How It All Began

It was almost time for the Christmas dance.

Everyone in Gryffindor House was frantically running around getting ready. "Hermione, who are you going with?" Ginny called out, busy painting her lips bright red to match her dress robes.

Hermione technically didn't even have a date to the dance; she had just promised a dance to Draco. "No one." She shrugged.

Ginny rolled her eyes. "You could have found someone," she insisted. "Seamus didn't have a date until ten minutes ago, when he asked that Abby what's-her-face from Ravenclaw. You could have gone with him."

"I prefer to keep my choices open once I'm there."

Lavender walked out of the bathroom dressed in robes of gold, her dark hair swept up onto her head. She looked, as always, positively stunning. "Everyone ready?" She beamed, obviously happy that Ron had asked her to the dance. She had had a crush on him for the past two years.

"In a second!" Parvati answered, slipping her shoes on in a rush. She was going to the dance with Neville this year. It had taken him weeks to gather up the courage to ask her. Finally, the group of girls ran out of the dormitory.

They arrived at the Great Hall a little while later, which had been all done up with holly, and wreaths, and trees.

"Just as long as there's no mistletoe around, right, Hermione?" Harry joked. Ginny elbowed him in the ribs. He turned to her. "Aw, Gin, what was that for? It was just a joke."

She didn't answer and instead simply pulled him over to the Gryffindor table. The dance kicked off when the newest popular wizard band, the Flames (a group out of Scotland) started their number one hit, "I Burn For You."

Hermione danced with Ron, Seamus, Neville, Dean, and Harry, almost disappointed that she hadn't even spotted Draco all evening. They weren't there together, and Hermione had already had to put up with hours of her friends' teasing that she didn't have a date. And, of course, they talked about the week before.

"So Hermione..." Ron laughed. "Just how did you and Draco finally get out of that thing?"

"Yeah. What's your secret? Just in case I get stuck under one of those things with someone I don't like," Ginny insisted. Harry and Lavender had gone off to dance.

Hermione shrugged nonchalantly. "I kissed him."

Her two friends' jaws fell open, but before they could comment, Professor Dumbledore stood up to speak. "In the great tradition of holiday spirit, my fellow professors and myself have decided to begin a new tradition ourselves. Beginning tonight, the final slow dance of each ball will be reserved for inter-house partners. Each person in this room will find a partner from another house. That means Slytherin and Gryffindor or Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff. I expect everyone to participate."

The hall erupted into chatter, every student protesting the instructions. Dumbledore held up a hand to silence them all. "I expect full cooperation." He turned and gave the band a signal to begin.

No one moved.

The Gryffindors looked to Harry, who, as their resident celebrity, was the most likely to make the first move. The Slytherins turned to Draco. The Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs waited patiently. Still, no one moved.

Finally, there was some commotion from the Slytherin side of the room. Draco emerged from the crowd and strode across the room, Pansy frantically attempting to pull him back. He shrugged her off. Draco extended his hand toward Hermione, who was seated with Harry, who still hadn't made a move.

"Hermione, would you care to dance?" There was a collective gasp from the entire student body as they waited for her response.

Her hand closed over his. "I would love to."

Draco led her out to the middle of the dance floor. He wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her close. Like before, no one else moved.

"Everyone's staring at us," Hermione whispered, her eyes frantically scanning the Great Hall.

"Really?" he answered. "I hadn't noticed." She looked up to find him staring at her. His gray eyes met hers. Hermione sucked in a breath. "Thanks for saving me the last dance." He continued.

She smiled up at him. "You're welcome. You know, Draco, you're not too bad for being the son of a Death Eater."

He smirked. "And you're not too bad for a Muggle-born."

The only phrase that stood out was "Muggle-born," of course, since he had never been so nice. He usually used "Mudblood," which was much, much more derogatory.

The both fell silent, and Hermione very timidly laid her head on Draco's chest. She sighed and closed her eyes. A few seconds later, Draco put his finger under her chin and lifted it.

Slowly, he lowered his lips to hers. There, in front of the entire student body, Draco Malfoy, Slytherin, kissed Hermione Granger, Gryffindor.

