LlaO—This is probably the only Dramonie (fluff or otherwise) you'll ever get out of me. I'm perfectly fine with the canon pairings, but my brain just would not let me rest until I wrote this. This is mostly based off of the fact that I had a copper bracelet on the same arm that I drew the Deathly Hallows (in Sharpie! ^^) on for the past few days. Yeah, thinking too much about symbolism can apparently make fic ideas for me. :)
Yes, I kept the year vague for you to decide for yourselves, though I was focusing it somewhere between Years 3-5.
The Copper Bracelet
"Hey, Granger!" She knew that voice anywhere. Great, the git has something more to say. Well, I don't care. She wrapped her scarf tighter around her neck to keep off the biting December chill and, without looking back, grabbed her suitcase and started towards the mob of other chattering students waiting eagerly to start their Christmas holiday.
"Granger!" the voice was closer now. Gritting her teeth, Hermione braced herself to fend off another barrage of insults.
"What do you want Malfoy?" she snapped, spinning around as her name was called a third time. Sure enough, that cynically-faced, blonde jerk of a boy stood right in front of her, all bundled up in expensive-looking (and probably bought by his parents) wool.
"Don't talk to me like that!" he sneered. "I'm trying to make a peace offering. But it seems you're—"
"'Peace offering'? You of all people want to make a peace offering now?" Hermione laughed at the idiocy of the thought.
"If you had let me finish, Granger, you would have understood." He avoided eye contact with her, which actually wasn't all that rare when coming from Draco, but this seemed different. "Now, as I was going to say, I think a new change is in order. I've always liked winter, you know."
Is it your special time of the month again, Malfoy? Hermione thought. Because you have never acted this way before. "And what does that have to do with a peace offering?"
"Here." he pulled a thin, flat box from somewhere inside his robe and handed it to her. She looked at the box, back up to Draco's face, then back at the box. "Well, take it! It won't bite!"
She slowly took the box from his hand with a small, unsure smile. "Thank you...I guess."
A group of giggling first-year girls passed behind Hermione and unknowingly knocked over her luggage. With a mutter, she picked up the worn leather suitcases and brushed the fluffy white snow off the sides. When she turned back to see if Draco had anything else to say, he was already gone.
Strange…. She tucked the box in her pocket and started for the mass of excited students. Once in line, she took the box from her pocket. It was made of a thick, rough papery material and had a simple light green satin ribbon tied around it to keep it closed. Pulling off her glove and working fast to keep her hands from getting frostbitten, she undid the knot and pulled the ribbon off. Half expecting some kind of practical joke, she took off the cover. Nestled inside a cushioned bed of more green ribbon was the most beautiful copper bracelet she had seen. She carefully picked it up and examined it close up. Though there was no special design of the ordinary chains, it was solid and well-made and—when coming from him—kind, for a change. Hmm, is this his way of saying an apology? As the line moved up, she stuffed the box back in her pocket and quickly fastened the bracelet around her wrist.
"Oi! 'Mione! Platform 9 and ¾ doesn't wait for slowpokes! Our kids are ready but you aren't! Harry and Ginny want to see them off, too!"
"Be down in a minute, Ron!" Hermione had found an old box of hers shoved somewhere in the furthest place in there house and was elbow-deep in the happy memories and nostalgia. She had found an old childhood jewelry box and, upon lifting the lid, still found that the little plastic ballerina figurine still twirled in time to the music box. She rummaged through all her old jewelry and smiled when she found the pair of flower earrings she wore to the Yule Ball in Fourth Year.
"Oh, one of the jewels fell out…" she muttered to herself as she set the earrings back in the box. After digging in the box for a while longer, she extracted an old copper bracelet. The shiny chains were now tarnished with grey, and she rubbed at a link as she thought back to when she received it.
"That is one very long minute, Hermione!" she laughed and called back downstairs to her husband:
"Be right there!" She looked at the bracelet once more, meaning to only for a moment. But she noticed something that she hadn't before. There, etched carefully onto the clasp of the bracelet were the letters "HG". I wasn't only a peace offering; it was a gift! She smiled and chuckled at the thought of the young, uptight, stick-up-his-arse, hair gel-slicked Draco Malfoy actually shopping for a Christmas gift for her!
Absentmindedly wrapping the bracelet around her wrist and clipped the engraved clasp together, she went downstairs to join her family on their journey to King's Cross Station.
Forgetting that the bracelet was there, Hermione wore it all day. Once she was getting ready for bed, she finally noticed that the bracelet was still on her wrist. Unhooking the clip showed that it had imprinted on her skin. The pattern of the chains was softly marked onto her skin in the same light green as the ribbon that held its box closed all those years ago. No magic involved, just the natural wear-and-tear of metal. A green band around her wrist, a green from the Slytherin boy, signifying all that could have been, if things had gone differently.