All The Things I Hate About You, Part X

Rating: M

Summary: All The Things, continued. Kate Advent, Day 10.

#10 Now I can't imagine spending holidays without you

Malfoy made Granger agree that they would not exchange real Christmas gifts, which she happily obliged after a few protests (less than her usual fit of defiance, so he was thrilled).

It was probably for the best seeing as one of them didn't know what to give someone that would be both appropriate according to certain not-to-be-named rules one must follow and also non-indicative of how one perceives someone which vastly dictates that said rules must be followed.

Instead, they agreed to take a winter holiday together (Well… together but not together. Her phrasing – and with insistence – as if he was going to argue that it would be in any other way) just before the New Year.

So, there they were. Standing at the top of a slope, staying at one of the most luxurious places in the Alps.

"Come on, Granger," he said, staring at his reflection in her goggles. "Are you telling me we came all the way out here, made it all the way up to the top and you won't go down just one slope?"

"It's dangerous," she hissed, though he could hear the tremble in her voice.

However, Draco didn't give a fuck. Granger was tough, and he knew she could handle this. In fact, he would have liked to believe that she would enjoy it if she would just try.

"MERLIN'S BEARD, IT'S A GREEN SLOPE," he retorted. "You know what?" – Her head snapped back to him from where it had been peering (probably regrettably) at the course ahead of them – "I didn't want to have to say it, but I will."

She remained silent.

He continued, pulling out a small camera and charming it to levitate before them. He had already worked on this particular spell for a while and knew that the second they moved, the camera would follow and either take wonderful candid shots or a beautiful video.

"I bet Weasley would die of envy if he saw you on a prestigious winter holiday in some place his family wouldn't be able to dream of affording even if they saved for the better part of a decade."

After a quiet minute she replied, "That's not very nice, Malfoy."

"SPOILER ALERT, GRANGER, I'M NOT NICE,"

She grunted, "FINE. FINE. I'll go down the bloody slope, but don't take any photos to rub it in Ron's face, ok?"

"Fine," he grumbled. "Whatever." Then, he gave her a good shove and laughed as she wailed into the first descent.

"MALFOYYYY! FUCK YOU!"

He broke out in laughter as her screams turned from Horror Film Bimbo #3 to Adventurist Seeking New Thrill, then quickly charmed the camera anyway and caught up to her with ease.

He swerved in front of her expertly, taunting her and making her shout endless obscenities at him for his precarious proximity.

"MALFOY WILL YOU DESIST," Granger squealed bossily. "STOP THAT – STOP – YOU'RE GOING TO MAKE US CRASH AND FALL!"

Draco continued to antagonize her. Firstly, because he could, but mostly because she got so satisfyingly worked up about it.

"NOPE," he called over his shoulder, spraying her with loose snow for good measure. "GOTTA BE FASTER THAN THAT, GRANGER."

When they finally skidded to a stop at the bottom of the mountain – it was a green slope which made the overall journey quite quick and easy – he took off his head gear and ran a hand through his damp hair, slicking it back into its usual place.

He really needed to work on his spell work if it came undone after such little physical exertion.

"See?" He teased. "That wasn't so bad."

"It would have been loads better still if you hadn't been so impossible! That was dangerous enough without you making it worse! We could have gotten injured," she replied, her hair springing out in every which way as she also took off her head gear.

He shook his head, "Let me guess, or worse escorted off the slopes by security," doing his best imitation of a snotty, young Granger.

She narrowed her eyes at him, "I do not sound like that, Malfoy." Though, arguably, her tone proved otherwise. His arched brow pointed that out. "Shut up," she snapped, then balled up a snowball and flung it at him.

It collided with his shoulder, splattering coldly against his cheek.

"Oh," he replied in a low, dangerous tone. "Now, you've done it."

She shrieked and immediately spun around to run away from him.

"GET BACK HERE, GRANGER!" He sprinted after her, both of them abandoning their equipment in favour of chasing each other around and throwing snowballs at each other. "TAKE THAT! AND THAT!"

