Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all of you! :) This is sort of like an early Christmas present as it occured to me one day that I was writing a chapter for my other story and I knew that I had to make it a Christmas special. For all of you fans who also support my other fic of Obey Me, I'm still alive!!! Oh and there are important author's notes at the end! Merry Christmas and leave your reviews as presents!!! :)
The Ultimate Gift
"Oh, wonderful; just wonderful!"
Those were the words that were heard coming from the Head Girl's mouth this night, and she clearly wasn't happy.
Hermione was used to dealing with situations. Hell, she had been in "situations" ever since she had been friends with Harry and Ron. It was her logic that had made the Golden Trio triumph in missions against Voldemort. Her intelligence which made her gain the nickname of being the "brightest witch of her age". And her perseverance which in the end had gotten her this post that she had longed for since the first time that she read about it in "Hogwarts a History".
But of all the situations that she has been this one was just… unspeakable.
Of all of the situations she had to have this one! A portrait shouldn't be acting like this! Much less scold her! She thought that this whole situation was a load of rubbish, really, but it was one that she hadn't managed to get out of… for now.
The reason for said scolding, she liked to think, was none other than the person who was standing next to her. The only person she has known who could aggravate her to the point of bursting like a volcano, otherwise known as the current Head Boy. Her "companion" of all of the duties and objectives that she would have to pass through this year, and it had to be him.
How had he gotten that post, she was not aware of. She had even tried to figure out the joke the first time that she was told and was hoping that someday she'll wake up and hear the magic words of "Ha, ha, got you!" She has had no such luck. But at least she could take some pleasure in noticing that Malfoy didn't look to happy about their current little "situation". Who wouldn't be; with a portrait stopping you at Christmas Eve refusing to let you in? All she wanted was to have a nice goodnight sleep in hopes of what she would be getting tomorrow and again, no such luck. She sighed as she remembered the events of earlier this evening…
Harry, Ron and Hermione had decided to stay over at Hogwarts for Christmas so that they could read up on more information about taking down Voldemort, Hermione had to write a long letter to her home explaining and reasoning to her parents about why she wouldn't be able to make it this holiday.
Earlier that week, Dumbledore announced that a ball was to take place on Christmas Eve for all of those who had stayed over for the holidays. Hermione concluded that this was to promote house unity since the students here were less to take into account which made the task much easier.
Hermione had enjoyed the ball very much, to her surprise, even the part when Malfoy and she had to share a dance thanks to being Head Boy and Girl hadn't bothered her the least. He had been, actually, quite civil. Even when they were actually planning the ball, they hadn't actually had one of those big fights that included name calling, hexes and sometimes punches (like that time in third year).
But that hadn't lasted long.
When they were in the midst of returning to their shared common room, Malfoy had chosen to make a snide remark about her friends resulting in a bickering fest which had lasted all the way until the portrait door. How they had managed to avoid any kind of interruption, Hermione didn't know.
They had both muttered the password and continued their "discussion" without turning their heads until they slammed straight into the unopened portrait.
"What the hell?" Draco had muttered after recollecting himself. He rubbed the side of his head as he glared at the portrait. The portrait's response was to raise an eyebrow at him.
He had hoped that today was going to be a quiet evening; he didn't want to have the sudden pressure of his father's escape of Azkaban while his mother searched for him frantically. But there was no greater gift to him than the sight of an annoyed Granger. Even if it meant disturbing his peace.
Oh he had tried to be civil, but even he wasn't sure why he enjoyed frustrating her so much. There was a time at those first weeks of school when he found out that she was Head Girl. He didn't have any doubts that it was going to be her, but she kept ranting and ordering around so it was no surprise that he ignored her for the most part. After a few weeks he found that he enjoyed getting her worked up instead of ignoring her, thus making her life a tad more annoying than usual. But now all his attention was directed towards the portrait who refused to open.
He said the password louder this time and went to the portrait's direction once more, completely ignoring that Granger was still on the ground, but the portrait didn't budge. He made a hand gesture.
"What?" the portrait asked calmly.
Draco stared at it, could portraits get drunk or something because this one was clearly not responding.
"I said the password." He answered trying to keep the annoyance out of his voice and almost failing to do so.
"Yes I heard, so?" the portrait asked unperturbed by Draco's humor.
"So, open." He glared once more.
The portrait glanced at them both, Draco heard a bit of struggling behind him signaling that Granger had stood up by now, and smiled.
