**Disclaimer: I do not own any Harry Potter characters nor the song "Baby It's Cold Outside**
I had some residual Christmas spirit and here is the outcome! Pairings are as follows: Draco/Ginny, Harry/Hermione, Ron/Luna Enjoy!
It was Christmas evening and Ginny had an early practice in the morning.
Draco had just treated her to an amazing dinner in Paris, complete with chocolate covered champagne strawberries that they had fed to one another.
They arrived at the gate of his country chateau where Ginny had only been inside once before near the middle of November, and that had been for a small gathering of about twenty friends to celebrate Pansy's birthday.
"I really can't stay," she told him when they had reached his door.
"Baby, it's cold outside," he argued, gesturing around her at the quickly accumulating snow. He pulled her inside behind him after unlocking the door.
She sighed, pleased at his persistence, but was determined not to show it (as he had yet to kiss her after five dates! Well, four and a half- this one wasn't over yet!).
"I've got to go away," she feigned arguing, and looked at her watch.
"Baby, it's cold outside," he said again, drawing her into his arms and shutting the door.
Ginny gave him a small smile. "This evening has been-" she started, but Draco cut off her attempt to argue her departure.
"Been hoping that you'd drop in," he said.
Ginny's heart started to pound with excitement before she recalled that he had been wanting to show her his newest Christmas decoration since their previous date five days ago. Her smile faltered but only for a second.
He may have always appeared stiff in his aristocracy growing up, but one thing she had learned early on in their one-and-a-half-month-long relationship was that Draco Malfoy harbored quite the soft spot for all things Christmas.
He let her go and crooked a finger, then led her through the foyer and into a side room that was the size of her entire flat back in London. There was a huge stone fireplace that made up 1/4 of the far wall with a fire crackling merrily.
He walked her over to the mantle where, in pride if place, he had a beautifully carved, marbled maple Nativity Scene, complete with miniature stable and animals.
"'So very nice!" she exclaimed as she took in each figurine and the minute detail of each piece.
She reached for Draco's hand, feeling her heart squeeze with adoration for the soft hearted man next to her.
"I'll hold your hands, they're just like ice!" he said, taking them in both of his and bringing them to his chest.
Ginny shook her head, but did not remove her hands from his grasp.
"My mother will start to worry."
He leaned in to murmur in her ear, "Beautiful, what's your hurry?"
His warm breath sent shivers down her spine and she felt her heart start to pound in anticipation again.
She was embarrassed that even though she was a twenty- three year old woman who lived in her very own (albeit, very small) apartment, her parents still expected her to floo them when she got home from a date.
"My father will be pacing the floor," she mused quietly.
Draco released her hands and wrapped his arms around her. Ginny let her hands linger on his chest before smoothing down the front if his cashmere sweater. Then, slowly, she let her head rest on his chest, tucking herself under his chin and sliding her arms around him.
"Listen to the fireplace roar," he whispered, rubbing indistinct patterns on her back.
Ginny breathed in his cologne and hummed approvingly, but not wanting to appear too eager, she said, "So really I'd better scurry."
When he pulled away a little, Ginny looked up into his eyes, afraid she had hedged too long.
He tenderly placed a finger over her lips. His breath still smelled of chocolate when he petitioned with a purr, "Beautiful, please don't hurry."
Ginny found herself watching his lips as he spoke. She swallowed and conceded with a smile, "Maybe just a half a drink more," before she unbuttoned her coat and slipped it off.
"Put some records on while I pour?" suggested Draco, releasing her with notable reluctance.
He had changed a lot since the war, Ginny mused. Never would the old Draco have housed any type of muggle artifact, but now he had rather an extensive record collection and a well-cared-for, magically restored, record player.
She laid her coat across the velvet upholstered oak chair that sat next to the player. After putting on an old Christmas album sung by someone called Bing Crosby, Ginny walked over to the window to look out across the garden. She could just make out the cottage that she knew to be Ron and Luna's down the lane through what was fast becoming a blizzard.
Draco came up behind her and wrapped his arm around her waist with a Rocks Glass filled with some kind of amber liquid in hand. She took it from him and took a deep drink. He sipped from his own glass before setting it down on a table that held a beautiful red poinsettia, then he gently swept her hair over one shoulder to expose the ivory skin of her neck to nuzzle her there.
Ginny closed her eyes, but when she giggled a moment later, she could feel him hum in question.
"The neighbors might think-" she started, but got no further.
"Baby, it's bad out there," he countered. Implying that even if Ron or Luna did look to the chateau from their cottage, they would have a hard time seeing through the snow.