"AH!" Granger screamed, doing her best (and failing miserably) to avoid his attacks while administering her own. "NOT FAIR!"

"NOT FAIR? YOU BLOODY STARTED THIS," he ducked one of her incoming snowballs by ducking beside a tree, then slipped his wand out of his pocket and charmed several perfectly formed spheres to hit her abominable knit hat. "DO YOU ADMIT DEFEAT, GRANGER?"

She retaliated with a makeshift shield, then a snow flurry that temporarily blinded him.

"NEVER!" She shouted back. "I'M GOING TO MAKE YOU ADMIT DEFEAT,"

"OH, YEAH? WANNA BET?"

There was moment of silence, then, "FUCK YEAH I WANNA BET, MALFOY."

Needless to say, he won. Poor Granger didn't stand a chance. Never does, really. Draco always wins.

Later that night, he collected his winnings via a much-needed back massage on the sofa by the fireplace of their suite (Yes – One bed. They shared it. They did it often enough in their own flat, especially when it was cold, that neither of them could see any reason for spending more on an extra room when they weren't going to use it. Granger's idea – remarkably – and not his.).

"So," he said, twisting around to knock her off of his back and pull a cashmere sweater over his head. "How come you were available to go on this holiday with me? I know my sad excuse but what's yours?" His gaze flickered across her doe-eyes and he grimaced, adding, "Don't fucking tell me Weasley and Potter abandoned you again. For fuck's sake, Granger, I swear one day I'm going to - "

"It's not that," she said, interrupting his half-empty threat. "Well, not entirely." She amended.

Draco lay back against the pillows, folding his hands behind his head as he waited patiently for her to continue.

"Ron always spends the holidays on a family trip," she said. Her fingers reached out to trail idly up and down his calf, stroking the muscle as if she hadn't just spent an hour meticulously undoing every knot in his back. "Lavender went with him, of course,"

He bit back a mean retort and hooked his other leg around her waist, reminding her that he was here. For her.

You have me, she'd said. It still brought him immeasurable pain and pleasure.

"Anyway," she sighed, shaking her head as if the act itself would rid her thoughts of the disastrous couple. "I was planning on going on holiday with Harry. He wanted to make up for bailing on me for Christmas."

Draco frowned, "Did he bail on you again?" He said, mostly hiding the venom from his tone.

"No," she replied softly. "I bailed on him, actually. I told him I'd rather go on this trip… with you." Granger confessed.

He blinked slowly, processing the information.

"What?"

She sat up sharply, prancing over to the kitchenette and producing two different bottles for two very different moods. "Well," she pronounced, holding them up for his inspection with a cheeky grin. "Which one?"

Draco shook his head, biting back a grin of his own, and gestured to the bottle of pink gin. Granger immediately set to working on the cocktails and brought them over when she was done. He eyed the fruit bobbing in the daring-inducing liquid.

"Must it be the pink gin?" He lamented, tossing her a roguish frown.

She rolled her eyes at him, propping her feet up in his lap and taking a tentative sip of her masterpiece. "I thought you liked the drinks I made?" She questioned with an accusatory brow.

He took a sip, meeting her brown, teasing gaze with one of his own. "Perhaps," he whispered. "I only like it because you made it."

At that, her lips turned upwards and disappeared behind her next sip.

They spent a glorious week doing more or less the same thing: waking early to be the first ones on the slopes, breaking for a hot cup of cocoa and lunch, spending the afternoon huddled by the fire with a good book, and then the evening in the hot baths with either a bottle of Ogden's or a posh bottle of bubbles.

It was the best holiday Draco had ever been on.

Every day was exhilarating and full of content. Other than, predictably, their second to last night on the holiday: New Year's Eve.

A/N - This one is for lydi13, welcome! To CocoaMoon - Same, girl, same. To PurpleCaboose - Thank you for your thorough examination of this fic! I am so glad you're picking up on the intricate relationships and the parallels to the books. xx