Synopsis: Where we left off, Draco had just put Hermione to sleep in his bed, because Lily was in hers, they also had a bit of a fight at Hogsmeade (what else is new?)

A/N: Eek, so sorry about the delay, like I said, the file magically deleted, I had to copy and paste the WHOLE thing from ff.n on to another disk!! More a/n at the end, this chapter, as I said, is just a pretty long segue into the Yule Ball, 22 will prolly be up tomorrow, provided that people are actually still reading this!

Disclaimer: plot and Lily are mine, everything else is JKR's

Hermione woke with a start the next morning, and realized she was not in her own bed, but in Draco's.

'But, I went to sleep on the couch last night.' she thought. 'He must've moved me..... how cute, I mean, how nice!... Oh, but I'm in HIS bed! He's a boy! I mean, and he put me here! This isn't like when I slept here before, oh man, I'm in his bed! He put me in his bed!'

She flopped back down on the bed and stared around the room for a bit. Hermione then heard Draco's voice drifiting in, over the noise of the water from the shower he was taking.

"Got a fist of pure emotion,

Got a head of shattered dreams.

Gotta leave it, gotta leave it all behind now.

Whatever I said, Whatever I did, I didn't mean it

I just want you back for good.

Whenever I'm wrong, just tell me the song and I'll sing it

You'll be right and understood"

Hermione giggled as his voice trailed off. 'Huh, whaddya know, he actually IS a good baritone!' She jumped out of bed, and folded the duvet (COMFORTER) back to normal.

As she strode across the study, she could hear Draco humming on the bathroom. She walked in to her room, to find that Lily was already gone. Hermione took one look around at the small mess that she had accumulated, and decided to walk back out in to the study.

Hermione sat down in her chair, and pulled the Gryffindor blanket on to her lap. She picked up her Matilda from the table, and began to read it. Soon, Draco's voice cut in, since he'd turned off the water.

"Here I stand, head in hand

Turned my face to the wall.

If she's gone I can't go on

Feeling two foot small."

By this point, Hermione was hatching a brilliant plan. She dashed to her room, and picked up her brush, and crept over to the bathroom door.

"I can see them laugh at me

And I hear them say."

Hermione took this natural segue as her opportunity.

She burst the door open, and began to sing loudly in to her brush.

"Hey, you've got to hide your love away,

Hey, you've got to hide your love away."

It was only after this stunning performance that Hermione looked up at Draco. He was standing there, blushing with his mouth agape. He had on a towel. Just a towel (SQUINNNNYYYY!!).

Hermione's mind was torn in two, one half saying 'Oh my God, get OUT!' and the other half saying 'Whew! SOMEBODY'S been working out!'

She decided the only way to cover it, was to be non-chalant.

"So, good song, huh?"

"Uh, Hermione... WHAT are you doing?"

"Singing?"

Draco was noticeably flustered, "Well, d'you think you could LEAVE?"

"Oh, sure." Hermione walked out and shut the door behind her.

'I can't BELIEVE I just did that! Oh my God, he's going to think I'm a pervert of something! How embarassing! Oh, this is horrible, I might as well bury my head in the ground. Oh, Lord...' She quickly shut her bedroom door.

Meanwhile, in the bathroom, Draco was staring at himself in the mirror.

"Oh, God, that was horrible!" he whispered. "She probably thinks I'm a huge idiot! I can't believe I was singing so loudly!" Draco rushed out of the bathroom, and in to his own to get dressed.

After that, there was an unspoken agreement between the two never to discuss what happened in the bathroom, or the night before.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

The next few weeks passed awkwardly, Draco and Hermione both attempted not to get at eachother's throats, and it worked about half the time. But, they had to work with Snape and McGonagall to prepare for the Ball, so they did their best.

Sooner than either of them expected, the day of the Yule Ball came. Hermione was at breakfast with her friends, eating pensively.

"So, Hermione, you haven't even said anything yet, who are you going with to the Ball?" Harry asked her.

She looked up sharply at him, "Well, um, as a matter of fact I am going with... some one that I'm not going with voluntarily, I mean, I HAVE to go with him, we were oredered to go together, and obviously I would not have, ever, under any normal circumstances, and I..."

"She's trying to say that she's going with me," a voice came from behind them, "But obviously I require a lengthy disclaimer. I'm sorry Hermione, I didn't know I was THAT offensive to you."

She looked up at Draco, who looked very angry, and surprisingly hurt.

