A/N: Ok, so as of right now, I've only had six reviews for this chapter. LAME! But, it's ok. Normally, I would wait it out and make you suffer because some of my readers decided not to review. BUT! Unarosaesunarosa reviewed. You can thank her. Because I absolutely LOVE her! And congrats on the Valentines date and everything. That sounds SO CUTE! So, I'm going to borrow that concept. If you don't mind. =)

Disclaimer: Sigh, how I wish it was mine. I would make Tom Felton sign a contract that would entail him to walk around my house naked.

Chapter Eleven: Too Close

The day had arrived. The day where everything was supposed to go right. But, as Hermione zipped up her scarlet dress, she had a sinking feeling everything was going to go wrong. She wasn't sure how she knew, but she did. Draco knew how she felt too, but he was ignoring it, hoping his nonchalance would calm her down. And in a way it did expel a few of her fears, but the underlying worry was still evident with the help of the jewelry. He knew what she had seen, and he was pondering how on earth it was possible.

Hermione floated pensively downstairs, hoping to have a few seconds of peace before Draco emerged. There was no such luck. Draco was already sitting at the couch, twirling his wand between his fingers. He was dressed in head to toe black, a typical Draco move, and the inside of his costume-like cape was green.

"Oh, come on Draco," Hermione said faux-exasperated. "We have to somewhat match!"

Her dress was scarlet and spaghetti strapped, the collar and bottom hem gold lace. The long skirt swept the floor elegantly with a classy slit up the side to her knee. Draco, when he spotted her, whistled softly. She smirked. He waved his wand lazily and suddenly, her scarlet and gold dress was green and black. She looked affronted.

"No way!" she said, waving her own wand. His whole outfit turned scarlet, and the inside of his cape gold.

He looked down at himself and laughed, a full, sincere laugh Hermione had hardly ever heard before. It made her chest ache in a good way, and her lips curled upward in spite of herself.

"I look ridiculous, Mia," he said, waving his wand again. It went back to the original style, and Hermione's dress changed from scarlet to black, and the lace changed from gold to scarlet. She waved her wand, and the inside of his cape changed to match the lace on her dress.

"I like it…Drake," she said, using the nickname for the first time. He smiled and winked.

"You know what?" he said cautiously, as though she could take his statement as a compliment or an insult. "You look really good in black."

She smiled and wrapped her arms around his neck. "You do too," she said breathily. Draco kissed her lips softly. She pulled away and smiled at him wickedly.

"How are you going to cover that hickey on your neck when you see Pansy?" she asked coyly. Draco covered his neck immediately, and Hermione burst out laughing. The angry red mark had been there since yesterday, and Draco and Hermione hadn't emerged from the Heads Tower all day, delegating all the decorating to the prefects.

He pointed his wand at his neck and the hickey faded a little, but didn't disappear. He tried it again, and nothing happened.

"Looks like I'm just going to have to hope Pansy doesn't notice, huh?" he said, chuckling a little.

"That's your only hope, Drake," Hermione said, tugging him toward the portrait hole. "We're going to be late."

But he didn't budge. He pulled his arm back a little and Hermione came with it, almost smashing into his perfect chest. He pulled her close and kissed her slowly, tenderly. When she finally pulled back, he was smiling a crooked smile he had never smiled before.

"I know you're nervous about what you saw," he said, speaking slowly, "But I promise you, Mia, that nothing will hurt you. I will find out what's going on, ok? So you can forget about it. Don't let it worry you."

A rush of affection shook Hermione for a moment. "I'll try," she whispered.

Draco's normal smirk was back. "Then let's party,"

The party had yet to start when Draco and Hermione emerged together. Everyone stared, and Draco could feel the waves of awkwardness and discomfort radiating off of Hermione, and tightened his arm around her wrist for a second before letting go. She glanced toward Potty and Weasel, who both looked stricken. Potty's girlfriend, Weaselette, looked curious and winked at Hermione, who smiled a small smile in response.

Draco himself scanned the crowd for a second before he locked eyes with Pansy. She looked furious, and Malfoy had to stifle a laugh.

They had stopped in the middle of the dance floor. The music, which had been conspicuously absent before, started slowly with only violins.

"Opening the ball tonight are the Head Boy and Girl," said a disembodied and musical voice, and Hermione and Draco stepped close to each other, something they were already comfortable doing. The second Draco's hand touched Hermione's waist and Hermione's hand touched Draco's shoulder, the music sped to a maniac place.

And suddenly, Hermione was spinning and Draco had her pulled close and spun with her, and sent her twirling again. Her skirt flared out whenever he let her turn, and her face was pink with excitement. They were separated and almost instantaneously, pulled close again. The violins sped up, louder and louder, and they moved faster and faster, the bracelet clanging against Hermione's wrist and the ring glinted on Draco's hand. There were no thoughts exchanged. They didn't need them.

He spun her and she let go of him, twirling gracefully before coming back into his arms perfectly. They moved as one. Suddenly, the violins ceased.

And the music slowed a little, and Draco dipped Hermione so low her outstretched hand touched the floor, and swung her up so her nose was touching his. The music changed again. Now Hermione turned herself so she had her back to Draco and he was still holding one of her hands. She stepped backwards into his embrace and he wrapped an arm around her.

