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Candy Cane Kisses
One-Shot
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Draco sat in the corner of his filthy Azkaban prison cell, his gray eyes staring wide into the darkness that had surrounded him for the entirety of the six months he had been held there. Six months…had it been that long? His eyes traveled to the etched in marks on the slimy wall next to his head. A previous occupant had carved in the length of time he had been there into the slick stone. Tick after tick after tick…Draco reached out a hand and ran his hand over the marks on the wall, feeling each one beneath the grime. He shuddered and leaned his head back, slowly rocking back and forth.
"Three more years," He whispered to himself, his voice rough from lack of use. "Three more years…"
He knew he was lucky for only getting a three-and-a-half year sentence with all the things he had done. But every minute in the hell that was Azkaban wizard prison felt like an eternity. Screams from the other inmates could be heard through the thick walls, the sound eternally echoing through the hallways. The smell of filth and blood and death invaded the area, anywhere you went. The new guards were horrible humans, almost as bad as the inmates themselves. Of course, anything was better than the dementors, but some of these guards had no remorse, no feelings, no anything. Just cold, hard, words and unforgiving, hateful stares. Wasn't December supposed to be the month where everything was forgiven in time for the new year?
Draco gave a start when he realized it was Christmas. Some of the other inmates had people to visit him, but he had no one. It was easy to forget small things like that in a place like this. He closed his eyes and tried to remember where he was last Christmas…In front of a warm fire with her, a bottle of eggnog in his hand, and a feeling of love around…was it really that long ago?
He was knocked out of his memory when the door crashed open and bright light flooded his tiny cell. He threw up his hand to shield his eyes as they adjusted to the light, blinking back the stinging tears the change had caused. When he glanced up at the figure that had just entered his room, his breath caught in his throat. It was her. Why had she come? Why her?
He suddenly felt ashamed. He knew he looked like a wreck. The Azkaban tattoos still looked fresh against his white skin, skin which was stretched thinly over his bones to make him look similar to a skeleton. His hair was filthy and matted, much like the tattered prison uniform he was wearing. And there she was in all of her beauty. An angel thrown down to earth, just for him…No, not just for him. But what was she doing here?
He opened his mouth to ask, but his voice failed him and he found he couldn't. She walked over to him and kneeled down, gently reaching out a hand and trailing it down my face. I stared at her motionless for a moment, before the feeling washed over me and began flooding out of my eyes. I jumped forward and wrapped my arms around her, crying softly into her shoulder. She rubbed my back and whispered into my ear, lying to me and telling me that'd it all be okay. When I pulled back she wiped the tears away softly before leaning forward and giving me a chaste kiss. She pulled away and pressed something into my hand, but I couldn't tear my gaze away from hers.
I reached a hand forward, gently touching her pregnant stomach. A single tear trailed down her face as she leaned forward and kissed me again.
"I loved you, Draco," She whispered back before getting up and leaving me in my darkness.
It took me five minutes to look down at the thing she had placed in my hand. It was a single candy cane with a rose wrapped around it. I stared at it for a while before the tears began to trail down my face.
"I love you, too, Hermione."
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A/N: Well that wasn't Christmas-y at all, now was it? Well…Happy Holidays everyone. Bai bai, now.
