Okay. We all know this story is going nowhere so far and everyone reading it has no idea what's going on. I'm trying to make it Herm/Draco, since I'm all for them, but just bare with me.

Chapter 2

            The sky was blue and a light summer breeze was wafting through the open window of the library. Birds could be heard by all, except for a scowling blonde boy sitting in a chair in the middle of it all. The chair, having a high back and made in a dark cherry wood, gave the impression that he was very important in society to be sitting in such a luxurious looking chair. The breeze fluttered the wisps of hair falling into his eyes away and revealed stone gray eyes full of pure annoyance. His young looking face betrayed any thought of authority and immediately thought him conjuring trouble behind those masked eyes. This boy had to be none other than Draco Malfoy. Draco Malfoy, a seventeen-year-old wizard, was presumably thought of the hottest guy in Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and having the untrained ability to hide his emotion in one swift blink of an eye. Well, enough about me, why am I so annoyed?

            "Draco, darling!" a women's voice was heard outside the doors to the library. The doors swung open to reveal a slim woman with long white-golden hair and a dark green dress on. Walking past the many bookshelves of books on the Dark Arts and other anonymous publications, she stopped in front of her irritated son.

            "Draco, I've found the most charming suit for you to wear to your ball!" Mrs. Malfoy held out a dark blue suit in a clear garment bag. Draco looked down at it in horror. He looked up to see his mother grinning from ear to ear.

            "I found it, " she said taking it out of the bag," in the back of your father's old wardrobe. It has a matching tie, shoes, and assorted accessories with it. Isn't it just splendid?" Draco could hear the excitement in her voice. He knew, for a fact, that she had been looking for the perfect suit for him to wear all morning. Which is why he didn't hesitate when she asked that he try it on. Going to his bedroom, which was right down the same hallway as the library, he slipped out of his blue jeans and his black t-shirt, and put on the suit. I have to admit, it doesn't look too bad. Hmm…I look hot. After a once-over of himself in his over sized mirror, he stepped out of his room to see his impatient mother waiting outside his door.

            "My goodness, you look absolutely dashing!" she announced and started to fuss with his tie and his hair. After a few minutes, she stopped and looked him up and down.

            "This will do. Now, make a list of who you want to invite and give it to one of the house-elves to give to me. I must send them out today." She said heading down the main staircase in the direction of the dining room. Draco got a guilty pang in the back of his mind. He was supposed to do that weeks ago. Going back into his room, he undressed, put his regular clothes back on, and grabbed a parchment, quill, and a bottle of red ink. He sat himself at his desk and stuck the quill in his mouth and into the ink. Writing a few names that he definitely wanted to come, he stopped at the more difficult people to invite. Pansy is really annoying, but I have to invite her. I'll never hear the end of it. Pansy's name was added to the list. Now, Crabbe and Goyle. Oh, yes. They're just the life of the party aren't they. What about Milicent Bulstrode? Yeah, she had to come. After all, she is the real life of any party. Holding up the piece of parchment and rereading it, he seemed satisfied.

                                    Blaise Zabini and guest

                                    Malcolm Baddock and Emma Dobbs

                                    Graham Pritchard and Laura Madley

                                    Pansy Parkinson

Milicent Bulstrode

Nicole Gibbens and Stewart Ackerley….

…And the list went on to invite random Ravenclaws, most of the Slytherins, and even a couple of cute Hufflepuff girls. Only because they look hot. He reminded himself. More people would probably come, due to Blaise inviting everyone and their friends to all of Draco's parties. It's not that Draco didn't like it, it was actually more enjoyable not knowing exactly who was coming, and the parties were more fun that way. Draco called for a house-elf, named Fliny, and gave him the list for his mother. The house-elf left in a hurry, so Draco was left alone. He laid down flat on his back on his four-poster bed, which was all black with gold trim on the hangings and bedspread.

 He started to think about something he had been pondering. Blaise was a mystery. Guest…guest…why can't he just tell me who she is?!

                                                Flashback

Since the middle of 6th year, Blaise had started to act funny. More nicer than usual. He no longer snapped at anyone's witty comments or pushed little1st years around or even helped Draco antagonize the Dream Team. As a matter of fact, when Draco did say anything about the "Golden Trio" or anything about Gryffindors in general, Blaise would always get a distant look and wouldn't snap out of it until Draco had to push him of his seat, or something drastic like that.

