Hello, my lovely readers! I can't believe this story is coming to an end!! Two days ago, I finished writing the rough draft of the epilogue. I was about to cry. Ok, that was a lie. I usually don't cry. But i was really, really sad =(
For anyone who cares, there are four chapters left after this chapter, followed by an epilogue.
Oh, there is another song in this chapter. (Not mine obviously, I sing worse than Hagrid) It is on the side. I mixed Adam Young's version with Taylor Swift's version and ended up with the version I used in the story, so the version in the story might be a bit different from the one on the side. And I couldn't find a Dramione version, so I put a Harry/Luna version...weird paring...
And a picture of Hermione and Draco is on the side as well >>>>>>>>>
BTW, this is my longest chapter so far!!!
Enjoy!
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“Perhaps if we saw what was ahead of us, and glimpsed the follies, and misfortunes that would befall us later on, we would all stay in our mother's wombs, and then there would be nobody in the world but a great number of very fat, very irritated women.”
― Lemony Snicket
From the other end of the room, Draco was watching their exchange curiously. In fact, he had been watching Hermione from the second she and Ginny had walked in. She looked so breathtakingly beautiful; he couldn’t seem to take his eyes off of her.
After confirming his suspicious that the Weasel had failed to show up, he, quite heartlessly, abandoned his date and began making his way towards the group.
“Potter, Ginny, Hermione,” Draco drawled as he neared them. He felt as if he had walked in on a wrong moment, for Harry was looking as if he had just murdered someone, Ginny looked as if she was going to murder someone, and Hermione looked as if she was the one who was murdered.
“Malfoy,” Harry replied politely, or as politely as a Potter could ever speak to a Malfoy.
“So. Awkward silence,” Draco stated trying to break the tension. When that didn’t work, he turned to Hermione. “You ended up dateless too, eh?”
“Yeah—wait, what happened to…uh…what’s her name…Sarah?” Hermione asked confusedly as she looked around.
“I believe her name was Meghan,” Draco replied thoughtfully.
“Her name is Ashley,” Ginny replied dryly.
“Close enough,” Draco replied. “Anyways. She found something better to do. So I guess it’s the two of us. Again.”
“Again,” Ginny replied in a strange tone, staring directly at Hermione, who blushed furiously.
“What is it with you Gryffindors’?” Draco asked as he glanced at the three grim faces surrounding him. “I feel like I’m attending a funeral!”
“Malfoy is right,” Harry added, shocking everyone within hearing range. “Look, even Mr. Filch is having more fun than us.”
Indeed, sadly enough, Mr. Filch was twirling around the room with Ms. Prince.
“I always knew they were getting it on in the restricted section of the library,” Harry added causing everyone to burst into laughter. Trying to maintain a serious face, he added, “I mean why else would she get so worked up if we wanted to go into the restricted section?”
The rest of the ball was passed in similar fashion, filled with dancing, joking, laughing, and general merriment.
Well, that’s how it was for everyone other than Ms. Hermione Granger.
No matter how hard she tried, she could not enjoy the evening like everyone around her. A dark curtain of gloom had fallen over her. Halfway through the ball, she became too unhappy to keep up her façade of happiness. Glancing around and making sure no one would notice her absence, not that she had to worry since Ginny and Harry were in their little world of oblivion and Draco had snuck off into a corridor with a giggling Hufflepuff, she slipped out of the Great Hall and made her way up to the Heads Common Room.
Halfway through the portrait of Sir Calhoun that was the enterance to the common room, she changed her mind, much to the great annoyance of Sir Calhoun, and headed to the fifth corridor on the east wing instead.
Upon reaching the corridor, she ducked under the extremely ugly tapestry that hung on the east wall and entered into the secret passageway she had discovered a few days ago when she was looking for a shortcut to the Ancient Runes classroom. She leaned against the wall as sobs racked her body, and slowly slid sown to the floor, letting tears of disappointment stream down her face.
