Draco Malfoy seethed through the rest of the dance, Blaise noted. Not that he was surprised. He had to soothe Draco's rumpled feathers more than once - particularly when Hermione Granger blushed beet red, having asked an innocent question that turned out to have an entirely inappropriate answer. "So why do they call you Bull?"

Draco hadn't wanted to understand that it was a simple mistake, even an innocent one. It wasn't like the bloke was going to deny his nickname, was it? And Bull had been blushing beet as well!

But other than the need to babysit, Blaise thought the dance had gone well. He'd made decent conversation with Hermione - and, importantly, the Dynamic Duo had been so preoccupied with Malfoy that they hadn't given Zambini a second thought. Well, Blaise amended wryly, they'd been deservedly preoccupied. Draco Malfoy was a handful at the best of times.

/$$$$$$/

Draco was finding that he wanted the dance back. Not that he'd come up with something unusually clever to say, or anything. Simply because, before, he'd been able to look forward to it. Now - in days, perhaps tommorrow, Pansy was going to announce that they were engaged. Thanks Blaise Malfoy thought with a wry bitterness.

Draco Malfoy didn't want to see Pansy's face when she found out. He knew she was going to look so, so happy - and that was the Problem. He'd known her since they were both in nappies, and didn't want to -. Pansy would try to make it work. She wasn't in love with him, but she would try to do her best TO fall in love with him.

This was just headed towards heartbreak, and Draco would have pulled the brake if he could only reach it.

/$$$$$$$$/

Hermione's feet were sore, by the time the dancing was done. She'd danced every dance, at least a fifth of them shadowed by her friends. It's almost like I was given those red shoes from the story... Still, she smiled as she walked upstairs towards Gryffindor Tower.

"You. You were laughing with Draco Malfoy." Ron said, his face stormy. Hermione would like to know why he was so upset.

"What was that all about?" Harry Potter asked, his face showing honest confusion and curiosity.

"Malfoy? Oh, we spent the whole dance insulting each other." Hermione said with a small smile.

"And that's something to laugh at?" Harry Potter inquired. From Ron's stormy face beside harry, he'd have asked the same question with a whole lot more anger.

"Let's just put it this way, I gave as good as I got."

Harry smiled approvingly, and said, "That's our Hermione!" Ron just looked moody, but at least he wasn't going to release his bile on his friends. Counting her blessings, Hermione raced upstairs to change out of her outfit.

[a/n: Dance done, finally! Up next: Timeskips and filling in the blanks!

Review please!]