Draco adjusted his tie one last time as both he and Blaise hesitated outside of the Great Hall. They had arrived fashionably late after going back and forth about whether or not they actually wanted to go, since they were both concerned that the girls wouldn't want to see them. Pansy finally managed to convince them after she told them how they reacted to the notes on their gifts, but the two were still somewhat nervous.
"How do you think they're going to react once they see us?" Blaise asked quietly as he brushed off imaginary dust from his arm
"I have no idea," Draco muttered. "I wouldn't blame Hermione if she ignores me, since I've practically ignored her all week."
"I'll chalk it up to a successful night if Ginny doesn't hex me."
Draco laughed at that and clapped his friend on the shoulder. "I'll come visit you in the Hospital Wing if she does. Come on; no point in putting it off any longer."
They both turned the corner and walked into the Great Hall, immediately scanning the room for the girls. Draco managed to find Pansy and Theo on the outskirts of the crowd and he made a beeline for them since he couldn't find Hermione.
"It's about time you two showed up!" Pansy exclaimed when she saw them.
"Yeah, yeah," Draco said, waving her off and looking over the crowd. "Have you seen them yet?"
"Yeah, how could you miss them?" Pansy asked with a grin.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Blaise asked, raising an eyebrow.
Pansy simply nodded towards the crowd, and Draco and Blaise followed her eyes. They both immediately froze when they saw what Pansy was talking about, staring at the two women dancing without a care in the world.
Draco had never seen Hermione in anything like that dress. He wasn't sure what he was expecting her to wear, but it definitely wasn't that. He also was definitely not expecting it to be white.
"Wow," He breathed.
Blaise rubbed a hand over his mouth with a sigh as he watched Ginny. "Mate, I made the biggest mistake letting her go. What if she doesn't come back?"
"Well, only one way to find out," Draco said before taking a deep breath and making his way through the crowd towards the girls.
Blaise followed him with his eyes still on Ginny, his stomach a bundle of nerves. They both stopped just a few feet away and Hermione was the first to look up.
"Oh, hi Draco!" She laughed.
He was caught off guard by the pleasant greeting, but his stomach dropped when she froze and her smile slipped off her face as she looked up at him again. "Draco!"
Ginny looked up immediately and gasped when she saw Blaise, locking eyes with him. He wanted nothing more than to pull her to him and hold her close, but he didn't know how she would react to that and instead nodded his head towards the doors. "Can we talk?"
She nodded after a few moments and gave Hermione a terrified look before following Blaise out of the crowd, her head down. Hermione watched them leave before looking back at Draco and shrinking down slightly.
"We should probably talk too," Draco said, quieting his voice as the song ended.
Hermione nodded before looking up, realizing that a much slower song had started. The crowd began pairing off into couples and as she looked back at Draco, she saw that he was holding his hand out to her.
She gladly took it and couldn't help smiling as he gently pulled her into him, putting her hand on his chest as his arm snaked around her lower back and he squeezed her other hand. He took the lead, and she let him, thinking back to those nights where they had danced together in the East Wing during rounds.
"I'm sorry for walking out on our fight," She said quietly, looking up at him.
He squeezed her tightly against him and sighed. "I'm sorry for not talking to you sooner."
Then he gave her an odd look and asked, "Have you been drinking?"
She shrugged and gave him a lopsided grin. "Seamus snuck in some whiskey and I may have had a couple of drinks from his flask."
Draco sighed and shook his head. "No more for tonight."
Hermione rolled her eyes but smiled up at him, laying her head against his chest. "I missed you."
He smiled and held her tightly against him. "I missed you too. I've been way too stubborn and I really hope we can get past what happened."
"It was kind of a ridiculous fight anyway," Hermione muttered. "We weren't even fighting about our relationship."
"I know," He said. "I suppose we're both just too loyal to our friends for our own good."
She laughed slightly. "How about in the future we agree to just stay out of their problems?"
"That sounds perfect," He said, looking down at her. "So, are we alright?"
"That's up to you, I was the one who walked out on a fight," She said.
He smiled. "Well, I understand now why you were so upset about it, and for not realizing that sooner, I'm sorry."
She smiled back at him. "Thank you; I'm sorry too."
He squeezed her hand as she laid her head against his chest again, smiling when she felt his chin on the top of her head. He tried to ignore all of the looks and whispers that people were giving them, closing his eyes as they swayed back and forth to ignore them. He truly didn't care what they all thought; he was just happy to finally have her in his arms again.
For once, Blaise was the nervous one as he and Ginny made their way out of the Hall. He would cast glances over at her every so often, noticing that she was swaying as she walked but had a slight frown on her face.
"Where are we going?" She asked after a few minutes, looking around everywhere except at him.
"I just want to go somewhere where no one will try to eavesdrop," He said, leading her around a corner towards the empty classroom that they used to go to for lunches every so often.
