Conversations at the Yule Ball

"Your performance deserving a standing ovation

And who would have thought it'd be the two of us

So don't wake me if I'm dreaming

'Cause I'm in the mood come on and give it up."

'Hella Good', by No Doubt

Draco Malfoy stood in a dark nook in Hogwarts castle, nervously smoothing his dress robes. He was not normally prone to nervous ticks, but tonight was not a normal night. He was about to walk into the Yule Ball with Hermione Granger on his arm. A panic hit him as he thought about his parents' reaction when they heard the news. He closed his eyes and mentally admonished himself. I'm 17 years old, I'm of legal age -- there is nothing they can do. Oh, there are lots of things they can do, voiced the mental rebuke, disowned, disinherited, disemboweled...

"You look very handsome," said a voice from behind him, interrupting his mental dialogue.

Draco turned and smiled at his date. His eyes widened slightly as he admired her image. Hair smoothed to cascading waves, beautiful deep red silk gown, a slight bit of tint and gloss to her lips and a natural nervous blush in her cheeks. "Thank you," Draco answered, moving to grasp Hermione's hands and kissing her lightly on the lips. "You look...amazing."

"You needn't sound so surprised," she scolded with a mischievous smile.

"I am not surprised. I've always known how beautiful you are."

Hermione arched a brow. "You hid it quite well."

Draco cleared his throat. "Ancient history, Granger."

Hermione grinned and took Draco's arm. "Indeed. Are you ready?"

Draco nodded. "Yes, what's the worse that can happen?"

"That's a rhetorical question, right?" Hermione asked as she took a step forward. Draco didn't move. "Oh, Malfoy! Harry and Ron might be a bit upset, but they're not going to curse you in the Great Hall."

"It's not the Gryffindors I'm worried about."

Hermione patted Draco's hand. "I'll protect you from Pansy and Millicent, Malfoy."

"Now is not the time for lame Gryffindor wit, Granger."

"I'm not joking. If those cows even look at us wrong, I have spells ready to go."

Draco grinned and kissed Hermione. "That is what I love about you, Granger. You're always prepared."

"And I feared you only loved me for my honesty and beauty."

Draco leaned in and gave Hermione a long kiss. "I love everything about you, Hermione."

"Its Hermione now, is it? Does this mean I have to call you Draco?"

Draco smiled softly and gently drew his finger across Hermione's cheek and over her lips. "You can call me whatever you want, love. Just don't leave me, because I can't ever go back now...back to who I was before and I don't know how I would ever go forward without you at my side."

Hermione looked up into Draco's grey eyes and returned his soft smile. She combed her fingers through his hair, which had been hanging rakishly over his eyes. The look was casual, but Hermione had the feeling he had spent longer on his hair than she had on hers. She was right. "Draco," she said earnestly, "I am in this relationship for keeps. I love you and being with you is one of the most important things in my life."

"Do your studies still come first?" he asked with a smirk.

Hermione nodded seriously. "One has to have priorities."

They both looked at each other for a long moment, and then started laughing. "I knew I couldn't beat out books," Draco said with a mock heavy sigh.

"Well, it's against Hogwarts' rules for me to curl up with you in bed."

"If it weren't?" Draco asked, leaning to nuzzle her neck.

"We should get to the Yule Ball now, don't you think?"

"Yes, dear," Draco answered, pulling a silver flask out of his robes. "But first, a small toast."

Hermione frowned. "Draco, is that what I think it is?"

"No, I'm sure it's much stronger than what you think it is," Draco took a drink from the flask and handed it to Hermione. "Here's drinking to treason."

Hermione hesitated a moment, then shrugged. "Here's drinking to treason," she said just before taking a swig.

She coughed a bit as Draco smirked, taking the flask from her hand and concealing it in his robes again. Draco patted her on the back. "Okay, love?"

Hermione nodded, her face flushed. "Filch could use that to polish the trophies," she noted.

"Where do you think I acquired it?"

Hermione shook her head at Draco as she took his arm again and they began walking toward the Great Hall.

