AN: I am 4/5 done with this section. I have to say, I'm going to be kind of sad to see this end.

Thank you to Darling. Little. Writer. for reviewing and, consequently, winning this chapter's cameo! Congrats! : )

PS: There is no mention of the Quidditch World Cup, the Tournament tasks, or Cedric's death. I didn't want to over-complicate this chapter.

SMELL—Fourth Year

With Sirius freed and her friendship with Draco still intact after the slap, Hermione started her summer with a smile on her face. Hopefully the summer and the upcoming school year would be relaxing and relatively chaos-free. But then again, Hogwarts was a magical school. To go a year without trouble would be too much to ask, as Hermione would soon discover.

In her opinion, the only thing more unbelievable than Harry in the Tri-Wizard Tournament and his ridiculous spat with Ron was the Yule Ball. Hermione didn't understand how the professors could put them through torture such as that! It had been hard enough for Hermione to make friends, but now she had to get a date? Merlin must hate me; she decided when Professor McGonagall made the announcement. She had no idea how on earth she was going to get a date. Hermione refused to go without one, and she refused to ask a guy herself. That was her pride talking, plain and simple. Sure, there was nothing wrong with going alone or with a guy friend, but as it was her first (and most likely last) dance, she wanted it to be special.

One early morning near the end of November found her in the library pondering her possible options for dates. She knew that Neville would ask her soon; he'd been hinting at it for ages. There was nothing wrong with Neville; he was a perfectly nice guy and a good friend. It was more of the fact that Hermione couldn't picture herself feeling like it was a date if she went with him. The nerves about picking just the right dress, the anxious feeling while getting ready, the butterflies in her stomach at the first sight of him, the rosy blush at his compliments to her attire…and the enchanted feeling as they danced the night away. In other words: the ideal date. There was only one guy that she could picture having that with, and unfortunately, that one guy would never ask her.

"May I join you?"

Speak of the devil and the devil shall appear, Hermione thought ruefully as she smiled brightly up at her favorite Slytherin. "Do you even have to ask anymore?"

"No," he smirked, "but why break tradition?"

"Good point. So, to keep with tradition, what brings you to my corner of the library?"

"I need to get away from Pansy, she's obsessing over this inane ball and I am completely sick of it."

"You asked Pansy?" Hermione's heart fell slightly and she berated herself for it. She knew he wasn't going to ask her. But it still did hurt to hear that he was going with someone else.

Draco's face was a strange mixture of shock and revulsion before it morphed into amusement. "Gods no! Are you out of your mind? She was hoping I would ask her, but you don't understand how dreadfully obnoxious she is. I wouldn't ask her if she was the last female on the planet."

She smiled with relief; maybe all hope wasn't lost. "So you don't have a date yet?"

He shook his head, "No, I do. I asked Jessica Young a week ago."

For an instant, disappointment flashed across Hermione's features, but before he could catch it, she masked it as confusion. He accepted her façade as legitimate and elaborated to ease her confusion.

"She's a fifth year Slythering; um, she has this remarkable shade of cherry red hair. She and her friends dyed it awhile back," he paused. "She's in Ancient Runes with you, isn't she?"

Hermione feigned realization. She had known who Jessica was from the start. "Oh! Right. I know who you're talking about now. She seems," she choked on her next words, "really nice."

It wasn't the fact that the words were a lie that gave Hermione trouble getting them out—because they weren't; Jessica truly did seem really nice. It was just that Draco had gotten a nice date who wasn't…well, her. Not that she had expected any different, but she would have much rather he escorted Pansy. At least then Hermione could be sure that he wouldn't get attached to her.

After a few moments of an odd silence, Draco spoke, "Who are you going with?"

"Nobody has asked me."

Draco began to try to comfort her, after all, the ball was still a month away, but a chorus of giggles interrupted him, followed quickly by an angry outburst from Hermione.

"Oh for heaven's sake! Those fangirls of Krum's need to—"

A tap on the shoulder quickly diffused Hermione's rage. She turned to see who required her attention and drew in a sharp breath. "Viktor Krum?"

