Valentine's Dance of Love

It was the time for Potions. Well, dancing for Hermione and Draco. Sighing, they both headed down to the Great Hall to practice their dancing. Flitwick wasn't there. Surprise, surprise, it was probably another plan of Dumbledore's, to get them to be alone and express their feelings for each other.

"One would think that our Headmaster was some kind of evil stage manager and that he's using all of us for stage props and characters," Malfoy spat when they entered, realizing that Flitwick wasn't there.

"Or perhaps he had literally gone loony in the mind, despite the fact that he is the most brilliant man alive…or was before he became a romanticist," Hermione added bitterly. That made Malfoy chuckle out loud.

"Why I never thought innocent-bookworm-Granger would admit to sexy Draco Malfoy that her beloved Headmaster has finally gone loony," he drawled in his infamously annoying voice.

Annoying, but definitely sexy voice, Hermione thought, dazed for a moment in her thoughts, shaking her head, she was shocked to realize what she'd just thought. NO! Not sexy. Not sexy. I hate his voice. I hate HIM. She thought firmly, and asked, "So, are we going to practice that disastrous dance, or not?"

"Yeah…sure," Malfoy said, dropping his eyes. Come on, Malfoy you can dance with her. You will not tremble and forget the moves just because you'll be so close to her…. He thought, urging himself to dance with her. With a snap of his fingers, the music that they were to dance to came on.

"Dip…up…lifts…" Hermione muttered, deeply terrified of making a mistake and stepping on Malfoy's arrogant foot, in fear that he would make her pay for the shoes she would've ruined.

"Are you nervous, Granger?" Malfoy smirked at the girl, who clearly had fear fogging up in her sweet chocolate brown eyes.

"Me? Look at you, you're so nervous, your hand is literally trembling as you hold me, and when you lifted me, I could've sworn you would've dropped me if you hadn't known I would hex you to oblivion the moment you do! Loving my body just a bit too much for your own arrogant good, Malfoy?" Hermione said smirking as her confident entered her, since she realized the truth in her own words.

"Always the one to get the last words, aren't you, Granger?" Malfoy asked, in a non-threatening or insulting way.

"Of course, I am bookworm Granger, nobody gets the last words after I do," Hermione said with pride evident in her even soprano voice.

"Feisty one, are you not? For one, I, Draco Lucius Malfoy, shall have the last words!" he said in his own arrogant way, hoping that she wouldn't have a witty come back for that.

"Yes, feisty I can be. But if you believe for even one moment I'll let your self-centered butt win over my words, you are deeply confused, Malfoy!"

"Butt…? That's such foul, foul language, Hermione Granger. I thought you had more sense than that!"

"Oh you…."

"I WON! I GOT THE LAST WORD!" Malfoy said, triumph reflecting upon his words in a clear mirage.

"Let's just get this dance right. Don't tremble so much, you'll get ME nervous, Malfoy!" Hermione said, not being able to resist smiling at Malfoy, attempting to act cute and annoyingly young.

Together, the two teenagers got lost in each other's deep, but soulful eyes and drowned in their unspoken love. At last, it was the finale of the dance: a dip that came after Hermione came back from a twirl that separated their bodies with only a moment's distance. When Draco caught her by the waist and dipped her, their eyes met with such passion. As the music ended, Draco found himself clearing the space between his face and Hermione's. Their foreheads touched, and just before the blessed touch of lips that everyone had long awaited for, including these two star-crossed lovers, they heard footsteps nearing. Nearly dropping Hermione, Malfoy stood up, brushing himself off to find Flitwick standing there, panting.

"Sorry, Mr. Malfoy, Ms. Granger, I had business that I had to attend. Would you like to begin practice, now?" Flitwick apologized to the two young students. When he realized they were clearly out of breath, evidently having practiced the dance at least once, he said, "Or if you have already practiced, then do rest for a while. The dance is rather hard, and very tiring."

Hermione and Draco nodded, trying to convince themselves that the loud pounding of their energetic heart and the flushing of their faces were from being active for so long, not because of their encounter with the touch of Love a few moments ago.

"You dance well, Draco," Hermione said, breathlessly.

"As do you, Hermione," Malfoy said with honesty that he never realized he owned. Hermione smiled at his statement, and sipped at a bit of water that she had conjured. Wow…she looks amazing, even with her forehead sweaty from dancing, and her smile…sweet Merlin, she's the most beautiful thing I've ever laid my eyes on. WAIT! Snap out of it, Draco. You can't fall in love with her. You won't, because you can't fall in love with her. Draco's eyes widened as he realized the truth. He loved her. Yet he couldn't, and he was letting that get in the way of him.

Flitwick spoke endlessly of the way feeling should be expressed within the dance, and how every move should reflect love, as the theme was Valentine's Day. Hermione's fingers itched to be intertwined with Draco's again, their eyes searching endlessly into each other's souls and bodies pressed together, moving to the beautiful song.

