Where I Found You

Granger looked at him in shock. "Malfoy?"

"Granger." He let out a harsh breath, staring at her. The witch in question had not moved and his gaze remained on her widened eyes until her mouth slightly opened.

She seemed to say something apologetic for a second but obviously decided not to. Now that she was right in front of him, he could say everything he wanted.

"Are those heels too much for you to bear? I wouldn't expect anything more," he smirked remembering how she almost tripped before.

"You were on my way! I was j-"

It wasn't about her bumping into him but anyways, that was embarrassing as well. "No. I was standing exactly where I had last stopped dancing when you slammed into me!"

That wasn't exactly a lie.

She crossed her arms. "Well, don't expect an apology since you were clearly on the way."

He could go on and on about this only if he hadn't noticed the looks they were starting to get. He saw Theo pointing his eyes to the girl right in front of him. Blaise, on the other hand, was shaking his head 'no' while Theo was mouthing more positive words. Draco instantly understood what he meant by all that and looked at her, thinking. Was he supposed to dance with her? No. Could he throw insults in her way while she was trying to dance again? Absolutely. Even though the thought seemed intriguing, he wasn't sure about doing something that was inherently pleasant and close with her. He looked around once again, the other pairs had already started their dance.

Draco saw her opening her mouth to speak, her feet getting more and more away from him, but before he even knew it, he broke the silence first.

"I really don't want my night to be ruined, Granger," he looked straight at her eyes for the first time tonight. She stood as if she was glued to the floor.

"We might be on the same page for the very first time," she frowned back at him. 

He was certain they were not on the same page at all. She was quite a few pages behind.

He let out a breath knowing that he was about to make the stupidest move of his life. "Good. Then let's get this over with."

Her eyes widened a bit as she stared at him. He could read her like a book as she struggled to decide what to do, and he just knew how much she hated it. Yes, they loathed each other's guts, but they had no choice but to do it for the sake of the professors and the crowd who had been watching them for the last minute.

"I can see what you're thinking about on your face," he subtly searched her face for a reaction and she gave him the pleasure with a sharp frown.

"What makes you think that I want to dance with you? And even curtsy to you?" she scoffed.

"I didn't say you wanted to, but you have to," he grinned, enjoying the annoyed look on her face. It was going to be much better than he expected.

"I don't have to do anything," she said with a knowing tone that got on his nerves every. single. time.

He closed his eyes not to lose his cool, he just had to wait a little bit more until they started to dance. He swallowed all his pride and lowered his head a little, extending his hand out. It was a risky game he was playing. She could decide to leave him here in his shame. He had to do something, say something. 

"People are watching," Draco whispered, his jaw strained.  "I'm sure you wouldn't like to draw any more attention."

He could see her glancing around and noticing the stares only now. Wasn't she supposed to be paying attention to details, that's what her said-cleverness was all about. The time passed laggardly and he started to fear that she would leave him there. She was a Gryffindor and especially the one that wouldn't run away from him in any situation. Would she actually leave him standing like this?

As his heart race started to quicken, he felt an unfamiliar warmth on his hand and glanced up getting a bit closer to her. He put his other hand on her waist and waited for her to put her hand on his shoulder as well. She took a deep breath and placed her other hand and they joined the other pairs. He didn't have to look at people to notice them gasping at the two, they were quite loud. Draco was sure they attracted more attention than the Champions.

He had to admit, it was the strangest thing he had probably ever done. They would always pick on fights with each other. He once put a spider in her bag, yet it was the Weasel that got scared, he wanted her to run around screaming, but it was still funny to see Weasel's face. But now that she was here, literally in his hands, he could taunt her all night, or maybe 5 minutes. It was enough anyway.

He tried to adjust to the fact that he was dancing with the last girl he could imagine dancing with. He started strategising all the insults he could spit out. He would start with her imbalance and her lack of culture, yes. Maybe then he could comment on her looks—she wasn't like her usual self, that would make things a bit harder for him but he could find something easily. He decided to bother her with his stares for the time being. She was averting her eyes, but he would insist—what is she looking at?

Granger was staring at their hands and Draco had no idea what she was thinking about. Did she have a needle in her palm or a rune drawn on her skin?? Although it seemed possible, he didn't think she would need something like this with her date. But she could have had her wand hidden somewhere in her dress. He subtly searched for a possible pocket but immediately realised that was out of the question, the dress was almost floating, he would have seen it. He shifted his gaze from her dress back to her face and she stopped looking at their hands as well. 

He let his eyes wander around her face judgingly. "I'm not even surprised that you haven't learned some etiquette," he scoffed.

"What etiquette are we talking about?" She met his eyes for a second. Just as he expected, she didn't even know what he was talking about.

