A/N: Bonus chapter! This is almost superfluous to the story but I wanted to add it just to get a bit of meaty Dramione included.

Please enjoy!

Draco Malfoy was lying awake and staring at the ceiling of his four poster bed. He'd magically covered it in stars, so that when he woke up in the night and looked up, he would see his own constellation staring right back at him. He's always liked constellations and their various meanings ,but today not even they could avert his mind of one Hermione Granger ,especially not as it seemed to be adamantly showing Hermes' constellation of a lyre.

Sighing, Draco rolled onto his side and closed his eyes ,but he already knew that it was fruitless to sleep. He wasn't completely oblivious in his attraction to Hermione Granger. She was certainly a pretty girl and wasn't short of knowledge either; she was cute and funny; comforting and kind. Draco didn't know whether he'd ever find a more suitable girl to be the next Mrs Malfoy.

Most people would urge him to get a move on because of this discovery ,but if anything else it had seemed to force him to slower even further down. The thing with being Draco Malfoy is that you learn to keep your foot hovered over the brakes before you even turn turn the key.

He had messed up too many things in his life and was determined not to copy his actions in his as well.

This would've worked perfectly fine ,if there hadn't been a ball coming up ,but unfortunately for him the Winter Ball was mere weeks away and everyone knew that girls liked to be asked well in advance. Hermione had already been asked by many girls but she'd refused each and every one.

'I'm not going to let some girl fawn over me the whole night' she'd said when they'd asked her why half the girls in their Transfiguration class that Thursday had been staring tearily at her. 'I'm going to be my true self ,thank you very much'

Hermione probably should've been more subtle though ,because the girls staring at her took that to mean that the rumours were true -she really was gay.

Draco stifled a chuckle ,as he remembered Hermione's expression when she'd been told about her participation in Hogwarts weekly rumour mill.

He probably could've thought about Hermione non-stop the entire night ,but at that moment Blaise poked his head through the curtains.

'I knew you'd still be awake' he said triumphantly ,enlarging the bed with his wand before climbing inside.

'What are you doing?' Draco demanded ,scooting away from the intruder.

'I wanted to find out how you were going to ask Herm to the ball' Blaise confessed ,sounding unnaturally like a gossiping schoolgirl.

That really threw Draco off.

'What?' He actually had no idea that his friends were seeing such close logs on him.

'I don't want to repeat myself'

'What makes you think like she'd allow me to take her anyway?' Draco asked ,crossing his arms and pouting adorably. 'I'm only her friend. She doesn't belong to anyone remember'

'Doesn't mean that she doesn't want to date you ,stupid' Blaise said ,shaking his head 'She basically told us that she expected one of us to ask her'

'Wait when?' Draco asked ,racking through his brains for the memory. Surely he would've made sure to remember something as important as that.

Blaise's reply was cut off by a newcomer who slid his head through the hangings with a grin on his features.

'Talking about Granger?' He asked ,inviting himself onto Draco's bed ,ignoring the boy's splutters 'You should really charm the hangings or the girl herself will hear'

After doing so, Theo grinned at Draco.

'Did you really not get the hint when she dismissed every girl who dared to hint that she wanted to be her date?' Draco gave him a blank stare ,shaking his head slowly. 'If she doesn't want someone to fawn over her, then it means that she wants to go as her real self'

'Meaning that her only options are us three' Blaise continued ,greatly enjoying the expression on Draco's face. 'And obviously Theo's taken by Weaselled'

'…And Blaise is the school's playboy' Theo added ,purposely missing out the fact that he was enamoured by Pansy.

'So I'm the only one left' Draco breathed ,looking nervously at his hands.

'Now he gets it!' Blaise exclaimed.

'So when are you going to ask her?' Theo asked ,his eyes sparkling.

Draco gulped.

'He's just too scared ,Theo' Blaise said in mock despair. 'Looks like I'll have to ask her then'

'No!' Draco exclaimed suddenly ,a wave of jealousy washing over him as he imagined Hermione on the arm of his friend.

Blaise and Theo chuckled.

Draco scowled.

'Better sooner than later ,mate' Theo said ,giving him an encouraging slap on the back before climbing out of the four poster and returning to his own.

Draco fidgeted nervously as he watched the Pansy, Hermione and Ginny do their homework under their favourite tree. Blaise and Theo were at Quidditch practice ,but he had opted out ,too jumpy to fly straight.

He knew that in a few minutes, Ginny would take her leave for the Gryffindor common rooms and Pansy would go off to watch the Quidditch practice ,the two of them having finished their homework far earlier than Hermione ,who liked to take her sweet time.

Draco smiled at the thought of Hermione ,his nerves holding back for moment. He took calm, deep breaths ,readying himself.

His calm thoughts were interrupted ;however, by a loud exclamation from Pansy.

'Merlin, I hate Charms!' she was standing now and stomping moodily around her Charms homework ,glaring at it.

Hermione chuckled. 'Stay back for a bit and I'll help you'

Draco bit his lip to stop his from crying out in exasperation. Did Pansy have to ruin his plan?

'Thanks ,Herm, you're the best' Pansy thanked and Draco could swear that the pureblood glanced triumphantly at his hiding place from behind a cluster of trees.

Damn it!

'That reminds me.' Ginny remembered ,standing up suddenly and collecting her things 'I promised Harry that I would help him with Potions today' She cursed under her breath as the zipper of her bag failed to close. 'Uhhh, I hate this bag!' Using her wand, Ginny sewed the zipper together messily before swinging her bag onto her back and turning to the other two ,who were laughing shamelessly. 'Shut up you two!'

