A/N: Alright so this took me a bit to figure out. But not too long. So I took the actual dance scene from another story of mine so if you say that I copied it from another story, yes I did but I have ownership over that story. So yea. Anyway, hope you guys like it. I don't know if you guys will ever figure out who Cassie likes... maybe.

also I forgot about the TriWizard tournament. The story is held during the fourth year, just so you know. So the TriWizard Tournament is underway. Hope you guys like the chapter! :)

Chapter Five

The Yule Ball

Hermione had been watching Cassie for a long time. Something was up with that girl. But Hermione had other things on her mind. Harry had just beaten the Dragon with almost no difficulty. Though it looked like he had had very little planning. Thankfully for him Hermione had heard from Draco and Cassie that the first Task would be a dragon and that he would have to get the golden egg.

Now that Harry had the Golden Egg, the big thing was to find out what the Golden Egg held. Hermione was trying to help him figure it out, but she was a bit distracted. Dumbledore had just announced that there was going to be a Yule Ball right before the holidays. She was a bit nervous about who would ask her. And she was a bit sad that Ginny, Victoria, and Cassie couldn't go.

The only way they could go was if they managed to find guys to go with them.

Hermione really wanted to go to the Ball, but she had no one to go with. Ron and Harry had made up and while Hermione attempted to ignore him, he still managed to find a way to talk to her. He even sometimes thought they were friends again. But Hermione barely acknowledged him at all, and flat out ignored him around other people.

Hermione was thinking about the TriWizard Tournament, the Ball, and Cassie's strange behavior as she walked down to the Great Hall. She nearly ran straight into Draco. Speaking of people acting weird, he was acting the most weird of everyone. And that's a pretty hard position to earn. Hermione had been forced to get used to a lot with her acceptance to Hogwarts, but something weird was going on with the Malfoy siblings. It was like somehow the two were having problems with something and they had no idea how to deal with it.

Hermione wanted to help them both, but she didn't know how. She still wasn't sure what the problem was.

"Hey Draco. Do you know what's up with Cassie? She's been acting a weird... and I'm kind of worried about her. She's still getting good marks in classes but she's acting very strange. Do you have any idea what it might be?" Hermione asked. Draco looked at her, his grey eyes soft and far away. He had a very vacant expression on his face.

Hermione waved a hand in front of his eyes, hoping to maybe waver his attention from whatever it was he was thinking about. It worked, he immediately shook his head and was back to this continent.

"Sorry Hermione. I don't really know what it is that's got Cassie acting weird. I have a few ideas though. I think she has a crush on someone. It's kind of something the Malfoys do. We get very distant and start acting a little weird. Don't worry, once she gets the guy she'll be back to normal and it'll be like nothing happened." Draco said waving it off. Hermione stared at him, disbelieving of this.

"All of you do it?" Hermione asked staring at Draco. He nodded, he seemed like he had something he wanted to say to Hermione.

"Hey, so how is your relationship with Ron these days? Every now and then I see him attempting to talk to you and I see you succeeding at ignoring him. And I was just wondering how things are between you two?" Draco said looking at Hermione with serious concern. Hermione was very confused as to what this was all about.

"Well... he is attempting to talk to me. I'm ignoring him. I do not plan on talking to him unless Cassie tells me that he made an acceptable apology and that all is forgiven between the Weasley's and the Malfoy's." Hermione said, motioning towards the Great Hall. She was starving and couldn't stand being hungry another second.

"That's good. Now what plans do you have for the Yule Ball. Cause I'm trying to figure out how things are going to work between our group seeing as most of them are underage. I'm planning on figuring out dates for Cassie and Ginny and then getting Harry to finally ask Victoria like he's been wanting to for awhile." Draco said, sitting across from Hermione. She looked up at him, a piece of bread in her hand.

"And what about the two of us? You already got a date?" Hermione asked calmly. She wouldn't admit it but she kinda liked Draco. He was sweet and nice, and funny and very hot. She wished that he didn't have a date already, but if he did it would be fine too.

"Well... that's what I wanted to talk to you about..."

Cassie watched as her brother sat down with Hermione. She had seen the vacant expression, and the weird way he was acting. Oh, Draco was crushing, and crushing hard. Though Cassie couldn't spend all her time thinking about her brother and his crush. She had to think about her own crush.

What was she gonna do? He was older than her and she had no idea how other people would react to this new crush of hers. She hoped that he would ask her to the Ball. She knew she wasn't going to be able to go to the dance without an Upperclassmen asking her. And as much as she wanted him to ask her, she had a feeling they wouldn't.

She was thinking so hard about the guy she liked and about how she could go about getting him to ask her to the Ball, when she bumped right into him.

