Author's Note: It snowed for the first time this December! I was so excited that I started this chapter, and I finished within two days. Hopefully it doesn't seem rushed. I really liked Draco's dream this chapter. Please read and review. I'm going to try and write another chapter before Christmas, but if not Happy Holidays! P.S I almost made it to my goal of 2,500 words. These chapters must be longer!
There was a blanket of snow on the ground. Every step I took caused a soft crunch come from under my foot. In front of the castle were a hundred snowmen and snowwomen. They were talking to each other as they gestured wildly with their stick arms. As I walked towards them they started to melt. I quickly retreated so as not to ruin the beautiful sight. One snowman was missing half of it's head because of me. I walked down the line while keeping a safe distance away. There was one snowwomen that caught my attention. She was wearing a bright yellow scarf, and she was animatedly talking to another snowwoman. The other snowwoman had turnips for buttons instead of coal, she immediately reminded me of someone I knew. I watched curiously as they talked to each other. There was nothing particularly interesting about these two snowwomen, but I was intrigued. I immediately tried to figure out a way to get close to them. I covered myself in snow, and I ignored the cold sting that came with it. I walked experimentally towards another group of snowmen. As soon as I came within ten feet of them, they melted. I frowned as they slowly turned into slush. I retreated back to a safe distance and pondered how I could stop this from happening. I cast a cooling charm on myself and walked towards another group of snowmen. They too melted. I was getting quite frustrated at this point. I walked back to my spot and sat down with a thump. I watched the two snowwoman for a little longer. The more they talked to each other the more I wanted to hear their conversation. I angrily got up and paced around. I was so frustrated by my inability to get closer. I dropped to my knees and pounded the ground with my fists. Clumps of snow flew into the air as I continually beat the ground. I didn't stop for a few minutes and when I did tears were streaming down my face. I looked up to see the captivating snowwoman looking at me oddly. She shuffled towards me. Once she got close to me she started to melt. I got scared by the thought of her turning in to slush like the other snowmen. I quickly got up and started to run away. I tripped clumsily, and I watched, horrified, her melt before me. I closed my eyes tight and waited for ten seconds before opening them again. In front of me was a brown eyed beauty. Her hair fell in soft waves, and her yellow scarf was wrapped tightly around her. Her smile was warm as she took my hand. There was still snow on her, but she was no longer wrapped in it. She beckoned to her friend to come closer. The turnip snowwoman shuffled towards me and this time I watched as the snow melted off of her. First I saw her pale, blond hair and then her silvery grey eyes. I instantly recognized her, but I couldn't remember from where. I silently followed the brown haired girl as she walked briskly towards the Forbidden Forest. We reached the edge of the woods before she spoke.
"There's a fire within you, that's why you melted all the others," she said firmly.
"Why didn't I melt you?" I asked.
"I'm different. I have a fire to match you."
"Who are you?" My voice took on a pleading tone. I wanted to know who this beauty was. Something about her captivated me, and I couldn't tear myself away. She was entrancing.
"You know me, but you refuse to acknowledge it," she said softly. A lone tear ran down her face. I brought my hand up to wipe the tear away. My hand brushed across her soft, rosy cheek and when I took it away snow had appeared on her face. I wiped away the snow, only to have more appear within seconds. The more I tried to get rid of it, the more snow appeared. The whole left side of her face was covered in snow. I was beginning to get frantic.
"What do I do?"
"You know me Draco! Why do you refuse to admit it?" Tears were running down her face leaving trails of wetness. I watched as they slowly iced over.
"I would never deny knowing you."
"But you do!" The tears had stopped and she looked at me with venom in her eyes. "Admit it! Admit that you like me."
"I do. I do like you, very much so. I would like you more if I knew your name." It was snowing again, and I watched in horror as the tiny snowflakes stuck to her skin.
"You may admit that you like me, but you won't admit liking the real me. You like me in your mind, but not in the real world," she said as tears began to form, once again, at the corners of her eyes. I tried to respond to her, but I was speechless. I had no idea what she was talking about. The snow had started to envelop her, and her face was slowly being covered in snow. Her wide, brown eyes peered at me as the last bit of snow covered her face.
My eyes shot open. I was staring once again at the carvings in my bed. My covers had moved around me in my sleep. I groggily surveyed my surroundings and saw that it was really early in the morning probably around four. All of my dorm mates were still in their bunks, and I heard loud snores coming from Crabbe's bunk. As I lay in bed it dawned on me that the girl in my dream was Hermione Granger. I grabbed a handful of hair in each hand before letting out an exasperated sigh. I had once again dreamed about her. A burst of cold air came through an open window and made me shiver. "What idiot left that open?" I grumbled softly as I got out of bed and walked towards it. A lone snowflake drifted through the window and landed on my shirt. I watched it melt instantly. The cold air that drifted through the window cleared my head immediately. I put my elbows on the sill before putting my head outside. The Slytherin dormitories were in the dungeons, so the view wasn't great. The window was barely twenty feet off the ground. I looked out across the white plain of snow at the Forbidden Forest in the distance. I tried to find the spot where I had talked to the dream Granger, but it was useless. I gave another sigh as I pushed my hand through my pale blond hair. I thought about taking another shower to clear my head, but decided against it. I needed to think thoroughly about why I have been dreaming about Granger. She had unexplainably jumped into my head and attacked my dreams with a passion. She was a weed that grew stronger with every dream I had. I closed the window softly and headed back to my bed. Goyle gave a loud grunt that made me jump. I climbed into bed and gathered the sheets up around me to chase away the goose pimples that had appeared. I warmed up quickly, and I began to get drowsy yet again. As I closed my eyes I thought about Granger, and how maybe it wasn't so bad if I dreamt about her again.
