Snow was just dandruff from the gods. And Draco whole-heartedly hated it.
He had never hated it more, however, than as he sat in the middle of the Herbology green houses, trapped. He was, undeniably, snowed in. Snowed in. What kind of wizard with any self-respect got snowed in? Particularly alone. And in a green house. Surrounded by plants.
There was a plus side. And the plus side was that the greenhouse was warm, and he would hopefully miss Christmas dinner, a disgustingly jolly occasion in which he often had to violently dispose of the ridiculous paper crowns that were thrust on his head after a cracker was pulled. Yes, he was glad he was missing that particular event.
However, he did wish he had at least had some company. He had wandered down to the greenhouses with the prospect of getting away from all the Christmas spirit, and to enjoy the solitude amongst the multitude of magical foliage, but, fate had had it that this would be the point the gently falling snow would suddenly turn into a full-scale blizzard. Just as he had stood up to leave and succumb to joining in with the festivities, he had realised that, instead of beautiful white grounds stretching out on all sides behind the glass, there was just, well, white.
And this was also the point he had realised he had left his wand in the dormitory.
Christmas was just wonderful, wasn't it?
"Enjoying the festivities, there, Malfoy?"
Whipping around and instinctively throwing his hand to his pocket for his wand, he saw none other than Ginny Weasley stood behind him. She was dressed in festive muggle clothes, with a stupid Father Christmas hat perched at a jaunt on her head, in a vibrant shade of scarlet which clashed terribly with her long crimson waves. She leant back against the greenhouse wall, her arms folded and a smirk to rival his customary one in place.
"What are you doing here, Weaslette?" he retorted, rolling his eyes and standing up.
"I came down to get some holly and mistletoe," she replied casually, "there was an accident at dinner and all of it got burnt to cinders, so Professor Sprout sent me down for more."
"What with those flimsy decorations in the Great Hall, I'm not surprised," Draco sneered.
The Gryffindor just rolled her amber eyes and uncrossed her arms. "Well, seeing as you're stuck here too, you could help me get some of the stuff."
"I'd rather eat holly than help you collect it," Draco said bluntly.
"You really are a charmer," Ginny answered, unabashed, already searching through the mass of plants for the particular kind she required.
"I know, must be the Christmas spirit rubbing off on me."
So Draco took his seat once more on the greenhouse bench and watched as Ginny pottered about the greenhouse, plucking bundles of holly.
The redhead was a pretty little thing, who put up an innocent facade on the outside but was poisonous on the inside. The faded blue jeans were skinny and tight-fitting, revealing slim legs, and though the jumper on her torso (which was horrendously patterned with green and white reindeers) was oversized and baggy, he saw the outline of a toned and curvy figure. As she reached up to snag a particularly high bough of mistletoe, he got a perfect view of her arse, the top of which was brushed by the ends of her thick red hair. Astonishingly, the littlest Weasley really was quite hot.
He was so busy admiring her that it took him a minute to digest what was going on. Ginny had suddenly let out a little scream as her hand closed around the mistletoe. And the mistletoe had started to expand, elongate – green leaves and white berries blossomed from thin air and began to wrap themselves around Ginny's hands, then her wrists, and then her arm and then all around her back like some kind of beautiful Devil's snare –
"Do something, Malfoy!" she shrieked as the mistletoe curled its way around her torso.
Draco tried to hold back a laugh but he was unsuccessful. The redhead snarled and cursed as the mistletoe tightened its grip on her. And then, next thing Draco knew, she was getting closer and closer to him...
"Shit!" she screamed, still desperately struggling with the plant, "shit shit shit!"
Backing away, Draco found himself pressed against the greenhouse wall.
"It's got control of me!" Ginny screeched, "I can't help it!"
And then the mistletoe was snaking around Draco's hands and wrists. "Get off me, pesky bloody plant!" he cried indignantly, wringing his hands in an attempt to free them but to no avail; the mistletoe merely tightened its grip.
"It must be Devil's snare!" cried Ginny, looking more and more agitated as the mistletoe wound its way around Draco too.
"Does it look like bloody Devil's snare to you?" Draco demanded, desperately clawing at the stupid white-berried plant. His voice had suddenly increased in pitch by several octaves.
"Have you got a wand?" Ginny said; her voice, too, was rather higher and shriller than normal.
"Yeah, obviously!" Draco said sarcastically, now so pressed up against the glass of the greenhouse that he could feel the chill of it through his clothes. "That's why I broke through the glass, melted the snow outside and am up in the castle enjoying Christmas dinner!"
