Christmas Angel

Original Title: Anjo de Natal Author: Arine-san

Translator: Fabianne P. Xavier Beta Reader: The Blue Heron

First Published: 12-23-07

Disclaimer: Some characters, places, and citations are J. K. Rowling owned. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.

Hogwarts, Year 7

Hermione sat close to the lake, thinking about the recent events in her life. Ron, the boy whom she had loved for so long, was going out with Lavender and exhibiting himself for all the school to see. She could no longer stand the situation. Harry, at least, had Ginny, and they were going steady. Hermione was the only one lingering in the past, fastening her heart upon what could have been. Constantly thinking about it wouldn't help. If she were honest with herself, though, she did not know if she still loved Ron, or if she was simply so used to the feeling that she did not want to move on.

But perhaps Hermione's life was about to change.

The first trimester had already flown by and winter came in its icy beauty, and Hermione walked along the shore of the lake one cold Saturday morning. She adored the winter; she always had. She liked the snow, the cold. She liked the feeling of being lonely there.

Suddenly, in a childish impulse of days long past, Hermione threw herself onto the ground and made an angel in the snow. Finally, for the first time in a long time, she was laughing again. She felt free.

"Aren't you a little old for that, Granger?" A voice that Hermione knew very well asked, catching her off guard.

"Do you have a problem with that, Malfoy?" Hermione shot back sarcastically, instinctively starting to stand up. She stopped when Malfoy spoke again.

"If you get up, you will destroy the angel," he said matter-of-factly.

Hermione frowned. "Are you feeling well, Malfoy?" she asked warily, but almost against her will, a small smile crept across her face, and Malfoy rolled his eyes.

"Come on, give me your hand," he said, stretching his hand out to her. She took it dubiously. He lifted her up, and the sudden motion pulled her close to his body.

For some reason Hermione's legs were trembling, her breathing was erratic, and her heart was acting in a very odd way. Malfoy gazed at her as if he was seeing her for the first time. Finally, she managed to part from him.

"Th-thank you," she stammered, blushing.

"Yeah, whatever," he replied and turned around, walking back toward the castle. Hermione stared at his retreating form. Draco stopped and looked back at her. "Aren't you coming?" There was definitely something strange about him. "You're going to freeze out here."

Hermione smiled tentatively and walked up to him. Draco waited for her to catch up, and they made their way back to the castle, side by side, in silence.

Later, Draco paced in his room, remembering what had occurred in the morning. "Why did I act like that? Why wasn't I mean to her? Why?" Certainly, that was not normal. "But…she got nervous…didn't she? Her breathing was irregular, and to be honest…mine was, too." Draco had been so close to kissing her there, and he mightnot manage to restrain himself another time.

Hermione was at the private section of the library. Only a few students had access to it, and as Hermione was an exceptional student, she was one of the ones allowed. She was very distracted, searching for a book for her potions assignment. When she finally found it, she made her way to one of the tables. She was so wrapped up in the book that she held that she didn't notice a familiar blonde boy sitting there. When she looked up, she was taken aback.

"What are you doing here?" she asked aggressively, forgetting about their previous encounter in the unexpected realization of who was sitting at the table.

"Easy, Granger," Draco said. "I came here to do the same thing you're doing. The assignment."

"But what are you doing here, in the private section?" she questioned more calmly.

He smiled infuriatingly. "What, you didn't think you were the only one with free access here, did you?" he inquires as if the confirmation was obvious.

"Of course not," she denied before continuing incredulously. "But you? Here? Surely your grades aren't so bad…" she stopped speaking when he smiled. A natural smile, empty of any malice. "What?"

"I think you're afraid," he said calmly.

"Me?" she askedblankly. "Afraid? Afraid of what?" she asked, unconsciously leaning across the table towards him.

He stood up and moved to sit by her side. She turned to look at him, her smile faded, and she felt her legs start to tremble again. His were almost touching hers.

"You are afraid of…" He paused, lifting a stray strand of hair and tucking it behind her ear. "…falling in love with somebody else and getting hurt again."

Hermione opened her eyes, stunned.

"How do you know I like…?"

He put a finger on her lips. "Only an asshole like Weasley could not notice that," he answered, coming even closer to her face. She closed her eyes, and he finally kissed her, softly and slowly. Sometime later, they fell apart and stared at each other.

"Why did you do that?" she gasped, her hand resting on his chest, feeling his heart beating as fast as her own.

He smiled. "I think I'm going crazy," he whispered before kissing her again.

