Chapter 15: The Formal

It was now two days before the formal and Draco and Hermione were still fighting. They hadn't talked much and when they did they used very foul words that should not be repeated. Hermione tried to keep her mind busy by thinking about Ron and the Formal. Ginny was taking her shopping today and they were going to look for dresses, so they could look at the good ones before the rest of the girls went on Halloween. Harry had brought Ginny roses two days before and asked her to go with him.

Draco was in his room cleaning (A/N: yes Draco Malfoy was cleaning.) when Hermione left for Hogsmeade. He picked up a couple of dirty robes off the floor and spotted a letter. He picked it up and sat down at his desk. The letter was from his Mother, this was the letter Draco had been waiting for. He found himself scared to open the letter. Draco took a deep breath and tore the envelope open. He nodded his head and left the room leaving the open letter on his desk.

Meanwhile, at Hogsmeade, Hermione was trying on a dress for formal. Ginny had helped her pick out four different dresses to try on. The first dress was a brilliant shade of green, that reminded her so much or Draco. It was low cut in the back and had spaghetti straps for the sleeves. The second was Ginny's favorite; it was red and black and had small straps with a square neck. The third was a midnight blue tea-length dress. It was sleeveless, but very elegant. Hermione's favorite was a black and white dress. It was strapless and floor length. The dress was completely black except for three white strips at the bottom.

When Hermione tried on the black and white dress, she knew it was the one for her. She stepped out of the dressing room to show Ginny and Ginny's mouth dropped when she saw it, "Oh my."

"Is there something wrong Ginny?"

"No Hermione, you look...amazing."

"Really?"

"Yeah, Ron will love it."

Hermione half-smiled and walked back to the dressing room. She was going with Ron, her best friend, she should be happy, "I wonder if Draco will like this on me?" 'Shut up!' Hermione battled with herself for five minutes before Ginny finally called to her, "Hermione are all right?"

"Oh yeah sorry, Ginny. I was just thinking about the formal."

"Oh yeah, me too. I'm so glad Harry asked me. He even said whatever color I wear is what color he'll wear. He's great."

"I bet. Come on let's go."

Hermione and Ginny walked back to Hogwarts with Hermione's favorite dress and a long black and red dress for Ginny. Hermione let Ginny in on all the little secrets that she got to know about the dance because she was Head Girl. Ginny's jaw dropped when she heard Draco and Hermione had to open the Formal with a dance.

"Ginny it's not that bad."

"It's Malfoy though, and you know Ron will be highly upset."

"I know, I haven't told him yet, I don't even know if Draco knows."

"You think he'll be angry?"

"I don't know, maybe."

Hermione walked with Ginny back to the Gryffindor common room and then walked to her room. On the couch was Bear with a card attached. She smiled and walked over to the note and opened it,

My Dearest Hermione,

It is time to reveal myself to you. Please meet me at 12:00 pm the night of the Formal. I will be waiting for you outside the Great Hall. I know you will be the most beautiful girl there.

Your Romeo

Hermione picked up the bear and walked to her room. She finally got to meet her Romeo.

Halloween arrived very fast for the 4th year students and up. Most of the students went off to Hogsmeade earlier that day to get there dresses and suits. It was now 7:00 and every girl had already been primping for hours. Ginny was putting the final touches on Hermione make-up before she put on her dress, to go down to the Great Hall.

She finally got to pull her dress over her head at 7:30. She did a once over in the mirror, and put a jacket on so she could walk to the Great Hall. She wanted Draco to be the first to see her. She opened the doors to the Great Hall and saw the four house tables were gone, and there was about 50 tables lined up on both walls for people to sit. The ceiling had the most beautiful midnight sky she had ever seen. The moon was full and the stars were so bright.

She saw Draco looking at her from across the hall. He matched Hermione, dressed in black all over except for a white tie. His hair was slicked back, not one hair out of place. He has his hands in his pockets with his mouth formed into a small smile. Hermione smiled back at him and walked up to him. He silently took her hand and kissed it, "Good Evening Hermione."

"Hello Draco. Is it going to kill you to dance one dance with me?"

"Not at all, I would love to dance so many more times than one."

"Oh.."

"I'm sure Weasley wouldn't like that though. We could always say that we have to close the Formal with a dance too."

"Well, I'm leaving a few minutes before the Formal is over though. I want to beat the rush out you know?"

"Yeah.."

Dumbledore walked through the doors followed by McGonagall, Snape, Hagrid, Filtch, "Hello Miss Granger, Mr. Malfoy. How are you?"

"Fine."

"Good. Now if you two would walked behind that curtain over there," he flicked his wand and a pitch black curtain appeared, "When everyone is here, I will announce you two and you will come out and open with a dance. Go now, we are open to open the doors for everyone."

