Christmas Love

by Mara
 
 
 

"I can't wait till Christmas," Hermione whispers to Harry and Ron's ears.

Harry looks up and makes sure that Snape isn't near, they're in their last Potions class before Christmas break of their 6th year at Hogwarts. He turns back to Hermione. "Snuffles will hopefully get me what I really want," he tells her and Ron.

"What's that?" Ron asks.

But, they are never to know what Harry really wants because at this instant Snape turns around and glares at them. "Would you
like to share your Christmas wishes with the class, Potter?" Snape asks in his evil tone.

The Slytherins snicker as Harry looks stunned and loathingly at Snape.

"I thought not. Weasley, up front. Potter over there with Miss Patil, and Granger go over there with Malfoy. And, 20 points from Gryffindor." Snape tells them, a glint in his eye.

The three friends split up and make there way to their respective new partners. Hermione glares at Malfoy, who returns the same look. She turns to their cauldron and starts to work on their potion, refusing to look at Malfoy. Nothing is going to dampen her good Christmas mood.

"Granger, weexewead," Malfoy tells her, his eyes not leaving his notes on the potion.

Hermoine turns around to him. "I don't have any. I'm out. I was going to go to Hogsmeade over break, this potion doesn't take
weexewead, does it?"

Malfoy hands her his notebook. There it is : weexewead - 12 cloves.

"You don't have any?" she asks him.

"No, my father hasn't sent it yet, my potion store is all very low," He answers.

Hermione looks up at Snape, who is on the other side of the room. "Professor, please, Professor," she calls to him and he turns
around. "Um, we don't have any weexewead, Professor."

"And why not?" Snape asks them with a menacing look.

"Um . . . um, our stores are out and we were both going to get more over the break. I didn't know it was in this potion," Hermione stutters.

"There's a small field of it in the back of the Forbidden Forest," Snape tells them.

Hermione's mouth falls open. "But, Professor, can't we just borrow it from someone else?"

Snape ignores her. "If you go around the forest you'll hit it, it's right on the edge of Hogwarts' grounds. Go, now."

Hermione grabs her cloak and scarf and hurries out the door, Malfoy close behind her. She runs up to the front doors and opens them. It's snowing just lightly. She turns around and sees the look of disgust on Malfoy's face.

Hermione ventures out into the snow. There's only a few inches on the ground. She runs for a bit, then turns around and beckons for Malfoy to follow.

After walking for a while in silence, Hermione breaks it. "Isn't it pretty?"

"It's cold, Granger," Malfoy retorts.

Hermione shrugs. "I think it's great. It's Christmas, snow is falling, and we're on the grounds instead of in the classroom."

Malfoy just shrugs at this.

They walk for another half an hour. Hermione looks around her, worriedly. "Where is this field. The forest keeps going and going," she says, peering down the row of trees and doesn't see an ending in sight. "Maybe we should go back."

"Snape would kill us both. No more points from Slytherin," he tells her and starts running.

Hermione shrugs and starts running, laughing while she goes. The snow starts to fall faster and heavier. Soon, there's 5 or 6 inches on the ground and more falling fast. Hermione catches up to Malfoy. He stops and looks at her.

"Maybe we should turn around," she says.

He looks at her. "No," he says, but in a less convincing tone than before.

"Come on. It's cold, and wet. And this snow's falling so hard it'll be up to two feet in no time."

"No, I'm sure the end is up their soon," Malfoy says, then continues walking.

After another half an hour they can see the end of the forest up ahead. Hermione takes off and runs the rest of the way. She
quickly cuts the weexewead and heads back to Malfoy, who's at the edge of the forest, looking up at the school.

"I've got it." She says, coming to him with the weexewead in a little bag.

He looks back to her, with an almost sorry look in his eyes. "Well, we're not getting back there. The snow's up to three feet at the top of the hill and it's starting to hit harder here, too."

Hermione looks up and sees that what he's saying is true. The snow is faster and harder up at the castle and it's getting worse
even where they're standing. She turns around and looks around her. At the end of the field is a cave.

