Title: Gaudete
Rating: T
Disclaimer: Harry Potter belongs solely to J.K. Rowling.

Note: For my lovely friend, numbyhi, who was craving some Dramione :)

Gaudete

Shimmering golden flames floated along the hallways, leaving thin wispy trails of light in their wake. Shadows danced along the walls, mistletoe and holly garnering the ceilings and the statues along the corridor.

Alone, Hermione meandered her way back to the Gryffindor common room from the Great Hall. She was absolutely bursting from the Christmas Eve feast, having finished off all three courses served, entrée, main and dessert, with an extra helping of ice-cream on the side. Harry and Ron had wandered back hours ago, stumbling their way to the doors of the Great Hall like a bunch of drunkards. Hermione had been invited to join their antics but had graciously declined, choosing to stay at the feast with Ginny and engage Professor McGonagall in a lively debate on Animagus transformations and their side-effects. From then, the conversation had expanded and grown like a weed, hours flicking by without Hermione noticing. All too soon it was eleven o'clock and the Professors had sent the last stragglers off to bed.

Hermione had instantly regretted not leaving with Harry and Ron, once she stepped into the dim hallway. The Great Hall had been filled with candles and chandeliers burning bright and Christmas trees with multi-coloured flames wrapped around them. The scattered fairy lights in the corridors did little to improve the lighting and the shadows were even more petrifying under the dancing flames, flickering and moving eerily at the edge of her vision. Even Ginny had left earlier with a couple of her Second Year friends, leaving Hermione with the remaining students, which mostly consisted of a few Slytherins, Luna Lovegood and two or three Professors.

Continuing along bravely, Hermione had almost reached the top of the staircase outside the Hall when a dark shaped clumsily knocked into her, nearly causing her to fall.

A familiar drawl snarled, "Watch it." Hermione bristled indignantly as Malfoy rudely brushed past, hurrying down the stairs two at a time.

Hastily righting herself, Hermione stood in a state of shock, frantically trying to think of a response. Her cognitive functions were obviously offline or paralysed, as she could only exclaim, "Where do you think you're going? The feast's already ended, didn't you know?"

Malfoy turned, looking almost bemused in the flickering firelight (but that couldn't be true, he was probably just thinking of how stupid she looked, just standing there gawping at him) and he merely said, "Mind your own business, Granger," before he turned and continued walking straight towards the Great Hall.

Flustered, Hermione ran after him, calling out as she reached the bottom of the staircase (she had only just climbed up, seriously, what was wrong with her) for Malfoy to "wait up!" He surprisingly turned, staring at her coldly as she ran towards him.

Puffing, she finally reached him, exclaiming, "You know there's… No one's in the Great Hall anymore, they've all been sent back to the common room. There isn't any point in going back. So, why are you headed there?"

"You're a nosy lion, aren't you Granger?" He smirked, callously sweeping his hand through his blonde hair, which was reflecting the gold of the hallway lights. "If you must know, I've misplaced my mother's brooch, which she had…" Here, he let out a long-suffering sigh, "Insisted… that I wear. It would be terrible form if I lost it the day she gave it to me, don't you think?"

Hermione frowned slightly, not expecting the reasoning behind Malfoy's little late night joint. She been anticipating that he was doing something illegal, or just plain dangerous. Pleasantly surprised, she internally scolded herself for automatically assuming that Malfoy was performing some ungodly act or something.

Quickly coming to a decision, Hermione decided to offer her services. If Malfoy was telling the truth then, as a fellow student, she would be obliged to help him. And if he wasn't, well. She could always go and tell Filch, or any patrolling Professor, really. Nodding to herself, she looked up and noticed that Malfoy was already walking away, completely disregarding her presence.

"Hey! Wait up!" Hermione cried out, hastening to catch up. Malfoy turned again, looking faintly annoyed and snapped out a, "What now, Granger!"

"I just wanted to… I was wondering if I could help you search?" She paused, biting her lip. "I thought it would be easier with two people, you know."

Hermione looked up to catch a quick flash of confusion race across Malfoy's face, before his impassive mask returned.

"Are you offering me help?" He remarked. "I didn't realise you Gryffindors had taken your acts of kindness into the Slytherin realm. I thought it was too evil and terrifying." Here he paused, looking thoughtful. "We might just have to amp it up a bit next year, since we're obviously not doing something right."

"It was just an offer! You don't have to be so rude all the time!" Hermione glowered, feeling anger stirring in the pit of her stomach. "If you don't want my help, then just say so!"

She twisted, preparing to leave when an arm grabbed her shoulder, spinning her back around.

"I'm… sorry," Malfoy said, looking far from contrite. There was a slight hesitation there though, like he was a having a hefty internal debate. Eventually, he murmured, "I… would… appreciate your help."

Slightly shocked, Hermione froze. "Oh! Um… Well, alright then. We should probably get started." Walking over to the doors of the Great Hall, she said, "Um… we should probably try and retrace your steps. Where did you sit at the feast?"

Malfoy watched her from the hallway, silently judging her. Hermione nervously shifted from foot to foot, had she done something wrong? But after what seemed like forever, Malfoy joined her at the Hall's entrance.

