Author's Log: Well hello everyone! I'm NOT dead! Merry Christmas to you all! Here's the Christmas one shot I wrote for my good friend, tbanderson. Figured it'd work for a gift for everyone else as well. Anyway, I'll just give you a slight background on it. It's fluffy. It's between Iris and Tom (during their school days of course). I hope you like it.

~Danbamina

Tom Riddle sat lounging with his friends in the Slytherin Common Room beneath the lake. He looked about him and smirked inwardly, these people weren't really his friends. They were more like a posse of admirers. He rather liked being adored, it made him feel powerful. They were talking about going outside to play in the snow that blanketed the grounds. They wanted to have an enchanted snowball fight, which meant that they were allowed to make the snow form itself into balls as they hurled them at each other, thus saving themselves a whole lot of pain in their back ends while bending to form new snowballs. Tom shook his head and sighed; they all stopped talking and looked at him. Four pairs of eyes seemed to bore into his own brown ones as Tom Riddle looked at the still empty spot beside him. His arm was draped casually across the back of the couch as if waiting for someone to sit there so he could drop it across their shoulders. From the vacant cushion beside him Tom looked at his friends, a question in his eyes.

A boy with black hair and silver eyes smiled at him knowingly. "Iris hasn't been here all day, Tom." He said smirking openly. "Maybe she found someone else."

Tom raised an eyebrow at the boy. "Someone else, Drake…?" He asked in a bored manner. "Elaborate please."

Drake's eyes shifted to the other three people briefly. "You know someone else that's better than you. You know how Iris is."

"Someone better…? That's impossible." Tom shook his head and chuckled to himself. "Sometimes I wonder why I even put up with you idiots." Without another word Tom stood and removed himself from the Common Room. He left the dungeons in record time and was soon on his way up to the Entrance Hall.

He crossed the Entrance Hall and looked into the Great Hall, seeing no one except some Gryffindors (enjoying a game of Wizard's Chess) and Hufflepuffs (who were playing I-Spy) he went to the great hourglasses on the pretext of reviewing the scores for the House Cup. While standing there he glanced out of the window set into the stone wall next to the large front doors. It had started to snow again, the world outside was gray and white. Tom was thinking about stepping outside to ruin the perfect blanket of white, just because he could, when he heard a familiar voice.

"Tommy!" Iris's lovely voice fell like music onto Tom's ears. The next thing he knew she'd wrapped her arms around his chest in a tight bear hug. "Where have you been lurking today?" She planted a kiss on his neck and the rested her chin on his shoulder, obviously looking out of the window at the snow.

"The Common Room." Tom replied simply as he extricated himself from her grasp. "And don't call me Tommy." He added as he turned to face her. He was greeted by her pouting, her lower lip poked out, her arms folded across her chest as she stood with all her weight on one foot. She looked up at him from underneath her lashes, obviously displeased with him.

"I can call you Tommy if I want to." She said and glared at the floor to her left, refusing to make eye contact with him.

"No. I don't like it." Tom insisted. Iris mocked him; using her hand as a puppet and making it "speak" by opening and closing it as he spoke. "Stop that! That's so annoying!" Iris persisted in her mockery of him. "Damn it, Iris, stop it or I'll hex you!"

Iris switched to voicing her own imitation of him, in a high pitched nasally voice. "'Stop it Iris or I'll hex you!'" She dropped all pretenses of mocking him and pulled out her wand. "I'd like to see you try." She ran a finger down the length of the wand, her face void of all emotion. "You know I beat Adrian Evergreene two days ago, and he's a Seventh Year Ravenclaw and the best in his class." She pointed her ebony and unicorn tail hair wand at him, "Are you willing to risk a bloody nose, a spectacular black eye, two broken ribs, and unconsciousness to prove a point?" Iris waited a moment before stowing her wand back in her robes. "Didn't think so."

"Of course I am." Tom said after a second. "Just not against you."

Iris placed her hands on her hips and flipped her golden bangs from her face. "And why not against me? Am I not good enough to duel 'the great Tom Riddle'?" She scowled at him as she finished her air quotes.

Tom huffed out a breath, causing his bangs to dance against his forehead as he thought of an appropriate response to avoid further alienating this particularly beautiful specimen of the female wizard. An idea successfully formulated he smiled his most charming smile at her.

