A/N: Hi readers! I've had this idea in my head since last winter and I hadn't had time to do it, so here I am, almost a year later, finally having it done. I finished writing it kind of late and I was impatiant and just wanted to post it. This isn't the completely final draft, and I would LOVE your input. Pleasepleaseplease r/r and I will return the favor. That's a promise.

Disclaimer: How chill would it be if I owned HP? I'd be super rich and have changed the world! I love you Jo! You are my hero. Everything belongs to you. Including my soul... Scary music

now, enough about me...

Evergreen Slopes

Hermione slid across the frozen sparkles and onto the packed snow of the chairlift line. It was the first winter of Hermione's last 8 years that wasn't clouded by Voldemort or her studies. She was free to just be a normal girl, on a ritualistic traveling of the world after school. It was always something she had planned to do: see the world with the eyes of an adult witch but have the images be untainted by full adulthood and a flabby body, not to mention the darkest forces known to magic-kind. Hermione was thinking about her success in achieving this new, light world as she got scooped up by a swinging bench.

Her skis pointed up and she laid her ski poles across her lap. She then turned to meet whoever was sharing the chairlift. Reflective sunglasses looked back at her from underneath a dark blue hat. Spectacular blonde hair poked out to feather around his face. A puff of breath came from slightly parted lips. Hermione found herself follow the condensing moisture with her eyes.

"Granger?" A familiar voice spoke, creating more breath clouds. The man's lips curled into an extremely familiar smirk. "No, way."

Hermione froze in her millions of layers of warm clothing. "It can't be…."

Draco Malfoy took of his reflective sun-glasses to get a better look at the girl sitting next to him. His eyes took in her pink nose and shining brown eyes, her frost burnt red lips and her static brunette hair.

"It is. Great. Just my luck to get put on a chairlift with a mudblood. The stench is already making me dizzy." Draco smirked, loving the comfort of tormenting an old school enemy.

"Shut it Malfoy," Hermione snapped. "This is a muggle pastime, you know. What are you doing on these muggle slopes?"

"I'm snowboarding," Draco stated the obvious. "Well, actually, right now I'm on a chairlift, waiting to go snowboard again."

"Why?" Hermione asked her eyes wide.

"Why not?"

"Because you hate anything related to muggles. That's why not."

"Yeah, well…" Draco looked away from her and down at the people flashing down the hills below them. They were good, as was expected as this was a very difficult run beneath them. Draco assessed their skill and smirked. He was better.

"For a mudblood past-time, those muggles aren't very good, are they?" Draco looked smugly at Hermione's shocked face. It looked like the witch was purposefully not looking at the people below, determined to ignore his snide comment. Draco decided to try to goad her into an entertaining outburst. "I mean, really, their probably better than you, but that's really not saying much."

The look on Hermione's face did not disappoint. "You have no idea what you are talking about, Malfoy. If I do something, I do it well. "

Hermione looked away from Malfoy and stared at the tops of tall evergreens. It made no sense that the man beside her was there. She had been hoping to take a break from wizards after having another row with her boyfriend Ron. Skiing was supposed to be that escape. No wizards could annoy her while she was going of jumps or racing the wind.

"You're good at what you do? Is that so?" Hermione tried to ignore the annoying man beside her and focused on a single crow flying across the stark white sky. It landed on a tall, lone evergreen, burying itself in a soft nest. This image made Hermione feel oddly cold and lonely. She wrapped her arms around herself. Malfoy's voice interrupted Hermione's thoughts again.

"What exactly is it that you do, mudblood?"

She turned back to him and grinned. "Magic."

"And nothing else, know-it-all Granger." Draco's eyes flashed in what would have been a frightening way if Hermione was ever frightened of him.

"I wasn't talking about school magic, Malfoy." It was Hermione's turn to smirk, making Draco shiver.

"Whatever, mudblood." Draco sighed, attempting not to analyze Hermione's meaning. The chairlift stopped, not uncommon on a busy day. He felt Hermione stiffen next to him. She strummed her fingers on the arm rest impatiently. God, Draco thought, I'm not even saying anything now. Why is she so annoyed?

The wind swayed the chair slightly and Hermione pulled her poles closer to her body and used them as a seat belt. They dug into Draco's stomach somewhat painfully.

"Hey, watch where you're sticking those things!" Draco pushed the poles away from him, causing the chair to swing backwards. Hermione let out a yelp and grabbed Draco's arm. He looked at her with confusion until it dawned on him.

