A/N: We are back at it again for Day 2 of the countdown! This story holds a special place in my heart because Theo and Daphne are one of my favorite pairings to write. I'll admit they are one of my OTPs as of late. This story was a lot of fun to write and I'll be honest, the plunny basically ran away from me and took on a mind of its.

This lovely story was prompted by xxDustNight88 and the story was beta read by GaeilgeRua. Thank you to both of you for your assistance in the creation of this story.

All of the usual disclaimers apply. I don't write for profit and I certainly don't own any of these characters. J. K. Rowling is a wonderful human being for supporting fanfiction and allowing authors to express themselves with the help of her characters and the world she created.

If you are interested in checking out my other works or keeping up with me in general, I have an author's page on Facebook that you can check out (starrnobella Fanfiction) as well as a group (starrnobella Fanfiction Friends & Fans) that I am very active in on a daily basis. I'm also on tumblr (starrnobella) that you can follow along with me as well.

Title: It Takes A Little Mistletoe
Pairing: Thaphne (Nottgrass)
Rating: T (Language Use)
Summary: Sometimes all a boring party needs to spice it up is a little firewhiskey and mistletoe to start something new.

Hopefully you all enjoyed the first installment of the 24 days and will continue reading and reviewing!

Love always,

~starr

Daphne had been dreading this day since the invitation had arrived in the post. The annual Sacred 28 Christmas Party was the most austantacious event that she was forced to attend as a member of one of the families.

The fancy decorations and the ridiculous outfits that everyone was required to wear just weren't her style. They were more her sister's style, and if Daphne had anything to say about it, then Astoria would be the only Greengrass daughter to attend.

However, she had never been that lucky. So here she was, tucked away on a small couch in the main room of the party watching the mayhem take place. It had always been amusing to her to watch people who don't even like each other be forced into awkward situations where they had to actually speak to one another.

She had begun to lose count of the number of times she had heard her father complaining about another Sacred family, but here he was going from person to person talking about how wonderful it is to see them. She couldn't help thinking about how big of a hypocrite he was when she watched him shake hands with Lucius Malfoy and kiss Narcissa on both cheeks, after listening to him drone on for an hour before this party about how much he hated the Malfoy family.

Rolling her eyes, Daphne pushed herself up from the couch. Walking past her father, she shook her head as she headed towards the bar.

"What's your poison?" the bartender asked with a smile as he finished drying a glass before setting it on the bar counter between them.

She laughed as she rested her arms on the bar top. "If only it were as simple as picking a poison," she mused. "If this weren't a family affair, I'd be asking for a whiskey, neat. But instead I will settle for a coke on the rocks."

"One coke coming right up," he replied with a wink, turning to grab a highball glass and some ice before popping the tab, pouring the carbonated liquid into the glass. "Don't be too hard on them," he added, placing the glass down in front of her and nodding in the general direction of the crowd she was people watching. "They don't have a lot of say in what they do, so you should at least give them this."

Raising the cold glass to her lips, Daphne thought about what he had said. He was right. No one really had control over their lives once they got into bed with the Dark Lord, and tonight the Dark Lord was nowhere in sight. So for once, they could all be themselves allowed to celebrate the holidays however they pleased.

"Thanks for the drink," she said before stepping away from the bar, "and for the advice. I'll take it into consideration."

She took one last glance around the room before deciding that it was time for a change of scenery, so instead of returning to the sitting room she went in search of her Hogwarts classmates who were hiding in another room of the house. Plus she could use it as an excuse to explore the illustrious Malfoy Manor that Draco had boasted about since their first year.

As she wandered down the corridor, she noticed a series of a paintings hanging along the wall. Each one with a name engraved along the bottom of the frame. A line of Malfoys decorating the hallway. No wonder Draco's so full of himself, she thought to herself.

The further away from the sitting room she got, she began to hear music that was actually from this century unlike the music they were playing in the sitting room. A little further down the hall she was standing in front of the door that was pulsating from the volume of music that they were playing. She took a deep breath before opening the door.

As she stepped inside she found Theo and Blaise hanging out on the couch, ties undone and their dress shirts partially unbuttoned. She laughed to herself as she closed the door behind her. The sound of the door opening and closing pulled Theo's attention in her direction.

"Hello, boys," she shouted over the music.

Theo smiled and smacked Blaise in the knee, motioning in her direction.

"What?" Blaise shouted without lifting his head to look at Theo.

"We've got company," Theo replied, smacking him again a little harder as he sat up on the couch and reached for the stereo remote, turning down the volume. "What's up, Daphne?"

