A/N: As always, thank you to all of my lovely followers/ readers/ reviewers. I appreciate every comment I get and if you're reading this, it means a lot that you're sticking with this story, so thank you very much.

Don't be disheartened that I don't really go into much detail about the goings on at the castle whilst this Hogsmeade business is going on - I will tell all in a couple of chapters time :)

Enjoy!

The Storm

4 days until the Yule Ball - Part 2

"Hello Granger," Draco Malfoy said.

Hermione frowned, "er, Draco?"

Draco nodded his response and turned to Ginny, "Weaslette."

Hermione's frown deepened when her friend didn't seem the least but surprised about his presence.

"Malfoy," she said calmly.

Draco nodded again and pulled up a chair from the next table. He sat down uninvited and ran a hand through the damp hair that had been falling in front of his eyes, shaking a vast amount of water and snow off in the process.

"It's snowing," he stated.

"You don't say?" Hermione said sarcastically. It was one thing for Draco to voluntarily come and sit down with them, but now he was making small talk. Something was definitely off.

"Just making conversation," Draco said.

"Why?" Hermione asked suspiciously.

"I don't know how it works in Muggle households, but I was always taught that it was a polite thing to do in social situations."

Hermione glared at him; "sorry but, why are you here exactly?"

Draco raised an eyebrow at her. "Bit rude, Hermione," he and Ginny shared a look before he continued, "and I'm here the same reason as everyone else – to get away from that infernal castle for a couple of hours."

"I didn't mean it like that and you know it," Hermione said. Draco's passive expression soon turned into a smirk; confirming to Hermione that he knew the true meaning of her words. She felt the need to elaborate nonetheless.

"I mean what are you doing here-here, at this table, with us?"

Again, Hermione saw Draco and Ginny lock eyes for a split second before Draco responded.

"Just came to see you," Draco cringed at how the words sounded. He cleared his throat and stared at the floor, hoping that his embarrassment would lessen if he didn't look at Hermione.

Hermione's eyebrows shot up, "excuse me?"

"You heard Granger, don't make me repeat it," Draco snapped. He shot a dark look to the redhead witch when Hermione was distracted as she drained the last of her Butterbeer.

"Why?" Hermione hiccupped. She had drunk too fast from the shock of Draco's response. Her heart hammered against her ribcage in anticipation of what he would say next, and she willed it to stop.

"Have you forgotten already? We're going to the Yule Ball together – I need to pick your brains about this dress of yours since you oh so kindly left me out of that little venture," he drawled.

"Oh," Hermione said softly. It was now her turn to stare at the floor and avoid Draco's gaze. She should have known it would be something trivial. She felt foolish for thinking for a second that Draco had sought her out just to have a chat. Why would he, after all? The only times they had been together had only been out of necessity, bar the time in the broom cupboard of course, and Hermione remembered all too well how that had turned out, regardless of how strangely easily they seemed to get along up until that point.

"I should have known this was only for your personal gain," she scoffed, though her eyes remained fixated to the stone floor, "you're just here to assess my outfit choice aren't you? And probably all too prepared to reject it."

Draco frowned, unable to understand why Hermione seemed so agitated all of a sudden. He picked up a napkin from the table and reached across to dab Hermione's face with it.

"Hold still, you've got a Butterbeer 'stache," he said as he gently pressed the napkin to Hermione's upper lip. She finally met his gaze. Her eyes were wide, searching and calculating, and Draco gulped. He didn't know whether she was going to punch him or even make comment, but he carried on regardless.

"As much as that look suited you, and perhaps made you look a tiny bit like Hagrid, I'm personally not a fan of facial hair on my dates," he tried to lighten the atmosphere once the last trace of Butterbeer foam was gone.

In hindsight, it probably wasn't the best thing to say after Hermione's comment about him being there to assess her appearance. Her curious expression was gone in an instant, and her eyes hardened.

"I'm going to the bathroom, be right back," she said to neither of her companions in particular. She rose from her chair and scurried into the bathroom, splashing cold water on her face as she entered.

"Well that was interesting," Ginny said, giving Draco a pointed look.

"What the bloody hell just happened?" he asked, though the question was directed more to himself than the witch.

"I'm going to go check on her. Don't you dare go anywhere," she told him as she got up.

"Don't speak to me like that, you should be thankful I don't tell her what's really going on," he shouted after her, but she had already disappeared into the girl's bathroom.

Draco sighed. He went over to the bar and ordered a Butterbeer, returning to the table a minute later. He sat and waited for the girls to emerge, and his mind wandered back to that morning.

