Chapter 29

The Ball

Hermione adjusted her black witch's hat as she walked down the corridors as emotions of different kinds flowed though her body. Not knowing if she should feel happy for she had officially been accepted into the Order of the Phoenix, knowing one day soon that she would lead the battle along with Harry, Ron and the other wizards that were the strongest among them. A battle that she would fight in a war against the very man that her heart belonged to. She soon was to become an Auror, to hunt down that very same man for what he is, for something he really didn't want to be. For something he didn't have the guts to become, to stand up for what he believed in and wanted. Because of his cowardliness they would have to fight on opposite ends of the war. She would be a leader, pure and strong and he would be a follower, a weak and subservient.

She was so deep in thought, if that was what it was, that she didn't realize that Harry and Ron lead her into the Great Hall to their table.

"Hermione are you alright, you look at bit pale?" Ron asked with concern.

"Huh, what… oh yeah I am fine, Ron. I just can't believe we are here already; it just seems all too real. I always was aware, but now even with the battles we had encountered in the past they won't be anything compared to what lies ahead." Hermione said distantly.

"Yeah, I know what you mean. I am not scared though. It needs to happen." Harry added.

"Honestly I am a bit nerved, but yet there is no other place I'd rather be than standing next to you two and Dumbledore, fighting those no good death eaters and their puppet master." Ron said.

Ginny came in and sat next to Harry and gave him a kiss. The final feast began and Dumbledore announced that Gryffindor had won the House Cup, and they had also won the Quidditch Cup, much to their pleasure. After he was done with his speech and announcements the food filled their plates and they began to eat. As Ron quietly filled in Ginny on the meeting with Dumbledore, Hermione excused herself as she didn't have an appetite. Hermione was going to sneak up to her room through the passageway but decided to go outside instead.

She walked outside walked over to the spot where she had watched the storm the night she had seen Draco's dark mark a little over a year before. She pulled off her hat and sat down on the bench once again. She closed her eyes to fight back the pain that stung just below the surface of the rim of her eyes. Her heart felt heavy yet empty. She wasn't upset that she had fallen for him and she didn't regret what they had had. She was angry that he had to be the description of a Slytherin that she always thought of him as, a coward.

She started to cry, she couldn't fight back the tears any longer. It was over, the special love that hardly anyone could ever induce. A love that had passion, want, respect and trust among so many other things. Without a single sound her tears flowed down her cheeks. Hermione wiped her eyes when she heard someone come her way. A red headed girl that could be seen out of the corner of her eye approached her and sat next to her.

Ginny could tell Hermione was upset but she assumed that it was because Hermione would be leaving Hogwarts the next day.

"You want to get ready for the dance? It will start soon." Ginny asked. Hermione turned to her best girl friend.

"I thought you had to help decorate?" Hermione asked trying to harbor her pain and sadness but failed, with not much effort.

"They let me off since I was attending, they said that they didn't need me and they had a lot of help. I took it as loads of kids got into trouble, so here I am."

"Yeah I just need to stop by my room to pick up my things and get my dress." Hermione said as she slowly stood up and put her hat back on. She took a deep breath and exhaled. She felt better; maybe she could hold it together.

The two girls walked up to Hermione's room. They walked through the common room and to Hermione's relief yet disappointment Draco wasn't there nor was he in her room. She grabbed her things that were already packed and the stuff that she would need for that night. Hermione had already packed up her clothes and the overnight/carry-on bag she would need for the next two days, over the past few days before. She went into the closet and retrieved her dress for that night. She bought it to impress Draco, but now….

Hermione walked up to her bed and decided to go ahead and let the house elves pack up her head girl's things like the bed covers, etc. She was about to walk away when she noticed that the pillow she slept on was gone. "Draco must have taken it." She thought to herself. She instinctively grabbed the one he used and walked over to the door where Ginny stood observing her friend noticing something else was wrong. Ginny grabbed Hermione's bag from her as Hermione looked around.

