AN: Dedicated to the sweetest girl I know. All for you Kayla you Draco fangirl. Here's your Dramione just like you wanted, the other one is still pending.

Winter Dare

. . .

"Brew me a cup for a winter's night.

For the wind howls loud and the furies fight;

Spice it with love and stir it with care,

And I'll toast our bright eyes,

my sweetheart fair."

Minna Thomas Antrim

. . .

Prologue:

If You Can't Hang

Blaise was starting to get worried. It was an unusual experience, because Blaise did not worry. He rarely put himself in a situation were the outcome was uncertain enough to call for such an emotion, a trait he'd inherited from his mother, and those he was close enough to bother worrying about had similar notions. But Draco's behavior was worrying. Very worrying.

Blaise of course knew what had caused it. The year hadn't started out very pleasant to begin with, what with his father being in jail and the public ridicule. Something the Malfoy Heir wasn't used to. He's born it with more dignity than Blaise had suspected though gritting his teeth and clenching his fists refusing to raise to the bait so their classmates would have the opportunity to get release some of their blood lust. Blaise didn't doubt Narcissa's calm head had a hand in her son's behavior. By the time Halloween arrived everyone seemed to realize Draco wouldn't react and had grown bored only throwing in an occasional insult in the halls, allowing Draco to fade back into an almost invisible obscurity. Blaise could feel his friend's frustration, but Draco could have handled it if it wasn't for this latest blow.

Pansy had broken it off, that dirty cow. And she hadn't just broken it off she'd been caught with Stephen Selwyn, an Upstart Pureblood and a total bastard. She hadn't given Draco the dignity of leaving her either the second he'd realized what was going on, she'd been very blunt about way she thought Draco was no longer good enough for her. Blaise would have AK'ed the bitch if he'd been there. Draco though had been forced to face this latest humiliation alone and Blaise hadn't known until the next morning when Pansy proudly strode passed the Malfoy hand clasped with Selwyn's who'd been smirking triumphantly. And they'd had the audacity to take Draco's former place at the Head of Slytherin table on top of it. Leaving Draco standing in the aisles publicly shamed and ousted from his role as Prince.

It had taken all Blaise had not to throw himself at Selwyn, grab his perfectly coiffed brown curls to beat his head in with the table and choke Pansy with the new necklace she wore that bore the Selwyn family crest. Theodore though, the calmest of their year, surprised him by keeping a firm grip on him and leading him to sit by Draco in the pointedly empty space surrounding him. Since Theodore never interfered with Slytherin politics before it was a great show of solidarity to the former regime that Blaise appreciated and a delightful blow to Selwyn's attempt to take Draco's former place that even the neutrals were siding with the exiled Prince.

Pansy and Selwyn's enraged faces hadn't distracted him from the crushing defeat and loss on Draco's face that Blaise saw though Draco tried to hide it.

Draco hadn't been as destroyed as Blaise thought though and had grimly made his way through November only to lose their first match against Gryffindor the first one since Draco became Captain, because the Beaters and other players refused to follow his orders. It was the first Quidditch match played in utter silence, because not even the other Houses could cheer in the face of that brutality. At one point the Slytherin Beaters had even shot some Bludgers at him. Only Potter using himself as a shield and thus forcing his own Beaters into action stopped Draco from possibly being killed. Draco hadn't even had the energy to be offended by the save.

He'd limped back to the dorm room without a word and hadn't left his bed since then.

Something had to be done.

"A girl." a familiar voice suggested behind Blaise, startling him. Blaise looked up to find Theodore looking at him with knowing eyes. The slightly younger boy sat without asking permission a testament to how much time they'd spent together since their lesser Shunning due to their loyalty to Draco had started.

"What?" Blaise demanded tapping his quill against his blank parchment causing a large blotch to appear. Theodore gave him an amused look.

"It is obvious you aren't working on your Transfiguration essay Blaise." Theodore told him and quickly continued when Blaise started to protest. "You have the highest grades in the subject of our year, even beating Granger. You'd have the essay done in twenty minutes tops. You've been at it for two hours. You're trying to figure out what must be done about Malfoy. And I say a girl."

Blaise grimaced laying down the unused quill an not bothering to deny it. He gave Theodore a surly look. "Am I that obvious?"

Hiding your emotions was a matter of pride for Slytherins, surely Blaise couldn't be that out of practice?

Theodore smiled, a rare gesture for him. "No, I just know you well Blaise."

It should have offended Blaise that someone would use such a familiar tone after less than a month friendship, though they'd known of each other since they were first years and roomed together since then also. With Theodore though he couldn't bring himself to be. He liked the boy, despite his forwardness and sometimes surprising, but amusing observations about life or people.

"So a girl?" Blaise asked wondering what had led to this conclusion. He was willing to listen despite how dubious he sounded. Theodore did have rather good ideas. He had been the one to get Draco to smile for the first time right after Pansy.

"Not just a girl." Something mischievous entered Theodore's eyes at this, making them brown striped with green. Blaise found it attractive. "A specific girl."

"And who pray tell do you suggest?"

"Hermione Granger."

Blaise's eyebrows shoot up instantly at the suggestion and every fiber of him wanted to shout at the idiocy of suggesting the Gryffindor Princess for the exiled Slytherin Prince, but he paused. Theodore wouldn't have suggested something impossible, no matter how seemingly it seemed. Blaise went back over Draco's interactions with the girl and was surprised by what he found. It reminded him oddly of a little boy pulling a girl's pigtails to get her attention. But considering it was Draco he couldn't be that subtle. No he was a majorly racist prig, Blaise loved him, but that didn't mean he didn't realize his faults. Which meant Draco had to go to an extreme to keep the attention of a girl he admired, even his rants about the girl took new meaning, but was so unbelievable against his idolized father's virtues and ideals he wouldn't have been able to consciously acknowledge any feelings other than hostile without having a melt down.

"I can't believe I'm saying this, but what do you have in mind?"

Theodore's hazel eyes glowed an even brighter green almost completely eclipsing the brown.

"We use his pride."