Chapter One: The Library

There was only one week left until the Christmas Eve Ball and practically everyone had their dates already, except for, "This is ridiculous!" Draco Malfoy of Slytherin had not found a date yet and he was running out of time. Draco had now been spending most of his time looking over a list of names, he had been fortunate to conjure up with a spell, of the Slytherin girls that haven't been asked to the Ball yet, he had been looking over it for so long that he practically had it memorized

1. Adams, Sara

2. Falsely, Geri

3. Herb, Rosa

4. Humbly, Bonnie

5. Jones, Wesley

6. Loa, Kate

7. Lure, Phoebe

8. Mosley, Shauna

9. Olli, Polis

10. Parkinson, Pansy

There were a bit more names to the list, but Draco couldn't help stopping at number 10. He had always sort of had a thing for Pansy and he was quite sure she liked him too. Two years ago when Draco attended the Yule Ball with Pansy, it was because she had approached him. Now Draco realized that it was his turn to do the asking, the problem was he had never asked a girl to go to a ball with him before.

Draco started making hourly visits to the library, looking for books from: How to charm your witch; A guide to getting the lady, to charm books on how to make big questions easier.

Not planning on being found in the library by anyone, Draco found a desk in a corner of the library where hardly anyone ever sat. He had a pile of books on either side of him and open in front of him was a book that was titled: Easy Steps for Wizard Ball Dancing. Draco never quite fancied dancing, but he thought it would be worth it to study a little of it for Pansy's sake; the last time they danced together at the Yule Ball he had stepped on her feet so many times that they ended up only dancing for three songs, then she went to dance with Marcus Flint.

Students came and went in the library as he sat there going over as many books as possible. He heard footsteps approaching but thought nothing of it until someone picked up one of the books that lay open on his table as he heard a voice say, "Out of all the books in this library, these are the last ones I would ever expect to find in front of you!" Unfortunately, Draco knew this voice all too well, it was the same voice of that jumped up mudblood who had punched him in his third year, he looked up, it was Hermione Granger. "Are you going to try to curse someone with dance fever?" She said sarcastically.

"No." Draco said with a scowl. As if it wasn't bad enough that he hadn't gotten a date yet, now he had been found out by the worst person possible. He knew there was no getting out of this now, but he was sure she wasn't going to let him off easy.

"Let me guess, you haven't got a date yet." Hermione said with amusement.

Draco stared down at the book in front of him still not really comprehending what he was reading. Before he had a chance to say anything Hermione had sat down at the table with him and moved aside all the books, including the one he was reading. Draco was now staring at her with disbelief, "What do you think you're doing?"

"I would think it was obvious isn't it?" replied Hermione, "You have no idea what you're doing, and you are in definite need of some help."

"I don't need any help, especially from a mudblood like you." he sneered.

"Fine," Hermione pulled out a piece of parchment and a quill and quickly wrote something, "I'll just leave this here," she placed the parchment on the table and slid it toward him, "and you can do with it as you please." She got up and started to walk away slowly.

Draco looked at the parchment, it was a list of ideas on how to ask a girl to a dance. He crumpled it in his fist as he called after her, "I'm gonna throw this away."

Hermione threw her hands in the air, as if surrendering, and shaking her head as she said, "It's not my business."

Draco flattened out the list, took another look at it, folded it neatly, then put it in his pocket and left the library.

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A/N: Read and Review please, good or bad, I appreciate it, Thanx.