Draco Malfoy and the Goblet of Fire (BOOK 4 of 7)

Chapter 10-The Ball

Draco was sitting on his bed, completely ready for the ball in the suit he'd worn to the Quidditch World Cup. Meanwhile, Blaise was standing in the bathroom, double checking EVERYTHING in the mirror.

"Blaise, it's fine!" Adrian called as he and Theo entered the dorm room. He would be taking Lisa Turpin and Theo was going with Mandy Brocklehurst. Both girls were in Ravenclaw. Even Crabbe and Goyle had managed to find dates, even though they were the desperate ones...in other words, Milicent and Astoria, respectively.

"It's so bloody itchy!" Blaise complained.

"Would you rather go naked?" Theo asked. Draco snorted. Blaise would probably say yes if he didn't have his dignity and sanity to answer to.

Draco knew that tonight wouldn't be as boring as he thought it was going to be. His friends were going to be there with him. And he'd see Granger again. She had left in such a rush the other day, he was hoping he could somehow make it up to her without spilling his life's secrets.

She was right, of course. The ferret confrontation wasn't that long ago, and he'd insulted one of her best friends then. And from her side, she really had been trying to accept him, get him to open up even. It was Draco who kept pushing her back, afraid to trust anyone outside his circle.

Draco hoped that she wasn't sharing their possibly budding friendship with her friends. The last thing he needed was for the world to know that he was civilly associating with a Gryffindor squib-born. But technically, she was still a pureblood. It was just the fact that she was friends with Potter and Weasley.

While Draco and his friends forced Blaise out of their room, Hermione was getting ready for the ball.

"Are you sure you don't need any help?" Lavender asked from their room.

"I'm fine!" Hermione answered from the bathroom.

"Why won't you tell us who you're going with?" Parvati asked.

"It's a surprise."

"Well," Padma, who'd come over from her tower to get ready with her sister, said, "we're heading down to the Great Hall. We'll see you there!"

"Bye!"

Hermione sighed in relief. Sure, they were her friends, but they could get a tad bit annoying sometimes. Speaking of her friends, Harry and Ron probably thought that she was in her room, crying her eyes out. She would show them.

But that's not the real reason you're spending so much time on dressing up, Hermione told herself. She wasn't doing her hair for her best friends. She wasn't wearing makeup for the girls. And she most certainly hadn't picked her dress to suit Krum's outfit. Even though she had stormed out on him, Hermione still wanted Draco to see her at her best.

He was going to ask you to the ball, a voice in her head said. But that was only because she was one of the few girls in their year he even interacted with.

Still.

Hermione almost slapped herself before heading out of the bathroom. The second the left the common room she headed back. She emerged from her dorm once more, this time, wearing shoes.

As she descended the last flight of stairs, Parvati, who was standing next to Harry, turned around.

"You look beautiful!" Parvati exclaimed.

"Thanks," Hermione replied. Harry followed his date's lead.

"Wow, Hermione," he said. "You ready?"

Hermione nodded as Krum came up to her and bowed. She put her arm on his and they proceeded to enter the Great Hall.