Snow Ball Fight

"Come on Granger, don't be such a girl!" Draco shouted tauntingly at me.

We were sitting together in our shared Common Room and I was perfectly content lying on the couch enjoying the Christmas holiday with a book. But clearly Draco had other things in mind.

"In case you've grown blind due to all the snow I'll inform you that I'm reading right now," I calmly told I'm and buried my nose in my book again. Suddenly my book was wretched from my grasp. I gasped when I saw Draco closing the book and laying it on the coffee table.

"Now you're not," he smirked and I felt anger rise in my chest.

"You closed my book?" I snarled through gritted teeth. "I hadn't put in a bookmark and you closed my book?!"

Angrily I grabbed the book and started turning the pages looking for the passage I had reached. I heard Draco sigh impatiently and the book was yet again taken from my grasp.

"Really Granger," his smile was challenging, "the book will still be here when we get back."

My eyes narrowed as I watched him. His smile didn't falter. I sighed in defeat.

"Fine," I sighed and threw my hands in the air. "I give up. We can go play in the snow. Are you happy now?"

"Actually I am," Draco said and went to the hat stand next to the portrait hole. He took my knee long, gray coat, my coral scarf and my white mittens and went back to me. He stood in front of me and started dressing me like I was a little child. I blushed, but he didn't seem to notice – if he had noticed then surely he would have laughed and made some joke but he didn't. He started by gently wrapping the scarf around my neck. His movements were slow and controlled and I didn't fear that he might try and strangle me as I probably would have just a few months ago. Sharing a Common Room really had made us, well perhaps not friends but something close to that. When he was done with the scarf he took my hands one by one and put on my mittens. A light shudder went through my when his fingers touched my cold hand. I had never before seen him this gentle. After this he held up my coat so I could put my arms in the sleeves. With the coat on he spun me around and started buttoning my button. Finished with the last button he held my collar while looking me deep in the eyes. His stare made me nervous and the blush returned.

"What is this kindergarten?" I joked without even knowing why. Strangely enough Draco seemed to blush as well before I turned to the portrait hole with a sharp laugh.

"Just wanted to be sure that you didn't try to escape," he said as he exited the room. I followed straight after him. We walked through the castle in silence.

Once outside, we both stopped on the great stairs in front of the castle. Hogwarts was absolutely beautiful covered in a thick layer of pure, white snow. More snow gently fell from the sky and made the place look like a fairytale. I turned my head to look at Draco and realised that he was smirking at me.

"What?" I asked and got my answer straight away. Apparently while I had been admiring the snow Draco had made a snow ball which he now flung at my head. He was a good shot, I was bad at avoiding flying objects and the wet snow hit my cheek.

When I opened my eyes again Draco was nowhere to be seen. But his laugh was loud and gave him away. I crouched and gathered snow for a ball of my own and flung it in the direction of his laugh. He was hidden behind a small bush, and I was pleased to hear a little grunt of pain when the snow ball hit him. Quickly I searched for a hiding place of my own, but all I found was a three. Well, it would have to do. I ran behind the tree and started building my arsenal of balls. I heard footsteps in the snow not far from my, and then a snow ball hit my tree. I laughed and ducked out of safety to fling a ball at him. He was standing still behind his bush, and I hit him in the stomach. He laughed as he clutched his stomach. I laughed too. I felt heat in my cheeks despite the snow and the cold. While I was busy watching him writhe in pain I didn't notice that he had a ball hidden behind his back. I first noticed when it was flying and hit my square in the chest. I sent him an angry glare and then gathered all the balls I had made. I ran from my hiding place throwing balls as I came nearer and nearer to his pathetic bush. Not every ball was a hit but I did catch him off guard and so I got him with more balls than he got me with. Once I had reached his bush I was out of balls and so was he. I expected the fight to be over then, but out of nowhere he suddenly jumped on me and threw me to the ground with himself on top of me. His body pinned me down and his face was hovering just inches above mine.

"Do you surrender?" he asked tenderly.

I pretended to consider but as I did I slowly gathered snow in both my hands.

"I usually don't surrender…" I said sounding as if I was debating the possibility of surrender, "but perhaps…" and just as he looked like he thought he was going to win I smashed the snow in his face.