~*~

Ron and Harry were in the Great Hall, sitting at a table near the door. There were already couples dancing in the middle of the room. Ron turned toward Harry and asked, "Where is Hermione?"

Harry shrugged. "Don't know. She's more than fashionably late."

Lavender, who was Ron's date noted, "She was still getting ready when I left. I've never seen her spend that much time on her hair."

Ron scowled. "I don't know why she always has to keep her dates a secret. Who could it be? It better not be that Zacharias Smith. He's insufferable."

"She wouldn't date a Hufflepuff, would she?" Harry said, taking a sip of his drink.

Luna Lovegood laughed.

Ron, Lavender and Harry looked toward her expectantly, but Luna only continued chuckling.

"What?" Ron finally asked Luna, who was wearing a hat with a bird wearing a red and gold boa on it.

"It's not Zacharias," Luna said in her dreamy voice, not looking at Ron.

"Who is it then?" Ron asked.

"If she wanted you to know, she would have told you," Luna said as she pulled a feather out her hat and slid it into Harry's hair.

"Um," Harry asked, "why are you putting a feather in my hair?"

Luna ignored Harry's question and said, "If you were at all observant, Ronald, you would know. They've been quite obvious about it."

"I'm observant!" Ron protested. "I've never seen Hermione with anyone."

"Exactly," Luna said in a sing-song voice. "You never see her with anyone; so therefore, you know who her date is."

"That doesn't make any bloody sense," Ron protested.

"Oh. My. God!" Lavender exclaimed.

"What?" Ron asked, turning toward his date. Then he saw what she had already seen. "No bloody way," Ron muttered as he saw Hermione Granger and Draco Malfoy walk into the Great Hall arm in arm.

Harry sputtered the last drink he had just taken of his butterbeer spilling out of his mouth. Luna absently used the sleeve of his robes to dry Harry's mouth and the table.

Hermione turned her head in the direction of Harry and Ron's table and gave them a small, nervous smile and a little wave with her free hand. "Ron's face is turning as red as a tomato," she said sideways to Draco.

Draco couldn't resist looking. Hermione was right, Ron's face was bright red and his mouth was wide open. "Can I toss an apple in his mouth?" Draco asked Hermione.

"Be nice, Draco," Hermione scolded. Noticing that Draco seemed to be leading her in the direction of Harry and Ron's table, she quickly added, "Let's dance."

"Fine," Draco said as he changed direction and led Hermione to the dance floor. He moved his hands to her waist as she placed hers on his shoulders. "I suppose it is only fair to give them a head start on thinking of witty repartee."

Hermione rolled her eyes at her date. "Is it me or is it rather quiet in here?"

"Everyone is staring at us," Draco observed as he closed the space between himself and Hermione. "Oh my. Pansy is almost as red as Ron. And her mouth is even open wider. Maybe we should introduce them."

"Turn me so I can see her," Hermione said. Draco did as she requested and Hermione stifled a chuckle. "Millicent does look ready to curse us. I haven't seen this many shocked faces since Slytherin actually won that Quidditch match against Gryffindor last month."

Draco gave Hermione's waist a squeeze. "Ha. Ha. You're so clever, Granger."

"Ah, it's back to Granger, is it? Do you still love me, Malfoy?"

Draco smiled. "Always and forever, my clever witch," he answered before leaning in to kiss her.

Across the hall, Ron's face somehow managed to turn even redder. "He's kissing her! That slimy Slytherin git is kissing Hermione!"

"Oh, you are observant," Luna said enthusiastically without sarcasm. "I knew you could do it if you only tried."

"That does not look like a first kiss," Lavender said, watching Hermione and Draco continue to kiss as they slowly danced.

Ginny Weasley, who had just come over to the table hand-in-hand with Dean Thomas, joined the conversation. "Look at his hands caressing her. Oh, they look quite comfortable together. His hands have been there before."

Ron spoke, but he was so angry, the words were incomprehensible.

"Sorry, mate," Harry said to Ron, "but they do look...er...involved."

"They look more than just involved," Dean noted. "They look..."

"In love!" gushed Ginny and Lavender together.

