c h a p t e r t h i r t y

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"Draco, please use your own legs to stand." Hermione groaned as she struggled to hold the boy up. Draco simply laughed and clumsily held onto her.

"You're a very pretty stranger." he said, attempting to tuck a strand of her hair behind her ear. "Draco, i'm not a stranger. I'm your soulmate." she sighed, getting slightly impatient.

Draco let out a small gasp, followed by a laugh. "Well aren't i lucky man?"

Hermione stopped struggling and glared at him. "You won't be lucky when you're sober, let me tell you that."

The boy scoffed and let go of her shoulder. "That's mean!" he said, falling through the doorway.He stumbled towards his bed before falling on top of it.

Hermione had barely walked through the door when he sat up and opened his arms wide, grinning at the girl, "Cuddle me."

She glared at him but groaned when he pouted sadly. "Even when drunk you're an arrogant arse." she said, walking up to the bed. She loosened his tie, undid his top button and was about to undo another button when Draco suddenly swatted her hand away.

"You can't go to bed like that, let me atleast get you changed." Hermione said. Draco ignored her and stood up.

"I'd much rather it be the other way round." he muttered, pulling her body towards him. Draco placed a kiss on her neck as his hands found their way to the girl's dress zipper.

Hermione pulled away from him. "No. Not when you're drunk." she glared at him and he froze. Draco dropped his hands and stumbled back.

"I'm so sorry." he whispered, looking slightly disoriented. Hermione sighed and turned around, about to walk out the door when Draco looked up at her. "Don't leave me, i didn't mean t-" he began but Hermione interrupted him.

"I'm getting you a glass of water. When i come back, you're going to be under the covers ready for bed. You hear me?" she said, sending him another glare.

Draco nodded and tried to clumsily undo his belt buckle. Hermione shook her head and headed for the kitchen, not missing the ocasional curse word that left the boy's mouth.

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Time had gone by considerably quickly. Before she knew it, it was the day of the ball and Hermione was shopping for dresses in Hogsmeade with Ginny.

"I feel like we should've done this sooner." Hermione sighed as she looked through some dresses on a rack.

"Sorry, it's just been hard to comprehend that it's been a normal year at Hogwarts." laughed Ginny. Hermione turned to face the girl and grinned. "I still can't believe you've graduated!" she said, letting out a small squeal.

Ginny smiled and nodded, "Yep. My next goal now is to a world-famous quidditch player." "And that's exactly what you're going to be after we've found 2 stunning dresses for tonight!"

Hermione ended up going for a beige ball gown dress. It was quite short considering it was a ball gown, but she didn't really care. She liked the sheer sleeves and floral patterns.

Once the girls paid for their dresses, Hermione and Ginny apparated to her apartment.

The ball officially begun at eight o'clock so she agreed to meet Draco at his apartment at seven thirty. Ginny would go meet Harry at seven o'clock.

They had half an hour before Ginny had to leave and get ready so they split Hermione's job in two; Ginny did hair whilst Hermione did makeup.

She had decided not too go too heavy with the makeup - half of it was going to be covered by a mask anyway.

Some mascara, nude eyeshadow and a little bit of eyeliner was all she did for her eyes. Hermione just used some light pink lipstick for her lips.

When she was done with her makeup, Ginny was just about finished with her hair. "Is it done yet?" Hermione asked, attempting to glance over her shoulder. Ginny shuffled a bit as she grabbed a pin from the vanity desk.

"Not yet. Stop moving." she laughed.

After a few moments, Ginny took a couple steps back. "Alright, i'm done with my artwork." she said.

Hermione looked at her hair in the mirror and saw that Ginny had done some sort of plaited bun. Although it looked rather odd, it still looked pretty.

After Hermione thanked and hugged Ginny, the girl left to get ready and meet Harry.

Hermione slipped into her dress and was done getting ready by ten last seven, which she was personally quite impressed by.

She sat around in the living room until quarter past but got bored quickly, resulting in her going to Draco earlier than planned.

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Pansy ended up being the one to let Hermione in. After eyeing her outfit (and saying "Damn, girl.") she explained that Draco was still getting ready.

Hermione thanked her and made her way towards his room, the mask in her hand.

When she entered his room, Draco was stood by the mirror adjusting his tie. Hermione walked up behind him and rested her head on his shoulder, smiling when he looked up and saw her in the mirror.

Draco turned around to face her and took a few steps back. She saw his eyes glaze over her body but Hermione didn't miss the blush creeping up his neck when his gaze met her eyes.

"You look... wow." he muttered, making Hermione grin as she shook her head lightly, "Did i just make Draco Malfoy speechless?"

A smirk tugged at the corners of his mouth as he pulled her towards him. "You've done it many times before and it looks like you've just done it again." he said, placing a kiss on the top of her head.

Hermione smiled as she took his mask from his desk and traced her fingers along the design before putting it over his head.

"Not going to lie," she murmured, running a hand through his hair, "you actually look really hot in a mask."

Draco laughed and picked up Hermione's mask, putting it on her. "So do you. Does that mean we'd be super hot serial killers?" he asked, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear.

Hermione giggled lightly. "We're going to be super late serial killers unless we leave right now." she said, glancing at his wall clock.

Draco nodded. "Yeah you're right." he sighed. He took a step back and bowed slightly, extending a hand, "The time has come, Miss Granger."

Hermione laughed at how cliché but adorable he was being as she took his hand. "It certainly has." she replied and together, they apparated to the ball.

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this was so cliché i actually can't

anyway so here are the reference pictures i guess for Hermione's hair, mask and dress:

I know i didn't really give a description for Draco's mask so i guess that's up to you :)(i'm so lazy, save my soul)

i found this chapter super hard to write because oml i wasn't happy with it at all (in all honesty, i'm still not but i'm not sure about what i can do to fix it so oh well)

alsO can we talk about drunk draco?? it's all gonna go down after the ball

ok i'm done rambling, i hope you have/had a great day :))