Damn Granger
When they were asked to get dress robes, Draco felt something special was going to happen this year. He assumed it would be one of those traditional balls he had attended with his family or simply a celebration of something someone had done, but he had no clue about the tournament. No one did. His father was working in the Ministry, but he wouldn't bring up work at home unless it affected him in some way; he was also aware that his mother knew every tiny detail about what was going on, so he trusted her judgments. It wouldn’t matter even if he didn’t know what was it for. He had the best-looking robe tuxedo from the most expensive, exquisite boutique for this occasion; he might not have been one of the champions (as if he would risk his life over something so ridiculous), but he still had the potential to stand out and be the best-looking guy. He snorted thinking of the day Weasel got his package with that ugly robe in it. He had a good laugh out of that one!
Draco took a cologne that stood on his bedside table and sprayed both sides of his neck two times. It was the smell he kept with him wherever he went. He knew it worked in all types of situations, especially with girls. A night with Pansy was made sure, no girl could ever resist that scent, especially not Pansy who was already all over him. He smirked at the thought and sprayed on his wrists as well, there was no need for second chances.
"Are you going to spray it to your hair as well?" said Theo while tying his tie. He chuckled when Draco paused and looked at him in the mirror.
Draco rolled his eyes. "Let's not overdo it. I don't want Pansy's tongue all over me," he smirked, "yet.."
Theo winced. "Ew, I beg you, please do it somewhere else but not here."
Draco laughed at that. "I can't promise, mate. Things can get, you know... heated," he winked.
Theo shook his head a little. "Don't heat up my room, please," he watched Draco for a second. "If you're done here let's go, I can hear the crowd already," he glanced up at the ceiling while straightening his shirt.
Draco looked at his reflection in the mirror, he looked quite handsome with his black robe tuxedo with a white shirt and a white vest under it. The buttons on his robe shined under the light. After fixing his bow tie one last time, he moved to the door and went upstairs with Theo and Blaise. Few other of his friends were also there waiting for their dates. A girl from Beauxbaton approached Blaise and he offered her his arm, winking at Draco as they walked inside. Draco shook his head slightly and smiled. His best friend was the epitome of charm, he always knew how to approach anyone and it worked every time. He didn’t know how, but maybe it had something to do with his natural good looks and the way he spoke so softly. Draco could understand how some women would be attracted to him. Theo on the other hand was very different, not only because he seemed like an arrogant jerk most of the time, but also because he was always very blunt towards strangers when meeting new people.
Draco looked around his eyes immediately found Weasley with his grandma robe, Draco laughed mercilessly when Weasley noticed his stare. Potter’s attire seemed okay, but the laces were all he needed to see on Weasley, the boy looked like an idiot. He could laugh at that sight for the rest of the night.
He felt a quick tap on his shoulder and he immediately turned back while still laughing. Pansy Parkinson was standing with a pale pink dress that screamed flamboyant and flashy. He had never seen her in a dress like that before, but this was exactly the kind of dress he would expect her to wear. He wondered if the cleavage was her own way of giving him a signal or was he just hoping for too much? Either way, he was suddenly more ecstatic about the ball.
The blond wizard half-smiled looking at her dress. "I won't be keeping my eyes off of you then?"
Pansy put a finger under his chin and redirected his attention. "My eyes are also here, in case you didn't notice," she tried to sound harsh, but was pleased to have affected him, "let's go inside."
They were welcomed by a bigger crowd inside the Hall. Walls surrounding the hall were icy blue now instead of beige rock and there were snowflake themed decorations everywhere. All the gargoyles on the walls were covered in ice making them even more creepier. The ceiling was bewitched to make it look like it was snowing as well; it wasn't even snowing outside, but apparently, Dumbledore thought to host the guests with a themed ball. He wasn't sure if the Durmstrangs would find it interesting though since this was a daily sight for them.