Draco had been seeing Hermione for a while. They weren't dating seriously, but they weren't too far from it, either. It was on one afternoon when Hermione was having lunch with her friends that something changed. Ron had hugged Hermione in his jubilee at having finally made a successful potion in Snape's class. Hermione had helped him with it, so she thought nothing of the hug, but for the blonde boy who observed everything from a distance, it meant a lot. Later, Hermione went to meet Draco at the owlery after classes were over. When she hugged him, he didn't respond.

"What's wrong, Draco?" Hermione asked, worried.

"Nothing's wrong, Granger," he answered in the cold tone that she had not heard in a long time. "I just think you should go back to Weasley's arms. After all, he is perfect for you."

Hermione inhaled sharply. "Is all of this just because he gave me a hug?" she asked, shocked. "I thought you liked me!"

He lowered his head. "We aren't talking about that," he replied. "I know you love Weasley." Hermione tried to speak, but Draco cut her off. "I'm not blaming you. I knew that when we got together…I just thought you could like me…it didn't happen," he said and started to leave the room.

"Is that it?" Hermione exclaimed. "At the first opportunity you walk away?" she said, coming closer to him. She lifted his head so he would look straight at her. "Just to let you know, I don't like Ron like that anymore," she said softly, noticing the spark of hope that lit up in his eyes.

"Why don't you love him anymore?" Draco asked, a smile cautiously forming on his lips. "Maybe because you like a guy like me? A guy who, a while ago, used to hate you?"

She wrapped her arms around his neck and smiled.

"Because you're the only one who makes my heart beat stronger and more slowly at the same time, she replied, smiling back, and he kissed her passionately.

It was their last day at Hogwarts, and the two sat below a tree in front of the lake. Hermione leaned against Draco's chest as he sat with his back against the tree. He hugged her, and she ran her hands along his bare arms, since he had pushed his sleeves up.

"What are you going to do after we leave here?" she asked curiously.

"I'll go to my room," he said, smiling, and she hit him lightly on the arm.

"I mean when we leave Hogwarts," she rephrased. Draco hugged her closely.

"I wanted to talk to you about that," he said with a sigh. "I have to work; I got a job as a trainee."

"That's good news, Draco!" she congratulatedhim. "What will you do?"

"I'm going to train to be an Auror," he answered, and she kissed him.

"Thank Merlin you didn't stay on the dark side," she laughed and turned around to hug him.

"I know," Draco agreed. "But…"

"But…?" she asked, looking at him curiously.

"The training is in Italy," he admitted. He took Hermione's silence as a sign of shock. "Hermione, I can't ask you to come with me. I don't have the right to do that," he said. She remained silent. "But I don't want to lose you, and…"

"What city is it in?" she asked suddenly.

"Florence," he answered.

"Good," she declared satisfactorily.

Draco was confused. "Why great?" he asked her. "I'm telling you that we're going to be apart."

"No, we won't," she disagreed happily. "I got a lot of offers for training to be a med wizard. One of the opportunities is in Florence."

Draco sprang off the ground, picking her up with him and spinning her around in his arms.

"I'm lucky that my girlfriend is a genius," Draco said, smirking.

"Girlfriend?" she asked, tilting her head back to look at him. "I didn't know you had a girlfriend."

Draco placed her back on the ground. "Actually, we're engaged," he added, still smiling.

"Really?" she asked playfully. "Since when?"

"Since I put a ring on her finger," Draco told her, putting a wedding ring on Hermione's finger. A tear rolled down her face.

"Are you sure?" she asked, her voice choking.

"Definitely," he said. "The ring is on her finger, you know."

Hermione slapped him again. "Are you sure you want to marry her?" she asked, her lips curving into a smile.

"Yes, I am," Draco answered, his face just an inch away from hers. "I love her."

"I'm sure she loves you as well," Hermione murmured right before he kissed her.

Her life really had changed a lot.

The End

Translator's Note: I loved this fan fiction because it is soo cute and the history is so complete that doesn't sound like a short fic. Their relationship is so well constructed and is just the way I imagine it would be.

I wanted to thanks the author, Arine-san, for allowing my translation and I wanted to thanks The Blue Heron for beta reading this fic. Your suggestions and changes were fabulous! Thank you so much for your support!

I also translated two other fics "Falling in love with The Serpent" and "Life is Made of Choices", they are the first book of two famous brazilian fanfic series. Romance, humor and an extraordinary and tottaly different plot!

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