Wrapped in a trench coat, her head topped with a beanie, Hermione trudged through the snow. The lampposts glowing nearby and the Christmas lights in shop windows would have been a lovely scene fit for a postcard, but Hermione was not in the festive mood. Children ran from door to door, eager to spread the Christmas cheer by singing cheesy carols. Young couples walked hand in hand, stopping under mistletoe to share sloppy kisses. Hermione scowled in their direction, feeling as if they were showing off their love just to spite her. She passed the spit-exchanging couple and tried not to envy them. She was an individual and always had been, she reminded herself. Then why did she feel so alone?

Christmas was just one big reminder of how much of a failure she was. Yes, she was a successful healer, and yes, she was a good friend. But she was a failure in love. Hermione was an attractive, smart and strong woman. Her fame made her unapproachable by most men and all the others were either taken or she scared them away. Even Ron had dumped her for Laura Kay and now they were happy in love and felt the need to flaunt it at every given moment. Hermione sighed. Her cheeks were red from the cold and a shiver shook her body, so she quickened her pace. Soon enough, she was stood outside the Three Broomsticks. As she entered the pub, a wave of warm air hit her and she smiled. She ordered a Butterbeer and was soon sitting at a table, sipping her drink with a book in her hand and a content smile on her face.

Just as she was getting into the story, the sound of a customer entering the pub jolted Hermione from her own little world. She looked up to see none other than Ron with his beloved girlfriend, Laura. As Ron ordered their drinks, Laura stood by his side, peering into a compact mirror. She applied some more lipstick, because looking like a clown just wasn't enough, and smiled at her reflection.

Hermione scowled, 'I thought he was out of town?' Ron glanced around the pub whilst he waited for his drink and his eyes landed on Hermione's infuriated form. His eyes bulged and he gulped.

"Hi, Hermione," he smiled weakly at her as he approached her table.

"Don't you 'hi, Hermione' me, Ronald. How was trip with your lovely girlfriend?" her tone was sickeningly sweet.

"Uh..." Ron was lost for words.

"Oh, come on honey. Just tell her the truth," Laura looked up at Ron with her big, mascara coated eyes. She gestured for him to speak and it was easy to see who wore the trousers in this relationship as Ron turned to Hermione to explain.

"Well, as you know, Harry and Ginny are a couple and me and Laura are a couple. And we thought, you know, with you being single it would be kind of awkward for us to hang out together like we used to."

"And you're kind of dull," Laura said. She took Hermione's appearance in, raking her eyes over her checked shirt and her wild hair trapped under a beanie, and smiled. Laura straightened out her peplum skirt and fluffed her blonde hair, smirking at Hermione. Hermione fidgeted under Laura's scrutiny, but chose not to say anything. She turned to Ron, her eyes blazing.

"So, what you're saying is that I'm too tedious to be your friend?" Laura interjected before Ron could correct her, "Thanks for understanding." She turned to the bar tender, "We'll take the drinks to go, actually."

Hermione sat all alone, trying to get into her book. She read the same page over and over, just skimming the words without taking in any of the story. The words blurred as she tried her hardest to focus, tears fogging her vision. "When did I become so alone?" She whispered to herself. She wrapped her arms around herself and contemplated where everything went wrong.

After the War, she had done various volunteer work to help clean up Hogwarts and re-build towns and villages all over Wizarding London. Whilst she was working, Ron and Harry started Auror Training. The trio shared a flat and although they rarely saw each other on weekdays apart from mornings, they made plans together every weekend. Hermione and Ron planned nights out as a couple and sometimes Harry and Ginny came along for a double date too.

