It was New Years Eve. The entire seventh year had been planning a party for that night, and Ron, Ginny, and Harry were going back to school early for it. According to Draco, that was Blaise's plan, and the two of them agreed to return early so they could spend some time with their friends and announce the good news. Not that everyone would think of them dating as such.
Draco hadn't come well prepared, only wearing a thin jacket with his sweater, jeans, and black combat boots. After apparating to Hosgmeade, the closest point they were able to apparate to, the snow began seeping into Draco's shoes. He whined the entire walk back to Hogwarts, which could have been romantic with the nearly setting sun if he weren't so miserable.
Hermione was just as relieved to be back in their shared common room, slightly annoyed with Draco. He took off his damp socks, drying his feet while he waved his wand around, unpacking his clothes. Hermione preferred to do it manually; magic usually did a pretty horrid job of folding her sweaters.
Around six, there was a knock outside the common room. Hermione opened the portrait, and Ginny stepped in, throwing her arms around her friend. "Long time, no see," she comments. "How did it go? You never owled me!"
"I completely forgot," Hermione admitted. "Because you're my best friend, you'll be the first to know –besides our parents. Draco and I are officially dating."
"Exclusively?!"
"I believe so."
"Are you going to tell people?"
Hermione shrugs. "A few people. Our close friends. I'm not sure if he wants it to get out, because of his father and his family in general."
Ginny nods. "The party is starting soon, and I need to do your makeup. Tomorrow, you have to tell me everything, though."
"Deal," Hermione laughs, letting Ginny drag her into her room. After picking out a dark green dress (half for Christmas, half for Draco), her redheaded friend sits her down and makes quick work of her eyeshadow, eyeliner, lipstick (a bright red that Ginny hadn't warned her about), and mascara. Without giving her a heads up, Ginny sprays something like water on her face.
"What the hell was that?!"
"It keeps your makeup on," Ginny giggles. "So you can still snog Malfoy while looking like a queen."
Hermione rolls her eyes. "Okay. Thanks, I guess."
"Any time."
Draco sits on one of the couches in the common room, fully dressed, his combat boots dry now. He's flicking his wand, not casting a spell, just looking utterly bored. "Are you ready?" Hermione asks him, and his attention snaps over to her instantly. He takes in her outfit, makeup, and curled hair with a small smile on his face.
"Yes, are you?" He notices Ginny, nodding her way to greet her.
"Hey," she says quietly.
"We're both ready," Hermione informs him, walking over and holding her hand out to him. He takes it, standing up, towering over her. He unintentionally leans too far forward, their mouths only inches apart, and he hesitates.
"She knows," Hermione tells him, knowing that's why he's hesitant.
"Good," he nods back, pecking her lips quickly.
When the couple turns back to Ginny, she stands there, a huge grin on her face as she stares at them.
"Are you alright?" Hermione asks slowly.
"Yep," she says. "I've just been waiting for this since the beginning of the year."
The pair raises their eyebrows at her. "I guess you called it," Draco shrugs.
"She's usually good at that," Hermione agrees.
Once Hermione picks out shoes to go with her outfit, they head off to the Gryffindor common room, where the party is being hosted. Though they arrive only a half hour late, it seems as if the party has been going on for hours. At least one hundred witches and wizards are there, a good variety from each house. Draco sights Blaise shortly after entering, and slips away from the girls while they search for Ron and Harry.
After pushing through the crowds of people for five minutes, the girls spot a red head standing out only a few feet away. "Ron!" Ginny shouts over the music, and he turns to look in their direction. He points toward the girls, and him and Harry walk over together.
"It's about time! We've been wanting to start the game for an hour now."
"What game?" the girls ask at once.
"It's called Immobulus," Harry tells them. "Ron learned it from Fred and George. They play it all the time with their friends at university."
"I'll explain the rules in a minute. First, I need to get everyone's attention. Give me a boost?" Ron asks Harry, nodding his head towards the table in the corner of the room. Harry intertwines his fingers, making a place for Ron to step, jumping up onto the table and holding his wand to his mouth, using a microphone charm.
"Can someone shut off the music for a minute?" Ron shouts, voice projectified over the noise of the common room. Everyone turns toward him, and it becomes silent in a few seconds. "Thanks. We've got a game to play. Most of the teachers are away, so this might be our only opportunity. It's called Immobulus." A wave of whispers break over the crowd. "Yeah, some of you might have heard of it. In a minute, we're going to turn off all the lights in the castle, and all you'll have is your wand for light. Eight people will be like the seekers; they'll try to find everyone. The stairs are the safe zones, and the only place they can't 'freeze' you. Everyone else's common goal is to find the sixteen glowing flags the seekers will hide beforehand. It's fairly simple. The only way to be un-immobilized, obviously, is to have someone preform the counter-curse on you. If everyone becomes frozen, the seekers win. If the hiders find all the flags, the hiders win."
Harry jumps onto the table next to Ron, taking his wand to speak. "Any volunteers for seekers?"
A few hands raise, and Harry calls on the people, motioning them to the front when he chooses eight. They're required to wear a lime green shirt, which will stick out more in the dark and everyone will know who the seekers are. After being sent off to hide their flags, Ginny and Hermione decide to try and find Draco and Blaise.
It becomes a more difficult feat than they expected. There are a lot of places to hide in the common room Hermione once thought was fairly small, although its goal is to hold every Gryffindor student in the castle. Before they know it, the seekers have returned, and the lights are being shut off with a simple flick of the wand.
