Masquerade - A Dramione Short Story

Part 4

After he helped her with her mask, he led her back inside and she pulled his jacket off her shoulders. "Thanks again for letting me borrow this."

"Think nothing of it," He said with a smile as he held his drink out. "Hold this, please?"

She took it as he took his jacket from her and pulled it on, buttoning it and then taking his glass back. He took a quick drink before setting his glass on a nearby table and gesturing towards the other couples dancing. "Shall we?"

Hermione nodded, taking a drink as well and setting her glass next to his before taking his offered hand and letting him lead her through the crowd. She ignored the glances and whispers that followed them, and Draco ignored them as well as he focused on keeping Hermione smiling.

They stopped on the edge of the dance floor and Draco turned to face her, gently pulling her against him and wrapping an arm around her waist. She placed a hand on his shoulder and smiled up at him as he slowly began dancing in time with the music.

"Never thought I would be dancing with Draco Malfoy," She said, laughing slightly.

"Really?" He asked in a playfully hurt tone. "You never once thought about what it would be like to dance with me?"

"Oh, like you ever thought about dancing with me," She fired back with a smirk.

Surprisingly he didn't answer, instead smiling down softly at her. She blinked and stared up at him before asking, "Have you?"

He shrugged and said, "I'll admit, that night at the Yule Ball you definitely caught me off guard."

"Oh Merlin," She groaned. "Why that night?"

"Well that was the first night you looked..."

"Beautiful?" She said, raising an eyebrow.

"You were always beautiful but that was a different kind of beautiful," He said.

Her jaw dropped slightly and she felt her face heat up, causing him to grin. "Well that was an unexpected reaction."

"How did you expect me to react?" She asked.

"Well now that you put me on the spot, I don't know," He laughed. "I wasn't expecting you to blush that much though."

"I'm not blushing," She muttered, looking away.

"Oh hush, Granger, you know you are," He teased. "Besides, it's adorable."

She couldn't hold back a smile at this and he smiled in return as they continued to dance in silence. He pulled her ever so slightly closer and felt her readjust her hand to move further up his shoulder towards the crook of his neck as her forearm rested against him now.

"Did you really think I was always beautiful?" She asked then in a quiet voice, avoiding his eyes.

"I believe so; it just took me a while to admit it to myself," He said truthfully.

She smiled more before laughing suddenly, causing him to give her a confused look. "Ginny's seen us."

His eyes widened and he asked, "I'm not going to get hexed, am I?"

"I'll protect you, don't worry," She said, patting his chest with a grin.

"Somehow I don't feel better about this," He said, looking around to see the red head in question staring at the two of them while saying something to her husband. "Fantastic, looks like Potter's about to join the party as well."

"Don't worry about Harry; be worried about Ginny," She laughed.

"Thanks, you're simply wonderful at comforting people," He muttered, causing her to laugh again as she pulled him away from the floor.

He noticed that she didn't take her hand away from his as they went back to grab their drinks, and he smiled slightly at this before realizing that she was now leading him straight towards Mister and Misses Potter.

"We were wondering where you went off to," Ginny said in a noticeably light tone as she looked down at their clasped hands.

"I'm sorry, I had a small breakdown that I didn't want anyone to see," Hermione said with a shrug, shocking Draco with how blunt she was with Ginny.

This seemed to be a normal thing though as Ginny nodded and then gestured towards a corner. "Can I talk to you for a moment?"

"Of course!" Hermione looked back at Draco with a smile and squeezed his hand before letting go and lacing her arm with Ginny's to be led away.

"Well, this is a surprise," Harry said then, gesturing towards Draco with his glass.

"I have to agree," Draco nodded. "How are things, Potter?"

"Very well!" Harry held out a hand and was somewhat surprised when Draco took it but they quickly released and Harry asked, "How about yourself? Things going well with the business?"

"Thankfully, yes," Draco said, taking a drink and glancing over at Hermione who seemed to be getting grilled by Ginny.

"Alright, what's going on?" Ginny asked, crossing one arm against her chest and resting her elbow on top of it, holding her drink up next to her face. "You disappear suddenly for a while and then later come back happy as ever while holding hands with Draco Malfoy of all people?"

"I know it's odd," Hermione said, smiling. "I was completely caught off guard too. But he was behind me in the bar line, bought my drink, and then when I started having my breakdown he followed me and made sure I was alright. He gave me his jacket to wear, made me laugh...he was just a complete gentleman!"

Ginny chewed on her lip and glanced back to the blond in question before looking back at Hermione. "I'm just worried about you; you are recovering from a horrible breakup and just learned new information tonight. I don't want you to head straight into a rebound relationship."

"Whoa whoa whoa," Hermione said, holding a hand up. "I never said anything about getting into a relationship with Draco. I'm just having a good time with him."

Ginny scowled at her friend. "You know what I mean."

"I'm not going to do anything rash with Draco," Hermione said reassuringly. "Honestly all we've done is dance. He has not indicated in any way, shape, or form that he would like to do anything else."

"Do you want him to?" Ginny asked then with a raised eyebrow.

Hermione opened and closed her mouth, caught off guard by this question. "Um...I'm not sure. I mean, he admitted that he always thought I was beautiful..."

Ginny's eyes went wide. "Really? Wait, do you like him?"

"Kind of," Hermione admitted, glancing back towards Draco who was deep in conversation with Harry. "Like I said, he's been a gentleman for absolutely no reason tonight."

"While that's definitely admirable, I wouldn't put everything on that," Ginny said. "I'm not telling you not to have fun, but...just be careful, okay?"

"Of course!" Hermione said, smiling at Ginny. "I'm not expecting anything from this; I just want to have a good night."

"You definitely deserve that after the week you've had," Ginny smiled in return. "And you know what? I don't even care if it's with Malfoy; he already seems more caring than my own brother in a matter of, what? Half an hour?"

Hermione laughed and the two of them made their way back to Harry and Draco.