"Look, there's a cave. We could stay there for a little while and let this storm pass."

Malfoy nods and they walk over to the cave. It's small, but big enough for the two of them to live in for a few days, if need be. She builds a small fire in the middle of the cave with her wand.

Malfoy huddles close to the fire, trying to warm his freezing hands. He looks at Hermione, and notices how pretty she is, with
snow in her dark brown hair and on her eyelashes. He quickly pushes the thought to the back of his mind.

Night comes and the snow is falling even harder now. Hermione does a spell so that the snow doesn't come into the cave, but it
doesn't block out the cold. She and Malfoy huddle close to the fire.

"So, are you staying at school for the holidays?" Hermione asks, quietly. She's not sure why she wants to talk to him, but he's the only one around, so she doesn't have much choice.

Malfoy looks away. "Yeah."

"Why?" Hermione asks him, curious.

Malfoy refuses to meet her eyes. "Um, just, my parents are going to be away, so they decided it would just be easier for me to stay at school than to care for myself at the house. Are you staying?"

"Yeah. Harry has to stay, and so Ron and I are staying with him."

At Harry's name, Malfoy lets out a sound of disgust and turns away from Hermione. He uses his wand to conjure a blanket and
falls asleep on it. After a moment of looking at him, Hermione conjures her own blanket and curls up on it.
 

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Hermione wakes to the noise of a roaring fire and of heavy snow falling outside. She goes to the edge of the cave and peers out.
Though the snow is falling hard now, there is only a foot and a half on the field, so the snow must have stopped at some point
during the night.

Hermione pulls her cloak on and heads out into the snow, hoping to find something for breakfast. She stumbles around for half and hour before giving up due to visibility and resting in the ends of the forest, where there is still only a couple inches of snow on the ground.

Back at the cave, Malfoy wakes up and stretches. He looks around himself, puzzled, then the night before comes rushing back to him. He looks around for Hermione, and not finding her, he trudges out into the snow.

After looking around for 10 minutes, Malfoy is soaked through to his skin and resorts to the edge of the forest. Under the dry
covering of the trees, Malfoy walks along and soon comes across Hermione.

"Hey," She says, her teeth chattering.

Malfoy looks at her shaking body and takes off his cloak and drapes it around her shoulders. "Hey, you look cold. How long have you been out here?"

"Forty five minutes or so. I got these for breakfast," she says, holding up some roots and weird looking fruits that only grow in the forest.

"Okay, lets get back to the cave. I'm starving," Malfoy says. He leads the way back out into the snowstorm.

When they get back to the cave, Hermione starts to cook the roots. Malfoy sits down and takes out his wand, preparing to make a couple more blankets to appear. He raises his wand, but nothing happens.

"Granger, does your wand work? Mine doesn't."

Hermione takes out her wand and gasps. "No, it doesn't. Oh no, we're gonna be stuck here forever now."

Malfoy gives her hand a comforting squeeze then quickly pulls his hand back. "It'll be fine, we'll make do with what we have," he tells her.

The day goes by much the same way. They do a lot of cooking and gathering of materials, for the storm shows no signs of
relenting any time soon. Draco finds himself looking at her and noticing how beautiful he is. He catches himself staring at her a
couple of times, then tells himself that he must not watch her like that. She's your hated enemy. Then why do I have this sudden urge to calm her down and comfort her when she's distressed.Draco asks himself this many times as the day goes on.

Finally the day ends and both of them fall asleep quickly. Doing work with out wands is much harder than with wands.
 

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The morning goes much the same as the previous day. But, in the afternoon, Hermione gets restless and decides do go out into the snow. She catches a snowflake on her finger and laughs. She spreads her arms out and twirls, catching snowflakes on her tongue as she goes.

Draco watches from the cave entrance. He leans against the side and thinks. [ Draco's point of view ] Just look at her. She's so
beautiful. Those eyes, they make me melt when they look at me. That laugh is so pretty, so genuine. My father would kill me if he heard me say all this. Say how much she enchants me. Well, father, forget it. I don't care what you think. I'm gonna do it. [ End Point of View ]

Draco watches the snowflakes land in Hermione's hair and stay there, like stars shining in the night sky. He finally moves towards her, out into the snow. He catches her and wraps his arms around her waist, leading her into a slow, but upbeat, dance.

