A couple hours later, Ginny found me crying.

"Hermione dear, what's wrong? Why are you crying? If it's Malfoy again I swear to Merlin —" she mumbled the last bit so I couldn't hear.

"Malfoy is a —" I couldn't finish the sentence, I was crying too hard.

"What did he do?" Ginny hissed.

"It was going ok but he didn't want to read my book and then he made me fly by broomstick by myself and laughed at me for falling off. It was a horrible experience." When I said it out loud, it didn't sound as bad as it had been.

"Oh, Hermione. I'm so sorry. Had this happened to anyone else, I would be making fun of you but you got paired with your worst enemy who watched you get tortured. And then if that's not bad enough, we all know you're struggling the worst from the war and everyone knows you hate to fly. I'm so sorry Hermione." And she pulled me into a tight sisterly hug. "You don't have to go to the party if you don't want to. I'll cover for you."

It was then that I made up my mind. I was Hermione, the brightest witch of our age and I had followed Harry all over the place to discover the horcruxes. If I could do that, I could go to a party with Malfoy.

"Ginny, I'm going to that party and no Slytherin is going to stop me. Anyways, I can always hang out with you, Harry, and Ron." With that, an owl flew through the window and dropped off a package with my name on it. I pulled it open to reveal a dress. It was the party dress and it was, I shuddered, green.

"Who's that from?" Ginny asked.

"Oh, it's from Malfoy." I sighed and held it up in front of me.

"Why? And are you really going to wear it?"

"I have to," I sighed. "His mother bought it for me and as he says 'mother wants pictures,'" I imitated his squeaky voice. Well, it wasn't very squeaky anymore but he was a ferret and ferrets are squeaky. We both rolled around laughing at my imitation of Malfoy.

"Why don't we change it a bit," Ginny said with a sly look in her eyes. "It'll be the same dress, but say — a different colour."

"How about red," I said, catching on. We both raised our wands into the air and shouted the colour changing incantation at the same time. The dress changed from the sly green to a bold, Gryffindor red.

***

When Ginny and I entered the Great Hall, I had to stop and take a breath as to fully appreciate the room. There was food and wine on a long table. There were small couches and large chairs lining the walls. In one of the chairs, I saw Luna Lovegood sitting while Neville was using his wand in an attempt to braid her hair. He was doing a pretty good job of it. It looked like a seventh year party all right and I did happen to notice that no teachers would be attending.

Just then who should storm into the room but Malfoy.

"Where were you? Why are you here without me?" He looked furious but I held my ground. "And why aren't you wearing the dress. Wait till my —" but I cut in.

"Let's set a few things straight Malfoy. First of all, I'm not your puppet and I will do whatever I please. Second of all, I am perfectly capable of walking myself to a party and do not need your assistance. And finally, I am wearing your mother's dress, I just turned it red. Oh and I don't give a bloody damn what your father has to say about this."

Before anything else could happen, Ron stormed in and waved his wand in the air. A spell flew across the room and all of a sudden, Malfoy was bent over and puking slugs.

"Ron." And I couldn't say anything more. I just walked over to him and gave him a hug.

***

It was much later into the party and Malfoy had stopped puking up slugs. Neville and Luna had disappeared but no one was bothering to look for them.

"Hey, Hermione!" It was Seamus Finnigan. "We're all playing truth or dare in that corner. Come and join, will you?" I had to go. I knew I had to, even though every bit of me was telling me not to. I had promised myself to let go at this party and have fun. Well, here goes I guess.

"Coming Seamus," I shouted back.

"Awesome." That reply gave me a sinking feeling in my stomach.

When I got there, I saw everyone I knew. Even Malfoy. He came over and stood next to me and when Ron came over to stand on my other side, Hannah followed. Ginny was sitting across from us with Zabini. Ginny was glaring at Malfoy while Zabini was winking at him. Harry, poor Harry, was stuck with Pansy, who was glaring at me until Malfoy caught her eye which made her smile, giggle, and wink. Ugh.

"So first off," said a boy I didn't recognize, "I dare you all to a drinking contest! Who can drink the most?" I really didn't like the idea of this but I had to do it anyway. I had promised myself.