"Not until you fulfill the tradition."
Draco set his jaw; he had had enough of this and was going to hex the portrait into oblivion, until Granger managed stopped him. She turned to look at the portrait and Draco could tell by her rigid stance that she was just as annoyed as he was. He normally would be enjoying the sight at an annoyed Granger, but today, he was just as annoyed as she was.
"Why won't you let us in?" Hermione asked calmly.
Well, as calmly as she could muster before she broke into a screaming fit. She didn't want to spend the night arguing, but neither did she want to go back to the common room considering what she would have to face if she were to go back. And that was dozens of questions regarding what had happened with the amount of time that she had together with Malfoy.
The portrait smiled at her once more, as if it was really such a stupid question, which only irked Hermione even more.
"I already told you why."
Hermione rolled her eyes when she spotted something with the corner of her eyes. She sighed and stopped Malfoy's arm from throwing a hex to the portrait once more. He snatched his arm away and glared down at her.
"Could you stop doing that?" she whispered angrily at him.
"Why should I? Besides you know it is the only way that you could get the bloody portrait to shut up. Or do you have a better plan, Granger?"
She glared right back at him.
"I don't see you trying to think of a way out of this, Malfoy."
"As a matter of fact, I did. Only you stood in the way."
They were trying to speak as quietly as possible when having their argument, but it wasn't going so well.
"Trying to blast the portrait open is not what I call a plan, Malfoy!"
"At least it's better than to stand there and do nothing!"
"It's a hell of a lot better than to try to fulfill some of the stupidest and idiotic plans the world has ever known!"
Malfoy's jaw tightened at the insult of his intelligence. Hermione could see that he absolutely hated the mention that she was superior to him at that because he knew that she was right in a way. But she also knew that he was not stupid. He had come right next to her in grades. She hated to use these kinds of insults on people, but she was just too angry to care right now. She could see that he was about to retort once more when they heard a light chuckle in front of them. Both turned to face the portrait in anger to see the painting laughing at them. Both Draco and Hermione turned to face one another and decided that it was best for them to resume their little "argument" elsewhere.
Draco turned to look at the portrait fully.
"What is this tradition that you speak of?" he said bluntly, not wanting to beat around the bush now.
The portrait merely smiled at them and answered his question by pointing to something on the ceiling. Both of them craned their heads to the image of…
"You. Have. Got. To. Be. Shitting. Me." Draco muttered and by now Hermione didn't care if he would have yelled "MC GONAGALL IS A BITCH!" in the hallway.
"Oh, wonderful; just wonderful."
A mistletoe.
The very thing that had gotten them both into some kind of mess into the ball (Hermione had some embarrassing incident with Ron, and Draco had some type of problem to peel Pansy off of him before it had been to late) had now come back to haunt them. Draco could feel a groan rising in his throat.
Hermione had no doubt that the portrait was not going to let them pass into their common room and into their safe heaven until they "fulfilled the tradition". She felt herself turn slightly embarrassed while at the same time feel a little bit disgruntled at what she would have to do. Her day just couldn't get any better now.
They had to get the portrait titled "The Lover".
Draco had come to this conclusion as he quietly fumed while he tried to think of another way out of this. It was very late, and he was definitely not going to face Pansy back at the common room. He had caught Granger in a "little moment" with the Weasel, which he had so kindly pointed out in their return. It was then that he noticed that she was not going back to the Gryffindor common rooms, even if it meant accompanying him to the Head common room. There was no way to sneak out of school now with the extra security without getting caught. And hexing the portrait was out of the option. For now, at least.
He turned to look at Granger and she looked as if she wanted to disintegrate the dreaded plant with her gaze. He sighed, as he thought of no other option, and cringed a little at what he would have to do. A Mudblood was still a Mudblood, no matter how pretty she looked in a dress.
He stopped himself mid-thought and proceeded to erase the thought from his mind while wondering why in Merlin's name he had thought of that! He turned to look at the object of his thoughts with a sneer. Granger looked like she had lost hope, but at the same time refused to accept it. He smirked a little, at least he would have some amusement before the dreaded moment.
"There has to be another way."
She started walking from one side to the other in the constricted hallway, making Draco a bit dizzy. After a while, Hermione turned to look at the portrait once more with an exasperated look on her face.
"Why can't you just let us pass?"