Hermione is shocked when she feels Malfoy's arms around her waist. But as they dance, she starts to feel a power that she's
never felt before. She feels the sudden urge to be closer to him. She wraps her arms around his neck and dances, her head resting against his shoulder.

Draco stops the dance and puts a finger on her chin. He lifts it so that their eyes are locked, and a rush of excitement courses
through them. "Hermione, I know it's a treason against Slytherin and my father, but I think it's meant to be."

Hermione doesn't have time to ponder the meaning of these words, for Draco leans down and kisses her. She breaks the kiss
quickly, then pulls him close, kissing him more patiently. He laughs and swings her around in his arms.
 

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The sky grows dark, but the snow is still falling. Draco sits down against the wall, near to the fire. He watches Hermione cook, her graceful movements making his heart skip.

Hermione finishes cooking and goes over to Draco with a bowl of food in her hand. She looks at his handsome features. "Here,
Draco, it's not much."

"It's perfect," Draco says, taking both bowls of food and placing them next to him. He reaches up and pulls Hermione into his
arms. "I can't believe I've found you, Hermione."

"Me either. All I need is you right now." Hermione says, feeling Draco's smile in her hair.

They just stay that way, deep in their own thoughts, for a moment. Then, Hermione turns around in his arms and breaks the
silence. "What is everyone going to say about this? No one will except it."

Draco looks into her eyes. He pushes a stray hair behind her ear and smiles. "We'll pull through it. My love is deep, Hermione, I
now it. They'll just have to except, they have no choice."

Hermione sighs, happily. "I love you too, Draco."
 

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Hermione stirs in Draco's arms. The edge of the cave is light, and the snow has stopped. She turns around and kisses Draco. He wakes up and grins at her before returning her kiss, gently but passionately.

"Come on," Hermione says, grabbing Draco's hand and pulling him up. They race out into the snow. Hermione lets go of Draco's hand and falls into the snow, making a beautiful snow angel.

Draco looks at it like it's ugly for a moment. But, Hermione reaches up and pulls him into the snow before he can say 'no.' The
laugh and kiss for a while before Hermione stands up and reaches down. Draco scrambles up and wraps his arms around her
waist.

"Draco, we have to go up. We'll just tell everyone now, it'll be easier this way."

Draco sighs, but puts his arm around her shoulders and starts to walk. The way back to the castle seems much shorter then the
way down to the cave. The lovers whisper and giggle, enjoying their last few moments together. As they draw nearer, Draco takes his arm off her shoulders.

Halfway across the lawn, Professors McGonagall and Snape are upon them.

Professor McGonagall pulls Hermione into a hug. "Hermione, I was so worried about you. Never do that again, you understand. Come on, you look freezing."

Meanwhile, Snape takes Draco's arm. "Malfoy," is all he says.

Both teachers start to drag their student up the lawn, but are stopped at Professor Dumbledore's voice.

"Thank you, Severus, Minerva. I need a word with Hermione and Draco, alone, please."

Both Professors look at Dumbledore reluctantly, but finally continue up the hill and into the castle, alone. Dumbledore motions for Draco and Hermione to follow him. They do.

Dumbledore's office is filled with some of the Slytherins and Gryffindors, all friends of Hermione and Draco's. Draco takes
Hermione's hand, comfortingly.

Dumbledore addresses the students. "An amazing thing has happened these past few days. The house boundary between Slytherin and Gryffindor has been resolved. For, Draco and Hermione have fallen in love. I hope you all see this as an opportunity for your houses to become friends." Dumbledore looks around at the group and changes his mind. "At least be civil to each other."

Draco pulls Hermione into a long, passionate kiss. The crowd claps, though only reluctantly. Draco finally pulls away.

"I love you."

"I love you, too."
 
 
 

I hope you enjoyed this little holiday story. Please review, thanks, Mara.