I tried to rationalize it. I mean...I was a Gryffindor Princess and he was a Slytherin Prince. We were completely different. Besides, his father would never let him to be with me. There were just too many differences.
I chased streets of Paris over and over. I thought about my feelings from every angle, but I always came with the same result. I loved Draco and I loved him very much. We have known each other for years, but I felt like I firstly met him when I came to Paris. He listened to me and I listened to him. We talked together when we were most vulnerable and it must have affected me.
I slowly walked back into my apartment. How is this going to change our friendship? How can I be around him every day, pretending I feel nothing? I certainly didn´t want to tell him. It would complicate things. I was in front of my apartment. I wanted to enter, but I walked into someone.
"Hey, watch it...oh, it´s you."
I looked up and saw Draco. He was smiling. Merlin, he should stop it. It makes him more attractive.
"Hey. Waiting for someone?" I asked lightly, as I always do. It was weird to talk with him, now that I knew I fell in love with him.
"Actually...for you."
"Really? What brings you here at this hour?"
I pointed to the sky. It was dark and full of stars. I must have been on a walk quite long.
"I wanted to talk to you. May I come in?"
I slightly nodded and let him in. Who knows how long has he been here, waiting for me.
We entered my apartment and sat on the couch. I didn´t know whether to sit close or far from him.
"Do you remember the first time I came here? I said I didn´t like this place."
I laughed. Everything was so uncomplicated back then.
"Yes, I remember. But I didn´t mind. I actually admired your honesty."
He tilted his head a bit. "I lied. I like it very much."
I blushed. Why was he looking at me like that? Like he wasn´t talking about the apartment. I must have had hallucinations.
"So...you think honesty is something to admire?" he ripped me off my thoughts.
"Well, yes. I like it when I know somebody doesn´t lie to me and we can talk openly."
Draco nodded. There was a tense silence between us.
"You said you wanted to talk about something?" I couldn´t stand the silence anymore.
"Did I? Oh yes. After you left, Minister left something for you."
He took a piece of paper out of his pocket and gave it to me. I carefully opened it. It was an invitation...for some kind of a ball.
Dear colleagues,
Christmas is almost here and as always, we organize our White Ball. The ball will take place at French Ministry of Magic, on the Christmas Eve, at the main square at 8 o´clock in the evening. We are all looking forward to you. Don´t forget – ball is mostly an opportunity for a dance, so don´t forget a partner.
Yours Minister of Magic
Christian de Vitte.
Oh dear God. I haven´t attended ball since the Yule Ball at Hogwarts and that was years ago. I didn´t remember how to dance. I didn´t have any formal dress. And most importantly, where will I find a partner?
"It´s silly, if you ask me," Draco snorted.
I rolled my eyes, even though I agreed with him. "Do we have to attend?"
"I´m afraid so. It´s an opportunity to show in public and make a reputation. Work with Minister might go easier then."
I sighed. I didn´t want to attend any stupid ball. "Where should I find a partner?"
"Perhaps you could go with Thorn," proposed Draco with a huge smirk.
I punched him. "Excellent idea, Mr. Bright. Who are you taking?" I asked, even though I didn´t want to know. Imagining Draco holding some girl the whole night was too much for me to handle.
He sighed. "You see, there´s this one girl I like from the very beginning. I can´t stop thinking about her. And I thought I would ask her, but I didn´t have a nerve."
I felt like somebody hit a piece of glass into my heart. Now there was really no chance for us. All I thought about the last few hours was him and he had a different girl on his mind. I tried to keep my face. "It´s never too late, you know. Ask her. Maybe she´ll say yes."
He shook his head. "I found out she didn´t want to go. And I don´t want to push her. So...I thought you might want to come?" he asked.
No, no, no. My subconscious yelled at me. It would only make things worse. You will spend a night dancing with him, in his arms. You will fall in love even more and you will break your own heart.
But I couldn´t say no. It was too beautiful image. "Yes, Draco. I´ll be honoured to go with you."
xxx
Christmas Eve came sooner than I thought. I revised some basic dance steps and bought myself a new dress. It was long, no-sleeved and it had diamonds under breasts. The colour was bright red. I liked it very much and I hoped Draco will as well. His opinion mattered to me.
I felt like I was fourteen again and went to my first ball. Victor Krum was my date. Nothing really romantic happened between us, but we stayed friends. Even now, from time to time, we write to each other.
I was nervous and I was shaking. I´m still not sure why. I entered the Ministry and reached stairs. They were normally dark and simple. Now they were white, as if they were made of ice. Still hidden behind the wall, I looked downstairs. Draco was standing there, talking with one of our colleagues – Josh Rivers. Josh had a beautiful date. The girl was tall, she had dark hair and gorgeous dress. I couldn´t compare myself to her and I felt ugly. My hand ran over my dress. My normally bushy hair was smooth and framed freely my face.