"Bowing to your partner," he smirked, "but you can always learn to stay down. That's where you all Mudbloods belong anyway." 

Every time he called her a mudblood she would go crazy even if she didn't show it on her face. His mood brightened knowing that he could piss her off so easily.

"I am aware of those," she fake-smiled looking straight into his eyes. "I just...wouldn't do it to you."

She didn't seem as angry as she usually were, but he knew he got under her skin already. "We'll see about that." 

They continued to dance slowly while Granger kept averting her eyes from him. Her hands were quite soft, yet he could feel her stiffness. She wasn't getting a kick out of the dance; he wasn't particularly enjoying it, too, but he liked this little game he was playing. She looked at him giving the most insincere smile he had ever seen from her. Ms Know It All was trying to play cool for the audience? Alright.

"At least you seem somewhat..." Pretty. 

What? NO!  

"..decent for tonight. I was terrified to see that frizzy nest you insist on calling hair,"

What was that? She wasn't pretty, not at all, not to him. He clenched his teeth to control his expressions. He couldn't let her read him as he did with her. He thanked his lucky stars that she didn't notice it.

Granger sarcastically opened her mouth in shock. "I had no idea I was tormenting you with my looks Malfoy,"

"Not tormenting but amusing, to be honest. You give me a good laugh just for being you,"

That was a good save judging from the way her face dropped for a moment. She gazed somewhere blankly until she looked back at him, he could see the fire in her eyes.

"At least I'm not slicking my hair back with tons of gel. I'm so glad you stopped doing that, it was giving me a headache just by looking at it,"

That bloody witch— "I warn you-"

"What? What can you do?" She challenged.

"You'll soon learn," Draco smirked knowing exactly what to do. She would learn, yes.

He was looking at anywhere but her until he noticed that she was staring at him in thought. That's when he continued his deadly stare. It felt like the dance floor had faded away and they were alone just staring at each other sternly, almost ready to draw their wands for a duel. He knew they were seconds away before she tripped and made herself look like a fool. He just had to wait.

He didn't like to be looking at her so much from this distance, he could see every detail on her face and Merlin forbid, she was different. He didn't know if it was the obvious change of hair that framed her face or the way she was carrying herself surprisingly well with heels and that floaty dress. And she didn't even miss a single bloody step!

The tempo started to change and her eyes widened. "If you drop me or even think of doing anything stupid-"

"What are you going to do? You don't even have your wand," he half smirked and looked away carelessly.

"And what makes you think that I need that?" she raised one eyebrow.

He turned his gaze back to her. "You can't harm me, Granger. Even you are not that good at wandless spells." He shouldn't have said that, goddamn.

"But I'm good at confundus and that's all I need to make you pay. It would be much better to see you fall on your arse than to see you injured. With that much of a show, I'm sure you could be the star of the year, especially after the ferret incident." She looked proud as she smiled. The last part made him twitch inside. He wished to obliviate that day from everyone's memory. 

He imagined the things she said happening for a second. "Okay, I won't let you fall," he muttered finally.

"You better not," she glared at him firmly once again.

He wasn't sure if she could actually do that but he didn't want to leave anything to chance. Getting humiliated by Granger while they were alone was different than it happening in front of the whole school. 

The music gave him a sign to lift the girl. He held her waist with both hands and lifted her with ease. Her brown hair swung behind her as he moved her in circles. She suddenly shot her hands upwards and started to beam like it was Krum who was holding her now. As he watched her, he couldn't help but wonder if she was enjoying their dance.

Because he wasn't.

He turned around one more time and held her tighter slowly lowering her in front of him. She impulsively placed her hands on his shoulders, and they came face to face, her face still sparkling, his eyes reflecting her twinkle. Her chest rose and fell with rapid breaths, but for him, it wasn't his body that was controlling his breathing for a brief moment, and he forgot to carry out the task. There was a lump in his throat. She had stopped smiling and they were now looking at each other, trying to grasp the situation.

When Draco intended to gulp down the lump, he took a short breath that dried his lips. When his tongue met his lips, Granger's gaze lowered, breaking the eye contact.

She took a hasty step back and began to gaze around at everyone else, disregarding her partner. He didn't understand why she was embarrassed about that. He was relieved when she broke the uncomfortable eye contact. But as the time went on, he had a hard time answering why that when her eyes left his, he was determined to find them again.

He shook his head.

It wasn't going like he had anticipated. She was annoyed and probably wanted to go as soon as she could, yes, but it wasn't exactly how he imagined and things got awkward. When he glanced behind her, he noticed her date staring at them with his eyes narrowed. Krum had to be a skilled dancer to be able to maintain the dance while not focusing on his partner for so long. Of course he was, that's why Draco admired him, he was good at everything.

But now, he wasn't that admiring while looking at them like a jealous boyfriend. He scoffed.

