Writers block is a bitch.
Hermione turned over in her bed. It was Christmas morning, she'd had a clear bill of health just in time, but couldn't sleep all night. And it wasn't because of the usual pre-Christmas excitement that people of all ages have, it was because of Draco. She'd barely been back two hours, before they came across each other. She'd never ever experienced a more awkward meet with anyone. She had been passing through the common room, when Draco came out of his room, he'd almost gotten to the bottom of the stairs before he noticed her. His eyes met hers and he froze in place. He looked like he'd wanted to say something, but was holding himself back. He then turned on his heel and swept back up the stairs.
Stupid Draco, making her feel awkward. What was there to be embarrassed about? They'd hated each other for years, then they had begun to get close as themselves. But then Hermione thought back on the intimate moments they'd shared while under masks, and she blushed furiously. Oh yeah, there's that. He'd seen her… bits. He even commented on the little mole she had to the right of her right breast. Hermione blushed even more, she felt like her face was glowing red. There was also the whole saving her life thing.
'Stupid Draco making me feel awkward.' She thought. 'Dear Merlin, listen to me, I sound like a petty teenage girl. Compose yourself Hermione.'
Hermione turned over again. She could see the bag of presents at the foot of her bed, but they didn't really hold her interest at the moment. She sighed, frustrated. There was no way she was getting any sleep so she got up and got dressed, still unsure of what to do with her time.
As she descended the stairs, she heard her name being called, her heart leapt for a moment, thinking it to be Draco. As it turned out, it was just the teenage Dumbledore in portrait form.
"What is it, Albus?" She asked, curiously.
He smiled cheekily. "You passed the mistletoe, with not even a second glance."
"Mistletoe?" She looked up and around her. There was no mistletoe in sight. "There's no mistletoe."
"Yes there is!" He pointed to the ceiling in his portrait. Sure enough, there was a small sprig of the green and white plant there. "It's still technically above you, now isn't it?" He smirked.
She raised her eyebrow at him. "Are you sure you're the same Dumbledore?"
"Almost. Do I become a bit of a stuffed shirt?"
"Well no, not exactly, you still have a bit of cheek to you."
"Good! Good. Now, give me a kiss. But just on the cheek, I don't want people getting the wrong idea about me." He smiled.
Hermione was still a little unsure. "But Albus, you're a portrait…"
"Oh come on, you're worse than half the teachers here."
Hermione scowled. She'd always resented being compared to the teachers. "Okay fine, but just a little peck on the cheek."
Albus turned his cheek out and she lightly kissed it. "Lovely, thank you." He smiled teasingly.
"Well Albus, turning the other cheek, are we?" The portrait to his right said to him.
"Always with the really bad puns, Gael?" Albus replied. Gael stuck out his tongue at him.
"Okay… I'll leave you two to it." Hermione bade goodbye to the two of them and decided to make her way to the Gryffindor common room. On her way through the hallways, she ran into Luna.
"Oh, hello, Hermione." She greeted. "You're up rather early."
"Yeah, I couldn't sleep. Hey Luna, have you ever heard of a portrait asking for a kiss from someone under mistletoe?"
"Oh yes. It happens quite often, but it's generally the more outgoing portraits who ask. I suppose the others are afraid of the Nargles."
"Oh yes… them."
"You were asked for a kiss?"
"Um, yeah. There's a portrait of Dumbledore as a teenager in the Head's common room."
"I would've thought he'd have asked Draco, although he is a tough man to figure out. I suppose that is what you get when you're known as one of the wisest people of the age."
"Yeah. Sure. What are you doing up so early anyway?"
"Oh, I'm always up this early on Christmas. You know that father writes that an old wizard ages ago in the school, was full of sorrow because he's lost his wife, so he cast a spell to make her ghost visible, but instead what he did was put a spell on all the ghosts in the castle by accident, so that at a particular hour on Christmas morning, they become solid. I haven't been able to find out which hour that is yet, though. I think it's because the ghosts hide when they become solid."
"Oh right. Well, good luck with that. I'm going to head up to the Gryffindor common room, to see Harry and Ron." Hermione said quickly, hoping to not get caught up in searching for solid ghosts. Luna waved goodbye and floated off down the corridor in her usual dreamy state.
Hermione continued onto the common room, but even though she did have to admit, there did seem to be a unusual shortage of ghosts. She hadn't passed one yet on her journey, which was odd. She out it out of her mind as she entered the common room, and sat by the dying fire. She contemplated her problem with Draco, it had done nothing but plague her mind since she woke up after her fall into the lake. She knew well how to deal with someone with hypothermia, it wasn't the first time she'd come across it, when she was seven, she was out with her parents, her aunt and her older cousin, Tessa. Tessa had managed to slip and fall into the freezing river they were strolling along the banks of, and she'd seen how it worked. Get the person out of the wet clothes, put them in warm dry ones and gradually heat them up with body heat etc. She blushed when she imagined how Draco had handled it.