"Can I talk vith you for a minute?" He gestured to the end of the aisle, away from where she and Draco were sitting.

"Sure," she stood and followed him to a spot a couple of meters away. Draco watched with unease. He couldn't hear what was being said and he didn't like that one bit. He saw Hermione blush and he saw Krum kiss her hand—increasing her blush—before walking away. An odd emotion bubbled up in his stomach, but he ignored it.

Hermione came back to the table with a radiant smile that lit up her whole face. "I'm going to the Yule Ball with Viktor Krum!" The feeling bubbled in his stomach again and he chose, once again, to not acknowledge it.

Draco forced a smile, "I can't wait to see Weasley's reaction."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The ball was in full swing and everyone seemed to be having a good time. Hermione was having a blast, despite the earlier fight with Ron. Instead of retreating in tears to her room, she fixed her makeup and went right back into the transformed Great Hall. Viktor was such a gentleman and Hermione was glad that she went with him, no matter what Ron said! She felt more like it was a date than had she gone with Neville (who at the moment was happily dancing with Ginny).

Hermione scanned the dance floor and saw Draco dancing with Jessica. She looked absolutely stunning in a deep green, knee length dress. A rather large pang of jealousy ran through her at the sight of them together. His hand rested on her waist and her 5'6'' frame was the perfect height to lay her head against his chest as they danced. Her eyes were closed and she was obviously enjoying herself. Tears burned in Hermione's eyes and she focused her attention on finding a table and waiting for her date to return with drinks.

The Weird Sisters seamlessly segued to another slow ballad and Hermione craned her neck to see if she could spot Viktor; this was one of her favorite songs by them and she didn't want to spend it on the sidelines.

"May I join you?" A familiar voice disrupted her search. She looked up to find Malfoy looking painfully handsome in expensive black dress robes. Hermione nodded and he sat beside her.

"Are you looking for your date?"

"Yes, have you seen him?" Malfoy gestured to the dance floor where Viktor was currently dancing with Jessica. Hermione laughed dryly. "Wonderful. I can't even get a date to stay with me for a whole night."

"You do realize that it's Viktor Krum, an international Quidditch icon, right? Did you really think that you could keep him to yourself?"

Hermione didn't answer and he took her stony silence as a yes.

"Well, I'm sorry then."

She gave him a sideways glance. "Don't be. It's not your fault."

He gave her his trademark smirk. "Actually, it kind of is. I could tell that Jess wanted to dance with him so I told her to go steal him from you for awhile."

Hermione looked scandalized. "What the hell, Malfoy! Why would you do that?"

"So you would dance with me," he held a hand out to her. With a shy smile and no second thoughts, she took it and he led her onto the dance floor. He held her close and they swayed to the beat.

"Have I told you yet that you look beautiful tonight?" She glanced down at her slim-fitting, floor length, periwinkle dress and blushed.

"Thank you," she whispered.

"No, thank you for dancing with me," he pulled her closer and she buried her head in the crook of his neck, inhaling his intoxicating scent. Nothing had ever smelled more appealing to her. They danced for two additional songs before Viktor tapped Draco on the shoulder to cut in. After politely bowing to Hermione, Draco returned to his date. Over Viktor's shoulder, Hermione watched Jessica take his hand and lead him to the drinks table.

Later that night, around midnight, the ball ended and Viktor bid her adieu with a kiss on the hand outside the Gryffindor Tower. Hermione, dove into her bed with a delighted peal of laughter and buried her face into her pillow. She inhaled deeply and could still smell the enticing aroma that had wafted in and out of her nose and her mind since she had danced with Draco. It was with a cheesy grin and a high from the magical evening that Hermione fell asleep that night.

End notes: Please review! I wasn't sure if there was even going to be a cameo contest for this. I mean, everyone knows what the next sense is… And, I'm still not sure if there will be. The next chapter doesn't exactly work for a random character to be popping in. (You'll see what I mean.)

Anyway, please review! Ooh! I know. Because everyone knows the next sense, send a review with what you think my favorite color is. : ) Ha! Whoever gets it will get a cameo. : D (Erica, you already know, so you're going to have to guess my third-favorite color.)