The following day Hermione couldn't keep the smile off her face as she looked forward to her date that night with Draco. After lunch she had accompanied her friends back to Gryffindor Tower, where they pretty much had the place to themselves considering the majority of students were at home for the holidays.

"Okay Hermione, spill." Ginny said to her friend, finally mentioning the other girl's good mood. "Why are you in such a good mood today?"

"Can't I just be happy?" Hermione asked.

"There's happy and there's borderline mental." Ron commented. "Seriously though, you've been smiling like an idiot all morning. Why?"

"I've got a date tonight." Hermione announced, deciding to deal with her friends straight away rather than hiding anything from them.

"We don't need to know about your love life with Zabini." Ron grimaced.

"Yeah, it's bad enough that you're dating a Slytherin, we don't need details." Harry added.

"How many times have I told you Blaise and I are just friends." Hermione huffed. Since last week's ball she'd been telling her friends that she wasn't dating Blaise, but they just didn't believe her.

"You were with him yesterday in Hogsmeade. That's a date." Ron argued.

"I was with him as a friend, we hung out a bit and had some lunch. That was all." Hermione said. "Besides I spent my afternoon with you two. Was that a date as well?"

"Don't be ridiculous Hermione." Harry tutted. "We're all friends."

"Just like I'm friends with Blaise." Hermione pointed out.

"Okay, so if you're not going out with Blaise, then who's your date with?" Ginny asked, stepping in to direct the conversation back to its original point.

"Draco."

"Malfoy?" Ron exploded. "Why the hell are you going out with him?"

"Because he asked me and I really want to go out with him." Hermione replied.

"But it's Malfoy." Harry said, sounding totally baffled by the idea. "Why would you want to date him?"

"Who wouldn't, the boy is gorgeous." Ginny muttered dreamily.

"Eew, Gin. Don't say disgusting things like that." Ron complained, glaring at his sister. "You're supposed to be on our side and be convincing Hermione she's making a big mistake."

"But she isn't." Ginny shrugged. "Hermione, I'm very happy for you and I hope you have a good time."

"Thanks Ginny, it really means a lot that you're happy for me." Hermione said, beaming at her best female friend before she turned to her two male friends. "And what about you two? Can you be happy for me?"

"He's going to break your heart, how can you expect us to be happy about that?" Harry questioned.

"You don't know that Harry." Hermione shook her head. "We could end up getting pretty serious, you know."

"Until that happens, I'm reserving judgement." Harry declared. "I'm not going to support this until I know he's not going to hurt you."

"I'm with Harry on this." Ron nodded in agreement with his best friend. "He has to prove he's serious about you and isn't just messing you around before I can approve and support you."

"So once you're convinced Draco's serious, you'll accept us?" Hermione asked her friends.

"Yep." Harry nodded. "But until then, we think you're making a big mistake."

"Thanks, I think." Hermione said, unsure of how to react to her friend's reactions. While they hadn't been as hostile as she had anticipated they also hadn't come round like she hoped, it looked like she would just have to wait and see how they reacted once she and Draco had been together a bit longer.

"I think that's the best you're going to get from them." Ginny whispered to Hermione as the boys changed the subject to Quidditch. "I'll work on them and make sure don't cause any trouble."

"Thanks Gin." Hermione smiled at her friend.

"Now while they're busy talking Quidditch, tell me more about this date." Ginny said, eager to hear about her friend's love life.

Hermione grinned and began telling Ginny about the upcoming date and the events leading up to it.

Draco nervously paced the floor in the common room as he waited for Hermione to emerge from her room. Draco had spent most of his day reading peacefully in the common room while Hermione had spent her day with her friends. A couple of hours ago Hermione had returned to the dorms, where she had immediately taken a long bath before shutting herself in her room to get ready.

Draco himself had taken over an hour to get ready, but now he was anxious to begin the date. Not only was he nervous about how things would go with Hermione, but he also had to deal with Blaise. He knew he had to apologise to his friend for hitting him, but he couldn't help but think that if he hadn't have come up with such a stupid plan in the first place then the punch wouldn't have occurred. Although on the other hand, even though the plan was flawed it had finally gotten him and Hermione together, so maybe he also owed Blaise his thanks.

Draco was so busy thinking about the night ahead that he failed to notice Hermione coming down the stairs. It was only when she cleared her throat that the blond turned to find her standing a few feet away from him. Draco took a few minutes to admire Hermione, before he spoke.

"You look great."

Hermione blushed and smiled shyly. "Thanks."

She was wearing a black and purple dress that ended mid-thigh and a pair of black heels. The dress was lower cut than Hermione normally wore, but it showed off her figure really well and Ginny had assured her she looked good in the outfit. She teamed the dress with a silver star necklace, matching earrings and a charm bracelet that had been a Christmas present from her parents.

"Are you ready to go?" Draco asked.

"Yes." Hermione nodded.

Draco took hold of Hermione's hand and together they walked down to the dungeons. There were a few lone students in the hallways and Hermione knew that by morning she and Draco would be the subject of the gossip in school, which would only grow once the rest of the student population arrived back in a few days' time. Despite the bemused looks they were getting Draco never left hold of Hermione's hand as they travelled through the castle.

As they entered the dungeons Hermione suddenly found herself getting nervous at the thought of spending time with other Slytherins. Draco's friends weren't the problem, but Hermione had no idea how many other Slytherins would be at the party or how they would react to her presence.

"It'll be fine." Draco reassured Hermione as he came to a stop in front of a blank patch of bricks.