"I sat on the right side of the table with the rest of my house and Professor Snape, so it should be around there somewhere." He began to move over to where he was describing and Hermione followed behind, carefully looking around for any sign of a shiny object.

"Was it any particular colour or shape?" She asked, looking under the one large table that had been set up for the feast.

"It was a deep blue with a white bird in a sort of… oval shape," he replied, gesticulating vaguely with his hands. "It was quite small though, it could fit in the palm of my hands quite easily."

"Was it very precious to your mother?" She quietly asked. There was a brief pause before Malfoy replied.

"… No. Not to my mother."

Hermione waited for him to continue, but he merely shook his head slightly before continuing the search. They worked in silence after that, studiously overturning every chair and piece of rubbish that was lying around. They even tried shifting the Christmas trees nearest to the right side of the table, just in case the brooch had rolled underneath. At long last, they stood and regrouped. The time was beginning to wear on Hermione and she felt like collapsing onto the nearest chair instead of having to drag herself back up to the common room. Malfoy had a similar look about him, with dark circles starting to form under his eyelids and his perfect posture drooping slightly. Sighing in agitation, Hermione ran a hand through her hair, which had seemingly become frizzier as the night wore on.

"I guess… Maybe one of your housemates took it?" She offered, giving a small shrug. Overall, she felt pretty bad for him, knowing how her mother reacted when she lost something precious. Shuddering at the thought, she squinted around the room, trying to see if anything stood out.

"We've looked absolutely everywhere. It just doesn't feel like it's here." Pivoting on her heel, Hermione had a quick stretch, feeling her spine crack satisfyingly. She stared up at the cloudy night ceiling above, the stars glittering and winking as the candles floated below, before returning to Malfoy, who looked deep in thought.

"Perhaps… Someone did take it," He muttered. "Possibly. Maybe Crabbe or Goyle… I better head back then and make sure. Otherwise I'll have to check again at breakfast."

"Mm… I guess so," she replied. There was a long silence, neither party speaking or moving. Finally, Hermione couldn't take the tense atmosphere and blurted out, "Well, I better be going then. It's pretty late and I don't want to be too tired tomorrow."

That seemed to snap Malfoy out of his stupor. He blinked owlishly before replying with a simple, "Of course."

The silence welled up again. Hermione could feel her eye starting to twitch.

"So, I'm just going to go then…"

She slowly started to shuffle out of the Great Hall, looking back every so often to see if Malfoy was following.

He wasn't. Malfoy was just staring off into space, a blank look on his face. Hermione could almost see a hint of worry on his face. Was he nervous about his mother's reaction? She was hesitant to give any reassurances, since she didn't know a single thing about the elusive Mrs Malfoy.

The choice was taken from her, however, as Malfoy began to move towards her in long strides.

"Well, Granger? I thought you were going back to your lion den? Or are you too scared to walk alone in the hallways?" A smirk was plastered on his face and despite its faux appearance, Hermione could feel her anger rising again.

"A thank you would be nice!" She snapped. "I didn't just help you out for fun, Malfoy!"

Malfoy stared at her coolly. They were standing directly in front of one another, less than an arm's length away. Hermione glared viciously, frustrated that her precious sleeping time had been wasted aimlessly searching for this ungrateful imbecile.

"Draco," he said suddenly, taking a step away from Hermione. "It's Draco. And the brooch, it was precious to me. My aunt gave it to me, ages ago."

"Oh," was all Hermione could say. Twice in one night he'd gone against her expectations and shown her a completely different side to the aloof and cruel Slytherin. She had no idea what to say or how to react.

"Mistletoe."

"What?" Shaken from her thoughts, Hermione looked up to see a moss green plant had subtly inched its way in between the two of them. She couldn't help but gape, her eyes widening in a comical sort of horror and embarrassment as the plant happily curled in the air above them. Damn magical plants! She thought, humiliation crashing through her like a wave. Hermione could feel herself blushing madly and she scrambled to think of a way to salvage this situation, something, anything really, that could enable her to escape with her dignity (at least partially) intact.

Draco made a non-committal noise, looking distinctly bored with the state of affairs. Anxious and highly self-conscious, Hermione couldn't help but feel a little bit annoyed at how casual he was being. Honestly! It was like talking to a-

Then Draco was kissing her and she could feel the warmth spreading across her face, felt her heartbeat elevate and her palms begin to sweat frantically-

And as soon as it began, it stopped. Blinking rapidly, Hermione looked up, her eyes as wide as they could possibly go, her lips parted. She was staring in utter astonishment, couldn't control her jaw from dropping in shock as Draco simply sauntered away, smirking lightly, like he couldn't care less, like what just happened didn't even affect him in the slightest.

"See you later, Granger," he called out, as walked through the hallway, the glimmering flames and the dancing shadows enveloping his body in a brilliant display of colour.

Hermione was still standing there, frozen as he walked around a corner and out of sight.

(Later that night, when she had actually managed to unfreeze her body and return to the Gryffindor common room and to her soft, comfy bed, dodging the questions of her grumbling roommates, she pressed a finger to her lips, smiling faintly in the darkness.)