"Hey Cassie, how are you?" He asked. Cassie for a moment stared off into space as was usual for the Malfoys. Then she shook herself out of it and looked up at him, her grey eyes thankful that he had finally asked her. She said yes as quietly as possible, trying not to scream.

He smiled and told her that he would start talking with Hermione and Draco with plans about what they were doing. Cassie nodded, still in a comatose state of happiness and excitement. He gave her a brief hug then walked away.

Cassie couldn't see it as he walked away, but he was almost as excited as she was. Cassie knew that the Yule Ball was gonna be so much fun. She was probably the only 1st year to be going to the Yule Ball. She had no doubt that no one else had been asked in her grade. She was excited that someone in the older years noticed her when the other first years were just her friends.

Suddenly it dawned on Cassie, she was going to need a dress. She was going to have to talk to Hermione. She knew for certain that Hermione was most definitely going to the Ball

Or at least Cassie hoped that the guy who wanted to ask Hermione would finally ask her already. Everyone could see the relationship was blooming... somewhat. She knew she was going to have to investigate this.

Hermione's POV

I couldn't believe that this was happening. It was finally here, the Yule Ball. The lights, the dresses, the music! It was all so... romantic! I wasn't in view of anyone else yet, but I had to say, I was gonna turn heads. Ginny stood behind me, bouncing nervously up and down. She looked beautiful. She was wearing a beautiful black dress, that draped wonderfully across one shoulder. The bottom was a see through black material, with a bright blue fabric underneath it, making the most wonderful shade of teal. Her hair was curled and glittery, and her eyes, thanks to moi, were also teal.

I was wearing a gorgeous gown that was the darkest purple. It almost looked like a wedding dress. It had a silver sash that tied around the middle, and then hung down at my side. And glittering beads adorned the top. Finally I saw our cue. Tons of people were just standing around the hall talking. This was our entrance turn.

Me and Ginny linked arms and then made our way down the stairs. Neither me nor Ginny are exceptionally graceful, however, that moment we glided like swans. As we descended down the stairs, I saw Draco Malfoy and he had eyes only for me. Our gazes connected and for what seemed like years, our eyes met and a series of emotions passed through this connection. These emotions would be hard to explain even minutes after. But I can tell you, not a single one of them was disgust or hatred.

As we reached the bottom, Blaise Zabini held his hand out for Ginny, and my date took mine. He stared at me, as though he was amazed to have such luck. We proceeded into the Great Hall, where the music for a song had ended. Everyone cleared off the dance floor and instead of taking a seat, my date wrapped his arm around my waist, and led me towards the middle of the floor. Music started up and we started to dance. I had never danced a day in my life before today. But here we were dancing, in front of the whole of Hogwarts, and I felt like I had rehearsed these steps for as long as I could remember.

I was so glad that all this had happened. I don't remember if it was the music or just the way people stared at us, or even if it was just being with him alone, either way that night was the happiest of my life.

A hand tapped my shoulder and it was Fred, asking to cut in. I realized more people had joined the dance floor, but the majority of the people had been staring at me and my partner. I looked at my partner who nodded and swung me into the arms of Fred. I saw him, bow to Cassie, and began dancing with her. I was surprised, tonight was nearly perfect. I didn't think this could happen. But then again, things were different now. Or at least they would be now.

Fred looked at me and smiled and I had to shake my head. "You really her don't you?" When he gave me a weird look I smiled as if I knew some big secret.

"You've been staring at her for the past few weeks non stop. Even before you asked her, you kept staring at her. Thank god she liked you, too right?" Fred nodded and laughed. This night was a good night. It was his last year here and he was going with probably one of the most skilled dancers on the floor tonight.

"And how are you enjoying your night so far? Everyone can tell you really like him." Fred said not even doubting my crush on my date. I nodded knowing there was no point in denying it any longer. I liked him. Alot.

"The moment you said yes for me, you knew exactly what would happen." I said accusingly and Fred merely shrugged, but his grin gave him away. I could see why he and his twin George had had so many offers to the ball. The twins were, in a sense, gorgeous. Even though they were like brothers to me, I was still able to say they were gorgeous.

And as gorgeous as they were, they were amazingly intelligent and knew everything that was going on. Somehow they knew that getting me to go with this guy would be the best part of my life. So far.

"Maybe, maybe not. However, you still managed to get Draco completely speechless, which is a plus in our books." George said as he swung by me and Fred. He and Angelina Johnson were practically flailing about the ball room, making everyone jump out of their way. And yet somehow he had managed to stop to talk to me. I was flattered.

"Ah yes, George. That is a plus. And he keeps staring at you. No wonder though. He's obviously had a crush on you the moment you punched him." Fred said agreeing with George. I shook my head and chuckled. This was ridiculous, and their ideas were absurd, no matter how true they might be.

