Chapter 5

Draco walked into the Head Common Room after his last class of the day, Defense Against the Dark Arts. He had explained to Professor Snape that he would not be able to do the punishment because of the Dance tonight. His mind returned to the memory of class yesterday.

"Mr. Malfoy, could you please tell me- what are the three Unforgivable Curses?" Professor Snape asked. He had a curt attitude that told Draco he shouldn't mess with him right now.

"The three curses are the Imperius Curse, the Cruciatus Curse, and the Killing Curse, Avada Kedavra. To be able to use these curses effectively, however, you must mean them. Death Eaters, however oblivious, are trained to deflect a non-effective curse. The Dark Lord makes sure he or she is capable of performing these three curses, the Sectumsempra spell, and many other terrible curses that can cause agony, pain and even death." Draco answered. He was pretty sure that he had answered thoroughly.

"Very good, Mr. Malfoy. 10 points to Slytherin. Now, that was I would take as an answer on the N.E.W.T. exams. Seeing as I no longer teach Potions, Dolores Umbridge has happily taken the post as long as she cannot be painfully harmed by the creatures in the Forbidden Forest again. We have obliviated her mind completely of how she treated students in your fifth year here at Hogwarts, and she has become a very big fan of Mr. Potter's. Hasn't she, Mr. Weasley?" Professor Snape drawled.

Draco turned around to look at the Weasel. He could see the red hues of anger seeping into his face. His hands were curled into fists and his eyes were shooting daggers at the professor, now smirking thoroughly pleased with himself at the front of the classroom.

"I asked you a question, Mr. Weasley. I would appreciate, if in the future, you would answer the question asked of you instead of sitting there silent, although it may do you good in other circumstances. 20 points from Gryffindor." the professor said softly. Draco knew that Hermione would be as ticked as ever when she heard of Snape's doing.

Draco raised his hand high in the air. "Professor, could you tell me about the Muffliato spell?"

"Of course, seeing as I invented it, it should be very easy for me to explain. Now, the Muffliato spell is quite simple to cast. All you do is point your wand directly at a person you wish to not hear what you will be saying. Silently, or don't even speak, 'Muffliato'. A loud buzzing noise will fill that person's ears and they will not be able to hear what you are saying. Do not try to even try it on me, Mr. Thomas. I invented it, I know how to deflect it. There you go, put the wand back into your bag like the good boy you will never be." Professor Snape continued to drawl.

I turned around. Hermione had just walked in. "Professor Snape? Professor Umbridge would like to see you outside the Potions classroom. She says it is urgent." Hermione said quietly.

"Yes, yes, Ms. Granger. I'll be there shortly. Sit down and begin working." Snape said. "There is no excuse for your tardiness of Defense Against the Dark Arts class. Class started nearly half an hour ago, Ms. Granger. Unless there was something more important to do than defend yourself against the Dark Lord?" Snape said, with no hint of anything other than menace in his voice.

"Sir, I don't take your class until next period..." Hermione trailed off, noticing the vicious glare she recieved from the professor.

"Too bad. Sit." Snape said slowly and loudly, as if speaking to an extremely stupid person.

"I-...oh, alright." Hermioen said, looking around for an empty seat. Luckily, for Draco, the seat next to him was empty. She blanched and slowly made her way to the empty bench. "Move over." She seethed.

Draco moved over about three inches. He whispered to her, "Hey, Hermione, do you have a date to the ball yet?"

"No. Why? I'm probably going with Ron." She hissed.

"Oh, well, I just wanted to make sure that you had a date...you could have gone with me if you hadn't." Draco replied, catching her eye and moving his hand to cover Hermione's. He stroked her hand with his thumb. "Hermione, I'm sorry...Really, I am. Please..."

"What's this? A Malfoy begging for forgiveness? What happened to June? Why aren't you taking her?" Hermione smirked. She didn't, however, remove her hand from his gentle hold.

Jude is singing tomorrow night. I don't know whether she is singing only her music, but she's definetly singing some of her songs. She's doing mostly duets with her producer, Tom Quincy." Draco replied, ignoring her smirk.

