Friday December 16, 2005
9 Days until Christmas

7:23 AM

We've all woken up early this morning just as we did yesterday. The original plan was to try a bit of skiing today, but we have all decided that we still want to do a bit more snowboarding. In my opinion, I don't think we'll end up going skiing on this trip. We're going to head down to the lobby now for some breakfast before we go back to the rental equipment shop. This time, I'll make sure that Draco doesn't cause a scene. If he does, I'm sure we won't be allowed in there anymore. Yikes.

Off tracking in the snow,
Hermione

- - -

12:34 PM

Ooo… Time to make a wish… I made one and now no one will ever know what it is! Well, I might just mention it if my desire comes true.

The second day of our trip proved to be successful. And when I say successful I mean that we all managed to stay on the boards for at least ten minutes at a time. It took Blaise a lot longer to get the hang of it than the rest of us, but from the look on his face I could tell he was enjoying it just as much as we were.

We decided to head back after about 4 hours of running down the slopes so we could enjoy lunch. Ginny wanted to order room service once again, but Draco managed to convince her out of it. We agreed upon eating at this nice restaurant called 'Arbuckle's Cabin' which is on the other side of the village. But we all approved the decision to walk.

All I know is that they serve food like hamburgers, hot dogs, and what Americans call 'french fries' which I think are what I happen to call chips. Yum. Well, Draco and Blaise are calling us to leave now. So if anything exciting happens more today, which I have a feeling it will, I shall write more about it in my precious diary.

Hermione

- - -

4:52 PM

Lunch was absolutely delicious. I never knew that a hamburger would taste so good. We also had shared some onion rings and mozzarella cheese sticks. Just thinking about all that wonderful food is making my stomach grumble again. Good thing we'll be having dinner in about an hour and a half. But I don't want to talk about food; I want to talk about the most exciting part of the day…

I was getting suspicious earlier today when Ginny and I witnessed our guys doing something that looked a lot like flirting with the saleswoman at the rental store. I didn't really think anything of it when Draco came back from paying with a huge smile on his face and leaned me into a ravenous kiss, right in the store, too. Now I know what the two lover boys were up to. They were trying to get information out of the poor young lady.

After we ate our spectacular lunch this afternoon, Blaise ushered us to hop into the car we had rented for the week. Ginny kept pestering them by asking where they were taking us, and I have to say that I was getting a little suspicious, too. Draco drove for about 10 minutes away from the village until he stopped the car at the edge of a forest. He jumped out of the car and swiftly made his way to open my door. I was skeptical about where they were taking us, and I'm guessing it showed on my face because he reassured me that nothing bad would happen.

As our sexy lads held onto our hands, they led us through the forest until we ended up at a clearing. I was absolutely astounding at the number of tricks they can pull and still surprise us. They had guided us to a small abandoned lake that was frozen over. The lake looked completely spectacular and stunning while it just sat there in isolation. On the opposite side of it from where we were standing, was nothing but a long stretch of empty land without any trees set upon it.

That scene was what I would call a winter wonderland. All the pine trees were still frosted over in snow and they glistened with the faint glow of the sun that shone overhead. The thick layer of ice that lay on top of the cold water looked like an enormous sheet of glitter that screamed to be touched.

After we gawked at the beauty surrounding us, Draco conjured up four pairs of ice skates with a flick of his wand. I was a bit scared because the last time I had gone ice skating was in my seventh year when the whole house of Gryffindor decided to try it upon the Black Lake before the holidays started. But I put full trust in Draco as he took my hand and escorted me onto the expanse of ice. At first, we just worked our hearts out as we did a few laps around the so called 'rink' so we could warm up our skills. That is, if any of us actually had any.

I was starting to get a bit chilly as my neck was exposed to the cold and chilling air, because I was didn't take a scarf with me to the restaurant. Draco, being the amazing guy he is, flicked his wand about and wrapped a fresh scarf around my neck that would stay heated up. It took me a while to realize the colors of the said scarf; silver and green. That's the perfect way to mark your woman Draco…

We had been skating for about 20 minutes getting used to the occasion, when Blaise muttered a spell to have snow start falling around us. It was exactly how the Great Hall had been during the holidays where the snow falling wouldn't be cold, but actually warm, slowly disappearing before it touched the ground.