Draco and Hermione walked behind the curtain leaned against the wall. They could hear the students filing in and talking about the Great Hall. After awhile of waiting they finally heard Dumbledore clear his throat over the crowd of students. The hall got quiet and Dumbledore spoke, "Good Evening Children, I hope you all have a good night tonight. We would now like to introduce our Head Boy and Girl, and let them open our Formal with a dance. Our Head Girl, Hermione Granger and our Head Boy Draco Malfoy."

Draco took Hermione's hand and led her out to the dance floor. They stood at the center of the crowd and Draco put one of his hands on Hermione's waist and the other was holding her free hand. Hermione placed her open hand around Draco's neck and smiled at him. The music started and they began to Waltz around the open floor. Draco pulled Hermione closer, in a subtle way of course, and started to whisper in her ear, "You know you didn't have to avoid me for a week."

"Draco, don't do this."

"If you wanted me to stay you could have told me, I don't appreciate being treated like shit by you."

"Yeah well you did the same."

"True, but I'm a Malfoy.

"Ah yes, a Malfoy, I forgot."

"You should see Weasley's face from this angle, I think this is a new shade of red for him."

Hermione giggled, "Oh I see it now, and I didn't tell him I had to dance with you. I didn't need him being mad at me all night."

"Yeah, I know how much you want to spend this night with me." He winked at her.

"Ha ha, you know we can't do that though. It's just not right."

"Sure."

The music ended and they noticed the whole room was looking at them. They slowly back away from each other and merged in with the crowd. Hermione managed to find Harry, Ginny, and a very red Ron sitting at a table. She sat down with them and they just watched her.

"I can't believe you had to dance with Malfoy."

"I know, but it was for Dumbledore."

"Hermione would you like to dance?" A lighter faced looking Ron asked Hermione.

"Sure."

Ron took Hermione's hand and led her to the floor with Ginny and Harry following. They started slow dancing and Hermione found herself looking for Draco the rest of the night. He danced with Pansy sometimes but most of the times jus sat down drinking Butterbeer.

At 10:00 Draco met up with Hermione so they could address the students, "I hope everyone is having fun! Draco and me would personally like to thank all of you for coming tonight. It turned out so well."

"All right, I have some Muggle music from Hermione I thought ya'll might like to dance to, so here it goes. You only have two hours left, don't waste my time." Draco took Hermione's hand and led her back on to the dance floor. Draco left Hermione when they reached Harry and Ron and she felt sad. Ron led her to a table and then watched Ginny and Harry dance.

"I'm so glad you asked me Harry."

"Me too, well you know what I mean. You know you look beautiful tonight?"

Ginny blushed, "Thank you Harry."

"It's true. Is Hermione having fun tonight?"

"She seems like she is. I think she's happy that Ron asked her."

"Yeah." Harry turned and looked at Hermione, her eyes were locked on a certain Slytherin blond.

After the speech, Draco watched Hermione all night. Their eyes locked every once in awhile but other than that, she laughed with Weasley and Potter and little Weasley all night long. It pained him to watch her dance with Potter and Weasley. He watched her until midnight, we he finally left the Formal.

Hermione lost track of Draco at around 11. She actually started to enjoy herself. Ron and her danced to a lot of different songs, and Ron even shared her with Harry, and Neville some. Neville mostly stayed on her feet, but she couldn't say no to him. Ginny and her entered the Girl's Best Dressed Competition. They didn't win, but it was fun to play model for a couple of minutes.

She finally sat down for a drink when she noticed the time, it was 11:55 pm. She told Ron that she needed to use that Lady's room and left the Great Hall. On the other side, only a few steps from her, was her Romeo, a boy in a black suit with slicked-back blond hair.

A/N: I am a horrible person. I know. I tried to make this chapter somewhat longer for you guys. I think ya'll got what you wanted too, well half of it. I just started school last week and between band and homework I don't have much time to write at night. So i hope this kind of makes up for it, I won't promise ya'll that i will update anymore.

HCG: Well thanks again. I hope you like this chapter.

MysteriousCharm: Draco jealous? Never? haha I hope you like how everythings going.

Kerube-chan: Haha i wish i could go with Tom Felton somewhere..he can leave pansy alone..haha. Hope you like it.

Babylight: thanks for the review hope you enjoy.

Lip-Gloss-Reaplier: I can't help but to like them, its like a disease haha. I hope it's good for you.

Krizue: The letter were important, one was her admirer letter and the other wasn't opened until this chapter. But I hope you like it, sorry it took so long.

Danish Pastry 28: Yeah i didn't think that the results should have been told yet. But I'm glad you liked the last chapter, I hope you like this one. Sorry it took so long.

Bublebeegonecrazy: I hope i can keep you hooked till its over. I hope i didn't spoil anything for you, here you go.

Partners in Denile: Dum dum dum. I do love the cliffies, there fun. I hope I didn't make you wait too long.