The fountains mingle with the river
And the rivers with the ocean,
The winds of heaven mix forever
With a sweet emotion;
Nothing in the world is single,
All things by a law divine
In one another's being mingle -
Why not I with thine?

See the mountains kiss high heaven
And the waves clasp one another;
No sister flower would be forgiven
If it disdain'd its brother:

And the sunlight clasps the earth,
And the moonbeams kiss the sea -
What are all these kissing's worth,
If thou kiss not me?

-Percy Bysshe Shelly

Blizzard Kiss

Hermione wrapped her cloak around herself, trying to get warm. She shivered as a cold gust of wind swept past her. She normally would not have gone out in such a cold day but she had been given the responsibility to deliver Professor McGonagall's message to Hagrid.

She hurried to the Hagrid's hut. When Hermione reached there, she wrenched the door open and slammed it shut as fast as she could. She was just in time, she thought; as she watched a blizzard began to form outside what seemed a fragile shelter compared to Hogwarts.

Hermione leaned against the door and sighed, feeling heat slowly seeping into her skin, as she realized she had to stay in the hut until the snowstorm was finally over.

"Granger?"

Hermione turned as she heard a voice she knew too well. A voice, in fact; that she had rather dreaded to hear.

"Malfoy?" she asked, shocked. "W-what are you doing here?"

"Detention." he said with a scowl. "McGonagall sent me to help the oaf."

Hermione frowned at once. Not only had Malfoy said her favorite professor's name in great loathing, he had insulted her long-time friend. Hermione Granger, extraodinaire, prefect and the-girl-who-will-most-likely-be-Head-Girl could not tolerate such words.

"Hagrid is a million times better than you!" she cried, her eyes flashing in anger.

Malfoy looked out of the window thoughtfully.

"Look Granger," he drawled. "Since we have to stay in this lousy excuse for a cabin together, we should at least be civil to each other."

Hermione eyed Malfoy suspiciously, as if staring at him long enough would be able to reveal if he had an ulterior motive. "Fine." she spat. After all, if she didn't try to promote inter-house unity, who would? Certainly not Ron or Harry, they would probably draw their wands before even exchanging words.

She looked around. Her assignment from Professor McGonagall finally dawned on her.

"Where is Hagrid anyway?"

"He said he wanted to visit his many legged friend," said Malfoy as he wrinkled his nose. Whether in confusion or distaste, Hermione didn't know.

Hermione was struck at how cute he looked when he did that. Of course, as usual Hermione blamed the cold had made her slightly delusional for that irrational thought. She chided herself silently; normal girls do not think that their enemies look attractive unexpectedly as she had done. (Not that she thought Draco Malfoy was attractive!) She had also conveniently forgotten that most normal girls would have swooned at being in the same room with Draco Malfoy, something that, if remembered, wouldn't really help her current situation.

She sat on a dark red sofa and sighed at the warmth the fire was emitting. She extracted a quill out of her robes and pocket-sized leather bound book. Malfoy's presence was soon forgotten as she began to read, occasionally scribbling some notes as Hermione blanked out everything else except for her book and its wonders.

"What is that?"

Hermione gasped in surprise as she realized that Malfoy was peering over her shoulder. She shut her book abruptly and glared at Malfoy for invading her privacy.

"Notes for Muggle Studies, not that you know anything about it." she replied acidly.

"I thought we agreed to be civil to each other," said Malfoy, feigning hurt. "Besides, I do know quite a bit on Muggle Studies."

"Oh really?" countered Hermione. "On what year was William Shakespeare born?"

Malfoy simply laughed. "Is there a point to this silly question?"

"You don't know, do you?" taunted Hermione. "Admit you don't even know who William Shakespeare is!"

"I do! He is a writer of great literature," said Malfoy, a triumphant smirk on his features. "He was born in the year 1564 and died on 1616. A fact that any competent pureblood knows."

Hermione's gaped at him in shock.

"You just guessed!" accused Hermione.

"You're just disappointed that I'm good at everything I do!" mocked Malfoy, laughing. "Not only I'm handsome, but I'm also smart, undeniably rich and popular with the girls! I bet you don't even know how to kiss yet!"

Hermione fumed.

"How dare you!"

She stood up angrily and faced Malfoy, unaware that the gap between their faces was growing steadily closer.

"I know perfectly well how to kiss!" she continued. "In fact, whether I do or do not know how to kiss does not have anything to do wit-"

"Prove it." interrupted Malfoy, smirking.

"I do not have to prove myself to you!" she shouted, completely abandoning her own advice to both her best friends to ignore his insults.

"You're just saying that because you don't know..."

Malfoy didn't manage to finish that sentence. Hermione had grabbed his face and met his lips with hers in a passionate kiss.

Naturally, he was completely shocked. When Hermione finally regained her brain cells that had deserted her for those precious moments, she turned and ran out of Hagrid's cabin in horror, unwittingly leaving her book and quill behind.

"Hermione, where were you?" asked Harry, looking concerned. "You've never missed a class before."

"Yeah, you just missed out Snape tripping over his own two feet," said Ron, trying to constrain his laughter. "And without a Tripping Jinx, no less. I swear, Dean Thomas is a genius!"

"Um... Nowhere really." said Hermione vaguely, completely ignoring Ron. "I was passing a message to Hagrid from Professor McGonagall when there was a snow storm and I was stuck in the cabin for quite a while. When in receded, I just came back. I better tell Professor McGonagall that I didn't manage to meet Hagrid."

"Oh, ok." said Ron. "It began like this, Snape was..."

"Ron," said Hermione. "I really need to sleep. I'm exhausted."

Hermione practically ran up to her dormitory.

"What, at 7 o'clock?" she heard Ron's disbelieving voice before she slammed the door to her dormitory.

It goes without saying that Hermione had a lot of trouble trying to sleep that night.

Hermione woke up early and went to the Great Hall to study that morning, determined to forget what happened the day before. She hoped that Draco had not mentioned about the kiss to anyone els- Wait! She shook her head. How could she have begun to address Malfoy as Draco all of a sudden?

'It is of course, appropriate to call someone you kiss by their first name.' she thought blindly. 'How ironic it was that Draco Malfoy is the person in question.'

She had felt something different, new, during that kiss. Something that one should not feel when one kisses one's enemy. Her lips still tingled from the kiss. There was a strange sort of fluttering deep in her belly. She felt as if she did not want to end the kiss, but to prolong it forever. It felt special, as the last thing she wanted to classify the kiss that she gave. After all, she was Hermione Granger and he was Draco Malfoy. Definitely not a good combination.

"Hermio- Granger."

Hermione looked up. Her heart stopped. It was he. The subject that she had been brooding about for the past few minutes – if not hours.

"Draco."

"Here, your stuff." he said gruffly, as he averted his eyes from her. "You forgot to take them with you yesterday."

Hermione blushed.

"Thanks."

Before Malfoy left, he turned and added. "I was wrong. You really could kiss."

:End: