Chapter 11: Love Potions and Halloween Balls

The Halloween Ball in Slughorns chambers looked amazing. Bats had been bewitched to fly around the large room, there were skeletons scattered about that would move when someone got close to them. Guests danced with one another around a giant haunted house, which the guests could go into if they thought they were brave enough. Hundreds of people were in the room which had been bewitched to be bigger than it normally was.

Draco and Hermione entered the room, hand in hand, amazed at how brilliant the atmosphere of the room was. Smiling shyly at one another, they made their way over to a small table.

"Do you want anything to drink?" Draco asked Hermione.

"I'm okay."

"Oh, okay."

The two continued to sit, glancing shyly at one another when they thought the other was not looking.

What Hermione really wanted was to dance with him. He looked so handsome in his costume and she felt like her eyes could not be drawn away from him.

"Do you want to dance?" Hermione blurted out, blushing instantly as she awaited his answer.

"Of course," he said, smiling at her.

He led her onto the dance floor, into an area that was away from most of the guests. Taking one of her hands and placing the other onto the small of her back, he led her in dance, his eyes never straying away from hers.

A small strand of hair had made its way out of Hermione's clip. Draco raised his hand and gently tucked it behind her ear. His hand lingered on her face longer than necessary, causing chills to run down Hermione's spine.

They swayed to the music, unaware of everything and everyone around them except for one another.

Hermione rested her head on his chest, feeling happy about where she was.

Draco brought her hand up to his mouth, giving it a soft kiss.

Hermione felt herself melting and raised her head so that she could look up into his eyes, knowing that they would not be the cold, grey eyes she usually saw when she looked into them.

He was staring down at her and when she looked up at his face, his lips were drawn into a small smile.

He lowered his head, softly kissing her on her lips, her eyes closing as he leaned in towards her.

They kissed gently, all while swaying along to the music.

By the time they broke apart from one another, they saw that nearly all of the guests were gone and that the music had stopped playing.

Hand in hand, they made their way up to the Gryffindor common room.

"I don't want to leave you yet," he said, placing a kiss on her forehead.

"Then don't."

She led him over to one of the chairs in front of the fire.

They both lay down next to each other, his arms wrapped around her waist.

They watched the fire and when the last few embers were about to burn out, Hermione turned her head so that she could look at Draco.

He had fallen asleep, a faint smile on his lips.

Smiling, Hermione kissed him. She was about to turn around so that she could also go to sleep but something stopped her. She felt the need to tell him something.

"I'm sorry for treating you so horribly. I know your father made you treat people like me that way and that you would be punished if you didn't. You really aren't as bad as people think."

Hermione kissed him one last time and turned over, her eyes closing at the same time the fire went out.

The next morning, sun streamed in through the windows of the sleeping common room.

Draco opened his eyes, feeling happier than he had in a long time.

Looking in front of him, he saw a mass of brown hair. Smiling, he closed his eyes once more.

"Last night must have been some night. I wonder who the girl is. Probably just some Slytherin who crept into my bed while I was sleeping," he thought. "But wait, I just opened my eyes and saw red and gold. My Slytherin room is green and silver…"

His eyes snapped open and he raised his head, craning his neck to see who was lying next to him.

"ARGH!"

Hermione jumped up, completely disoriented.

"You! What did you do to me? Why was I sleeping with you?" Malfoy stammered.

"Me? What about you? I would never sleep with you! You must have drugged me! Or given me firewhiskey!"

"Don't be daft, Granger! You're a Mudblood!"

"He is right. Neither of us would sleep with one another. I wonder what happened…I can barely remember anything from last night. The last thing I remember is Violet coming into my room and-"

"The potion!" Hermione exclaimed.

"What in Merlin's name are you talking about Granger?"

"Yesterday, Violet came into my room and gave me a Calming Draught. She wouldn't let me leave my room until I drank it. Next thing I know, I wake up next to you in the common room. Don't you see? She gave me a love potion!"

"That's fine for you but then what's my excuse?"

"Violet said that she thought Ollie was giving you one as well. He must have given you the same thing!"

"Those bloody twins. I'm going to kill them."

"But why would they do it in the first place? I mean, isn't it obvious that we hate each other?"

Hermione felt like she was lying to herself when she said it but could not see how that was possible. If she was lying to herself, then that would mean that she didn't hate Malfoy, which was impossible. Hermione blushed and hoped that Malfoy didn't notice.

"Do you remember what happened last night?" she asked him, afraid of what he would say.

"No. I don't remember anything except playing exploding snap."

They stood there quietly, thinking about what could have happened while they were under the effects of the potion.

"Oh no," Hermione moaned. "You don't think they used a love potion with moonstone do you?"

Malfoy snorted. "I'm sure they did, seeing as how nearly all love potions contain moonstone."

"What I meant to say was you don't think they used a potion with moonstone and holly

do you? Because that would mean that some of the effects would not wear off."

Malfoy's eyes opened wide.

"I'm going to kill those twins."

A/N: so I hope the ball wasn't too disappointing. I would have had more happen but I prefer love to lust so yeah…Oh, and I MIGHT be posting a one-shot so keep an eye out for it. If I decide to post it it will be about Hermione and Malfoy (obviously) and Hermione being unhappy with her relationship with Ron and showing up at Malfoy's door one day…