Author's Notes: For the slythindor100 advent challenge. Eighth year fic.

Hermione had been telling Harry since all the way back in third year never to accept gifts if he didn't know who'd sent them. It was a stupid risk to take, she'd said, and though she'd turned out to be wrong about the Firebolt at the time, overall Harry had to admit she was dead right. Ginny hadn't questioned how Tom Riddle's diary had ended up in her possession, after all. And what had happened to Ron when he'd downed a bunch of chocolates left as a gift for Harry without stopping to check who they were actually from had demonstrated the point pretty irrefutably as well.

So by all accounts, the moment he'd seen there was no card left with it, Harry should have Banished the heart-shaped candy canes from the foot of his bed without even touching them.

But he didn't.

Even though he couldn't explain as much to his friends without them staging some kind of intervention, Harry had no intention of getting rid of the gift because he was pretty sure he did know exactly who it had come from (though, admittedly, he had far less idea how this 'secret admirer' of his could have managed to get the gift through the common room and all the way up into Harry's dorm room without being noticed and mobbed by angry Gryffindors).

To test the theory, Harry pointedly took the box of hearts to Potions class, figuring Slughorn probably wouldn't call him out on eating in class even if he actually caught him at it. As soon as all his classmates had arrived, Harry snapped the first of the hearts into two individual candy canes and then slowly thrust the long end of one of them between his lips, gathering up the peppermint flavour with a deliberate whirl of his tongue. Harry's eyes shifted across the room, searching. He found Draco Malfoy avidly watching Harry's mouth as Harry worked the candy cane in and out suggestively.

Their eyes met briefly; a kind of silent acknowledgement.

Harry continued to furtively tease Draco with the candy canes all throughout class, earning an appalled 'what on Earth are you doing' look from Ron the moment he finally caught sight of the production Harry was making of himself.

But Harry didn't care if he was making a fool of himself.

Not when he was certain the eventual reward would be so very worth it.

~FIN~