Fine Line

A starry night like this couldn't be ruined. Or that was what Draco thought before Pansy grabbed his arm and began giggling wildly. Must he go through the torture or spending an enchanted evening with her? Draco placed his usual stern look on his face as he walked out onto the floor in the Great Hall; an eager Pansy followed his heels.

Glancing out the window, Draco began to gaze off into space and let his mind drift and imagine other things than the current situation. He thought of what better things he could be doing than going to a stupid dance. It was the Yule Ball, wasn't it supposed to be special? Everyone else came with a date that they picked, but Draco was somewhat forced and had no choice but to go with Pansy, which he didn't want to in the least bit. In fact he hardly wanted to come to the ball, it's just a stupid dance, nothing big or important.

Then he heard Pansy gasp and stuttering noises followed from her mouth. 'G-G-G' was what Draco heard. He began to think she was having a speech impediment, but she was the one to usually cause little things to seem big. But, when he turned around and faced the entrance he too starred with his mouth gaped open.

Walking into the room was an elegant woman, not a girl or a child, but a woman. A woman with creamy skin and chocolate hazel hair wrapped up in a bun, a woman wearing a fitting periwinkle dress that outlined her figure. A pair of caramel eyes glistened as light hit them and a row of white teeth showed through light pink lips.

Quickly, Draco shut his mouth and instinctively adjusted his black and green dress robes while continuing to stare at the beauty. The beauty would be none other than Hermione Granger, the book worm, Miss Perfect, Know-It-All, bushy head Granger, the muggle born, the one person he hated for being a muggle born, a mudblood. At that moment when he saw her entering the room, any form or fashion of classifications between muggles, wizards, poor and rich, it all vanished from his mind.

Pansy glared at Draco, knowing full well his eyes were on Hermione; in fact everyone had their eyes on her. Pansy scoffed and looked away, she knew she couldn't compete with her and she couldn't think of anything to say.

When a male figure walked over to Hermione, Draco felt an odd pain of jealousy as her date began leading her to the dance floor, that figure was the ever popular Mr. Victor Krum. Why should someone like him be able to go to the dance with someone like her? Draco paused, did he really think that? He glanced over at Hermione again; yes that's exactly what he thought. Normally, he would never think such a thing over Hermione, but tonight was different.

The longer his eyes lingered on her and that his mouth did not open to say anything, made him realize something. She was superior in every way. She was smart, had personality and she just proved her inner and outer beauty, since Draco lacked any word or insult. He hated her. She was practically perfect in every way, but she was a muggle born. Everything he could ever want but never could have walked gracefully in front of him tonight.

He closed his eyes. The image of the periwinkle dress, and those lips and eyes were still in his mind. He kept remembering her smile, her laugh, and everything about her. It seemed when he heard her laugh across the Great Hall of the dance floor he heard it clearer than anyone, or that everyone else was invisible or transparent and all he ever saw was her. She was stuck into his mind, burned and etched into his thoughts. He tried to think of something else, but couldn't. Draco tried convincing himself that he hated her, just so he wouldn't think of seem like a child and want something that was impossible to get.

Draco felt Pansy drag him off with her on the dance floor and forced him to dance with her, but he didn't care. He wasn't even in this world. He just kept thinking about her. Hermione's past history to him seemed like a dream, the arguments they have had before seemed like a distant memory and of her blood, house and class all faded away. Tonight, Hermione was everything, and Draco knew that. It almost drove him crazy to keep thinking about her.

He knew there's a fine line between Love and Hate. Draco was just toggling between the two different emotions on that night. The thin lined seemed nothing, but a little line was still a big difference from their separate worlds. He could never cross that line, the impossible line that separated him from something that he wanted and what he needed.