Ron spun angrily toward Lavender and Ginny. "How can you two be like that? That is Draco Malfoy...touching Hermione. He's a Slytherin, he's a bastard, and his father is a DEATH EATER! He must have put a spell on her or something."

"They've been dating over a year," Luna said matter-of-factly.

"What?" Harry and Ron asked together.

Luna nodded. "Haven't you noticed how they go out of their way to avoid each other? How they never look at each other in public? They no longer even exchange insults?"

"You've known, and you didn't say anything?" Harry asked.

"Would you have believed me?"

"No," Harry admitted, "but that doesn't usually stop you."

"I'm going to go talk to her," Ron said, standing and walking away from the table before anyone could stop him.

"Oh, no," said everyone at the table except Luna, who was busy sticking another feather in Harry's hair.

Draco and Hermione had just broken off their kiss when Draco spotted Ron stalking across the Great Hall. "The Weasel approaches and he does not look impressed with our lung capacity."

"Hermione!" Ron exclaimed as he reached the couple. "What is going on?"

"It's called dancing. You might not have heard of it since -"

"Draco, let me handle this," Hermione said, placing her hand on Draco's chest. "Please?"

Draco nodded grudgingly. "Yes, dear. Would you like a glass of punch, love?"

"That would be lovely, Draco," Hermione said with a smile.

Draco turned without another word and walked toward the refreshments.

Hermione took Ron's hand and led him off the dance floor toward a secluded table in the corner of the Great Hall. "What are you doing, Ron?" she asked as she sat down.

"What am I doing? Why the bloody hell is Malfoy dancing with you and, and, and touching you?"

"He's my boyfriend," Hermione answered matter-of-factly.

Ron stared openmouthed at Hermione for a long moment. "How? How is that possible?"

Hermione shrugged. "He asked me out."

"Out? I've never seen you out with him."

"Well, we mostly just meet secretly."

"That's not dating, that's....that's...just weird. What do you do?"

Hermione tapped her fingers nervously on the table, wishing she had a quill to chew on. "We talk."

"You were doing more than talking a few minute ago!"

Hermione frowned even as she felt her cheeks burn. "That is none of your business, Ron Weasley!"

Ron just shook his head. "It just isn't possible. He's a Slytherin, Hermione. He only interested in one thing," Ron said lowering his voice to a hiss.

Hermione's eyes drifted upward to the starry ceiling. "Actually, he's also interested in Quidditch and acquiring wealth," she said.

Ron slammed his hand down on the table. "Aha!"

"Aha what?"

"You admit he's interested in...in...you know with you."

Hermione groaned and began to massage her temples. "I'd certainly hope so!" she exclaimed as Ron's eyes bulged. "He's a heterosexual seventeen year old boy, Ron. He's my boyfriend, he's in love with me and he thinks I'm beautiful...of course he wants to have sex with me. But if sex were all he was interested in, he wouldn't be wasting his time with me, there are much easier targets."

Ron sighed in relief. "Oh, thank Merlin. You haven't had sex with him then."

Hermione gave an exasperated sigh, slapped the table with her hands and stood up. "It is none of your business if I have had sex with Draco Malfoy or not!" she exclaimed, much more loudly than she had intended to.

She hid her face in her hands as the few eyes that hadn't been on her now zeroed in on her presence. She gave a small whimper as someone took one of her hands and gave it a reassuring squeeze.

"I have your drink," Draco said, valiantly ignoring the fact that they were the center of attention.

Hermione lowered her hand from her face and took the proffered punch glass. "Do you still have the flask?" she asked Draco in a low whisper.

Draco grinned. "Already taken care of, love. Just take a sip of the punch."

Hermione lifted the punch glass to her lips and drank the entire contents in one gulp. "More please," she said, handing the glass back to Draco.

Draco eyed the empty glass. "Punch?"

"No, just the silver cleaner, please."

"Thank you," Draco said to Ron in a low whisper. "I may finally get lucky."

Ron's face turned beet red and he started searching his robes for his wand. "Over my dead body!"

Hermione grabbed Ron's arm with one hand and hit Draco's chest with the other. "Ron, calm down. Draco, shut up!"