"Hey Pot…er, Harry," Daphne called from beside Draco as she saw Harry and Ginny enter the Great Hall.

Harry's head snapped up at the sound of her voice, and he and Ginny walked over to where she and Draco were sitting.

"What's up?" Harry asked.

"I'm writing home today to inform my family's dressmaker my requirements for my Yule Ball dress," Daphne explained.

"You have a dressmaker?" Ginny scoffed in disbelief.

"No-one asked you, Weasley," Daphne sneered at her; an expression that Ginny returned without a moment's hesitation.

"So, er, yes, dressmaker, go on," Harry said awkwardly, not quite knowing whose side he should be taking.

"Right," Daphne continued, "I don't want us to clash, so tell me the colour, material and style of your outfit please." She was poised to scribble down notes, and looked expectantly at Harry.

Draco tried to mask his snort of laughter as he took a sip of his pumpkin juice. Potter's expression was priceless.

"Come on, it's not difficult," Daphne snapped, "are you sure those glasses aren't defective?"

"Er, well they're black dress robes. They came with this white shirt and bowtie. Oh, and there was this black waistcoat too."

"Mmm, and the material?" Daphne prompted.

Harry scratched his head and looked to Ginny for help but she just shrugged. Draco couldn't quite tell if she genuinely couldn't offer any help or if she was simply enjoying her friend's apparent struggle. By the look on her face, she too, was finding it rather amusing. Draco couldn't help but feel mildly impressed by this.

"Uhh, dress robe material?" Harry winced.

"Honestly Potter were you born with no brain?" Daphne sighed.

It didn't take long for a minor argument to spark between Daphne and Harry over his incompetence to determine the material of his robes. Well it wasn't so much an argument as it was Daphne shouting and Harry standing there looking completely baffled by it. Whilst Draco was quite happy watching this unfold, Ginny had other ideas.

"Malfoy, can I have a word?"

"Can't it wait for five minutes?" He said irritably.

"No," Ginny replied flatly. Draco wanted to retort but it was too early in the morning to be on the end of one of her Bat-Bogey hexes, so he refrained.

"Fine," he reluctantly hauled himself up from the bench and walked a short distance away so he and Ginny wouldn't be overheard.

"What?" he asked as she walked around the table to join him.

"Okay, just so we're clear, I want you to answer these questions as honestly and sincerely as possible. I don't want to hear any smart-arse remarks or any sarcasm, or I'll hex you into next week," she warned.

"Merlin, are all of you Gryffindors so violent?" Draco muttered without thinking. He saw the girl whip out her wand and point it at his face in a flash. He shrank back against the wall with his hands up, "sorry, sorry. Starting now I'll be serious, okay?" He relaxed when Ginny slipped her wand back into her pocket.

"Although that was a rather impressive manoeuvre – you'd make a fair Quidditch player," he stated, trying to charm the girl.

"Flattery won't make me go easy on you, Malfoy," Ginny said in a business-like tone, "what's your game with Hermione?"

"Huh?"

Ginny rolled her eyes, "I'll rephrase the question. You asking her to the Ball isn't part of some elaborate scheme to hurt her or embarrass her, is it?"

"If I wanted to do that, there are much easier ways to achieve that goal. So, no, I don't plan on doing anything sneaky or underhanded," Draco replied honestly.

If anything his goal for that night was quite the opposite; to win the bet he'd have to spend the whole night in Hermione's company. He realised he didn't actually plan on intentionally hurting her, full stop. The night of their detention with Flitwick he realised how insecure she seemed when he pointed out the reasons why he was surprised that she was wearing perfume. He'd broken through her walls then, and now that he had seen a vulnerable Hermione, he didn't want to cause any more damage to her esteem. The only reason he had enjoyed tormenting her up to this point was because she had never shown any sign of weakness… trust her to unknowingly ruin his fun!

Ginny took in his expression and body language, supposedly searching for any kind of give-away that he was lying.

"What's the big deal anyway?" Draco asked. "I get that you want to look out for her, but she isn't exactly a stranger to being embarrassed or hurt by me or my friends."

Ginny's face hardened and her hand moved to her robes but Draco caught her arm and stopped her from drawing her wand again, "I didn't mean that like it sounded. I was just stating the truth. If you must know I'm rather regretting some of the things I've done and said to her in the past. Over the last week or so I have actually come to respect her and maybe even like her to a degree – as a friend, that is."

This seemed to convince the redhead as she shook away Draco's hand and looked up at him, "I can't give you a straight answer on that, but let's just say I have a feeling these aren't normal circumstances between the two of you anymore, so I feel the need to protect her."