"You're afraid of heights, aren't you?" He let out a laugh. On a cruel whim, he leaned forward to make the chairlift swing dangerously. Hermione shrieked out loud and smacked Draco, hard, before grabbing him again. He leaned backwards, making Hermione wrap her arms around him in complete terror.

"Draco Malfoy! Don't you dare do that again or I'll jinx you to the next century!" Her voice was about two octaves higher than usual, her eyes squeezed shut.

"You don't seem so mad at me right now," Draco noted nodding toward Hermione's arms wrapped around him and he felt his body react to her nearly sitting on his lap.

"Ugh! Sicko!" Hermione jerked away from him, making the chair swing violently. She clenched her jaw and gripped the not nearly solid enough chair. Draco looked at Hermione's terrified face and her gloved hands wrapped way too tight around the metal of the bench. He felt a twinge of guilt and felt his face relax into a more gentle expression.

"Sorry, Granger." Draco said regretfully. "I didn't mean to scare you."

"Yes you did." Hermione glared at him.

"Well, yeah, I did." He shrugged and grinned carelessly. "But I'm apologizing now. Even if it was fun to watch your expression."

Hermione grumbled but her grip on the chair lessened. "Whatever, Malfoy."

Draco's insides jumped hearing his name on her lips again. Without thinking, he took her hand off the metal and held it in his own. He knew he had always been sort of

attracted to the female member of the golden trio, but, Draco had been pretty much turned on by any pretty girl when he was at school. Since he would always have anyone he wanted, he never thought about Hermione seriously. But now, as they were stuck on a chairlift together, his mind was going to typical male places.

Hermione was surprised by Draco taking her hand, but didn't pull away for some strange reason. She looked at Draco's face and watched as he thought about something. The odd look on his face was making her kind of nervous so she looked back across the trees. Their strong branches held so much icy snow it was almost hard to see the beautiful green color underneath. Hermione absently wondered if the trees were ever cold under all that sparkling snow. She looked to see the same lone crow and felt sympathy for it, cold and alone, flying above the ice.

Draco's gloved hand that wasn't holding her own touched the side of Hermione's face and pulled it gently to look at his own. He looked at her cold lips and as though guided by an invisible force, leaned toward them. Hermione's mind was as numb as her dangling feet as she let her face be guided toward his. Their lips somehow found each other's lips and they kissed. Hermione was surprised by the warmth of Draco's mouth. She hadn't noticed how cold her lips were before they met his. The kiss deepened untouched by conscious thought. Electricity warmed their bodies in the cold wind. Draco's hand was moving down to Hermione's waist just as the chair lift swung back into motion. They parted in a flash of logic.

Hermione's face turned red and her eyes were wide as she turned away. She blinked vigorously against the snow. Draco's mouth was slightly open as he looked straight ahead. They rode in silence for the rest of the trip. At the top they slid off and Draco grumbled an incoherent farewell.

Hermione watched Draco refasten his snowboard and she pushed her way toward the top of a black diamond. Draco stood up and started away. This action made Hermione's heart plummet.

"Draco!" She called after him. He turned around to look at her.

"Yes?" She called me by my first name…

"Uh… I bet you're all talk. Race you down this black diamond?" She said to give purpose to her calling after Draco.

"Stakes?" Draco asked pretending to be hesitant to spend more time with her.

"2 sickles?" Hermione suggested.

"No way. How about, loser has to do whatever the winner wants?"

Hermione debated in her head. It would be fun to order around Malfoy. Make him grovel or insult himself. Or make him kiss her again… She blinked and focused.

"How about, the loser has to do any three things that the winner requests? We need limits," She said concealing a grin.

"You're on, Granger." Draco sneered.

"Ready, set—" Hermione started, but Draco went early. Hermione quickly pushed herself down the hill after him. She zoomed like some sort of speed demon. Draco was still ahead of her though. She let out a whoop of exhilaration and aimed for a large jump that Draco had missed. Like a bullet, she shot off the jump. She soared through the air and closed her eyes against the freezing wind. The sky welcomed her with grace and she swirled, showing off for Draco, who was now behind her. Air pushed her black coat and she sped forward to the ground. Her breath caught in her throat as her skis hit the snow again, now yards ahead of Draco.

Draco had been watching Hermione fly out of the corner of his eye and had to admit he was impressed. Awe turned to competitive drive as she landed ahead of him. He turned completely straight with the slope and gave himself as little wind resistance as possible while staying in control. He was now even with the beautiful and frightening witch.

Hermione turned to see Draco staring right at her. Their eyes made contact across the sheet of snow and something just clicked in Hermione's core. Something about flying next to Draco and feeling his silver eyes on her felt so… right. It was a moment of pure bliss and she leaned forward and continued her heart-stopping speed.

