Disclaimer- I do not own these characters, nor do I own the settings. Blah, blah, blah. Yata, yata, yata. We've all heard it before. You get the point, lol.

Chapter Four- Halloween Ball day.

In the boy's dorm, Harry and Ron were getting ready for the Ball. Harry was dressed as a ghost and Ron was a prince. Ron was combing his hair back and Harry was spiking his. "Hullo." I said, startling both of the boys. Ron dropped his comb and Harry froze and turned around.

Ron turned away from Harry and walked towards me, a stupid smile on him face that said, "Let's talk outside." I walked out of the dorm and onto the last step leading to the common room. Ron followed, stopping to steps behind me. "So what's up?" he asked.

"Nothing…I just wanted to ask you something…"

"Shoot."

"What?"

"Shoot the question," he explained. Seeing the blank look on my face, he added, "Ask the question. Man, Hermione! I though you were the smart one!"

"Eh…whatever," I smiled. "So here's my question. Are you mad at me?"

"Huh? Mad? Why would I be mad?"

"Because of what happened earlier today."

"Not mad. Just annoyed."

"Yeah, I figured. I am so confused. I don't even know if Draco thinks about me anymore. If he loves me anymore. If he wants to be with me anymore."

"It doesn't matter what he thinks. It only matters what you think and what you know. And who you want to be with."

"Right now, I want to be with you." I whispered, leaning forward. He leaned forward, too, and pressed his lips against mine. I slowly lifted my arms up to his head and pulled it down. Ron tried to pull away, but I wouldn't let him go. A couple of seconds later, I let go.

He quickly said, "I gotta go!" and went headed back to his dorm.

I frowned and followed him. He stopped dead in his tracks and turned around. "Oh, and that was awesome. Wanna come to the Ball with me?"

I started to say that I was going with Draco, and Ron noticed, so he quickly said, "Fuck Draco. He doesn't matter. Do you want to or not?"

"Um…yeah."

"Great! Now I really gotta go! See ya later." he ran towards his dorm again.

'Okay…that was easy. Now to find Draco.' I thought to myself while walking down the steps and up the corridor in front of the Slytherin common room portrait. I said the password, let the portrait open, and ran inside.

"Which way to the boys' dorm?" I called out to nobody in particular.

People said random things; nobody answered what I wanted to know. "I'm a prefect! Now tell me where Draco is!"

A couple of people pointed up the second set of steps, so I went up there. Draco's dorm was exactly like the Gryffindor boy's dorm, except everything was green and black instead of red and yellow. Draco was lying on his bed with his eyes closed, probably thinking of something. He practically jumped two inches above his bed when I suddenly called out his name.

"ARE YOU TRYING TO SCARE ME TO DEATH!" he demanded with a fierce look on his face. "Oh, it's you," he added. His face softened, but still looked angry. "Had enough of Weasel?"

"Umm…yeah," I lied. I love Ron, but I didn't wanna lose Draco, either. "Do you forgive me?"

"Hmmm…" Draco put on his 'thinking face'. "I guess so. Do you still wanna go to the dance with me?"

"Of course!"

"Great." He smiled, then looked like he just saw my costume for the very first time and added, "You look astonishing!"

"Why, thank you. But I really think you should put on your costume."

"Oh, yeah. Um...if you want to leave-"

"Nah, it's all right. I would love to watch." I smiled.

Draco did, too. "All right!" He slipped off his jeans slowly, smirking at me. I smiled as he took off his shirt. Again, he did it slowly; making me die very slowly. I walked up to him and ran my finger down his chest, falsely sighing. Draco took my head and his hands gently and rubbed my cheeks. Then he let go and let his fingers dance freely down my neck and onto my shoulders. He asked me to turn around and I did. Draco whispered my name into my ears and started to massage my back and shoulders. "Hermione…" he whispered again. "Hmmm…?" I was too relaxed to answer properly. "I love you…" Draco whispered once again into my ears.

"I love you, too…" I whispered back. Draco tried to go further, but I stopped him. "Wait." I said, a little firmer this time. "The Ball. Is in. Less than. Six minutes!" I continued, making sure he would understand what I meant.

