Bad timing, Draco scolded himself silently. The music that seemed so casual and cheerful seconds ago was turning into a slow, deliberate tone as Nymphadora and Lupin joined their dancing guests. That's not how he planned to dance with Hermione, he hadn't planned on dancing with her at all! But when he declined her invitation she turned her back and walked away without a backward glance then he heard her call for Weasly and this settled the matter for him.

Hermione looked up at him for a minute and it seemed like they were both having second thoughts. That minute vanished the moment he reached for her waist. She felt like she had been thrown back in time to the previous night. Malfoy reached for her hand and held it up and her other hand slid up his arm and rested at his shoulder. Their steps followed the music silently.

"How's your arm?" Hermione asked, desperate to break the silence.

"A lot better; almost healed." he replied. She nodded slightly in reply.

Silence returned again as Hermione couldn't find anything to say. "Is that the best you could do, Granger?" Malfoy finally spoke.

"What?" Hermione frowned at him

In response, he slid his hand to the small of her back, pulling her closer to him until she had to raise her head to look directly at him.

"Better." he nodded in approval.

Hermione glanced around her and noticed several eyes were looking at them.

"People are...watching." Hermione remarked uneasily.

"Let's give them a show, then." he smiled at her impishly.

Before she could ask what that meant, Hermione's feet weren't touching the ground. Malfoy was holding her by the waist and lifting her up. Surprised by the sudden movement, Hermione clutched his shoulders for support. He twirled and the room blurred before Hermione's eyes. She looked down at him and his eyes were gleaming wickedly.

He lowered her to the floor and her legs didn't seem to cooperate with her. She was no longer aware of the people around them, just of the boy who was too close for her own good. The dance ended too soon for Hermione's liking. They stood for a moment, each of them looking at the other intently.

"I'm glad I changed my mind" Malfoy whispered, his lips brushing against her ear, before stepping away and walking back to the corner he was standing in.

As Hermione walked away, she almost bumped into Harry who was standing next to Ginny. They were both staring at her, Harry's mouth was slightly open while Ginny studied her intently. But then Hermione realized she was the subject of many other stares...and a glare from Ron's direction.
Harry mumbled something and went to talk to Hagrid.

"Well?" Ginny asked as soon as Harry left.

"What?" Hermione asked in confusion.

"I don't know but it seems to me like Malfoy just swept you off your feet. Literally and metaphorically speaking. So, care to explain?" Ginny demanded.

"You're reading too much into this, it was just a dance." Hermoine shrugged and nearly ran away from Ginny before she could argue further.

It was past midnight when the last of the guests had left. Molly-being the sort of people who would always have the last word in an argument- had prepared a room for Malfoy. It was a small room full of clutter and she took some time to tidy it up and. It ended up with a decent bed and a chair. Malfoy though, didn't seem to care about the contents of the room. He thought that the fact that it had a door that closed, made it perfect for him.

"Does anybody else hear that noise?" Bill asked suddenly and everybody went silent, waiting to hear the noise he was talking about, for a minute, nothing happened then they heard a loud thud coming from upstairs

Lupin was the first to move. Everybody grabbed their wands and headed upstairs, the noise was coming from the small room Malfoy was in.
As they got closer to Malfoy's room, the noise increased, Hermione could hear Malfoy's voice. Lupin tried opening the door but it wouldn't, so he ordered everybody to step back and pointed his wand at the door, he muttered something under his breath and the door burst open.

What Hermione saw next horrified her, Malfoy was on the bed, his shirt unbuttoned, full of creases and his sleeves rolled up. But what caught her -and everybody's- eye was his arm, the mark on his arm was glowing furiously, it looked like the snake that had been branded into his arm, was moving. His veins throbbed violently.

Suddenly he let out a loud groan and started writhing on the bed in pain. Hermione retreated to a corner in the room, her eyes never leaving the body on the bed.

"Remus, what's happening?" Mrs. Weasly was the first to speak

"I think it's the dark mark." Lupin stated the obvious. "What is wrong?" He asked but Draco just groaned louder, pushing his face into the pillows.