"Draco, I was just..."

"Whatever, Hermione, I'll see you all later" Draco spun on his heel and walked off towards their room.

Harry turned to her, "Mione, you could have just told us..."

"Oh, sod off, Harry, don't try to act like he's your best friend now just because of his mum and Sirius. He OWES me, ok?"

"Look, Hermione, he does not owe you anything! You should be glad that he's not a Death Eater, and that's he's not DEAD for God's sake! Where do you get off thinking anyone owes you anything! Since when does being decent require a reward! I know that you're above a lot of people on many levels, but, really, Hermione, that's awfully selfish of you!"

"Oh, well, if you'd like to defend him so much, maybe YOU two should be friends! You could even make a little club! 'The Boy Who Lived' and 'The Boy Who Inherited,' how quaint!"

"Hermione, don't take it out on me because you and Draco have all this ruddy sexual tension between the two of you! I didn't do anything to make you mad, so don't yell at me!"

Hermione stood up, her cheeks blazing, "I will have you know, Harry Potter, that there is no 'sexual tension' between Draco and myself! I don't know how diluted hatred came to be attraction in YOUR mind, but I'm pretty sure you're wrong, I think I know Draco better than you do, and I surely know myself better than you do!"

She turned around, and marched out of the Great Hall, with the whole Gryffindor table staring after her, in shock.

"Well!" Ron broke in, "The Ball ought to be interesting!"

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Hermione stalked down the hallways, but stopped abruptly.

"Ugh, Draco's in our room, I can't very well go back there."

She turned and walked to the prefects' bathroom, to which she knew the password. She slipped inside, and turned on the strawberry scented bubbles. After she took off her robes, she sank in to the tub.

"Stupid Harry. Stupid Ron. Stupid Yule Ball. Stupid Draco. Stupid Mister Darcy. Stupid... stupid me," she sighed. "I suppose I could be more nice to him. It's not like anyone makes it easy! He's always so arrogant, and Harry has always hated him up to now, and now that HARRY likes him, I should, too? I should have gone to an all-girls' school!"

After soaking for a little while more, Hermione got out, dried herself off, dressed, and walked back to their room. She apporached the portrait apprehensively.

"Ah, hello, dear! You know, Mister Malfoy came back a while ago looking just frightful! I don't think I've ever seen him so affected," Rowena Ravcenclaw said.

Hermione sighed, "OK. Oxygen."

The portrait hole swung open, and just as Hermione entered, she heard Draco's door click shut. Hermione looked over to the fire, which was burning brightly. She walked over to Draco's chair and could see a dent, which meant that he'd just been sitting there. She looked at the table next to his chair, and was surprised to see her tattered copy of Matilda resting there. She allowed herself a small smile at the thought of Draco reading the storty about the tiny girl.

Hermione sighed and stood up, and walked to Draco's door. She knocked softly.

"Draco?"

No answer.

She knocked again, "Draco?"

The door swung open, and Hermione found herself facing a glaring, angry Draco Malfoy.

"What?"

"I just wanted to apologize."

Draco looked at her coldly, "I will be ready to escort you down to the Great Hall at six thirty. I'm going to sit with some Slytherins, you will sit with some Gryffindors. I assume that the sight of us walking in together will be enough to satiate Professor Dumbledore. Then, you'll be relieved of your duty. Agreed?"

"Well, Draco, I..."

"Good, I'm glad we concur, see you later." He shut the door in her face.

Hermione stood there, motionless, for a moment, and sighed.

"Whatever you want, Draco." She plodded back to her room, and shut the door.

Hermione checked her clock, it was only eleven.

"Might as well take this opportunity to get some things done." She dug under her bed, and brought out a few large bags containing the Christmas presents she'd purchased for everyone.

Out of the first bag, she pulled a pair of Muggle jeans and a few shirts that she'd bought for Ginny on her trip to America. She carefully wrapped these in red wrapping paper, with a gold ribbon on top. Next, she took out a beautifully carved wooden box that read "Professor M. McGonagall." It was inlaid with Celtic designs that symbolized strength and integrity. Hermione had decided that she would buy McGonagall a present this year, since she's been one of Hermione's mentors throughout her time at Hogwarts. She wrapped this in a gold and red plaid paper.

