The week had gone by so fast; Hermione didn't even notice that this was the day of the Masquerade. She had been so caught up on Ron's betrayal and her dance lessons that she never had the time to think about it whatsoever.
She decided that she would worry about it after the dance lessons finished today.
She went to the dining table and was surprised to see the sudden appearance of Molly Weasley.
"Hermione! Good morning, my dear. Come on and settle down. I see you haven't been eating much. Look at you! Where's the meat in those bones?" she pointed out, lifting up Hermione's arm.
She was given a plate full of pancakes (her favourite), an omelette, some toast with butter smeared over the top, and a bowl of cereal. Though she couldn't eat the whole meal, she ate what she could just to make molly happy.
Surprisingly, though, she had successfully cleared the plate of its contents. She was probably hungry due to having not eaten last night. She smiled at molly and bid her goodbye, otherwise she would be late for her dance class.
She had plugged in her headphones and was listening to her playlist on her way to the academy. She was so indulged in her phone that when she reached for the door handle, she felt another hand rest on top of her own. It was only then that she looked up. She stared up at the steely grey orbs that belonged to Draco Malfoy.
He didn't want to break away from her eyes. They were the perfect shade of brown. It was dark with a hint of light. Her hair shone in the bright sun, making it look golden. He could just stare at her all day, but that was when Hermione chose to break their eye contact. Draco couldn't see her eyes.
She had felt that tingling sensation when her hand made contact with his. She got this warm, fuzzy feeling inside, and she didn't know why. She dismissed it, believing it to be the hot weather affecting her. She pulled her hand away after realising that it was still touching Draco's. Draco pulled away too, allowing her to open the door.
She pulled the door open and held it open for Sadie and Draco to enter. The three of them entered the classroom, one after the other.
Hermione went to the bench and set her things down, collecting a CD from her bag. She went to the front of the classroom, reminding the students that they will be doing street dancing today.
Draco hadn't noticed her attire until then. She was wearing tracksuit bottoms and a plain black t-shirt. She had her hair tied back, with a butterfly clip pinned to the side. Even in those clothes, he couldn't help but think that she was beautiful.
She showed the first step to the young boys and girls. She leant slightly to the side, her right leg out in front of her left diagonally, with her arms stretched out behind her. She did the step again, this time with her left leg. She asked the children to follow the step. They did this with less than no difficulty.
Draco headed for the door with his back to it. His attention on Hermione the entire time, he backed out of the classroom, his eyes never leaving her. Due to his attention being on Hermione, and Hermione only, he tripped over his own shoes and fell backwards, pushing the door of the classroom open with his fall. He was now on his back, his body preventing the door to close back.
Hermione heard the thud and rushed to Draco's aid. She helped him stand up and led him back inside the class.
"Are you alright?" she asked, slightly worried.
"Is seeing two Hermiones a normal thing?" he asked, his head spinning.
"No, no it's not." She chuckled. "You seem to be falling a lot lately, resulting in me in helping you." She stated, still giggling. Her laughter was like music to his ears. He liked it when she smiled. He wished she knew why he was falling over so much. Her presence tends to do that to him.
"Uh, yeah, I don't know what's wrong with me sometimes. I guess I have a lot on my mind." He knew that was a stupid reason, but he could really think straight when she was around.
He then remembered that he had the divorce papers with him and reached inside his pocket and pulled it out for her.
"Ur...these are the uh divorce papers..." he said. Hermione's laughing died, replacing it with a frown. He didn't like seeing her like this. "You know, you don't have to do this, Hermione. Maybe you should think on it more. Just don't act so hastily." He assured her.
"I do need to do this. You don't understand, Draco. H-he never loved me. He said that molly had influenced him to get married with me, but I don't for one minute believe this, for I know Molly, and I know for sure that she would never think on doing such a thing. She would never force him to marry someone that he doesn't love. Molly isn't like that. Why...why would he say something like that?" she questioned more to herself than Draco.
"Because he does not want the blame on himself, though he knows deep down that what he did to you was wrong. He will realise this Hermione, but this depends if you will be willing to forgive him when he does." He said.
Hermione just nodded, not knowing how to respond to that. But, will she be willing to forgive him? When he realises that what he did was wrong? Could she do that? After all that he'd said yesterday? She had no answer to this right now.
