The days merged together. Weekdays consisted of school and weekends were the only times he could really step back and take a breather. Draco found himself wishing the winter holiday would suddenly arrive.

Unfortunately his wish was not granted.

Halloween, however, had arrived and that was the closest he would get to a holiday break for a bit. So Slughorn's party was almost a saving grace; yes, it was breaking the boring routine that was built up but it was Slughorn's Halloween Party we were talking about. Was it really worth it?

In the end, Draco supposed it was. He could brave one evening with Slughorn in order to deviate a little beyond the school schedule he was currently living. And it was Friday, which meant as soon as he was done with the afternoon party, it was the weekend.

And Draco really wanted some firewhiskey right now.

This year had the largest amount of guests invited to join the Slug Club and it was because of the amount of people who had participated in the war effort. Draco had declined every invitation to join in the events, but for some reason, the Halloween party just seemed like a good thing to him.

So that was how he found himself leaning against the wall, bored out of his mind, at Slughorn's party.

"Draco."

He turned, a small smile automatically slipping onto his face at the sight in front of him. Luna Lovegood, dressed in the most colorful display he had seen all night, was making her way towards him. "Luna, how are you?"

She gave him one of those dazed smiles as her eyes trailed up and down his outfit. "Quite wonderful. Ronald has just gone off to get us some punch. You're looking very well, Draco."

He looked down at his clothing, a simple pair of dark slacks and a button up tucked into it. He gave a small shake of his head, "you're putting me to shame, you look beautiful, Luna."

Her eyes brightened and she looked quite happy with the complement, "thank you, I made it myself."

Weasley joined a second later, handing off a glass to Luna and giving Draco a small nod as greeting. Draco stayed with the couple to chat for a bit before he wandered away when Slughorn was nearing them.

Over by the refreshments table, where he was grabbing himself a glass of punch and praying someone had spiked it, he had finally spotted Neville. Neville was fast to join him, greeting his mate with a hand on his shoulder.

"Where've you been all night?"

Neville shook his head, "you won't believe what I've been doing. Some seventh year ravenclaw has found himself quite infatuated with Hermione, I've been playing defense."

Draco frowned, eyes trailing through the crowd, searching for the girl in question. When he finally caught sight of her, he was quite amused to see her with Harry and Ginny, almost hiding behind them.

A second later, a tall ravenclaw boy was at her side.

Neville heaved a sigh, seeing the exact same thing. "Looks like I'm in need again."

Draco offered a chuckle, "you know what, mate, I'll get this one. You rest yourself."

Neville looked quite relieved, sending him a thankful smile. "I owe you one, mate."

Draco grabbed an extra glass of punch and weaved through the crowd, coming up behind Hermione. "There you are Granger," he called out, interrupting whatever the ravenclaw was saying. "I've been looking all over for you. I thought I said to stay where you were."

She turned to him, frown on her face and eyes pleading.

Ginny sent him an amused smile, catching on quickly and piping in, "we may have dragged her away, sorry Draco." Harry snickered at her side, trying his best to cover it up with a cough.

He gave a shrug, "not a problem, here you are Granger," he placed the glass in her hand. "Punch, as promised."

Hermione gave him the most thankful look he had ever received, "thank you, Draco."

Draco finally turned his attention to the ravenclaw in front of them. His eyebrows dipped in what he hoped looked like confusion, "who is this?"

Hermione took a drink from her punch in order to avoid answering, Ginny and Harry simply turned and left the three alone.

The ravenclaw boy spoke up for the first time to Draco, looking a little put off. "I was actually hoping I could have a dance with Hermione."

Draco gave a click of his tongue and shook his head. "Sorry mate, Granger and I are the odd ones out of the friend group, she's promised to accompany me tonight and I'll be damned if I have to endure this party alone."

The lie was simple enough, he didn't even question it. The boy gave Hermione a frown and turned back to Draco, rather irritated, "well maybe just one dance?"

"She's not much of a dancer," Draco spoke, growing quite bored with the ravenclaw who couldn't take a hint.

The ravenclaw shot Draco a glare and turned to Hermione, "hopefully next time a party comes along, I can get you to agree before you end up going with someone else."

Hermione tried her best at offering him a smile, though it looked completely forced and a bit awkward. "Maybe," she gave the uncommitted response.

"Well, Granger," Draco cut in when the boy had yet to leave, "I say we head off, Slughorn is headed this way." With that, he grabbed her free hand and pulled her away from the boy.

Hermione followed willingly, sighing heavily when they were far enough away from the boy he wouldn't be able to hear them. "Thank you so much, Draco."

He gave an easy shrug, "no problem, Granger." They came to a stop at an unoccupied corner of the room and Draco released her hand, shoving his own deep into his pocket as he took a sip of the drink.

"Why'd you jump in, if you don't mind me asking?" She looked up at him curiously, her fingers fiddling with the empty glass.

"I was talking with Neville when he spotted that bloke with you again. I figured I'd give him a bit of a break."

"But you told him I was your date tonight."

One corner of his lips quirked up, "looks like you're stuck with me then Granger. Is that a problem?"

"No," she was quick to respond, "no, not at all. But don't you have better things to do than pretend to be my date so a guy will leave me alone?"

Again, his shoulders lifted in a shrug, "I was quite bored actually. This, however, is exciting."

She didn't look convinced.

"Think about it, I get to piss off some random bloke during this boring party. It's way better than just standing around and trying to avoid Slughorn."

Before Hermione could say anything however Draco ducked down a bit so he was staring eye to eye with Hermione, he lightly brushed back a curl that had escaped the confines of her pins. Hermione was speechless.

A smirk found its way onto his lips as he glanced over her shoulder. "He's so pissed."

Hermione rolled her eyes at him and pushed his hand away from where it was resting at her cheek. "You're such a prick."

His smirk widened, "never said I wasn't. Come on, let's dance, he'll be livid."

Hermione took his offered hand with a small smile and together they went to the makeshift dance floor. "You should know I'm not an amazing dancer."

"Well I'm a pureblood, my mother taught me to dance at a very young age, so I'm good enough for the both of us."

Hermione laughed softly at his words.

They stopped somewhere inside of the dance floor and Draco placed her hand exactly where it was suppose to be at his shoulder and the other clasped in his hand, he put his own free hand at her waist. "Just follow my lead and try not to step on my feet. Normally it would be no problem, but with those heels you have on it would be sure to hurt at the very least."

Hermione gave a nod at his words, concentrating hard on the task at hand and together they maneuvered around the floor, quite elegantly.

"See, not too hard, is it?"

Hermione smiled up at him, "you're quite good at this."

"You're not half bad either."