"Remember, no charm other than Immobulus!" Ron shouts as everyone takes their wands out, whispering a 'lumos' and filling the room with faded white light. Witches and wizards flood out of the portrait hole, and Hermione gives up on finding her boyfriend. She focuses on sticking with Ginny.
"Where should we go first?" the redhead asks her.
"None of the flags will be hidden in the Gryffindor common room; we were all in there. Maybe they're in other common rooms."
"We don't know any other common room passwords besides yours, and Draco wasn't a seeker so it wouldn't be in there, either."
"Maybe the great hall?"
Ginny nods, and the girls set off, walking so quickly that they're almost running. There's not much of a point; the seekers have to wait five minutes before beginning to search for people. The castle is eerie when there's no source of light besides their wands. The great hall looks like four benches, all fading into complete blackness, out of reach of their lights. The girls separate, creeping along between the tables and looking for anything that is glowing. Reaching the table where the teachers eat, Hermione crosses to the other side. Right away, a glowing Hufflepuff flag jumps out of the darkness near the Headmistress's seat. Hermione snatches it, holding it up so Ginny can see.
"Nice!" she grins as Hermione hurries toward her.
"Can we swing by my dorm room? I need different shoes for this," Hermione groans, her heels already beginning to hurt.
"As long as I can borrow a pair of converse," Ginny agrees, reaching down to take off her heels, holding them in her left hand. Hermione follows suit, shivering as her bare feet meet the cold flooring of the castle.
"Let's hurry. I want to get past the common room before the seekers start looking for us."
The girls set off down the corridor, dresses flowing behind them. The only sound is their feet padding against the bricks of the floor. Hermione stubs her toes multiple times on the steps as they rush up multiple cases, finally reaching the seventh floor and hurrying past the wall where the room of requirement is placed.
"Felix Felicis," Hermione whispers when they reach the portrait. It swings open, and Hermione nearly screams when she sees two dark figures standing in her common room.
"Granger, Weasley!" a familiar voice says happily. The other figure whips around to look at them.
"Merlin, I thought you meant the weasel," a boy groans. Hermione immediately recognizes Draco's outline, made by their wands.
"Scared the bloody hell out of me, you two," Hermione mutters, stepping into the common room with Ginny close behind her.
"Sorry. I just wanted to talk to Blaise about some things without worrying about being fucking frozen," Draco rolls his eyes. As soon as Hermione is close enough, he pulls her against him and kisses her. "You look nice even in the dark."
Hermione giggles. "So do you."
Blaise makes a gagging noise behind them, and they pull apart. "I need to get decent running shoes. I'll be right back." Hermione dismisses herself, Ginny following her into her room.
Draco smiles, watching her walk away. Blaise groans. "I'm going to have to listen to you talk about her even more than before, aren't I?" Draco nods, unphased by his exasperation.
"I told her I loved her."
"What?! Already? What did she say?"
"That she liked me," Draco replies, still smiling at the place Hermione disappeared moment ago.
Blaise raises an eyebrow. "Yeah? That's pretty obvious."
"Is it?"
"Yes. It is. To everyone but you, apparently."
Draco only shrugs, and they stand in silence until Hermione and Ginny come back out with sneakers on. They finally notice the glowing fabric wrapped around her waist. "Is that a flag?" Blaise asks, pointing to it.
"Yep. Hufflepuff. Found it in the great hall."
"Nice job, Sherlock," Draco compliments her, wrapping his arm around her shoulders as they climb through the portrait hole.
"I was thinking, now that we have you, we should go to the Slytherin common room and check to see if anything is there."
"Whatever you want," he nods, and the four of them walk towards the dungeons. After a few flights of stairs, Draco and Hermione fall behind Blaise and Ginny, trailing a few feet back. They share a few glances, laughing quietly to themselves.
Upon reaching the dungeons, Draco stops Hermione before she climbs through the portrait hole after their friends. "What's wrong?" she asks, a concerned look on her face. Draco sets their wands down on the ground next to them, still shining a small amount of light on them; enough to see each other's face.
"Nothing, I just miss being alone with you."
"It's only been an hour," Hermione chuckles.
"I know. But I really like you."
"Is the Draco Malfoy a clingy boyfriend?" she teases him as he rests his palms on her hips, walking forward until her back is against the cold stone wall of the dungeons and she's trapped between it and him.
"Maybe he is. Do you have a problem with that, Princess?" he asks, so quietly that she should hardly be able to hear him, but his words seem to fill her ears in the stretching silence of the dungeons. He raises his chin and their lips meet softly, Hermione's eyes fluttering closed.
"Not yet," she admits, smiling through the kiss.
"Good. Because I can't seem to get enough of you."
He falls silent, instead occupying himself with the feel of her soft, red lips on his. He could hardly control himself, his fingertips digging into her hips, grinding against her without noticing. He pulls away, gasping for breath, attaching his lips on her neck. She rests the back of her head on the wall, panting.
Suddenly, she stills completely. "Draco?" she whispers.
"What's wrong?" he asks, standing up straight in front of her. Before she answers, he turns to see a light headed toward them; after a second, a wand and a bright green shirt come into view.
Their favorite person; McCormack.
"See you later, lovebirds," he scoffs. "Immobulus."
(A/N): Leave a review and let me know what you thought of the chapter! I need to get better at updating this again.