Disclaimer: I disclaim.
Chapter One: Bell of the Ball
Draco Malfoy stood in front of his mirror in his finest dress robes. He checked his appearance over, making sure he looked nothing short of perfect. His hair was swept back and gelled in place. His robes had flared cuffed sleeves and silver buttons. His shoes were shined perfectly, he could practically see his reflection in them. He was almost perfect, now all he needed was his perfect girl friend.
Princess Isabella Grenich, was a real princess. It seemed only fitting that Draco Malfoy would date a princess. She was the princess of Gibralta, a small country connected to Spain by a sandy isthmus. Her father was a muggle, but her mother was a witch that had graduated from Durmstrang. Isabella was a witch also,although not a very good one. When you get everything you want without having to use magic, you tend to not worry about learning it.
He turned as she walked through his bedroom door. She was an exotic beauty with long black hair and jade green eyes. Her skin was tan and without flaws, like the rest of her body. She was dressed in a evening dress that matched her jade green eyes and hugged her every curve. She was shorter than him usually, but in heels she was exactly his height, Draco hated when she wore heels. Her lips were a bright red and she pulled them into a smile as he looked at her.
She walked to him with all the confidence that a girl who had everything would have. She stopped just far away from him that he would have to close the space between them, if he wanted to that is. Instead Draco pulled her toward him before kissing her lightly on the lips.
"Ready?" he asked as he brushed a strand of her hair out of her face.
Her eyes twinkled, "I look it, right?"
"Of course." Draco replied as he took her hands in his. "The car will be here for us any minute."
Draco and Isabella walked out of his room together and headed towards the front door.
"What are we going to again?" Isabella asked him impatiently.
"A charity ball," Draco replied. "For kids orphaned by the war."
"Right." Isabella nodded.
"We are co-hosts of the ball." Draco reminded her.
Isabella shook her head, "No, you are a co-host. I'm just your date."
Draco sighed. It would do no good to argue with her, even if she was wrong. She had agreed to be a co-host with him, but she sometimes was a bit flighty.
Draco and Isabella stepped out onto the sidewalk to wait for their car. It was a warm comfortable fall night and the stars were out. They had been waiting for ten minutes when a slight drizzle started up.
"Bloody hell," Draco swore quietly to himself as he pulled Isabella inside the building with him.
Isabella pursed her lips, "Gentleman don't talk like that."
It took all of Draco's energy to not sigh out loud, "I'm sorry."
"It's just, you know how I hate profane language." she replied looking up at him with her green eyes.
"I know." Draco replied. "Come on, I think the car is here."
They sat quietly in the car as they rode to the ball. Draco thought it weird that she could just sit there so quietly, content with not talking to him. It was eerie really, how little she did talk, unless pushed to talk. He thought of mentioning the Quidditch game that he had been to earlier, but it would have been useless since she didn't follow the game.
It was a short ride to the venue hosting the charity ball. The car stopped at the entrance to the building where a black carpet had been rolled out for the people arriving. There were men in dress robes lining the sides of the carpet holding umbrellas so that none of the guests would get wet.
Draco slid out of the car and helped Isabella out. She drew herself up and out of the car, leaning into Draco slightly so that pictures could be taken for the newspapers. Finally after Isabella was satisfied that the papers got enough pictures of her and Draco she led him inside the building.
The venue was a very old renaissance, looking chapel that had been renovated into a ball room. Many couples used the building for weddings and other high end occasions. The ceilings were high with crystal chandeliers hanging from them. The floor was a polished wood, perfect for dancing. There was a few buffet tables against the back wall filled with magnificent looking food.
Draco's eyes drifted to the table, he was anxious to eat. Isabella however seemed more interested in getting more pictures of her taken. She tugged him towards the dance floor as she smiled for different cameras and struck moving poses.
"Babe, would you like to get some food?" Draco hinted motioning towards the tables.
"Let's dance." Isabella replied smiling at the cameras around them, "It's a great publicity moment."
"Isabella, we don't need a publicity moment." Draco sighed. "People know who we are."
Isabella just looked at him and shook her head, indicating that he had no clue.
"Sweetie, there are no news people in here, non-personal cameras are strictly banned." Draco replied
Isabella stuck out her bottom lip and pouted, "Oh."
"Would you like to go get something to eat?" Draco asked her again nodding towards the tables.
"I would love to." Isabella she finally relented, always keeping a smile on her face.
The thing about Isabella was that she was always posing for pictures that weren't being taken. She was an expert at faking smiles, which only made Draco wonder what else she was faking. She loved to believe that she was high class and into art, even though she couldn't tell the difference between Miles and Coltrane.