"Oh...I have one of the old BoyzAttack cds...he's really hot...anyways, you can still go with her." Hermione said. When she realized she was having a civil conversation with a Malfoy, she stopped, sucked in a breath, and then added, "'Cause I'm sure as heck not going with you." She said, trying not to feel guilty for the hurt look in Draco's gorgeous, gray-with-flecks-of-gold eyes. She turned away and began reading about how to say one spell yet cast another without saying it. Although the passage was very interesting, Hermione did not feel like reading. And that was a problem.

Draco turned in his seat after Snape had left the room. "Hermione, please. Please just forgive me. Please, I was wrong. Just...Just hear me out."

Hermione turned to look at him. "Why?"

"Because I have to tell you the reason why I pushed you out of the way-"

"And then proceeded to kiss her in front of me? If that's what you wanted to explain, you needn't waste your breath. I know why you kissed her; I know why you pushed me into the wall. You love her. OK? I understand completely." She turned away. She shook a little, then raised her head. "You know? I don't know why I I haven't banned your presence yet. I mean, here I am, broken-hearted because of you, and I haven't done anything about it yet. How smart I am!" She sobbed.

Draco gently grabbed her and pulled her near him. Surprisingly, she let him pull her all the way into a hug. She just sat there and sobbed. Pointing her wand at everyone in the room, he cast the Muffliato spell. "Hermione, I am so sorry. Please...just forgive me. I want you to go with me to the dance; I really do. Please..." Draco said. That was all he said, because Hermione chose that very moment to raise her head, look into his beautiful eyes, nod, and kiss him softly...on the cheek.

Whispering in his ear, she said, "Yes, Malfoy, I'll go to the dance with you..."

Waking up out of his little daydream, he looked around. Suddenly, he heard a squeal coming from the stairs. He looked up. There, right above his head, hanging in the air, was the biggest bunch of mistletoe Draco had ever seen.

"Draco!" Jude squealed again, running at him in a cotton-terry bathrobe in buttercup yellow and matching slippers. Knowing exactly what to do, Draco stepped aside and gently caught her.

"Sorry, Jude, not right now. I have to find..." Draco started to explain, but stopped. He had just seen the most beautiful woman in the history of beautiful women. "Hermione?" Draco whispered.

"Yes, Malfoy. Stop gawking and zip up my dress. I'd have him," she said, jerking her head at the handsome man sitting on the couch, "do it, but I don't know him at all." She turned around. The back of the dress was a mess of holes and ribbons. "Well, maybe it's not a zipper, but you're smart enough to figure it out.

"Here, let me do it. Hi, I'm Tom Quincy, Jude's Producer." Tommy said, getting up and walking over to where Hermione stood, standing with her back to him. "I do this all the time for her." he said, winking at Jude.

"Yeah, well, if I could tie the strings myself, I would. You do it more for Sadie than you do for me!" Jude said, glowering at Tommy.

"There. Is it too tight?" Tommy asked, sounding like a father more than a hot boy bander.

"No, it's perfect. Come on, Jude, I'll do your makeup." Hermione said. Jude followed her up the stone steps. Two and a half hours later, they walked down; Hermione's dress was a pretty maroon, gold, and cream dress, with princess sleeves (you know, the kind that are really tight to the arm for about three quarters the way down the arm and then splits and flairs out with lace or lighter fabric...) and a corset looking garment around her waist and chest. The bottom half of the dress was maroon. It fell to the floor and flaired out in a princess style, with gold and silver edging on the princess part. The top part of the dress was deep cut, yet modest. She wore the ruby and gold set of jewelry that Ron had most likely bought for her. She had her hair up like it was for the Yule Ball in 4th year, yet the flower was maroon, not pink. Her shoes were gold Stilletos, and she walked with such ease and grace that you'd think she wore them every day. Jude's dress was more "rocker," I guess you'd call it. It was black and almost to the floor. It had one shoulder and one sleeve; the other side was a thick strap over the shoulder and a thinner strap around the arm. She was wearing her hair up in a curly bun (think, "Unsweet Sixteen"). Her tall, black, nearly- 4-inch black boots finished off her outfit. "Draco, are you going like that?" Hermione asked, unsure of the answer. She was hoping he wasn't.

