Chapter 19

It started with a Ravenclaw girl doing a tap dance. Then there was a Hufflepuff boy doing a mime act. Each act that came on stage made a hit with the audience. Hermione stood up halfway through the show and walked to the backstage area.

Draco, curious, followed her. Harry and Ron made move to follow him but their dates held them back. Draco peeked at Hermione from behind a speaker.

"Do you have the music ready?" She asked one of the stage crew as she picked up an extra microphone. Draco made his presence known with a deep clearing of his throat. Hermione whipped around startled. "What are you doing back here?"

"I was going to ask you the same thing Granger. What do you plan on doing with that contraption there." He pointed to the microphone.

She smiled," You'll see." The act that was on stage had just walked past them and Hermione sauntered up the stairs. Draco followed her but stayed out of sight of the audience by hiding behind the curtain.

She flipped the switch on the microphone to turn it on and then began her intro. "I know that I am a 7th Year and this performance was for the 6th years but since I helped produce this entertainment, I felt it was my duty to add to the act."

The lights dimmed and a spot light shone down on Hermione. She started to hum with the beat and then to everyone's astonishment, began to sing.

"When I first saw you I already knew
There was something inside of you
Something I thought that I would never find
Angel of mine"

Hermione looked over at Draco and smiled and then back to the crowd. He was in shock. 'Is she talking about me?

"I look at you, looking at me
Now I know why they say the best things are free
I'm gonna love you boy you are so fine
Angel of mine"

"How you changed my world you'll never know
I'm different now, you helped me grow"

"You came into my life sent from above
When I lost all hope you showed me love
I'm checkin' for ya boy you're right on time
Angel of mine"

Hermione looked over at Draco again.

"Nothing means more to me than what we share
No one in this whole world can ever compare
Last night the way you moved is still on my mind
Angel of mine"

'Does she remember what happened?' Draco grabbed a microphone on the table by him and walked on stage as Hermione continued singing.

"What you mean to me you'll never know
Deep inside I need to show
You came into my life sent from above (sent from above)
When I lost all hope, you showed me love (boy you showered me love)
I'm checkin' for ya, boy you're right on time (right on time)
Angel of mine (angel of mine)"

Draco began to sing.

"I never knew I could feel each moment
As if it were new,
Every breath that I take, the love that we make
I only share it with you (you, you, you,you)
When I first saw you I already knew
There was something inside of you
Something I thought that I would never find
Angel of mine"

Hermione, though surprised at his take over, sang as backup.

"You came into my life sent from above (came into my life, yeah, yeah, yeah)
When I lost all hope you showed me love (girl you showed me love, uh huh)
I'm shakin' for ya, girl you're right on time (but girl your right on time)
Angel of mine (angel of mine, oh mine)"

"How you changed my world you'll never know
I'm different now, you helped me grow"

"I see you look, looking at me
Now I know why they say the best things are free
I'm checkin' for ya, boy you're right on time
Angel of mine"

As they finished, everyone in the room stood up applauding. Hermione smiled and blushed and Draco took her hand and led her to the front of the stage and bowed. Everyone thought that he had been apart of the act.

They walked off as the cheers began to die down for the next performer. Ginny and Katie were waiting backstage getting ready to go on to close up the night. Ginny jumped from her seat and gave Hermione a hug.

"You were wonderful Hermione! I never knew you could sing like that!"

"Thank you Ginny, now if you excuse me I have to see to something." She grabbed Draco by the arm and pulled him into a dark corner.

"Did you like being in the spot light Malfoy? Had to ruin my song didn't you!"

"But…but…I thought…" He was cut short when Hermione's lips were placed over his own. He melted into her touch.

"Well, well. Look what we have here." A voice cooed from the shadows.

"Lucius!" Hermione said in surprise.

"Father?" Draco was surprised at his boldness to come within the castle grounds.

Lucius walked toward them. Hermione was frozen to the spot. Her head was telling her to 'Run, tell Dumbledore!', but her feet didn't seem to hear the plea.

Lucius grabbed Draco by the scruff of the neck and pulled him to the side. He turned away from Hermione and cast a barrier around them to keep her from hearing their conversation.

"Is everything ready boy?"

"Yes sir. I've already made the wand, I only have to set the time change in motion. Tonight your work will be done."

"Good. I see that you have found a way to befriend the Mudblood. I hope for your sake that she doesn't have any diseases." Lucius grimaced. " I was hoping you could have found a different way to get her to decipher the spell. Oh well, I doubt that Pansy will mind once the Malfoy family ring is on her finger. Well, I'm off then." He flicked his wand and the barrier dropped and he pushed Draco out of the way and into the stone wall behind him and stalked off.

Hermione ran to his side and helped him up. "Are you ok? What was that about? How did he get in the castle? We need to go tell Dumbledore!"

Draco sighed and looked Hermione in the eyes. "We are NOT telling ANYONE that he was here. If we did he would just make our lives a living hell. See? He was able to get in the castle somehow without anyone noticing! Do you really think that telling Dumbledore would help matters? Besides, he's gone."

"Well, what did he want?"

"Just to talk about some family business."

"Liar, liar, pants on fire." Draco looked down at his pants and was surprised to see tiny blue flames licking at the hem of his right pant leg. He jumped and started swiping at his leg trying to extinguish the flame. The flame snuffed out and Draco looked up with a scowl.

"What did you do that for?"

Hermione shrugged, " Because you deserved it. I just get done singing a beautiful song to you and then throw myself at you and you sit there and bold face LIE to me!" She walked from there hidden space and out toward the audience. She sat down in her seat next to Ron. Draco's attempt to sit next to her was balked by Harry and Ron's glares. He took the seat next to Jared instead.

"Don't worry bro. They'll chill soon enough." Jared said and went back to watching the stage as the last act appeared.

(A/N: The song above is not my own! It is sung by the artist MONICA. The song is titled, ANGEL OF MINE. I tweaked the boy part to say girl just for Draco's part.)