Malfoy Manor Ball ✓

Part 3

Draco and Hermione jolted apart in record speed.

There Fred Weasley stood. In all his ginger 6'3" glory.

He was paralyzed at the entrance of the hallway they had entered with crazed, disbelieving eyes and jaw completely dropped. His hand slowly travelled to cover his mouth as he continued to stare without shame.

Draco crossed his arms and shifted his weight onto one leg, annoyed at the twin weasel for interrupting them.

"Close your mouth, Weasley, you'll catch flies," Draco deadpanned.

Fred dropped his hand, shut his mouth and narrowed his eyes at the Malfoy heir. He cautiously moved forward towards them while making sure to keep his sights on the pale wizard. Hermione, however, was not faring as well. She began to worry and pace as her mind reeled.

She had been caught. With Draco Malfoy.

No.

Kissing Draco Malfoy. Oh, Merlin.

And, of course, it had to have been Fred Weasley that found them. Hermione's thoughts wandered to worst-case-scenarios of everyone finding out and cruelly turning against her. Suddenly, she wished she was anywhere but there. How she longed for her time turner to be able to go back five minutes and pretend to be hexing Malfoy for Fred to stumble upon instead. That scene definitely wouldn't raise any questions.

"Hermione. Hermione. Hermione!" Fred called, waving a hand in front of her face.

She snapped up mid-pace. "Huh?"

"I said, what the bloody hell is going on? One minute I'm having a grand ol' time socializing with four lovely ladies and next thing I know, I see Malfoy kidnapping you. So, naturally, being the hero I am," Fred gestured to himself, "I followed you to make sure you were alright. And then I come across a bloody snogging session?!" Draco quickly cast the same silencing charm on the twin, as well, wincing at his volume that would be sure to attract others.

Hermione bit on her lower lip and played with her fingers, unsure of what to say or how to explain. Her eyes roamed the walls, paintings, and just about anything except Fred. "Well, uh—you see . . . Draco and I— w-what you saw . . . um—"

Draco grunted at her eloquent way with words. "Granger and I are seeing each other."

Hermione widened her eyes in disbelief at him. How could he just blurt out her biggest secret like that? She slapped his arm, but failed to hurt him at all.

Draco shrugged. "What? It's true."

Hermione turned timidly back to the tall twin. "Yes, I, erm, suppose that's one way to put it."

Fred looked as if someone had told him his lucky broom snapped in half. Once the information he had just been told settled in his mind, he whipped out his wand and aimed it at Draco, to which Draco did the same.

"You're lying. You must have put her under a spell. Amortentia? Imperius curse? Remove it. Now," Fred demanded with over-protective anger.

Draco shot daggers at Fred for the accusation. "You daft dimwit! I would never do that. How dare you?" The former death eater lifted his wand higher, ready to aim. As sickening as it was, even though it had been years, this felt natural to Draco—preparing his wand to strike. Even worse, he almost wanted to. Truth be told, it took a confusing and hard toll on him trying to adjust to his sudden new lifestyle of lavish gatherings, cessation of wondering if he would wake up the next morning, and—worst of all—having feelings for a witch he used to loathe. He was yearning for any type of normalcy.