That's when my nostalgia mode hit. I started thinking about Harry and Ron mainly, but also of my fellow Gryffindors and all the fun we would have during break. Towards our last years at the castle, most of us would stay over during the holidays so we could spend more time as a family of our own. Memories started rushing back to me. Memories of our traditional snowball fight on the last day of lessons. Thoughts of our meager walks through the grounds of the school. Feelings started coming back to me of the fun visits we had to see Hagrid and the massive cups of tea he would make us. Is it wrong that I started feeling like that when I should have been extremely cheerful to share a quixotic moment with my boyfriend? I just felt entirely terrible for feeling the way I did.

Just for the rest of the evening, I shook those feelings off so I wouldn't start breaking down right then and there. I wanted to prove to Draco that I loved the things he's done for me and I didn't want to ruin the moment by being too emotional. Just one kiss from him made those longing memories shove right back into the depths of my mind and the rest of the affair way blissful and wonderful.

After awhile, I decided to take a quick break and sit off to the side. My eyes were permanently glued to the handsome man that I find myself in love with. The way he moved out there, the way he glided like there was no friction holding him back, and the way his hair would wave around, it just made him look like an angel. In fact he looked absolutely perfect. I was so preoccupied into gazing at his strikingly attractive body, that I didn't notice that Blaise and Ginny weren't on the ice anymore.

All of a sudden, a snowball hit me on my left arm and broke me out of my reverie. I was so shocked from the impact that it made me fall over slightly. Everyone knows that if you engage me in a war, you've got something coming to you… I quickly picked myself back up and crushed a pile of snow in between my hands and aimed towards the person who started the war: Ginny. I was lucky and it hit her right in the middle of her chest. I hope it didn't hurt too bad… But she's lucky that she only got hit with harmless ice instead of running into a 30 foot tree; which by the way happened earlier to me while we were on the slopes.

By that time, Draco had left the ice rink and came to my side to help fight in what I had already declared a war. Ginny had already set to aim another snowball back at me, but unfortunately missed and hit Draco right in the side of his face. That was his unlucky moment because half a second after the first ball of snow hit him, another one hit him in the stomach, which was thrown by Blaise. After that, I couldn't keep track of where all the flying snow ended up landing. All I remember was tons of heavenly white specks roaming in every which direction.

It must have been about 30 minutes later when Ginny collapsed onto the ground, giving up and declaring Draco and me the winners. All within that five second span after she landed, Draco tackled me to the ground, gave me a fierce kiss, and we entangled ourselves in our own war: a tickle fight. The one thing that I've always hated about myself is that I'm entirely too ticklish. He managed to take my breath away for the third time that afternoon… literally.

After I called… no… begged for mercy, he just hovered over me and stared deeply into my eyes as I gazed back into his. I don't know why, but I was desperately trying to search for some trace of his old self. I'm glad to say that I was unsuccessful. At that moment, I didn't know what he was searching for in my own eyes, but I now know for a fact that he found it. He leaned down and his luscious lips took a hold of mine into a sweet and sensual kiss. After we broke apart, he looked intently back into my eyes. It seemed like an eternity before he finally whispered something. For the first time, I heard him say the words that I've been holding back in my heart: 'I love you.' It was the most romantic moment that any lovesick girl could ask for, and I fully enjoyed every second of it.

When I look back at all the moments that I've had with him, the times he's gone out of his way to do something for me, and the sweet things he does that make him wonderful, I can't help but feel like I'm one of the luckiest witches in the world. Just think about it… he's one of the boys that almost every girl swooned over back in our school days and he could have had any girl he wanted. But instead he chose me. Sometimes I don't think I deserve his love and the attention he gives. What exactly is so special about me that has him fallen head over heels? I'm going to figure it out before I resort to asking him. When I do find out, I'll write all my thoughts out and come to a conclusion about our relationship. Not that it's going in a bad direction or anything, but I just want to know where it will eventually end up if it gets far enough.

Wow, time flies by when you're reliving life through your thoughts. It's already almost 6:30 and close to our dinner date. I have no idea what the plans are for tonight, but I wouldn't be surprised if we stayed in because we're all practically exhausted. So I think it would be smart to go see what exactly is going to happen so I know what last minute preparations I should do to get ready.

Love,
A girl who will never fall again
AKA Hermione