"And he's been madly in love with you since you walked down those stairs. And must I say, you look stunning, Hermione. Purely stunning." George said winking at me. I was blushing and practically burying my face in Fred's chest. Another tap on my shoulder, and I knew my date was asking for me back. I smiled and without asking if Fred was fine with it, swung over into his arms, and took in the amazing feel of warmth that I recognized as him.

Everything about tonight was perfect. My date was perfect, I was perfect, this dance was perfect. How could I have been dreading it so? I remembered painfully how I despised tonight. How I wished someone would accidentally poison me so I wouldn't have to go. But now I was glad. I was glad for so many reasons. Reasons that I couldn't begin to explain. Reasons I didn't want to explain.

I could see eyes still staring at me. Girls jealous of me for who I was dancing with, boys jealous of who my date was dancing with. People who were amazed that we had ended up together. Teachers stunned at how we moved. Everyone was staring. And it only made it worse, when we heard the familiar beat and melody of... the tango.

I knew it would be our dance before we had even danced. I remember watching a movie, where they explained the impeccable feelings made about the tango. Passion, lust, love. Then the jealousy, mistrust and hatred. The undying emotions flitted through the air as we danced the most passionate dance we never knew. We were the only ones dancing, and as we danced, it was Dirty Dancing style.

There aren't words to describe the passion we felt that night. No feeling could be used to accurately show how I was feeling. Nothing could be used to describe the sensation I got when the song ended and he jerked his head towards the exit, towards the Great Doors. Another song started and people filled the dance floor once more. I nodded and allowed him to lead me towards the doors.

I followed him outside into the cool air where the moon awaited us with watching eyes. I followed him down the steps and across the grounds. I followed him through the forest, and to the lake. I followed him to the shore, where the moon splashed happily among the calm waves, and the fish jumped almost melodically. I could hear the song playing in my head, and I couldn't help but laugh.

He looked at me, his eyes filled with wonder and happiness. "What are you laughing at?" He asked me smiling. I could hear the laugh in his voice, he wanted to laugh too. But he first wanted to know what he would be laughing at.

I started to hum and the words came easily. "There you see her. Sitting there across the way. She don't got a lot to say but there's something about her. And you don't know why but you're dying to try. You wanna, kiss the girl." I sung to him. He laughed and wrapped his arms around my waist. I slid mine around his neck, and looked into his beautiful eyes. They were like his mother's. Gorgeous, and inviting. The moon reflected off them, and on any other day it would be an eerie color, but tonight it was happy, and calming.

Suddenly I felt myself being lifted into the air and found we were floating. But then I came to my senses and found we were flying. He had jumped off the deck and we were headed straight for the lake. I curled up in his arms and screamed, while he laughed and held me in his arms. I expected the cold water to envelope us both and send shivers down my spine. But instead I found myself floating through a murky water, warm and pleasant. I laughed, and ended up choking on water. He quickly swam up to the surface and helped me breathe. And we laughed even harder.

I wasn't expecting this at all. I wasn't expecting that this would turn out so magical, so wonderful. It was certainly a night of wonders, especially when his lips met mine. And for that moment, there was nothing else in the world. Just me and him. Us, just sitting on the shore of the Black Lake, enjoying a moonlit stroll during the most magical school dance. Literally. Our kiss deepened and one of his hands held my neck while his other arm, wrapped around my waist. My hand found his hair and I ran my fingers through his perfect hair. My other arm found its way to his chest. The warmth of his blood met my fingertips and his heart raced underneath my palm. We fit together so right, so nicely, there was no way this wasn't meant to be.

I'm not one for destined pairings, but if this one wasn't planned, I didn't know anything. And I'm Hermione freaking Granger! I know everything! Even if I didn't, there was one thing I did know. This was my night. My time to shine, my moment to show Hogwarts I wasn't just some bookworm! I was a beautiful young woman who could enjoy a wonderfully planned dance.

And you know how I was spending that night? I was spending that night on the shore of the Black Lake, kissing the most wonderful person. I was spending my shining night, kissing my knight in shining armor. Well actually at that point he hadn't quite earned that title... but it stills sounds cool right?

I was spending my moment, kissing...

At that point the twins and all the rest of my friends, took it upon themselves to start singing a little song for me and my date. And I must say as funny as it was, I really wish I'd had my wand at that moment to shut them all up. But instead, we just kept on kissing ignoring the annoying song. Yet somehow when he took a breath, he whispered softly in my ear, "This is the best night of my life. I can't believe how lucky I am to be spending it with you, Hermione Granger." And we continued our public display of affection.

"And I can't believe how lucky I am to be kissing you, Draco Malfoy."

A/N: Please review! It would mean a lot to me if you did! :) Until next time :)