She didn't answer, simply following him quietly. After making it to the classroom and shutting the door behind them, he turned around and put his hands in his pockets, sighing as he looked at her. She looked absolutely stunning in the dress, and he couldn't help but admire how well it accentuated her curves.
"So," She started quietly, grabbing his attention. "Are we going to talk?"
"Yeah, sorry I was just a little distracted," He said sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck.
He saw the tips of her ears turn pink and he smiled slightly before sighing. "I know I put a lot of pressure on you without really taking into consideration just how much this would affect you. That was selfish of me and I just wanted to say I'm sorry for that."
She stared at him in silence. After a few moments of her not saying anything, he shifted slightly and looked down at the floor. "I just wanted to say that I'm still going to be here when you end things with him, if you want me to be that is-"
"I've already done it."
He looked up quickly. "What?"
She nodded slightly. "Yeah. I sent the letter this past Sunday."
Blaise's eyes widened, and anything he had already prepared to say was thrown out of the window. "What...why didn't you say anything?!"
"Well you were avoiding me!" She exclaimed, gesturing towards him. "And I figured you didn't want to talk to me for a while!"
"Which was completely wrong of me but I wish you would've told me that you did that," He said sadly. "Could've spared us this entire week of avoiding each other if you had just told me."
"Well, I'm sorry that I had to go and mess everything up again," She said bitterly, walking past him towards the door.
"No, wait!" He turned and grabbed her arms gently, looking down at her. "Ginny, that's not at all what I meant."
"Well what did you mean?" She asked as her voice cracked.
"I wanted you to tell me when you broke up with him," Blaise said sadly. "Why did you wait to tell me that you sent the letter?"
"Because I was wanting to wait until I heard back from him to say anything," She explained, giving him a distressed look. "I didn't think you would think it was enough unless he agreed that the relationship was over."
He sighed and squeezed her arms. "But that's all I wanted. If you broke it off, then that would've been enough for me."
"Really?" She narrowed her eyes. "And what if he didn't want to break it off?"
"Well, then we would've figured that out," He said.
She blinked. "We?"
"Yeah." He reached up to gently put a hand on her cheek, gently rubbing his thumb across her skin. "Do you really think I would've let you go through that on your own?"
"I was prepared for it," She said quietly, leaning into his hand. "And it's not like you made it obvious that you were going to be by my side the entire time."
His heart broke slightly. "I shouldn't have let you think that, and I'm so sorry. I've been incredibly prideful and I should've tried to talk and explain instead of shutting you out. Will you forgive me?"
She was taken aback slightly by that but nodded, smiling slightly. "I'm sorry too for making you wait like that. I should've just been able to do it and I don't know why I couldn't."
"But you did and we can move past it now," He said, shaking his head. "I was wrong to be so impatient. But now hopefully we can start moving forward and move past it, if you want."
"What do you mean, if I want?" She laughed. "You're the one who broke it off!"
"Yeah, but I would've understood if you didn't want to be with me anymore because of that."
"Really?" She raised an eyebrow skeptically.
"Nope, I would've spent all my time trying to win you back," He grinned. "I did say I was stubborn, after all."
Ginny laughed, making him smile. She smiled in return and he leaned in to give her a kiss, one that she happily returned.
Hermione grinned when she saw Ginny and Blaise return to the Great Hall, holding hands. Ginny returned the smile when she saw Draco's arm around Hermione, and the girls both laughed as they reunited. The four of them molded back into the crowd, and any tension that was previously there was now gone.
Pansy and Theo joined them not too long after, and Seamus and Dean eventually made their way over to the group. They managed to sneak Ginny and Hermione away, passing around Seamus's flask amongst the four of them.
"It's so good to see you two happy again!" Seamus said over the music as Ginny took a drink.
Ginny grinned as she passed the flask over to Hermione, who couldn't resist taking another small shot while Draco wasn't looking.
"Trust me, we're happy too," Ginny said as Blaise came up behind her and pressed a kiss to her cheek.
Hermione quickly passed the flask back to Seamus just as Draco came up next to her and he scowled down at her. She gave him a lopsided grin and he couldn't help returning it, kissing her temple.
"No more now," He said in her ear.
"Alright, alright," She grinned.
Pansy and Theo merged into the group and Seamus offered the flask to them. Theo raised an eyebrow before accepting it and taking a swig. Hermione and Ginny both laughed as his face crinkled into disgust and he handed the flask over to Pansy.
"What in the name of Merlin is that?" He asked, gagging slightly.
"Irish whiskey," Seamus grinned. "Stole it from my dad's cabinet!"
Pansy made a similar face after downing a small drink as well. "That's awful."
"You're just used to firewhiskey," Ginny teased.
Pansy scrunched her face up playfully and everyone laughed, losing themselves into the music as they all continued dancing, the four couples all off in their own little worlds.
A/N: I am so sorry this is a bit late but here you guys go! Next chapter will be up tomorrow, enjoy! Love you all! <3