"Because I would give the world for an opportunity like this. And there is no doubt that every person would enjoy this perfect gift for Christmas." The portrait sighed wistfully as Draco snorted. The said "perfect gift" had brought them nothing but trouble today. Hermione looked at the portrait in disbelief.
"But-But-"Hermione stammered. She really was at loss for words. The painting was talking like a love struck fool! Hermione groaned as she resumed her pacing with more desperation.
Draco was looking at Granger the whole time and rolled his eyes at her recent reaction. She really was too stubborn for her own good. He sighed and suppressed the voice of his disappointed father that was wringing at the back of his head for what he was about to do.
"Come on, Granger, let's get this over with."
He made a move to grab her, but she smacked his hand away. She looked more frantic than ever.
"NO! There has to be another way!"
Draco had gotten pretty annoyed by now, despite what he felt before of this being a bit amusing.
"Oh COME OFF IT! It's just a stupid kiss! And, besides, a lot of girls would kill to be in your position." Draco smirked at her.
Hermione stopped her frantic pacing, to Draco's relief, and pointed at him.
"But-But-You're YOU!"
"No, Granger, I'm a tree." He said sarcastically, "Honestly what did you expect?"
"But-But-We can't! I can't! I'd-I'd-"She rummaged her head for anything to get her out of this, "I'd- I'd rather kiss SNAPE THAN YOU!" She screamed, at last.
Draco didn't know why he felt a pang of rejection through him, but he ignored it quickly and masked it with a look of agreement.
"I assure you, the feeling's mutual."
"But-" Hermione still started.
"Would you rather spend the night in the corridor then?!" He snapped, by now he was really annoyed, "Because I know you don't want to go back to face Weasley by now!"
Hermione turned a little shade of pink as she glared at him, her frustration and despair replaced by anger.
"Look, Malfoy." She said quietly in a dangerous voice, "There is no way in hell that you would convince me to kiss you. Much less with that pathetic excuse that you know that you also have."
"Then I feel so sorry for you, "Draco answered through clenched teeth.
He grabbed Hermione by the shoulders as quickly as she could, but the Mudblood could sure fight. She screamed and kicked and wriggled to get away, while he tried to pin her down somehow. This has got to be the strangest Christmas any of them has had.
"GET OFF OF ME!" She screamed in her ear as she tried to kick his shin.
"TOO BAD!" He roared back as he managed to pin her to the wall, but Hermione still kept kicking with passion.
"I WOULD RATHER KISS A BLAST ENDED SKREWT THAN YOU! YOU ARROGANT-"
Draco's jaw clenched.
"SLIMY-"
His whole body stiffened.
"MUGGLE-BORN HATER-
He was trembling to not let her taunt him. He was getting the idea that he wanted to hit her by now as he clenched his fingers around her wrists more forcefully.
"SON OF A-"
"SHUT UP!" Draco roared before slamming his lips down to hers….
And then, the whole world went blank for both of them.
He forgot about the portrait, he forgot about the fight, he even forgot his own anger at her for almost insulting his mother at the feel of her lips against his own. It felt as if liquid fire was pouring into him and he wanted more of it every time…
Hermione was practically melting, as she put her arms around his neck and returned the kiss with fervor. He was a good a kisser as he was rumored to be as she felt the kiss turn a little more serious when he put his hands on her waist and her hands went from the nape of his neck to wrap around his hair. She didn't want to lose the feel of his lips moving nor how they urged them to open hers… She didn't want to let go.
Draco didn't seem to keen to let go either. At this point he didn't even care that it was Mudblood Granger that he was kissing, he just didn't want it to end. Some little voice at the back of his head was warning him that this would have it's consequences but he ignored it.
Unfortunately, air is a necessity for human beings, as they both parted panting, their breaths fanning the other person's face. Draco's hands were still at Hermione's waist while Hermione's hands came to rest once more at his neck, both knew that it was probably a good thing that they stopped considering that it may have escalated into something more.
Neither of them had noticed when the portrait door opened, while both of their eyes widened at the implications of what just happened.
Brown met silver for a moment, and it was enough for Hermione to remember the feel of his lips against her own, as she flushed deep red. She quickly disentangled herself from him, muttered an apology, and ran to her dorm room, leaving Draco to ponder over what had just happened.
In the end of various frustrated ponderings, he came up with one conclusion that left him even more frustrated.
He didn't want it to not happen again as it should be. He wanted more.
---------------------The Next Day------------------
"Merry Christmas, ´Mione!" chorused Harry, Ron and Ginny.
