Fair and Tender Maidens

Draco thanked God, Buddha, and all the others gods in the world that he was not directly after Hermione. A) It was a very difficult act to follow, and B) he got to learn some crucial information about her current love life situation and exactly how she felt about Potter.

‘Aha, sucker!’ he thought fiendishly. ‘Potter you fool!’

Now, Draco would have preferred to have been eavesdropping, but the show must go on, he supposed. And not to mention the fact that Hermione must see him perform.

He was actually hoping that Hermione would hear him sing and fall desperately, madly, passionately in love with him and his gorgeous voice. But, let’s be reasonable, like that was ever going to happen. As he may have failed to mention before, he was a dreamer, prone to great bouts of daydreaming that often left him depressed. It’s not his fault that he usually daydreamed about having a wonderful night love with the lead singer in the Weird Sisters. But, all in all, it was disappointing and depressing. Maybe that was why he was... cranky. Yes, that’s the word for it.

Whatever the exact terminology, Draco was it. His father, of course, did not take to dreaming.

“Son, no dreaming!” and “There are more important things that this ‘dreaming'.” “Like what, Father?” “Torturing people, son, torturing people.”

That could be why he was such a sadist.

Or, it could be because he liked black.

Whatever the reason for that was, well, he couldn’t be bothered anyway. He had to win the love of the Bushy One, Miss Ink-Stained-Fingers. Fwaha!

Draco had confidence in abundance (with the exception of when Hermione gazed at him...It was the one time when he really needed it and it was the one time where he really lost it), which made walking out onto the stage, preparing to wow the woman you love much easier that it would be for someone like Harry Potter, but still, it was nerve racking.

Draco smirked as the piano began. He could see her with her two silly little friends. He would show them.

“If I can reach the stars

Pull one down for you, Shine it on my heart. So you could see the truth:”    

He searched the crowds for Hermione. There she was, sitting there between Potter and Weasley, trying to maintain an icey expression.

“That this love I have inside

Is everything it seems.

But for now I find

It's only in my dreams.”

Her eyes were wide and he stared into them, trying to lose himself in them. He was always more real when this happened. He didn’t feel the need to perform.

“And I can change the world,

I will be the sunlight in your universe.

You would think my love was really something good,

Baby if I could change the world.”

He was beginning to get into the song, and he was beginning to get to her. She no longer glared at him, but simply looked on, as if intrigued.

“And if I could be king,

Even for a day,I'd take you as my queen;

I'd have it no other way.    

"And our love would rule

This kingdom we had made.

Till then I'd be a fool,

Wishing for the day...

That I can change the world,

I would be the sunlight in your universe.

You would think my love was really something good,

Baby if I could change the world.

Baby if I could change the world.”

She gazed at him, and he felt his heart pound. He’d never felt quite like this with anyone else. How did she do it? This simple, little Muggleborn. How did she make him forget everything?

“I could change the world,

I would be the sunlight in your universe.

You would think my love was really something good,

Baby if I could change the world.

Baby if I could change the world.

Baby if I could change the world.”

Draco took one last look at Hermione before exiting the stage. Only time would be able to tell if she would understand what he meant. On the way back to the dressing rooms, Draco found himself in an unusual predicament. There were girls everywhere, shrieking for him. Of course, his confidence told him that this was only natural. But, logic said another. This was strange. Why? They weren’t just Slytherins. There were Hufflepuffs, Ravenclaws, and even Gryffindors. Cheering for HIM. And you know what else? They were chanting. They were chanting: “Draco. Draco. Draco.” and so on. And there was screaming...And fainting...And sighing...Ah, sweet fame. Sweet girls...Sweet love....

Of course, this wasn’t important because he didn’t see Hermione’s bushy little head in the group of his new-found groupies. Damn. Oh, well. There were plenty of other girls to fawn over him. He really didn’t want his love to FAWN over him, did he?

Maybe just a little.

“I, ahem, must have done something you all like...”