Anmarie Island

Snape awoke abruptly as the rain subsided. He casually walked outside, fully clad in his swishing black robes, to observe the island. It was humid and gray, as though the rain might fall again at any second. The thunder and lighting had disappeared, as had the powerful wind gusts. From his vantage point everything looked normal, but he had to survey the damage nearer to the students' huts.

After waking Seedly and Bargs, who drifted from her bed in a ghostly manner, Snape led the way to the huts, which all appeared in decent condition. They continued on, eyes peeled for any damage from the storm.

Everything was damp and the teachers felt as though they were breathing in steam. Walking the short distance to the huts nearly robbed them all of their breaths, which were fully taken away at the sight of Hermione's tattered cabin.

The professors let out simultaneous gasps, each frozen on the spot. After a tense moment of sizing up the situation, Seedly ran as fast as he could to the smashed hut, Snape quickened his pace, and Bargs continued her ghostly float.

"Snape! Snape, whose cabin is this?" Seedly cried, frantically searching for an injured student.

Snape glanced behind him at the other cabins, mentally counting them. "...4, 5, 6...7. This is cabin 7. Granger." His face showed no emotion despite his inner fear.

"Hermione?" Seedly asked.

"Yes, yes! Hermione Granger, now keep searching!" Snape demanded. "Madame Bargs, would you help him look for her? I'm going to go see if any of the students know what happened to her." And with a sharp turn, Snape hurried toward cabin 6.

Bang, bang, bang! Lisa hurried to the door and flung it open, squinting her eyes at the early morning sun. "What is it, professor?" she asked.

"Have you seen Hermione anywhere?" he asked, panic slightly gripping his voice.

"No, why?" Lisa asked, rubbing sleep out of her eyes.

Blaise stuck her head into the doorway. "What's going on?"

"Have you seen Hermione?" Snape asked impatiently.

Blaise shook her head. "Why?"

Offering no answer, Snape merely headed toward cabin 5, where neither of the girls had seen the Gryffindor. He nearly ran to cabin 4, although he had serious doubts that Draco Malfoy had seen her.

Hermione lay silently in her bed, unable to sleep anymore. She had barely slept a wink that night, her mind always running back to Draco and the feeling she felt when he kissed her.

I'll tell him, she thought. I'll tell him that I want to be with him and the kiss really did mean something. But do you really want to be with him? The question kept plaguing her. If you really liked him, why would you push him away like that? But I do really like him...I think.

Her mind continued to race as she heard a loud banging sound coming from the front of the hut. She sat up and walked hesitantly to her doorway, where she saw Draco walking toward the hut's front door. Her eyes shot to the floor as soon as she met his sight.

Draco's heart skipped a beat when he saw the blue of her eyes, but it steadied itself when she broke his gaze. Was she ashamed? He frowned, upset that he could no longer swim in her eyes, and opened the front door. "Professor Snape?"

"Draco, have you seen Hermione? Her hut was destroyed and..." Snape caught sight of Hermione emerging behind Draco. "Hermione?" he asked.

Draco moved from the doorway so Snape could fully see his student. "Are you okay?" he asked coldly, regaining his signature arrogance and carelessness.

"Yes, Professor Snape," Hermione shot a glance to the blonde Slytherin, "I'm fine."

"What are you doing in this cabin?" Snape demanded, his coldness turning into disgust. A mudblood Gryffindor sharing a hut with a pureblood Slytherin? No.

"I ran here by mistake last night after the tree crashed into my cabin," she explained. "I thought it was Harry's, but it was Draco's. He was kind enough to let me stay here and..."

"Go to the remains of your cabin, Granger, and inform Professors Seedly and Bargs that you are all right," Snape interrupted.

She nodded and, casting one last glance at the object of her affection, walked away.

Snape looked sharply at Draco as soon as Hermione had gone. "What's going on here?"

"What do you mean?" Draco asked.

"You know damn well what I mean, Draco. Why are you suddenly 'kind' to Granger?"

Draco paused, thinking of a suitable response. He couldn't very well say, "Because I'm falling for her" could he?

"She was very scared last night, professor. I couldn't just turn her away. It would have been inhuman."

"Do not get too close to her," Snape warned. "Last night was an exception, but from now on I do not want to see you buddy up with Hermione Granger. What would your father think?"

Draco bit his tongue and looked away, daring not to say a word.

"Keep that in mind, Mr. Malfoy," Snape advised. "If one of you turns up missing again, I don't want to find out that you were with one another." He turned sharply and left the young Slytherin fuming.

"Hermione!" Seedly ran as fast as his short little legs could carry him toward the girl. "I'm so relieved that you're okay!" He began inspecting her for visible injuries.

She smiled. "I'm fine, professor. Really."

