When Love Hurts | Dramione - COMPLETED

The Yule Ball

 Hermione's POV

"Merlin. Merlin! I can't do this, Lily, I really can't. Please just return the dress for me and tell everyone that I came down with a bad case of the Wrackspurts and - "

"Calm down. If you cry, you'll ruin your makeup." Lily stared earnestly at the mirror, fixing a minuscule hair. "C'mon, you sound like Xenopholius."

"Who?"

Lily paused. "Not sure if that's his name, but he was this super odd guy - oh, whatever. You look great, don't even worry about it!" She went on to start dabbing at her lipstick, even though it was already annoyingly perfect. 

"I - you know what, it's fine. I'm not going to cry," Hermione defended, trying to appear unaffected. "I just - whatever."

"It's just a ball, why are you so upset?" Lily asked, looking quizzically at Hermione.

Merlin. More lies.

"Uh, in Cavetis, I had a ball and I dressed up so much my best friends couldn't even recognize me for a few seconds. I guess I don't want that to happen again?"

"Oh. You never mentioned them before. Who are they?" Lily asked, opening her eyes really wide to apply mascara. 

"Draco doesn't like them very much." Hermione quickly muttered. 

"Ooh, who to choose? Friend or boyfriend?" Lily laughed.

Hermione nodded painfully. That thought had crossed her mind several times. 

Well, not friend or boyfriend, obviously. But... she didn't think she hated Draco anymore. She wasn't friends with him and she didn't like him, but she knew that he wasn't completely horrible. 

What if she came back and Harry and Ron still hated Malfoy? Would she ditch Draco for them? She was fairly certain she wouldn't. But if he became a Death Eater...

That thought led Hermione to remembering even if she escaped this war, she would land right in another. She swallowed back a scream and focused on Lily again. 

"H - Harry, um, moved away - uh - so it wasn't really a big deal," Hermione smiled at Lily.

"Harry, huh? That's a really nice name. If I were to name someone something, I'd probably name them that?" Lily pondered.

Hermione's eyes widened. "Uh, yeah! Sure. Yes. Um, what if it was a girl, though?"

"Harriet," Lily said firmly. "Well, no. I kinda hate that name. Olivia? Oh, I've always liked Abigail and Sophia... "

Hermione left Lily to wonder about names while she dressed. 

"Oh, Merlin!" Lily cried. "It's nearly time to go down! You ready? Yes? Good. You go down first, there's this tiny hair that won't stay... "

Hermione didn't have to fake her laugh as she gracefully descended. She prayed to Merlin that she wouldn't trip with the three inch heels that Lily had forced her to wear. Lily said she had put some sort of sticking charm on it, but Hermione still felt wobbly and awkward. 

All talking ceased from the Marauders as the first girl of the two to come down in 2 hours smiled at them.

Draco's POV

Draco's eyes widened ever so subtly when she came down. 

So the bookworm was... tolerable.

He glanced around, hoping no one had seen his tiny reaction. 

The Marauder's weren't that subtle. Sirius dropped to the floor and grabbed James' glasses, which, as usual, was hanging from the tip of his nose. He transformed the glasses into a rose.