We were all handed glasses full of wine that we were told refilled themselves when they were emptied. Then a clock was set for 3 minutes in which we had to drink as many glasses as we could.

One. The cool liquor raced down my throat and left behind a burning sensation.

Two. The burning feeling was still there, and it was uncomfortable.

Three. I yelped out in pain. I had fallen over when I tilted my head back too far.

Four. I was on the ground, unable to keep my balance standing.

Five. The burning sensation went away. It was a nice feeling.

Six. Or was it seven? I was starting to lose track quickly.

I kept drinking and drinking. When the timer went off and our glasses were emptied, I wanted more.

"Give me more!" I shouted. Malfoy smirked.

"Never had a drink before Granger? Wouldn't surprise me in the least." He smirked. The smirk wasn't as rude as it usually was because he was so drunk. But so was I.

"Hermione, are you all right?" Ginny asked me with a worried look. "Do you need to go to bed now?"

"I'm good!" I shouted. Why was I shouting?

"Alright. Now on to Truth or Dare," someone said and everyone cheered.

The bottle spun around in the air. It landed on Ginny.

"Truth or Dare?" We all asked.

"Dare." Ginny said with a grin.

"Oh, I've got a good one," Someone shouted from the corner. "Curse your worst enemy."

"Ok, that's easy," she said with a smile growing huge across her face. "This isn't really a curse but here goes —"

All of a sudden there was a flash of light and then a white fluffy thing appeared in front of us bouncing up and down.

"It seems 'Malfoy the Bouncing Ferret' has returned," Harry announced with a laugh. All of the non-Slytherins erupted with laughter. Except Blaise. He was rolling around on the floor, practically crying with delight, tears of laughter running down his face.

"Draco!" Someone screamed. "Stop you're hurting him!" But no one cared.

It may have been true though. The ferret was bouncing up and down and all around. He looked like he was dancing. Then the moment was over and Malfoy was right next to me again. His face was bright red, though it was hard to tell if that was from being a ferret or the drinking. He looked hot.

The bottle spun again. This time it landed on Harry. Ginny smiled an evil grin. Harry looked terrified.

"Truth or Dare, Harry Potter?" she asked in an evil voice.

"Dare," said Harry. Was it me or was he actually shaking with fear?

"I dare you —" she paused for a dramatic effect. ''To come with me to my cottage right now and —" There was no need to finish. Everyone knew what they were going to do. The bottle spun in the air again and this time landed on Parkinson.

"Truth or Dare?" Harry asked her.

"Truth," she said smugly.

"Tell us all how you feel about Malfoy." Harry had a grin on his face that told the room he knew he had won. Pansy had a shocked look on her face. She was mortified. Harry, satisfied, carried Ginny out of sight. She blew us all kisses as she left.

"W-w-well —" Pansy spluttered. "I like his h- hair. It's wonderful and I love to p- pet it. His eyes are so b- beautiful, it's like staring into an endless ocean." For someone who didn't want to talk in the first place, she just went on and on and on for the next ten minutes until we told her to shut up. I agreed with her though on a lot of things. How had I never realized how beautiful he was before now?

Then the bottle was in the air again. It pointed at Dean Thomas.

"Truth or Dare?" Pansy asked.

"Dare, of course," he scoffed.

"Alright then," Pansy said and you could tell that she was thinking hard. "I dare you — to kiss Finnigan!" The smug look was back on her face, but Seamus looked terrified. Dean, however looked perfectly calm and collected.

They both walked towards the middle of the circle. Then Dean leaned in, and kissed Seamus full on the mouth. You could see the look of surprise on Seamus's face as he was being kissed. We all just expected it to be a quick, awkward kiss, but watched in a sort of mixed horror and delight as Seamus started kissing him back. Neither boy had pulled away yet, so it was turning into a full on make out session. The entire room stared with disbelief as they kissed. You could tell that at this point they were fully making out, tongues included because they kept letting out small groans. Their hands, moving over each other's bodies at the speed of light. Dean started to take off Seamus's shirt when a cough came from next to me.