Draco had only been dating her for a month, he was still getting use to sleeping with her. She hogged the bed and the covers. His friends all approved of her, they said she would be good for him. Her standing in society was high, and she was rich. She didn't curse and tried to insist the same out of him.
She was a girl that any guy would be pleased to have. She was perfect. She could dance, she was graceful. She could speak five different languages. She knew how to cook gourmet dinners, but not his favorite foods. She could sing and keep up with all the latest gossip. She appeared on the cover of a new magazine every week.
She always looked perfect, every time Draco saw her. Every hair was always in place, her make up perfectly applied. Her clothes always showed off her best assets, which wasn't hard considering she had no bad physical assets. She got along with his friends and his friends girl friends.
She was perfect. She was every guys dream.
Draco never dreamt of her. In his dreams a different girl was the star. He hadn't seen that particular girl in months, hadn't spoken to her, he missed her. That very girl was just making her way into the door, and Draco couldn't keep his eyes off of her.
PPP
She didn't know how she was always being talked into going to stupid functions she didn't want to go to. She didn't have the time, the outfit or the date, and yet she was going. It was only after she got time off work and given a dress to wear that she agreed to go. Of course, that didn't provide her with a date.
Really it was all because Hermione insisted that she needed to move on. Hermione thought it would be a good idea for her to go out. Hermione was definitely on her bad side at the moment.
Apparently it is suppose to take half the time two people were together to get over someone. So technically she should be over him by now, and she was, sort of. She just wasn't ready to date. Men, after all, were all liars, pigs and cheats. And, she personally, didn't want anything to do with them. She could be just as happy alone.
No liars to deal with.
No worrying about whether or not she was being cheated on.
No having to deal with a disgusting pig of a man.
Who really needed men anyway?
Needless to say, she had taken half of the day to get ready for some charity ball. She often wondered why exactly she felt the need to conform to society's want of having pretty girls around. Why did she waste her time doing her hair or make up? She was a busy business woman, she had no time for such things.
Which is exactly why it took her two hours for her to get her hair exactly how she wanted it. Her hair was curled and half of it was pulled back in a barrette. It took her just as long for her to do her make up perfectly. She was shocked she could still see considering she must have poked herself in the eye with her eye liner pencil at least ten times. Merlin, how she hated eye liner.
Then there was getting into the dress that was made to suck in, hold up, separate, conceal, and flaunt. The dress was long, with a short trail that followed after her. The skirt was the type that hugged her hips and flared out a bit at the bottom. The top was an old fashioned corset, and it was strapless. The whole dress was turquoise and it went with her skin tone and hair color perfectly. Her shoes, magically, matched her dress perfectly. They were simple pumps with a inch and a half heel. Even with the inch and a half increase in her height she was still short.
Hermione promised that she looked like a vision. Hermione promised that she would be the most beautiful girl at the ball, and considering who was attending, Hermione better be right.
She looked at herself in the mirror, fretting over every flaw that she saw. She had too many freckles, she was too pale, her stomach was too chubby. She didn't think she would ever be happy with her reflection in the mirror. She knew herself well enough to be able to see the little flaws, even if everyone else told her they couldn't see a thing.
Finally it was eight and time that she left for the ball. She glanced out the window and noticed it was raining, not heavily, just a sprinkle. Even so, her dress was delicate and she didn't want to get it ruined. She thought for a minute, debating over what to do before deciding to just close her eyes and apparate.
When she opened her eyes she was standing under a covering of umbrellas. Cameras were flashing all around her and she felt naked. Not naked like no clothes, just naked like baring it all. In a way she was, she was baring herself for the world to judge. She had promised she would never do that again.
She quickly made her way into the building and stopped right after she had entered the doors. She paused and took a minute to breath before entering the ball room. Hermione and Ron were suppose to be here and Harry also, if he could get Luna to come. She hoped that they had beat her here, she didn't want to have to stand in a corner alone.
She took another deep breath before finally walking slowly into the ball room. The whole time she was praying that she didn't trip over her shoes. She could be so clumsy at times. She lifted her head to look around as she slowly walked into the room.
She almost gasped at how beautiful the room was. A small smile played on her lips as she looked around at the decorations. Her face lit up when she saw Hermione. Thank Merlin, they were already here. She started across the room to see Hermione. She really couldn't stand the thought of standing by herself.
"All I have to say is wow." Hermione told her as she neared them. "I mean, just wow."
"You're beautiful." Ron agreed. "I can't believe that you are my little sister. Although don't you think that dress is a tad too tight?"