I took a deep breath and walked towards the stairs. Indeed, just like at the Yule Ball. Josh punched Draco and he looked at me. His mouth went open and he stared at me, as he has seen a ghost.
"Good evening, Josh. Good evening, Draco," I barely looked at Josh and gave my attention to Draco.
"Good evening to you, too, Hermione. We were just talking about what kept you," Josh said.
"Am I late? My apologies, I didn´t realize."
"It´s okay, just few minutes. Hermione, this is my partner Christine," Josh introduced his date.
The gorgeous girl took my hand and shook it. The most honest smile lightened her face. "Nice to meet you."
"It´s my pleasure, Christine," I smiled back.
There was a short silence between the four of us, then Josh coughed. "Well, we better get going. We don´t want to miss the first dance."
Josh and Christine slowly left. Draco and I stayed alone. He took my hand and kissed it softly. "You are looking amazing," he complimented quietly.
"Have you seen Christine?" I laughed.
"Christine...I can´t compare her to you. You look simply stunning," he said.
I blushed and relaxed. Why was I so nervous? I´m here, in Paris, with Draco by my side for at least a short time.
"Shall we?" he asked.
"We shall," I smiled and let him to take my hand.
We walked together to the main square. It looked incredible. The floor was made of ice and you could see your reflection on it. The water in the fountain was frozen and it made extraordinary shapes. It even snowed at some places. It looked like a fairytale; it was hard to believe it was all made with just a few spells.
"Ah, Ms. Granger. Mr. Malfoy. I´m so happy to see you here tonight," we heard Minister´s voice. He was with some woman, probably the same age as he was.
"Monsieur de Vitte. We both wanted to thank you for the invitation," said Draco formally.
"No problem, my dear boy. I don´t think you have met my wife yet. Darling, this is Ms. Granger and Mr. Malfoy, one of the diplomats from England. Ms. Granger, Mr. Malfoy, this is my wife, Michelle de Vitte."
Minister´s wife smiled at us. She seemed to be a lovely woman and somehow I knew we would get along. The band changed the song.
"Well, since everybody´s here, we should start the first dance. Darling?" Minister announced and smiled at his wife. Michelle de Vitte accepted his hand and they walked to the dance floor. I turned to Draco.
"Do we have to?" I pointed to the dance floor with my chin.
He laughed. "I´m afraid so. Don´t worry, it´ll be just fine."
I sighed and accepted his hand. He led me to the parquet and placed his hand on my waist. I just hoped he wouldn´t notice my chills.
To my surprise, it really went fine. It was just a simple dance and as I watched Minister´s hopeless jumping around, I relaxed and let the music lead me. The dance was over sooner than I thought and the band started a new song, more energetic and quick.
I released my hand from Draco´s, thinking he wouldn´t want to continue dancing. I grew up with Harry and Ron and for them dance equalled death. But Draco grabbed my hand and pulled me closer.
"Where do you think you´re going? The night is young, let´s celebrate!" he shouted and made me do a spin. I laughed and jumped into the crazy swirl of dancing. We danced through many other songs, enjoying the music and each other´s company. It was better than a Yule Ball; there was no Ron to judge me because of my partner.
"I can´t dance anymore. I have to rest," I managed to tell Draco through my laughing.
He grinned and nodded. Carefully, we left the crazy maelstrom and sat down.
"I don´t remember the last time I had such a great time." I said happily.
"Yes, you really are a lioness of parties. How is it I never noticed?" Draco wondered with a smirk.
"You never asked me to dance with you."
"And now I regret it."
I laughed. I wanted to laugh and do crazy things. I felt incredibly alive.
"I see you two are having a good time," Minister came and sat next to us.
"It´s amazing Ball, Monsieur de Vitte. We can´t thank you enough for the invitation," I said honestly.
The older man blushed slightly. "Only the best for my employees."
The band started another song, slower and calmer. Typical Ball slow-dance.
"You have to excuse me. My wife would never forgive me if I would skip this dance," sighed Minister and went to find his wife.
"What do you say? Care for another dance with me?" asked Draco.
"I would love to," I smiled and took his hand.
He placed his hands around my waist and I wrapped my hands around his neck. We started to dance, slowly shaping a circle.
"I´m having a great time, thanks to you," Draco smiled at me.
"You´re not the only one. This evening is something I´ll never forget," I smiled back.
"I just wish my dreamed girl was here with me," he sighed.
My smile froze and my heart squeaked with pain. Told you so, you should have listened to me. My subconscious said smugly. It´s all your fault, don´t you dare blame him for breaking your heart.
I had to agree with it. I knew how this evening would end up and yet, I decided to break my own heart.
"Yes, it´s pity, isn´t it? I would love to meet her," I told him with a smile. I didn´t want to hurt him.
Song reached its top chorus and something broke inside me. I pulled Draco closer to me. I hid my face on his shoulder, so he won´t see my eyes welling up.