"You really are a git!" the Gryffindor replied, "for the love of Merlin, think of something!"
"Why don't you? You're the one who got us in this shit!"
"How did I know that piece of mistletoe was bloody Devil's snare in hiding? Or whatever the hell this is?"
"You could've checked it properly!"
"It looked like bloody mistletoe to me!"
"Is this normal bloody mistletoe behaviour?"
"I don't – hang on, stop moving."
"What?"
"Stop moving!"
Draco did as she said and they both stood still. It was this point they realised the closeness of their proximity. The blond was pressed against the glass of the greenhouse, with the mistletoe wrapped tightly around his back, shoulders, torso, legs and arms. And Ginny's body was flush against his, entwined in the same plant. Their noses were barely a centimetre apart.
"Well," said Ginny.
"Well," Draco echoed.
"If you have any bright ideas, now would be a good time to share them."
"I can't say I do."
"Oh."
They stood there, intertwined in the now still but very rigid mistletoe. An awkward silence stretched out in the little space between them. Then Ginny began wriggling against the unyielding vines.
"Come on, if we move around it should loosen."
Draco hardly thought this a logical idea – he was pretty sure if the mistletoe was capable of expanding and entangling two people, it could stand a bit of moving around – but he did it anyway.
"Stupid – bloody – mistletoe," Ginny forced out between clenched teeth, struggling as fiercely as she could in an attempt to free herself, "it's only for desperate people trying to get a snog anyway..."
And then the bombshell dropped. The Gryffindor quickly stopped moving and slowly looked up at the Slytherin, who was smirking down at her.
"Oh, hell no," she gasped, "no way in hell!"
"Well, if you want to stay here forever, Red..." Draco drawled, rather enjoying himself.
"You git!" she snarled, "no way, no actual way-"
"Well, we'll just stay like this," said Draco, shrugging and resting his head on the glass behind.
"I hate you," said Ginny bluntly, "I really hate you."
And she began to try and wriggle free of the plant once more.
"For the love of Merlin, Red, quit that," snapped Draco.
Her brown eyes narrowed, flickering with anger as she met his cool mercury ones. "Walk," she commanded.
"What?"
"Walk!"
Draco shuffled his legs slightly but the mistletoe prevented any real movement. His body was well and truly snarled up. Giving an angry little hiss as though she were a cat, the redhead tried too, but her ankles were so tightly bound that she could not move them at all. They were both still.
"This is not how I planned to spend Christmas," she sighed resignedly.
"No, me neither," smirked Draco, "I'd rather be eating Christmas dinner than be here with you."
Eyes narrowed again and brow furrowed, Ginny tried a different tact and attempt to jump.
"Bloody hell, Weaslette!" Draco exclaimed.
Her sudden movement had tugged on the plant, but it had not broken or moved. She had merely managed to unbalance them; she gave a startled cry as the pair of them went sprawling onto the floor.
"Like it on top, Red?"
They both lay on the stone floor. Draco was smirking up at Ginny who was lying on top of him, breathing heavily.
"I officially hate Christmas," the latter said in a voice that clearly said she was considering death.
"I'm rather enjoying this one now, actually."
"Prat."
"You love it."
"Whatever you say, Blondie, whatever you say." Ginny heaved a great sigh, her hair brushing Draco's face. "Well, with any luck, someone will come looking and get us out of this mess."
"I doubt it, everyone's normally too pissed by this point to think straight."
Ginny glared at him. Then she took a deep breath. "Can we just clarify that the action following this speech absolutely does not mean anything, will not be prolonged and is purely because I don't want to miss the turkey sandwiches and trifle. Okay?"
"Fine by me, Red," Draco smirked, "Happy Christmas, by the way."
"Shove it, Blondie."
"Okay."
Half an hour later, a flushed and staggering Professor Sprout came into her greenhouse to find two students in an extremely compromising position on the floor. Shaking her head and blaming it on the wine, she set about tending to her plants and singing a very out-of-tune version of 'It Must Have Been the Mistletoe'.
A/N: Yay, all done! Okay, that was bit mental, but I hope you guys enjoyed it anyway.
I did base it on a D/G Christmas prompt from a while ago I found...I can't remember it all to be honest but I think just said the fic needed to include mistletoe, snow, a kiss and Great Hall Christmas decorations. I just used it as a stimulus for this really.
Oh, I just realised it doesn't actually contain a kiss...ah well.
Hope it got you in the Christmas spirit, have a wonderful Christmas, eat lots, be spoilt and most of all enjoy time with your family! Until next time, Ellie x