"I know that as a Gryffindor, you do not think highly of Slytherins, but I feel I must set the record straight by saying that as a general rule, Slytherins do not copulate on top of dead bodies," Draco stated dryly. "But I might be willing to make an exception to the rule if it means that much to you."

Ron's mouth opened and closed as he sputtered out half-curses as Hermione continued to restrain his arm. Harry and Luna had joined the small group and stood on Ron's right side. Harry was staring intently at Draco and Luna was rearranging the feathers in Harry's hair.

"There is not going to be any copulating or dead bodies! What part of 'let me handle this' and 'shut up' do you not understand?" Hermione yelled at Draco as she slapped his chest again.

"Ooh, fight!" Ginny exclaimed as she had joined the small group surrounding Draco and Hermione as well.

Draco arched a brow at his fuming girlfriend. "He started it?" Draco tried.

Hermione countered Draco's arched brow by raising both of hers. "I. Do. Not. Think. So."

"Actually, it was Ronald who interrupted your dance with Draco," Luna said, ignoring the glares that Ron, Harry and Hermione threw in her direction.

"Great, the nutter is on my side," Draco muttered.

"My girlfriend is not a nutter," Harry protested, although not very convincingly as Luna has just plucked another feather out of her hat and was securing it to Harry's robe with what appeared to be chewing gum.

"I think you should apologize, Draco," Hermione said stoutly.

"I'm sorry I called you a nutter, Luna," Draco said to Luna.

Luna smiled as she pulled another piece of gum from her mouth and stuck it on Harry's robes. "That's okay. I've been called worse by better."

"Um...hey -" Draco started.

"I meant you should apologize to Ron," Hermione interrupted.

"Aha!" Draco exclaimed.

"Aha, what?" Hermione snapped.

Draco leaned close to her and whispered in her ear, "You think she's a nutter too, don't you?"

"That's not the point, Draco!"

"You're cute when you're angry," Draco whispered, as he lightly nipped Hermione's ear.

"That's not the point either!" Hermione answered, although Draco's warm breath tickling her ear was making it hard for her to remember what the point had been.

Draco wrapped his arms around Hermione, causing Ron's sputtering to erupt anew.

Luna gave Ron a puzzled look and turned to Draco. "I was wondering, Draco, is it true that there is a dragon in the dungeons at Malfoy Manor?"

Draco shook his head. "No, that's not true. We keep the dragon in the backyard; we only have gremlins in the dungeons."

"Can I quote you on that?" Luna asked.

"Certainly," Draco answered as Hermione rolled her eyes so far upward she almost fell backwards.

"The point is..." Hermione said but her voice trailed off.

"You forgot what the point was, didn't you, love?" Draco asked.

"Don't call her that!" Ron exclaimed, finally finding whole words again. "And stop....touching her!"

Draco wrapped his arms tighter around Hermione and said, "Love, love, love, love, lo -"

Hermione unwrapped herself from Draco's embrace, slammed her punch glass down on the table and slapped her hand over his mouth. "I remember my point now," she said sharply.

"Uh, oh," Ginny interjected, enjoying herself. "You've done it now, Malfoy."

Draco mumbled something into Hermione's hand, but she had turned her attention to Ron. "Listen, Ron, Harry and other nosy parties who are within hearing distance, pretending not to eavesdrop but are actually doing it anyway - Draco is my boyfriend, we're a couple and I don't foresee that changing in the near future - unless he licks my hand again -- so you might as well get used to it!"

Hermione stared intensely at Ron and Harry until they nodded weakly and then she removed her hand from Draco's mouth and spun around and jabbed a finger in his chest. "And you -- Ron and Harry are my friends -- I expect you to treat them with respect. No taunting! Understand?"

Draco didn't answer immediately but glared at Hermione's finger that was poking him in the chest. She looked up to meet Draco's angry stare and held her chin up, pushing the finger harder into his chest. They continued to glower at each other until their defenses collapsed in unison, Hermione's arm dropped as Draco closed the distance between them and their lips collided for a quick kiss. "I'll treat them with the same respect they treat me," Draco relented.

