Bubbling and Brewing

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Harry and Ginny opened the doors to the Great Hall with Ron and Hermione bringing up the rear. Hermione's arm was linked around Ron's and he was grinning like a small child on Christmas day. Snape was there, along with most of the other staff except for Miss Evans.

"Here comes Potter and his fan club." Draco said to the crowd of Slytherins surrounding him. They of course uttered forced laughs very enthusiastically at his joke and Draco rolled his eyes at them and walked towards the punch bowl. He was dressed completely in black, except for a shimmering snake stitched into the fabric covering his hair. No one that wasn't Slytherin could possible recognize him in it. It covered his hair, which was one of his most definitive characteristics, and also most of his face. He was supposed to be an ancient wizard dueling master and few would recognize him as that. Pansy had already called him everything from a sock to a shadow, only behind his back of course. His friend Blaise Zabini was all to faithful in accounting to him everything that was said while he was not present. A lot was depending on this night, he had to complete the first phase of his plan. If he failed tonight, it might be impossible for him to accomplish his 'goal'. He was actually benefiting quite a lot from it on his end. All he had to do was seduce a certain Gryffindor; that seemed easy enough to Draco. Though, it had to be done systematically for some reason. Why it had to be done that way, his father would not profess. Though it hardly made any difference.

"Would you like some punch Hermione?" Ron asked a little shyly.

"Hermione and I will get it." Ginny said almost cutting Ron off. Before Hermione could answer back Ginny grabbed her by the arm and pulled her towards the punch bowl.

"Okay, Ginny I can walk just fine on my own, there's no need to drag me." Hermione said rubbing her arm after Ginny had let go.

"Sorry Hermione I just wanted to have some time away from the boys." Ginny replied. Hermione smiled at her friend and poured two goblets of punch for her and Ron. The punch was a glowing orange and was bubbling and frothing. Fog was emanating from it and it smelled quite delicious. "You look great Hermione, honestly."

"And you look gorgeous Ginny. Thanks for all your help."

"It was a pleasure. All right, let's go then. Do have your date's punch?" Ginny said with a smirk. Hermione rolled her eyes jokingly at her friend and they headed back towards their dates. They sat at a nearby table and eventually got up to dance.

"Hermione and Ron are looking good." Harry remarked.

"Yeah I noticed. I hope all ends well with them. Ron wouldn't take being let down very well. You know how he is." Ginny replied. She alternated her head onto Harry's other shoulder. Harry's arms were around her and she had her arms wrapped around his shoulders. They were leisurely revolving around the dance floor to a slow song that neither recognized.

"Let's sit back down for a while Ron." Hermione said.

"Alright." He said letting go of her immediately. They walked back towards their table and sat down. They sat in a deafening silence, which Ron finally broke by offering to go get more punch.

"Yes, thank you Ron that would great." She said. She handed him her goblet and he walked over to the other side of the Hall towards the punch bowl and the rest of the food.

"You look amazing Hermione." A strange voice said from behind her. She turned in her seat and saw a black-clad figure standing directly in front of her face. She tried to puzzle out who it must be that was standing in front of her. It wasn't Seamus; his accent gave him away easily.

"Dean?" She said. The figure shook his head.

"No Hermione. Listen before I tell you who I am I want to apologize for all that I've done to you. Please don't hold it against me." He said and then removed the fabric covering his head.

Hermione gasped, "Draco?" She said gaping.

"Will you dance with me?" He said, almost pleadingly.

"I can't...I...I'm here with Ron. Why are you doing this? You hate me and you hate my friends. I'm just a mudblood to you remember?" Hermione turned back around to see if Ron was heading back and when she turned back around he was gone. "What on earth?" Hermione whispered to herself.

"What?" Ron shouted over the music.

"Thank you." She said.

"Oh. You're welcome." He said and handed her the goblet.

The rest of the night was pretty much the same. Nothing else of any importance happened except that Harry and Ginny disappeared for some time, which seemed to upset Ron somewhat. They showed up after some time and Hermione was grateful for the break in the awkward silences between her and Ron. Ginny's hair was in slight disarray and Harry's face was flushed. Neither Ron nor Hermione commented on it, though Ron glared at Harry slightly at first. They all headed back together towards the common room and Ron pecked Hermione innocently on the lips before she went to her dormitory. Harry and Ron stayed up for some time after the dance to talk. Hermione and Ginny went straight to bed.

"I buggared it all up Harry."

"What are you talking about Ron?"

"Hermione. She had an awful time, I know it. I couldn't think of anything to talk about and I'm an ass when comes to dancing."

"Don't worry about it Ron, I'm sure it wasn't as bad as you think."

"What about you and Ginny, did things go alright?" Ron asked.

Harry knew what he was leaning towards and replied, "I had a great time Ron." Harry didn't want to embellish too much on the details. He wasn't too sure on whether Ron, or even he would be comfortable describing how nice it was to snog with his younger sister.

"Let's hit the hay Ron. I'm beat."

"Yeah, okay."

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"So, how was it?" Ginny asked excitedly.

"It was...nice." Hermione said. She wanted to avoid this as much as possible.

"Oh come on! Give some details. What happened while I was gone?"

"Ginny...I - "

"I knew it! I'm so happy that things are working out with you two. You know how hurt Ron would be if things were to...not go well. He really likes you Hermione."

Hermione smiled guiltily and then decided to change the subject by asking, "How did things go with Harry?"

"It was great! He's such a sweetheart. I hope he had a good time." Ginny said in a rush of words.

They both changed into their pajamas and spent more time than should normally be spent getting ready for bed. They had to remove all sorts of goop and left over gunk from their faces and hair; a ritual that most girls know quite well.

Finally after becoming satisfied, they pulled back their covers and climbed into their beds.

"Goodnight Hermione." Ginny muttered slowly in between yawning.

"Goodnight." Hermione replied before falling into a deep and dream-filled slumber.