A crowd of students had gathered around the remains of her cabin and from somewhere in the middle she heard Harry's voice. "'Mione!" he shouted as he jogged toward her. "What happened last night? Are you sure you're okay?" He gently touched her shoulder.

She nodded. "I'm absolutely fine." True. She was physically fine. But her mind was torn with her newfound feelings for a certain blonde Slytherin.

Harry egged her on. "So a tree fell on your hut, but you managed to escape with no injury, and then you ran for safety?"

"More or less," she agreed. "Lightning struck the tree and I ran away after it ruined my hut. I was trying to find your cabin, but I ran into the wrong one."

There was a silence. Harry contemplated her last admission. "So, then, you ran into Malfoy's hut?" He crossed his arms, ridding himself of the warm, caring friend he had just presented.

Hermione looked at the ground. "Yes," she choked out. "I ran into Draco's hut."

Harry's eyes grew fierce. "Well," he said coldly, "I'm glad you're safe."

Hermione acknowledged his comment with a nod and Harry walked away from her. She stood alone as the remaining students, recently awakened by Snape, checked out the demolished hut. She turned to leave, not knowing where to go, and ran straight into Draco's chest.

She looked up and saw the warmth in his eyes. Her lips curled into the slightest smile as she imagined embracing him like she did that night. He reached down, while no one was looking, and delicately grasped her hand. "No one ever has to know," he whispered to her.

"And it will never happen again?" Hermione asked. She meant it to sound formal, but her tone suggested disappointment. Draco's eyes lit up and Hermione realized her mistake quickly. He did not hide the smile that crept onto his face.

He clutched her hand a little tighter, making sure to keep his grasp unseen by the fellow students. "You tell me," he said.

Hermione's breathing grew heavier. She didn't know how to respond and her nerves were waning. A long, awkward silence ensued before Draco bent his head down toward her, ignoring the pile of students just a few feet away. He leaned in just slightly, before tearing away from her. "Watch it, Granger," he snarled. "Keep your filthy Gryffindor paws off of me." And with that he stalked away from her.

She spun around to watch him go, tears welling up in her hurt eyes. Just as she was about to break down or run away, she spotted Professor Snape glaring at her from afar. He wore a fierce expression. Hermione's panicked heart jumped into her throat. She prayed that he did not witness their short exchange.

Moments later, Seedly walked up to a distraught Hermione, tapping her on the shoulder and making her jump. "Miss Granger," he began, "Madame Bargs and myself have decided that it would be much easier for you to stay in another cabin than to rebuild yours. So since Mr. Malfoy is the only student without a roommate, even though we were hesitant to place a female student with a male student, would you mind staying with him? If you have an issue with it, other arrangements can be made."

Hermione thought this over.

"We assure you that if Mr. Malfoy harasses you in any way, shape, or form, we will make sure the proper disciplinary measures are taken," Seedly reassured her.

Her mind raced. She contemplated the various answers she could give, torn between outrage and reluctant agreement. "Can I have permission to hex him if he tries anything funny?"

Seedly chuckled. "Only hexes that don't cause permanent damage."

"Then I'm sure I can hold my own in Malfoy's hut," she sneered, mentally congratulating herself on her fine acting skills.

"Excellent!" Seedly clapped his hands. "Now let's go make sure it's okay with Mr. Malfoy."

"I already asked him," Bargs interjected. "He reluctantly agreed."

"What about Snape?" Hermione cringed.

Not two seconds after she said this, the greasy professor hurried over to them. "Professor Seedly!" he said sternly. "I have just received word of your plans to move Miss Granger in with Mr. Malfoy and, I must say, this whole idea is against my better judgment. I find it highly irregular that..."

"They'll be fine!" Seedly patted Snape's shoulder. "I trust them. They're two of our best students!" And with that, he pulled Snape, who cast a sneer at Hermione, away.

Hermione turned back to Bargs, who had been staring at her intently. After a brief moment of silence, Bargs said, "Well I suppose we should move all your stuff into Draco's hut." She flicked her wand and an array of different items came flying from the disheveled mess that was Hermione's hut. "Come along," Bargs ordered with another sudden mood change as she led the way to Draco's hut.

Draco stood on his porch, arms folded across his chest. He opened his door to allow Bargs and Hermione in. As Hermione passed him, their eyes met briefly before each looked to the ground.

Bargs led Hermione to her room and dropped off her stuff. As she headed out she purred, "Have fun you two...but not too much." She cast them a mysterious smile as she drifted off.

Hermione and Draco exchanged bewildered looks before laughing aloud. Their teacher obviously had problems.

"Well, make yourself at home," Draco muttered, brushing past Hermione on his way to the common room.

Silently, Hermione followed, shutting the door behind her. She headed to her room, where she found her things strewn all over the place. "Thanks for being so careful with my stuff, Madame Bargs," she sighed, organizing her broken and non-broken items into little piles.