"Escaping the snooze fest in the other room," Daphne said, taking a seat on the couch beside Theo opposite of where Blaise was sitting, the other wizard finally acknowledging her presence.

"Snooze fest?" Blaise laughed. "I haven't heard that one before. What's in the glass?" he asked, nodding towards the glass in her hand. "Anything good?"

She shook her head. "Sadly, it's just a coke," she said, taking a sip from the glass and then setting it down on the table in front of them.

"That's a shame," Blaise sighed. After a few moments, he jumped up from the couch. "Knowing Malfoy, I'd bet it's a safe guess that there is more of the good stuff stashed somewhere else in this house than just where all the magic is happening…"

She watched as he began to search the small room that they were in for a secret stash. Deep down, she knew that Blaise was probably right. She could vaguely remember Astoria telling her stories about all of the summer nights Draco spent getting pissed while the two of them were supposedly just hanging out. Knowing her goodie-goodie sister, she must have been spending time with Narcissa and Lucius while Draco made a fool out of himself. Her virgin lips had never touched firewhiskey, and boy, oh boy was Astoria missing out.

"None in here, but I bet I know where I can find some. I'll be right back," Blaise called, rushing towards the door and out of the room off to god only knows where in the house, but if Daphne knew anything about him, she knew that he'd come back with something for them to drink. She just couldn't be promised that it would be tasty.

Theo shook his head with a laugh as he carded a hand through his hair. "Do you think he'll find something?"

"Oh definitely," she replied, tucking a stray strand of hair behind her hair nervously. She couldn't figure out why she felt like there were butterflies in her stomach right now. She had spent plenty of time alone with Theo in his dorm with Blaise at school because it was the only place she could go to get away from Astoria and her incessant bitching about all of the stupid shit that Draco was doing.

So why did she feel like a giddy little school girl playing seven minutes in heaven with her crush? Probably because she was sitting with her crush alone in a room. She had never felt the butterflies before because Blaise was always with them.

"God damnit," she mumbled under her breath as she took a deep breath, scrubbing a hand over her face.

Theo turned to face her, brow furrowed. "What's wrong?"

As she opened her mouth to come up with some excuse for her sudden remark, Blaise reappeared at the door with a familiar looking bottle in hand and a large smile on his face. She turned to him and smiled softly. "Absolutely nothing," she replied happily. "Just thought of something I need to do before classes start again."

Theo nodded slowly. "Oh okay."

"I have returned successful!" Blaise exclaimed, raising the bottle in the air and shaking it excitedly.

He quickly crossed the room and set the bottle down on the table in front of Daphne and Theo before turning around to find the bar cart that happened to be in the room and gathered three glasses.

As he returned to the table and opened the bottle, he was babbling on about where he had found the bottle, but Daphne had tuned him out and turned her attention to Theo, taking in the intricate details of his face as he watched his best friend make a fool of himself.

She had never noticed how brown his eyes were before or the way that his cheeks dimpled when he smiled or laughed. Dimples looked good on him, she certainly couldn't deny that. There was a small part of her that wondered what it would feel like to card her fingers through his hair, or kiss his very full lips…

Where did that thought come from? she asked herself, shaking her head to push the thoughts away. Now was not the time to think about kissing the guy who had been one of her best friends since their first year. What was taking Blaise so long to pour those damn drinks?

Looking down at the table she noticed that he had already placed a full glass in front of her. Oh, she laughed quietly. Reaching over, Daphne picked up her glass and raised it to her nose, inhaling the spicy scent of the amber liquid. "Sweet Salazar, that smells good," she mumbled.

"Wait till we cheers, Daph," Blaise said with a laugh, handing Theo a glass and tilting his own into the middle. Theo and Daphne both followed suit. "To…" he began, stopping to think for a few moments because he hadn't thought this part of his plan out before hand. "Uhm…"

"To friendships that withstand the craziness that is being a part of the Sacred 28," Daphne chimed in, smiling softly towards each of them as she tried to help Blaise finish his thoughts.

"And to new adventures that I'm sure are going to come in the new year," Theo added with a wink in Daphne's direction, causing her to blush slightly.

"And to the Malfoys' alcohol supply," Blaise cheered happily, clinking his glass against Theo's and Daphne's before bringing the glass to his lip, taking a swig of the amber liquid. He exhaled loudly as the drink seared it's way down his throat. "That hits the spot."

