Acceptance

Draco Malfoy walked the corridors of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, occasionally seeing girls that caught his eye. He knew that he could sweep them off their feet with just a glance in their direction, but Draco had higher needs. He had expectations.

He had found those expectations being met in a girl named Pansy Parkinson, she was beautiful, smart, witty, and most importantly, a Slytherin. Everyone knew that Draco was not aloud to date, or even associate, with people from anywhere but Slytherin. Draco's father, Lucius Malfoy, the right-hand man of Lord Voldemort himself, had set this rule in place. Draco knew all to well what would happen if this rule was broken, and he was in no hurry to be punished again like that for a long time.

No matter how hard he tried to concentrate on his love for Pansy, Draco always found himself tired. He was tired of the constant nagging from his Mother, who told him to marry Pansy as soon as they graduated this year. He was tired of his Fathers reminders about not stepping out of line, as if Draco was about to paste a piece of parchment on his forehead that read "I SUPPORT MUGGLE-BORNS!" Mostly, Pansy was attempting to drop hints about marriage in whatever she said, which was driving Draco insane. Everything just didn't feel right. He felt like he needed to take a step back and look around, before making any drastic actions, like marriage.

*

Weeks dragged by as Draco droned on and on, not even noticing that the Christmas Holidays were fast approaching until a certain announcement at breakfast one morning.

"Ladies and gentlemen, ghouls and ghosts," began Headmaster Albus Dumbledore. "It is my pleasure to inform you that we will be having a Christmas Ball this year," with that, all of the girls in the Great Hall shrieked and wailed, with occasional groans from the males. Professor Dumbledore dismissed all this with a wave of his hand and continued, "It will be held on December 25^th, with dinner starting at 7 o-clock, and the ball following at 8 o-clock. Thank you all for your patience, you may now return to your breakfast."

"Oh Draco! Isn't this fabulous? Oh Merlin! What am I going to wear?" cried Pansy from the left side of Draco.

"Yes Pansy, that should be fun," drawled Draco half-heartedly.

*

On the night of the Christmas Ball, Draco found himself waiting inside the Slytherin Common Room waiting for Pansy. It was 6:58, and knowing her, she would want to be 'fashionably late.'

Submerged in his own thoughts, Draco didn't notice Pansy flutter down the girls' staircase. Upon hearing the clatter of her high heels, Draco turned around to face his date for the ball. Pansy was wearing a long, scarlet-colored robe that flowed out from behind her. Her long silvery-blonde hair hung in lose curls around her face and down her back. She looked amazing.

"Shall we go?" she said rather softly, noticing Draco's open mouth.

"You look beautiful Pansy," he replied, noticing that he didn't seem quite tired of his life anymore.

*

The Hall had been adorned with twelve massive Christmas trees that twinkled and shone under the magically enhanced ceiling. Dinner had been served, which had seemed more delicious than ever. The musical guests, The Weird Sisters, had now started playing fast tempo songs as the couples migrated towards the dance floor.

After many dances with Pansy, Draco told her to dance with Goyle who had been goggling at her for the past two hours. Pansy had given him a look of disgust, but wisely decided not to argue and sulked over into Goyle's direction.

Draco headed towards their table to rest for a bit. He was having a wonderful time, Pansy looked gorgeous, he didn't have to worry about his Mother or Father and to top it all off, Pansy wasn't talking about marriage like a maniac.

Draco quietly gazed around the Hall, chuckling to himself when he saw Pansy wince in pain as Goyle stepped on her toes consistently. Letting his eyes drift away, Draco saw the outline of a petite girl in a pearly-white robe that shimmered when the light caught it. She had straight brown hair that fell down to her back, but that was all he could see, as her back was to him. Suddenly, she turned around and glided out of the Great Hall, as if expecting him to follow. Draco timidly stood up and made his way swiftly across the floor out to the corridor. He looked outside onto the grounds and saw a white shimmer disappear behind a hedge. He silently made his way towards her hiding spot and made himself visible.

She was siting on one of the stone benches, staring up at the stars. Her back was to him again, so he couldn't yet see who the mystery girl was. Admiring her from where he stood, he decided to make his presence known.

"Hello," he said quietly, so not to scare her senseless.

She jumped a little bit, but turned around and they both let out a gasp of surprise.

"Malfoy?" the girl said with complete and utter shock.

"Granger?" replied Draco, as if he was having a bad nightmare.

Draco had followed Hermione Granger onto the grounds. He has tormented this poor girl for going on seven years now, and for a good reason too. She was a Muggle born, or in Draco's vocabulary, a Mudblood. Draco could hear his Father's voice in the back of his head, 'Filthy Mudbloods don't deserve any of your time boy...'

"Yes? Umm, do you need something?" said Hermione.

After Draco's self-analysis, he responded rather meekly, "Don't flatter yourself, Mudblood. I thought you were someone else." With that, Draco turned around and headed to the castle.

He found that he had stopped walking when he got to the castle's steps. He didn't understand why he was walking away from such a beautiful girl, but then again, another side of him did understand, it was because she was a Mudblood. He remembered about how tired he was of his life a few weeks ago, and upon seeing Pansy, a spark ignited that fire again, but now, Draco realized that flame was completely put out by the sight of Hermione Granger. Even though Draco knew that he would never be allowed to love someone who was Muggle-born, or even a Gryffindor, he found himself turning around and heading towards Hermione's direction.

Upon reaching her bench, he watched her from behind the hedge. She was beautiful; he didn't know why he hadn't seen it before. She was still staring up into the sky, which held almost as much depth as her eyes did. Draco had never seen that in anyone else, she had so much behind those huge brown eyes, as if she was just waiting to solve anything that the world threw at her. Then Draco knew that this was what he wanted. Draco wanted to be with Hermione Granger, and nothing was going to stop him.

He quietly walked towards her and sat down. She turned around hurriedly her expression a mix of surprise and shock. After looking him over, she turned back to the stars. They sat in silence for a few minutes before Draco spoke.

"I'm sorry," he said quietly.

She turned to face him, her brown eyes looking for something inside of him, perhaps the answer for why her enemy was sitting next to her apologizing. Then Hermione knew what she wanted. She knew what she had been missing. She wanted to be loved. She wanted to return love. She wanted to experience love. She knew what she was looking for in his eyes. She also knew that what she was looking for was there. He loved her. She could see it.

"Don't be sorry," she said in a barely audible whisper. "This has happened for a reason."

Draco could feel Hermione's gaze on him, searching him, searching for what he was searching for. She was searching for love in return, and she found it. He also found it in her eyes. They both then realized they had accepted each other, the only thing left to do was to make the world accept them.