"Hermione?" Draco called.

"Yes?" she asked, still organizing her stuff.

"Bargs threw some of your stuff into my room too."

"She's not too neat, is she?" Hermione said, standing up and heading toward Draco.

She found the Slytherin standing in his doorway, her bathing suit top dangling from his fingertip. "I believe this is yours," he smirked.

Hermione blushed, reaching out for it, when the front door burst open.

Snape's presence filled the entire room, his eyes taking in the scene before him.

Hermione froze, casting a fearful stare to her professor.

"I knew this was a bad idea," he mumbled. "Draco, kindly drop Granger's...things."

Draco thrust the top into Hermione's hands. She turned a deep scarlet as his face drained of color.

Swallowing hard, Draco asked, "Is there something you needed, Professor Snape?"

Snape's eyes lingered on the two as he said, "I just wanted to remind you of the talk we had earlier, Draco."

Hermione looked nonplussed as Draco replied, "How could I forget?" with his voice turning to ice.

"Just making sure you didn't," Snape replied, sweeping out of their hut, his robes billowing behind him.

"What was that all about?" Hermione asked, her blush fading.

He glared at her and did not answer, plopping down silently on his couch. He picked up a large book and flipped it open, pretending to read. Hermione chose to ignore that his eyes weren't moving and decided not to comment. Instead she went back to her room to finish unpacking.

Every now and then Hermione made a half-hearted attempt at conversation, calling out questions and quips to him, but never received a response.

As the next few weeks passed, Hermione hardly saw her new roommate. That wasn't entirely his fault, however. She too had taken to staying in her room with the door shut. She felt like she shouldn't get too close to him. Draco was thinking along the same lines, always remembering and hating Snape's words.

They had their moments, however.

Like the time when they had a bouncing bulbs sack race, hut against hut, and Draco had bewitched the other sacks to unravel halfway through the race, thus tangling the legs of the other contestants. That night they had spent hours laughing at the bewildered look on Seedly's face from the safety of their common room.

Always, though, there would be a moment of silence when they realized how closely they were sitting to each other, and just how late it was. Then one of them would make up an excuse about being tired and quickly exit to their room.

Hermione spent much of her alone time in her room dwelling on her thoughts. She remained worried about the image of Lucius in Bargs' fire, but had no one she felt she could confide in about it. The few moments she had where she and Draco were normal with each other she was reluctant to spoil with the mention of his father, and Harry had become very cold with her after he realized she was okay with staying in Draco's hut. She also had a feeling of ever-growing dread that something horrible was about to happen, which she had no way to explain.

Hermione found herself absent-minded in her classes, which had become increasingly more difficult. She even forced herself to stay after in divination, seeking extra help from Seedly. She had always scoffed at girls whose grades suffered from thoughts wrapped in boys. She hated being such a hypocrite.

She thought of Draco during every class, zoning out during important lectures and experiments. It wasn't just him she was so engulfed in, though. She feared for his safety and thought constantly about his father.

Despite her mountains of emotions, she maintained good marks. Her absent-mindedness caused her to work extra hard and she soon felt adequately prepared to handle the dark arts. She could brew potions so powerful that a death eater wouldn't know what hit him and she was now much better at charting the stars. Curses and charms continued to move slowly. Hermione didn't think she was learning anything of much value. In fact, the spells she learned were mild compared to the ones she learned at Hogwarts.

Her problems with school were nothing compared to her personal problems, though. No matter how bad Snape or Bargs made her life, Draco's constant presence in her head was worse.

While Hermione spent her time in misery, all of the other girls were eagerly awaiting the end of summer. It had slipped out that the night before they left for Hogwarts, there would be one last social event.

Anmarie Island would be hosting a masquerade ball.

And not just any ball. The students would be so efficiently disguised that no one would recognize them. They were all to be provided with special hooded black cloaks that, when worn, transformed all girls to the same height and all boys to the same height. Everyone would be of the exact same build of every other member of their gender. Your voice could also be disguised if you wished. It seemed every effort was made to make everything anonymous. The only thing needed to be made was the mask every student would wear.

The day of the ball slowly approached. Hermione, who had been so busy making sure every smidgen of her garden, was perfect for their end of summer inspections, neglected to work on her costume at all. So with an amused look on his face, Draco watched a frantic Hermione scramble in and out of her room, her arms full of odd bits of cloth and bottles of glitter.

"Must you insist on making your mask the muggle way?" Draco teased her after hearing her exasperated cry that her glue bottle was empty. His reply was a door slammed in his face. Chuckling, he retreated to his own room, where he closed the door and put on his own cloak.

Placing his mask over his face and stepping in front of the full-length mirror, he surveyed himself with satisfaction.

"I'll never be recognized," he said softly.

Hermione, in her own room, was surveying herself also.

