Honestly if I owned Harry Potter do you really think Hermine would have ended up with Ron? Sorry it's a day late, but I did make it slightly longer than most of my chapters of late. Hope you enjoy it!
Chapter 28
Hermione
"Hermione!" A low voice shouted, "Hermione, wake up!" I groaned as I opened my eyes to see Draco sitting on the edge of my bed grinning at me.
"What?" I snapped irritated. This didn't seem to faze him though.
"It's Christmas morning." He told me as if I hadn't realized what day it was. My eyes closed and I stifled another groan. "Come on then. You've practically slept the whole day away."
At this I became slightly more awake, "What time is it?" I mumbled.
"Oh about seven thirty." I could hear the grin in his voice.
"Draco, I'm going to have to Avada you." I told him sweetly as I pulled a pillow over my face.
"Oh, come on, Hermione. I'm just kidding. It's actually eight." Draco said grinning cheekily as he pulled the pillow off my face. I shot him a glare as the sunlight hit my face.
"I'll have you know that I make it a point to sleep late on Christmas morning. I'm making up for all the years I woke up at four."
Draco chuckled, "Well I don't. I have presents to unwrap, and I thought I would be considerate and wait for you. That is until it became late."
"You call this late? You rarely get up before eight on a normal school day let alone on holidays. And another thing you actually thought waking me up by yelling at me would be considerate?"
Draco smirked, "Well not exactly." He leaned in until he was just inches from my face, "I thought this would be much better."
I smiled against his lips, "I guess I can forgive you… this time." Draco smirked again as he pulled away. Suddenly I sat up, and slid out of bed. Draco gave me a strange look as I stood in the doorway. "What are you waiting for? I thought you had presents to open," I smirked.
"Exactly! That's the spirit!" he said enthusiastically as he walked out of the door behind me. Let it be known that Draco Malfoy is hardly ever enthusiastic about anything, especially now. Obviously the thought of presents was enough for him.
I smirked as we headed over to the tree by the fire place, and was surprised to see him hesitate before glancing over at his pile of presents. When he finally did grab one I did the same. I smiled as I opened it to find one of my favorite Muggle books from Harry, and the second one I opened was my other favorite Muggle book from Ron. I knew without a doubt that Harry had gotten both books for me because Ron was totally clueless. My other findings were of course a Weasley sweater, more items yet to be tested for Weasley's Wizard Wheezes from the twins, a couple books from Bill and Charlie, a sweet picture drawn by Teddy, a new sketch book, and colored pencils from the committee girls, and of course something slightly more girly from Ginny. She had made me a tunic-like red shirt that I could tell flowed to about mid-thigh, and a pair of dark skinny jeans. A note was attached to it saying…
For your first date, I'm not as stupid as you think ;) Merry Christmas!
~Ginny
I laughed, and glanced over at Draco who was smiling sadly. He already had all of his presents unwrapped, and spread out before him. All except one. "I'll be right back." I told him rising from the floor and slipping up the stairs towards my room. Finally after digging through the pile of books under my bed I found it. Draco's present was wrapped in shinny red paper, and as the charms on my bracelet rested against it you could hear a tap of something hard. "Merry Christmas, Draco," I said as I sat down beside him. He grinned at me as he took the present from my hands.
As he opened it I couldn't help the smile that crept up on my lips. Once the paper slipped off I could no longer suppress my laughter and I let out a small chuckle at the look on his face. "You got me Twilight?" He asked horrified. I laughed harder as he shot me a glare that had little venom in it.
"Of course not." I snickered as my laughter died down, "I just wanted to see your reaction." I took out my wand and mutter a few quick words that took the charm off of the broom servicing kit that I had gotten him. We both became quiet as he examined it thoughtfully. "I honestly didn't know what to get you, and I know how much your broom means to you so I thought you could use this." I told him biting my lip as my cheeks grew pink.
He looked up and grinned at me, "It's perfect. Thank you Hermione." He kissed me on the cheek, "No I believe it's time for your present." Draco stood, and opened a cupboard in the kitchenette. I gave him a quizzical look and he smirked, "Had to make sure it would be someplace where you would never find it." I rolled my eyes at him as he sat down beside me again placing the small box in my hands.