Hermione smiled at the sight of her friends when she stepped into the Gryffindor common room and plopped into one of the sofas. She had received plenty of presents today and the ones from her very best friends went to the pile. It ranged in all sorts of different directions. She received: a book called "Greatest Witches in the History of Magic" from Harry (she absolutely loved this); some clothes from Ginny (apparently she hadn't listened to Hermione's pleadings to not get her something so trivial); another book called "Black Magic and Potions" from Ron (another great thing); a sweater from Mrs. Weasley (the typical one from every year); some sort of candy from Fred and George that made people fart the Christmas carols; some chocolates from Lavander; a hair pin from Parvati (it is rumored that she got it from her birthplace); a book called "All You Can Know About Transfiguration" from Neville (another night-reader); some sort of candy from Seamus and Dean; and a set of earrings from her parents.
But even though she had received all of these gifts she could not take her mind off of what had happened in front of the Head common room yesterday. Why did he have to kiss so well?
Not that it actually mattered to her! It's still Ferret-face no matter where you look at it. There was no way that that kiss could be considered one of her best! It wasn't even her first kiss!!
And yet…
She gave a big sigh as she fought the internal battle in her head. Her friends were all around her having fun and she was ruining the mood because of Malfoy. It's always Malfoy. Ginny tried to get Hermione into the mood but soon noticed that she was way too worried about something. Hermione was sort of grateful for once that Ginny could read her so well. Ginny stood up and locked eyes with Hermione, shooting her a warning glance. Hermione sent her a glance pleading her not to tell any of her suspicions to the boys, and Ginny answered her look with a "You-better-tell-me-later" sort of look. Ginny turned around to face Ron and Harry, who seemed immersed in their conversation about trying out their new items for Quidditch that Hermione had sent them.
"Ron, Harry; I think that ´Mione isn't feeling too well because of the food she had yesterday."
Hermione smiled feebly at them while they shot her worried glances.
"I'll just be at the Head common room resting, I'll feel fine later." And, with a quick glance to Ginny, she stood up and made her way across the Gryffindor common room before anyone so much as moved a muscle.
After a while of strolling in the halls, she took a more decisive pace to the Head dorms. She felt as if she had evaded the matter long enough. There really was only one way to clear it up.
Direct confrontation.
All she needed was for them to agree that nothing had happened. That they were to repulsed to even speak of it and, strangely enough, it fueled her with anger at what Malfoy did the day before. She stomped her way over and muttered the password, ignoring the startled glance the portrait gave her because of her bad mood.
Draco had been sitting on the couch of the Head dorms for a while now. He had gone to the Slytherin common rooms earlier, but there really wasn't much to do there at Christmas until the night, where the Slytherins were famous for hosting another one of their parties.
He glanced at the presents he had received, which were mostly sweets from his oh-so-adoring-fans, and sighed. He could have any girl he wanted right now which was shown clearly by the amount of girls coming up to him to give him a sweet, and he still couldn't get his mind off of what had happened yesterday with Granger. After a while of staring into the fire, he knew that sooner or later she'll arrive to confront him, what confused him was why he was sort of anticipating her arrival by waiting on the couch. So it was really no surprise to hear a pair of angry footsteps coming towards the common room.
He braced himself for everything.
But when she stepped inside, cheeks flushed with anger and her eyes wild with the fire that lay there, his heart gave a little flutter. He quickly shook his head to clear the thoughts on how her cheeks had looked the night before and how they would look on certain other occasions….
"Malfoy!" she barked, eliminating the nasty boy thoughts.
Draco raised an eyebrow at her, as if not expecting her while her whole body was yelling that he better run for it before she hexed him.
"Wow. And here I thought that there was a day in which you didn't want to come and yell at me about something," he said sarcastically. He turned around and smirked at her, "What did I do now?" He asked innocently. Hermione was, by now, far more than livid.
"What did you do. WHAT DID YOU DO?! ARE YOU SERIOUSLY ASKING THAT STUPID QUESTION?!" Hermione had resorted to screaming the last part.
Draco rubbed his temple, Merlin did Granger have a set of lungs.
"Now, now, Granger. Don't have to be so loud."
"DO YOU HAVE EVEN THE SLIGHTEST IDEA OF THE IMPLICATIONS OF WHAT YOU DID YESTERDAY?! DID YOU EVEN THINK IT THROUGH?!"
