Briana was overwhelmed with the vast amount of emotions she felt in a span of just a couple seconds. She was surprised, happy, scared, calm, and panicked all at once. Draco Malfoy, her best friend of a decade, had just confessed he was in love with her then continued on to kiss her. She was surprised that he had done such a thing so suddenly, and that he indeed had such feelings for her. Happy that this was all happening, happy because she loved him back. She was scared because she didn't know what would happen after the kiss. Calm because the feeling of Draco's mouth upon hers brought her such serenity that she didn't want to pull away. And she was panicked because... well, their friendship was at stake!

She didn't kiss him back, and after a few seconds, Draco pulled away and stared at her. He, too, was feeling a whirlpool of emotions. The pro's and con's of the actions he just committed were all flooding to his head at once. Frankly, he was more scared than anything. He had done it; he had fessed up to his feelings for her. So now would they be an item, would they remain friends, or worst of all, would they never talk again? What was she thinking? What was she feeling? Why didn't she kiss him back?

As Briana stared back at her best friend's face, she was even more surprised to see his cheeks burning red. Briana wondered what she must have looked like, she was so confused. Draco couldn't read her facial expression, and she could tell he was desperate for an answer. He gave up with a sigh.

"I'm sorry," he mumbled, shaking his head.

"What are you sorry for?", Briana asked, suddenly a clear emotion on her face: disappointment.

"Well... I mean... you didn't," Draco attempted an explanation. "You just sat there."

"Then I'm the one who ought to do the apologizing," she said quietly.

"Why is that?", the two of them never broke eye contact.

"Because I didn't tell.. er... show you that I feel the same way," Briana made a mental note to herself to stop acting like such an idiot and show him how she felt.

Draco stared at her curiously, so much hope glinting in his blue eyes as he watched her slowly lean closer to him.

"I'm in love with you too, Draco," she told him in a peaceful tone. She took a second to deeply admire the first big smile she'd seen on Draco since they'd been re-united, before she closed the gap between them and united their lips.

Once again, Briana felt the serenity when she kissed him, Draco, trying to show him all the feelings she had for him right there. Draco was reeling at this point, he wanted to capture this moment in a jar to forever hold this feeling of pure bliss. The two of them were happy together, and that's all that really mattered. Feet out of the water, he wrapped his arms around her in a tight embrace as she nicely placed her arms around his neck. Their kissing slowly advanced to very light making out, but they pulled away before the kiss was too long and before the moment was ruined.

Breaking away from the embrace, they found both of themselves laughing lightly. Draco was so ecstatic to see his best friend smiling so widely because of him, and Briana marveled at the sight of his pearly whites being displayed so effortlessly. She preferred this Draco any day over the Draco she'd been seeing lurking the castle those days. But neither of them knew exactly what to say.

"So," Draco began in an awkward sort of way. "You.. love me?"

Briana nodded, trying to hide the gigantic smile she felt arising, "I love you."

It took all Draco had not to outburst with happiness, "I love you too."

"So what does this mean for us then?", she asked him, and herself, in a way.

"Well... Would you like to be my girlfriend?", he scratched the back of his head nervously, and Briana found it adorable.

"I would love to," she answered him. Neither of them bothered to hide their bright and genuine smiles that time.

Draco scooted closer to her, smile still on his face, taking her hand in his which made Briana smile more. "Are you sure Pansy will approve?", she asked mockingly.

He scoffed, "She probably won't. But I could not care any less."

"Kiss me," she demanded of him, glancing at his lips.

Draco smirked and raised an eyebrow, "Why on Earth would I do that?"

"Because I want to kiss you again, knowing that you're all mine now."

He found himself smiling again as they shared another passionate kiss.

Draco stared at Briana admiringly. She was his, now.

"Why are you staring at me like that?", Briana asked, titling her head slightly.

"I just enjoy looking at you, knowing that you're my girlfriend," he had the largest of smiles formed from his lips; the word 'girlfriend' felt so wonderful escaping his mouth. His mind was doing happy back flips, in the blissful realization that 'Briana' and 'girlfriend' were synonyms. He was able to call her his girlfriend, and that elated him.

"Get up, my lovely boyfriend," Briana said, giggling in happiness at the use of the word.

He did as told and stood next to her, and she embraced him in a hug.

