A/N: Though cliché, these Mistletoe fics have a soft spot on my heart. Pure Dramione fluff.
R&R, guys, make me happy :)
"And with this, I bid you all farewell and wish you a Merry Christmas, to quote a very famous muggle song." Albus Dumbledore clapped his hands and the entire Great Hall suddenly turned red and green. The Hufflepufs and the Ravenclaws all complained, obviously disliking the apparent favoritism. The Headmaster chuckled. "I am not showing my preferences, obviously. It is merely a tradition, as you all know."
"I can't help but feel there's more green than red in the decorations." Ron groaned.
"That's not true, Ronald, they're equivalently distributed." Hermione retorted.
"No, they aren't."
"Yes, they certainly are."
"Blimey, I said they aren't."
"And I said they are. You aren't a Hufflepuf or a Ravenclaw. You do not get to protest. Are we clear?" She hammered each word, as if she were afraid they would not get inside his head and had to forcefully make sure that happened.
"Yes, ma'am." Ron mocked her. "Know-it-all." He muttered under his breath.
She smacked him hard in the arm. People all around them cast amusing glances, but they were oblivious to such occurrence. "Good for nothing."
"Bossy."
"Brainless."
"Krum's girl."
"C- Why is that bad?" She stopped her insult in time to replace it for something she knew would affect him more. She put on a dreamy expression. "He was phenomenal. A great Quidditch player. Not like some around here." A few laughs were heard and Ron's ears reddened.
"What have you done to my brother?" Ginny sat across Hermione and stared at him, a mocking smile on her face.
"Oh, nothing, he was just being the git he actually is." Hermione stated calmly, finishing her pudding.
"Oh. Okay, then." She smiled, contented with the answer. "Could you pass the grapes, please? Thanks. Where's… where is Harry, by the way?" She choked on water, but rapidly regained her composure.
Hermione grabbed the gold bowl and handed it to her with great effort, seeing that Ron did not bother to offer a hand. "Harry reminds you of grapes?" she asked in between laughs.
"Huh? How did Harry come into this conversation?" Ginny questioned, puzzled while nervously stuffing a grape in her mouth.
"You just asked me where he was. Seriously, where do you have your head?" Hermione shook her head, smiling.
"On the guy I just had to kiss." Ginny murmured only loud enough for both of them to hear.
Ron spilled the pumpkin juice he so carefully had saved for the end of the meal. "What?"
"Oh, relax, Ron. It was me who kissed him, not the other way around." Ginny dismissed the subject with one wave of her hand.
He just glared at her as if she were stupid. "What's wrong with you?"
"First, I get hit in public by a bookworm. Don't even think about that." He grabbed Hermione's hand just in time. "And now my sister is somewhere kissing God knows how many boys. Ouch!"
"Sorry, I thought I was playing footsie with the guy in front of me. That happened to be Dean. I must have accidently kicked you. Right where it matters." She and Hermione doubled with laughter, and Dean, who sat at Ron's left, just looked awkwardly at him.
"But anyway, Ginny, how come you kissed a boy just now? I thought you weren't dating anyone, and were waiting for," She noticed her friend's glare in the male redhead's direction, "Mr. Right."
Ginny sighed in relief. "I was caught under the mistletoe." She simply said, and Hermione shivered.
"I hate those things. I'm terribly afraid of having to kiss someone horrible… someone like McLaggen! Oh God, Gin, where is it? I have to avoid it." She began hyperventilating, and it was not before Ron told her he would kill the poor excuse of a Quidditch player if he even thought about it that she calmed down. "Tell me, Ginny, please."
She appeared to be reluctant in telling her part of the mistletoe trick, and it only made her more nervous. "Oh, my God. It's bad. It really is bad."
"N- no…" She stuttered. "Well, I'll spill the beans at once, ok?" Hermione nodded, uncertain. Themistletoepairsyouupwiththepersonitconsidersthebestoneforyou."
"What? You spoke too quickly, I could not understand a thing."
She took a deep breath and turned a deep shade of crimson. "The mistletoe will pair you up with the person he considers the most suitable for you, whether or not it is in the same place as you, and will wait for the perfect moment before," she gulped, "catching the two unfortunate souls. Fred and George's invention."
"And Dumbledore bought it?" Hermione's mouth shot open, refusing to believe.
"And Dumbledore bought it." Ginny confirmed.
Ron suddenly asked. "Who did you kiss?"
"I- I don't really- hum – think it – hum – matters." Ginny laughed nervously.
"Oh yes, it does. Who was it?" Ron was now openly glaring at his sister. She mumbled something. "Didn't get it, sorry."
"Harry."
"Ah, oka- Harry WHO?"
"James?" Ginny squeaked fearfully.
"I'm going to kill that git. I'm going to be famous for killing the Boy Who Lived." Ron got up from the table, startling his neighbors. "Where is he?"
"I don't know." She answered truthfully, and then finally snapped. Hermione had been watching the exchange with interest, waiting for her temper to surface. "Stop that act, Ronald Weasley. He did nothing wrong. I kissed him. And the mistletoe thinks we're right for one another. Just let him be." Anger rising in her voice, she had attracted the attention of many bystanders.
"It doesn't matter. He's going to hear it. Screw Voldemort and his plans to finish him off. I'll do that myself." And he stormed off towards the big door.