"Your date is looking at us, disturbingly often," he looked over her shoulder again to give direction.

"Who?" She followed his gaze and turned back to him. He could see her smiling at him before turning to look at Draco.

"Maybe because I'm too close to a snake," she said raising one eyebrow. There she is. This was so much better than the long silent stare.

"Snakes are lovely animals, look at Theo for instance," he said playfully. Theo was a snake for sure, but whether he was lovely or not, that was another day's topic.

"Not this one," she looked straight at him in the eye.

"Ouch," he twirled her around and spoke again when she faced him. "Lions are not that great either. They're just...loud." 

And she did that again. Draco couldn't hide his confused face. This time she was actually about to laugh because of something he said but didn't yield. He didn't know what he would do if she actually laughed at his joke which he hadn't intended to amuse her with.

"Let's get this over with, shall we?" She looked so serious that Draco could even mistaken himself for a teacher who was asking her to give out her exam paper.

He loosened his grip on her waist and spun her away from him, only to hold her hand tighter not to let an embarrassing scene occur. Not for her sake, of course, he wouldn't let her make him look bad as well. He was furious for not doing the things he wanted with her. He could've taught her a lesson and have fun but that didn't really go according to his plan. He wanted to let her fall so much, but there were bloody professors around. There was no way of doing it 'accidentally'. She twirled a few times before facing him again. He lowered her to the floor while still holding her waist firmly and followed right after. 

He didn't want to go over the same 'stare at each other's eyes session' again, but he didn't have a chance, did he? Her contorted face was an indicator that she was obviously aware of that, too. He took a good look at her eyes maybe for the first time. She had darker brown specks closer to her iris. He didn't realise she had some not so pretty looking freckles as well. She had a closeted but curious look on her face. He didn't like her to look at him like that. Like he was some sort of a puzzle.

He brought her back up and they both let go of their hands. She frowned, contemplating. Merlin's sake, what the hell was this witch thinking about so much!

She shook her head slightly and turned back to walk to her date. Of course he knew she wouldn't bow to him, but he was still superior and the silly little bow meant nothing compared to that.

Draco went back to his table to find Pansy. All he found was Theo looking at him with wide eyes. Wasn't he the one that encouraged him? He sat next to him. "Shut up.”

"I didn't say anything," he held up his palms.

"You were thinking it." A silence fell over between them and Draco noticed Blaise's eyes flicking between the two. "What?"

"Nothing," Theo answered and Draco turned back to look at Blaise once again who shook his head and continued to eat his fruit.

"Right."

Goyle looked at him in shock as he sat next to his right. "What the, bloody, hell was that?"

"Something I had to bear," Draco scoffed.

"Yeah, right," Goyle seemed to be thinking. "How could you touch her though?" Draco looked and found him grimacing.

"Yeah, Draco, how could you touch that mudblood?" Theo seemed to be enjoying himself.

"I'll get rid of her touch, don't worry. I don't want anything related to that so-called witch anyway," 

"I wouldn't, too. What did you talk about there?" Goyle would always want to know more and more.

"I commented on her lack of etiquette and a few other insults as well. It was a normal conversation you could say. Now, stop asking about it, I don't want to waste my breath about her any longer," his tone was as sharp as a blade.

"You're right, sorry." Goyle offered him a drink. "I've added a little bit of firewhiskey in it," he grinned proudly.

Draco took the glass and drank it down. He was glad that his answer was enough for them to let him be. "Where's Pansy?"

Blaise lifted his drink pointing ahead. Pansy was walking towards them, and she didn't seem happy at all.

"Was that Granger you were just dancing with?"

Not again.

"Yes, Pansy. We've talked about it with the boys enough, please I don't want to mention that mudblood again."

Her shoulders instantly slumped hearing him say the word. "Alright then, but you owe me a dance," she pointed her index finger at him.

"Sure, let me sit and rest first."

She sat next to him to have a drink, shoving Goyle away. Draco watched the people dancing in pairs, even the professors were on the dance floor when the music changed into something more energetic. Everyone was dancing, jumping, swaying their hands, but he noticed one pair of brown eyes. This time she wasn't looking at him and he thought it was okay to stare freely. Not that he didn't stare before.

She was living her night alright, after their dance she seemed to have found her joy quite easily. Well, it wouldn't be that difficult if your date was Viktor Krum which was something he still couldn't understand. Why would he choose to go to the ball with her? Draco could find a dozen of other girls for Krum just by looking at the crowd in front of him. That Hufflepuff girl, for example, was somewhat pretty also quite popular.

He was a famous seeker, a celebrity, his idol, and he'd expected him with someone better. Whatever reason Krum chose her wasn't his business, he danced with her once and his cells were already polluted by her touch. He didn't like to be thinking about her and drank down another whiskey to get her out of his system for good. 