Theo and Daphne clinked their glasses together and smiled at one another before raising the glasses to their lips and taking a sip of their beverages. Their eyes met for the briefest of moments before each one redirected their gaze.

"Damn that burns," Theo laughed, setting the half empty glass down on the table and leaning back into the couch.

"But it's a good burn," Daphne replied, taking an additional sip of the drink before relaxing into the couch. She kept a watchful eye on him out of the corner of her eye as she continued to study his features.

"Damn right it's a good burn," Blaise hummed, pouring himself another glass and downing it just as quickly as the first one. He continued the same process until he had downed about half the bottle of firewhisky all on his own.

"Save some for the rest of us, Blaise," Daphne said with a laugh, swiping the bottle off the table and placing it behind her back.

"Give it back!" Blaise inisted, reaching over to try and grab the bottle back from the feisty Slytherin keeping his most desired possession away from him, only to have his hand slapped away by his best friend.

"Chill out, dude," Theo said, narrowing his gaze at Blaise. He was making an ass out of himself, and Theo didn't really want to have to explain his way around anything that Blaise may say that could be taken out of turn.

He was the holder of far too many of Theo's secrets to be left to his own devices in terms of alcohol.

A few hours later, the original bottle of firewhisky that Blaise had returned with was empty and laying on its side long since forgotten about. Blaise was curled up in the chair in the most uncomfortable positions known to man.

"What do you mean you've never played spin the bottle before?" Daphne giggled, taking another sip of her drink, lightly brushing her tongue over her lip. "I bet you'd be good at it…"

"Oh?" Theo laughed, pushing against the back of the couch, readjusting the way he was sitting as he turned to face her. "Why do you say that?" he asked.

"You just have an aura about you," she replied, turning more in her seat to face him and crossed her legs as she, resting the empty glass on her knee. There was no denying that she wouldn't mind kissing him at this exact moment.

"I think we need a new bottle of the good stuff," Theo announced, standing up from the couch and grabbing the empty bottle of the table before staggering towards the door. As he grasped the door knob, he noticed that it was refusing to turn.

"What the hell?" he mumbled, furrowing his brow as he tried to force the knob to move.

"What's wrong?" Daphne asked, leaning forward to get up off the couch, but stopping when she felt a rush of dizziness flooding her head. She rubbed a hand against her forehead and rested back against the couch. "Quick movements are not a good idea right now…"

"The door won't open," Theo huffed yanking on the door once more before smacking his hand against it.

Daphne lifted her head at the sound and immediately spotted what the problem was. "Oh I see what the problem is," she hummed, finally getting up off the couch and making her way over to him. Once she was standing beside him, she raised to her tiptoes and whispered, "Look up."

Slowly Theo tilted his head backwards until he was looking directly at the ceiling. Daphne watched as the realization washed over his face when he spotted the mistletoe hanging from the ceiling and bit her lip to keep from laughing as he tilted his head back forward and rested his head against the door.

"Shit," he said with a sigh. "What do we do now?"

"Well, it looks to me like you have two options," Daphne replied, resting a hand on his shoulder gently forcing Theo to turn and look at her.

"And those are?" Theo asked, his curiosity piqued slightly. His eyes met hers and he noticed a sparkle there that he hadn't quite noticed before. He wasn't sure if it was the firewhisky talking to him or if it was something else that he had been keeping hidden away.

"I can either go and wake up Blaise, so that he can kiss you and free you from this trap, or…." she hummed, "you can beg me to kiss you and free you of your misery. But I will only kiss you if I think you've begged properly."

He thought about his options for a moment. On the one hand, he would finally know what it was like to kiss the girl that he had dreamed of kissing for a while now and maybe he would finally be able to sort out the feelings that had been bubbling underneath the surface of his skin and burned like a fire every time he was around her.

Or he could kiss his best friend… which was not something that he thought he would ever have to do. Sure he thought of Blaise as a brother, but never in his life had he ever thought of kissing the lad. That was a boundary that the two of them didn't need to cross, regardless of how pissed on firewhisky they were.

Turning to face her, Theo leaned back against the door and crossed his arms over his chest causing Daphne's hand to fall from his shoulder. As she moved to step back from him, he reached his hand out and placing it on her waist, pulling her towards him as his hand slipped to her back.

"What would I have to say to convince you to kiss me right now?" he asked, allowing his eyes to search hers for a sign of something telling him to stop. He brought his other hand up to her shoulder, caressing it gently before moving it to her cheek.

