Disclaimer: I own nothing that I don't own. Obviously.
A/N: This story was written for voldyismyfather's Mistletoe Kisses Challenge.
Hermione flopped onto her bed and stared up at the ceiling. She scrutinized her fingernails before picking at an uneven part of the nail on her right ring finger. She dropped her hand back to her side and attempted to wipe the glaze from her eyes. With a huff, she sat up and examined the room for something to do. She picked up a book from her bedside table, opened up to her bookmark, and tried to read. After reading three pages, she realized she remembered nothing of what she just read and angrily threw the book across the room.
The book looked so pitiful lying on the floor that she couldn't just leave it there, so she walked over to it and knelt beside it. Carefully, she picked it up and fixed it's bent pages before plopping it back on the table. It wasn't the books fault that she had nothing to do.
Harry and Ginny were out on a date, Ron was probably out snogging Luna in a broom closet and Hermione was left by her lonesome.
It was the Winter Holidays at Hogwarts and with all of her friends...er...occupied, she'd had no one to hang out with. In the first few days she'd managed to finish all of her homework for the break and she had even done some extra credit. Then, she read until every fiber of her being was yelling at her to get up and do something. But of course, there was nothing for her to do.
Resolving that a walk around Hogwarts would be better than staying in bed all day, Hermione changed into a pair of jeans and a green T-shirt. She looked around in her closet for a few minutes before pulling out a red, V-neck sweater and a green knit scarf.
"Might as well look festive, seeing as the day after tomorrow is Christmas and all," she thought to herself as she pulled the sweater over her head.
As she left the common room, she draped the scarf around her shoulders. She really had no place in mind as she wandered through the corridors, looking at the paintings that gilded the walls, although she skirted any halls that looked overcrowded. Even if she was mindlessly wandering the halls, she didn't fail to notice the mistletoe.
Somehow, Hermione found herself at the Great Hall. Which is a good thing too, as it was lunch time. It was decorated with the usual twelve Christmas trees and streamers of red and green. Much like the hallways, the Great Hall was also the home of plentiful sprigs of mistletoe.
She wasn't really hungry, so she just took an apple and a piece of toast.
Munching on the toast, Hermione walked back into the corridors. As she watched a particularly interesting painting of sheep flying with the aide of an umbrella while wearing a leather jacket, she slammed into a rather thick wall.
By wall, I meant Crabbe, by Crabbe, I meant the insanely thick teenager who is probably a lot more painful to run into than an actual wall. This being because he would beat you to a consistency of the inside of an orange after the running-into occurred. Hermione wondered briefly if she could offer him her apple as a way of avoiding getting pummeled, but then she realized she was no longer holding it. She watched as the apple arched gracefully through the air and was caught by a perfectly manicured hand before she made shattering contact with the floor.
Hermione groaned in pain and pushed herself into a half sitting position. She looked back up at her apple, glistening in the torchlight , before following the arm attached to the hand holding the apple up to the face of the owner of the arm that was attached to the hand that held her apple.
"Malfoy."
He sneered down at her. "Granger."
Hermione rolled her eyes at him and pushed herself up until she was sitting on her heels. She held out her hand. "Can I have my apple back?"
He juggled it between his hands, rolling it around, examining it. "This apple?"
She sighed. "Yes, that apple."
"Well, it figures that you would choose a red apple. I do prefer green ones myself."
"Slytherin pride?"
Malfoy raised an eyebrow at her. "No. I just like the taste."
Hermione tuned him out as he continued to give a lecture on a green apple versus a red apple and why a green apple was better. Wow. He must be going insane! Not that Hermione could blame him or anything, she could sympathize the state of having no one to talk to for almost an entire week. Malfoy did have Crabbe and Goyle to talk to, but by the glazed looks in their eyes and the drool dripping from their chins as they watched the apple roll in Malfoy's hands, she could tell they weren't very...er... inspiring conversationalists.
Her gaze eventually rested on Malfoy's head. Well, not on his head, per say, but above it.
Hermione gasped. Loudly.
"...and red apples tend to be a bit too watery for my tastes. What are you making such a noise for?" Malfoy followed her panic-stricken gaze up to the leafy green thing hanging directly above where he and Hermione were standing. Well...Hermione was sitting, but I don't think it matters.
"Mistletoe..."
He scrunched up his noes and glared at her. "There. Is. No. Freaking. Way. That. I. Will. Kiss. YOU!"
"Did someone say 'kiss'?"
Hermione leapt to her feet and turned around in time to see Dumbledore walk into the hallway.
"Oh isn't this just wonderful?" He chirruped. "Two love birds under the mistletoe!"
"Hardly," drawled Malfoy.
Hermione glared at Dumbledore. He did not just call her and...and that THING lovebirds!
Dumbledore just looked at them all twinkly eyed. "Well, go on then." He looked at them expectantly.
If "Avada Kedavra" was not an Unforgivable, Hogwarts would be looking for a new Headmaster.
"Your can't make me do this."
"I'm not going to make you, Miss. Granger..."
Hermione smiled and started to walk away, she hadn't gone two steps before she ran into yet another wall. This time it was not because she was distracted by the sheep in the leather jacket (which was now doing a cartwheel) but because she could not see the wall she had run into. Not being able to see the wall was not the fault of poor eyesight, but rather the fact that the wall was indeed invisible.
Dumbledore chuckled slightly. "However, I'm afraid that the Mistletoe will not let you go without a kiss."
Hermione and Malfoy glared at the Headmaster. After a few minutes, Dumbledore shifted uncomfortably. "Well, um, I'm going to go, um, get some toast." With a swish of frighteningly neon red robes with green trimming, Dumbledore rushed off in the direction of the Great Hall.
Crabbe and Goyle shifted awkwardly. "Yeah, um, toast sounds good." "Yeah.."
As they started to walk off, Malfoy called after them. "The Great Hall is the other way."
"We knew that."
"Yeah."
"We were just testing you."
With agreeably redder faces, Crabbe in Goyle turned around and headed off in the correct direction.
Hermione was alone now. Worse, she was alone with Malfoy.
"Well, um, I don't want to stand around here all day. So..." began Hermione.
Malfoy just stood there, not looking at her.
Hermione growled. "Well, if you won't do it, I will!"
She stepped right in front of him, glaring all the while. Since when was Malfoy so tall?She inched up onto the toes of her shoes and put her hands on his shoulders... for balance. She was so close, she could feel his warm breath on her face, feel his heart beat, feel him. Ever so slowly, she inched her face closer to his. Before she could talk herself out of it, she kissed him.
Hermione smiled up at him before skipping away, without hindrance from any invisible walls. Maybe Winter Break wouldn't be so boring anymore.
Draco watched her skip away. A soft smile played across his lips, as he stroked the warm spot on his cheek.
A/N Hermione is a clever one, isn't she?