He stood up offering his hand to Pansy. "Let's dance,"

She jumped to her feet and they went to blend in with the crowd. It wasn't hard to adjust to the music, a popular band called The Weird Sisters were playing and he, like everyone else, was jumping up and down to the music. The air was filled with laughter and chattering and he just cherished the moment. He never felt like this with the usual balls he would attend with his family. Those dances were all formal and mostly boring, unlike this one. He wouldn't imagine dancing without care with almost everyone at Hogwarts— well, with two other school and their unfamiliar students, too. When he stopped moving, he could feel his pulse thumping in his eardrum. The roots of his hair had gotten wet but he ignored the way they looked. 

He held Pansy's waist to get a bit closer to her and she put her arms around his shoulders. They danced together for a few minutes before Draco asked if she wanted to get out of there. She nodded and he held her hand walking towards the courtyard. He caught sight of a perfect corner for a little snog. She walked a bit faster and gripped his robe, pulling him to the exact same corner. He smirked proudly.

"I guess we both had an eye for here," he took a step towards her. She went backwards to the corner until she hit the wall.

"Well, everyone's got themselves a spot. Why shouldn't we?" She smirked, playing with his bow tie. Her hands were not shy to him and he was liking this side of her a lot.

Draco held her waist like he did when they danced to get more intimate. His head was getting slightly closer to her neck and she didn't lose a second to put her arms around him. After taking the signal, he leaned in and breathed towards her collarbone. Her chest started to rise deeply and he raised his head to kiss her. She wasn't his first kiss and he had the idea that he wasn't hers, too.

"Draco.." she broke the kiss. 

"What?" he tried not to show his frustration in his tone.

"What if someone sees?" She looked around cautiously.

He really didn't care if anyone saw them kissing, everyone was doing the same, but he also didn't want to prolong the situation. "Let's go in and find someplace we can be comfortable then," he held her hand.

They went back inside and turned left to a smaller set of stairs. He heard someone yelling on the way but paid no attention to the words as he was rushing to find a comfortable spot for a kiss. He went upstairs and looked around. 

"The moving stairs are ahead, we can find a better place up floor,"

They went to the stairs and waited a few seconds before they stopped in front of them. He pulled her to the middle and immediately put his hands on the sides of her face, drawing her towards himself. Her lips were soft, he could taste the unpleasant taste of her lipstick but they were soft. She kissed him back until he felt they were not going up.

"Really?!" He frowned. "Do we not have a chance at all!"

"Don't worry, Drake, this floor is huge and the broom cupboard is right next to The Great Hall."

He nodded and walked along the corridor that lead to The Great Hall. While looking if they could get there without being seen, he saw Potter and Weasley running off.

"I don't know why she's making a big deal out of it!" He heard Weasley complaining to his four-eyed friend. The trio wouldn't be a trio without the third person and he was sure that Weasley was talking about Granger.

He stopped in his tracks and put his hand on her arm to stop her. "Let me check the entrance to see if it's clear first."

He took another step to glance ahead. There was a group of girls few steps down the stairs. And he saw another group of students looking at a girl sitting alone on the stairs and whispering among themselves. Her shoulders were slumped down and she seemed like she was crying. He had never heard or seen her cry before, who could've done that? Malfoy never managed to get even a single tear from her.

He turned back to look at Pansy, blocking her way with his body. "I need to see something, you go back to the dorm, we'll meet at the stairs in 10 minutes,"

She looked at him with her mouth open and went in a huff, he cursed himself for what he was about to do. This was a bad idea, he had to be out of his mind to leave a girl like that. He could have a wonderful night with Pansy right now, but his curiosity got the better of him.

He took a deep breath to calm himself down for what he's done and went down the stairs. In each step, he could hear her cry more clearly and he just couldn't understand why she would do that in front of everyone, that was so pathetic.

She looked at his shoes as he approached her. "Harry don't try to-" 

"Potter?" He couldn't wear such expensive shoes. "You've seem to have outdone yourself on insults, Granger."

She didn't seem like the same person he danced with an hour ago. Her eyes and cheeks were glossy with tears and she had let all her guards down in front of everyone, including him. Her hair which was neatly styled was now a frizzy mess on her head. She groaned and ran a hand over it. He knew something had to be wrong and it wasn't just because she had been crying; she would never let herself be vulnerable anywhere near him. It just didn't make sense, none of the Gryffindor friends of hers would leave her alone like this.

As if she just read his mind, her body stiffened and she pressed the tip of her fingers to the under of her eyes. It didn't help with the situation since her nose was red and her lips swollen. For Merlin's sake, she looked horrible. He didn't care about her wellbeing, yet he still couldn't fight the urge to learn what happened.