The comeback had the desired effect and Draco let go of me to brush the snow away from his face. Laughing, it was my turn to jump Draco and hold him down. Granted, he was a lot bigger and stronger than me, but like most guys he fought fair with girls and let me hold him down.

"So what now Granger?" he asked provokingly from his position of complete vulnerability.

"You cold surrender," I answered and made sure I knew what his hands were doing. He wasn't going to get me with my own trick that's for sure.

"I could," he smirked. "But I'd rather invite you for a cup of hot chocolate and call it a draw."

I caught me completely off guard, and when he struggled to free himself I did nothing to keep him from it. But he didn't use his newfound freedom to start another fight as I had thought he would. Instead he took out his wand and conjured a cup of steaming, hot chocolate which he offered me. Surprised beyond belief I took the cup and took a little sip while watching him carefully. He noticed and started laughing.

"I'm serious about the draw," he said still laughing. "And you don't have to worry about the chocolate; I didn't do anything to it."

I laughed a shaky little laugh and took another sip. Draco grinned. First then did I realise how awkward our position was. We were both halfway lying down next to each other. He was supporting his weight on the arm he had wrapped around my waist, and I was supporting my weight on the arm that was lying pressed against his. I blushed and hit my face behind the cup. Still safely behind the cup I raised my eyes to watch Draco. His grin was gone, his eyes closed and his face was grave serious. His look startled me and I was just about to ask him, if something was wrong when he started leaning in towards me. I was confused out of my mind. Surely he didn't mean to kiss me!

While my mind was debating the probability of a kiss, Draco's lips suddenly crashed upon mine. His lips were cold from the snow but the heat with which he kissed me was undeniable. I couldn't fight the passion in kiss, and even though I was shocked to my very core, I felt myself responding to his kiss. When my lips started moving against his, I felt the corners of his mouth raise slightly in a smile. Then I felt his tongue dart out of his mouth and run over my bottom lip. The sensation was mind numbing and my mouth fell open on its own accord. Draco used this to his advantage as his tongue entered my mouth and found my own tongue. When his tongue touched mine I felt my last defence crumple and I kissed him back with all I had. After a minute Draco drew back with his trademark smirk. I frowned. Had it all just been a joke to him?

"What you do that for?" I asked him with a slight pout and Draco laughed.

"Do what?" he asked. "Kiss you or stop the kiss?"

I didn't have a comeback, because I simply didn't know what I had referred to. Did I like him kissing me? Absolutely. Did I wish he would continue? No doubt about it. Did I know why he kissed me in the first place? Very much.

"You know," was all I could answer.

"Look up," Draco just said and I followed his gaze.

Above my head Draco was holding a sprig of mistletoe. I blinked in surprise and returned my gaze to study his face.

"Why are you holding that?" I asked him, still very confused.

"So that I could kiss you," he said like it was the most natural response in the world.

"I figured that much!" I said started to get a little irritated as it always happened when there was something I didn't understand. "Why did you want to kiss me?"

Draco sighed and lowered the mistletoe.

"I thought it was obvious," he said and I saw his confidence falter. "Didn't you know?"

Again I didn't have any better response than a blink.

"I'm attracted to you, Hermione Jean Granger," Draco whispered and brushed my cheek with the hand that had held the mistletoe. "That's why I stayed with you here for the holiday even though I had other plans. I figured this was a good time to finally tell you since we'd both be alone. We could have time to really be together."

The total sincerity in his voice and his eyes my heart beat faster. It was impossible not to believe him. Without thinking the situation through, as I normally would have done, I leaned closer to him and brushed my lips against his. The kiss was chaste but more emotional than the first one.

"It was a good idea," I whispered with my forehead pressed against his. "Both with the holiday and the snow ball fight."

Draco smirked.

"I have been known to come up with great ideas from time to time," he boasted and I started laughing.

"I said it was a good idea, not a great one."

"Potato, potarto…"

Draco leaned over and kissed me again. The cup of chocolate fell from my hand as I wrapped my arms around his neck and kissed him back with all my might.

Just a fluffy little winter story for the season.

Hope you enjoyed reading. Please tell me what you think.

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!