The two of them shared the joy of flying, shared the burn of winter air on their cheeks, shared the watering of their eyes, and shared their universe.

After an eternity they reached the end of the mountain's path, Hermione just barely ahead.

"You cheated, Draco Malfoy." She stated trying to be stern, but she couldn't keep her face from having the biggest most overjoyed smile on it.

"Slytherin," Draco shrugged, pushing himself closer to her and the chairlift. He had a genuine smile on his face for once and looked right into Hermione's eyes. "You have the most beautiful smile I've ever seen, mudblood."

"Thanks," Hermione gushed. "Wait… don't call me that."

"Don't call you beautiful?" Draco pretended to be confused. He got into line at the chairlift and motioned for Hermione to come with him. "Rematch?"

Hermione gave up on fixing Draco and spoke. "I won fair, square. In fact, I even gave you a head-start. But I am totally willing to continue skiing with you Malfoy."

They then boarded the chairlift for a second time. They went down slope after slope for the remainder of the day.

It was 9:00pm when they finally stopped. Draco walked Hermione to her hotel room.

"It's ok Draco, I can walk myself," Hermione said trying to sound convincing.

"I've seen too much to trust the world with an unprotected woman at night," Draco said, taking her hand. They were changed out of their heavy gear and had left their stuff in lockers at the main lodge. "Which way to you're building?"

Hermione pointed.

"Where are you staying, Draco?"

"Suite with my parents, this is sort of a Christmas tradition with my family. Dorky, I know, but it's a good excuse to spend my father's money and my mom loves wearing gloves and hats while drinking hot chocolate latte things." They walked down the street/parking lot too cold to speak and too tired to think of anything to say.

When they got to the hotel building Hermione was staying in, Draco stopped.

"Well, see you around, Granger."

"Really, Draco, all day with me and you can't call me by my first name?" Hermione resisted the urge to roll her eyes.

"We're not friends, mudblood," Draco answered, unexpectedly harsh. "You were just there."

Hermione turned on her heel and without another word walked through the sliding glass doors and up to her hotel room. That guy had serious issues! How could she have been so stupid to have trusted Draco Malfoy? It wasn't as if she didn't know what he was like. He used girls for entertainment, took joy in their fear and pain. For Christ sake, he was a Death Eater!

Hermione fell onto the hotel bed and buried her face in the unfamiliar pillows. She hated herself for forgetting his past so quickly, again she had underestimated him. It wasn't the first time she had chosen to ignore the fact that he was an evil git; numerous times in school she had chanted, 'just ignore him', had she held back Ron or Harry from beating him to a pulp. It took over a semester of school for Harry to persuade her that he was working for Voldemort, and when she finally was proven wrong she looked for illogical explanations of how it wasn't true. There was a definite hole in Hermione's brain when it came to Draco. In her heart there was a matching soft spot.

When her angry breathing slowed she rolled over to look at the ceiling. It was a beautifully painted ceiling, concrete and reliable. But when Hermione looked to the corners she saw old cobwebs. Stupid cobwebs!

Getting up she tied her hair back and snarled at her reflection in the mirror. When only her reflection looked back at her (as opposed to her magical mirror at home) she sighed and brainstormed ways to make herself feel better. She found a pen and paper on the desk and started making a list.

A) Go find Draco's suite and kill him in his bed.

B) Go find Draco's suite and do something else to him in his bed. (She quickly crossed this one out, embarrassed that she had written it down.)

C) Enchant a pillow to make it compliment her.

D) Find another use for Dragon's blood and then test it using Malfoy's blood.

E) Research vampires and get bit by one in order go kill Malfoy in a sensual way.

F) Research old torture methods.

G) Call Harry and get a dangerous mission to defeat some dark thing.

H) Sign up for an online class and get a second major.

G) Attack him with summoned canaries. (it's a classic)

After continuing this list for another 3 pages, she settled on the least crazy option: A1b (she had finished the alphabet and had to start over with a complex labeling process). A1b meant that she was to go relax in the hot-tub downstairs just parallel to the lobby. She changed into a soft pink two-piece and slipped on a blue dress over it. With sandals and a towel she set off down the hall toward the elevator, down a few floors and through the lobby.

"Thank god for tubs open all night," She muttered to herself as she slid her key through the lock. The windows to the room were completely steamed up and the small hot-tub was empty. Hermione slipped out of her dress and into the rich, hot water. Bubbles surrounded her and messaged her sore body. Her eyes closed and all her anger melted in the heat. Then, her ecstasy was rudely interrupted and fury found its way back to Hermione.

