A/N: I just want to say thanks for all the kind words and all the follows/favorites on The Holiday Virgin. I had no idea that it would be so popular. I hope everyone likes this one just as much. I'd like thank Chiseplushie for beta-ing this for me. :)
Hermione had stayed in the tower a little while longer after Draco left, trying to figure out what had actually happened. She couldn't put her finger on it, so she gave up. Hermione didn't like to give up but had learned over the years that not everything, much to her dismay, had a clean cut answer.
She spoke the password to the fat lady and entered the Gryffindor common room. Much to her chagrin, sitting on the sofa was Lavender, who looked rather pissed. Hermione tried to sneak past her; but the daft twat stopped her. "We're getting in rather late aren't we, Hermione? Trying to make it look like you weren't in here wallowing after you fled the party?"
Hermione was going to just ignore her at first and let her talk to her like that. She honestly didn't care what Lavender Brown thought of her; but Draco's words popped in her head, 'Why do you let them talk to you like that?'
Hermione put her hands on her hips. "There are so many things flawed with what you just said Lavender, it's laughable! Let me start by saying I don't care what you think Lavender; but I wasn't sitting here wallowing because you had said some mean things to me, I'm a bigger person than that. Besides if I was, I wouldn't have stayed in my dress and then snuck out, only to sneak back in again. That's childish, which is probably why you said it. I might have 'fled' the party this evening but I had a better time not being there, than I would have if I had stayed."
Hermione didn't wait for a reply as she turned towards the girl dormitories. A thought popped into her head. She normally would never say this but perhaps Draco had given her some of his sass when he kissed her.
Hermione pivoted. "Also, that look on your face tells me you didn't get that New Year's kiss at midnight. Mmhmm better luck next year." The smirk she felt on her face could rival Malfoys'. With that she climbed the stairs. That was last time she had spoken to Lavender Brown.
It was now February 13, and Draco had yet to contact her. That night was ingrained in her mind, the way her lips and body felt against his. She would be lying to herself if she said that she didn't slightly want it to happen again. She sighed as she pushed around the food on her plate. Ginny noticed her friend acting weird and asked, "You've been out of sorts for like a month and a half, what is wrong?"
Hermione looked up from her plate. She hadn't meant to be so obvious. "Nothing is wrong."
"You are a horrible liar Hermione. How you were able to pull all the shite with Harry and Ron I'll never know. But you can't tell me, as you sigh over a plate of roast chicken and veggies, that nothing is wrong. I get that Ron really loved chicken, but you can't let that stop you from eating it too." Ginny laughed, hoping her friend would too.
Hermione chuckled. "Oh be quiet."
Hermione wanted to tell her, she just wasn't sure if she should. She and Draco never said that they wouldn't tell other people, she just assumed that they would keep it their little secret. Hermione knew though that she wouldn't be able to lie to Ginny, especially since the girl in question had already noticed her odd behavior. "I guess I just have something on my mind."
Ginny urged her to continue, "And that would be…. Come on Hermione, you can tell me anything."
Hermione slowly nodded in agreement, she glanced over at the Slytherin table. She caught sight of Draco who was sitting with a boy she recognized as seventh year who was in their shared classes, though she didn't know his name. Draco didn't even glance in her direction. She turned back to Ginny.
"Alright I'll tell you. Though not here, come on." Hermione stood from the table and Ginny quickly followed. The girls walked quickly through the quiet hallways, finally entering an empty classroom on the second floor.
"What is so secretive that you couldn't tell me in the Great Hall?" Ginny demanded as she sat on one of the desks.
While Hermione quickly cast a silence spell around the room, Ginny just looked at her concerned. "Hermione you are really freaking me out here. Please tell me what is going on!"
"I kissed Draco Malfoy!" She hadn't meant to just blurt it out, she had meant to ease into it; but oh well to that.
"What do you mean you kissed Draco Malfoy? When? How was seems like he would be a good kisser." Ginny was intrigued.
"Ginny!" Hermione gasped.
"What? He does. He has slightly pouty lips that never looked chapped for some reason. Like how is that possible…" Ginny noticed her friends glare at her. "Sorry, please continue. When did this happen?"