After around six months, a very good opportunity arose for Hermione. Her volunteer group gathered enough money to travel abroad to help smaller, less known Wizarding Towns. She couldn't turn the offer down, as she could use the trip to find her parents in Australia. The only down side was Draco Malfoy was required to join the trip. He'd been forced to do volunteer work as a punishment for any of his wrong-doings during the war. The punishment wasn't too severe, as he'd been black mailed to do many things. Hermione wasn't too thrilled at the prospect of having to share the experience with the irritating ferret and she had almost given up the opportunity just because of his presence. But then she thought, why should she let him bring her down? So, she signed up for the trip.

Ron was furious. He didn't understand why she had to leave for so long. Why couldn't she stay with him? It wasn't fair! Hermione tried to explain to him that whilst he and Harry had a successful career plan, she didn't have a clue what she wanted to do. This trip could help her find out who she was and she couldn't pass up the opportunity. She also couldn't bear to be away from her parents for much longer and tried to explain that this was her chance to find them. He didn't listen and he wouldn't even say goodbye. Harry and Ginny were sad to see her go, but understood her decision. To Hermione's surprise they held a small leaving party for her, that Ron failed to attend, and by then end of it, she felt ready to go.

The trip was six months long and they travelled to multiple countries to help as many people as they could. There was only about twenty volunteers, so ignoring Malfoy was impossible. Whilst visiting third-world countries, they even shared tents. She soon found out he wasn't as unbearable as she thought.

At the first town, Hermione was reluctant to work with him. When he chose to build, she'd focused on food and water. She stayed as far away from him as possible. But on the last day of their first project, a mother who'd lost her child in the war thanked the volunteers for all their hard work. This was the moment Hermione saw a side of Malfoy she'd never seen before. It turned out he had a heart after all, as he'd shed a tear or two as soon as the elder woman approached them. Later on, he refused to give away any information apart from that she reminded him of his mother.

The second project brought the pair closer. Hermione found Malfoy absolutely hilarious, his sarcasm and dry sent of humour had her in stitches. He had an air of grace and elegance about him, which Hermione found absolutely charming, and he could be ever so nice, when he dropped his facade. Malfoy found Hermione equally funny, especially when it was unintentional. He'd laugh at her whimsical ways and her charming wit. They bantered back and forth, teasing each other mercilessly. They barely spoke to the other volunteers and spent most of their time together.

For the last project, they were to visit Australia. As Hermione had done so much work and helped everybody greatly, not only in the volunteer work but with the war itself, it was agreed for her to have a break to find her parents. Malfoy accompanied her. They were given a week to complete the search and they planned out everything as well as they could in the short span of time they had to find them. But after a long and tiring week of searching, Hermione returned home without her parents.

When she arrived home she wasn't expecting a massive Welcome Home Party, but she thought her friends would at least be in the flat to greet her. She found the flat vacant. As she was alone, she decided to unpack everything in her and Ron's room until they got home. Alarmingly, when she opened her cupboards and drawers, she found them to be occupied with clothes. At first she thought it was a nice present from Ron, but all the sizes were wrong. She looked to her side of the bed and found a picture of another woman, kissing Ron on the cheek. What was going on?

Harry, Ginny, Ron and the Other Woman arrived home shortly, only to find a distressed Hermione practically in tears.

"Who's she?" she looked at the Other Woman with disdain.

"This is Laura. She's training to be an Auror, too," Ron smiled weakly.

"Well, isn't that nice for Laura," Hermione mimicked.

"Come on, 'Mione. Don't be bitter. What did you expect for me to do when you were away? Mope around all day?"

"Not at all! But I didn't expect you to be with another woman, and I certainly didn't expect to come home to find all of her clothes in my cupboards! I wasn't even aware we broke up, Ronald!"

"You knew from day one that I didn't agree with this trip. And when I started getting letters about how nice Malfoy is, how funny he is, how nice is smells-"

"Okay, now you're just making things up!"

"Look, we were in two completely different places-"

"Yeah, I was away helping innocent victims rebuild their lives whilst you were shagging some blonde bimbo behind my back!"

