Draco's POV
I finished all my homework yesterday so I could enjoy my Hogsmead trip today. I walked down the steps to the Great Hall and ate my breakfast without the usual haste.
I went to the Slytherin common room and waited for Blaise to finish whatever he was doing.
At some point while waiting, Pansy suddenly appeared and asked me rather flirtatiously,"Draco, would you like to hang out with me on this trip?"
"No thanks," I shook my head rather annoyed,"I'm waiting for Blaise."
Pansy rolled her eyes. Right at that moment, Blaise walked in and Pansy spotted him.
"You!" she pointed at him," Blaise, how do you always manage to steal Draco from me?"
"Hm..?" he shot her a confused look but shrugged it off,"I guess everything's going to change from now on."
It was my turn to be puzzled. Pansy more like skipped out, thinking what Blaise said was her hanging out with me in the near future, but I knew better.
"What do you mean by your statement?" I asked him when no one was near enough to hear.
"Remember the thing about Granger?"
"So you mean I'm going to hang out with her more now?"
"Not necessarily," he said," just how your going to treat her."
"...she told me about her dream."
"Was it about what we guessed it was?"
"Yes, and she also told me that she saw me in the vision, well, think she saw."
"Wow...don't forget to invite me to your wedding Draco," Blaise teased.
"Shut it. Let's go, the carriages will leave without us."
It was pretty boring since we already visited Hogsmead Village a lot of times.
I bought sweets from Honeydukes using the money my parents sent me. Blaise did the same, only he bought different sweets.
Next, we entered the Quidditch store and bought a can of broomstick polisher.
On some other stores, I bought a quill worth 6 galleons, a stack of parchment, and some kind of high heeled shoes Mum asked me to buy, which I'm going to send to her later by owl. I bought the gifts I will be giving, too.
Lastly, we stopped by at the Three Broomsticks and I order a supply of butterbeer which I'm planning on hiding in my room, away from Granger's snooping eyes.
On the way back, Blaise had news to tell me.
"I overheard the headmaster's going to announce something later."
"What is it about?"
"I don't really know, maybe something for the holiday."
True enough, when I finished stashing my butterbeer supply in my closet and went down to the Great Hall, McGonnagall stood up from her chair and got everyone's attention.
"Students, before we have our dinner, I have something I would like to tell everyone."
She cleared her throat,"This year, instead of the usual feast for Christmas, Hogwarts will be holding something new.
For the 1st to 4th years, you will have a costume party, you can dress up as anything you want. At the end of the party, the person with the best costume wins a prize. This will be held on the Saturday the week after the next."
There were excited whispers among the Great Hall.
McGonnagall smiled and continued,"The 5th to 7th years, on the other hand, will be having a masquerade ball. Students are required to wear a mask at all times during the ball. At the end of the night, you and the person you are dancing with will unmask each other. You are required to wear dress won't need a date. This will happen the day after the party."
The whispering got louder.
"You are not required to come if you don't feel like it. On those two nights, food will be served in the common rooms for those of you who are not interested to come.
Everyone is allowed to go to Diagon Alley and buy the dress robes there next week Saturday and Sunday.
That is all I have to say. Please enjoy dinner."
Food appeared on the empty trays and soon, everyone was eating.
"A masquerade ball? I'm going as long as no one is gonna ambush me to go on a date with them, but I guess Dumbledore already fixed that," I told Blaise.
"All we have to get now at this point are the dress robes and masks."
"Let's meet up on Saturday so we could buy our clothes together."
"Sure,that sound good enough, but now, I have to eat, I'm starving."
We finished eating and parted ways. Blaise went to the Slytherin common room while I go to the heads' common room.
Granger was already there when I opened the portrait hall.
She was reading a book sitting on the couch and looked up when I entered.
"Hey, Malfoy," she said, looking back at her book.
I wasn't aware of what I was doing but something made me so I asked her,"Are you planning on going to the ball?"
She looked back up at me,"Actually, I'm planning on not going," she said.
I didn't know why but I felt a little disappointed.
"but Ginny forced me, so I'm going," she finished.
I felt happier when she said it. Did she really have that big effect on me?
"Glad to know," I told her.
I packed up my thing that I need for tomorrow and put my bag on my study table.
I changed my clothes into more comfortable ones for sleeping and crawled in bed, wrapping the sheets around my body.
Eventually, I fell asleep.