"Fair enough," Hermione said, grinning up at Draco. "But you're lucky you're sexy when you're angry, Malfoy."

Draco returned the grin, kissed Hermione's forehead and said, "Trust me; I know how lucky I am."

"I think I'm going to be ill," Ron said.

Draco opened his mouth to speak, but he quickly shut it, although he looked very torn about his decision. His face contorted painfully for a minute as if he was possessed and he finally asked Hermione in a low, desperate whisper, "One little quip about the slugs?"

Hermione shook her head no, but her lips were twitching slightly.

Harry slapped Ron on the back. "It'll be okay, mate," he said. "It could be worse...it could be Ginny and Draco."

Ginny, who had been standing nearby with Dean, stuck her tongue out at Harry, but laughed all the same. She walked over to Draco and said, "I think if anyone can turn you into a respectable human being, Hermione can. But if you hurt her, you'll wish you were a bouncing ferret again."

Draco nodded at Ginny. "Thank you...I think."

Ginny leaned into Hermione and whispered, "I'll be expecting the entire story later, Hermione."

Hermione nodded.

"Mum and Dad are never going to believe this," Ginny said as she and Dean made their way back to the dance floor.

Ron shook his head and gave Hermione a look filled with disappointment. "You're a traitor, Hermoine. A traitor," he said in a low voice.

"Ron," Hermione said, but before she could say anything more, Ron turned and walked away, disappearing into the throngs of Hogwarts students.

Lavender threw a quick frown at Hermione and spun around to follow Ron. "I should have listened to Professor Trelawney," she muttered under her breath as she tried to catch up with Ron.

Harry watched Ron go and said, "Don't worry about Ron. He'll come around, Hermione."

Hermione swallowed. "Do you honestly think so?"

Harry looked from Hermione's sad face to Draco's concerned face, noticing how Draco was gently caressing Hermione's hand in an attempt to reassure her. The Slytherin prat honestly seems to care about her, Harry thought to himself.

"Yes, I think so," Harry said quietly as he took Luna's hand. "Is this a dance or not?"

"Now that is a good point. I feared for a moment this might be the first Yule Ball that turned into a Yule Brawl," Draco drawled.

The two couples walked side by side back onto the dance floor, still under careful observation by all the others in attendance.

"It wouldn't be the first time a brawl broke out during the Yule Ball, actually," Hermione said. "If you had read -"

"Hogwarts, a History -" Draco and Harry said in unison.

Hermione mock frowned. "You'd know that there was a brawl in 1974."

"Seeing as you have it memorized, love, we don't need to read it," Draco said, as he spun Hermione around.

"Exactly," Harry said as he and Luna danced a small circle around Draco and Hermione.

"You're both just too lazy to read it," Hermione said.

"You wouldn't believe the things that aren't in there," Luna said in her dreamy voice. "Nothing at all about the when Headmaster Nigellus was possessed by an evil spirit and danced around the Great Hall wearing nothing but a feather boa and his boots."

"See, I'd read about that," Draco said.

Hermione rolled her eyes, but kissed Draco softly on the lips, before laying her head on his shoulder as they continued to dance.

"At least the Slytherins are leaving us alone," Hermione noted.

"I think they've just decided to wait until there isn't an audience from other Houses," Draco said.

Hermione lifted her head to look at Draco. "Do you think there will be trouble?"

Draco smiled wryly. "Most assuredly, but don't worry, I'll find a way to handle it."

Hermione looked worriedly at Draco. "But -"

"Don't worry, Granger. They're not going to curse me in my sleep. Well, maybe a small hex, but they're not going to kill me."

"That's reassuring."

Draco grinned and kissed Hermione's forehead. "If you want to worry about something worry about my parents disinheriting me. I may be homeless after leaving Hogwarts."

Hermione kissed Draco's cheek. "I'll still love you, Malfoy."

"That's reassuring."

Hermione kissed Draco as they swirled around the Great Hall. "Whatever happens, we'll find our way through it together," she said lovingly.

Draco nodded as Hermione let her head rest on his shoulder. "Yes, we will, Granger."