"What the hell are you-"

"Prove it to me, Malfoy," Ginny interrupted. "Prove you're serious about this Yule Ball thing and that you don't want to hurt Hermione."

"How?"

"Meet us in the Three Broomsticks later, we're going to get our dresses today. I've heard from a few people that you two aren't as hostile to one another anymore, but I'd like to see it for myself. Just come alone, without your goons, and prove that you were serious."

Draco pondered her request. He didn't know why he was doing this as really he didn't have much of a choice, lest the witch who stood before him hex off his balls. It couldn't do much harm; his friends all thought he had a thing for Hermione because of his 'don't call her a Mudblood' outburst from the night before, and it was his chance to get rid of the guilt he had been feeling ever since his conversation with Dobby.

Draco also had to admit that Hermione could actually be quite fun; they each wound the other up so easily that Draco had grown to enjoy the challenge of out-witting her, or trying to at least.

"All right," he nodded, keeping his expression blank.

"Good," Ginny said, "though you cannot tell Hermione I told you to come."

"Because?"

"She'll freak out if she thinks I have to look out for her. If I let on that I think things are different now then she'll start second-guessing herself. She's always been so independent and sure of herself, with a really good instinct to boot. I have a good idea of what her mind-set is of you, Malfoy, and knowing that I suspect something will make her paranoid that her assessment wasn't as accurate as it normally is, she may be wary around you or start picking fights, and Merlin knows that would just crush any kind of friendship the two of you have built."

Draco looked confused and Ginny couldn't blame him really. It would have been so much easier to explain if she knew for certain whether Hermione had a crush on Draco or not. What she had been trying to say was that if Hermione knew that Ginny knew of her feelings, she'd be unable to deny it any longer, and so she'd make herself vulnerable to being hurt; crushes could so weird things to your judgement after all.

Draco wanted to question the witch further but she had disappeared into the Entrance Hall, where students were beginning to leave for Hogsmeade. He hung back for a few minutes before he joined the line. His head could quite process what Ginny meant about things being different, but Draco's stomach was twisting and his heart was beating rapidly as he left the castle a few minutes later, not that he knew why.

"Oh Ginny what's wrong with me?" Hermione said as her friend entered the bathroom.

"Well you've been freakishly girly for your standards today," Ginny laughed, putting a hand on Hermione's shoulder.

Hermione smiled weakly, "I suppose this Ball is giving me the chance to prove more than just the one thing." The conversation she'd had with Draco in their detention flitted through her mind.

"What did Malfoy say that freaked you out so much?" Ginny asked, "Surely you would've expected him to say something obnoxious like that"

"I know it's just, I felt a bit embarrassed. Some part of me thought he came just to see me for the sake of seeing me."

Ginny couldn't help but feel guilty when Hermione said this. If only she'd just admit her crush already then maybe Ginny could tell her the truth.

"Honestly Mione, he could be here for that reason for all we know. Even though everyone knows you two are going to the Ball together, it's still a pretty big step for him to be here without the other Snakes. That dress stuff could have just been an excuse to hide his real reason. I wouldn't put it past him to be in denial that you two have actually formed a friendship."

"You think we have a friendship?" Hermione asked.

Ginny arched an eyebrow, "and by the look of it he isn't the only one in denial."

"I don't see how that's possible. He's still the same arrogant, superior, snarky ferret. I've just been tolerating his company that's all."

"Yeah," Ginny said slowly, "people don't go running away into the bathroom when the 'person-they-are-tolerating' allegedly is here for a reason other than to just have a chat."

"But-"

"But nothing," Ginny said, "honestly I'm the only one whose head it screwed on right today. Of course he's still the same person; people don't just change overnight."

"Then how can I be considering him as a friend?!" Hermione exclaimed. She had been feeling confused about Draco for a couple of days now, and she had been hating every moment. She didn't like it when she couldn't even see what was happening between then when evidently it was blindingly obvious to other people.

"Because one thing about him has changed, and maybe that's what has made you accept him. His bigoted views on Pureblood supremacy aren't leading his life anymore; the fact that he's extended so many olive branches to you shows that."

Hermione's cheeks warmed as the reality of the situation came crashing down.

"Well now you come to mention it, he hasn't been nearly as annoying as I found him at first…oh Merlin what's happening to me?" Hermione's voice trailed off and she buried her head in her hands.

"Mione, is something else bothering you?"

Hermione looked at Ginny's face and knew immediately that she didn't really have to say anything. Ginny already knew. She knew before Hermione did.

"Whatever it is you already think, I'll confirm it now. It's true. Just don't say it out loud yet."

