The afternoon before the day of the dance, Hermione and Ginny, along with Draco and Ginny's boyfriend, David Connerton, sat in the library. The two girls were talking about who they would go with to the ball, while Draco and David sat on the other side of the table, pretending to study.
"Oh let me take a wild guess who you're going with," Hermione said, pretending to think on it. "I think I have it! Could it be...that you're going with David?"
Ginny laughed. "Actually...no. He hasn't asked me yet." She coughed lightly and shot a glare at her boyfriend, who looked up sheepishly from his book.
"I'll get right on that," he responded.
"You'd better," she said jokingly. "I think this one Ravenclaw has his eye on me. I might consider going to the ball with him if my boyfriend doesn't ask me."
Meanwhile, Hermione was watching Draco for any signs that he was listening into the conversation. She smirked when she noticed something.
"Draco, dear, you must be very skilled to read that book upside-down."
When he realized that he was holding the book the wrong way, he looked up at her and flushed. She smiled sweetly. "Tell me what's on your mind."
"Nothing," he mumbled.
"You seem distracted," she pointed out. Inside, she was hoping that he would mention taking her to the masquerade.
"I'm not. I just have to read this book for Transfiguration," he replied smoothly.
Hermione arched an eyebrow, but shrugged and diverted her attention nonetheless.
"Hey Hermione, we're gonna leave now," Ginny spoke up. "I'll see you two later."
"Bye Ginny, David," Hermione replied, somewhat grateful that they were leaving. She wanted to be alone with Draco at the moment.
The couple said bye, then left.
Silence settled between the two remaining students. After a few minutes, Hermione cleared her throat. "So..." she said awkwardly.
Draco nodded, and put his book down. "There's, er, something I've been meaning to ask you..."
"Oh really? What's that?"
"Well...the Christmas Masquerade is coming up..."
"So I've heard."
He blushed again, and said, "I was wondering if you, erm..."
"Yes?" she prompted, though she knew perfectly well what he was going to ask.
"If you wanted to go to the ball with me," he blurted out.
She smiled. "Of course!"
"Really?" he said hopefully. "I mean...yeah, but don't make a big deal out of it or anything. Consider yourself lucky to be going with me, Granger."
Hermione rolled her eyes at his attempts to save himself. "Okay well if it's that much trouble for you to be taking lowly me to the ball, I suppose I'll go ask Harry if he wants to go with me."
"No! Fine, I admit defeat," he finally said, laughing.
"I know you too well, Malfoy," she replied, giggling as well. Leaning over she pecked him on the cheek then stood up. "I'm going to go now. I'll see you tomorrow night." With a final wink, she walked away, leaving an extremely elated Draco sitting alone.
Closing the door, Hermione conjured up a full-length mirror. The masquerade was in an hour, and she had not yet begun to get ready. Standing in front of the mirror, she stripped down to her undergarments, then looked thoughtfully at her reflection.
She reached into her trunk and extracted a neatly folded, silk dress. Performing an unwrinkling charm on it, she shook it out and smiled at it. Her parents had sent her the dress a few days ago when she'd informed them of the upcoming dance. It had been imported from India, and was made of the softest and most expensive material that could be found in the Muggle world.
Hermione slipped on the flowing, strapless dress. She buttoned the two large, silver buttons on both sides, and smoothed the folds in the elegant skirt. Once she had laced up the strings in the back, she looked at her reflection again. A smile of satisfaction spread across her face - the gown was made for her. It hugged the curves of her body perfectly, not too tight but not too loose, and did her justice like no other garment of clothing could. The pure white fabric glowed, and the chocolate-coloured roses that had been stitched onto the neckline and hemline brought out the rich shade of her hair and eyes. She pulled on the elbow-length gloves that accompanied the gown, then twirled around, giggling like a little girl. I feel like a princess.
Once she had applied some eyeliner and mascara, she moved onto her hair. Sighing, she got to work. When she had tamed her locks to the best of her ability, she twisted them into a complicated knot - something her aunt had taught her when she was younger - at the top of her head, letting a few loose tendrils frame her face.
The last step was to put on the mask. She rummaged around in her trunk, trying to find it. Finally, she pulled it out. As she looked at it in the light, she couldn't help but think to herself how beautiful it was. It covered only the eyes, and was the exact shade of brown as the roses on her dress. White sparkles created intricate designs along the edges of it, glinting as she charmed it to magically stay over her eyes.
There, she thought happily as she looked into the mirror.
"Draco, are you ready?" she called out through her door.
"Yeah, one second," he grunted back. Moments later, he opened the door. Upon laying his eyes on his date, he let out an audible gasp.
"What is it?" Hermione asked worriedly. She looked down at herself, afraid that there was something along the lines of a tear or stain on her dress.
"No, there's nothing wrong," Draco quickly added. "It's just that...you look stunning."
Hermione blushed. "Thanks," she murmured. "Muggle clothes suit you," she added with a grin.