"Like heck I'm not. Here," He said. Quickly and wordlessly, he pointed his wand at himself; his outfit completely changed from his school robes to a set of dress robes, very much like Harry's had been for the Yule Ball in 4th year, only a little fancier and a lot more expensive: almost 60 galleons. He offered hs arm. "I believe the school is waiting, madam."

"I do believe you're correct, sir. See you later, Jude, Mr. Quincy." Hermione replied, nodding at both Jude and Tommy as she spoke their names.

"Bye. See you in a few minutes. I just have to help Tommy set up." Jude said, waving shyly.

"See you two later. And I prefer Tommy, not Mr. Quincy. I'm only 26 years old. Don't make me sound older!" Tommy said, joking with his last words.

"Alright, Tommy, then. See you later, guys." Hermione replied. She took Draco's arm and strutted, kiddingly, out of the common room area.

When they reached the hallway near the Great Hall, they could hear people mulling about. Soon enough, Lavendar and Parvati rushed towards Hermione, gushing over her dress.

"Oh my gosh, Hermione, where did you get that dress..."

"...'Cause it's awesomistic!..."

"Parvati, shut up, I was talking. Oh Hermione, and your hair, and your makeup..."

"...and your date! Hermione, how in the world did you snag Draco Malfoy? Lucky girl!"

"Parvati! Please! I'm trying to talk here! Hermione, you are so lucky. I hope you have a fantabulous time!"

"Er...thanks guys..." She said before turning to Draco and willing herself not to laugh. She could see the laughter shining in his gray and green eyes.

"So...lucky girl...should we go inside or are we going to just stand here?" Draco asked, a light smirk on his face, but not the usual smirk filled with malice- it was the heartfelt smile that made Hermione melt.

"Sure, let's...Draco what are you...Draco!" Hermione squealed as Draco picked her up high in the air, spun her around a few times, and set her down on the cobblestone floor again, proceeding the kiss the tip of her nose.

"Shall we?" Draco said, holding out his arm once more.

"We shall." Hermione said. She then smiled. Not smirked, not grinned, not laughed, not simpered; smiled, showing tooth and eyes glittering with happiness.

Walking into the Great Hall, Draco and Hermione stopped. ALL eyes were on them. Not some, not a few, not many, ALL. The music had stopped, and Hermione could see Ron and Harry look up from their snog sessions with Lavender and Ginny (with whom Harry had just gotten back together) and glare at the couple. Detaching herself from Draco, Hermione slowly walked towards Ron and Harry, half trembling. "Harry...Ron...I can...please listen...don't do this...please, Harry...Ron..." She whimpered. She had never seen Harry or Ron seethe so.

"Hermione...what are you doing here...with him?" Harry said, elbowing Ron in the side and giving him a look that obviously said, "Don't talk. I'll talk."

"Harry, I can explain. Really, I can. He asked me...and I...I just thought if he was being nice to me for a change, that I would take him up on it and see if it would last. Plus, who could blame me? I like the guy, is that a sin?" Hermione asked. Seeing the look on Ron and Harry's faces, she whimpered, "Harry...Ron...you're scaring me...please don't look at me like that...this..."She gestured between her and Draco, "...can't change anything between us, can it? Please, just don't look at me like that..." The rest of her sentence was muffled, seeing as Harry had pulled her into a huge hug.

"Hermione, no. This cannot change our friendship. Just...just don't...talk about him when you're with us. It kind of freaked us out when you talk about the guy from Hufflepuff you used to like. This would be much worse. Anyways, we didn't mean to scare you...it's just that...well, under the circumstances...What in bloody hell is happening to Malfoy?" Harry said, his few last words rising as he looked past Hermione at Draco, who was lying on the floor, at the feet of none other than...

Lord Voldemort...

A/N: Bwah-ha-ha-ha-ha... Don't kill me yet guys, I had to do it...Luv ya'll always, Ryn