***

I felt my mouth fall open. I quite honestly could not believe what I was seeing. There she was, one of my two best friends, kissing my worst enemy. I suppose I should be happy that it wasn't Ron kissing Draco. That would be bad. But still.

Hermione and Draco were still kissing, their mouths firmly attached. He pulled her closer to him. My face burned, and I gritted my teeth together. When, minutes later, it seemed as if they weren't going to stop snogging anytime soon, I leapt to my feet.

I had only taken a few strides toward the center of the room before Ginny pulled on my arm. "Harry, don't," she said, pulling me close. "Leave them be."

***

I couldn't let him interrupt them. They really looked perfect together. He was just tall enough to have to stoop to kiss her. But she fit in his arms just right. I suppose I should be upset.

Draco Malfoy is mean. There's no question. But there's really no one else I'd like to see Hermione with. She was my only competition for years, so I still worry at times. But now that I see her happy, I can be happy.

God help Malfoy if he does anything to hurt her.

***

I know I would have screamed if I could. Unfortunately, Gregory had his hand planted firmly over my mouth. I couldn't believe what I was seeing.

Draco was mine. He had told me that. I could remember those nights in the Astronomy Tower. Those nights when he and I were be up there, alone, me curled in his arms, he whispering poetry in my ear. No one would guess, of course, that Draco loved poetry. He is terribly romantic.

But this was not romantic. This was absolutely appalling. Disgusting. Gross. Nauseating. Sickening. How many more adjectives could I come up with?

That mudblood Granger would pay. By Merlin's beard she would pay.

***

It took a lot of courage for Malfoy to do what he was doing at that moment. I could see that. I didn't have the guts. If I tried that with the girl I was crushing on, I'd get cursed in a second. By at least a dozen people.

Draco's the only other person who knows about my crush on that Weasley girl, so I can sympathize. I've liked her since fifth year. Right around the time Draco told me about his crush, I told him mine. It almost brought us closer together. In that Slytherin-almost-Death-Eater friendship kind of way.

I had to hand it to him. I smiled, but then let out yelp when Pansy's teeth sunk into my hand.

***

I shifted my gaze from the couple on the dance floor to the girl emerging from the crowd. I heard her shriek. Everyone did. It was the only noise in this otherwise silent hall. I had never heard the Great Hall so silent.

When I suggested this tradition of final dances, I had no idea what would happen. Would my students listen? Would they care? Would there be dancing? Would there be fighting?

An awful feeling sunk into the pit of my stomach. Would this turn out to be a modern-day Romeo and Juliet?

***

His father would hear about this. The Dark Lord would hear about this.

He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named would not settle for a Death Eater who consorts with the enemy. It is not wise to disobey the Dark Lord. The young Malfoy has a lot to learn.

He would learn it.

***

I never could tell when Hermione was joking. So naturally, when she said that they had kissed to get away from the mistletoe, I wasn't sure how true it was. Now I knew.

I couldn't believe what my eyes were seeing. I felt my face growing red, my infamous Weasley temper setting in. I saw "The Pug" start out to pull them apart, her anger building. I may not like seeing my best friend - my best female friend - kissing my worst enemy, but I wasn't about to let said worst enemy's girlfriend do anything rash.

I set out to stop her.

***

Draco pulled his lips away from mine. I felt myself blush. I looked into his eyes, but I saw nothing there but adoration and caring. I licked my lips. I wanted his lips on mine again.

He didn't say anything. Since I couldn't seem to find my voice to neither thank him nor ask him for another kiss, I just pushed myself up onto my tiptoes and kissed him again.

***

I gasped slightly when I felt Hermione's mouth touch mine again. I half expected her to slap me after the way I treated her. I mean, I may not have treated her badly, but I did just kiss her in front of the entire student body.

And now, she was kissing me.

***

Pansy Parkinson, often called "the Pug" by friends and foes alike, marched right up to the center of the dance floor where Draco Malfoy and Hermione Granger were kissing. She opened her mouth in preparation to let out the loudest, longest, most annoying scream ever imaginable, when two people came at her from two different sides, to stop her.

"Pansy! Don't even think about it!" Goyle grabbed her arm and pulled her toward him.