Almost reading her mind, Draco asked, "Why don't I and Granger perform for you once, and then you can criticize us for what we did wrong?"

Flitwick nodded at this, and as Draco and Hermione took their places, the music came on. Once again, fire dancing within their own souls, their eyes danced a serenade together as their eyes locked; his icy grey/blue eyes within her fiery chocolate brown. As Hermione was lifted, suspended only by Draco's muscular arm, she felt no danger. Although she was deeply afraid of heights, she trusted Draco with her life, and that he wouldn't allow her to fall. The dance, as though speaking silently their unvoiced passion, expressed much more than words could ever say. Fire and Ice, both melting into each other's love, drowning in their desire, finally ended the dance in a beautiful flourish.

Their eyes finally unlocked themselves from each other's gaze as they turned to see Flitwick's reaction. They were smirking inwardly when they saw a professor with his eyes bulging out, much like a fly's, and a wide mouth. He didn't even realize the two students were staring at him until Hermione finally swallowed the last of her suppressed giggles and asked, "Professor…professor?" He shut his mouth, and sunk his eyes back into their sockets and congratulated the two for their beautiful dance of "love" as the bell rang.

Hermione and Draco hurried off to their Transfiguration class as Professor Flitwick was gathering himself up, figuratively speaking, from the shock of a perfectly danced impossible dance. Professionals couldn't dance the dance, and it was very complicating. Never before had anyone flawlessly danced the entire dance so fluently, or without tripping over each other, or even stop dancing from the lack of strength. However, two students, in Hogwarts itself, had danced together, with such emotion and passion and hadn't even collapsed. All the dips and spinning, if a professionally trained person couldn't do it, how could…?

Later, the baffled professor went to see Dumbledore. "Albus, the impossible has happened!" he stated once he was in presence of the Headmaster.

"Miss Granger and Mister Malfoy have done it, have they not? They had achieved the impossible task of completing their dance number flawlessly, haven't they?" Dumbledore said calmly, his blue eyes twinkled in the candlelight and with an uncharacterized smirk, he continued, "I have appointed the right dance, yet you had doubted their ability."

"Sorry, Headmaster, but surely…"

"It was no dream. They are truly in love. The reason nobody else can dance it, is because there is a lack of true love in the world. But they, mere teenagers have accomplished something never thought possible anymore. The innocence of being truly in love…"

Meanwhile, in the Astronomy tower, the Prefects were holding a meeting. Hermione had collected the many papers that the terrified Prefects had written, and handed them to Draco to read. They were appointing their jobs that they should have in the band. With collected calm, Hermione requested nominations for the bass guitar player.

Pansy raised her free hand, as one was intertwined with Harry's. "I believe that Draco would be the best nomination for such part, as he played wonderfully on New Year's night." Hands rose to second the nomination, and all were in favor of such move.

Next came the part of singer and back-up singer. Nobody wanted the job, and nobody wanted to nominate anyone other than Hermione and Draco. In the end, however, there was a tie between them. Finally coming out of his trance from reading the horrendously written pieces of "literary artwork" that the Prefects had so hastily produced, he took over. "Fine, how about this, this band will have two singers, and we will sing together?"

His idea was obviously appreciated and loved, since a loud cheer arose, that only until Hermione had let out an ear-piercing whistle did everyone finally shut their unintelligent yaps. "Very well, but Draco is also the bass guitar player!" Hermione cried. The Prefects didn't care, and they chanted over and over that they would choose no one else like an enraged crowd of violent obsessed people of a certain celebrity.

Finally, the chaos died down, with only… a few accusations of love passing through Hermione and Draco. Their vile and absurd accusations made both want to wretch the heads off of the idiotic accuser, yet had a wave of happiness wash over them as more and more people accused them. All had left, except for Ginny, Hermione, and Draco.

"Malfoy, take good care of Hermione, or I will kill you," Ginny stated plainly and without any emotion whatsoever.

"WHAT!" both Heads had cried, almost in outrage.

"You both heard every word I said. I know about you two," she replied, bemused at their quick reaction and the fact that a rosy blush was already tainting Hermione's cheeks.

"What about us…?" Malfoy asked cautiously, finally finding his voice.

"I saw you two dancing. And…well, the dance…" Ginny stated, her voice trailing off.

"What about the dance…?" Hermione shrieked, afraid to know what Ginny had seen.

"I won't tell you two if you don't know, then," she stated blandly, and walked down the stairs, leaving the two to their confused thoughts and their eyes trailing after Ginny with shocked expressed within their soulful eyes.

"To the Library we go, then?" Hermione asked Draco, finally breaking the awkward silence.

"Yes, we have a big mystery in our hands."

