Chapter 2
Yule Ball - 4th Year
The whole night had been beautiful and magical and fun, and now everything was shite.
The ache in her chest was mirrored by her embarrassment at crying on the stairs as people leaving the ball slowly filtered by her, some not even being careful to not step on her. The tears ran down her cheeks because Ronald Weasley was an unbelievable git and had insulted her in every possible way. Her charmed makeup was still impeccably done, more waterproof than any muggle products her mother had ever used. Staring at the periwinkle fabric of her dress, she tried to figure out how the night had gone so wrong when everything had started out so lovely. Dancing with Viktor had been beautiful, and he had been an attentive date, saying goodnight just moments before Ron had turned up calling her a traitor and showing what a ridiculous jealous tosser he was.
As if she would ever want to have anything to do with him romantically. He had the emotional depth of a teaspoon. If she was going to date a Weasley, it would be Fred or George, certainly not the boy who ignored his date and then treated his so-called best friend so shabbily. She was wiping at her face, trying to stop her tears, when a voice said, "Excuse me, Granger?"
Hermione looked up to see the sapphire blue eyes of Theodore Nott looking down at her as he sat on the step and swept his chestnut curls out of his eyes, a shy smirk on his face. "I couldn't help but notice that the belle of the ball was crying, and I was wondering if you might be willing to have a different end to your night?" He reached his hand out for hers and she hesitated.
"What did you have in mind, Nott?" She asked, suspicious of the Slytherin boy's intentions. Her interactions with Nott prior to now had been limited to the classes they shared. She knew that he was one of Malfoy's friends only because he followed him around like a lost bloody puppy. Though he never went out of his way to pick on her, he did always laugh when Malfoy would make a joke about her looks or when she'd raise her hand in class. Why would he want her to go somewhere with him? Why did she want to go? Because she did, something about him was drawing her like the pull of the forbidden.
He rubbed the back of his neck above his immaculate dress robes. "It's a surprise, but I promise it's a nice one. I'll even take a wizard's vow, if that will help anything, that I won't let anything unpleasant happen to you...," Nott trailed off nervously. "I am not quite as brave as a Gryffindor, but I am trying it out tonight." He smiled at her so sweetly, showing off a left dimple that she'd never seen on him before during any of their interactions. Well, this evening couldn't get much worse and now she was painfully curious about her surprise. He can't embarrass me anymore than Ronald already has.
"I probably ought to take you up on that vow, but lead on Macduff," Hermione said, gingerly putting her hand into his for the very first time.