"Do you want to take the passage way one last time?" Ginny asked.

"No, I really want to say goodbye to the Albany's." Hermione answered. Ginny smiled and nodded.

Hermione took one last look around and all of her feelings came rushing out as all of the memories came flooding towards her. She started to cry as she raised her face to Ginny who had already dropped the bag and wrapped her arms around her friend, without words Ginny knew.

"I'm sorry, I'm fine. Lets just go okay?" Hermione asked hoping Ginny wouldn't ask why she was so upset, she would know that it was not just leaving that would get her like that.

"Yeah, sure. Lets get ready for the dance." Ginny said with a smile not wanting Hermione know that she knew what had happened and what was going on.

Hermione shut the door and said good-bye to the Lion in the portrait. She looked around the common room and in the bathroom. They walked out of the Head's common room and said good-bye to Mr. and Mrs. Albany in the portrait. They headed back to the girl's dormitory in the Gryffindor tower.

The time for them to head down to the dance had finally come they were all ready to go. Hermione wore a sapphire blue dress that had a handkerchief skirt that went right below the knee. The top was haltered that buttoned in the back that had three strands of different sized jeweled tassels draping down her back. The back of her dress dipped very low that had come in around from the sides. The dress fit her curves wonderfully. She wore a pair of silver sandaled stilettos. Her hair was in an updo with silver jeweled flowers spread through out her huge curls that had to be held in by them.

"Wow Hermione you look absolutely breathtaking… really wow." Ginny said as all the other girls nodded speechlessly.

"Ginny so do you, Harry is going to fall over." Hermione said.

Ginny wore a white babydoll dress that came to her knees. It had gold trim on the bottom and around the waist. She wore a pair of gold sandaled heals. She left her hair down but made it really curly. Ginny liked the dress because you could see good cleavage out of the top of it.

The girls headed down to the common room where they met up with Harry.

"Wow, Ginny…you look amazing!" Harry said as he tried so hard not to stare at her chest. Ginny blushed a bit but quickly got over it. That was the point to give him a little peak since he was behaving himself and waiting until they would get married.

"Thanks Harry. Ready to go?" Ginny asked. He nodded and wrapped her arm into his.

Hermione received several complements on the way down to the Great Hall. They arrived right before the Ball started, for the Heads were to start it of with the first dance followed by the prefects then the rest.

Hermione instantly scanned the room for Draco without being obvious. She found him sitting at a table in the corner with Crabbe and Goyle who apparently had gotten dates. Draco sat on one side alone while the other four were on the other side as the all conversed. He was hunched over his lap with his elbows on his knees. He was watching his hands as he touched his fingertips together. Draco looked up to meet Hermione's eyes. He slowly moved his eyes down her body. Ginny started to talk to Hermione causing her to turn around and revealed the back of Hermione's dress. His heart was caught in his throat and he stopped breathing at the sight of her bare back only covered by a few strands of jeweled tassels. The back of the dress started just right above her bum. He started to become rather warm and then he noticed that other guys were looking at her as well, which wasn't out of the ordinary. She was one of the most beautiful girls, if not the most beautiful. To him she was the most beautiful girl there was., He then was holding every ounce of his being not to beat the crap out of all of them. He reminded himself that she was no longer his, she was no longer his, no longer his... "This isn't working." He thought to himself as he ran his hands through his hair.

United finished setting up on stage and waited for Dumbledore to signal them to begin. When the room started to fill Dumbledore gave the group a signal to start. They played some music for them to listen to before it was time to start of the Ball with the Head girl and Head boy's dance. Finally Professor Dumbledore got onto the stage and began to speak.

"Ah welcome, welcome. I just wanted to congratulate you on finishing your seventh and final year here at Hogwarts. May your futures be filled with love, luck and all the good things you have ever wished for. Well that is enough of that enjoy the night and we will start off with the first dance of the night that will be held by the Head Boy and Girl, Mr. Draco Malfoy and Miss Hermione Granger if you would." Dumbledore said as the two of them head to the open center of the dance floor.

