On the day before the dance, the school was buzzing in excitement. The Great Hall was filled with students, wandering between tables and discussing plans for the evening. I hadn't been too excited in the beginning, but even I couldn't deny some of the exuberance had become contagious. 

"Who are you two going with?" Ron asked, through a mouth full of food. I wrinkled my nose at the sight before looking down to my plate. 

"It's a surprise." Hermione muttered for me, not taking her eyes off of her book.

 "Why cant you tell us? We're your best friends." Ron shrugged. Harry seemed as equally intrigued as to who we were going with, but didn't push the subject. 

"We're girls, we like to make an entrance, right mione?" I said nudging her shoulder with mine. 

"Oh yes." She said, closing her book and stuffing it in her school bag. I don't think she even heard me.

 "Now you two will just find out tomorrow" I said before following after her. 

Classes were cancelled the next day so students could get ready for the ball, I didn't understand why someone would need the entire day to get ready, but who was I to question day of no classes?

 Fred and George were beyond excited for tonight, they were going to the dance with my sisters. And I'm sure the only way the four of them will be able to tell each other apart tonight was by the colors on their ties.

 Andi was going with George, and she was wearing a yellow dress, with spaghetti straps, it was long and silky and brought out her blonde hair. George of course got a school bus yellow tie to match. Aurora was going with Fred and was wearing a royal purple gown that poofed out at the end, it reminded me of a princess and was so gorgeous. Fred's tie matched as well of course.

Since all the girls in my dorm showered earlier in the day I took my opportunity to take mine now. It was around five o'clock now giving me plenty of time to be ready for a dance that started at seven. I took a long shower, scrubbing every inch of my body with my new strawberry scented body wash. I remember Draco saying it was his favorite fruit one time, so I thought he would like it even if I wasn't really trying to impress him, Harry likes strawberry too.

Hermione was sitting at the vanity doing her makeup when I walked into the room, a towel around my sopping wet hair. Her normally frizzy brown hair was tamed and put up in an elegant up do, her makeup was subtle enough to not overdo it, but had enough to bring out her prominent features—she looked amazing.

 "Wow you look beautiful Mione." I said as she set down her eye liner onto the table.

"Thanks, you look under dressed." She said laughing as I was still in my bathrobe.

 "Doesn't take me long to get ready." I shrugged, tossing my towel onto her bed that was beside me. I cast a quick drying spell on my hair, and it was soon dried in its normal waves down past my shoulders. 

I cast another spell making my hair magically do itself, it was in an intricate up do with a few strands curled around my face. I opted to do my makeup by hand as I felt I could get it to look better that way. Hermione slipped away from the vanity to slip her dark blue dress on, allowing me access to our makeup. I did a simple brown smokey eye to bring out my green eyes, and some blush, nothing too extravagant, but I did look good. 

I waited about thirty minutes until I slipped my dress on, knowing me I would have messed it up putting it on too early. Hermione and I made idle chit chat until she headed down to the common room and I slipped my gown on. It fit like a glove, and even though I didn't have the largest chest to fill it out, this dress definitely made me look like I did. I was already tall, and my heels made me even taller It was a good thing Draco wasn't short or we would look a bit awkward together. 

Around 6:45 Hermione and I made our way down to the great hall entrance. I could see the four other champions standing around with Dumbledore and Mcgonagall, and a few stragglers trying to get into the great hall at the last second. Viktor and Draco were both standing off to the side chatting about something, and hadn't noticed we were walking down the stairs yet, that is until Parvatti patil gasped when she saw us causing all eyes to be on us.

I blushed and looked to my feet to make sure I wouldn't trip over my heels, and saw Draco grinning at me when we got to the bottom. Hermione waved and went over to the line up with Viktor, Harry stood with Parvatti (Although I had no clue why he asked her) But my question was answered when I saw Cedric standing with Cho. Fleur was with some older guy I didn't recognize, and Viktor and I were the last two to jump in the line up with our dates. 

"You look beautiful, Ali." Draco whispered in my ear as we linked arms and waited to enter the great hall.

 "Figured you would like the green." I laughed just now noticing how dashing he looked in a tux, an emerald green tie around his neck. 

"Love it." He said softly as we made our entrance with the other four champions. 

The great hall looked like a winter wonderland and I marveled at the decorations and how lovely all the students looked tonight. It even looked like Hagrid had brushed his hair, and that was something I had never seen before. Students clapped and cheered as the five champions all entered the room, our dates by our side. Draco seemed to bask in the attention of being the date of a champion, while I was just hoping not to step on his feet. We all took our positions in the middle of the floor, and I could feel my hands shaking from nerves. 

"I'm a terrible dancer." I said quickly trying to warn him of what was to come.

 "I'm not." He smirked, taking my hands for the position to begin the waltz. The music started to play and I already tripped over my heels before the first turn in the dance. Draco was really a fantastic dancer, and lead the dance  with ease. I think he could sense when I was about to step on his toes, and would side step quickly before I got the chance.

 I was glad I wasn't the only horrible dancer, as I saw Harry dragging poor Parvatti around the dance floor in some awkward looking movement that couldn't really be called dancing. I waved to my brother, who had his arm around some Slytherin girl I had never seen before. And my sisters who were joking around with Fred and George. 