Ginny rolled her eyes, "bloody hell Hermione, you and Malfoy can be so similar sometimes."

Hermione opened her mouth to question this but Ginny continued speaking, "The idea of it is completely insane, I know, but as much as you may want to, you can't change the way you feel about someone."

"How can you be so calm about this?"

"Because I can't do anything to change the way you feel either, and I think I'm the only friend you have who knows that. Harry and Ron have had too much history with Malfoy to make a rational judgement about anything. Besides it's probably just a fleeting hormonal thing anyway – purely physical. Don't stress out too much yet."

Hermione took a couple of deep breaths and gave Ginny a hug. Purely physical; that didn't sound nearly as scary the word 'crush', which suggested emotional attraction too. She and Draco had only ever had one or two meaningful conversations in the four years they had known one another; there certainly couldn't be any chance of Hermione feeling anything more than a physical draw to him. This made her feel considerably more at ease about the whole thing.

"Oh Godric you're the one who asked him here aren't you? That's why you were almost late meeting me in the Entrance Hall this morning!"

"Yeah. Don't flip out on me. I was testing him to see if this whole truce business is legit – thinking what I now know about you, I didn't want you to be hurt, because Merlin knows you would have felt awful if you let your guard down and he took advantage of it. And it you ask me, Malfoy turning up speaks volumes."

With that, Ginny slipped out of the bathroom and Hermione followed. As soon as she stepped foot into the pub her eyes met with the grey ones of the wizard whom she desperately wanted to hate.

"What were you two doing in there, giving each other makeovers? Though they aren't very good ones, if so," Draco said irritably as he drained his second glass of Butterbeer. The girls had been gone at least ten minutes.

Hermione sneered at him, "Very funny, Draco."

"Thanks, I thought so," he smirked and folded his arms behind his head.

Hermione and Ginny shared a look, and Hermione felt oddly relaxed by the boy's shrewd words. She felt relatively normal again: his attitude just proved that her feelings for him were just physical. If Draco had a mute button she was sure he would be irresistible to her.

Draco wasn't blind to the silent exchange between the girls, and twiddled his thumbs under the table. He didn't want to press them for the fear that they'd been talking about him, and he didn't want to start a fight and throw away his efforts of getting this far in the bet.

After sitting there awkwardly for a few more minutes, the three of them decided to leave the pub and head back down to Hogwarts.

Hermione, Ginny and Draco exited the Three Broomsticks and stepped outside to face the elements. A storm had been brewing for the past hour and had finally hit. Trunks of trees seemed close to snapping from the wind and the sky was almost black despite it being not long past midday. The heavy snowfall from earlier was now like a blizzard, the white flakes swirling aggressively in the wind.

"Holy shit!" Draco had to shout over the rumble of thunder. He was already drenched: his hair sticking to his face and accentuating his pointed bone structure. "These robes cost a bloody fortune; now they're ruined!"

"How practical for winter robes…" Hermione said, rolling her eyes, though her voice was lost in the wind so the others didn't hear.

"I don't think Harry and Ron are going to be meeting us now!" yelled Ginny. There was a pause and she said, "Oh crap, I said I'd meet Colin and Luna in the Hairdressing Salon. Good luck getting back to school, you two!"

Ginny waved to Hermione and Draco and ran in the opposite direction, her head bent low to shield her face from the bitter cold.

The remaining pair set off across Hogsmeade, walking as quickly as possible and hugging their own bodies to preserve body heat. Hermione pulled out an umbrella from her bag and put it up, instinctively moving closer to Draco so she could shelter him too.

Draco recoiled, "What the bloody hell is that contraption?" He looked so scared it was almost funny, but he had stopped walking so Hermione began to drag him along.

"It's an umbrella!" She shouted.

"Sounds like a disease to me," Draco said, eyeing the umbrella uncertainly.

"Relax it just shelters you from the rain and snow, though I'm not sure how effective it will be in a storm like this. Come closer so you can stand under it too," Hermione replied.

When Draco didn't budge, Hermione continued, "Oh come on, you aren't going to get Muggle germs or anything."

"I know that!" Draco said unconvincingly, "I still think I'll take my chances with hypothermia though," he laughed.

"You wouldn't have to worry about that if you had proper robes."

"What?"

"Nothing!" Hermione said innocently.

Draco eyed her as if he knew she had said something insulting but he didn't press her on it.

As they approached the lane that lead down to the castle, Hermione could make out the shape of a small crowd through her limited vision.