They moved towards the other slowly in a hesitant way. Soon Hermione placed her hand in Draco's and her other hand around on the back of his shoulder while his other hand rested on the small of her back, her bare back. It sent shivers down their bodies.

The music started to play, a song called 'behind blue eyes'. They began to move with the music kind of forgetting anyone else was there watching them everything seemed slow. Songs have a funny way of finding their way into the perfect moment to revile themselves unaware to the performer or even to some of the audience.

Draco's hand slid down her back slightly as he pushed her out into a slow spin still holding onto her hand with his other. Her dress flared in the turn then caught onto his pants when he pulled her back into him. Their eyes met as they started to sway moving their feet in a ballroom dancing way. After a few more moves and turns the prefects joined in followed not to long after by the rest of the school.

Ginny watched the way Draco and Hermione's eyes looked as they danced. They seemed lost. She defiantly had a feeling of what was going on. Not to the fullest but she new she was going to make this a great night for Hermione, it was her duty as her best girl friend.

Hermione and Draco heard the music stop and they stopped. Still holding onto the other, looked into each others eyes, stepped away eyes still gazing, then both looked away and turned around and headed back to their tables in opposite directions.

Hermione wanted to leave but didn't want to ruin the night, besides the fact that she really wasn't able to leave. Soon Ginny and the others were soon able to get her on the dance floor. She took turns with all her guy friends and what seemed like almost every guy in school. They all kept cutting in and it was funny, but she did get to dance with Ron and Harry through their entire songs.

While singing an upbeat song Jasmine came of the stage and straight over to Hermione and started to get her to dance. Like she did at the dance club with her cousin last summer. Why everyone wanted her to dance like that was beyond her, but hey why not. Hermione started to dance and everyone was shock that she could dance like that, much like the prefects did earlier that school year. The crowd started to go wild. Soon Pansy pushed through the crowd watched Hermione then jumped next to her and started to do what she was doing Hermione winked at her and she smiled back as Ginny and Kiara joined the two. This shocked the school. Then Pansy looked at them.

"What? Oh get over it!" Pansy said loudly then laughed as she danced. Soon they all were cheering again even the Slytherins and cheered even louder when the guys joined in. It looked choreographed they way they all moved. When the song was over the applause was so loud the whole school heard it and they would have to wait for the following day to find out what it was for.

The next song was also upbeat which this time everyone was dancing even if they couldn't stand. Everyone except Draco, he watched how even his own friends were dancing madly on the dance floor. It seemed that that night there were no houses no blood dividing, just a bunch of people having a great time together. He watched Hermione dance with her friends and with Jamison. Thinking how sexy she was and looked. He loved the way her back looked with the very low dip of the back and he liked the jeweled tassels. He wished that he could be there instead of him. That is where he belonged, not Jameson. He wished he were allowed to leave.

Hermione took a moment to go back to take down her now starting to fall down hair and remove the tassels so her hair would not get caught. Seamus came up to her after she let her hair fall after removing all of the pins now letting her beautifully curly hair fall down over her shoulders and down her back but still not covering her exposed back. Hermione couldn't help but notice how the girls reacted to him. Apparently the girls loved him.

"Hey, Hermione may I have the pleasure of this dance?" Seamus said in his Irish accent.

"Why you certainly may." Hermione said with a sweet smile as she took his hand as he guided her to the dance floor.

"Hey there Irish boy!" Some passing girl with a few of her friends said as she slapped his bum. Hermione couldn't help but laugh.

"What can I say?" Seamus said with a smile. Hermione still smiling shook her head as they reached their destination.

Another upbeat song started and much to Hermione's pleasure Seamus seemed to know how to dance muggle style considering he is half. Some moves even shocked her a bit but she went with it. Boy he could move.