I saw Dumbledore and Mcgonagall join us on the dance floor, as well as Neville who brought Ginny as his date and I knew she was ecstatic to get to come since she was too young. And soon enough all of the students were dancing along side the rest of us, and I didn't feel so awkward anymore. Instead of doing the normal waltz, Draco wrapped an arm around my waist and we just did our own thing since nobody was paying any attention.

"You are a great dancer." I told him, as he spun me into his chest.

 "My mother insisted on it." He smirked as he was now showing off his moves by dipping me, and  spinning me around several times.

 I chuckled as just went along with it. Draco really was a fun date, and I was rather glad I said yes when he asked me only days earlier. He didn't care that I was in Gryffindor, which I was told is a huge deal to him, but he treated me as anyone else. Of course that may have something to do with the fact that my father could have his father's job in a heartbeat if he saw fit. 

The slow music stopped and everyone around us clapped and dispersed to random areas of the room. I smiled when I saw Viktor hold Hermione's hand and lead her to a private corner of the room. I was going to ask Draco if he wanted to sit down, but was bombarded by two people before I had the chance. 

"He's your date huh?" Ron sneered as him and Harry stood with unhappy faces in front of me. 

"You and Hermione had plans to fraternize with our enemies tonight" Harry asked with a raised eyebrow. 

I was hoping my two best friends would compliment me on how well I looked tonight, maybe ask me and Hermione for a friendly dance, but no.—the pair of them had to immediately jump to conclusions as to why we brought who we did.

 "You're not my mother Ronald, nor Hermione's. We do as we please." I said putting my hands on my hips. Draco was just standing beside me wearing his usual smirk as he watched me yell at his enemy.

 "It's Malfoy! You could have brought anyone in the school, and you chose him!" Ron said raising his voice. I saw my brother out of the corner of my eye come stomping over at that.

"Well Draco was the only person to ask me to the dance, maybe you should have stopped that." I said mainly speaking to Harry. My brother appeared and wrapped a protective arm around my shoulder, glaring at the guys.

 "Draco go get my sister something to drink." Damian said not taking his eyes of Harry and Ron. 

"My pleasure." Draco said, placing a hand on my shoulder and walked away.

 "A problem boys?" Damian asked.

Ron stuttered over his words, and Harry was glancing everywhere but at us. "They're mad I brought Draco as my date." I mumbled to my brother. Damian was silent before he let out a cold laugh

 "Draco is my best mate, and my baby sister is the most important person in the world to me. You have a problem with either of them and you have a problem with me." Damian said calmly as he continued to glare at my friends. Usually when my brother went all overly protective older brother mode on me I would stop him, but right now I didn't care.Ron and Harry were the ones hurting me right now, Draco had never done a thing to me.

"I'm going to dance with my date." I said making sure to emphasize the word date, kissed my brothers cheek and left Harry and Ron with one angry quidditch player. I smirked as I saw Damian talking to them, the pair of them practically shaking.

 I found Draco talking to some other Slytherins I didn't know, and politely waited for him to finish his conversation with them before I made my appearance. "Hi." He smiled when he saw me, he handed me a small glass of what looked like punch before nodding for the other Slytherins to leave. He really was in charge of the house, even only being a fourth year people looked up to him.

"You didn't have to do that." I said softly as I took a sip of the sweet liquid. He shrugged and took a sip of his own 

"You're more important." he said nonchalantly making me blush. "Wanna dance?" He asked as a band was now playing some loud music up on the stage. I nodded and took his hand dragging him to the dance floor, him chuckling along the way.

We danced and danced for hours on end, I was having a blast. For one night it was nice to forget about the tournament, and the pressures of what it brought to my life. I spent most of my time dancing with Draco, who was entertaining me like no other. I danced a lot with my sisters and Fred and George who were of course with them. I even danced with Hermione and Viktor who disappeared about thirty minutes ago. Damian was spending most of his time making out with his date in the back of the room, making me gag every time I went to grab a drink.

I felt bad for Padma and parvatti who were Harry and Ron's dates, they hadn't left their seats the entire night. I shook my head at my supposed best friends when Draco and I passed by them to go outside, both of us needing air. "Thanks for a great night" I said softly as we sat outside on a fountain in the center of the courtyard. I shivered as it was December and freezing outside, Draco slipped out of his black tuxedo jacket and slipped it around my shoulders. I rested my shin against his shoulder and could smell his expensive cologne that he always wore, he sat so close to me in Potions i got a whiff of it daily.

"My pleasure Ali" He told me, placing his hand gently under my chin and lifting my head from his shoulder. He looked from my green eyes down to my baby pink lips and back to my eyes, and I knew what was coming. It wasn't that i didn't want to kiss him, but it would be my first....and somewhere deep inside me I knew I really wanted to share that with a certain raven haired boy that say lonely inside of the castle. But before I could object, Draco placed his soft cold lips against mine. I closed my eyes and basked in this moment of my first kiss. It was slow, and sweet just like I had always imagined it, Draco knew what he was doing. 

We pulled apart and he rested he forehead against mine. "Lets get you inside" He said softly, I nodded in response since even wearing his coat I was still shaking from the cold. Draco held my hand all the way to Gryffindor tower, and kissed me softly once more... "Cant wait to see you again Ali" He said, kissed my hand and walked back to the dungeons. I didn't want to admit it, really I didn't..But I felt butterflies with Draco, and couldn't wait to see him again... Harry had made it clear to me he only wanted to be my friend anyway....