She quirked an eyebrow at him obviously suspicious of his intentions. "What?"

Tom reached out and wrapped his hands around her waist, tugging her against him; he wrapped his arms more securely around her and pulled her just a little closer. He shivered mentally as her soft form pressed against his. He looked into her blue eyes and leaned his face down, hovering just above her lips. "Because, I wouldn't want to hurt your pretty face. I like it too much." He gagged inwardly at his sweetness, but was rewarded by seeing a delicate pink blush spread across her winter-pale cheeks.

She smiled and managed to suppress a giggle. She stuttered, obviously flattered that he found her attractive, and her blush deepened at her transparency. "Well, thank you." She managed to say at length. Tom nodded his head, not really paying attention to her words; he had other things on his mind.

He could feel her hands pressed lightly against his chest, the curve of her spine beneath his forearm, the feel of the soft curve of her hip beneath his hand, he reached up and ran a finger across her cheek, gently brushing a lock of silky golden hair away from her face. He let out a short, soft laugh, and noted her blush turn from a solid pink to a deep coral as his breath blew over her lips. She nuzzled her face closer to his, tilting it ever so carefully so that their noses weren't colliding. Less than an inch of space was between their lips now. He stood impassive while she swallowed anxiously, waiting for him to make the next move. Tom Riddle had never kissed a girl. He'd never really cared about it. She was so close; almost her entire body was pressed against him. Her hands had somehow found their way around his neck and he could feel the hard bone of her forearms against his skin, the gentle absentminded tug of her fingers in his dark hair, her eyes were half-lidded and he could feel her breath coming in fast, shallow gasps as she stood there in anticipation. Something told him that the longer he made her wait for the kiss she so obviously wanted, the better it would be for the both of them. However, he'd never been so hyper aware of every part of his body before, it was like every place his body touched hers was on fire, he knew he wanted her. He'd never wanted anyone so badly before, and yet, she was still unreachable. Even if he kissed her, she'd still never be his.

He sighed and pulled his face away from hers, looking off to one side. "Iris…." He started and found that he didn't have any words to say what he wanted to say. He stared at the wall of emeralds in the hourglass before him, and then he felt her cool fingers on his face, gently guiding his gaze back to hers.

She smiled softly at him. "I know, Tom." She whispered and removed herself from his grasp. Tom stared blankly ahead as she disappeared from his peripheral vision; he didn't even know she'd gone until cold air hit him where she had been pressed against him. He shivered at the abrupt temperature change and turned around as the large front door closed. He looked out of the window to see her walking through the falling snow towards the lake.

Tom hesitated; watching her slowly disappear into the distance, obscured by the steadily falling snow, what was he to do now? He growled at his own weakness as he walked to the doors and opened them just enough for him to slip quickly into the snow. He followed her fast disappearing tracks to the tree beside the lake. He came to a stop several feet away from her, shivering because he'd forgotten to put on his dark robes and was only wearing his white dress shirt and green and silver tie, looking at her, considering his next move.

She stood there, her arms wrapped around her torso, staring blankly at the frozen surface of the lake. The snow drifted slowly through the branches, settling in her hair and on the dark shoulders of her robes. She hadn't heard him come up, or she probably wouldn't have remained where she was. Then again, Tom thought with a mental chuckle, she probably planned this whole thing.

Without warning, Iris sat on the ground, pulling her wand from her robes. She carefully removed her shoes from her feet and transfigured them into ice skates. She put them back on and walked carefully towards the lake. Tom watched with interest as she siphoned the snow from the lake's frozen surface with her wand as she progressed outwards. She cleared a large circular spot and stowed her wand back inside of her robes before beginning to enjoy herself. She didn't do much more than move slowly around her clear patch in an unending circle, every now and then switching to skating backwards for a spell.

Tom sighed and sat down, removing his own shoes and going through the same process. He was having difficulty with lacing his right skate up when he heard the crack of broken ice. He leapt to his feet and peered out at the lake. Iris was nowhere to be seen. Panicked, he raced down to the lake, wobbling from his unlaced right skate as he glided quickly through the cleared pathway Iris had created.

