The Debutante Ball
A fanfiction novel by sizzleberrylicious
Chapter Two
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"Come on, Malfoy, surely you've got at least one idea in that inflated head of yours," Hermione cried out, irritably, as she paced the Head Commons. Dumbledore had instructed them to begin planning immediately, and Hermione had put together an impromptu meeting to discuss the Ball.
Draco looked up lazily from his seat on the sofa. "You seem to be perfectly capable of planning the Ball yourself, Granger."
Hermione threw her hands up in frustration, letting her papers flutter down to form a heap around her feet. She glared at him icily. "You are a complete ass, Ferret Boy."
"Merlin," Draco muttered under his breath. He was turned into a ferret - a rather cute ferret, of course - just once and everyone goes about sticking it up his ass. "It was a compliment, Granger. Oh, wait, I get it now. You're not used to being on the receiving end of compliments, are you?"
Hermione, who had picked up all her papers, spun on her heels to face him. "At least I'm not the one used to be on the receiving end of Unforgivables, namely cast by my own father!" she spat back, but immediately regretted it, her hand flying up to her mouth in horror. Draco's face darkened, and Hermione caught a flash of - hurt? - in his eyes before his brilliant silver orbs changed to a stormy grey.
"Do NOT bring my father into this, Mudblood," Draco snarled, jumping out of his seat and advancing on her. Hermione dropped her papers all over again and took a step back, terrified. In two swift strides, he was invading on her personal space.
Hermione thought to herself, Shit, he must be seriously mad. He hasn't called me Mudblood in ages. Something about his father must have scarred him and set him off..
She began to splutter, "I-I'm sorry, Malfoy, I didn't m-mean to-"
"Didn't mean to what, Mudblood?" Draco said, his voice a deadly quiet. His eyes flashed mere inches away from hers and she shrunk back, slightly. Hermione opened her mouth to say something, anything, but was cut off by Draco.
"You know nothing of the pain, of the betrayal I felt when Father placed the Crucio curse on me," Draco said, quietly, through clenched teeth. "Not even a flicker of regret in the old bastard's eyes."
Hermione cowered when Draco grabbed her shoulders roughly and pulled her closer to him until their noses were just a hair's breadth apart. "N-no, Malfoy, I h-haven't felt that kind of t-torture before."
She let out a strangled yelp as Draco's grip on her shoulders tightened. She felt tears sting her eyes at the pain. "Please.. Draco, you're hurting me!"
Draco released her with a look of pure shock plastered over his handsome features. She had called him Draco! In all seven years of their acquaintance, Hermione had never adressed him by his first name. "I'm sorry, Granger."
Hermione watched in awe as his eyes turned to a soft milky grey. What a beautiful colour, she thought to herself. But just a split second later, his eyes transformed back to their stormy sea of silver and grey.
"Say nothing of my father, Granger," he warned her in his deadly quiet tone. In a flash, Draco turned on his heels and strode out the portrait hole, his midnight black cloak billowing behind him in a very Snape-like fashion.
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"'Mione, are you alright?" Ron asked her with concern etched over his usually smiling face. Hermione smiled at him.
"Of course, why shouldn't I be?"
"Well, for one, you were looking rather upset," chimed in Harry, rubbing the small of Hermione's back. "Are you sure you're alright? Nothing, or no one's, bothering you?"
Hermione smiled at her friend's concern. "Yes, Harry, I'm perfectly fine."
"Well, if you say so, 'Mione," Ron gave a shrug before continuing to shove mouthful after mouthful of fried chicken and mash down his throat. Most people would've found that display of hunger disgusting and revolting, but Hermione and Harry knew Ron well enough to brush it aside.
Hermione had been thinking of her earlier fight with Draco, and felt a stab of regret for making him remember his dreadful past. All Hermione knew of Lucius Malfoy was that he punished Draco often with bouts of Unforgivables, he was Lord Voldemort's pet Death Eater, and he had died shortly after escaping and returning home from Azkaban.
"I think I'm going to go to the library and finish up my extra credit essay for Potions," Hermione decided out loud as she pushed her chair back. She shouldered her book bag and made her way out of the Great Hall.