"Draco, wake up," Blaise said as he threw open the curtains that sheltered my bed from the light. I groaned and turned over.
"Lemme sleep some more," I grumbled. My slumber had been dreamless. I had no more dreams of Granger, and I couldn't help feeling the tiniest bit disappointed.
"No," Blaise said simply. He levitated me out of my bed and dropped me mercilessly on the floor.
"I never asked you to be my personal alarm clock, so bugger off already," I snapped. I got up and brushed myself off while glaring at Blaise. He indifferently looked at his hands. I muttered to myself as I got dressed. A few choice curse words about Blaise passed over my lips in that time. He waited until I was ready before heading down to the common room. Not too many people were down there as breakfast was starting soon. We rushed to the Great Hall and ate breakfast in silence. The day passed quickly and dully. Soon I was back in the common room with my fellow Slytherins. I had been unusually quiet all day and a few people noticed.
"What's wrong Draky?" Pansy drawled as she stroked my arm.
"Nothing," I grumbled as I shook her arm off. She gave me a wounded look. I had been too harsh on Pansy lately. "Just the winter holidays coming up. That's all." Pansy instantly brightened up. "What are you doing during winter break?" I asked.
"Well, I'm going home, but…." Every few seconds I would add in a "yeah","oh", or "uh-huh". She didn't notice that I wasn't listening and continued to tell me her plans for the next ten minutes. I continued to stare at the fire. All I could think about was Granger! Not only was she infecting my dreams, she was taking over my head during the day. I had shared no classes with her today, but she was all I thought about during them. What was going to happen when she was in a class with me? I needed to clear my head somehow. I told Pansy I was going for a walk, and I walked briskly out of the portrait hole. I had no destination in mind as I mindlessly walked the hallways. I focused on the tapping of my feet on the stone instead of Granger. Soon I was standing in front of the library.
"Traitors!" I whispered to my feet menacingly. I walked inside the library to see that it was nearly deserted. There were a few Hufflepuff girls and a second year Slytherin boy that I recognized to be Ted Ling. I headed towards one of the shelves and picked a book. I sat down and looked at the cover; it was Twelve Fail-Safe Ways to Charm Witches. Perfect just perfect, why is that even here in the library anyway? I took a quick peek at the inside cover of the book, and I saw that it was the property of Ronald Weasley. I let out a soft chuckle as I thought about Weasley trying to pick up girls. I put the idiot's book back on the shelf and picked up another book. It was One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi. It was perfectly boring, and it easily distracted me from my Granger obsession. I was reading about aconite, a plant we had learned about in third year, when I heard a familiar voice.
"I have the books that I checked out last week, Madam Pince," said the voice. I looked up to see Granger. She obviously hadn't noticed me because she was beaming.
"Great, just who I was trying to avoid," I muttered to myself. Although coming to the library wasn't the best place to go when trying to avoid the Human Encyclopedia. She must have heard me because she whirled around and glared at me.
"Why exactly were you trying to avoid me?" she said defiantly.
"Don't flatter yourself Granger. I try to avoid all Gryffindors," I drawled haughtily.
"You were trying to avoid me personally I can tell by the way you said it," she paused for a moment. "And for your information I would not like to have Ron's or Harry's babies." I gave her a bewildered look before remembering our conversation yesterday.
"Well whose babies would you like to have then?" I had no idea why I had asked that question. She blushed furiously and sat down across from me.
"Why are you so interested anyway?" she asked. I noticed she had avoided the question. I had also noticed that her question had made me blush a little.
"Believe me I could care less who you shag," I answered indifferently, but it was a lie. The thought of her and Ginger together made me grimace. "You avoided my question," I pointed out.
"Well it's none of your business anyways." The dark blush returned to her cheeks, and I decided I rather liked it there.
"Well it's not like you have many choices in Gryffindor," I commented. Her cheeks had faded back to a normal color.
She looked up at me before saying sarcastically," Oh and the choices are so much better in Slytherin?"
"I'd say so," I said before standing up. I grabbed my book and put it back on the shelf. I walked over to her side of the table, and I leaned down until my mouth was close to her ear. "But there's only one way to find out," I whispered softly. She whipped her head around at my words, and I saw the blush return to her cheeks. We were inches apart, and I could see every fleck in her brown eyes. I gave her a sly wink which, to my delight, made her blush even more. I stood up and walked towards the hallway. I could feel her gaze on the back of my head. As I walked back to the Slytherin common room, I realized that my conversation with Granger was quite draining. I was very drowsy and quite ready to sleep. I muttered the password to the portrait, and it swung open. The common room was nearly empty except for a few snogging couples.
I headed up the stairs with heavy feet, and I barely changed into my pajamas before I collapsed into bed. The day's happenings washed over me, and I lingered on my conversation with Granger. The way every mention of sex made her blush was endearing. A Slytherin girl wouldn't blink twice at the word, but Granger was so much more innocent than that. I closed my eyes as I almost hoped that tonight's dreams would have Granger in it. I had to admit that the lack of dreams this morning had left me disappointed. I liked Dream Granger very much. In fact I think I liked real Granger.