"Can't we go a little later?" he asked sweetly, reaching over my shoulders and rubbing my stomach.

"We could…but I don't want to."

"Oh, fine. Let's go." Draco put his costume on quick as a wink and walked out the door. "Hold on!" I called after him. "I'm coming, too!"

He didn't stop until we got to the doorway of the Great Hall, which was now turned into a haunted house. "This place is scary," I said to Draco. "I'm getting goose bumps."

"That's okay…just stay close," He started the whispering in the ear thing again. I smiled and whispered, "Okay," back into his ear. "Wait! Hold on."

Ron was right in front of us. He looked devastated! He just turned and walked away slowly. "Ron! Wait!"

Ron stopped and turned around, just like he had a couple of minutes ago. "Wait? Wait for you? Why? So you can tell me at the last minute that you don't want to go to the Ball with me? Well, guess what. It's a bit too late to tell me now!"

"I'm sorry! I didn't know what to do…you asked me, then Draco asked me…and I said yes to both of you…and I'm his boyfriend after all-for the time being."

"Oh, Herms," he began, but never finished. I saw a tear in his eye as he turned away from me once again to walk upstairs. "Don't follow me," he said firmly. "I'll be down in a little while. I just need to be alone for a second."

I sighed, feeling awful. But I had no choice, but to walk back to Draco, so that's exactly what I did.

We walked up to the dance floor and started dance right in the middle of the song that was playing at the time. It was soon over, and a slow song was next. It was She Will Be Loved by Maroon 5.

A/N- I know it's Halloween, but it's in the moment, lol.

"I love this song," I whispered.

"May I take this dance?" Draco smiled and bowed, then got up and held out his hand. I took it in mine and walked up even closer to him.

We started to dance; I felt the fourth, fifth, and sixth years' eyes staring at us. But I didn't care. I smelled the sweet shampoo scent of his hair and nearly fainted. Funny, though…that it smelled a lot like mine.

"You used my shampoo…" I whispered.

"Yup," I heard his whisper in my ear once again. "I went to your dorm to surprise you…not going into too many details right now, but…anyway…I felt like taking a shower…and so I took one in your dorm, hoping that you would come back soon. But I was wrong."

"Mmm…" I didn't really care; I was actually pleased that he's not like other boys. Other boys don't care about personal hygiene. I knew because…well, let's just say I have my ways.

I really didn't feel like talking, either. All I wanted to do was stay in the same spot, slow-dancing forever. By that time, almost every couple was following our lead and dancing, too. Harry and Cho, as I could imagine, were dancing far away from us; it looked as though someone had pushed them against the wall and forced them to stay near that part of the wall.

The song ended soon, and everyone stopped dancing, but Draco and I just stayed in the same position, hugging each other. That song had been the second of the party, and that party was only for about an hour. Draco got easily bored after the first fifteen minutes.

He leaned over to me and said, "I'm bored. Let's go off campus."

"No," I said, surprised that he would even think about going off campus. "Surly, we're not allowed!"

"Fine…we'll ask, then." Draco trotted off for Professor McGonagall, who was sitting next to the Headmaster. They both seemed so interested with the students all of a sudden. They were both gazing deeply into the crowd, watching their every move in case someone did anything wrong. When Draco suddenly said, "Professor," it startled Professor McGonagall so much that she jumped two inches taller than her chair. Professor Dumbledore just turned around to look at each of us with the same twinkle in his eyes that he always had.

"Um…Professor?" Draco said again, looking straight at Professor McGonagall.

"Yes?" she answered, clearly annoyed.

"Er…can me and Hermione go off campus? Just until the Ball ends?"

Professor McGonagall looked like she was debating weather to let us or not in her own head. This didn't take long. "No," she answered plainly."

"Oh, let them have a little fun," said Professor Dumbledore.

Professor McGonagall glared at him, then sighed. "Fine. You have-" she looked at her watch. "-exactly 42 minutes. Run along, now. You can Aparate."

Draco practically flew to the Hogwarts grounds. I was running as fast I ever had to be able to catch up to him when he stopped. "Let's go to a bar!" he stated suddenly, making me fall over backwards.