"It's raining," Draco whispered, taking notice of the grey clouds dropping water down on them.

"I don't really care," she whispered back.

"But I do care, because I don't want either of us catching a cold."

"Well spotted."

Draco picked up his coat and held it over both of their heads as Briana clutched his arm and they walked back towards the castle. Suddenly, ahead of them they saw the rest of their friends trying to run into the castle before they were spotted, several pairs of feet pattering against the wet stone floors.

"You've got to be joking me!", Briana exclaimed after them, laughing anyway. "You guys are such terrible people!"

"Get your own lives, losers!", Draco yelled, then the two of them ran after them as they laughed, returning to the Slytherin common room.

By dinner time, news had spread completely around the school that Briana and Draco were now a couple. Thanks to the third years who couldn't keep from spying on them in the Common Room, not to mention Letha, Chuck and Kaylee were so excited about the news that they were practically yelling it down the corridors. Since everyone knew at this point, both Briana and Draco received their fare share of glares from jealous and envious people as they passed them throughout the castle. Pansy had even told Briana to watch her back about twenty times within two hours.

Draco and Alex had actually gone up to their dormitory and locked themselves in there for hours, talking about what had happened as they sorted everything out, Alex informed Draco all about Bridget and Draco had given him "tips for chicks", as he called them. At this point in time, it was safe to say that everyone was on the same page once more.

The next morning in the Great Hall, Hermione Granger was somewhat surprised to find that neither of her two best friends had caught wind of the news of the couple that was now referred to as "Driana". Apparently, most Gryffindor's and Slytherin's don't mettle in each other's personal lives very much. She had sat down to join Harry and Ron at the Gryffindor table for breakfast, finding herself eager to discuss the subject.

"I'm assuming you two have heard about Hogwarts' newest couple?", she asked them as she got herself some food.

"Not really," Ron answered with a mouth full of food, as a few crumbs flew from his mouth.

"Who?", Harry asked her, stealing a disgusted glance in Ron's direction.

"Really?! Everyone's been talking about Malfoy's new girlfriend!", she exclaimed.

"Dating that pig Pansy again, is he?", Ron asked, incredibly uninterested.

"As if! You really think there would be this much buzz over that?", Hermione sneered. "You know Briana? The one who's in that group of his, and we saw her this Summer? SHE'S his new girlfriend!"

"And why do we care so much about this?", Harry gave her a slightly bored expression.

"Well as much as I despise Malfoy, they're such a cute couple," she noted as Ron snorted at her. "But more than that, haven't either one of you noticed how less terrible Malfoy's been since she came around? Personally, I don't see him taunting any first year's anymore, or anyone really for that matter. of course he always makes some time to pester Harry, but that's given..."

"It's not because of Brightsman, it's because he's a Death Eater now. How many times have I brought this up now?"

"Mate, you've got no proof to back that up," Ron told him for what felt like the millionth time.

"Seems to me like you just want a reason to hate him," Hermione whispered slyly. "Like you're sick with the fact that he could be becoming a better person."

"Whatever," Harry stood up to leave. "But when he drags us to Voldemort with a smile on his face, don't say I didn't warn you."

As he left the Hall, Ron turned to Hermione, "If you ask me, he needs a girl more than Malfoy."

Briana attended all her classes as she was supposed to, but instead of heading to her last class of the day, Alchemy, it was announced that all students in fifth, sixth and seventh years were supposed to gather in their common rooms to hear an announcement from their head of houses. Walking with Kaylee to the Slytherin Common Room, the two of them concocted ideas as to what must be happening when Ethan Bentley of all people began to walk with them.

"Hi," he greeted them casually as the three of them walked among a crowd of several other Slytherin's.

"Briana's with Draco now, so there's no need to flirt with her," Kaylee was quick to try and rid of him.

"All I said was hi," he glared at her.

"Kaylee shut up, he's just saying hello," Briana reprimanded her friend before turning to Ethan. "Any idea what's going on here?"

"Zero idea, actually. I was going to ask you the same."

"Kaylee and I think there was a series of House Elf murders in the castle," Briana joked, remembering one of the many theories the two of them had.

"Is that so?", he smirked in amusement. "Thought there would be more logic in that pretty head of yours."

