Hermione only realised what she had agreed to that night when she was laying awake in her bed, terrified of the party, when she'd be going on an actual date with Draco Malfoy. Sure, they were really close friends now, and sure, she knew she was healing, but was she ready? Could she be around Draco knowing that his feelings for her were strong enough to cause him to ask her out and not feel uncomfortable about it? Merlin, did she hope so. She didn't want to do anything to hurt his feelings in any way.
She vowed then and there that she would do her best to not hurt Draco's feelings, to get over her fears and insecurities and just trust Draco. She could do that, couldn't she? For, hadn't Draco been the one to save her from the one she could no longer trust? Of course!
Shutting her eyes with that mentality, Hermione was soon fast asleep.
Draco, on the other hand, was far too giddy to sleep. He'd told Harry about him asking out Hermione. Harry had seemed perfectly happy that they had gotten together. But he'd made it a point to make sure Draco didn't hurt Hermione, that he stick with this. He'd gotten himself into this, and if he tried to break out, Harry made sure Draco knew he'd be beaten back in.
Draco was just fine with that. If he ever hurt Hermione, he gave the world permission to have him put in the most awful position imaginable.
...
Hermione woke up the morning of the party in a pretty great mood. She didn't have that work that day, which was just as well, as she and Harry were going to go out and cut down a Christmas tree, and she wanted time to decorate it before the company Christmas party. It was Draco's turn to do the laundry, but he decided to put it off until later so he could spend the time with Hermione. He needed to be around to protect her, after all.
Hermione donned her jacket, hat and mittens and the group of them set off in search of a tree.
"Oh, what do you think of this one, Harry?" The group of them had been trudging through the snow and the cold for nearly three hours, and Draco hated it. The only thing that made it any better was how adorable Hermione was with her flushed cheeks and her scarf pulled up around her face. Her hair was covered in tiny snowflakes, along with her eyelashes and shoulders.
"It's a little big, 'Mione..."
"Oh, but it's so full and wonderful!" Hermione exclaimed, throwing her arms out. "Please, can we get this one?"
Harry couldn't say no to her. He sighed, but smiled. "I can shrink it a bit to fit in the living room."
"Yes!" she shouted, walking towards Draco, out of the way so that Harry could hack it down with magic.
"Isn't it wonderful?" Hermione asked Draco.
"It's a tree," Draco stated.
"Yes, but now it's our tree," Hermione replied. "It's wonderful."
Draco chuckled. "Whatever you say, Hermione."
Hermione gave him a curious look. "Haven't you ever had a Christmas tree before?"
Draco shook his head. "Sure, I've heard of them and seen pictures of them in books and such, but I've never had one of my own, no."
Hermione stared at him a moment.
"Hermione?" Draco said tentatively. "What's wrong."
She suddenly burst into tears. She'd been so emotional since what had happened with Ron had ended. "That's the saddest thing I've ever h-h-heard!"
Draco sighed and pulled Hermione close to him. She wrapped her arms around his middle and sobbed into his chest as Draco rolled his eyes. "Come on, now, Hermione...if you don't stop the tears will freeze and that would be most uncomfortable, wouldn't it be?"
She sniffled. "I suppose."
She turned to watch Harry work with the tree.
"It's not that sad, really," Draco said. "You shouldn't get so worked up over me. You'll get yourself sick. There were worse things in my childhood than not having a Christmas tree."
She peered up at him, her tears gone by now. "Really?"
Merlin, she was like a little girl. What had asking her out gotten him into?
...
Hermione painstakingly decorated the tree for an entire hour. It looked fantastic by the time she'd finished. She insisted they all stand in front of it and have their picture taken for the Christmas cards she intended on sending out.
"It's a beautiful tree, Hermione," Draco said, his hands in the pockets of his khaki pants, which he planned on wearing to the party.
Hermione was still in her bedroom getting ready, but he knew she'd heard him.
"Thank you!" she said. "I wanted your first tree to be perfect."
Draco sighed. "Thank you."
She was still hung up on that? Maybe he shouldn't have brought it up in the first place...he hadn't been kidding when he said there were worse parts of his childhood than not having a Christmas tree. Way worse things. He didn't want to tell her. After her uncharacteristic reaction to what he'd told her that afternoon, he wasn't so sure her little heart could take everything else he'd been through.
And when Hermione stepped through her bedroom door and into the living room, Draco wasn't so sure his own heart would be able to take how beautiful she was at that moment.
...
Hi! As those of you who follow my story "May Be You" know, I'm punishing myself for not updating as quickly as I know I can. So I'm updating this story twice today, I already wrote over 3,000 words of "May Be You," and I will be writing one chapter for all of my other stories. So, if I'm on your alerts, please don't be too angry with all of the updates. :)
Please review if you've got a second! ^^