There's one thing she confused about right now, though. She didn't understand why she was telling this to Draco. At Hogwarts, they had been nothing but enemies, throwing insult after another at each, neither wanting to give up. But now, they were actually having a conversation with each other, without being at each other's throats. Despite this, she decided that she liked talking to Draco, she liked this side of him very much, and she had to remember that he had been forced to act that way.
She looked up and saw him staring at her intensely. He looked away quickly, and blushed slightly.
This surprised her. Draco Malfoy, blushing? This was new. She decided to think on that later as she had a class to teach at the moment.
She excused herself and went to the front of the classroom, giving the youngsters a new step to follow.
Draco left the academy and decided to go for a little shopping. For the masquerade that was being held in the evening on this day.
He still hadn't asked her to the party because he was now pretty sure that she would reject the offer. He would just have to handle what Pansy offers to him. He sighed as he entered his favourite clothes shop.
Ginny heard the ring of her mobile phone and picked it up.
"Hello? Ginny? Just to let you know that Sadie is in with the plan too." Pansy informed.
"Okay. And I just got a call from my coach; he said that training is cancelled today, so I will be attending the party. The thing is, I don't have a dress and mask, can you lend me some?" Ginny asked.
"Sure. I will send them to you by owl. Is Hermione getting ready?" Pansy asked, eager to know.
Ginny glanced upstairs and then turned back. "Yeah, she is. I'm helping her out, just to make sure she doesn't mess it up." Ginny giggled. Pansy giggled from the other end.
"Arrggggghhhh!" Ginny heard from upstairs.
"What was that?" Pansy asked, slightly worried.
"It was Hermione. I'll talk to you later, Pans. Bye." Ginny hung up the phone and bolted upstairs to see what the commotion was about.
"What happened? Is everything alright?" Ginny asked.
"What are those things doing here?" Hermione pointed at the heels scattered on the floor.
Was that all? A pair of heels? Ginny laughed.
"Hermione, those are for you. Pansy put them in along with the dress. Come on, you have to wear them. They will look so good with the dress!" Ginny beamed. She picked up the heels, setting them down next to the wardrobe; she gestured Hermione to sit down. Hermione obliged.
"Now, let's get you ready, shall we?" Ginny commenced fixing the monstrosity Hermione called hair and sprayed some Sleak Easy hairspray. Hermione's hair immediately started to tame itself. Ginny then curled the hair into small ringlets.
She took the butterfly clip and pinned it at the back.
"Hermione, go put on the dress." Ginny ordered.
Hermione went to the bathroom and put on the white dress. She looked in the mirror once and saw how perfectly it fitted her. She stepped out of the bathroom and seated back down on the chair, so that Ginny could put on her makeup.
She added a little blush and some eye shadow, with a hint of glitter. Ginny grabbed the peach lip gloss and applied it to Hermione's lips.
She was done. Ginny couldn't wait to see Hermione's reaction to her artwork.
"Hermione, you can open your eyes now." Ginny told her.
Hermione lifted her eyes open and looked at herself in the mirror.
"Ginny, thank you so much!" Hermione engulfed the red headed friend tightly.
"Too. Tight." Ginny managed to choke out on Hermione's iron grip. Hermione quickly let go. She smiled.
"Now, I should start getting myself ready, too." Ginny ushered Hermione out of the room, despite her many protests of wanting to help. "Hermione, it's alright. I can do this on my own. Just go to your room and wait for me to finish. I'll be there in an hour. Now go!" Ginny slammed the door in Hermione's sulking face and started to get dressed.
Hermione couldn't believe Ginny wouldn't let her help! The ginger helped her, so it was her turn to return the favour, but Ginny didn't allow her. Unbelievable!
"I mean, I'm not that bad, am I?" Hermione asked herself.
'Yes, you are. Don't you remember what happened when you were trying to get ready for the Yule Ball?" an annoying voice reminded her.
Oh...right. How could she forget that day? She was a disaster until Ginny decided to help the poor girl out. If it hadn't been for the red head, she would have never looked so beautiful.
Hermione sighed and waited impatiently for Ginny to finish.
"So, what do you think?" Ginny asked when she entered the room.
She was wearing a light blue gown, similarly designed like her own. She had put on matching eye shadow, showcasing her sea blue eyes.
She held a white mask in her hand with a light pink feather attached to it.
"You look amazing!" Hermione complemented as she stood up from the bed.
The two of them bid the Weasley couple goodbye and exited the household.
Tonight was going to be one night that will be remembered by Hermione dearly.
