Chapter 1
Life was blissful. The war finally ended in the summer of what would have been Hermione Granger's seventh year, if Hogwarts hadn't closed down. Voldemort was dead once and for all, and Harry Potter was now an even greater hero than he was before. Dumbledore came back as a ghost to help the Order, and almost everyone survived the war.
But this was not the cause of Hermione's joy. She was happy for an entirely different reason, one based on love.
It all started when Lucius Malfoy was killed in one of the skirmishes between the Death Eaters and the Order. Draco and his mother realized that Lucius had ruled their life for too long, and to make up for his wrong-doings they became spies for the Order. School had stopped because of the war, so it no longer mattered that Draco was in Slytherin, and he started to converse with the Golden Trio. They were surprised to learn how friendly Draco could be, and soon the "trio" became a "quartet." Hermione was the one who was most pleased about this; it meant that she could finally justify her hidden feelings for him.
Draco was also pleased to learn that he no longer had to hide his soft side under the cruel shell that his father had forced upon him. He found out that the threesome whom he had so meanly teased was full of fun-loving people. He had a special attraction to Hermione, whom he was surprised to learn was no more of a total bookworm than he was of a mean git.
It was in December that he realized his feelings for her. Our story truly begins from here.
"Harry! Wake up! It's Christmas!" Ronald Weasley yelled as he violently shook his best friend.
"Yeah, well then let me sleep…that can be your gift to me!" Harry Potter mumbled sleepily. After giving the sleepy boy one last shove, Ron went over to the next bed to wake up Draco. The whole quartet was spending the winter at the Burrow as they wanted to celebrate the soon-to-come end of the war. Most of the Death Eaters were dead, and the location of Voldemort's last Horcrux had finally been determined. Anyways, back to the Burrow.
Having been woken up by Ron's continuous yelling at Harry, Draco lazily lifted his hand in the air to indicate he was awake. "I'm coming, gimme a sec," he said to the unsatisfied Ron and sat up so that he would be left alone.
Ron walked over to Hermione's room, knocked on the door, and told her to come down before he went downstairs to wait for the others. Within thirty minutes, the entire quartet was downstairs opening their gifts.
Like usual, Mrs. Weasley had knitted sweaters for everybody, and this time Draco had a blue sweater as well that matched his eyes perfectly. Hermione had gotten Harry and Ron new books on Quidditch and Draco got a beautiful paper holder shaped like a dragon. Harry had bought everyone extravagant gifts with his fortune of money, and Ron had pulled together a substantial amount to get pleasant gifts for everyone. Draco, nervous to please everybody as it was his first year giving gifts to his new friends, had gone through a lot of trouble to find the perfect gifts, no matter the price. His gift to Hermione was the most special though; it was a ruby necklace that had a heart in the middle. He also gave her a note telling him to meet her later.
The rest of the day went well; the three boys played Quidditch outside in the snow while Hermione watched and provided them with hot chocolate. At around 7:00, Draco declared he wanted to go inside, and as he went in he signaled for Hermione to follow. After another 15 minutes, she stated that she was getting cold and turned to go into the house.
As soon as she stepped into her bedroom, she saw Draco waiting there for her. "Hi Hermione," he said, almost sounding nervous.
"Um…you said you wanted to talk to me…?" she started, trying to make conversation.
"Oh yea, about that…um…well…I was wondering if u were busy this Friday," he uttered in a rush.