"But, 'Mione, you hardly ate anything!" Ron cried, holding up his half-eaten piece of chicken, bewildered. Harry patted his shoulder.
"Don't worry, Ron, just bring her something later."
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Draco watched as Hermione hastily left the Great Hall. He hadn't touched the food on his gleaming gold platter; his mind kept being flooded with images of Hermione, scared as Draco rough-handled her. He couldn't concentrate on eating as he kept seeing Hermione's hurt expression over and over again. "Please.. Draco, you're hurting me!"
"You okay, Malfoy?" came the deep voice of Goyle. Draco waved him off, putting on an emotionless facade.
"I'm fine, Goyle, now leave me be," Draco snapped at his bulky friend. Goyle shot him a puzzled look before turning back to Crabbe. The two of them exchanged looks of befuddlement before shrugging it off.
"I'm going to library to clear my thoughts," Draco announced to no one in particular. He got out of his seat and walked out of the Great Hall, rolling his eyes at the high-pitched giggles from several third year Hufflepuffs.
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Hermione set the thick volume down on an unoccupied table and pulled up a chair, huffing. The book was yellow, dusty, and extremely heavy, but it was the only reading material Hermione could find that had any information on the long-extinct Siberian Snorfs, which had magical healing properties in it's pure white blood. Hermione conjured up a mug of steaming hot cocoa and started writing.
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Draco strode into the library and made his way to the back of the library, ignoring the piercing glare of Madam Pince. He grabbed a random book of the shelf and sat himself down at one of the nearby tables, propping his feet up on the table. The slim novel in his hands was a book titled 'The A-Z On Hippogriffs'. Draco rolled his eyes, reminiscing his third year when Buckbeak the Hippogriff had attacked him. Hermione had given him an endless lecture, and days later, had slapped him.
"The nerve of that woman," Draco muttered to himself, tossing the book onto the table. "No one should treat a Malfoy with such disrespect."
But the strange thing was, Draco had acquired a new-found respect for the bookish know-it-all for having the courage to slap him in the first place. No one, with the exception of his damned father, had struck him before. That Granger has more guts than I thought.
Draco glanced around the room at the few scattered students studying, when something large and profoundly.. bushy caught his eye. Granger!
Her head was bent over an unusually large volume, her hand whipping across the paper next to it as she took down notes. She obviously hadn't noticed him seated several tables infront of her.
"No doubt some form of extra credit," Draco sneered to himself. Thankfully for him, there weren't many students within hearing range, so there was a slim chance of anyone finding out that the esteemed Sex God Draco Malfoy was mad and his reputation spiralling down the drain. "Granger's always looking for some way to suck up to the teachers."
Draco decided to study her, then and there. She has very delicate features.. Something like Mother's, except softer in a more youthful stance, Draco found himself thinking. Her hair is still as bushy as last time, but not as unruly. It actually looks good on her petite frame.. I wonder why I never noticed, her lips are so perfect - Hell, I did not just think of Granger's perfect lips. Agh, shit!!
"Bloody Merlin," Draco hissed, dumbfounded. "I called Granger's lips perfect."
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Disclaimer: Read the one in the first chapter.
Author's note: In response to Sam's review, well, the girls of Hogwarts are coming out, of course. Dumbledore saw 17 as a coming-out age, and he definitely saw them with a high society background, so this Ball is strictly for 7th year students only. I do know what the Debutante Ball is for, I just hope that you get my point. I hope that answers your question! Thanks to my lovely reviewers, I really appreciate you taking your time to review this story. Biggest thanks to lil'grass-stain07, Sam, and lilmizbry13. You guys seriously make my day! The next chapter's coming out soon. I'm trying to release a chapter every one to two days, in the least. Oh, and thanks so much to the reviewers of His Thoughts Shego-Lipsky, Gueneviere, Death Eater Malfoy, and Captain of L'Emeraude!! You guys rock. I might consider writing a sequel / continuing the one-shot, but maybe only after I finish The Debutante Ball and Dangerous Liaisons, a story I plan to have out by the end of next week. Ttfn, 'sizzleberrylicious. ♥