Author's note: Italics are Draco's dreams. COMPLETELY AU

Disclaimer: I Don't own anything.

Written for: Oh Nargles aka Tenzy at Hogwarts Online II forum. I know you like Draco/Hermione stories. Happy Christmas!

'Relationships aren't

just formed.

They are created.'

AuthorUnknown

Christmas had never been kind to Draco. Christmas in the past were always full of haunted memories, that is until a year after the war. The year that changed everything for Draco. The year he realized he was in love with Hermione Granger. He didn't know when it happened, or why, but when he saw her in the trial for his father, not everyone was welcomed into the trial of his father. The golden trio came to the trials. They had to testify, no not had to. They wanted to come to the trials. They wanted justice for the Death Eaters.

Each gave their own testimony, each said how Hermione was tortured. When she spoke of the horrible event, Draco hung his head in shame. How he wished he could have stopped it. He sometimes heard her cries at night in his nightmares. It wasn't until he kissed her after the trial that the nightmares stopped.

Hermione walked out of the court room in tears. Draco was waiting for her because he couldn't stand hearing her side of the story. One time during the testimony, she caught his eyes and stared at him for a long time. That was when he decided to walk out. He came up to her from behind, held her arm and forced her to turn around.

"It's alright, Harry. Go on without me, I'll catch up," she insisted as Harry pulled out his wand. He waited until Harry and Ron were out of sight before he made his move.

Draco pulled Hermione close to him and kissed her full on the lips. The odd thing was, she didn't try to stop him. She encouraged the kiss, fighting for dominance with his tongue. He pulled apart after two minutes of snogging.

"Thank you," he said.

"For what?"

"Not slapping me when I gave you a kiss. I thought you would pull away and slap me. But you wanted it too," he said with a grin. She blushed as he smiled at her.

"I wanted to thank you for testifying against my father. For telling the whole truth. He deserves Azkaban. Without your testimony, let's just say my life would be a living hell."

"So kissing me was the only way?" Hermione winked at him.

"I know we shouldn't be together, because you're on the good side and all, but couldn't we try it?"

"Who says we can't be together? All I did was kiss you back. That's all."

Draco was very confused. He himself didn't know why he kissed her. After all the hatred sent between them like fireworks sent in the sky, he knew deep down, somewhere there was a different feeling for her. The feeling bubbled over when he stared at her in the court room and she stared back. That was why he had to leave..

"Wait, are you saying you have feelings for me?" Draco asked as his eyes grew wide. He stepped back and started to pace.

"Yes, Draco. I didn't realize it until our eyes connected in the court room. As crazy as it seems, There's something deep inside me. I can't explain it."

He smiled as his fiance entered the threshold of his living room with a tray of coffee and biscuits. Draco knew this Christmas would be a good one. He had Hermione and that was all that mattered. Of course, their families and friends were surprised. Ron didn't speak to Hermione for a year, but is now coming together since he's been with Luna.

"Ron and Luna and Harry and Ginny will be over tonight for the Christmas Eve party," she said setting her tray down on the oak coffee table before her.

He caught her arm and twirled her so she could sit on his lap.

"Why are you smiling?" she asked.

"Isn't it funny how we turned out? I mean I seriously hated you. All of you. And now, now that my father's in jail, I can be friends and date you. I blame my father for the way I acted. Everything I did was because of him," he confessed.

"I know it was. You still irked us all though. You're lucky Ron's finally coming around. I think Luna is to thank for that."

"Yeah, remind me to do so tonight. I never thought I'd be friends with her either."

"There is one thing that is bugging me." Hermione frowned as he wrapped his arms around her.

"What's that?" he asked sitting up in his favorite armchair.

"Why didn't you help us when we were in your home being tortured?" She stood up, pulling away from him frowning. "I just can't get that out of my head."

"Honestly? I have no idea. I can't figure out why I wasn't helping. I mean I know I fought against you, but personally I think that was to obey my father's commands. You have to know if I could go back in time and fix it, I would," he said honestly. He was speaking from his heart, and knew she understood.

"I guess that makes since," Hermione said crossing her arms.

"I hope you can forgive me." Draco stood up, pulled her close and kissed her.

The grandfather clock chimed making them both jump.

"I've got to get ready! They'll be here soon for our Christmas party!" Hermione said pulling away from Draco.

He followed her to the bedroom they shared knowing everything would be alright. Before the guests arrived, they had a little fun together alone. When they finished, Draco knew things would fit perfectly into place. His father was far away from him and couldn't harm him or force him to do anything again.

He watched Hermione put on a red strapped v shaped dress and zippered it up on her side. She turned her head as he watched her curls fall into place. A smile formed as she watched him watch her.

"What?" she asked.

"This is the first Christmas in a long time I'll actually have a good memory." He smiled walking up to her.

"Draco, we don't have time for that. They will seriously be here any minute," S(s)he said assuming he wanted to make love again.

"I know. I just want to kiss you once more." He smiled as he pulled her close.

"I think we have time for one more kiss." She teased him.

He wrapped her arms around him and kissed her soft lips, taking in their moment forever. He knew this was where he wanted to be. As the snow started to fall, Draco kissed the woman of his dreams.