"Hey, I resent that!" Laura shouted. Hermione rolled her eyes, "Thanks for the intelligent input there." She turned to Ron," I always knew you were a little bit self-centered, but this is too much. You meet this woman, invite her to live in our flat, chuck out all my clothes to replace them with hers and you never even thought about contacting me about this. You had six months to grow some balls and actually say something!" She was met with empty silence. Hermione shook her head in anger and stormed out of the flat, slamming the door behind her.

They made up in the end, like they always did. Ron decided to invite her out for a make up meal with Harry and Ginny... And Laura. The meal was awkward, to say the least. Laura made jibes at Hermione whenever she could and always made sure she was either stroking Ron's cheek or holding his hand. It made Hermione sick. Tensions were thick between them all, but Hermione still put in the effort to invite them round for dinner at her new flat and always accepted their invitations too. The only problem was, she gave out more invitations than she received.

They were never home when Hermione knocked on their door and they never picked up the phone when she called. They didn't want to be her friend anymore. She had been replaced. But why? What could she have done so wrong for them to hate her so much?

Maybe they preferred Laura to her. Maybe they were truthful when they said it was awkward that she was single. It wasn't exactly her fault she didn't have a partner, Ron had ditched her for another woman. Maybe she was just dull to be around and they were sick of her presence. Hermione didn't have a clue.

The pub doors opened and a blond-haired man wrapped up in scarves and a thick coat strode in. He took off a few layers and ordered a Butterbeer. He looked around the near-vacant room and his eyes stopped on a curly-haired petite woman sitting in the corner with a drink and book. He smirked and walked over to her. "Only you would be alone reading a book rather than being with your friends during the festive season," Draco said with a smirk. He expected her to tease him back, say something like 'better than suffering in your company'. They would've bantered back and forth until Hermione rolled her eyes in the cute way that she did or bite her lip from trying not to laugh.

Instead, Hermione looked up at him with a big brown eyes and burst into tears.

Draco didn't know what to do. He was never one for compassion and hadn't a clue what to do in a situation when a girl was crying- and this wasn't just any girl, this was his best friend.

Nobody wanted to be in the same room as him after the war because of his involvement in it, let alone be his friend. Not even desperate, sex-deprived women wanted to be with him. When he had found someone he was comfortable with it was a surprise, but what was more surprising was the person he was comfortable with. It was the very girl who he had been forbidden to speak to unless it was to hurl insults at and the type of person his father had hated with a such a fiery passion.

How's that for irony?

Draco sat down beside Hermione and put an arm around her, albeit slightly awkwardly.

"It was only a joke, Granger." This seemed to make her cry harder. She buried her face in her hands, her body convulsing with every shaky breath she drew in. He sighed, feeling very uncomfortable. "Please stop crying," Draco practically begged. He sighed, payede for their drinks, Apparated them to her flat and sat them down on the sofa to stop her from causing a scene.

Draco stroked her head lightly in an act of sympathy. He would try anything to make her stop crying, not only to save his sanity but so she could tell him what was wrong. However awkward he found messy tears, he hated to see his friend upset.

"Would you just tell me what's wrong?" Draco snapped, impatient. Hermione seemed to snap back into normality and the crying seized. She took in a few deep breaths and shook her head slightly.

"I'm so sorry for crying like this. I'm so embarrassed," she chuckled nervously, wiping away the remainder of her tears. Hermione just wanted to run to her bathroom and stay in there until her face had lost some of its puffiness. She was definitely not a pretty crier; her eyes were bloodshot and her cheeks red. 'Laura's probably a pretty crier,' she thought. 'I hate pretty criers.'

"Are you okay?" Draco asked, unenthusiastically. He was slightly distracted. He was trying not to stare at her full, red lips as she spoke and he couldn't help but realise her hair had seemed to grow as she'd cried. It had tumbled around her face and past her shoulders and a particular piece had fallen into the dip of her cleavage. Draco swallowed, trying his hardest not to stare at the swell of her breast. He averted his eyes quickly, looking straight into hers.