"Before we follow him," Hermione giggled, "how was it?"
"Amazing. No, beyond amazing. He was so sweet. In fact," She lowered her tone, and, if possible, blushed even more, "he was the one who kissed me."
"Oh," I hugged her over the table, and our robes were covered in leftovers. "I'm so happy for you two. Now let's hurry."
They followed after Ron, who had found Harry just outside the Great Hall, and was yelling like mad. "WHAT WERE YOU THINKING? MY SISTER IS SO INNOCENT, YOU HAD TO SNOG HER."
"Hey, Ron, it was nothing like that. It was a true kiss. I genuinely like-"
"I don't care who you are, or better, who you think you are, because old Voldy is nothing when compared to me. I will hurt you – a great lot – if you ever hurt her. Understood?" He smiled playfully, at last.
"I wouldn't dream of it." They shook hands.
"Boys… I'll never get it, as long as I shall live." Ginny gaped incredulously at them.
"Same here." The other girl nodded, the same expression on her face, but it quickly switched into disgust mode. "Oh, look who is here. Slytherin Prince, Draco Malfoy." Both of them bowed in mock respect at the boy that approached them.
"That is your true place, Mudblood and… associated," He said the last name with more disdain, "beneath me."
"The only place it might be true is in Ferretland. Because there I can assure you that you are the king."
"Do you dare talk to me like that?" He separated himself from his group of Slytherins that had been the Gryffindors' dispute, longing for a fight.
"She does." Ginny responded fiercely.
"Potty's little girlfriend. Back off. This is between me and beaver here."
Hermione took a few long steps closer to him, and now inches from his face, she raised her hand to slap him, but something happened. People gasping, others laughing. Hermione and Malfoy saw themselves under the mistletoe.
"Uh, uh. There is no way in hell that I am going to kiss this Mudblood." Draco screamed angrily and tried to get away from it.
"And you think I am? I'd rather die." Hermione spat. "You little Death Eater Ferret."
"It would not be advisable to flee, my dear students." Dumbledore said while coming down the stairs. "It will only be a burden. It will never give up, and will constantly try to match you two up together unless you two kiss now." He chuckled. "It cannot be that hard."
Everyone near them stared at Dumbledore with a horror struck expression. "You surely are not serious, Albus?" Minerva asked, appearing from behind the Headmaster with Snape on her trail. "These two? I must ask you to open an exception."
"Yeah." Everyone chorused.
"Sorry," He did not seem to be sorry at all. In fact, he seemed to be enjoying himself very much. "You two have to kiss. You know the rules. I will be going now, but Minerva and Severus will stay here. They might even learn something from it." The two teachers blushed slightly and glared at Dumbledore.
"You don't suppose…" Ron asked, horrified.
"No, poor Professor McGonagall. She deserves way better." Harry tried to sound confident. "OH, the images you've just put in my head! They're downright sickening."
In the meantime,
"Move over, Granger. I'm going."
"Look, Malfoy, I dislike this mistletoe thingy as much as you. But I want to get this over with." She pleaded in a quiet voice. "You can even cast an invisibility spell so no-one sees the great pureblood Draco Malfoy kissing a Mudblood. But I've got better things to be doing right now. Let's just get this over with." She repeated.
Malfoy was speechless. He looked at the soft features, the warm and fleshy lips, the chocolate- milky eyes and the brown locks that fell gently on the forehead and covered the ears of the person who had put her own fear of humiliation aside and was willing to compromise so he would not suffer with the situation, and smiled.
"It's just a kiss, right?"
She was rather taken aback by the sudden change of heart. "You sure?"
"Yeah, Hermione. I will not make it any harder than it must already be. Kissing the most Slytherin, Slytherin guy must not be seen with good eyes at your house."
She was looking at him with strange, piercing eyes. "Well, I don't really care much about it, but yes, I'd imagine people would be quite shocked."
"However…" He looked up, thinking. Hermione glanced at his fellow Slytherins, and they were all throwing her murderous looks. "If we managed to bring two people together with our kiss, it would not have been real." What had been meant to sound as an incentive, managed instead to bring a tearing sadness to their souls.
"We'll only have one shot." Hermione said slowly. "One Gryffindor girl, one Slytherin boy."
"Yes," he smiled sadly. "And Snape and McGonagall really need it. So we'd better make it convincing." He smiled mischievously. The crowd waited in suspense.
He leant over her, his eyes closed, grabbing the back of her neck with his bare hands, pulling her closer to him. Their lips met. There were screams of shock all around the bystanders, but did not even notice. The kiss was so sweet, so pure, that they had to stop to breathe.
However, before having the chance to reinitiate it, each House collected its student, as if to guarantee he/ she had not suffered permanent damage.
Both the professors came near them, worried. It was their cue. She nodded sadly to Draco, who nodded back and said aloud so everyone would hear.
"If we can do it, you two are no different from us."
Every single head turned to the professors, who turned bright crimson, and Draco grabbed Hermione one last time, disappearing instantly under the thick crowd. "One more for the ride. Till we meet again." He grinned and they shared one last kiss.
A/N: I know, similar to many others. But I've always wanted to write one of these. Couldn't resist it :) Hope you don't feel discouraged to read my other stories. R&R reviews make my day :D Check out my other two stories.
Thanks for reading, eheh