"Mother, it's straight!" Draco cried, slightly annoyed as his mother messed with his bow tie.
"Alright, Draco." Narcissa smirked. "Why are you so work up?" she sniggered.
"I'm not. I'm just slightly annoyed and wondering why you are so insistent on getting me ready for the Masquerade. Why are you acting so weird?" he asked, believing that she was hiding something from him.
"Oh, nothing, nothing." Narcissa pursed her lips. "Where's Sadie? Is she ready?" she asked so that he didn't get suspicious of her.
"I'm here, grandma." Sadie came down the last few steps in a light pink ball gown, holding up a blue mask with sequins bordering the edge. She also wore silky pink gloves up to her elbows.
"My little girl, you look so adorable!" Narcissa ran to her granddaughter, engulfing her in a big hug. She pulled away and pinched the little girl's cheek.
"Grandma!" Sadie whinged. She didn't like being called a little girl; she was anything but little.
"Oh, alright. Honestly, like father, like daughter. You know Draco was exactly like you when he was your age. He disliked being called little." Narcissa chuckled.
"Grandma, isn't the saying 'Like Father, Like Son'? Sadie asked.
"Yes, but in your case, it would be 'Like father, like daughter'." Narcissa reasoned. "Alright now, enough talking. Don't you two have a party to get to?" she asked.
"Yes, we do. Shall we, princess?" Draco lifted his daughter up in his arms; the two of them vanished into thin air.
They arrived at the party just in time, as they saw people entering the Zabini household.
Draco walked to the door, with Sadie still in his arms.
"Draco, you're here. I thought you chickened out." Blaise teased. He turned to Sadie. "How's my favourite niece?" Blaise asked.
"Hi, Uncle Blaise." Sadie greeted, beaming. She held out her arms, asking to be picked up. Blaise took his cue and took his niece into his arms.
He kissed her cheek. "You're looking very pretty tonight." He pointed out.
"Thank you, Uncle Blaise." She said, returning the kiss.
Draco entered the house and looked around; Pansy had gone all out, he noticed. The entire house was decorated with silk streamers. There were round tables, with a purple silk cloth covering it. Atop of the table were all foods you could imagine.
He spotted her talking to a girl in a light blue gown, with a white mask; a light pink feather attached to the side of it. She had red hair, which Draco immediately guessed belonged to Ginny Potter. He walked towards the pair, wondering whether Hermione was attending this party.
"Draco, you're here." Pansy smiled. She looked behind him to check if he had a date with him, and soon confirmed that he didn't. The smiled transformed to a sly smirk.
"So, where's your date?" she asked, knowing the answer already.
"Ur...she's..." he looked around nervously and spotted a beautiful woman in a white gown, coming down the stairs, in a black mask, intricate designs carved on it. "Right there." He pointed at the woman, having panicked.
Pansy and Ginny looked to where his finger was pointing at and saw Hermione. Their jaws dropped; he had asked Hermione out. They just watched in disbelief as Draco walked towards Hermione.
"Um...I'm very sorry about this, but can you help me out?" Draco asked desperately.
"Uh...sure, what is it?" she couldn't help but think that she had heard that voice before.
"You see those women over there." Hermione followed his finger and her eyes landed on Pansy and Ginny. "The one in the purple dress challenged me to find a date for this Masquerade, but I never got to ask the person because I was afraid to." He rambled on without knowing. "I'm sorry, I tend to ramble on when I'm nervous." He rubbed the back of his head, chuckling nervously.
"It's alright." She smiled. Why does that gesture look so familiar?
"So, yeah, if you could just be my date for tonight, that'll be great. It's only for a little while, I promise." Draco added quickly.
"Sure, why not." She agreed; she was curious to know about this girl he hadn't found the courage to ask to be his date for the party.
"Thank you, you're an absolute life saver." He thanked, relieved. Hermione just chuckled in response. He held out his hand which she took gladly. She had that tingling sensation again. That was weird. She shook her head, placing the thought aside.
The two walked to Ginny and Pansy, who still couldn't believe it that he, had managed to ask her to accompany him tonight.
"Pansy, Weaslette, this is my date. Are you happy now, Pansy? You see, I won the challenge. Now, you better keep your side of it – you do remember what you said, right?" he gave her a nervous, yet smug smirk. All Pansy could was nod, still unable to speak.
"Now, if you'll excuse us, we're going to dance." Draco led Hermione away to the dance floor.