Once inside the library, both Heads searched through each aisle, searching for any books on dancing history. Skimming through a book on Magical dances, a name caught Hermione's eye. 'Dance of Love', it was called. Flipping through the pages, she saw that her name was written in the passage, as was Draco's. Her eyes widened as she read the article. It stated, "This dance had never been danced before. It was a dance that was invented by Kris Mac who charmed it, that only two people deeply in true love can dance. Until the year of 1996, when two students, Draco Malfoy and Hermione Granger, students of Hogwarts, danced this beautiful dance, everyone who attempted to dance it with emotion had failed terribly…" The passage was at least fifteen pages long, but Hermione's vision focused on only those sentences.

Feeling Hermione's shocked presence, Malfoy read over her shoulder as she seemed to forget he was there. He felt shocked, yet a tad bit pleasured that even history proved them to be in love. I'll be sure to pay better attention to loony Binns during the next class. Who knows, that idiot professor may actually have a point in his useless rants. He thought as he smirked and studied Hermione's face. Her eyes still bulged out, and her hands were trembling as they held the leather bound book. She only seemed to awake from her hypnotized state when the heavy book collided to the floor with a loud thud. After that, she fainted dead away.

With a grin plastered on his face, Draco caught Hermione in his arms and carried her to their shared common room, and set her down on the sofa to sleep. He sat near the fireplace, watching the firelight play tricks with Hermione's face. So she's in love with me too. I can't believe a small thing like that can make me smile like an idiot. He thought, heaving a sigh. Whatever she did to him, he didn't know. He was almost spell bound. He too, fell into a sleep by the fireplace as the clock struck twelve.

That morning, the two awoke at the same time, catching each other's eyes. For a few moments of eternity, they just held each other's gaze, feeling passion pass through each other. Hermione looked away first, her face a brilliant tomato red and rushed into her room, remembering the events of last night. She took out a quill and a piece of parchment, hoping to drown in her writing.

"Who I Am Hates What I've Become

All these years of changing,

It is what I'm becoming.

I hate my own façade,

This is what God forbade.

I'm young; yet withering

My time is already coming,
forget everything I ever said;

Every drop of blood I ever bled.

This tear can tell you the truth,

The honest death is the truth.

I let down all my guards,

I'm blushing too hard for my own good,

All this life I was myself,

But now I'm left to brood,

And I realize what I've become,

Who I am hates what I've become.

I'm dying in my own prison,

I built this prison of regrets and misery,

Don't make me repeat my history,

Or I'll die within my own memory.

How can you tell?
I've been hiding all along,
but you see right through me,
you can tell my every emotion.
I trusted you every day,
Told you my dark secrets,
the story of my Life,
Truly I thought you were the one.

I let down all my guards,

I'm blushing too hard for my own good,

All this life I was myself,

But now I'm left to brood,

And I realize what I've become,

Who I am hates what I've become.


My very heartache,
Is for your change of heart,
you're the only one for me,
But I'm the wrong one for you.
It's all these fears I have,
of losing you from my Life,

I guess it's a nightmare come true,
there's nothing I can do about it.

I let down all my guards,

I'm blushing too hard for my own good,

All this life I was myself,

But now I'm left to brood,

And I realize what I've become,

Who I am hates what I've become.


Today I slit my wrists,
the blood falls in a graceful lake,
Crimson has stained my death,
I won't be returning.
My spirit will snicker at you,
As you think of me,
You've made me like this,
Can't turn back now.


I'm gone, can't take me back,
You can try for the rest of eternity,
What you did is done,
I'm already dead.

I let down all my guards,

I'm blushing too hard for my own good,

All this life I was myself,

But now I'm left to brood,

And I realize what I've become,

Who I am hates what I've become.


My grave can be your pillow,
Sleep by me each night;
I will haunt your nightmares
for what you've done to me.


Every second I thought I knew,
I was wrong about you,
You've been playing me,
Since Day 1 I was a rag doll.


How does it feel to be played?

Is it fun or painful?
I'll make sure you die,
just as painfully as I did.

I let down all my guards,

I'm blushing too hard for my own good,

All this life I was myself,

But now I'm left to brood,

And I realize what I've become,

Who I am hates what I've become.


If you think I'd just forget,
you're dead wrong.
My every single threat,
I mean them all.
What? Are you scared?
Do you think I'm weak?
Don't do that, my love,
you're just hurting yourself.
One day, I'll pay back.
I can, and I will,
your blood I swear to have,
your death lays in my clutches.

I let down all my guards,

I'm blushing too hard for my own good,

All this life I was myself,

But now I'm left to brood,

And I realize what I've become,

Who I am hates what I've become.

You made me this way,
All these years you betrayed me,
I hold this dagger to kill you,
But I can't; I love you too much.

I let down all my guards,

I'm blushing too hard for my own good,

All this life I was myself,

But now I'm left to brood,

And I realize what I've become,

Who I am hates what I've become."

All the while, she was chewing the tip of her quill to a frayed feather as she thought of however much she hated Draco Lucius Malfoy. I'm in denial…she realized. I am denying that it was a Dance of Love that proved our love for each other. I'm denying true love as it is. I've gone positively insane! And she drifted into a sleep with her hand cradling her head as she sat by the table which supported the paper that she had poured her feelings into.