Although Draco looked uncomfortable in his dark green tuxedo, Hermione thought he looked incredibly handsome. His hair, for once, was loose around his face, and it suited him. The mask he wore was black, and like Hermione's, covered only the top half of his face. It was simple and had no designs on it, but gave him an air of mystery and passion that made Hermione's heartbeat quicken.
He rolled his eyes. "Enough of the teasing, Granger." Standing up, he approached her, holding an arm out as he did. "May I walk the fair lady to the Great Hall?" he asked with an exaggerated accent.
"But of course," she replied, taking his offered arm.
The two students strolled down to the Great Hall, or, for the night, the ball room, in silence. The moment they entered, Hermione gasped. The decorations that had been put up for the night were incredible.
In the center of the Great Hall-turned-Winter Wonderland stood a giant ice sculpture of a mask. Delicate, paper snowflakes drifted down from the ceiling; upon landing on the ground, these turned into real snow which, Hermione found as she leaned down to touch it, was not cold nor wet. Bells tinkled merrily in the distance, and the walls were covered in ice which gleamed in the faint light of a single chandelier.
Couples danced in the center of the room. All of them wore masks, some which covered half of the face and some which covered all of it. Each student looked different from the next, and it intrigued Hermione, who was used to seeing everyone dressed in the exact same school robes.
"This room looks wonderful," she said dreamily.
"It's okay," drawled Draco from beside her.
She slapped him gently on the shoulder. "Oh shut up, you know you love it."
Just then, Harry and Lavender, Ron and his date, Ana, and Ginny and David walked by. Both Harry and Ron brushed past Hermione without saying a word. As Ginny and her date passed by, she gave her older friend an apologetic shrug and said, "I'll talk to them later."
Hermione smiled gratefully before complimenting Ginny on her dress and saying she would see her later.
"Come on, lets dance," Draco said from beside her. Taking her gloved hand in his, he pulled her onto the dance floor. The began to dance to the slow song that was playing. Soon, the majority of the other couples stopped to watch the Head Girl and Head Boy dance. Whispers of curiousity spread around the room; everyone was shocked to see two people who were supposed to be arch-rivals dancing with each other.
On the other hand, Hermione and Draco were both oblivious to the attention they had drawn. They were each getting lost in the other's arms, moving across the ball room as if the only two things that mattered at the moment were each other and the music. With his hands placed gently on her waist and her arms around his neck, they let themselves surrender to the soothing melody. In their minds, only their ears could hear it.
Completely forgetting that she was surrounded by hundreds of students, Hermione allowed herself to melt into Draco's arms. She lifted her face, locking his gaze with hers. The stormy grey eyes penetrated into hers, drilling down into her very soul. They were filled with love and desire, a look she had grown to claim as one that belonged to only herself. She felt her heart start beating fiercely against her chest as everything around them became a whirlwind of colours and shades.
Suddenly, Draco leaned down and murmured into her ear, "Lets go outside." She nodded breathlessly as he slowed the pace of their dancing so that he could gracefully take her hand and lead her out to the garden.
Once they had stepped into the chilly night air, the pair sat down on a stone bench behind a rose bush. The moon shone brightly above them, unmarred by clouds, and gave the night a feeling of serenity.
At first, neither of them said anything. Hermione's head was still reeling from her experience on the dance floor, and Draco was examining the white roses on the bush behind him with great interest.
Gently, he plucked one off, careful to avoid the thorns. "You know, Hermione," he said softly as he ran his finger along one of the soft petals. "This rose is so much like you."
She looked at him in surprise. "What do you mean?"
"On first glance, it's breathtakingly beautiful. However, you have to watch out because it's not as innocent and pure as you believe it to be. It can hurt you easily if you misplace one finger. On the other hand, you can also crush it just as easily -" he pulled a petal off "- with one tug."
"Did I ever hurt you?" she asked tentatively.
"More than you'll ever know or understand."
"How?"
"It doesn't matter," he said, breaking off the stem of the rose. "It's over and done with, and not even the pain can overcome the beauty."
Tears glimmered in Hermione's eyes as she asked, "What can I do to make it up?"
"You've already done all you can do," Draco said quietly. "You've helped me remember how to love, and how to open my heart again." Carefully, he laid the rose on the palm of her hand, making sure not to harm it in any way. "And for that, I'll never crush you."
Hermione was so moved by his words that she was left speechless. At last, she gave the rose back to Draco. "Then you can have me." Tilting her head up, she kissed him softly. "I love you."
He smiled sadly, and replied, "I love you too."
[A/N: Since so many people asked me in the reviews how Hermione hurt him, here's my answer: go read over chapter 11, the one where Hermione reads the letter he wrote to her. Near the end of it, Draco mentions why. And he smiled sadly because when she said, "Then you can have me," he knew that he was putting her life in danger by bringing her into his. Hopefully that'll clear some things up. If anyone else has questions, feel free to ask them and I'll answer them here.]