"It happened on New Year's eve. Lavender and Parvati were teasing me about Ron. They were saying how I would always be alone since no one wanted me. I just couldn't deal with it, so I ran. I had run all the way to astronomy tower. I didn't know that Draco followed me until he approached me. We got to talking, and at midnight he kissed me."
Ginny squealed. "Oh my! You got a New Year's Eve kiss! Everything always happens when I am home! Lavender and Parvati are twats, but it seems like their nasty personalities actually paid off for you."
Hermione interrupted her. "There is more…."
"More? What could be more?"
Hermione gulped. "Well the thing that Lavender and Parvati were teasing me about was that I was a holiday virgin. You know, I've never had a kiss under mistletoe, New Year's Eve midnight kiss, and never had a date on Valentine's Day.
"Draco had heard them and to help me shove it to Lavender, he kissed me. I didn't plan it in advance. The kiss was amazing. I had never been kissed like that before, it just felt right. He didn't stay for much longer after midnight; but before he left he smirked at me and said 'see you on Valentine's Day.'"
"OOH that is so romantic! Have you come up with plans to see each other?"
Hermione was surprised at Ginny's reaction, she had been sure that her friend would be mad at her for kissing Malfoy of all people, and actually liking it. Hermione shook her head.
"No. He hasn't even said hi to me in the hall since it happened. It took me a few days to even convince myself that it had actually happened and not just a wishful dream."
Ginny took a look at her friend. "Hermione, be honest, do you want him to contact you and spend Valentine's Day with you?"
"Yes. At first I didn't want him too, but now…. Why hasn't he even looked at me? Doesn't he understand that kissing me and then ignoring me is almost, if not worse than what Lavender does to me?" Hermione sobbed slightly.
Ginny wrapped her arm around Hermione and rubbed her arm, "If I think I know Malfoy, he is probably trying to not attract attention to you, so no one is able to make fun of you. It's twisted and stupid, which is why he is doing it. I think you are going to be pleasantly surprised tomorrow."
Hermione smiled at her friend and thanked her for being so optimistic. They retired to Gryffindor dorms and Hermione tried to not think about tomorrow. She kept telling herself that if she didn't get her hopes up, she wouldn't be disappointed.
The next morning Hermione groaned as she got out of bed. This was it. Today was Valentine's Day, she told herself as she walked to the girl's bathroom. No matter what happened today, she knew that she was no longer a holiday virgin and she didn't care about Ron anymore, so Lavender couldn't say anything.
As for Draco, well she still had the memory of New Year's kiss. With it being Sunday, Hermione was able to dress how she liked. She got dressed in jeans and a warm sweater and walked down to breakfast.
Ginny joined her for breakfast. Her friend kept glancing over at the Slytherin table.
"Ginny please stop staring over there! I don't want to draw attention to myself and if you keep staring over there then people will know something is up…."
"Is something up, Granger?" a voice said from behind. She jumped in her seat and turned around to look at the face she wanted to see. "No, Malfoy, nothing is 'up'."
"Well that is too bad Granger. You see, I thought you would have remembered that I said I would see you today. I bought you a gift and everything." he shrugged and began to walk away.
Hermione called after him, "Wait a minute! You bought me a gift?"
He turned back towards her and smirked. "Are you interested in knowing what it is?"
She couldn't figure out why he was teasing her, especially since he knew the kind of things she dealt with Lavender. Speaking of Lavender Hermione could feel her staring at them from the other end of the table. Hermione tried to push that out of her mind, what is Malfoy playing at? "I just didn't think you were serious."
"When I say I am going to do something, I do it. Do you want the gift or not?" he sounded annoyed now, which made Hermione annoyed. He was the one who said he would see her today, he was the one who came over to her in the great hall, and if anyone should be annoyed it should be her!
"Well if you got me something, I guess it would be rude not to accept it." she glanced over at Ginny who nodded in agreement.
Holding out her hand, Hermione felt butterflies in her stomach. Was this it? Was everyone going to find out about her and Draco? Would he end up kissing her in front of everyone? He placed a small wrapped package in her open hand.