"Oi! Get a room you two!" It was Ron. The entire room erupted with laughter and Dean and Seamus backed away from each other. They both turned away from each other and started to leave the room, when Dean remembered it was his turn to 'get' the next person.

The game of Truth or Dare continued for hours and I was very tired and drunk by the time my turn came around.

"Truth or Dare Hermione?" Hannah Abbott asked me.

"Truth," I replied calmly.

"Alright," she said. "Who in the Wizarding World would you most like to kiss, who would you marry, and who would you like to kill?" Everyone watched me closely as I gave my answers.

"Well," I said. I was trying to think rationally, but I was so drunk. "I would like to kill Umbridge, obviously." Everyone laughed and agreed at that comment. "I would marry Ron Weasley obviously." Everyone shook their heads in agreement. "And I would kiss —" I looked around the room. I was so drunk I was probably going to pass out soon. My thoughts turned to mush. I looked over and saw Malfoy watching me intensely. My thoughts had no control, it all came out. God, he looked hot tonight with his messy hair and his eyes staring. "Draco Malfoy." Jaws fell in shock as I said that. Ron and Hannah looked scared.

After that, as I was the last to go, Truth or Dare was over. I decided I needed some fresh air so I pushed open the huge front doors and stared up at the stars. They were shining brightly and seemed to be calling out to me. I was so drunk. Then I heard a voice behind me.

"Granger." It was Malfoy, of course.

"Malfoy." I retorted.

"So Granger. I hear you want to kiss me. Want to give it a go?" I looked into his eyes and could tell how drunk he was. I was too drunk to think straight but before I could say anything, his lips crashed down onto mine. I was being kissed as I had never been kissed by Ron, or anyone else and I liked it. His tongue was asking for entrance into my mouth and I gladly obliged. Then it was a battle of the tongues as we fought for control. He won control of the kiss and I could feel his hands gripping my hair as I pushed myself closer and closer to him.

"Ahem." Someone coughed and we broke away. I looked up and saw Ron and Hannah staring at us in disbelief. "They started the music, Hermione. Thought you might want to come and dance with us, but apparently not." He walked back into the castle and I started crying.

"Shh." A voice whispered in my ear. Malfoy's. "Don't worry about him right now." He was right. I shouldn't worry. So I lead Malfoy into the Great Hall. He offered me a drink and asked "Care to dance?" I responded with enthusiasm and he led me across the dance floor. He was probably a wonderful dancer but all of the drinking was making me wobbly.

"Whoops!" I said as I knocked a drink out of someone's hands. I started laughing hysterically. We danced for about an hour and Malfoy kept giving me drinks and drinking himself. Eventually, I couldn't stand up by myself anymore. I was happy, but also—

"I'M SO DRUUUUUNK!" I screamed, standing in the hall. This scared Malfoy so I accidentally ended up knocking him over. I ended up landing on top of him, a position which my drunk self didn't mind in the least. I positioned myself and started kissing him again, surrounded by everyone.

"Hermione," Malfoy whispered at me, breaking the kiss. I pouted. I wanted to kiss him for the rest of my life. "People are starting to stare. Maybe you should — you know — hold off on the kissing a bit when we are surrounded by people."

"What are you doing you filthy mudblood?" I assumed it was coming from Pansy so I ignored her and gave Malfoy a particularly passionate kiss.

"You know what?" Malfoy said. He gently lifted me off of him and stood up. I started having a tantrum. I was kicking and screaming as he held me away from him so he wouldn't get hurt. I only wanted one thing and that was Malfoy. Who cares about Ron. "I think that Granger here is done with the party tonight." He said to the room in general. "Say goodnight, Granger." He grabbed my hand and made me wave at everyone. I hit him and screamed.

"I don't wanna go! I wanna have more drinkies!"

"Yup. We are leaving Granger. Night everyone." He bent over so that I could climb up on his back. I climbed on with excitement. He then carried me out of the hallway.

"Where are we going?" I asked.

"You'll see." That was all he would say, no matter how much I kicked and screamed. He carried me up stairs and through hallways, but I had no clue where we were. Finally, we were in a room and he laid me down on a bed. I started kissing him again and the last thing I remembered was a strong feeling of heat in my face.

After that:

Darkness.