A/N: All I can do is apologise for your long wait for this chapter, and hope that you enjoy it as much as it was fun to write!
Draco had a tendency to avoid all contact with the rest of the people in his dorm, most of them he didn't know – and their biggest impression of him this year had been at the beginning when he woke them up every night coming in drunk… Needless to say he had not attempted since then to speak to, or make friends with any of the boys who shared a room with him; but this was maybe going to change on what felt like it could be the most important night of his life. After he had sent off the letter to Hermione, he had hovered for a while up in the owlery – he hadn't anticipated a quick reply, actually he hadn't really anticipated a reply at all; but he just didn't know where to go or what to do. His insides still felt like they were writhing with discomfort, he was just so annoyed with how seriously he had messed up. But after hovering outside for quite some time, a sudden wave of exhaustion rolled over him, and his only desire was to sleep. Before he may not have wanted to walk through the Slytherin common room when it would most likely be filled with students, but tonight he couldn't muster up the energy to care. He didn't mind walking across the common room to get to the entrance of the boys dormitories – normally he would be so incredibly hyper sensitive, aware and conscious that people were watching him – but tonight they could have all turned and stared as he passed and he wouldn't have cared.
His dormitory was completely empty, which he was really pleased about, it meant he could get changed in silence, with no worries about anyone seeing the ugly marks that were spattered across his arms. He climbed into bed, tugged the curtains closed and lay down in the dark. But even with the lights off, his eyes closed and utter silence around him, he still couldn't shut himself off. Flashes of his argument with Hermione kept replaying on the inside of his closed eyelids; he kept hearing the disappointment in her voice as he had tried and failed to put some sleep, but he was struggling… After what felt like forever, he relented and opened his eyes, staring at the canopy of his bed; he was almost about to give up hope – to get out of bed and try and find something else to do that might force his mind away from the events of the evening (for example homework), but as he began to consider this his brain finally had begun to respond and he began to doze off.
"Draco, you in there?" Draco jerked suddenly to consciousness as the voice sounded throughout the dormitory. Sitting up in a rather ungainly manner, disorientated and aware that his hair was all over his face, he tugged one of the curtains of his bed back – unaware whether it was still night time or now morning.
"Yes?" Draco asked quickly, and was rather surprised at how calm his voice was while faced with this individual who he didn't know.
"Oh sorry." The boy was definitely one of the other boys who shared the dormitory, but Draco had never spoken to him (or bothered to find out his name before now). The boys was looking shifty, as though he wasn't quite sure whether to look; and he must have thought that he had woken Draco up (which was only partially true).
"Not at all," Draco said, startling himself at how polite he was being. "Can I help?" He asked as the boy was just standing slightly awkwardly.
"Uh…" He seemed to re-awaken, "This came for you?" He said, holding out a letter; instantly a shot of electricity seemed to go through him and he had pushed himself onto his knees on his bed to accept the letter from him.
"Thank you!" Draco said excitedly, his heart had suddenly sped up in his chest as he took the letter.
"Um, you're welcome…?" He said, his eyes widened as this was the most Draco had spoken in his presence. With the letter back in his hands, he settled down onto the top of his bed, listening for the door of the dormitory closing – he didn't particularly want the boy who had delivered the letter to be there when he opened it. He could see his fingers trembling and feel that trembling match that of his insides as he looked down at his name written on the front of the folded parchment in Hermione's neat handwriting. Taking a deep breath, he opened the sheaf of parchment:
'Draco,
Can you please meet me outside the great hall before breakfast in the morning? Hermione. X'
For a few seconds Draco simply stared at the words written down on the parchment, slightly overwhelmed – or perhaps underwhelmed – by the so few words in reply. At least she had replied! That must be better than no reply surely? Although, she had just asked to meet him outside the great hall… That could be slightly ambiguous though, she wouldn't have asked him to meet her there if she was going to humiliate him, would she? Hermione wouldn't do that… Well, he hoped Hermione wouldn't do that! But the only way he could find out would be to turn up tomorrow morning before breakfast and see her; that was all he could do!
He had thought it had been difficult to sleep before, with the weight of uncertainty about the situation, but now – with that uncertainty plus the anticipation of meeting Hermione in the morning meant that he was more awake, more fretful than he had been before.
He did not get up, however, he lay back in his bed with the curtains drawn again, the bit of parchment held tightly in his hands. He could hear, what must have been several hours later, the rest of the boys that shared his dormitory come in and get ready for bed. He listened to them, as they crept about quietly, obviously thinking that he was asleep and being rather courteous in the circumstance – it made Draco feel a little bit guilty in fact, because of the amount of times at the beginning of term that he must have woken them all up by arriving drunk. They were being so considerate of him, yet he had he had never been the same to them. The whole time he had been back at school he had been convinced that everyone was talking about him behind his back, that everyone knew and considered him to be different – to still be that death eater… But, as Hermione had kept repeating, perhaps that wasn't altogether correct. Perhaps some of the students didn't think like that, maybe they didn't hold the same kind of feelings that he did – and maybe those feelings were intensely exacerbated by history… But then what did that really mean for him? These thoughts went round and round and round in his head as he lay, trying to fall asleep, and almost positive that he would end up getting no sleep at all; his insides were just too contracted, too tightly drawn for the rest of his body to relax into sleep. The rest of the boys from his dormitory had settled into bed now and the room grew silent and one by one they all succumbed to sleep. Draco tried to turn his mind off, he wanted the noise and the worry in his head to stop, until it would – he couldn't sleep.