"How are you so sure?" Hermione questioned. "Your friends might approve of me, but that doesn't mean everyone else will."

"Apart from a few sixth years and a few other students, the majority of the house is at home for the holidays. It'll actually be a fairly small party." Draco said. "Besides, they wouldn't dare badmouth you when you're my date."

At Draco's last sentence Hermione got a brief glimpse of the boy who was undoubtedly the Slytherin Prince. Hermione knew that Draco was very much top dog amongst the Slytherins and she'd heard rumours that the younger students, and even the older students before he was a seventh year, never went against what he said.

"Are you ready?" Draco asked, giving Hermione's hand a reassuring squeeze.

Hermione nodded and held on tighter to Draco's hand as the blond gave the password and the stones parted to reveal a doorway. Draco led the room into the common room, which wasn't anywhere near as cold and dingy as Hermione had expected. The room was far larger than the Gryffindor common room and it was currently decorated with plenty of lights and streamers, and she could see several tables full of food and drink. The room also wasn't very crowded, Draco had been right apart from his friends there was only a handful of other students present.

Draco led Hermione over to where his friends were gathered. The second the group spotted their intertwined hands they started congratulating them and bombarding them with questions about their relationship. Hermione soon found herself separated from Draco as Pansy and Daphne dragged her off to get a drink, the chore merely being a pretext for getting her alone and quizzing her about Draco.

"I owe you an apology." Draco said to Blaise, once the girls had gone.

"We'll leave you two to talk." Theo said, grabbing Crabbe and Goyle by the arms. "Come on boys, let's go and get some food."

Crabbe and Goyle eagerly wandered off with Theo at the mention of food, leaving Blaise and Draco free to talk in private.

"I'm sorry I hit you." Draco said. "I know now you weren't cheating on Hermione."

"You would have to be an idiot to cheat on someone like Hermione." Blaise snorted. "If it wasn't for the fact you're totally in love with her and she's head over heels for you then I would have dated her for real."

"About that, the fake dating thing was really badly thought out. It was a terrible plan." Draco told his friend.

"Really? Because it looked as though it worked to me." Blaise retorted. "You and Hermione are together aren't you?"

"Yes, but only because she told me the truth." Draco argued. "I never would have admitted how I felt about her while I thought she was with you. I never would have betrayed you like that."

"That's what Theo said, but I figured your jealousy would cloud your judgement." Blaise admitted. "Plus, I wasn't sure you even believed we were together. You knew I'd only asked her to the dance to try and push you into doing it."

"Yes, but at the same time you also made it clear you thought she was hot." Draco retorted. "You looked to be really into each other at the winter ball so it was only natural that I would think you would continue seeing each other."

"I would never do that to you, Draco." Blaise said sincerely. "Hermione is lovely and in other circumstances I would definitely have asked her out properly, but not when I knew my best friend liked her."

"I suppose I also owe you a thank you." Draco said. "Your plan may have been flawed, but I suppose it did sort of work."

"There's no sort of about it." Blaise bragged. "The point of the plan was to get you and Hermione together. You're now together so the plan was a success."

Draco laughed and shook his head at his friend. Blaise's plan had been deeply flawed and if Hermione hadn't told him the truth Draco still wouldn't have admitted that he liked her. Luckily everything had worked out so he was content to let Blaise revel in his matchmaking skills.

"And about the punch, I accept your apology." Blaise said. "Theo warned me I might end up on the wrong end of your temper, but in the end it was worth the split lip."

"Well I'm still sorry I snapped and hit you." Draco sighed.

"It's alright, I understand that if it had been anyone other than Hermione involved that you would have controlled yourself better." Blaise said, reassuring the blond he wasn't bearing any grudges.

"Is it safe to come back?" Theo suddenly called from a nearby snack table.

Draco turned round to find all his friends and Hermione watching the pair of them intently. "How long have you lot been standing there?" He asked.

"Not long." Theo replied. "We wanted to give you space, but I wanted to be close in case I needed to step in and break up a fight."

"Please, as if your scrawny frame could compete against me and Draco." Blaise scoffed as the group all converged together again. "You couldn't separate a fight between two first years, let along two strapping seventh years."

"I'm not scrawny." Theo glared at his friend. "I've got hidden muscles."

"Where are they hidden?" Blaise asked with a laugh. "I've seen you practically naked, and you're all skin and bone."

As Theo and Blaise continued to argue, Draco turned his attention to Hermione. He could listen to his friends bicker anytime, but he couldn't repeat his first date with Hermione and he wanted to spend the rest of the night focused on her.

"How are you enjoying our party?" He asked.

"It's good. You Slytherins are a lot more fun than I'd given you credit for." Hermione replied.

"Did Pansy and Daphne behave themselves?" Draco asked, checking on the two girl's behaviour. "If they're badgering you I can tell them to quit it."

"No, they weren't badgering me. We were just having a girly chat." Hermione smiled.

"So you're not regretting coming to the party with me?"

Hermione shook her head and gave Draco a small smile. "No regrets."

Draco smiled back at Hermione as he wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her closer to him. After leaning down and giving her a brief kiss, he turned back to his still bickering friends. By this point everyone else had joined in the discussion so Draco and Hermione also joined in the fun, Hermione fitting into the group of Slytherins easily.

Hermione only hoped her friends would make the same effort as Draco's had when she arranged a meeting between her friends and her boyfriend. But that was something she would worry about in the upcoming year. Right now she was content to spend a fun New Year's Eve with her new boyfriend, and maybe it would be the first of many they celebrated as a couple.

The End.