Chasing Reality

Believe Me

The day of the ball had arrived and Draco wasn't too pleased about it. His usual sordid mood hung around him like an aura. Socialising was the last thing he wanted to do.
He eased into an all black suit with a white shirt.
As he apparated to the Zabini manor the thought as to why Blaise would offer his manor for this unnecessary event kept nagging him.
As he walked through the familiar doors, he was welcomed by two brawny wizards in waistcoats.
He looked around and saw a table at the far corner of the ballroom, perfect for avoiding people.
As he strutted to his destination, someone blocked his path.
He looked up and scowled at the brunette.
Hermione rolled her eyes.
"Honestly Malfoy. Is this your way of greeting people?"
"In your case, yes. It is." Draco countered and then smirked when he saw her reaction.
"What I came to tell you is to not try anything stupid or inflict any damage." She said firmly and abruptly walked away without waiting for his response.
As she walked away, Draco took in her appearance.
She wore a simple emerald green, silk gown with a diamond necklace and held a purse at her side.
If someone here was seeing this muggleborn witch for the first time, they would've thought that she was born to be a Slytherin.
The minister walked up to the front of the audience and issued his long, boring-would-be-an-understatement speech for a whole ten minutes.
Several other witches and wizards, including Potter, spoke after him.
Many more people poured into the already cluttered ballroom and it suddenly seemed too hot and claustrophobic for him. He shrugged off his jacket, took a few deep breaths and swigged a glass of fire whiskey from a waiter crossing with his tray.
When he couldn't handle it anymore, he rushed out to find the lavatory.

Hermione was readying herself to go on stage when a horrible whirring sound filled the area.
Screams echoed from somewhere in the room. Everybody turned around to see a masked man plunging his silver plated dagger into Cormac McLaggen's chest.
Harry rounded him team of aurors and a few healers as they rushed forward, by which time, the killer had disappeared.
The aurors frantically searched to see if all ex death eaters were still in the room. All were present except one.
In all the commotion, a witch knocked Draco's jacket off the chair and a vial of polyjuice and the same mask the killer was wearing slipped out of his charmed pocket.
Gasps were heard from all around.
"I told you, Hermione. I told you it was a bad idea." Hannah whispered in her ear.
Hermione was numb all over. She couldn't move.
Harry came forward and picked the coat and it's contents up and walked towards Hermione.
"This is Malfoy's. Is it not?" Harry asked. She was speechless.
"Harry, I......"
"Come to think of it, I saw her talking to Malfoy at the start of the evening." Someone shouted.
"Must've been plotting." Someone else yelled.
"No. I was just asking him to stay out of trouble." Hermione cried.
"Fat chance." The minister's assistant walked forward with a look of disgust in his eyes.
In his hand, he held a dagger with blood smeared at its edges. He handed it to Harry.
"Engraving your initials on the murder weapon.....not a great move Hermione ." The man said.
As Harry inspected the hilt, he found H.G carved into it in very small, neat letters.
"You were given responsibility miss Granger. But you ended up being a killer. Now all we need to do is find Malfoy." The head of one the departments said.
Hermione looked at Harry pleadingly.
"Harry please. I didn't kill him. Someone set this whole thing up." She whispered, her voice breaking.
"I don't want to believe it 'mione." Harry looked at her, a bit broken.
Hermione gaped at him as if she'd just been betrayed. Maybe she was.
Just then, Draco walked in from hearing all the commotion.
"There he is. Get him." People yelled.
The poor Slytherin looked at them as if they'd all gone mental.

Suddenly he saw Granger grab onto his hand and felt himself being apparated away.