Draco had no idea at what point he eventually did fall asleep, but the next thing he knew there was a flurry of movement and sound within the dormitory. Waking with a jolt Draco sat up in his bed, he could hear frantic, chaotic talking from outside the curtains of his bed. He pulled them back and realised that the rest of the boys were late – which, in turn, made him late. He jumped out of bed, rather giving the boy who's bed was next to Draco quite a fright.
"Oh no," Draco muttered to himself, "I am not being late, not today!" He was throwing clothes out of his trunk, pulling out a slightly crumpled shirt (which he should have left out to be ironed), his trousers and his robes were hung over the end of his bed. Grabbing them all he ran haphazardly to the shared shower and bathrooms, and was pleased to find that one of them was empty. He tugged socks then trousers on while simultaneously trying to pull his shirt over his head and stuff his feet into his shoes, he needed to just get dressed and go – there was no time for him to sort his hair or anything. He did not want to leave Hermione standing; he didn't want her to think that he was standing her up! Perhaps the other boys were just startled about Draco's existence seeing as he had been there for almost twelve weeks and they hadn't been aware of his presence or anything, but now they seemed to be shocked at his sudden decision to be up and around the same time as them. But Draco didn't have time for that right now, he knew as he roughly tied the shoelaces, and his hair was flopping into his eyes, that if he didn't hurry he would be too late.
Shoving his hair out of his eyes, he took off running out of the dormitory and out past people congregating, waiting on friends from other dormitories, who stared as he shot past them. From the corridor which lewd along from the entrance hall he could hear voices; the Great Hall would be full of students who weren't running late that they had potentially screwed up everything. His heart was pounding in his chest already as he started up the stairs; he paused just before the door, attempting to give some air of composure. Peeking around the edge of the door frame, Draco could see Hermione standing at the bottom of the marble staircase, right in the middle of the hall. Her hair was pulled back into a neat – and rather bushy – ponytail, and she seemed to be waiting expectantly. Knowing that she wouldn't come to him and that people were already able to see him, he pushed the hair out of his eyes again and marched out into the entrance hall. Hermione had been facing the other direction, so she hadn't seen him approaching – even though the other students around him had. When he was directly behind her, he cleared his throat; Hermione turned round and blinked at Draco's slightly untidy appearance.
"I'm sorry that I'm such a mess," Draco started, wanting her to know that he didn't think so little of her that he wouldn't get ready. "I couldn't sleep last night cause I knew I was so stupid, and I didn't want to upset you… And then I slept in this morning, and I didn't want you to think I was standing you up, so I just came even though I'm not ready so I know I look a state, and I'm sorry." Hermione just allowed him to talk himself into silence, he looked down at her – she was looking very pretty. And what was more, her eyes were not fixing on his untidy hair, or his ruffled shirt, or any part of his external appearance, instead she was focusing purely upon his eyes. He felt his cheeks going red as she looked at him, and his pounding heart seemed to be suddenly beating in triplets.
"It's alright Draco." She told him, she was looking at him, and really looking intently; and he was looking at her, and entirely unaware of the other students in the corridor. "Does this make you feel uncomfortable?" She asked after a short silence, and she glanced around the entrance hall. "Standing in the middle of all these people?" Draco looked around, and realised that his heart had stopped racing, and he wasn't trembling anymore; he was remarkably calm.
"If you had asked me that yesterday, I would have said yes." Draco replied honestly, "I would have been uncomfortable with the amount of people who would, or might have been, watching us." He looked round again. "But now… No, this doesn't make me uncomfortable." He smiled down at her once more.
"Good…" She said sounding rather content, "I've been wanting you to realise that you're worth more than what other people may or may not think… And I think you understood that yesterday."
"You helped me to understand! I wouldn't have understood if it hadn't been for you." Draco answered vehemently. "And I didn't want to mess everything up, I don't want to lose you!" He implored.
"And I don't want to lose you, but I was in danger of losing you to other people's opinions… I don't want that." She shook her head slightly. "I would really like to go to the ball with you, if you still want to…" Relief flooded into Draco's chest and heart.
"I would love you to come to the ball with me!" His voice sounded breathless and excited, and that excitement was mirrored on Hermione's face.
"Good." She was beaming at him; and without any warning, or any further indication, Hermione had reached up, hooked her hand round the back of Draco's neck and pulled him down to kiss her. In full view of everyone making their way into breakfast, Hermione kissed Draco for what felt like a very long time.
And it was pure ecstasy.
A/N: Thanks for sticking out this long - I'd love to know what you think about this chapter!