"Hmmmm," she hummed, resting a hand on his chest as she closed the gap between them, bringing her face closer to his as his hand cupped her cheek. "What's your best pick up line?"

"I don't know who you are. I don't know what you want. If you are looking for a hookup, I can tell you I do not want that. But what I do have is a very particular set of skills, skills I have acquired over a very long career. Skills that make me a delight for people like you. If you hate my ice breaker, then that'll be the end of it. I will not look for you, I will not pursue you. But if you do, I may ask you to coffee," Theo replied with a smirk. "How was that?"

"Pretty damn good," Daphne whispered seconds before crashing her lips against his. Her hands coming up to cradle the back of his head as she entwined her fingers in the hair at the base of his neck.

She smiled when she felt his hands wrap around her waist and pulling her closer into him. He brushed his tongue along the seam of her lips, and she responded in kind by parting them allowing his tongue to slip inside.

"It's about damn time," a sleepy voice rose from the other side of the room, causing Daphne and Theo to pull apart and turn to face Blaise.

"What do you mean?" Theo asked curiously.

"It's about damn time you two kissed already. You've been flirting all fucking night," he laughed.

"We have not!" Daphne insisted, narrowing her gaze at Blaise, who merely just rolled his eyes and ignored the pointed looks he was receiving from her.

"She's liked you for ages, mate," he said, stretching his arms over his head before getting up from the chair and walking over towards the door. "Where the hell have you been?"

Theo turned to look at her. Daphne, embarrassed by Blaise's admittance of her own feelings, redirected her gaze to her shoes and refused to look up no matter how many times Theo repeated her name.

Finally, he hooked his pointer finger under her chin and lifted her head to look at him. As her eyes met his, she felt her cheeks turn a bright crimson red and she closed her eyes quickly and tried to turn away, but he held tight to her chin.

"Daphne," he whispered softly. "Is what he saying true?"

Slowly she nodded her head, refusing to open her eyes. She didn't need to see the surprise or disappointment on his face. What she was picturing in her head was enough to make her never want to step foot in the common room again. She was going to kill Blaise if it was the last thing she did.

"Daphne," he repeated, brushing his thumb along her chin and placing his other hand against the small of her back. "Please look at me."

Taking a deep breath, Daphne reluctantly opened her eyes, meeting Theo's eyes. She was surprised to see that there wasn't disappointment in his eyes. There was something else. Something she couldn't quite place, something different.

"Do you want to know a secret?" he asked.

She nodded her head, too afraid to open her mouth and make a fool out of herself.

"He's liked you too," Blaise announced, "Can I sneak past? I need to go locate another bottle of the good stuff."

"Blaise!" Theo exclaimed, punching his "best" friend in the shoulder. "What the hell man?"

"You were taking too long," he said with a shrug. "Now can you two get out of my way?"

Theo wrapped his arm securely around Daphne's waist so she couldn't escape and the two stepped away from the door, allowing Blaise to slip past. Both of them shaking their heads as he looked back at them over his shoulder with a inquisitive look on his face.

"You know, you two look good together," Blaise said before pulling the door shut behind him, leaving the two of them behind.

Turning to face Daphne, Theo reached up to tuck a stray tendril of hair behind her ear. "So," he said.

"So," she echoed, a small smile playing at her lips.

"That wasn't the way I wanted to tell you," he said, "but now that it's out there…"

Daphne raised up on her tiptoes and pressed her lips against his, taking him by surprise, but he quickly reciprocated her eagerness. Wrapping his arms around her waist, he deepened the kiss. Neither one of them wanted the night to end. They weren't sure what was going to happen when they left tonight.

As their lips parted, she leaned her forehead into his and took a few shallow breaths. The feeling of his arms wrapped around her waist brought a smile to her face and a joy to her heart that she hadn't felt it a while. She wondered if that was how Astoria felt about Draco at times.

"So, what does this mean?" she asked, leaning back to look him in the eyes.

"What do you want it to mean?" he replied. "I'd like to spend more time with you as more than a friend and see where things go from there, but if that's not something that you'd be interested in, I understand."

"I'd like that too," she said, bringing a smile to his face and one to her own as well.

"Merry Christmas, Daphne," Theo said just moments before crashing his lips into hers.

It was the best Christmas present she had never thought she needed, but she was sure glad to be where she was right this second. Even if Blaise had outed her secret when she wasn't ready to admit the truth.

Someday she'd have to thank him for what he did. But for now, she was going to enjoy the quiet moment that she and Theo were sharing.

All thanks to Blaise and a bottle of firewhiskey.