She had been crying for a good ten minutes, on the verge of crying herself a river, when the tapestry was lifted and a tall figure walked in.
Hermione’s hopes, which had risen, fell back down when she realized that the tall figure had a shock of platinum blonde hair.
Draco, after staring at Hermione for a few seconds, came and sat next to her on the floor.
“Not afraid to ruin your favorite Armani suit?” Hermione asked through her tears.
Instead of answering, Draco put his arms around her, and she buried her head in his shoulder and resumed crying.
“On second thought, as long as you don’t blow your nose on my suit, I’m fine,” Draco added causing Hermione to snort and start laughing.
“You know, I have never imagined that I’d spend my last ball at Hogwarts like this,” Hermione said quietly.
“Really?!” Draco asked in mock surprise. “I always imagined spending tonight sitting on a hard floor, possibly bruising my beautiful arse, in some random secret passageway.”
Hermione gave him a look that clearly said, “You just stole my thunder.”
“I always imagined that I’d be wearing a really pretty dress, waltzing around the Great Hall with the love of my life, who’d propose to me exactly as the clock strikes midnight,” Hermione elaborated with a sigh.
Draco pretended to gag. “You sound like a demented fireplace girl. Can’t really remember her name. The one that sounds like a disease.”
“You mean Cinderella?” Hermione offered.
“Yes,” Draco replied before amending, “You sound like a demented Cinderella.”
“And here I am, in a random secret passageway with a man-whore Slytherin,” Hermione finished, glaring at Draco.
“You might not want to say that sentence aloud in front of your gossipy Gryffindors. Especially with the rumors that have been floating around…” Draco trailed off with a smirk.
“Oh, great. You have heard them too?” Hermione asked with a groan.
“I think everyone has,” Draco replied with a smirk. “Did you happen to hear the one about the prefect’s bathroom by any chance?”
“Yes,” Hermione groaned. “What kind of people comes up with stuff like that?”
“That on in particular was the brainchild of a beautiful Slytherin,” Draco informed Hermione. “Namely me.”
“You…you spread that?!” Hermione screeched.
“Yep,” Draco replied, popping the p. “Rumors are going to be spread anyways, might as well have some fun.”
“That’s one way of looking at it,” Hermione grumbled.
“Let’s see…How about as an early birthday present and payment for lying to McGonagall for me about that prank I pulled on the Hufflepuffs, I’ll make your dream, which is quite pathetic in my opinion, come partially true,” Draco proposed.
“Huh?” Hermione asked confusedly.
“Pretty dress…I suppose yours will have to do,” Draco said with a smirk as he ticked off on this fingers the things Hermione imagined would happen tonight. “Love of your life who will propose to you at twelve…sorry, books can’t dance, nor can they propose, so can’t do that.”
“You are unbelievably rude,” Hermione grumbled.
“My pleasure,” Draco replied before continuing. “Waltzing around the Great Hall…I think I have a better alternative.”
“Whoa! No. It’s fine. You don’t have to waste your evening because my date failed to show up,” Hermione replied rationally.
“Hermione, for once in your life, shut up and follow me.”
“Rude,” Hermione glared at him, yet rose to follow him.
“You say it like it’s a bad thing,” Draco smirked as he began walking up towards the tapestry depicting Barnabas the Barmy trying to teach trolls ballet. He stopped there, pulled out his wand, and a silver dragon erupted from the tip of it and took off, racing down the corridor.
“What was that for?” Hermione asked, staring after the Dragon.
“Nothing,” Draco replied, focusing on the empty wall ahead of him.
Even though she was quite unsatisfied with the answer, Hermione turned her attention to the empty wall in front of her. “The Room of Requirements?” she questioned.
Instead of answering, Draco began pacing in front of the wall, concentrating hard. Soon the wall began shifting, and an intricately carved door appeared on it.
“That should be it!” Draco exclaimed. “Come on!”
Hermione followed Draco into the room and instantly gasped in surprise. The Room of Requirements had transformed itself into a perfect replica of the magnificent canals of Venice, Italy.