She rolled her eyes, "Whatever."
"See, aren't you glad you came?" Hermione asked. "You look wonderful and you are going to have an even more wonderful time tonight."
"I don't have anyone to dance with."
"Nonsense." Harry replied coming up behind her and putting an arm around her, "You have me and Ron and I know Neville is around here somewhere."
"Plus, if you are the highest female donor to the charity you get to dance with the highest male donor." Hermione replied, her eyes twinkling.
"I'm not the highest donor." Ginny told them. "I don't have enough money to be the highest donor."
Hermione shrugged. "You are if Ron and I donated in your name."
"But you didn't." Ginny said, "Because that would be cheating."
"Maybe we did, maybe not." Hermione shrugged noncommittally.
"You better hope that you didn't." Ginny replied.
True to Harry's word Ginny had plenty of dance partners all night. And it wasn't just Harry, Ron and Neville who danced with her. Apparently tonight at least, she was pretty enough to be the bell of the ball. She was having a mostly good night. Although, she couldn't keep herself from noticing a certain someone's date or how that certain someone kept glancing her way.
When it was close to midnight Ginny made her way back over to the corner that Ron and Hermione had occupied earlier. She was in luck to see that they were just returning from the dance floor, Hermione's cheeks were flushed. Ginny was about to say something, but turned her heard because someone was tapping on their wand, turned mike.
"It is time for us to reveal winners of the special donor dance." an elderly wizard said, speaking into his wand. "This dance is for the highest female and male donor. Just our way of saying thank you for all the support. And the winners are Draco Malfoy and Ginevra Weasley."
Ginny felt weak in the knees and she bit back bile I her throat. The crowd had parted for her to make her way to the center of the dance floor.
Hermione grabbed her arm before she could start walking, "I'm so, so, so sorry. I didn't mean for this to happen."
Ginny shook her off as she slowly made her way to the middle of the dance floor, she was in no hurry to start this dance. She would have totally refused, but the last thing she needed was to read in the tabloids how she was too broken up over him to dance with him.
Draco met her in the middle of the dance floor and offered her his hand. She wanted to ignore him, or walk away from him, anything to keep from touching him. Or if she did touch him, she wanted to slap him, or kick him. She just didn't want to be in his arms, dancing around and having to act like it was no big deal.
She took his hand and he pulled her towards him as the music started. It was a slow song. Typical. She stood an arm's length away as they slowly danced. She plastered a fake smile on her face as she looked anywhere but at him.
"You look beautiful tonight." Draco told her quietly pulling her closer to him.
Ginny chanced a look at him and instantly regretted it as she could feel the tears start to sting her eyes. She continued to try to smile though; she couldn't fall apart with all these people watching.
She returned to staring around the room, she had nothing to say to him. She didn't want to talk to him. She didn't want to be here with him. She just wanted to hate him.
She tried really hard to hate him. It should be easy for her. It should be the easiest thing she had ever done, but it wasn't easy. It was really hard.
The song ended without Draco saying another word to her and she quickly departed from him. Going back to where her brother and friends were standing. The look she shot Hermione was killer.
"I'm sorry."
"Please, Hermione, don't." Ginny replied holding up her hand. "I came, I dressed up, I danced, I ate, and I laughed. Now I'm going home to take my make up off, get in some pajamas and cry myself to sleep. I'll see you guys later."
Ginny didn't even bother to walk out of the ballroom before apparating home. She was emotionally, and physically exhausted. She wanted to collapse into her bed and never crawl out again.
Really, Ginny had pushed everything out of her head and had only one thought: she would sleep tonight and tomorrow she would start planning Hermione's slow and painful death.
PPP
Draco couldn't believe that she had shown up. After all these months of not seeing her, and she was right there. And then, he had gotten to dance with her. She had been so beautiful, he couldn't help but compliment her on it.
It had stabbed him in the heart to see that him talking to her made her tear up. That was never the reaction he wanted from her. It almost killed him to be so close to her and not be able to talk to her, but that was the kind of death that was worth it.
When he had returned to Isabella her lips were pursed. She had obviously recognized who he had been dancing with. He smiled warmly at her, like he didn't realize she was mad.
"Want to dance?"
She looked at him like he was an idiot before linking her arm with his and walking to the dance floor. And so, they danced the rest of the night together, and didn't get home before three in the morning. By the time Draco had gotten ready for bed she had already climbed in and taken all the covers. He just sighed quietly to himself as he lay beside her his thoughts already back to the red head who had captured his heart and ruined him.