"Happy Valentine's day. I saw this and thought of you." he smiled.
Hermione carefully unwrapped it and when she saw what it was, her stomach dropped. The tin read Tooth Flossing String-mints. Floss! He got her floss! She looked up at him trying to figure out what this meant. She had told herself that she didn't want anything from him, but after receiving this gift she knew she wanted something more meaningful. Something that reminded her of their midnight kiss.
When she noticed he was smiling, she gave a small smile. "Thanks. I do enjoy these from time to time since it reminds me of my…"
"Parents, because they are dentists." He finished.
"How did you know?" she asked, she didn't think he actually knew what a dentist was.
"Have I been living under a rock? You've only mentioned it a couple of hundred times since I've known you."
Hermione looked over at Ginny trying not to cry, she was once again a fool. Her friend looked at her sympathetically then turned her anger onto Draco. "Is this some sort of joke Malfoy?"
Hermione held her hand out to make her friend stop "Ginny it is fine." She stood up from the table "I would like to thank you once again for the gift Draco. Now if you'll excuse me." She shoved Draco out of the way and could hear Lavender question Parvati about what was going on between Hermione and Draco. She could only hope that they didn't see the gift that she was given.
Once again she fled the Great Hall. She shoved open the doors that led to the wooden bridge. She didn't want to go back to the tower. It was colder outside than she was prepared for, so Hermione transfigured a coat for herself and walked to the middle of the bridge. She was not going to cry this time, she repeated to herself, while she wiped away tears that fell unwillingly. She was not going to cry over Draco Malfoy. So what if she thought it could have been something more, he had decided to be mean to her, and there was nothing she could do about that other than just live her life.
"Are you seriously mad at me?" That voice! The voice sent shivers up her spine. She turned towards the unwanted presence.
"Are you seriously asking me that question, Draco?" Hermione once again turned away from him.
Draco walked closer to her. "What? Is it that you don't like my well thought out gift for you?"
She scoffed as she turned to face him again. "Well thought out gift? Let's not forget to mention that you have completely ignored me for a month and a half! So yes, I am mad at you. You take me by surprise and kiss me on New Year's, then ignore me, then essentially gift me with dental floss. How do you think I am supposed to feel?"
"It was a well thought out gift! It represents everything about you. You are sweet and have a bit of a kick like the peppermint flavoring. It's teeth related, like your parents, it's clever and funny and you should like it. As for me ignoring you, I don't really have an excuse for that. I ignored you because I didn't want to attract any attention to you." His voice became softer as he spoke, but Hermione could tell he was frustrated with her.
She balked. "Alright. So perhaps there was some thought put into your gift; however it isn't what I was expecting."
"What was it that you were expecting? A grand romantic gesture?" He eyed her with interest.
"I don't know; but not this." she said indignantly.
"Well perhaps you would prefer something like this…" he pulled out a small square velvet box that he enlarged with his wand. He handed it to her. "Open it," he urged.
She hesitantly opened it, lifting the lid she saw a beautiful gold charm bracelet with three charms on it. Her eyes widened. "Draco…"
He smiled. "You see, each charm represents a part of our history. A book, for obvious reasons and it shows that we met at school. This one, a firework to represent our first kiss, and finally an open heart." He shoved his hands into his pockets.
"What does the open heart mean?" She looked at the charm with wonder, then back up at him.
"You're ability to forgive and hopefully one day love a guy like me. A guy who has made so many wrong choices. A guy who is trying to fix all the mistakes he has made, especially with a girl who is so much better than is."
Hermione lunged forward and captured his mouth with hers. He was taken aback for only a moment, before he wrapped his arms around her. The sound of fireworks began to go off. She pulled back and looked at him questionably.
"You like it? I charmed the bracelet to do that every time we snog like our first kiss." He said with a hint of pride.
Hermione gave a sly smile. "Very clever. However this means we can't sneak in snogging sessions in between classes because everyone will be able to hear the fireworks."
He looked horrified. "Oh Merlin! I am reversing that charm right away!"
She giggled, which made him chuckle. "Happy Valentine's Day, Hermione" He said as he leant down to kiss her again.