"Perfect," she told her reflection. Then she glanced at her clock. It was 8:43. She was to leave her hut at 8:45. Each student had been secretly assigned a time to leave so that the others wouldn't see him or her leaving and figure out their identity. On top of that, the doors to their rooms had been charmed to only open at the student's given time.

She stared at herself for a little longer, wondering if she needed anything else, before her time came. Sighing nervously, she headed toward the ballroom, which had, until now, been off limits to everyone.

She walked through the huge arched double doors and gasped at the sight confronting her. Ghostly figures clad in silver danced gently on the starry domed ceiling, burgundy drapes were pulled back to reveal large, misshaped windows, and the oval dance floor, which shimmered like golden fish scales, was surrounded by four square tables. She saw that only one table had an empty seat. She was the last to arrive.

She headed to the table slowly, still taking in the beauty surrounding her. The wooden tables were each covered in a particular painting. As she passed them, she realized that each painting represented a Hogwarts house. She gulped when she saw that the remaining seat was at a table bearing a large green serpent. She was at the Slytherin table. Obviously seats had been assigned.

As soon as she sat down, one of the teachers approached the dance floor. Hermione couldn't tell if it was Seedly or Snape at first, but his icy drawl gave him away immediately.

"Students," Snape began, "welcome to the end of summer masquerade ball. First, dinner will be served. After that, we will dance, and then at the end of the night reveal ourselves to each other. I hope you," he took a painfully deep breath, "have fun." He turned sharply and sat at a table with the other teachers.

An assortment of food appeared immediately. Hermione smiled at the other two students at her table: one female, one male. She stared at the man, wondering if it was Draco.

Conversation started slowly, but by the end of the meal everyone was chatting animatedly. Hermione got along well with the girl at her table. She secretly hoped it wasn't Blaise, although she was pretty sure Blaise was the one who "accidentally" spilled her pumpkin juice all over the lion on the Gryffindor table.

Dinner ended in about an hour with the food disappearing rapidly. Everyone turned anxiously to the stage, where Bargs now stood.

She took an unusually long pause before beginning her speech. "Ladies and gentlemen," she said soothingly, "I know you were probably hoping for live music from a popular band, but we felt that this event merited classy music." She flicked her wand and instrumental music began to play. "Ah, isn't that lovely?" Several students groaned. "Now, feel free to dance the night away." She floated back to her seat and sat down.

The students stood up tentatively and one by one entered the dance floor. They all glanced timidly at one another. No one danced.

"I don't even know how to dance to this music," one of the boys grumbled.

Wonder if that's Harry, Hermione thought.

Suddenly one of the girls, the one wearing a canary yellow mask, yanked one of the boys by the arm and started to dance with him. They didn't dance well, but it was enough to get everyone else started.

Someone in a scaly blue mask approached Hermione. "Shall we?" he asked, holding out his hand to her. She smiled and took it, stepping on his feet as soon as they started.

"I'm sorry," she laughed. "I'm not much of a dancer."

He laughed too. "It's all right." They continued dancing until the song ended and a new, faster one came on.

"Change partners!" Seedly shouted gaily. He was definitely enjoying himself.

Hermione now danced with someone wearing a stormy gray mask. It was bewitched to resemble dark, swirling clouds. It was hypnotizing.

He danced gently with her and didn't say much.

New song, new partner.

Hermione's next partner wore a bright red mask blazing with flames. He danced the best and chatted a lot with her.

He's too friendly, she thought. There's no way he's Draco. Her eyes scanned the room. Which one is he? she thought.

She was so preoccupied with her search that she didn't hear Seedly call, "Change partners!"

The flame-masked man left her abruptly and she then found herself thrust into the arms of someone wearing a feathery orange mask.

Next came a smooth, emotionless black mask. It was simple and almost terrifying. Hermione wished she could see his eyes. The gorgeous gray would reveal to her which one was Draco. Unless, of course, he had bewitched his already bewitching eyes.

The final song was the slowest song, meant for more intimate dancing. After what felt like a hundred rounds, Hermione wound up with the stormy-masked boy for the final dance. She was nearly positive this was Draco. He danced with her delicately, occasionally moving his hands up and down the small of her back. It had to be him, she thought. As the song ended, he pulled her into a close embrace and murmured, "You don't dance as well as you kiss."

Hermione laughed, relieved that it was indeed the object of her newfound affection. It had been weeks since their infamous kiss, but the tension surrounding the two was palpable. Thank God he finally broke it, Hermione thought, hoping that, just maybe, they could soon share another kiss.

But just as he pulled away, a horrible realization set in. Snape had already cast a spell. The masks had all been removed. All they heard was a series of shocked gasps. Snape even dropped his wand.

Everyone stared at the tender embrace between Draco Malfoy and Hermione Granger.