Chapter One

Snow was falling all around the grounds of Hogwarts. Harry, Ron and Hermione had all signed their name to stay there for the holidays. They needed to catch up on revision and they enjoyed staying there for the holidays. When the trio were in their second year, they stayed at Hogwarts so they could try and bust Draco Malfoy who they thought (at the time) was the Heir of Slytherin. Not thinking about the conflict that went off, they felt at home when spending Christmas at Hogwarts. This year, they were together but little did they know that Draco Malfoy was also staying too...

The Gryffindor common room seemed so deserted. Harry and Ron were sat on the floor in front of the fire playing a game of Wizard Chess whilst Hermione was studying as usual.

"Bishop to E3! Yes! Check.." bellowed Ron. Hermione hated being interrupted during revision.

"Ronald! Be quiet! I'm trying to study!" growled Hermione as she threw a broken pencil at his head. It hit him neck.

"Ow. Sorry braniac!" snapped Ron. Hermione decided to ignore him. Five minutes of boring silence was soon broken when an owl came swooping through the common room door. The letter in it's mouth was addressed to Hermione. It landed neatly in front of her and the ink was a bold black with the handwriting being unfamiliar but extremely neat.

"Who's it from?" asked Harry who was concentrating on Hermione more than the game.

"I don't know. I'll look later. I'm too busy studying" she replied. She waited until Harry got back into the game before sneakily opening the letter. She took a deep breath and began reading. The handwriting was much different than on the front, but she still didn't recognise who it was from.

Dear Hermione,

Ever since potions class, I've not been able to stop thinking about you. It's the start of the Christmas holidays and I overheard Professor McGonagall reading out the list of who was staying for the holidays in Transfiguration and your name popped up. It then reminded me of the previous potions lesson that we had where we had to work together. I found your knowledge quite cute but fascinating. Anyway, I couldn't stop thinking about you and I have to tell you something face-to-face. Meet me at the place where you punched my nose in third year? Nine 'O' clock tonight?

Yours sincerely,

Draco...

"Draco?" whispered Hermione. Unfortunately, Harry heard her whisper but what unclear of what she said.

"What's wrong Hermione?" he asked as he peered over the crimson sofa.

"Oh, nothing. Just worked out an answer to a question and it was what I worked out first". Harry smiled at her and carried on playing his fifth round of chess. Hermione looked at the grand clock near the arched window. It was quarter-to-nine. She had to think of an excuse to leave the common room. She tapped her fingers on the desk before thinking of an perfect excuse. She grabbed her bag and shoved a few notes inside to make it look like she was finishing off her revision. She stood up and headed towards the door. Pretending to stretch and yawn as she did so.

"Where are you going?" said Ron as he moved a strand of his ginger hair out of his face.

"I'm tired. So I'm taking these notes to Professor Flitwick's room so I don't forget tomorrow. Then I'm off to bed" she replied as she edged closer towards the door.

"What? You've not had Flitwick for a year. Why do you need to see him?" questioned Ron. His tone sounded slightly annoyed.

"Just let her do what she wants Ron" shouted Harry. Hermione gave a 'thank you' nod to Harry and left. She rushed down the stairs and sneaked past some of the ghosts who were wailing near to the Great Hall. On the way there, she couldn't help but think of what she had got herself into. Was this all a trick? Had Crabbe and Goyle dared Draco to do this? Only time would tell. She arrived at the place where she was told to meet and began to jump down each step. She stood at the bottom and looked around. It was pitch black. Forgetting to bring her jumper made it worse. She began to shiver.

"Bloody winter" she moaned.

"That's why you should have brought a jumper" said a voice. Hermione spun around with surprise and saw Draco Malfoy stood leaning against the old brick wall...