Near the big three pine trees, the professors were chatting while waiting for everyone else to arrive. He did like the atmosphere, everything screamed cold and blue, it was so much different than the usual Hogwarts setting. He was about to sit at another icy-looking table when the music began to play and saw the Beauxbaton champion entering with her partner first. She was quite pretty, he noted, she had a very elegant look and her blonde hair glittered brightly under the light. He shoved a guy away and proceeded to the front. There was no denying that she was a charming girl, he couldn’t help but wonder if she had Veela blood in her that caused men to swoon over her.
He moved a little closer to the front row to see the others. Viktor Krum appeared and Draco felt more proud with him than he was with Diggory or Potter. He narrowed his eyes looking at the girl beside him walking gracefully. She seemed like a complete stranger, but familiar at the same time. Was that-
"Hermione Granger?" Pansy asked. He looked at his date and saw her mouth agape.
No way.
He turned back to look at her again. It was her. He couldn't wrap his mind around the fact that bloody Granger was walking alongside Viktor Krum! But then again, she didn’t even seem like her. She looked… different, he had no idea how he was supposed to describe it but there seemed to be something missing. There was something off about her that he couldn't seem to understand. It wasn't the obvious change of hair, of course, he wasn’t blind. But the way she walked was nothing like the girl who would have trouble maintaining her balance with 10 books in her hands. No, this girl was almost walking in the air. Her face was pink all over and she was flashing the biggest smile he had ever seen from her. He didn't understand why would Krum bring her out of all the girls in the school. He sent his usual frown at her when she met his eyes for a second before looking away.
He wanted to insult her, but his mind couldn't come up with something good enough this time. She looks-
"Beautiful," Theo muttered to himself.
Draco's head jerked towards his friend. "What the fuck are you talking about? She's the mudblood—“
"The mudblood I would spray that cologne for," he winked and pressed his lips together.
Draco looked back at her again, there was nothing beautiful about that so-called witch. She was now at the same level as any other girl in this whole school. He scoffed looking around, but judging by the reactions, everyone else seemed to have agreed with his friend instead. Did they really not see what he was seeing??
He had missed Diggory's and Potter's entrance while looking around at people and cursed at himself, earning a look from a few students next to him. Potter trying to walk with his wobbly knees and an awkward smile on his stupid face was what he wanted to see the most. Damn Granger!
He leaned over to see the pairs at the centre of the Hall. His eyes immediately found Potter; he didn't even know which hand to put on his date's waist when the poor girl grabbed his hand and led him. Pathetic. Even though he managed to catch up with the other couples, Draco enjoyed watching him panic and almost screw up his dance. The boy was hopeless and looked like a deer caught in headlights. The other three were doing rather well compared to him. Especially Krum and the other Ravenclaw boy who was accompanying Fleur DeLacour. Diggory was not bad either, but Draco was still better than all of them. He thanked his mother for that, who would force him to go to those stupid balls ever since he was little.
A few minutes later, he started to feel bored and held Pansy's hand, leading her to the dance floor. She was ready to dance from the start and followed him without hesitation. The crowd had already filled the dance hall and they found a little spot for themselves.
He bent his head do and put out his left hand in front of her. She took his hand, gave a little curtsy and put her other hand on his shoulder almost immediately. Draco glanced up and put his right hand on her waist, taking a step closer to her. They must've seemed like they were holding each other instead of dancing but that didn't bother him. She liked him already, this would only make things easier. As if to confirm his thoughts, she took a deep breath, breathing in his cologne and stared back to smirk at him.
"You smell nice,"
He triumphantly leaned in a bit closer with the intention of kissing her, but the music changed suddenly and everyone started to leave. He liked this dance, but now he was questioning himself whether it was the right time for it or not. As if reading his thoughts, Pansy asked if he wanted to go.
Just as he was about to say something, he saw Granger and Krum behind her and wondered what would happen if he stayed a bit longer, he could overhear their conversation, this would be much more interesting and he would have time with Pansy later anyway. Yes, one or two dances wouldn't hurt anybody.
"Let's stay, I want to dance," he muttered to her ear. She didn’t react much but he could see her smile dropping.
"Okay, but we will switch partners in a second."
"I know, see you in a bit, love," he spun her around and moved to the left, to his new partner.
"Oh," The blonde-haired girl didn't appear too happy to see her new partner.