"Hey, are you alright?" he asked gently.
I winked several times to send those damn tears away. Nothing special happened, but it felt like this was the last time I can hold him. I pulled away and smiled.
"I am. Sorry, I´m kind of emotional tonight."
"Because of that sister of Weasley´s?"
"One of the reasons," I murmured and avoided his eyes.
We silently danced. I rested my head on Draco´s shoulder again, breathing his scent. It smelt like cinnamon and something else...it was simply him.
My heart started to race, without any obvious reason.
"You know, I´m surprise I´m not talking with a speed of a rocket," I said, no longer able to take that silence. I pulled away from his shoulder and faced him.
Draco looked at me. "What do you mean?"
"Usually, when I´m nervous, I talk about crazy things and very, very fast." It was the truth. It was sort of a bad habit.
"What would you have to be nervous about?" he smiled and his eyes captured mine.
I opened my mouth, but I couldn´t answer. What would I say? That I love him? That his cinnamon scent is better than any perfume? That because of him, my heart is beating so fast I´m surprised he can´t hear it? And then my bad habit took over the control.
"Nothing. Nothing special. Do you know what got me? That grog over there. It has the exactly the same colour as the hair of my favourite actress from my childhood. She was a superhero and I watched the show about her every evening."
What the hell are you talking about? Shut up, for Merlin´s sake!
"But now when I think about it, her hair was mostly green. The colour of that grog probably reminded me of the hair of her partner," I talked fast and confusingly.
SHUT UP, SHUT UP, SHUT UP!
"Although I never liked him anyway. He was weird, you know. Turned after every skirt he saw..."
"Okay, now you´re talking too much," Draco interrupted my monolog and kissed me.
For a second, I froze. Draco Malfoy was kissing me? When did this happen? And what about his dreamed-girl? His lips were even softer than I imagined. They perfectly sat on my lips and tried to make them cooperate. And so I surrendered. He pulled me closer to him and I ran through his hair with my hand. How I wanted this to happen, how I desired that kiss. I felt light as clouds, as I could fly. I couldn´t think. Any logical thought was cut off with his lips. I wanted it to last forever, but eventually, we had to break for air. Our foreheads touched.
"You were my dreamed-girl," Draco whispered.
A true, wide smile lightened my face. Our eyes met and I leaned forward for another kiss. I thought my heart will blow up with happiness. The kiss was long, soft but very passionate. I wanted to bring into that kiss all my emotions. The kiss ended and Draco looked at me.
"Hermione...I love you very much."
"And I love you," I replied.
He looked at me, surprised. "You do?"
"Of course I do. And for quite some time."
A huge smile set on his face. He was so handsome. I looked around. Our colleagues were staring at us, not exactly knowing how to react. Michelle de Vitte was smiling and Minister had a ´Well, finally´ look.
"I think we made quite a show," I giggled at the faces of other people.
"Who cares about them?" Draco kissed me and then hugged me tightly.
The song ended. But my fairytale continued. We have stayed for several more hours and then thanked Minister for a great evening.
"So, you two...are now...?" Minister asked, forgetting diplomacy.
Draco looked at me and I nodded. "I guess we are."
"Good for you, my boy. I wish you good luck." Minister laughed and wished us goodnight.
We left, hand in hand, ignoring the stares of other people.
"Malfoy, you lucky man!" we heard a scream. We didn´t look back, just erupted to laugh and ran away. We stopped in front of my apartment, still laughing.
"I had a great evening. You?" I asked with a laugh.
"Turned out to be much better than it sounded," he looked me in the eyes and kissed me. I could just stand there and kiss him the whole night. Unfortunately, he was the logical one tonight.
"It´s late. I should go. Although I wouldn´t mind being here with you until the morning."
"Neither would I."
"See you tomorrow, in our Café?"
"Definitely, you won´t get rid of me now."
"So I hoped," Draco smiled. "Goodnight."
"Goodnight."
"I love you."
"I love you more."
"I´m not sure that´s possible."
"Don´t start an argument with me. Otherwise you won´t see your apartment tonight." I laughed and so did he. He kissed me and walked away. I entered my apartment, closed the door and sat on the floor.
Whoa.
First of all, I´m sorry for not updating in a while. My grandmother passed and I was a complete mess. I still am. Then, I realized, my grandmother wouldn´t be very proud of me, if I would simply lay on my bed and cry. And so I try to put all my pain and love into writting and I will try to update regularly again. I´m doing it for her, to make her proud, to say my final goodbye. Second of all, I had two ideas about this chapter, but I decided to go with this option. I couldn´t wait for some romantic action. However, I also wrote a bit of the second option and if somebody here is interested, I will gladly send it to you and hear your opinions. I want to thank all my lovely reviewers for reminding me, that this story has to be completed. I love you all.
Betty xxx