She may not have been a cute, pretty crier, but she seemed somewhat sexy in that moment.

"Why don't I get us a drink and you can tell me what's wrong?" Draco hurried around the kitchen, so familiar with it he felt comfortable rooting through Hermione's cupboards. He got out two glasses and a bottle of rosé and placed them on the dining room table. Draco took Hermione's hand and lead her to the table. He waited patiently for her to finish sniffling and to start explaining. She finally spoke.

"I'm fine. I was just being silly."

"Are you sure?" Malfoy asked, still clutching her hand, not convinced. He tried once more. "Why were you so upset?" he asked, genuinely concerned. Hermione shook her head and took a big swig of her drink. Her glass was empty in a matter of seconds.

"No, what was wrong?"

"I'm fine." "Just tell me what was wrong!

"Malfoy, it's not important. It doesn't matter."

"It matters to me." Hermione looked at Draco in surprise and realised how close they were. They're faces were just a breath away from connecting. Hermione glanced at Draco's lips for a split second, then looked up at his eyes again. His gaze bore deep into her soul as he looked her over with eyes that held a fiery passion. She was sure she would've fallen over from her knees wobbling beneath her if she had been standing. Draco inched forward, nuzzling her cheek with his nose softly. He breathed in her scent and sighed contentedly, not tearing his eyes away from hers. Hermione couldn't take it any longer and their lips connected. Draco's hand settled on the inside of her thigh as he ran the other through her hair. Hermione lightly tugged on the collar of his shirt as she brought their bodies closer together. He tasted slightly of Butterbeer and peppermint and the combination made Hermione dizzy for more. The kisses were hot and quick and urgent and they both thought of how ridiculous it was that they hadn't done this sooner.

Draco's hands moved to her back and fluttered down her spine, caressed her waist and stopped at her hip bones. The pair stumbled across the living room, their lips moving simultaneously and their hands roaming. Draco backed Hermione into the wall, not once did they break apart. Kissing her so roughly, with their bodies pressed together and his hands touching the most magnificent places, Hermione felt as if she was on cloud nine. They kissed desperately, as if they were scared they would be separated at any moment.

The pair would never completely break apart, when their lips weren't connected, their hips were pressed together. Their hands grabbed at almost anything. Hermione ran her fingers over his torso, squeezed his biceps and tugged at his shirt whilst Draco fingered the hem of her top, ran his fingers through her hair and caressed her jaw.

Draco guided Hermione to the sofa, the pair still kissing heavily. Hermione sat in Draco's lap, her hands running softly through his silky hair. She sighed lightly into his mouth as he traced circles on her back with one hand, the other placed firmly on her bum. He broke the kiss to slide off his jacket and Hermione followed his lead with her coat- not bothering to mention she left her book and hat at the pub. Draco grinned at her cheekily before pulling her flat against him and connected their lips together, slyly slipping his tongue into her mouth. He broke the kiss to look at her with hooded eyes, framed beautifully by long lashes. His pupils were dilated, showing his deep desire and lust for the woman in his arms. Their chests heaving and fingers intertwined, they pressed their foreheads together. Hermione sighed contentedly, biting her lip to suppress a broad grin.

Later, when they were lying together on the sofa in a comfortable silence, basking in the warmth of only each other, Hermione felt happy. She hadn't felt this way for a while. Her friends were slowly drifting farther and farther away from her, and it was only a matter of time before they disappeared out of her life forever. But now she had Draco and the big, gaping hole in heart was filled with something new. It was something she hadn't felt before, not even with Ron. Their relationship had been safe, easy. It was predictable and dull. She now felt passion and lust and there was a warm, fuzzy feeling deep in her stomach.

"Why were you upset earlier?" Draco asked softly. Hermione smiled.

"It doesn't matter now, it's in the past. I'm happy," and those small words were the truest thing she'd ever uttered in her entire life. "Merry Christmas."