“How did you know it could do this?” Hermione asked in awe as she spun around in a circle, taking in her surroundings.
“I used to come here a lot during…ah…during sixth and seventh year,” Draco replied quietly. “So what do you want to do? We can roam around or eat or—“
“You can’t make food appear in here,” Hermione lectured. “According to Ga—“
“Gamp’s Law of Elemental Transfiguration,” Draco cut in. “Yes, I know. You are not the only person in the world who has taken McGonagall’s transfiguration class, you know. Anyways, I just happen to be in good terms with the Hogwarts house elves. That’s what the patronus was for actually.”
“You in good terms with house elves? That is shocking,” Hermione replied skeptically before her face lit up with excitement. “Ooooh! Let’s go exploring! So, is this an exact replica of the water ways of Venice? Because on the fifteenth---“
Draco suppressed a smile as Hermione began sprouting off facts about Venice, a sure indicator that she was slowly beginning to forget about the disastrous evening and starting to enjoy the night.
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As the two of them finished the last bits of the delicious Italian food the house elves had prepared for them, Draco declared, “It’s five minutes till midnight, the last dance must be starting.”
He stood up and brushed off imaginary specks of non-existent dust from his favorite Armani suit, before offering his hand to Hermione. In a very posh manner, he asked, “May I have the next dance, Miss Granger?”
“Yes, you may, Mr. Malfoy,” Hermione replied trying to keep a straight face.
As the music started playing, they began dancing, twirling across the streets of Venice bordering the canals under the bright moonlight and the dim glows of the occasional street lamps.
There I was again tonight, forcing laughter faking smiles
Same old tired lonely place
Walls of insecurity
Shifting eyes and vacancy, vanished when I saw your face
All I can say that it was enchanting to meet you
Hermione and Draco had, both, assumed that this was the song playing in the great hall and the Room of Requirements was projecting it into the room. It wasn’t until much later did they realize that the Room of Requirements had plans of its own for that night.
Your eyes whispered “Have we met?”
Across the room your silhouette, starts to make it’s way to me
The playful conversation starts
Counter all your quick remarks, like passing notes in secrecy
And it was enchanting to meet you
All I can say is I was enchanted to meet you
As they twirled around Venice, they made the grave mistake of glancing into each other’s eyes.
This night is sparkling, don’t you let it go
I’m Wonderstruck, blushing all the way home
I’ll spend forever, wondering if you knew
I was enchanted to meet you
Once their gazes locked, it seemed as if they could not look away. They were mesmerized. Captivated. Hypnotized. They were Wonderstruck.
The lingering question kept me up
2 a.m. who do you love
I wonder till I’m wide awake
Now I’m pacing back and forth, wishing you were at my door
I’d open up and you would say
It was enchanting to meet you
All I know is I was enchanted to meet you
Hermione was planning on saying something, anything really, in order to break their gaze. But before she could even think of something to say, she was lost in Draco’s stormy grey eyes. She noticed, for the first time, the specks of blue in them.
This night is sparkling, don’t you let it go
I’m Wonderstruck, blushing all the way home
I’ll spend forever, wondering if you knew
This night is flawless, don’t you let it go
I’m Wonderstruck, dancing around all alone
I’ll spend forever, wondering if you knew
I was enchanted to meet you
She had seen them flaring with anger, she had seen them flickering towards her time to time with a mischievous look, she had seen them glitter when he laughed, but never had she ever seen such a look in Draco Malfoy’s eyes before as he was sporting now.
This is me praying that this was the very first page
Not where the story like ends
My thoughts will echo your name, until I see you again
There are the words I held back, as I was leaving to soon
I was enchanted to meet you
Draco felt as if he was mesmerized by Hermione’s warm chocolaty brown eyes. He felt drawn to Hermione in a way he had never before experienced.
In fact, both of them were so engrossed in their little staring contest, that neither noticed the clumps of mistletoe that began materializing throughout the Room of Requirements.