Draco rolled his eyes at her. Of course he knew the implications; he was practically fighting against them. And seeing her getting worked up was not helping his situation.
"I only kissed you," he said stating the obvious,"And, besides, we both needed to come to the common room."
"Yes-but-you-"
Hermione had run out of excuses. And she was stammering in his presence, again. She sighed and closed her eyes to calm herself down, so she didn't notice when Malfoy stood up to stand beside her.
"What's that?" He asked, pointing at Hermione's presents.
She looked at him startled by his presence, but Draco noted happily that she did not back away. She looked down at the things in her arms wearily.
"Oh just some things from friends…. Christmas and all…" she was now looking forward for the rest that she was supposed to be doing instead of confronting Malfoy.
Draco examined the presents for a while, looking at each one with consideration, and snorted. Hermione's anger returned as she shot him a glare and Draco was once more relieved that looks can't kill.
"What? Too common enough for you?" she seethed.
He shrugged, as if he was impervious to her mood swings.
"I just think that you should be getting stuff that'll be on your mind longer."
Before Hermione could retort, he pointed at the objects as if to make a point.
"The books you'll probably memorize them in a week or so most probably one night (Hermione rolled her eyes), earrings you rarely use, chocolates and candy are food so those technically don't count and clothes lose their touch after a while."
Hermione gaped at him. She had been too surprised to even get offended at what he said. The only thing that she kept thinking about was that he just slightly complimented her, if not admitted to her that he noticed her more than he ever would admit.
"Oh." Was the only answer that she could muster.
She started walking slowly towards her room and Draco, surprisingly followed her. He was smirking. He had left the know-it-all speechless that had to be considered as some kind of miracle.
"Wow, Granger, I didn't know that you could keep your mouth without making a sound for more than 5 seconds."
Hermione looked at him as they walked, she had gotten in better mood than when she entered and knew just the comment that could shut Malfoy up.
"It's too bad that you can't keep yours like that, though," she replied smirking.
Draco felt his stomach do weird things again, especially at the smirk that made her almost look Slytherin for a while… Not good. But he fixed the mask on his face quickly.
"There is one way…" He said with a suggestive smile.
Hermione could feel her insides jolting at Malfoy's little smile, but she ignored it and instead made a look of mock-surprise appear on her face.
"Oh! Is Draco Malfoy actually admitting that he wants to kiss a Mudblood?" she said gasping.
He rolled his eyes at her once more.
"One, it doesn't necessarily have to be you. And I have already done that." He said with a smirk.
They stopped at the foot of the stairs, and Hermione could only feel the potency of his smirk boring into her.
"True."
She was about to make her way to her dorm, so that she could fix these muddled thoughts that she was having when she noticed that Malfoy was staring at something up on the ceiling. But before she could ask what he saw; he told her something that would stay on her mind for the rest of her life.
"Granger, you still haven't gotten my present."
He then grabbed her quickly by the arm and, before she could protest, pulled her towards him and captured her lips with his.
Hermione's heart soared at the contact as she returned the kiss immediately. Their lips moving together as Draco instantly deepened the kiss and put his hands on her waist while she moved hers into his hair to get a better angle. Draco didn't know what had possessed him to do something like this. He only knew that he had to kiss her. Draco clinged to her possessively; wanting more of her, tasting her….
And then, too soon, he stopped, but kept his arms wrapped around her, and pointed at the ceiling, his breath fanning her face as he spoke.
"Merry Christmas."
He gave her another soft kiss on the lips after that. And then broke away and went marching up to his room, but not before sending her a wink.
Hermione stared at the mistletoe that lay on the ceiling, and smiled softly. She would've never thought that she would conclude the day of today by feeling extremely happy with that cursed object. She picked up the presents that had laid forgotten on the floor the minute that he laid his lips on her. She touched her lips with her fingertips and felt herself blushing as she opened the door to her room. Perhaps this was also a new beginning for him too. She thought before closing the door.
Outside of the common room a painting smiled knowingly.
"I knew it."
Author's Notes:
First of all, no I'm not dead. Haha. But, I'll have to update the fic of Obey Me after New Year since my computer is staying at home while I go for my Christmas vacations with my family :( But not to worry, I'll try to update soon and maybe will be in time to provide you with two chapters! But still... I hope that you enjoyed this one-shot, and if it is your first time reading something of mine, check out my other fics! Thanks anyway! Now, I know you were probably expecting this but... REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW :D Thanks once more and Happy Holidays!