I Learned Your Pulse

"All pale in your presence tonight, Hermione."

The room was decorated lavishly with blue and silvery-golden items. Even the floor glinted with the reflections of mistletoe and holly, of icecicles and snowflakes that occassionally took a notion to sprinkle down on the head of an unsuspecting person who walked in amongst the throng of others who entered the hall. It was an absolutely beautiful hall, nothing too overdone, and it was cool, a blessing with the amount of body heat present; it was already too crowded, and he already regretted coming. He leaned against the wall, glaring at any and all who dared look at him. He hadn't bothered with a tuxedo; he was wearing a rather old, but good-as-new black outfit - shirt, shoes, suit, and tie. All of the males in the room had dress robes, those from different schools wearing different things. He saw Kingsley and McGonagall conversing in an air that definitely clashed with the high spirits the atmosphere provided for all others but Draco. But he kept his mouth shut.

"Not here yet?" asked Theodore, coming over to stand by him. Draco shook his head, and, noticing the flower in his friend's hand, asked him who he came with. "Padma Patil," was the answer, almost making Draco gag.

"Padma? That little gossip? The ugly one of the twins?"

Theodore sent him a look. "She's not ugly, she has a big nose. If you'd look, you'd see that Parvati had big ears."

Draco snorted. "So either way, you've got a bad date. Or will you dance with her sister too?"

Theo was angry. "Stop it," he snapped.

Draco sighed and knocked the back of his head against the wall. "Sorry. I don't want to be here."

Theo relaxed. "Neither does Astoria. Had to come with the Smith bloke. Everyone else was taken."

Draco raised his eyebrows. "Zacharias Smith?"

"Yeah, that's the one."

"Poor Astoria - oh, look, here she comes."

At the top of the stairs appeared Tori, her dark hair plaited down the middle and twisted into a bun, wearing a dress that looked like an elegantly draped green silk towel. She didn't look happy, but upon seeing them, she broke into a wide grin, whispered into Smith's ear, watched as he scurried off, and rushed towards them, nearly tripping over her dress. Draco chortled when she had to grab his shoulder to keep from teetering over on her heels. "Shut up," she told him, "they were expensive."

He wasn't impressed. "What isn't?"

Tori laughed. "Hermione's dress. Wait till you see it, I can't believe she got it for only two hundred and thirteen dollars -"

"That little?" Draco exclaimed, wide-awake now. "What's she showing up in, rags?"

"There's Padma," said Theo, disappearing into the crowd.

Tori gave him a balefule look. "She dressed up nicer than you did," she said, looking at his suit. "You have a spot on it."

"What? Where?" he looked onto his clothes, searching for a speck of lighter or darker or maybe even brighter coloring, finally spitting it near one of the lower buttons. He groaned.

Tori raised her eyebrows. "For someone who doesn't want to be here, you're making a fuss over the rags you wore."

He immediately stopped trying to pick the tomato sauce off his suit. "My rags still look better than hers."

Tori shook her head before he was even done with the sentence. "Her dress is gorgeous, Draco. And doesn't have a single spot on it."

Draco looked around, choosing to change the subject. "Is everybody here?" he asked, realizing nobody was coming in anymore "Where is she? Did she stand me up?"