I tore off the green wrapping paper, not missing the irony of the color as I was sure he didn't with my gift, and opened the small jewelry box. A gasp escaped my lips at as I carefully fingered the small silver dragon charm in the box. It had so much detail that it almost seemed alive. Where the eyes were I saw a pair of rubies that almost seemed to stare into my soul. "It's beautiful," I breathed.
"I'm glad you like it." He said just as quietly, "I wanted to get you something memorable, something that you could always keep with you." Slowly Draco took the charm from my hands, and attached it to my bracelet with a few words to make sure it would never fall off.
"Thank you." I said sincerely as I looked deeply into his silver eyes. Very slowly he leaned forward, and cupped my face in his hands. I closed my eyes, and just as I was about to feel the warmth of his lips on mine an annoying tapping sound started coming from one of the windows.
I opened my eyes the mood now ruined, and to my utter annoyance I saw Pig tapping wildly at the window. Draco rolled his eyes and motioned for me to let the little owl in. Sighing I rose from my comfortable spot on the floor by the warm fire next to Draco, and let Pig in. He hooted his thanks and went to perch himself on the mantle above the fireplace. I took the letter tied to his leg, and instantly recognized Ginny's and writing.
Hermione! Why haven't you written yet? You were supposed to be sending updates on you and you-know-who. I groaned at her reference to Draco. Her attempt to be funny was considerably less than what she probably hoped for. If you two haven't gotten together by now I'm going to have to come back early. I hope you liked my present. I thought yours was nice, but seriously? A guide on how to not meddle in other peoples business? Please Hermione, you know very well that I do not meddle. Everyone else thought it was funny though, why I have no idea. Anyways hope your enjoying your time alone with you-know-who. Make sure to tell all about your dirty deeds! I felt a blush creep up on my cheeks. Oh and here are Harry and Ron. They wanted to say something to you as well. Don't worry they can't read any of this.
~Ginny
The handwriting changed to the messy scrawl of Harry.
Hi Hermione!
Hope your holidays are going well. Thanks for the present. It really means a lot to me. Well here's Ron. Don't forget to write back!
~Harry
The handwriting changed again, and Ron was now writing.
Hey Hermione,
Hope you're well. Sorry you have to spend the holidays with Malfoy. The offer still stands. It's not too late to come we've got at least another week. Anyways thanks for the present. If you don't come we'll be back a couple days early.
~Ron
I could still feel the blush on my cheeks as I set the letter down, trying to hide it from Draco.
"What did it say?" He asked still trying to get a good look at it.
I cleared my throat before answering, "Oh, nothing important. Just that they're probably going to come back a couple days early, and stuff like that." I could still feel the blush on my face as I moved the letter farther away from him.
"So it wouldn't be too big of a deal if I read it?" He said leaning over me to reach the letter. I held it away from him while trying to scramble in the other direction. Sadly his arms were much longer than mine, and he snatched the letter from my hands. I shrieked as he stood and ran to the other side of the room while beginning to read the letter out loud, "'Hermione! Why haven't you written yet? You were supposed to be sending me updates on you and you-know-who.'" He read in a falsetto voice before pausing, "So it's you-know-who now is it? Very funny Hermione, I'm glad you think so highly of me."
My eyes widened in horror as he read on while pushing me away, "'Anyways hope you are enjoying your alone time with you-know-who.'" I finally managed to snatch the letter from his hands before he read on.
"Again with the you-know-who reference and I would certainly hope you were enjoying your time with me. It's not like there are thousands of other girls who would kill just to be in my presence."
I shot him a look, "Glad you think so highly of yourself."
He just shrugged as I tossed the letter in the fire and watched satisfactorily as it burned. That could have been really bad. "So which of our dirty deeds are you going to be informing Weaselette of?" Of course he would have read ahead. I chose not to answer him; instead I sat down with my new sketch book and pencils intent on drawing a picture of the tree and surrounding mess.