He grabbed Hermione around her waist and put his leg in between hers and started to sway her as he rolled his hips into her leg. She mirrored his movements. He then dipped her backwards then rolled her back up then they started to wave their bodies towards each other starting from their hips up to their shoulders. He spun her out making her hair twirl out in the air along with her. He started to bring a little of swing dancing into the dance which excited Hermione. She loved how he was mixing different dances together; it was fun.

Draco however was not enjoying the scene as much as the others. He was fuming. He wandered back to something Ginny had said months ago… he wondered; no it was Jameson he thought to himself that she was talking about. Of course a lot of guys liked her, they would be morons if they didn't. But it was Jameson who was the threat. Draco's eyes about popped out of their sockets to be replaced by fire as to the event that was happening right then, as the crowd got even louder. Seamus and Hermione were dancing provocatively, she was facing Seamus swaying her hips back and forth with her hands grasped straight above her head then bent her knees down to a squatting position rocking her hips a few times before pulling herself up as she rubbed her body along his, the only moment during the entire dance where their bodies actually touched. Seamus grabbed her hands and tuned her around so her back was facing his front. He bent her forward as she bent one knee and ran his hands down her back as she rolled herself back up keeping her knee bent rubbing her hands up her thighs up her side along the side of her chest and continued to move her hand upwards to hold them once again above her head as they rolled their hips a few more times in sync. She then started to gyrate her body by rolling her body starting from her hands that remained above her head then moving the circling roll down her body to her legs then back up then moving faster each time. (Like she was hula hooping) The crowd was going wild and even tried doing the same thing.

Draco was beyond angered; if he didn't force himself to stay seated he would have lost all control. He watched as her body moved, he loved the way it moved when she danced among other things. He liked how her hair was everywhere as she moved around. How it was in her face, some sticking to her glistening body, her chest and her bum oh her bum how it swayed. He was about to wet his pants when the song finally ended. Which was good because beating up someone with wet pants wasn't the best thing right now, then Seamus just had to kiss her. Thankfully for him Hermione's friends came up along with other girls, Draco bolted up and started to pace back and forth clenching his fists. Draco tried to blink out his rage by repeatedly blinking.

Hermione was having a good time surprisingly. She wasn't so sure about the dancing. It was fun but hey she wouldn't mind if Draco was watching, then she had seen him looking at her and Seamus dancing. Although he didn't notice that she did. It was a good thing no one was around him or else they would have picked up on his obvious angered jealousy. "Good" She thought "Serves him right. Oh what's that you don't like it. Oh yeah watch this. This should really make him angry. Take that. See this could be you but no."

After a few twirls the song ended with Hermione draped over Seamus's extended knee.

"Wow impressive." Hermione said smiling up at him.

"What can I say I am the lord of the dance." Seamus said with a smile. Hermione just laughed as he helped her back up. "Thank you Hermione you really made my night. You have no idea how much it meant to me, really." He continued then kissed her hand.

"You're welcome Seamus and thank you." She said as they both smiled.

Some more girls came up to them along with Hermione's friends and started to talk to Seamus.

"Hey there sexy Seamus!" Lavender said making the other girls giggle and making Seamus smile.

"Maybe you should show us how to dance next there Seamus." Parvati said while giggling with the other girls. Hermione laughed.

"Have a good time and I'll see some of you later." Hermione said.

"You too Hermione and until later." Lavender said as the lot of them and Seamus moved on.

Hermione stood there momentarily looking at Seamus walk away with the girls as he glanced back at her and smiled. "I wonder, hmm." She thought to herself remembering a conversation between Ron and Ginny months before. She shook her head and walk over to her closest mates.

Everyone continued to dance and have a good time. Ginny's plan was accomplished and Hermione had a great night. Though the thought of Draco never really left her mind. She managed to have a good time with her friends and even stick it to him a little. She couldn't help but think that maybe she had gone a little far, but quickly pushed it out of her mind. She was having a good time, everyone was and no one cared. So why should she, right?