She took out Ron's gift, a new owl cage for Pig, who had made a mess of his last one by running in to the sides so frequently. She'd purchased that cage because instead of a regular rest and a swing, it had a broom sicking out from the side, and another one that floated around inside for the owl to perch one. She wrapped this up in orange Chudley Cannon Paper, and took out Harry's. She bought him a new leather-bound carrier for his broom, with a small golden plaque with "HJP" engraved on it. This took almost all of the roll of Snitch wrapping paper that she'd bought.

Finally, she pulled out Draco's gifts, which she'd gotten through her parents. The first group was books, Muggle books. A Handmaid's Tale, by Margaret Atwood, The Collective Works of William Shakespeare , a compilation of poems by the American poet, Robert Frost, The Lord of the Rings trilogy, by J.R.R. Tolkien, War and Peace, by Leo Tolstoy, Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen, and, finally his very own copy of Matilda, in which she'd written

"You can read this to Lily when she misses me!"

Hermione then took out the next group, which were Muggle CD's that he could play on her bewitched stereo. She'd purchased the three Beatles Anthologies, and a collection of great works of the most famous Muggle composers, like Beethoven, Chopin, Lizst, and Bach. She smiled satisfactorily at her gifts for him, and grabbed her box full of wrapping accoutrements and pulled out the green wrapping paper, and wrapped the gifts. Next, she began looking for the silver ribbon.

"I know it's in here", she muttered. But, she could not find it, instead, she pulled out a gold ribbon, and used that.

She looked appraisingly over the pile of wrapped gifts, and checked the clock again.

"It's only half past twelve? Well, I guess I'll just take a nap!"

Hermione bewitched her stereo to go off at four thirty, and went to sleep.

Four hours later, she woke up, and stumbled out of bed. Hermione took a quick shower, only washing her hair since she'd had the bath earlier. Back in her room, Hermione started on her hair. Since the BBC production of Pride and Prejudice was one of her favorites, she wanted to mimic Jennifer Ehle's hairstyle. Hermione spent almost 45 minutes pulling parts of her curly hair (ST) back in to a twist, and refining the front, with some tendrils (a/n: I hate that word) falling beside her face. She looked at the front and the back in the mirror and smiled happily.

Next, Hermione turned to her make-up. 'Lizzie would NEVER wear too much make-up,' Hermione decided, so she sparingly applied some lipstick, rouge, and mascara. She walked over to her closet and pulled out the dress. She smiled at it as she took off the plastic bag covering it. Hermione slid the dress on, and zipped it up. She walked over to the mirror and grinned at her reflection.

"Beautiful? I'd as soon call her mother a wit!" she laughed at her own joke, and twirled around a bit. (a/n: ^ That is a line from P&P)

Hermione checked the clock, it was six fifteen. By the time she'd put on her jewellery, shoes, and gloves, it was time to go. Hermione took a deep breath, and stepped out in to the study.

Almost simultaneously, Draco came out of his room. Hermione looked at him.

"Wow," she said.

Draco had on the white shirt, the breeches, and the jacket. He'd also, unbeknownst to Hermione, gotten a top hat, a cane, and a pair of tall black leather boots.

"I feel like a complete prat," he grumbled.

"You look GREAT!" Hermione exclaimed happily.

"Well, let's go, then, no need to dawdle around here."

Hermione and Draco walked down to the doors to the Great Hall. They glanced at eachother before they went in.

"Here we go," Hermione said, and she pushed open the doors.

A/N: THANK YOU THANK YOU to the mass of reviews that I have, sorry I'm taking so long. But now that my lovely city is buried under 6 feet (2-ish meters) of snow (we even made the news in Australia!) I should have more time to write! Sorry, I really can't do individual thanks, there's a lot, and I wanna get this up asap. And another note:

I know this is long, I said it'd be long in the first chapter. If anyone doesn't like long, it is plain to see at ff.n that I now have 21 chapters and about 38k words. Obviously, for people who don't like long, this story is no good. ALSO, yes, they swear. In my mind, 17 year olds swear, they're not doing it every other word, I have them curse where I think it's appropriate, and MAY I add, that they DO swear in the books. And since the characters in HP speak English, just like Muggles, I can deduce that swearing is NOT only a Muggle thing! (Plus, the rating IS PG-13, not PG) So, I apologize to those who are perturbed or offended, but I did give fair warning, and I have legitimate precedence from the books.

Go read The Goddess Diaries, Spiritus Aduro, I Can't Let You Love Me, Professor Lupin's Apprentice, and the mask story by Sanna (can't think of what it's called).