"What are you doing here?" She asked the blonde man who was putting his stuff on a chair by the side of the tub.

"What does it look like? I'm hot-tubbing." He said taking off his shirt, much to Hermione's dismay and delight. "Well, actually, right now I'm preparing to hot-tub, and I'm looking at a gorgeous girl in a bikini."

"Don't pull that whole, 'beautiful' thing again. I know you better than that." Hermione moved her hands through the water wishing she hadn't left her wand up in her room.

"You don't know me at all!" Draco said, suddenly furious.

"I've known you since I was 10 years old, Malfoy," Hermione challenged his anger.

"Yeah? And how many times, in all those years, did you have a serious conversation with me?" Draco stood by the edge of the tub not sure if it was worth getting in if he had to put up with Hermione. His brain jumbled when he was reminded of being so close to Hermione with so little clothing on.

"Well, you were kind of too busy being a conceited bastard to ever make me want to talk to you," Hermione responded making Draco grit his teeth and retort.

"So, that means, never. Not once."

"Well, I guess not, but you can hardly blame me."

"It wasn't a matter of why you didn't talk to me. It was a matter of you not knowing me at all." Draco sat by the tub and dipped his feet into the water.

"Whatever. You're still an ass," Hermione gritted her teeth and focused on not crying. Although she tried to hide it Draco could see her eyes get wet. It always annoyed him when he felt guilty. Malfoys weren't supposed to know remorse, but lately Hermione was bringing out that side of him, the strange, new, compassionate side. Sighing, he got completely into the tub and sat by the wall next to the girl that made his head spin unlike anything he'd felt before.

"I'm sorry," Draco whispered, barely audible over the sounds of the bubbles. Hermione looked at him, but didn't reply. He decided to continue, although he had no idea what he was saying until it came out.

"I am an ass. A real, stupid, ex-Death Eater git. I'm sorry. You don't deserve to be treated this way." Draco realized he meant it and gulped. "I like you a lot… I've always admired you. You're smart, pretty, and I would have to be an idiot not to see that. And well, I am an idiot, but I saw it anyway… and pretended not to see it and… should I just shut up and go back to my suite?"

A part of Draco was almost relying on her telling him to go away, needing her to simplify everything and just hate him completely. The rest of him thought he would die if she rejected him. This large, pained part of him ached in fear of rejection, a fear that Draco Malfoy, Slytherin sex god, had never needed to feel before.

Hermione was equally as torn apart, but her heart won and she shook her head, signaling for him to continue speaking.

"Well, I'm a git and I should go and let you be with Weasley or someone else as utterly Gryfindor as you, but I'm not that strong. Back to what I was saying though… today, on the chairlift, I saw more than the obvious with you. I liked what I saw. What I felt." Draco moved closer to her and found himself speaking as though he had no connection between his brain and his mouth. "I'm going to kiss you now, please don't hit me."

Hermione blinked and felt Draco's hands on her waist under the water. She blindly leaned forward, needing to be closer to this tantalizing man. Their lips met for the second time this time the air around them hot and they had no large snow gear separating their bodies. Time ceased to exist as they kissed. It could have been years or seconds but either way nothing had felt so right to either of them before.

Hermione's hair fell from it's ponytail and came to cling to their wet shoulders. She could taste the sweat on his upper lip as she ran her tongue across it. Her teeth were smooth beneath his loving tongue. Hermione ran her fingers up and down Draco's toned chest, awed and inspired by his firm pecks and well developed abs. Draco's hand ran down to the back of her thigh and pulled her knee up around him. His hair felt like fine threads of silk and butter in Hermione's fists. Her own hair was wild and he kept having to push it out from between them. Somehow, Hermione found herself straddling Draco and felt as his hard body rubbing against her own soft core. Draco's mouth moved slowly down to her collar bone making her gasp.

It felt so right, but Hermione pulled away, afraid of loosing herself completely. She got off of Draco's lap and nussled under his arm and stared at the now bubble less water.

"Not here. Not in a public pool area. Not now." Her voice shook in passion and her breathes were shallow. Draco stopped breathing altogether and took his arm off from across Hermione's shoulders. When he pulled himself out of the water Hermione scolded herself for believing his bullshit again. This was difficult as his trunks clung to his body in an extremely flattering way. Hermione forced her eyes to stay above his shoulders and far away from…. Places.