Briana and Kaylee exchanged a knowing glance before Briana replied, "We can be quite immature at times, I suppose."

"Very intriguing," his smirk became more pronounced before he disappeared into the portrait hole.

Kaylee and Briana went in as well, followed by many other Slytherin's. They spotted Chuck, Draco and Alex sitting on a sofa they had managed to claim as theirs, and they walked over to join them. Kaylee sat between Alex and Chuck as Briana took a seat on Draco's lap and gave him a small peck on the lips. Before she could ask him if he knew what was going on, Kaylee had to speak up.

"Bentley was hitting on your girlfriend," she leaned over Chuck to look at Draco, malice evident in her sparkling eyes.

Briana gave her a stern look, "But we managed to keep him at bay, yes?"

"For now," Kaylee said, that mischievous look of hers upon her face.

"I hate that git," Chuck spat.

"He just wants to shag you," Alex told Briana, as if she wasn't aware of this fact already.

Draco glared at the back of Ethan's head from across the room, "And if he ever tries to do that, I'll break of his bloody arms."

"But you won't have to do that," Briana poked his nose, and gave him a reassuring smile. "because I won't let him touch me."

Draco gave a small smile back before pulling Briana closer to him and wrapping his hands around her stomach.

Kaylee sent the two of them an admiring smile, then thought of something, "Oi, where's Blaise?"

"Oh, he's come down with a cold," Alex explained. He'd been talking much much more often since the incident with Briana. "He spent too much time taking sentimental walks in the rain with lovely Letha," he mocked.

"Aw, they're so cute!", Kaylee and Briana gushed.

"But nobody matches up to the almighty 'Driana'," Chuck winked at them, and Draco smirked while Briana stuck out her tongue playfully.

Not too long after, Snape finally entered the common room and everyone quickly quieted down, just as if they were in his classroom. Every student watched him intently, wondering what the supposedly big announcement was. Everybody had a feeling it was some bad news, because only fifth years and up were allowed to hear. So when Severus Snape opened his mouth to speak, they clung to every word.

"Personally, I rather think this has been made a bigger deal than it ought to be; therefore, I will keep this announcement short and simple."

The students raised their eyebrows, eager for the news as he continued, "Halloween is in two weeks, and the headmaster has, for some reason, found it appropriate to hold a costume ball in the Great Hall the night of Halloween, from seven in the evening to midnight. I assume you've all guessed at this point that no student below fifth year may attend unless they are someone's date. You all know the rules and I hardly expect you to follow them, though the headmaster does. There have not been any restrictions on costumes, but you should know your own limits. That is all. Usually this would take longer, but since I couldn't care less, we are done extremely early. You have no more classes today. Any questions?"

A small fifth year boy raised his hand slowly, earning a short glare from Snape who then said, "No questions, good." And then he was gone. Immediately after he had left, a buzz took over the common room. They were all excited and actually greatly relieved that it wasn't a negative announcement like they had all anticipated.

Briana and Kaylee looked excitedly at each other with large smiles upon their faces.

"A costume ball!", Briana squealed.

"You know what that means, girl!", Kaylee matched her eagerness as they squealed together in excitement.

"Wait, what does that mean?", Alex asked, confused.

"Well you see," Chuck explained. "Many teenage girls simply use Halloween as an excuse to dress rather slutty, you know. With the costumes."

"Ah, I see."

"Yeah, so it's pretty much my favorite holiday," Chuck added.

"Oh, didn't see that one coming," Alex sneered at him.

Briana put a finger to her chin in mock-consideration, "Hmm, now if only I had a date to this costume ball."

A random sixth year sitting behind them popped his head in, "I could be your date."

Draco narrowed his eyes at him and took Briana's hand in his protectively, "Over my dead body."

Briana smiled at him appreciatively and took a backwards glance at the random boy who retreated with a disappointed look on his face.

"So Briana, if you haven't made arrangements with anyone else," Draco began playfully. "Would you like to be my date to the costume ball?"

"I suppose I can cancel my previous arrangements just for you," she replied happily.

Briana then took a meaningful glance at Chuck who met her gaze, but quickly looked away and stood up, saying, "Better go tell Zabini the news."

Briana narrowed his eyes at him and whispered something to Draco before getting up and following Chuck up the stairs to their dormitory.