to shiver a little.

He reached the Entrance Hall, and looked at the lake. At the center of it there was a beautiful ship, glowing with light.

The masquerade had already started.

Draco Malfoy wasn't the kind of person who showed up late for something, but this time he wasn't punctual. And he had done it on purpose.

He walked on the grass, through the lighted path that led to the ship, until he reached the lake.

The ship was enormous, and all its windows were lighted, through which you could see people dancing. He climbed the ladder and stepped on deck. Everything was silent. Only his footsteps could be heard.

As he neared a door, he could hear music coming from behind it. He opened it, and entered the previous dining room. All the tables and chairs had been moved to one side, where people were sitting and talking. There was also some tables lined with food at the far end, a table just for the teachers, and a huge dance floor.

What he noticed first was that almost all the girls had decided to dress up, because he saw hundreds of voluminous skirts. None of the boys had seemed to want to wear tights, though. But one boy was wearing them and Draco guessed it was Neville once the boy had stepped on five skirts, and tripped, falling straight into someone's butterbeer.

The floor was made out of wood, but the ceiling had beautiful pictures on it. Moving pictures of angels, all surrounding the enormous candelabra that hung from the ceiling. As he looked up, he noticed that there was another floor in the room. He looked to his right and saw wooden staircases, which led to a landing. People were also dancing there, and some were leaning on a rail, looking down at them.

As he started walking towards an empty chair, he saw a beautiful girl go down the stairs from the landing, walk across the room, and go outside, onto deck.

And she seemed to be alone.

Draco walked after her. He closed the door behind him silently, and looked around for her.

She was leaning on the rail, and looking down at the water.

She had curly hair, and was wearing a blue dress.

He stood beside her, and she looked to see who was watching her. Two brown eyes looked up at him from behind a white mask. He was sure he knew those eyes, but… no. It couldn't be. She said she wouldn't come.

"Would you like to dance?" he got straight to the point.

She seemed shocked at first, looking at him closely, but then she smiled. "Alright."

He offered her his arm, and she took it.

Together they walked across deck, and into the dance floor, where a song had just started. Draco immediately knew this was a waltz.

Some people groaned. They preferred songs such as the fast one they had had before.

Draco put his arm around the girl's waist, and she put her hand on his shoulder. Then their free hands met, and as she looked up at him, he was sure he knew those eyes.

She moved gracefully, but let him steer. He was glad of that, for he loved to be in control.

When the song ended, she smiled at him, and he found himself smiling back.

Then a slow song came on, and much more people stepped onto the dance floor.

Draco got her closer to him, and they started dancing. Draco didn't even think it was dancing. It was just standing very close to your partner, and moving to the time of the music. They were standing so close that he could feel the heat coming from her. And she smelled pretty good, too. Her skin was silky smooth, and the world began to fade away. He was only aware of where their hands touched, and on the beautiful brown eyes that stared back at him. Nothing else mattered. Only her eyes were important, and to her, his eyes were the only thing to care about. All in all, it was gray set on brown.

***

After three more dances, one fast, and two normal ones, Draco's partner said that she wanted to go on deck, to have some fresh air.

He followed her, thinking he might have upset her.

"I'm sorry," he said, speaking the words as if he had never said them before. In fact, he hadn't.

"Sorry for what?" she asked, looking at him.

"For…" he suddenly felt very stupid. He hadn't upset her! "I thought you got tired of me and just wanted to get away."

"Of course not!" she exclaimed. Then she got a little red. "Actually, I loved dancing with you."

That warmed Draco, and calmed him down.

"We could stay outside, if you want," he said softly.

She smiled, and her eyes shone. "Want to dance out here?" she asked.

"Aren't you tired?"

"No," she answered. "Not at all. I just wanted a bit of fresh air. Everyone is in there and I wanted to get out for a while. So shall we dance?"

"As you wish," Draco said, saying that phrase for the first time in his life.

The music drifted from the door that led to the dancing floor. It was another slow song.

Her eyes shone in the moonlight. Her hair moved in the wind. She was beautiful. But he couldn't help but feeling suspicious as those brown eyes watched him, thinking, all along, that it might be her. But he enjoyed himself anyway.

After a few more dances by themselves, they went inside again. Both looked at the tables full of food, but decided they still wanted to dance, so they kept going, liking each other more and more. If they hadn't been so wrapped up in each other, though, they would've seen a pair of green eyes watching them closely.

***

And, a bit too soon for their liking, the last song ended, and the masquerade came to an end.

Draco let go of her, and she smiled at him.

"Will you be coming tomorrow?" she asked.

"Of course,"

She looked at the door, where two boys were waiting for her.

"Well, I'll see you tomorrow, then!"

She walked towards the boys and, before he could stop himself, he yelled "Wait! What's your name?"

And the dreaded answer came, the answer that left him paralyzed, the answer he had known all along but had tried to deny it.

"Hermione, Hermione Granger,"

And she ran away.

******

Ok, maybe the masquerade was a bit too cheesy. Or a lot too cheesy. Anyway, what did you think??? Review! Please!!!!