He let her go, and she stepped away, a small smirk on her face. He reached out for her hand and, with one final crescendo of the music, pulled her so her body was flush against his, and pulled her leg up almost to his waist, something so reminiscent of their latest make out session that Hermione blushed.

And all music stopped.

The cheers were deafening. Even McGonagall was smiling. Ginny was clapping enthusiastically, Harry somewhat reluctantly, and Ron was gaping. Pansy was nowhere to be seen, but that just made the moment even better. Hermione tugged on Draco's arm and led him to her friends, something he wasn't very happy about.

"Hermione, that was amazing!" Ginny said, throwing her arms around Hermione's neck the second she was within reach. Draco smirked.

"Yeah, 'Mione," Ron said quietly. "I never knew you could dance like that."

Draco's smirk grew even wider with Hermione's response. "Me neither." He felt her mentally cringe at the use of her nickname, and had to bite his tongue to keep from calling her Mia.

"You were really good," Harry said cautiously, eyeing Malfoy as he hugged Hermione.

"Look, I know what you guys are thinking," Hermione said. "But McGonagall made us come together, and Draco's really not as bad as you think," but she was cut off.

"Who?" Ron asked, his ears pink.

"Draco," Hermione repeated slowly, as though Ron was mentally challenged. "Draco Malfoy!?" she pointed at Draco, who raised an eyebrow at her, as though asking her where she was going with this.

Harry looked like he wanted to run from the mounting tension, and Ginny looked around as though looking for something else to catch her attention.

"Why are you calling him 'Draco'?" Ron asked, his fingers sketching quotation marks around Malfoy's first name. Harry groaned.

"That's his name, Ronald!" Hermione said sarcastically. Ron looked uncomfortable at the use of his full name. "Do you want me to call you Weasley? Oh right, I already did. When you called me a MUDBLOOD!"

Ron's whole face almost matched his hair. "I SAID I WAS SORRY! WHAT MORE DO YOU WANT FROM ME!?"

Hermione looked like she wanted to strangle him. "Maybe you shouldn't have said it at all," she said quietly, dangerously. Draco could feel her rage building, and was amazed she was keeping it contained.

"But I did. What, are you not going to be my girlfriend ever again because I called you a name?" he said angrily.

Draco clenched his fists at the word 'girlfriend'. Hermione closed her eyes, and the rage increased tenfold. He touched her arm. "Don't Mia," he whispered as quietly as possible, so Ron wouldn't be able to hear him.

She seemed to calm at the sound of her new nickname, but Ron didn't. He seized her wrist, and she cried out in pain. The bracelet moved up her arm a little, exposing the serpent on her hand. Draco's own wrist felt uncomfortable, but he shook it off and drew his wand, pointing it at Ron's livid face.

"Let her go, Weasel," he said, low and dangerous. Harry jumped forward, but Ginny stopped him. She was staring at Draco curiously. Ron glared at Malfoy, but let Hermione go, and she grabbed her own wrist, looking from Draco to Ron uncertainly.

"Stop it, Drake," she said soothingly, laying a hand on his tense shoulder. At her touch, he lowered his wand. She looked up at Ginny, who was standing next to Harry. She nodded slowly to her, a silent understanding that she would tell her everything soon enough. Harry was talking to Ron, trying to calm him down.

"I think it's time for us to go," Hermione said quietly to Draco, who nodded. But on their way to the Great Hall doors, they were stopped again, this time by Pansy.

"Please tell me McGonagall made you bring her," she spat, twitching in Hermione's general direction.

"Pansy," Draco said, stepping towards her. Pansy immideately tried to kiss him, and Hermione's anger made Draco smirk. He held her back. "I think I should tell you that I cheated on you several times over the summer, when my family went to France." Pansy's face went pink, but she shook it off.

"It's ok, Drakie," she said, her hands coming up to his hair and smoothing it back, the way he used to have it in fourth year. "I forgive you."

Draco looked filled with remorse, but on the inside, he was calm. Hermione could tell he was lying. "But I don't forgive myself. You can do so much better than me, so I'm going to save you the trouble. Goodbye," he said, and he and Hermione turned back to the doors.

As soon as they were out of earshot, Hermione giggled a little. "You really are horrible. That was the fakest breakup I've ever seen."

Draco laughed and tossed his arm around Hermione's shoulders. "I know, right? But at least she bought it." He stopped suddenly. "Lemme see your wrist," he said.

"It's ok, Draco, really," Hermione said, tucking her wrist behind her back. Draco raised an eyebrow at her again, and she rolled her eyes and showed him her wrist.

The bruises that had just healed were coming back, and the serpent on her hand glowed brightly red.

"That bloody bastard," Draco growled. He took her hand, and his cool hand soothed the serpent burning on her hand. He pulled her to a stop and kissed her softly.

"Mia," he began. "I have a question for you."

She looked up into his grey eyes for a moment, then pulled him down for a kiss. "Yes," she answered.

He scowled at her. "You take all the fun out of everything."

She smirked back. "Explain how you asking me to be your girlfriend as fun? It sounds horribly awkward to me."

He kissed her forehead. "You think too much."

And as soon as they walked into the Head's Tower, they knew something was wrong.

A/N: LONGEST CHAPTER EVER! You're welcome.  Now you have to review.