"Iris!" He yelled in fear as he reached the circular clearing, and spun around searching for her. The ice was unbroken; the foot high snow walls on all sides of the circle were undisturbed. "Where are you?"

"I'm right behind you, dummy." Iris's voice was laden with contained mirth.

Tom whirled around to face her, and grabbed her shoulders, shaking her roughly. "What the hell were you thinking? Skating in the middle of the lake where the ice is thinnest! You could've fallen under!" Iris was laughing as he continued to shake her. "Why are you laughing? God damn it Iris! Stop laughing; it's not funny in the slightest! You nearly gave me a heart attack!"

"Stop shaking me then!" she managed to say, her voice broken with the effort of speaking while being treated so roughly.

Tom, who hadn't realized he'd been shaking her at all, stopped. "Well!" He demanded. "Answer me."

Iris took a moment to catch her breath and quiet her giggles. "That was fun. Do it again."Tom growled and moved away from her. Iris followed him, catching onto his elbow and letting him pull her along the completely unbroken ice. "Aw don't be that way. It was only a prank."

Tom shook her free from his elbow and clambered onto the bank. He paused to transfigure his skates back to normal before whirling around, his wand pointing at her face. "Give me one reason not to hex you into oblivion."

Iris stopped climbing up the bank, her shoes returned to their normal state, and stared at Tom for a moment, and gave him a suggestive look. "I have a reason for you…."

Tom's fingers twitched on his wand handle as she stepped closer to him. "Stop it Iris. You deserve it."

Iris brought a delicate hand up and slowly wrapped her fingers around Tom's wand just above his hand. Her icy fingers brushed against his warm ones and he pulled his hand away, leaving his wand behind and in Iris's grip. She smirked and pocketed it deftly before advancing on Tom.

"Do I really Tom?" Iris sauntered slowly towards him.

Tom backed away, and into the tree's trunk. He leaned against it, thinking about trying to climb into it to get away from her. He didn't know what she was going to do; she had his wand, so he was defenseless against her. Tom groaned inwardly at his stupidity for letting her get her hand on his wand and then letting her take it from him as easily as she did.

"Don't be scared, Tom, I won't hurt you." She was less than a foot away from him, and she was smiling mischievously, as if something bad was about to happen.

Tom straightened his posture and looked her squarely in the eye, "I'm not afraid of you, I'm twice the wizard you are."

Iris chuckled and patted her chest. "Not without your wand, you're not. Without your wand…" She let out an amused sounding breath and looked him up and down, the smile vanished. "You're just a boy."

Tom was puzzled, what was she talking about? She was making no sense. She had something planned beyond the prank that much he could sense. He wished he knew how to read minds. Then he wouldn't be stuck standing there wondering what she was going to do. She had a wand, and was a very accomplished duelist. He didn't have a wand, and was a very accomplished duelist. But to duel, they both needed to have a wand. And she had both their wands. So she wasn't going to duel him. And he didn't expect her to give him his wand back.

Tom was so preoccupied with his thoughts that he didn't notice her reach out and grab his tie firmly in her hands. He looked down, and then at her. What was she doing?

It wasn't until it had happened that he realized what had happened. He stood alone beneath the tree looking at the lake in utter disbelief.

She had used his tie to pull them together, and the next thing he knew, they were kissing. He'd never kissed a girl before, but some sort of instinct took over. Her hands cupped his face, as one of his hands cradled the back of her head tenderly, his other hand keeping her pressed against him by a slight amount of pressure on her lower back. It hadn't lasted long at all, and then he wasn't kissing her anymore, his eyes fluttered open and he saw her blue eyes, hazy with emotion looking up at him, a tender, dreamy smile on her soft lips.

"I love you, Tom Riddle." She'd said in a gentle, sincere voice, and with a final, short, tender kiss, she'd gone.

Slowly, he turned and went back towards the castle.

Author's Log: There you go! I do hope you enjoyed it! As always review please! I'm currently stuck on A Love He Once Had because I can't seem to get Voldy running in my mind. You know, conceited, a bit of a jerk, but still funny. I'm working on it though. Be patient! Happy Christmas everyone!

~Danbamina

P.S. Voldy sends his desire to kill you all (because you're Muggles), while Iris sends her love (because she actually likes Muggles).