"Oops," he said, then helped me up.

"What do you expect, screaming in my ear the second I reach you?"

He grinned and apologized.

"So what were you saying?" I asked quietly.

"I think we should go to a bar."

"Um…sure. But not for a very long time, and it can't be far away." I said, then muttered, "I'll have to carry you back when you get drunk," under my breath.

"Sorry? Didn't catch that last part."

"Never you mind. Let's go before I change my mind."

"Okay, but I had another idea."

"And what's that?"

"Let's Aparate to one of those car lending places and drive to the bar. I haven't Aparated anywhere that far yet, and I'm not sure everything will go right."

"Fine, let's go." I took his hand and we Aparated to the car dealer and rented a car.

We had a huge conversation about responsibility when we were going over the drawbridge and on our way. I wasn't paying much attention to the road or where we were driving until I saw a sign that said-

Mark's Beer Club

We support female over-doses.

STRIPPERS WELCOME!

"What!" I said once I read the sign. "Where are we?"

Draco grinned. "Mark's Beer Club. It's a great place."

"Did you happen to read the last bit of that sign?" I answered, pointing to the sign.

"Yeah, about that. Don't worry. There's a room for couples and a room for singles. The strippers only go into the singles' room."

"I don't even want to know how you know all of this stuff. Or what you did when you were single." I added.

Draco walked out of the car and up to the door. I followed, knowing I would have to watch his every move on the way to the Couples' Room.

And…I was right. Draco slapped a girl's butt and smirked, probably forgetting I was even there watching. I slapped his head and he turned around to look at me. He had a look on his face that said, "What? I like her arss!"

"Can't expect much from a Slytherin boy, though, can I?" I muttered under my breath.

Lucky for me, we got to the Couples' Room with out any other disturbances. The room looked like just any regular bar. It had those really tall seats with cushions right in front of the super tall tables, and waitresses wearing sexy clothes, to provoke the boys.

"Watch it," I snapped to one of the woman who 'accidentally' bumped into Draco. She glared at me, then left to do the same thing with other men.

"Draco," I called.

"What?" he sounded annoyed.

"I don't have a good feeling about this place."

"What?"

"I don't know," I frowned. "It just doesn't feel right."

"Here-have a drink!" he looked dizzy and kept leaning on things for support.

"Draco? How many beers have you had so far?"

"Who counts? I think it was a little over four," he tried to walk over to the waitress to order another beer, but fell over.

He scrambled to get up, but then fell forward. I helped him up, saying, "Oh, no, you don't!"

"Lighten up, Hermione!"

"Lighten up? You want me to lighten up when my boyfriend is drunk and we have to be back at Hogwarts in-" I checked my watch for the tenth time that day. "-35 minutes!"

"Have a beer!" he said, paying no attention to what I just said.

"If I have one, will you stop drinking?"

"Yeah. Sure. Whatever." he said quickly, passing me a bottle of beer. I took two sips, then chugged down the rest of it.

"This is good," I said and Draco smiled, handing me another bottle. I chugged that one, too, and kept on drinking until I only drank three less than Draco, who had just chugged down two more glasses of beer.

We danced all around the place to the music that was playing until we only had 15 minutes left. The beer had worn off enough for me to check my watch and notice.

"You know what?" Draco suddenly called out, making me look up so fast that I fell over. "Life sucks! Fuck like and fuck Hogwarts!"

"Right," I got up and said, "We better get going, though."

"Nah, let's stay! Who cares if we're a little bit late?"

"No, I really think we should go back," I insisted. He didn't look like he listened so I added, "Now!"

"Fine…little Miss Know-it-all."

I frowned, so he added, "Just kidding…"

I grinned and walked towards the door; Draco followed. I got in the passenger seat of the car, and Draco got in the driver's seat. He searched for the key in all of his pockets, then finally found it after what seamed like an hour. He put it in the keyhole and started the car. He smiled when he heard the engine roaring.

A/N- I've been stuck here for days, so I finally decided to end the chapter. I have a plot, don't worry; I'm getting to it. I just don't know how to get to it, is all.