Between Us - Dramione/Blinny

Ch. 30

Madam Pomfrey had allowed Draco to be released that evening just as dinner started much to his surprise, and he knew that Hermione would be happy to see him. She had sent him a note earlier letting him know that Ginny wanted to talk over dinner and that she'd visit him again afterwards.

He smiled all the way to the Great Hall and opened one of the doors. It wasn't easy to try and sneak into the massive hall, but he tried to do it as best as he could. All eyes turned to him for a few moments before everyone returned to their conversations, but he caught eyes with Hermione and grinned at her excited look as he made his way over to the Slytherin table.

"Good to see you up and about!" Theo said as he sat down with them.

"We weren't expecting you to be out this early," Pansy said with a smile. "How are you feeling?"

"Still a bit sore," Draco admitted. "I needed to get out of there anyway. It's so boring just lying there doing nothing."

"I can imagine," Pansy nodded.

"I bet Hermione's happy," Blaise said, using the excuse to look over at Ginny. Even though her back was turned towards him, he still enjoyed looking at her every so often.

"Judging by the smile on her face, I'd say so," Pansy laughed.

Draco was grinning as he looked past Pansy towards the Gryffindor table, locking eyes with Hermione. Her smile widened and her cheeks turned a slight shade of pink before she looked down at her plate, causing him to laugh.

The sound of metal clinking on glass caught everyone's attention and all of the students turned to look at Professor McGonagall, who was standing up from her seat.

"Your attention, please!" She called out, waiting for the hall to grow silent before continuing. "As you all know, Halloween is the Saturday after next."

Students began muttering to each other but they were silenced by a look from the Headmistress as she went on: "The staff and I have decided to begin a new tradition this year of holding an annual Halloween ball. This event will be for fourth years and up only-"

There was a collective groan across the hall from all of the younger students.

"-However there will be other activities for all of you," Professor McGonagall said, silencing their groans. "This will be a formal event, so please dress appropriately. Any student wearing inappropriate attire will be removed from the ball."

Hermione was no longer listening as Ginny leaned across the table to say quietly, "We've never done any sort of dance like this except for the Yule Ball."

"I know, it's rather odd that they're just starting now," Hermione said.

She missed the last of what Professor McGonagall said as the Headmistress returned to her seat and the hall grew louder as conversations resumed.

"Do you think it'll be a costume theme?" Ginny asked curiously.

"I doubt it," Hermione shrugged. "McGonagall said that it was formal attire so probably ball gowns and evening gowns."

"I can't wait to start shopping," Ginny exclaimed excitedly.

Hermione grinned, shaking her head. "The dress shops are going to be extremely busy."

Ginny waved her off. "It'll be fine. There's more than one dress shop in Hogsmeade."

A small note fluttered down in front of Hermione and she quickly caught it as Ginny gave her a curious look.

"Oh, it's probably from Draco," Ginny said then, rolling her eyes jokingly while Hermione opened the note up excitedly.

See you at rounds tonight :)