"Nothing important_"Draco muttered "_just another meeting."

"And your mark is...umm..burning because you're not in that meeting?"Tonks asked, Draco nodded faintly in reply.

"Then go!" she said.

"Can't..I'm supposed to be on a mission." Draco answered. "Just get out." he ordered in a barely audible voice.

"OUT! GET OUT! ALL OF YOU...NOW!" Draco thundered, and just like a child unable to control his magic, the window started opening and then closing violently before the lamp that sat at his bedside table exploded into pieces. He gave an agonized cry before shouting again "JUST GO!"

For a minute, Lupin looked intently at the boy and part of him related to what he was feeling.

"I don't think there's anything we could do, it will eventually come to an end, let's leave." He said decisively, pushing Mrs. Weasly gently out of the room as she was the most reluctant one to leave. The rest of the people who occupied the small space of the room, followed silently. Lupin looked back and saw Hermione standing silently in a corner.

"Hermione, let's go." he said quietly, and she snapped her head at him as if he just brought her back from a far place.

"Yes, I'll be right after you." she mumbled distractedly and with that, Lupin left the room, closing the door behind him.

Hermione looked at Draco who now looked directly at her, his eyes glistening.

"Get. Out." he barked at her, pushing his head back, his chest rising up and then falling back down to the bed. His left arm, the one with the mark, was stretched on the bed, his hand clenched into a fist so tight she thought he was going to break his thumb. While his right arm grabbed at the covers tightly. His veins were throbbing visibly.

Finally, Hermione turned around from Malfoy and walked to the door, as she started to open the door she heard him whimper "Stay_" it was almost a whisper and it sounded so desperate but it was all she needed to hear. Hermione raised her wand, whispered a charm at the door to lock it then turned around, picked up the chair that sat in the corner of the room and put it next to the bed.

"If..if...he isn't expecting you to be present in that meeting then why is he summoning you?" Hermione frowned in confusion.

Draco let out a muffled grunt, a mix of pain and frustration at being asked so many questions.

"He's not summoning me_" he paused to take a deep breath "_he doesn't choose, everybody with a mark..is summoned..whether they're supposed to attend or not."

"When does it stop then?" Hermione grimaced. Voldemort had taken psychopathy to a whole new level.

"When the meeting ends" Malfoy muttered after a long moment of silence.

Sitting on the chair, she noticed that Malfoy wasn't writhing anymore, he was just trembling slightly now, "Did it stop?" she asked hopefully.

"No, it ebbs and flows" he shook his head.

Hermione looked at him as he closed his eyes, he looked paler than he originally was, sweat was covering his face and her hand almost moved in a now familiar motion to wipe the sweat off, but she had learnt her lesson well. So she just put her hands in her lap and watched as waves of pain came and went.

Ginny walked down the stairs, she had gotten very little sleep, after what happened in Malfoy's room everybody seemed disoriented and they all retired to their rooms. This night she slept in her room alone, she was worried about Hermione. She wasn't fooled by the 'just a dance' response she got from her friend yesterday. Still, the idea of anything happening between two people as opposite as Hermione and Malfoy seemed too impossible for her.

"Ginny dear, wake Hermione up, will you?" her mother interrupted her thoughts.

She went upstairs and tried opening the door but it wouldn't open, a sense of panic started crawling over her, what if he had done something to Hermione? She went back to her room, took her wand and then went back to Malfoy's room, whispering Alohamora at the door, wishing it doesn't burst noisily like it did the last night, and it didn't. The door opened with a brief squeak and Ginny's mouth fell opened at what she saw.

The bed looked like it was a war zone, but it was empty. In the corner of the room, Hermione sat on the floor, cross-legged, her head leaning against the wall, while Malfoy's head was nestled in her lap. One of Hermione's hands were on his chest, covered by his hand, while her other hand rested on his head. Ginny blinked rapidly to make sure this wasn't just her mind playing tricks on her. Then, she closed the door again and went back to the kitchen.