A/N Enjoy; review. Love, Jacinta.

'Mr Malfoy, Miss Granger, this is a rather… unique situation we have a present, and I do hope you can see why I called you to my office to discuss it.' Professor McGonagall sat across the desk from us, blushing slightly. She had found us at breakfast after we finally got out of bed, neither of us particularly polished.

We were both still rather ravaged-looking.

What has gotten into me?

Anyways, I suppose you can guess why she wanted to talk to us.

'I've heard from Molly Weasley that you are engaged,' she told us, 'and so we need to discuss your living arrangements.' She shuffled in her seat, and continued, 'Since you two are so – ahem – involved, I'm worried what the general population might think. As well, you two are Head Boy and Girl – we cannot send the message that we condone…' Her voice trailed off and she motioned towards Draco and me.

'Condone what, Professor?' Draco drawled. 'We're the epitome of inter-house relationships. Since the end of the war, that's been a main focus, hasn't it? Who better than the Prince of Slytherin and the Princess of Gryffindor?' He looked over at me and smirked.

'That is not the point, Mr Malfoy. The point is you and Miss Granger are… are living together, have unlimited access to each other's living quarters without the supervision of any superiors.'

'We would have the same situation in the common rooms, Professor,' Draco continued. 'And besides, as you pointed out, we're Head Boy and Girl. You chose us, presumably, for our intelligence and responsibility?'

'Yes, but-'

'That means, Professor, that really, you should have nothing to fear from us. It's the students who are still residing in the common rooms who you should really be going after. After all, they have no reputations to keep up, no positions to respect. Would Hermione or myself do anything to undermine your authority?'

She snorted, and I added, 'Professor, I assure you, Draco and I are doing nothing sordid. We are simply in love, and… and we promise we won't let you down in any way.' As I spoke, Draco grabbed my hand and kissed it softly.

Professor McGonagall smiled, tilted her head slightly, and sighed, 'Well, Miss Granger, I know I can trust you, at least. And you're right, Mr Malfoy. As long as you retain the dignity of your positions then I have no problem with you two cohabitating until the end of the school year.' She stood, and motioned us to follow suit. She opened the door for us, but before we left, she added, 'Congratulations, you two,' and a warm, matronly smile for good measure.

When we reached the bottom of the stairs, and the door was shut firmly behind us, Draco wrapped his arm around my waist, pulled me in tight, and muttered into my ear, 'So… the Gryffindor Princess knows how to lie… I don't know if I should be scared… or turned on…'

'That wasn't a lie,' I scoffed quietly, continuing to look straight ahead. 'That was… a tuning of the truth to fit my purpose. What about you? "The epitome of inter-house relationships"?'

'You're not the only one who listens to start-of-term speeches, you know.'

'Mmhmm. Whatever you say, Draco.'

'Precisely, my dear. So, I say we go outside and have a snowball fight. Right now.' He tightened his grip, and began lengthening his pace.

'Wait! What? No! Draco!' I tried to fight back, to grip the floor with my shoes, but darn it, patent leather does nothing on a flagstone floor.

'You said "whatever you say, Draco," and I say we go play in the snow. So, moving on…'

'No! No, I don't want to! It's cold out there! Frigid, even! Draco, come on, this isn't funny! No!' He had slowly but surely pulled me to the front doors – in nothing but my unkempt uniform – and proceeded in throwing me outside, and into a very large, very cold, snow bank. I stuttered, and immediately began shivering as I struggled to eject myself from the snow. 'Draco!'

'Woops…' he said sarcastically, smirking down at me. 'Well, now, lookie here… what've we got? A snow angel…'

I snorted through my shivers, and said, 'Get-t-t m-m-e out-t-t o-of h-h-here – a-choo!'

His demeanour immediately changed as he pulled me up and wrapped me in his fur-lined cloak. 'Better?'

'J-j-j-je-r-rk-k-k,' I chattered, pulling the cloak tighter around my body.

'Oh, sweety…' he chided, rubbing his hands up and down my arms, trying to warm me up.

'W-wh-what did-d-d you d-do that f-for?' I snapped through my chattering teeth. I then proceeded to elbow him in his firmly toned chest and stalk off in repulsion – but I was too cold. His long, easy stride easily sped up to meet my shivering, careful one.

'I wanted to cool you down. You were turning beet red.' He walked along beside me, his usual confidence and Slytherin pride radiating from every pore in his body… not that his perfect pale skin has pores...

'And I'm n-n-not red-d-d n-n-now?'

'Only a little. I can fix that, though.' He whispered the final bit, and ran his arms around my shoulders, kissing my temple as he went. 'Better?' I muttered something rather… harsh… in reply, and he jumped back dramatically, pretending to stumble. 'What? Miss Granger! That language is not appropriate for the Head Girl – and not for such a lovely Gryffindor lady.'

'I b-believe we w-w-went over th-this b-bef-fore.' I still wasn't yielding my irritated stance. I mean – he threw me into a snow bank! Honestly!

'Now this has gone quite far enough…'

'D-Draco, you th­-threw me into a s-snow b-bank!'

'Yes, and then I gave you my lovely fur and cashmere cloak and tried to warm you up. . .'

'But you th-threw me in a s-snow bank! Why would you d-do that?'

'I already told you.'

'Mmhmm.'

'Okay, that's it.'

'W-What?'

'Come here…' he started, moving towards me determinedly.

'N-No… D-Draco, what are you going t-to-? Draco! No!'

He picked me up in his arms, and carried me, bridal style, from the foyer to our common room, and into his bedroom, placing me on the floor smack in front of the crackling fireplace. All the way, I was clutching his beautiful neck, my eyes closed tight, afraid he was going to drop me.

'Well, that shut you up,' he laughed, summoning pillows and the comforter from the bed.

I mumbled again, curled myself up in the blankets, and flopped down onto the pillows.

'Come now, Hermione,' he coaxed, running his hand up and down my back. 'Come on… Hermione…' He lowered his lips to my ear and muttered, 'Hey, Hermione, guess what?'

I grunted in reply.

'Hey – hey, Hermione…'

I sighed, knowing what was coming, and asked placidly, 'What do you want, Draco?'

'Guess what?'

'What?' I could already feel the corners of my lips forming a smile.

'Hermione… I love you.'

'That's cheating,' I told him, turning around to face him. 'Cheating.'

'I love you.' His lips touched mine momentarily, and I couldn't stop the smile. He smirked, and propped his head up on his hand. 'There now. That wasn't so hard, was it?'

'Heaven help me, I'm in love with a smartass.'

'You're in love with me?'

'Unequivocally, unceasingly, and undeniably…'

'How I love hearing it…'

'How I love saying it…'

'I love you.'

'I love you, too.'

A/N Aww... aaand that's it until I get back from camp... so I expect to return to an inbox full of 'Review Alert for Back to the Books'... : )... and to all of you who HAVE reviewed, a crazy big THANK YOU! for all your support, and darn it, your reviews make my day day after day. Ciao, all, and I'll 'see' you after camp...x0xJacinta...

ps... how do you put that little heart in the text?