The Ball was over and everyone started to head off back to their common rooms and then was off to bed.

Hermione lingered behind with her friends who were waiting for her to be finished with her final duty of the night. While Hermione was waiting for the room to be empty, her friends where talking to people on their way out and saying good night. Hermione also said her good nights.

She couldn't help but think about her lonely nights ahead of her with out Draco. Sadness filled her eyes again and trying not to look at her friends so she looked the other direction, which was towards the exiting doors where Draco was standing looking back at her. Her sad eyes met his and his heart once again fell when he saw what was in them. They remained that way for a few moments until someone caught her attention by saying goodnight to her.

Draco also had to stay behind but by this time his anger had mostly subsided especially when he saw the look in her eyes which showed him that the night was just a good time with her friends and she didn't move on. He started to relax until he heard a group of people talk about Hermione and how wonderful, smart and sexy she was. One guy even said that any guy who got to keep her would be the luckiest wizard alive or dead for that matter. Everyone in the group agreed even the girls. This sent him flaming back into his furry not really caring if he was finished or not he walked up to another set of doors and kicked them furiously. He received a few strange looks from passing students as he turned and headed to his room wanting to wreak havoc onto it.

When Hermione turned around at the sound of something banging she walked towards the doors to exit out into the hallway so see what was going on. When she got there, there was nothing that seemed to be out of order and everyone was still walking down the corridor making their ways back to their rooms. She turned her attention back to the last of the group leaving and said goodnight to them.

Hermione walked back to the table to gather her stuff, Ginny helped by taking a handful of hairpins. Harry and Ron closed the doors behind them, Hermione was told not to worry about the clean up, and that the elves would take care of everything. This sort of bothered her but she was just going to let them do their job.

Ron kissed Kiara goodnight as everyone said goodnight before she left with Jameson and some of their friends.

Hermione, Ron, Ginny and Harry made their way back to the Gryffindor common room laughing, joking and reminiscing about the night and briefly talking to students and teachers they passed as everyone made their way to bed.

Draco entered the common room then headed off to his bedroom. He opened his door and looked around his room. For the exception of the night that Hermione freaked out and wrongly accused him about him with that other girl, he hadn't slept in there for just a little over six months. He only came in here to get things, like clothes, his goodie basket etc. He didn't bother getting undressed and just kicked off his shoes and lay down on the green and silver satin bed of loneliness. The anger in him wanted to rip the room to shreds, like he had a few times before when he was frustrated or angry, but Hermione had helped him pack and he didn't want to redo it. So instead he lay there. He didn't like being in this room. It wasn't warm and full of Hermione. He turned over onto his stomach and buried his face in the pillow that he had taken from Hermione's room, the pillow she slept on.

Hermione stayed up for a while longer as her girl friends gossiped and talked about what they had planned for the future. Finally they all become overwhelmed with exhaustion and went to bed. Hermione and Ginny shared a bed and closed the curtains while they quietly talked about Ron's wedding trying not to keep the others up.

When they were quiet and ready for sleep to over come them as well, Hermione started to cry silently, holding onto the pillow she had taken from her room. The pillow Draco slept on. Although she held herself up pretty well all day it was hard to hold in anymore, she felt painfully empty. Ginny heard her sniff and rolled over to face her friend and put her hand on her shoulder and started to rub it. Hermione rolled over to face Ginny and laid her head into Ginny's shoulder. Ginny held her and her cries were muffled into Ginny's shoulder, but just in case Ginny silenced the area inside the closed curtains of the bed. Ginny rubbed Hermione's trembling back and without words let Hermione cry herself to sleep.

A/N: Sorry I know I said that I would answer questions but today is my b day and my husband had a party for me so it is late and I am off to bed but I will the next. Well hope you liked the happy peace chapter to were there was only fun and no division. Keep r/r! SEE ya in 15! Anyway THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THE REVIEWS!