"Who are you?" he asked. He knew who she was, but not her name. How was he supposed to memorise everyone’s name?
"Hannah Abbott," she looked offended, "we take Herbology together."
"Alright, then. Would you like to dance with me, Hannah?" He offered his hand.
He didn't like the way this witch was talking to him, but he could put up with it for a few minutes. The girl seemed dumbfounded for a second. He probably had messed with her or her friends before, but it didn't matter, he was well cultured when it came to dance, he would act the way he should. He almost laughed at himself for that but instead, he covered it with a smile that would end up convincing her.
She seemed unsure for a moment and then shook her head. "Sure."
She put her hand on top of his and he held her waist firmly. He didn't know her well, but of course, he had seen her before. She was a Hufflepuff, he saw her hanging around Diggory all the time. Maybe she was into the guy. If he was Diggory, or if he was interested in the girl he would waste no time after tonight; she looked pretty with that green dress of hers.
"You're a Hufflepuff, right?"
"And you're a Slytherin,"
He scoffed. "Obviously," he pointed his eyes to his ring which had a little snake carved on it. Was there any Malfoy that wasn’t a Slytherin?
"Charming," she flashed the fakest smile he had ever seen.
He turned her twice and continued to dance. "Who is your date, Abbott? I thought you were Diggory's girlfriend or something, but he came with that Cho Chang girl," this would open her up.
"What?" she raised her voice a bit and caused the couple next to them to look in their way, "Why would I be his girlfriend? He's just, we're friends," she averted her eyes.
"My bad," he chuckled, "seeing you with him all the time made me think that you might have some unfriendly thoughts about the guy. I would understand, he's a good looking lad."
The girl was gritting her teeth when she finally took a deep breath. "Should I assume the same, then?" Sge paused and he gestured for her to continue, "Is Pansy Parkinson your girlfriend?"
"Are you proposing something Abbott?" he smirked, knowing too well that she was pissed.
The girl grimaced. "Absolutely not! I just thought that you should know a guy is about to snog her right now and there,"
He intentionally didn't look at the direction she was pointing at. "I guess it's a good thing that I don't have feelings for her."
"I wouldn't expect you to know such romantic feelings anyway,"
He scoffed and decided not to say anything else since this girl was starting to get on his nerves and he wanted to save his patience for someone else. He glanced around looking for Pansy. She was dancing with a Durmstrang boy that reminded him of someone else. It wasn't too hard to find Viktor Krum and his new dancing partner from Beauxbaton. That was the kind of girl for someone as cool as him, not Granger!
He twirled his partner around and got a better look at the Gryffindor wiseling. She was dancing with Longbottom who was surprisingly very good at what he was doing. Draco never imagined him to dance like that, he was covering up her mistakes easily. She was missing some steps and that is exactly what made Draco move towards her. His partner was baffled at his movement but didn't even protest since he was not looking at her at all.
He was almost side by side with Granger. He waited for her to get a little closer to pick on her incapability of something that he was obviously good at. She would always have a proud, annoying face when she got a question right before he did or anyone. It was irritating to see her being good at everything! Well... not everything, he suddenly remembered the secret little agreement they did. He still couldn't believe to this day that they had helped each other a year ago, not so eagerly but still... He hadn't thought about that for quite some time and didn't want to be thinking about it while she was getting more and more close to him.
With a quick turn, his partner switched places with him. He looked at her crossly.
"Why did you do that for?"
She stopped dancing and let go of his hand rather quickly. "I didn't feel like dancing anymore. I couldn't have gotten out of the crowd if I hadn't come to this side." She had a frown on her face that almost seemed forced like she was doing this to have fun. He didn't know where this sudden act came from but he wasn't going to play along.
"Alright, then. No one's keeping you here."
She turned around and walked away from him. Draco looked after her for a few seconds and then realised that he was with no partner now. That would be embarrassing. He couldn't let people talk about how his partner left him on the dance floor all by himself. That definitely would ruin his and his family's image. He was still trying to forget about the ferret thing and him being left alone here would haunt him more than that incident. He turned around to leave, but the second he did, he got bumped by the very witch he wanted to see tonight.