Draco placed his left hand on Hermione's waist, and his other holding her left hand firmly. Hermione placed her right hand on Draco shoulder.
Neither had a clue as to who the other was.
"You said that you were too scared to ask this girl out – why?" she asked, curious to know.
"Because she had just gotten her divorce, and I was pretty sure she didn't want to get into another relationship, having just gotten out of one. Also, she's too good for me, I don't really deserve her, after how I treated her at school; I had insulted her a lot." He answered, though not really understanding why he was revealing all this to a stranger. He just felt like there was something familiar about her, but he couldn't put his finger on it.
Hermione's breath got stuck in her throat. She had recently gotten a divorce; she had been insulted in school a lot – but that was by...Draco Malfoy.
It couldn't be him, no. She looked at the familiar platinum blonde hair and stormy grey eyes, through the mask, and his quite pale complexion. Also, the way he called Ginny, 'Weaslette'. This had to be him.
She was dancing with Malfoy. She couldn't believe she had noticed until this moment.
"Aunty Pansy, where's Ms. Hermione?" Sadie asked excitedly.
"She's...over t-there..." pansy pointed, still shocked. Sadie followed her finger, and saw that Hermione was dancing with none other than her dad. Her eyes widened. She then beamed excitedly.
"That means that our plan worked!" she grinned.
"Ur...actually, Draco had already asked her to be his date for tonight..." she corrected the young girl.
"But, then why hadn't daddy said anything? He never mentioned that he had a date. And shouldn't he have gone to pick Ms. Hermione up from her house?" Sadie enquired.
"He never came to pick her up at the Burrow...Hermione came with me..." Ginny said slowly.
"Then...that means..." pansy came to the realisation. "Draco never asked Hermione to the Masquerade! He lied, the smug prick!" she said, angered slightly.
"Wait. Does he even know that that's Hermione he's dancing with?" Ginny asked.
"Let's find out. Sadie, do you mind going to Draco?" Sadie nodded, and ran towards her dad, who was talking quite a lot about something.
"Daddy!" Sadie called to him.
Draco heard a little girl's voice, and turned to see his princess coming towards him. He knelt down to her level and smiled.
"What is it, princess? Do you need anything?" he asked.
Now, Hermione was sure that this was Draco Malfoy.
"No, I just came to ask-" she glanced towards Hermione. "-who is that, daddy?" Sadie asked innocently, hiding a very smug grin.
"Oh, this is..." Draco forgot that he hadn't asked her her name.
"The name is Hermione" she smiled, taking off her mask, revealing herself.
Draco eyes widened. It had been Hermione all that time! He couldn't believe it! Shoot! He had told her everything! He hoped to Merlin that she doesn't find out that it was her he was talking about.
"Ms. Hermione! Hello!" Sadie greeted happily.
"Hello, Sadie. How's it going? Are you having fun?" she asked.
"A lot." Sadie grinned.
"That's good." Hermione chuckled. Sadie had done her job, so she decided to leave the pair alone.
"Um...I think Aunty Pansy is calling me. I will see you later. Bye." Sadie rushed to her aunt and Ginny, who had confirmed that Draco had been completely oblivious that the person he had been dancing with, was Hermione.
The three watched the couple from where they were with curiosity. They wondered what they were talking about.
"Um...I-I um..." Draco stuttered. He couldn't even get a simple word out without stuttering.
"You never told me what that girl's name was, the one you liked." Hermione stated.
"It was um...it was..." he scurried away from Hermione immediately, leaving her very confused.
"Why did he just run away?" Pansy asked.
"I have no idea." Ginny replied as she watched Hermione come to them.
"Hi, guys." Hermione said.
"Hi, Hermione. Why did Draco just run away?" Pansy asked.
"I don't know. I just asked him about the girl he liked, who he had wanted to ask to the party, and he just ran away." Hermione answered.
"I see." They said together, understanding the situation now.
"I'll uh just go and check on Draco. Maybe he was just feeling ill." Pansy excused herself, heading towards the direction Draco had gone in.
"If he didn't want to answer the question, he should've just said, instead of running away. That was weird." Hermione said to herself.
"That's because that girl is you, Hermione." Ginny simply stated.
"What?" she said, making sure she heard it right.
"He likes you." Ginny told her.
Hermione blushed, though she was in disbelief that Draco liked her. She started to calculate, searching for any clues to confirm this. There were quite a few.