"What? Where are you going?" Hermione asked trying to keep pain out of her voice. How was it that she was hurting so much and was so angry at him, yet she was still awed by his beauty and wanted him to stay?

He didn't answer but walked to the door.

"Draco!"

He turned back to look at her questioningly.

"What?"

"You can't just… leave! Just because I don't want to get shagged right here, right now does not mean… God damnit! Why are you laughing?" Hermione asked. Draco didn't answer, but instead pressed a button next to the door that made the bubbles turn back on. He then came back to sit by the tub.

Hermione blushed.

"You aren't leaving?"

"No… I needed to take a second to control myself, and it's easier with bubbles so I can't see your body under the water…. Sorry, did I scare you?" Draco was still laughing. Hermione fumed.

"Draco Malfoy! Don't you dare do that again or I'll jinx you to the next century!" She grabbed his hand and brought it to her mouth and kissed palm ferociously.

"You don't seem too mad at me right now." Draco pulled her hand gently, guiding her to stand up and get out of the tub. "You should get to bed, darling mudblood."

"Eh. Fine. Don't leave me." Hermione said, noticing how she was actually very exhausted.

"Whatever, Hermione," Draco said, pulling her dress back over her and opening the door to the hallway to the lobby. Hermione shivered at the cooler air in the hallway. Draco, who never used to be any kind of gentleman wrapped a dry towel around her shoulders to keep her warm. They took the elevator back up to Hermione's room where they changed into pajamas (Draco just getting into boxers he had brought with to the hot tub).

Then they got into bed and wrapped their arms around eachother. Hermione leaned against Draco's chest and mumbled softly.

"You called me Hermione."

"Yeah, I know." Draco hugged her closer to him and they drifted into sleep.

xxxxxxx

Sun reflecting off the snow shone through the window and awoke Draco. He opened his eyes to see Hermione getting dressed.

"Why awake so early, baby?" He asked her.

"I'm going home today. They need me at the office. Besides, I told Ron that I would be home yesterday. I must have forgotten though, obviously. It's not like me to forget… But I guess you have been messing with my mind." Hermione said pulling on a tee-shirt.

"Why does the Weasel care if you're back in England today?" Draco asked annoyed.

"Well… I'm pretty sure he was going to take me out tonight… try to make up for a fight we had." Hermione said vaguely. Draco narrowed his eyes.

"Will the Golden Boy be going out with you as well?"

"I doubt it… Draco… I haven't been completely honest with you…" Hermione stuttered, taking a break from brushing her hair. She sat down on the bed and looked nervously between Draco's face and her fingernails.

"No… Hermione, please…" Draco silently begged, a knot twisting tightly in his stomach. "You aren't… with Ginger Head, are you?"

"Er…" Hermione paused. "No. Not anymore."

"When did you two break up?" Draco asked the knot loosening in his stomach.

"The last time was… two days ago…" Hermione squeaked unable to look at Draco at all anymore. He froze.

"Does breaking up with him mean anything?" Draco asked, starting to understand that Hermione was probably just in an out phase with Ron and had been using him.

"Yes! Well… It did to me…" Hermione stuttered sincerely. "But, I'm not sure he knows that… He probably thought I didn't mean it… but, I meant it. See… Ginny told me that he had been asking about an old family engagement ring and…"

Draco cut her off with a discusted gag. "You're getting engaged?? To him? No. I won't allow it."

"Draco…"

"Don't 'Draco' me! This guy thinks you want to marry him!" He closed his eyes. "Do you want to? Marry him, that it?"

"No. Don't interrupt. Please." Hermione's voice was sounding desperate. "Ginny told me and I realized that I don't know what I'm doing with Ron. I love him, but I don't want to spend the rest of my life with him. Or, I thought I loved him. But I think you've made me rethink the usage of that word. You've given me a new definition. And compared to you, Draco… Ron is only just a friend to me. I love you, Draco."

He just stared at her for a moment, before kissing her hard.

"You haven't made me redefine the word love, Hermione. You've redefined me. In two short days you've made me something different, something better." With that he got out of bed, summoned clothing and got dressed. When he was done, Hermione was waiting for him by the door.

"I've already called and checked out." Hermione said in a flat voice. "I have to go home now."

"It will work." He reached out and held her hands. She smile but didn't respond.

"See you later, Granger," He said to the silence. She gently pulled her hands out of his and turned quickly on the spot. With a popping sound Draco was alone in an empty hotel room. Through the window he saw a crow fly out of a cluster of tall evergreens. She was flying across a white sky, but she would go back to her nest in the trees when she was done. Draco was sure of it.

fin

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