She spent the next few hours lost in thought before she was snapped out of it by Harry.
The rest of the day involved jolly celebrations, over-eating, Harry getting killed in Wizard chess by Ron and many a snowball fight. Draco didn't enter her mind once, during all the merriment. But as the day came to an end, she knew she'd have to face him again for her Head Girl patrol duties. Amazingly, he'd managed to avoid it, as she left the Gryffindor common room, she felt the gust of wind, that showed that Draco had cast the spell and the duties had started. Throughout patrolling the corridors, she didn't come past him once, although she really oughtn't have been surprised by it, 'it is a very big castle after all.'
When patrols were over, she was In the Astronomy Tower, trying to politely ask the Bloody Baron to keep his groaning and clanking to a minimum, but having very little effect.
It took her almost twenty minutes to get back to the Head's common room. As she entered, she sat down on one of the chairs, happy to be off of her feet. Her eyes were feeling heavy, but she shook her head, determined not to fall asleep on the couch and wake up with a sore back and neck.
Dragging her feet as she ascended the stairs, her head was bowed, practically sleepwalking. All of a sudden she walked into something rather solid, hitting her head. "Ow…" she muttered, she looked up. She'd veered off very slightly, and hit one of the stone walls. "How could I have missed that…" she muttered again.
"You're a graceful woman, Hermione." Albus shouted, rather drunk, with one of the past Head Girls on his arm. "Oh, oh, oh, oh, Hermione, have you met…" He looked at the girl on his arm, who was also quite drunk. "Wha's your name?"
The previous Head Girl seemed to be having trouble remembering her own name. She was far far more intoxicated than Albus.
"Oh yeah, Hermione, have you met Enid?" He pointed to her. "She's my best friend. Ooooh, but no kissing, no…"
Hermione nodded, and was about to continue up the stairs again, but as she looked up, she realized standing right before her was Draco.
"Draco! M'boy!" Albus threw his arms out, spilling his firewhisky everywhere, amazingly, missing Enid, not that she would have noticed. Draco raised his eyebrow at Albus. Albus, however was looking at Draco, as if trying to figure something out. Then his eyes went wide and started pointing madly and the roof then Hermione, then the roof then Draco. He looked as if he was trying to say something, but it was just on the tip of his tongue.
"This is why I don't drink," Gale said next to them. "It turns the smartest people into blithering idiots. Even someone with the intelligence level of Albus. Though it does always seem to be the smartest ones who are the most shameless."
Albus' attention was turned to Gale, and he swayed and pointed at him "I'll get you yet…" he muttered.
Suddenly he clapped his hands together. "That's it!" Enid jumped, but soon went back to her firewhisky.
"Th-The mist-tletoe! You two!" He pointed at Hermione and Draco. "Kiss! Now. It's the rules, you're under the mistlething. You have to kiss!"
Hermione just stood, not daring to look at Draco.
"Oh come on! You're acting silly! Kiss! Kiss! Kiss!"
"He's not going to stop until you do." Gale said, "He'll follow ye into a portrait in your rooms if he has to."
"C'mon! I know ye want to. Just do it! Oh, you know what, it's okay, I promise I won't look." He turned away. After an agonizing few seconds of terrible silence, he said "I don't hear kissing!"
Hermione's face was going redder by the second, all ounce of tiredness gone, her heart was beating double time, and adrenaline was coursing through her from nervousness.
"Kiss for Merlins sake, we're not getting any younger! I can do this all night!"
"Oh for gods sake," Hermione heard from behind her, next thing she knew, Draco had pulled her towards him and pressed his lips to hers. Her heart stopped for a second and her eyes went wide, then picked up twice as fast and she closed her eyes.
"Yay!" Albus shouted waving his arms. "Cheers!" he said and downed a glass of firewhisky.
"Okay… you can stop now…" he said. They didn't pay any attention.
"Hey! Hey! Enough! Guys? Hello? Cut it out, it's gross!"
"You brought it upon yourself, Albus." Gale said to him.
"Yeah, I know, but… " Albus pulled his wand out of his pocket and set off a red and gold firework inside his portrait with a loud bang.
Hermione and Draco pulled apart with a start.
"I just wanted a kiss out of ye, Merlin, not a bloody snog. If you're gonna do that again, get a room."
Hermione and Draco looked at each other. Draco shrugged. "Okay." He took Hermione's hand and pulled her into his room.
"Oh my god, ew!" Albus shouted after them. "I'm gonna need a lot more firewhisky to block this out…"