Please don’t be in love with someone else
Please don’t have somebody waiting on you
Hermione was so caught up in the moment that it seemed to her that she herself had sang the last verse. With each note, Draco felt his resolve weaken. His façade began to slip with each step. His cold heart began to thaw with each twirl.
I was never in love with someone else
I never had somebody waiting on me
‘Cause you were al of my dreams come true
And I just wish you knew
Hermione, I was so in love with you
It suddenly came to Draco that what he had been trying to do all year, ever since they day they brew amortenia in potions, was fruitless. He realized that there was only so long he could keep his feelings to himself. So he did the first thing that came to his mind. He leaned down and kissed her.
To his extreme surprise, Hermione, instead of pushing him back and cursing him or punching him, or doing all three simultaneously, kissed him back.
If they were not so caught up in their snog session, they might have noticed the perfect bunch of mistletoe hanging above their heads.
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Hermione waited all night for Draco to say something about what happened. But, to her great disappointment, Draco skirted around the topic as if he was Ron and the topic was the long deceased Aragog’s descendents.
At first he seemed to be in shock. Then he began pretending that nothing had happened. Following his lead, Hermione did the same, hiding the disappointment deep inside of her until its presence was unnoticeable.
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The next morning, if 2 a.m. can be classified as morning, Hermione woke to a tapping noise issuing from somewhere in her room. In her sleepy state, the first thing that came to her drowsy mind was that she had failed her last Transfiguration exam and Professor McGonagall had come to expel her.
Her racing heart calmed when she realized that the noise was issuing from her window where Draco’s owl, Athena, was vigorously tapping the glass with her beak.
Grumbling about a stupid idiot sending mail at ungodly hours, Hermione reluctantly rose from her four poster bed and made her way toward the window to let the bird in.
After giving Athena an owl treat, she began reading the note.
Meet me under the tree by the Black Lake at nine. It’s urgent. –DM
As soon as she read the letter, Hermione’s heart began racing. “Maybe he’s going to say something about last night!” she thought excitedly, as a smile lit her face. Suddenly the smile wiped off of her face as she recalled the unpleasant events of the night before.
“I shouldn’t be thinking such thoughts,” Hermione scolded herself mentally. “I have a boyfriend. I have a boyfriend who I love dearly. A boyfriend who loves me back. Granted that he didn’t come to the ball yesterday, despite how much I told him I wanted him to come, and he doesn’t always reply my letters, and had been avoiding me lately, we still love each other,” she told herself.
The other part of her brain, the one with the little red horns, asked, “But if Draco had said he loved you, would you have left Ron?”
“Eh…” mumbled the rational part.
“It’s a yes or no question,” smirked the stubborn side.
“There is no point in asking such questions. There is no way that Draco would ever say something like that. It’s Draco Malfoy after all,” replied the rational side, finding a loop hole in the question.
“But what if he did,” the stubborn side countered.
Thus Hermione spent the remainder of the morning arguing with herself.
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As the clock on her bedside table chimed eight times, Hermione decided to stop arguing with herself and began getting ready for the day.
By the time she had showered, dressed, and got her backpack, it was already 8:45. Mentally scolding herself for wasting so much time arguing with herself, she ran down the stairs, two at a time, eager to get to the tree on time.
As she ran by the Great Hall, the delicious smell of breakfast wafted towards her, causing her stomach to rumble loudly. She decided to run in and grab a poppy seed muffin before going to meet Draco.
Little did she know that one little poppy seed muffin would alter her life so irrevocably.
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Hope you guys liked that! Especially the cliff hanger *insert smirk* What do you think will happen? How do you think that one little poppy seed muffin will alter her life?
I kind of have a lot of things going on in the next two weeks. Mainly an eight page research paper, one math exam, one biology exam, and three AP exams. So I can't do early updates right now...But I promise, that after the 16th, I'll start back up with the early updates =)
So the next update will be on next saturday.
Please vote, comment, and fan. I love reading your comments. Especially the long/quirky ones =)