𝐏𝐄𝐑𝐅𝐄𝐂𝐓 ✓ 𝚍𝚛𝚒𝚗𝚗𝚢 - a short love story

finale; the night of the ball

Ginny went inside her dorm from going out to buy her dress with Draco. When she closed the door, she saw Hermione was sitting on her bed, looking at her. Shit.

"Ginny, you said you were sick."  Hermione said, but her face showed Ginny that she was too clever to fall for her excuse that morning. "You lied."

"Yes, I did. And I'm sorry.." Ginny sat down next to her. She felt guilty for lying at her friend but its the only way to get her plan to work. Hermione saw what she was holding and looked at her in disbelief. "You went out. To Muggle World."

"I did." Ginny answered anyway, finding its pointless to lie to her clever friend. "Can I ask you something, Ginny?" She asked carefully and Ginny nodded her head. "Whats going on between you and Malfoy?" Ginny looked up from her hand and widen her eyes. "What do you mean?"

"Don't try to get away with this. I'm not that stupid. I saw you, Ginny. When you two apparated to Hogwarts. You went out with him, is that true?" Ginny nodded again. "But.. what about Harry?"

"I still like him, I do." That was kind of a lie. "Dra- Malfoy and I made a deal and decided to help each other out after something happened. Thats all." Ginny wuickly explained so that Hermione would not get the wrong idea. But she was still looking at Ginny suspiciously. She then asked "Sorry, Ginny. I just don't want you to get hurt by him. You know Malfoy."

"He has been nice to me, Hermione. I trust him. And I want you to trust me too, alright?" Hermione sighed and smiled eventually. "Alright, Ginny. As long as you know what you're doing." They smiled and hugged each other. After letting go, Ginny said again, "I wanted to tell you something. Its been bothering me, though, and I couldn't keep it anymore.."

"Whats wrong?"

"Honestly.. I'm not that sure anymore about my feelings towards Harry. Its like, the feelings got away and all I feel towards him is just empty. Like we're just friends.. I had no idea on who to tell about this, so I'd appreciate it if you would not tell Harry. Please?" Ginny pleaded. Hermione looked at her in confuse. "Was it because of Malfoy?"

"Thats the thing. I'm not sure. I don't know what to say about this."

Hermione patted her on her back gently and continued, "Give it a thought first, Ginny. Think about how Harry would feel about this. He really likes you, Ginny. I have to go now." She left Ginny who was deep in her thoughts after what she said to her. What have I done..

Finally, the night of the ball have come. Wizards and witches from other school have arrived at the gate of Hogwarts. Most of them are from Dumstrang and Beauxbaton. The castle was decorated nicely and the hall for the ball was huge. Everything was settled, food, music, students all dressed up and waited for the ball to start. After the arrival of the ladies of Beauxbaton, gentlemen from Dumstrang and a long boring speech from Dumbledore, the ball finally began. Ginny rolled her eyes at this. All of that took more than an hour. It is now 9 in the evening after all that boring introductions.

Musics started to play and most of the students were starting to get on the dancefloor, having fun. Ginny looked at Harry. They got their hands together in a grip. Harry smiled at her and asked "I'll go take some drinks for us. You wait here, Gin." Ginny nodded and watched him go. While waiting, she was just looking around her at the unfamiliar students. She did notice Ron and Hermione was together, having a drink and chatted. Well, it looked more like an argument than a normal chat, which Ginny din't mind. They were always like that and things usually go back to normal.