Hermione darted away from Ginny and stepped into Draco's path. He stopped short and they stared at each other for a moment. She very nearly reached out to touch him, before she remembered where they were.

"Proffessor McGonagall wants to see us tonight in her office," She said smiling slightly.

"I want to see you right now," Draco said seductively, he had grabbed her arm and was marching her backwards.

"Draco, not here," Hermione said but he was already stroking her face with his gloved hand. It was chilly out in the courtyard after all. Hermione remembered the snow that had fallen in spite of it being spring, only when her foot sank into a drift.

"To hell with them," Draco said, waving his hand back towards the busy courtyard, which seemed a lifetime away from where they were. It was cooler, Hermione's erratic breathing coming in short puffs in front of her face. They were in the shadows, effectively hidden from prying eyes.

Hermione's back smacked into a wall and her eyes widened. Draco smirked and tried to kiss her, but she squirmed away from him. His silvery eyes watched, as she looked around warily and then grabbed his hand, dragging him further away from the castle and any promises of warmth. He followed willingly, wondering where in the world she was taking him.

She suddenly stopped walking and Draco looked around, waiting to be amazed by something. They were standing in a field of pure white snow and it was slowly seeping in through the tops of his boots. He shivered slightly and then Hermione grabbed him around the middle, sealing her warmth into him. Smiling contentedly, despite himself he hugged her back. Hermione jerked slightly and Draco fell back onto his back. It was a moment before he realized she'd tricked him and he lay there looking up at her pink face with no emotion at all.

"What the..." He sputtered as she dumped snow on his head.

Growling, he got to his feet and saw that Hermione was trying to scamper away, back towards the castle. He wasn't having any of that. He ran at full tilt, his long legs eating up the ground between them with ferocious speed. Hermione stood a chance, but at the wrong moment she looked back to see where he was, and with her infamous clumsiness went sprawling into a drift.

Draco was on her in a second, he sat on her, and rubbed her already rosy cheeks with snow. He remembered getting into a snowball fight with Pansy once, and using the same treatment, she'd squealed like a pig. But Hermione was nothing like Pansy. She pushed up, nearly only with her stomach muscles and brought her face dangerously close to Draco's, he stared into her chocolate eyes, as lost as ever. Somehow she managed to flipped him over and she was off and running again.

Draco gave chase, catching up to her just as she entered the courtyard. Out of breath and red in the face, many of the students stared at them. Draco bent over and tried to catch his breath, Hermione on the other hand just took a few deep breaths and seemed fine. He realized she was in better shape than him.

"That wasn't fair," Draco said and Hermione shrugged, giving him his own smirk back to him. He could only stare at her. He couldn't quite remember when Hermione had changed, but she was turning into a little minx.

They walked with as much decorum as they could muster, back to their common rooms. Once inside Hermione shook out her hair over the fire, letting the icicles and bits of snow fall in with a hiss. She turned, fully expecting Draco to be there, waiting for her, but he had escaped into his room. She sighed and still combing ice out of her hair with her fingers, sat on the couch.

Draco had shucked his wet clothing and put on clean clothes. Even when he'd been dripping wet and freezing, he'd been warm at the thought of Hermione touching him. He shook himself. He was getting in very deep with the Head Girl. He came out of his room and saw her, sitting on the couch, her hair melting around her. He smiled to himself and sat beside her.

"Are you, perhaps, the Ice Queen?"

"Ha ha, very funny," Hermione said rolling her eyes, but her eyes went into focus when she noticed that Draco was inching his way closer to her.

"Aren't you cold?" Draco said laying his head on her shoulder and blowing warm air onto her cheek. She shivered and pushed him away. She got up quickly, afraid of him, not because he was scary, but because she felt so comfortable in his presence. It was unnerving. His touch set her skin on fire and she didn't want to go to pieces just yet.

"Get changed. You'll feel better," Draco said softly, even though he was staring intensely into the fire. Hermione could see the flames dance in his eyes.

She turned and went into her room. Running away from the problem.

Hermione had pulled her sopping hair into a bun and when she met Draco, a while later, she was cleanly clothed in a grey sweater and a black pencil skirt. He wanted to hug her, to see if her sweater was soft, but she looked delicate and unsure. He didn't want to push her over the edge again.

"I wonder why McGonagall wants to see us," Draco said waiting patiently as Hermione buckled her shoes on.

"I'm not sure. It can't be about our grades. We've been doing good in Trans. Maybe someone's complained about the immaturity of the Heads," Hermione said and Draco knew she was reffering to their earlier playtime in the snow.

"Poor them, we must set a better example, I suppose."

Hermione only looked at him solemnly and he winked, making her blush prettily. They went out of the portrait hole, both feeling stuffy and warm. Draco snuck a look at Hermione out of the corner of his eye. She looked anxious and healthy. Her stint as his patient had not indeared him to her, but it had worked. She was no longer keeping him awake with wracking coughs.

Her recovery made him proud, but now he had no excuses to bug her as much. Well, he did. He just pretended it was of infinite importance for him to know her better than anyone. Keep your enemies close and all that. She seemed to ignore this and call him an annoying bugger as many times as she could. But he kept coming back for more and she wasn't putting up as much of a fight anymore.

When they reached McGonagall's office door, Hermione grabbed the handle and turned to Draco. She was nervous, he could see it in her face, but she gave him a brave smile, before pushing the door open. Draco followed her, like he always did now.