A/N: Hey everyone. Told you it would pick up in the third chapter. I guess its just like they say with books: The second one is always the weakest. Ah well. And this chapter gets a little mushy, ah, 'fluff' I guess you'd call it, but romance will be that way, won't it? Anyways, I'm thinking about writing a short song fic epilogue after the final chapter. Please tell me if I should in your review.

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Hermione looked up into his pleading eyes, her bottom lip trembling, her eyes brimming with the tears that threatened. Unable to look at Draco any longer, she dropped her eyes to the ground, shaking her head. She opened her mouth to speak, but a lump caught in her thraot, so she closed it, just shaking her head.

Draco swallowed hard, staring into the tear-filled, cinnamon eyes of the girl in front of him. He wanted nothing more than to just wrap his arms around her and hold her close until the tears stopped, but resisted. He hesistated for a moment as he fingered the necklace in his pocket.

"Draco, dear. Take this, give it to a special girl. Not just some girl that Lucius set you up with because she's pureblood." his mother had told him when she gave him the necklace; it was that summer, before his fifth year, when Lucius had been setting him up on blind dates with his pure-bloods friends' daughters, the worst of which, by far, had been Pansy.

He pulled the necklace out of his pocket, and trailed the thin chain around her neck, clasping it in the back, and taking off the necklace she'd been wearing before. He smiled softly as he took her hand in his, gently putting Luna's necklace in her hand and slowly closing her fingers around it.

Her fingers trailed gently over the necklace. She smiled but before she could say anything, he gently kissed her cheek, and without another word, turned and walked back to the castle.

The wind beat hard against her back, as though punishing her for her foolish choice. hermione knew she was doing the right thing, she had told herself that so many times that she was sure she believed it was right.....so why did it feel so wrong?

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Malfoys don't cry. Draco told himself firmly, fighting back tears that were begging for freedom. It was rather ironic, however, as he loathed the name, and waited for the day he'd be free from Lucius and was already planning to legally change his name as soon as he could. He shoved his hands into his pockets and walked to the Slytherin common room. He had seen Blaise when he passed the Great Hall, so no doubt he was up in their dorm with some girl he picked up at the ball, but Draco really didn't want to go up there and deal with some girl's giggling through the whole night in the bed next to him.

Draco plopped into one of the armchairs, glaring angrily at the flames trapped inside the fireplace....trapped.....Merlin, Draco could relate....trapped by Lucius, (he refused to claim the man as his father!) trapped by the wishes of Voldemort.....though trapped mostly by the eyes of one girl, one girl whom he didn't even know the name of, only that she was a seventh year Gryffindor who apparently hated him, or wanted to hate him at least.

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Eventually Hermione went back to the castle, wondering if she'd done the right thing. She looked in the Great Hall. Apparently it was time for the unmasking, as everyone was taking off their masks, some shocked at their partners, others ecstatic. Maybe she should have waited until the unmasking, not tried to figure out who he was, and wondered what would have happened.

Hermoine shook her head. The damage is done. "Would've been"s don't count! The damage is done. she told herself firmly as she climbed the staircase, which seemed to be longer than usual right now. After what seemed like eternity, she finally reached the portrait hole. She swallowed hard, "Undeniable truth," she muttered, making a mental note to change the password tomorrow as she walked inside. She went up to her dorm and changed, though left the necklace on, then went down to the common room and sat down at a table.

She pulled a book towards her, starting on her Potions essay, but her mind wouldn't cooperate. She caught her hand finding its way to the necklace more than once, but quickly forced it to turn a page in the book instead of absent-mindedly fingering the necklace. After about an hour, the common room started to fill up, so Hermione gave up on her homework and went back to her dorm, climbing into bed and waiting for sleep to overtake her.

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Smokey blue eyes opened blearily to an empty fireplace, ashes scattered across the hearth rug. Draco sat up, rubbing his eyes, having had no recollection of falling asleep, but what else would explain the wonderful dream he had of the mysterious girl?

Draco pushed the dream from his mind as he stood up and went to his dorm to change. As he expected, on the table beside Blaise's bed sat a girl's purse, and the curtains were pulled around the bed. He quickly changed his clothes and went back down to the common room, the wood floor echoing his every foot step down the stairs to the abandoned room below. 

He walked out of the common room and through the dungeons. Only when he reached the Great Hall did he realize how early it was, or how late everyone had stayed up the night before. Either way, few students were down for breakfast as of yet. He plopped down at the end of the Slytherin table, his head in his hands. The appettite he thought he'd had upon entering died away when his eyes reached the empty Gryffindor table. 

He groaned and sat there for a long time deep in thought. How long, he wasn't sure, but when he looked up again, the Hall was almost full. Draco stood, stuffing his hands into his pockets and walked outside, leaning against a tree and staring out at the cerulean waters of the lake glistening beneath the sun.

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Hermione forced a smile as she listened to Harry, Ron and Ginny recount their adventures last night. Apparently Harry and Ginny had ended up together after the unmasking, and Ron had been with, well, he didn't say. He turned red when it was his turn to talk, and just said that it didn't work out, giving Hermione the idea that it had a been a Slytherin. She felt a pang in her chest at that thought, but quickly shook it away when they turned to her.

"Well, it was interesting enough. But it didn't really work out for me either." she said, smiling sheepishly, "Well, come on. Let's go outside, its a beautiful day." she said quickly, eager to change the subject.

Ginny gave her a questioning look, but Hermione ignored her as the four got up and walked outside, chatting animatedly. The chat, was mostly Ron and Hermione teasing that they always knew Harry and Ginny would get together, and Harry and Ginny turning a rather bright red, though grinning all the same. They all groaned when they heard an all-too-familiar voice behind them.

"Hey! So, Potter, finally hooked up with Weasellette, eh? Well, I guess you can't do any better than that."

"Shove off, Ferret!" Hermione yelled, whirling around to face him.

Draco just smirked, but his face fell when Hermione whirled around to face him. His eyes fell to her chest, his eyes windening and his mouth open slightly.

Hermione just glared at him. She raised her hand to her neck, as though silently telling him to stop staring at her, UGH! He's such a-- Her thoughts froze along with the rest of her body as her fingers met cold metal strung around her neck. He recognized the necklace! What kind of guy ever pays that much attention to a girl's jewelry?! She did the only thing she knew to do. SHe turned and ran, shoving past her friends, who were calling after her.

Draco couldn't believe it. Hermione?! Yea, they were definately from two different worlds, but at that moment, he didn't care. He didn't see Granger; he didn't see a Mudblood; he didn't see someone inferior to him. No, all he saw was the beautiful, perfect girl he'd been with the night before at the ball.

WIthout thinking, Draco shot after her, shoving Ron to the ground as he pushed through the group. Being much faster than Hermione due to all his quidditch practices, he caught her when she was just on the other side of Hagrid's hut, in front of the pumpkin patch outside the hut. He grabbed her shoulder and whirled her around to face him, not shocked, but disappointed to see tears welling up in her eyes.

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A/N: I hope yall liked it. I had so much fun writing this one. And yes, the rest of the chapters will probably be just as mushy (or 'fluffy' if you'd like to call it that,) as this one, if not more so. And just a reminder, please leave in your review if you'd like me to do a song-fic epilogue after the last chapter. And yes, it will end on a cliff-hanger if I don't do the epilogue, but I'll do whatever the reviewers wish. So please R&R!!!!!!!!!!!!!!