Ginny considered his point and covered her nerves by taking another big drink and concentrating on the flavor. This time she felt the warmth of the best Firewhiskey she had ever had, and the slightest hint of something she couldn't put her finger on, burn deliciously all the way down her throat.
"Say, what's in this drink?" she said, surprised at the languid movements of her tongue to form the words. She leaned somewhat heavily into Draco who had moved back in to place kisses on her throat.
He chuckled and moved to guide her to a more comfortable location.
Limbs feeling floaty and nerves soothed, she allowed him to lead her to the leather love seat that sat in front of the hearth.
When she was seated, he went to fetch his drink from the table by the window. He glanced out to see nary a soul driving in those cars the muggles used to get around.
"No cabs to be had out there," he commented as he sat back down beside her, casually resting his arm across the back and taking a deep drink.
Ginny felt as if she were melting into the soft surface of the couch- she felt wonderfully relaxed and turned to smile at her companion only to find that he was already staring at her, causing her heart to swell.
She remembered back when she had first noticed him, when she first realized and could appreciate the fact that he really was a good-looking bloke and that he had changed, just like Luna and Hermione said he had.
Luna, much to the surprise of her friends, had gone on after Hogwarts to become an Unspeakable. Which, Ron pointed out in her defense, was not that big of a surprise as she had been in Ravenclaw.
Draco had repeated his seventh year with Harry, Ron, and Hermione, as had many others in their year. He, Harry, and Ron had gone on to become Aurors, Hermione went into Magical Law, and Ginny went on to join the Hollyhead Harpies, along with Pansy Parkinson (which is how she and Ginny had gotten so close), as a chaser and keeper, respectively.
Draco's mother had continued to donate large funds to the Ministry after the war, but Draco wanted to earn people's respect by his actions, not just his trust fund, so he had fought hard the last five years to capture those he knew to be Death Eaters but had managed to escape after the Final Battle.
After all, he told Ron, Luna, Harry, and Hermione as they had all shared a table at lunch on their first day of work, he had seen everything play out from behind enemy lines and knew how they thought.
They had tentatively grown friendships with each other during their final year at school and then deeper as Ron and Harry worked along side Draco every day. Ron would then share stories with Luna, and Harry with Hermione, then both women would share with Ginny. This had gone on for the last five years, but it wasn't until Ginny came to have lunch with them at the beginning of this November that she finally got to meet this reformed, accepted, and respected Draco.
She found him easy to talk to and when she brought up the hope of throwing his old friend, Pansy, a birthday party later that month, he jumped at the opportunity to have everyone over to his place for the event.
In his excitement, he had reached over to cover Ginny's hand in a conspiratorial fashion. It had taken Ginny by surprise and she found herself staring at their joined hands. Draco noticed where her attention was drawn and looked at their hands then back to Ginny.
She was looking at him somewhat peculiarly, as though seeing him for the first time. It had taken Ron clearing his throat to bring them back to the fact that they had an audience.
It was then that Draco had asked her out for their first date.
Ginny blinked back in Draco's chateau, and wondered how long she had just been sitting there staring at him.
She blushed and murmured, "I wish I knew how-" at the same time Draco whispered, "Your eyes are like starlight now."
"-to break this spell," finished Ginny, still lost in his gaze.
Draco took in her slighty flushed appearance.
"I'll take your hat, your hair looks swell," he reassured her when she had reached up automatically to smooth it. She wasn't even aware she had still been wearing her beret.
He tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, letting his hand linger on her neck.
Ginny bit her lip when she realised this was the moment she had been waiting for.
"I ought to say 'no, no, no'," she whispered.
Draco smirked, "Mind if I move in closer?" he breathed, cupping her cheek.
Ginny shook her head and reached up to run her fingers through the hair at the base of his neck, her other hand rested lightly on his knee. Closing her eyes, she leaned into his touch.
Finally, tentatively, as though afraid they might scare one another off, their lips brushed once, twice.
Humming with the sheer joy of the moment, Ginny pulled him to her.
She took her hand from his knee to place it on his chest.
When he deepened the kiss with a moan of his own, she fisted his cashmere sweater in her hand.
He ran his fingers through her hair, tasted the Firewhiskey's seasonal hint of vanilla on her lips.
When they parted, Ginny was pleased to see he had been as affected as she; resting their foreheads together and breathing heavily.
Years later, when Ginny told the story of her and Draco's first kiss to their curious daughters, she would call it the 'Perfect Christmas Kiss'.