 Then one night, Draco confronted him about his behavior in the empty common room after everyone had gone to sleep. Draco had been waiting for Blaise to come back from his nightly disappearance, which had been going on since a couple of weeks earlier. The portrait opened, and in came Blaise with a broad grin on his face. It immediately fell when he saw Draco sitting in one of the black leather chairs in front of the dying fire. He got up and crossed the room towards Blaise and stopped about a foot in front of him.

"Would you care to explain…all of this?" Draco asked in a questioning manner. Blaise didn't look at him at first, and then settled his eyes on the forest green rug beneath them.

"Well?" Draco stood impatiently tapping his foot. He was getting tired and he needed his beauty sleep.

"Um…well, it's like this…" Blaise was never one to stutter, especially in front of Draco. They were practically best friends until recently when Blaise was acting so distant. He never stuttered. Ever.

"Blaise, seriously. Just tell me so we can both go to bed, already." Draco was getting irritated and it showed in his voice and on his face.

"Okay, but you can't tell anyone." Draco nodded.

"I have a girlfriend, but she's not in Slytherin…she's in...in…"Blaise stuttered darting his eyes around the room, now and again glancing at Draco.

"What house is she in?" Draco asked eying his fingernails and occasionally biting one.

"…Gryffindor…" Draco spit out the fingernail in his mouth and wiped his mouth on his sleeve. He looked incredulously at Blaise.

"She's in what?!"

"You heard me."

"I know I heard you! Blaise what is going on in that supposed brain of yours, anyway?!" Draco was sputtering, trying to let the information sink in. It wasn't working too well. Blaise wasn't talking and looked like he was done for the night; simply waiting for Draco to get over himself and allow them to go to bed. He was ready for this reaction from any Slytherin he told, but mainly Draco.

"She just caught my eye I guess."

"Caught your eye. She caught your eye. Blaise…BLAISE?!" Draco was stunned. No, no, not stunned. He was in complete and utter shock. Here he was trying to sort this whole thing out in his mind and Blaise was SLEEPING! He never does that. So with that, Draco woke Blaise up and they went to bed.

                                                End Flashback

Okay, who's in Gryffindor that Blaise would…Ew…consider going out with? This simple question had been nagging him at the back of his mind for the longest time a question had ever bugged him. His mother's voice was floating up the stairs to his room; something about decorations. Draco slid off his bed and headed downstairs.

(Hermione's POV)

After eating and talking casually, Ginny got a look of realization and then concentration. She looked around the group hesitantly. Harry was the only one who saw this, the affects of the Firewhiskey quickly wearing off. Ron was talking to Maggie about quidditch or more like teaching her.

"Honestly, Maggie, you've got to come with us to the next Quidditch World Cup." Ron said smiling at the thought of sitting next to Maggie and showing her everything about the sport. Maggie smiled at the thought and all was quiet. The silence must have put some confidence in Ginny's thought because she grinned and looked at everybody.

"Hey everybody," the group looked at her waiting for her to talk, " I'm all inviting you to a ball!" Ginny squealed.

"What sort of ball?" Ron asked.

"One of my friend's friends is holding one at the end of the month. It's going to be THE party of the summer. Everybody's going to be there. Including us," now looking at Maggie and Hermione, she said, still smiling, " we can go shopping for our dresses and assorted things this week!"

"Who's going, exactly?" Harry asked, looking at a leftover piece of grilled cheese. Ron must have spotted it too, because he grabbed it and ate it in one bite. Harry glared at him.

"Waaahgt?" Ron said with his mouth full of cheese.

"Mostly everybody from school. It's basically like a "going-back-to-school" kind of thing, except a month early." Ginny said distractedly. She must have been thinking of the color of her dress. Harry turned to Hermione and Ron.

"So, are we in?" he asked.

"I am." Ron said, trying to get cheese out of between his teeth.

"Sounds like fun." Hermione said. Unusually, Hermione was thinking of what she was going to wear, too.

"So, it's settled!" Ginny said excitedly, "We'll all go shopping for our stuff this week. A ball…this is so exciting!"