Him falling over so very often when she was around him. His blushing when she would talk to him. His stuttering when he tried to make conversation with her. His rubbing the back of his neck when he talked to her. All these things she had noticed, but dismissed, believing it to be unimportant.
She remembered the day of the Yule Ball, when she danced with him. When they had stopped dancing, her heart beating very rapidly; she had had the same tingling feeling when they touched.
She then realised that she too, had feelings for Draco; she just hadn't realised until tonight. She now realised why her and Ron never worked as a couple – because she only saw him as a brother, and a friend, nothing more. She just thought she loved him because she wanted to believe that Ron was the right one for herm especially after that kiss. Now, she knows that the kiss had only been a onetime thing.
"Ginny, I think I like him, too." Hermione said slowly.
"You do?" Ginny asked grinning. "Then, what are you doing here? Go!" Ginny pushed Hermione.
Hermione didn't waste another minute and rushed to find Draco.
She remembered going to the direction of the garden, and so decided to go there. He was there, talking to Pansy.
"Why did you run, Draco? You should've told her that you liked her." Pansy said.
"I know, but I just couldn't get myself to do so. I felt like I was going to get rejected, which I know is a stupid think to worry about. I don't know. I just...start to stutter when she's around; I couldn't get the words out." he sighed.
"You're in love, Draco. With Hermione." just as she was about to say something, she felt her phone vibrate. She checked her inbox and read, 'Hermione said she likes Draco! She is coming!' Pansy smiled. She was so happy.
"Look, just tell her, Draco. You never know until you try." With that she left him alone, going back to the party, seeing as she was the host.
That was when Hermione decided to make an appearance.
"Draco?" Hermione called. Draco looked up and saw Hermione's beautiful face.
"Hermione, who-what are you doing here?" he asked.
"I was just trying to find you, to check if you were alright." Hermione said.
"I'm fine. Just needed some fresh air." Draco smiled. Okay, this was now or never. He had to say it eventually. "Hermione, I want to say something." He stood up from the bench and walked towards her. He took her hand in his and looked into her chocolate eyes.
"I like you, Hermione. A lot. I guess I have been since that day of the Yule Ball." he chuckled lightly, rubbing the back of his neck nervously. "There I said it."
"I like you too, Draco." Hermione blurted out. That surprised him. "I realise now that me and Ron were never meant to be. He was more like a brother to me, I guess. I think that deep down, somewhere in my heart, I had feelings for someone else, but I just hadn't thought it to be true, until tonight. I had feelings for you, Draco. Since that day of the ball. I guess I had just been dismissing it all this time, never once thinking that I would ever like you because of how you treated me at Hogwarts. But...now, I know for sure that I do like you." Hermione finished.
"Um...I...um..." Draco stuttered again.
"Really? After all that, you're still stuttering? Say some-"his lips crashed onto hers. She didn't protest, she kissed back, with a smile on her face. He pulled her closer as he deepened the kiss a little. Hermione wrapped her arms around his neck as she deepened it further. They broke apart and just stayed in each other's embrace for a while.
"Aw!" two voices were heard behind the couple.
Hermione and Draco looked to who it was, and saw Pansy and Ginny, with Sadie, Blaise, Stella, and Orion.
They all had large grins on their faces. They had been waiting for so long for Draco to confess to Hermione that he liked her.
"You finally got the guts to say, mate!" Blaise called out.
"Took you long enough, daddy!" Draco's daughter shouted.
"Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait...wait. You knew all this time?" he asked.
"Of course I did, you couldn't have made it more obvious, daddy." Sadie replied.
Draco went slightly scarlet. He guessed that he was that obvious. He was usually very good at hiding his feelings, but with Hermione, it was different...somehow. He had never really met a woman like her; beautiful, intelligent, funny, fiery, and so much more.
Draco gave them a look that said that he wanted some privacy. They understood, and Ginny and Pansy ushered them to leave the couple alone.
"Alright, guess, let's leave the two love birds alone." Ginny smirked as she entered back into the household with the other ahead of her.
Draco looked back to Hermione. "Do you want to go for a walk?" he asked.
"Sure." Hermione smiled. Draco intertwined his fingers with hers as they walked along the pavement.
AN: Okay, I thought this chapter was going to be longer, but I guess it wasn't. Sorry guys! Really, very sorry! But I hope this is alright. Only the Epilogue to go now! ^_^
PS. Also, if there are any spelling errors or grammar or punctuation errors, I apologise! I will get them fixed soon!