Draco had other plans though. "Ever been flying Hermione?" Draco asked straddling his chair, and resting his arms across the top.
"Not recently." I admitted looking down at my drawing. I hadn't been flying since the class we were forced to take in first year. "I can't." I told him looking up.
"You really can't fly?" Draco asked surprised. Looking away I shook my head embarrassed. I had always wanted to fly. I had always loved the feeling of the image of being free enough to soar above everything and everyone. Even as a little girl. There was just something about that freedom, but when we first had our lessons I became scared out of my mind. I couldn't do it. What if I fell? What if I failed? What if it wasn't what I'd always dreamed it would be?
Then he suddenly grinned, "Come on." He took my hand and dragged me out of our dorm and down to the Quidditch pitch, barely allowing time for both of us to change out of our pajamas. I had made sure to snag both our cloaks and my pair of sneakers before we had completely left the room. Once we got there he let go of my hand and ran into the Slytherin locker room, as I stood there shivering.
After a moment he came back holding his broom. "Oh, no. I don't think so." I said backing away from the vile thing in his hands. It took him a while but he finally convinced me to get on his broom. I was shaking when he got on in front of me and we hadn't even left the ground yet.
"I promise I won't let you fall." he said turning his head to face me. I gave him a look of trepidation, and he chuckled lightly. "Just hang on tight. I promise nothing bad will happen to you."
"Ok," I whispered. Draco started off slowly taking a couple of laps around the pitch. I had my arms wrapped tightly around his waist, and had my face pressed against his back. Then he began to get higher and we flew off the pitch and out towards the grounds.
"Look," he said. I shook my head, "Come on Hermione. It's beautiful." Eventually I opened my eyes, and turned to look at the grounds. He was right. They were beautiful, and I was still scared out of my mind.
"Can we go down now?" I pleaded burying my face in his back again.
"You really do hate flying don't you?" He asked quietly in wonder. I nodded into his back. "I'm going to help you get over your fear." He vowed suddenly. That caused me to look up at him. He must have felt my movement for he turned around and gave me a quick kiss on the cheek. "Don't worry. Honestly if you were going to fall off it would have happened already."
"It's not that I don't like flying." I admitted slowly, "It's that I hate heights."
"Heights? Well that's easy to fix then."
"Excuse me?" I snapped, my fear making me irrational. "There will be no fixing of the fear of heights ok? This is enough. I've already come with you on your crazy flying adventure, now can we please go back inside?" I pleaded.
Draco sat there for a moment longer, pouting. "Just a few more minutes, I promise you won't regret it."
I closed my eyes tightly before burring my in his back again, "Fine." I muttered and he let out a whoop before making the broom shoot through the air. Slowly, after a few minutes, I turned my head to look at my surroundings. It really was beautiful. The sky was a magnificent blue, and the snow on the ground sparkled in the suns light. We circled the castle a few times before Draco landed at the very top of what I assumed, although he had no way of knowing, was Gryffindor tower.
There was a little balcony there with railings to keep those who discovered it from falling off. Draco slid off the broom and then helped me down, wrapping his arms around my shaking body. "See, it wasn't that bad, and if we had gone down sooner you never would have gotten to see this." He turned us so that we were over looking the grounds. "I discovered this during my third year, and as far as I know the only way to get up here is on broom. It's where I come to think."
I wrapped my arms around his waist, content to just stand there in his warm embrace. I knew there was no way on Earth that I was going to go to the burrow, because I wouldn't have missed this for anything.
Awww =) kinda sweet at the end. I pretty sure the next chapter everyone will come back. I love writing both of them by them selves but personally I can't wait to see Harry and Ron's reactions. Oh! And I just wanted to see something. I'm curious... are there any guys reading this story? I would love to know. My friend that is a guy and I made a bet. He said that if there was at least one guy I win and I get five bucks, but if he wins and he is the only guy who reads my story I owe him five bucks and he gets a special mention in my chapter. So if you could help me out it would be much appriciated. Lots of love!
~chocoyum4~
Review Reply: somebody: Look! It's another chapter! Haha hope you liked it =) Thanks so much for your review!