'You need a new bag ,Gin' Pansy guffawed.

'Or maybe just a better charm to fix it than a sewing charm' Hermione nodded ,hiccuping with laughter.

'It was the first thing I could think of' Ginny harrumphed ,crossing her arms.

Hermione smiled kindly ,swallowing her laughter 'You could've just used the zipping charm'

'I could've' Ginny nodded slowly ,realisation hitting her ,causing her to laugh softly at herself 'You're right.'

'As always' Pansy rolled her eyes 'Now shoo! We've got Charms to do!'

Chuckling, Ginny left ,jogging towards the castle.

'Rather exited to meet Potter isn't she?' Pansy mused ,interrupting Hermione's explanation on the Trip Jinx's wand movement.

'If I were you, I'd stop talking now' Hermione frowned in warning ,not liking where the conversation was going.

'She did have a crush on him' Pansy pointed out.

'When she was twelve' Hermione agued ,flicking through the Charm's textbook ,not eager to continue with the conversation.

'Doesn't mean that she couldn't have been hiding the crush all these years? It happens ,you know?' Pansy mused ,not dropping the subject.

'She likes Theo ,though' Hermione insisted 'A lot more than she lets on'

There was a pensive silence ,only brought by the flicking of pages and the scratching of quills on paper ,as Hermione made notes for Pansy to use for her essay.

There was a loud but nervous clearing of the throat from behind them.

Hermione looked behind her.

It was Draco.

'Aren't you supposed to be at Quidditch practise?' She asked ,patting the spot next to her for him to sit on.

'Yeah ,but I skipped it. What are you guys doing?' Draco asked ,deftly changing the subject.

'Quidditch.' Pansy replied, snarkily, deciding to not make it easy for him 'Can't you see? We're flying in the air on our Firebolt's and having the time of our lives'

Draco cocked his eyebrow in a perfect arch. He knew that she knew what he was here for and he also knew that she wasn't going to make it easy for him.

'Seriously Pansy' Hermione sighed before turning to Draco 'I'm helping Pansy with her Charms homework'

'The one on Trip Jinxs?' Draco asked.

Hermione nodded. 'Have you done it?'

'Ages ago'

Hermione smiled at him proudly ,reaching up to ruffle his hair. 'You're a good boy'

'Not the hair. Not the hair' Draco complained ,his goal momentarily forgotten as he tried to smooth his hair back into place.

Hermione rolled her eyes. 'The world isn't going to end'

They lapsed back into a hum of silence as Draco watched Hermione tech Pansy ,having to force himself to listen to the words she was saying and not the lips she was using to say them. He gulped. He needed to get a move on with his plan.

'I was wondering ,Pansy, who are you going to the ball with?' Draco asked all of a sudden. The girl in question looked up ,blushing rather uncharacteristically.

'Oh yeah ,Pansy, you never told me who it was' Hermione asked ,looking expectant.

'Blaise asked me if we could go as friends' Pansy shrugged, but they could sense the tint of disappointment in her voice. 'Nothing special'

Hermione bit back a giggle. This was so cute! 'That's amazing ,Pans' she paused uncertainly 'Unless you had someone else in mind?

Pansy shook her head quickly. 'No, no one else in my line of vision. At least I won't be alone'

'We have Theo going with Ginny ,right?' Draco asked.

Pansy nodded ,smirking at Draco's uncomfortableness; Hermione hummed distractedly.

'Who are you going with then ,Hermione?' Draco asked ,trying to sound as nonchalant as he could ,but his rigid back gave him away. Hermione didn't notice ,though, as she was still flicking through the Charm's booklet they had been given in class by Professor Flitwick.

'Oh ,no one. All the girls were so clingy. I wonder how Blaise puts up with them' Pansy nodded fervently 'I'd rather go on my own than with one of them. Anyway, I think I'll be going as a girl. I found this really nice dress in an AD in the latest Witch Weekly ,so I might order it. What about you?' Hermione looked up in question.

'No one yet. If you don't have anyone ,though…' Draco trailed off, his courage failing him.

Pansy shook her head in exasperation.

'Hmm?' Hermione asked ,not catching on.

'Do you want to come to the ball with me?' He asked ,tripping over his words ,in hurry 'As friends ,of course' He smiled at her for good measure.

Hermione beamed.

'Of course!' She exclaimed ,hugging him enthusiastically around the neck. 'Oh, this is so sweet! We're all going to have a date!'

Draco coloured around the cheeks in relief.

'Now, that wasn't too hard ,was it?' Pansy asked him later that day ,once they were in the common room.

'Not once it was done' Draco agreed 'She took it really well'

'You did it then?' Blaise asked ,listening in on the conversation.

Draco nodded.

'Good job!' Theo high-fives his friend. 'Now we all have dates!'

'You sound like Herm' Draco chuckled.

Theo frowned. 'No, I-'

'You do, Theo. You sound like an overexcited gossiper' Draco nodded affirmatively.

Theo scowled grumpily.

'And now you look like a grumpy troll' Pansy laughed.

Theo just scowled further.

A/N: Woah! This took ages! I hope you like it!

For a one-shot dedicated to you, try and guess the song reference that I have used in this chapter. The name of the song and where it comes from. Have a go and guess! I'll give you a clue. It's easily in the first half of this chapter.

Please read and Review! Thank you!