"Settle down please!" Professor McGonagall's voice drifted through the air as Hermione and Draco joined the group of students, who were huddled tightly together like penguins. A blast of icy wind blew Hermione's umbrella inside out for the third time, so she gave up on it and stuffed it into her bag again.

The students in the group stopped their protests and chatter so the teacher could speak. McGonagall placed her wand to her throat and muttered a spell inaudibly. It must have been the amplifying charm Fudge used at the Quidditch World Cup because when she next spoke her voice was quite clear over the howling wind.

"I'm afraid this path is inaccessible. Three very large trees have fallen across it from being blown over by the wind. It would be difficult to levitate these out of the way in the best of conditions, even with multiple wands performing the spell. Frankly, it would take a great deal of luck, and effort to move the trees promptly, and what's more it would be too risky in this weather. With that being said, the headmaster is arranging for you all to be brought back to the castle via side-along apparition with the house-elves who work in the kitchens. This is the quickest means of getting you back safely in the storm."

Draco shook his head when he heard Hermione emit a shrill squeak of protest at this. Dobby had been right about her campaign after all.

"That could still take ages! Over half of the bloody school came today and really how many elves could there be? Are you just going to let us freeze to death until it's our turn?" Zacharias Smith complained.

"I'll have you know Mr Smith that most of the students decided to sensibly return early to avoid getting caught in the weather," McGonagall shot him a stern glare, "the owners of the shops have all been made aware of the situation and have agreed to accommodate you all until you are able to apparate. Some of the professors are stationed around the village to tell the other students about the circumstances. If there are no more questions, I will ask you all to find shelter and wait patiently. And please pass on instruction to any student you may encounter along the way, just to ensure they weren't missed by any of the teachers."

The crowd simultaneously turned and a small stampede ensued. Draco and Hermione were thankful to be standing at the back so they got a head start to get to the cosiest establishment. Draco broke out into a run back towards the Three Broomsticks and dragged Hermione by the hand with him.

"Do you have to be so competitive?" She said a little breathlessly, marvelling at how warm her hand now felt against Draco's despite the sub-zero temperature.

"Yes! And you should be bloody thankful I'm taking you with me." He shouted back.

"Why are you dragging me with you?"

"No idea!" Draco laughed honestly.

Hermione didn't have the energy to argue. Eventually Draco's haste had paid off as they managed to secure a table back in the Three Broomsticks. This was at the expense of a few choice words and not-so friendly shoves from Draco, and several spluttered apologies from Hermione, but she was secretly thankful that they were here and not in the freezing Quill Shop. At least they could warm up with a Butterbeer in here.

"I never thought I'd say this but I'm thankful for your lack of manners in this circumstance," Hermione laughed as she clanked her glass against Draco's.

"See. It pays to have a Slytherin in your life," he said smugly and took a sip.

Hermione didn't comment, not knowing how he meant those words to come across. It got her thinking nonetheless, and her thoughts wandered until she heard Draco's teeth chattering.

"D-don't you d-dare say I'm being dramatic h-here," he glared.

Hermione rolled her eyes and took out her wand, "if you're good I'll see if I can manage a hot-air charm. It's quite tricky so I don't know how well I'd be able to do it."

"Whatever just try… please," Draco added when Hermione shot him a look.

Hermione managed to do the spell on her second attempt, and waved her wand around Draco's head and upper body, laughing as his hair flew around in tufts from the small blasts of air. Once she was satisfied most of the water was gone, she put her wand away and clasped her glass to warm her hands up.

"How come you didn't do your hair?" Draco asked.

"Because believe it or not, it gets worse than usual when I use heat to dry it."

Draco smirked at the mental image and coughed to mask his laughter.

"Plus the only benefit of the snow and rain is that it actually tames my hair nicely. I mean it actually falls down instead of outwards," Hermione laughed,

"Did you just mock your own hair?" Draco arched an eyebrow.

"Yeah. It really is hopeless; maybe that's why I get so defensive when you mock it. I can't really do anything about it – even when I use conditioner," she glared slightly at the memory of his comment when they'd been in the broom cupboard.

"Sorry," Draco muttered, "if it's any consolation, it looks nice when it's not all bushy… even if the rest of you looks like a drowned rat."

"Hey!" Hermione hit him, but she was laughing.

Draco spilt a bit of his drink at the impact, but he laughed too, and both of them felt their walls crumble a little bit more.

"So now we wait?" Draco said.

We? Hermione thought, Perhaps Ginny was right after all.

"Now we wait," Hermione smiled and took another sip of her drink.

To be continued…

A/N: Bit angst-y in places but that's pretty much a given for this pairing I suppose.

See you all next chapter... it's a good'un ;D