At the same time, Ron Weasley grabbed her other arm. "Don't even try, Parkinson!"

They both tried to pull her away from the couple in the middle of the room, but with both exerting pretty much the same amount of force, they were getting nowhere. Finally, Goyle realized what was happening, and, being smarter than Ron (he chose not to show it) let go, causing Pansy to go careening on top of Ron, both of them flying halfway across the room.

"Ugh!" Ron moaned. "Parkinson, would you mind removing your elbow from my..."

She let out a yelp and pulled away. "Ew, ew, ew! I just touched a Weasley!" Pansy bolted for Goyle and started wiping her body against his in an effort to remove "Weasley cooties." "Get it off! Get it off!"

"What grade are we in?" Goyle muttered, pushing Pansy off of him. He crossed to Ron, who was slowly picking himself up off the ground. He held out a hand in aid.

Ron looked at him curiously, but eventually grabbed Goyle's offer and was quickly and easily pulled to his feet. "Thanks," he mumbled.

Goyle shook his head. "No, thank you. I'm just glad you managed to keep her from screaming. I don't know if I could have taken one more scream from her." He nodded toward his best friend and the little Gryffindor that were still sucking face center stage. "What do you make of that?"

Ron shrugged, still regarding Goyle curiously. He had never heard the oaf utter more than a sentence at one time. Not to mention the fact that he was speaking to Ron. "I was going to ask you the same question." He wasn't, but Goyle didn't need to know that.

Goyle shrugged. A group of Gryffindors and Slytherins had formed a circle around the two boys, obviously anticipating a brawl. Draco and Hermione kissing no longer held any excitement for them. What they didn't realize, however, was that no brawl was necessary. Goyle and Ron were actually having a semi-intelligent conversation.

"I'm happy for him. Draco's been talking about Granger for days. I didn't think he'd have the balls to do anything about it," he explained. "I know I wouldn't," he added, almost as an afterthought.

Harry and Ginny pushed their way through the crowd around the two boys urgently. "Ron! Don't do anything stupid!" Ginny called out as she entered the circle. She stopped when she saw Goyle and Ron standing there civilly.

"Yeah, Ron, don't start something you'll regret later." Harry added, stuck behind Crabbe, who was taking up half the circle. Ginny put a hand on his arm, shaking her head.

Goyle blushed and tore his eyes away from the youngest Weasley. Ron crossed his arms over his chest. "You don't have a problem with Malfoy snogging a Muggle-born?"

Goyle shook his head. "Not really. We're all witches and wizards here. What's it matter if someone has Muggle ancestry. Just 'cause families like the Malfoys and my own have such a problem with Muggles, doesn't mean we can't be different. Everyone's a person, Muggle or magical." He shrugged. "Granger's a lot better than Pansy is, and Pansy's a pureblood witch." He shuddered. "No pun intended."

Ron actually laughed. Pansy scowled from the sidelines, where she had draped herself over Crabbe, who wasn't seeming to mind in the least. "You're not that bad of a guy, Goyle."

"Likewise, Weasley, but this little chat doesn't mean I'm your friend. I'm still Slytherin. You're Gryffindor. They don't mix."

"Some do," Ginny pointed out, motioning to where Draco and Hermione had been only moments before. The dance floor was empty. "Where'd they go?"

***

Hermione laughed as Draco pulled her along the dark corridor quickly. "Draco, where are we going?" she asked, stumbling over nothing.

He stopped abruptly and spun her into his arms, his lips meeting hers in a soft kiss that soon grew heavy. He pressed her up against the nearest wall, her hands entangling in his white-blonde hair.

She sighed happily, but it turned into a frown when he pulled back. Within seconds. Draco was across the corridor from her. "What's the matter?" she asked, worried. She started to step toward him, but he held up a hand to stop her.

"I just want to look at you," he admitted, gazing at her. Her robes covered all of her, but they were snug in some places, leaving Draco's imagination free to fill in the pieces.

She groaned and put her hands on my lips. "Like you don't see me everyday."

Draco shook his head. "I don't. Not like this."

She blushed furiously, and smiled at him. Draco smiled back.