6

A/n Thank you for reviewing! Hope that this chapter isn't so boring. It's Christmas after all… Please review. Yeah, the promised surprise is here. J Enjoy it!

"Hermione! Wake up sweetie!" the head student's room was covered in red and green, and a small tree was in the corner with the presents under it. Some fairies were hovering in the corner of Hermione's room, giggling at Draco as he leapt under the covers with Hermione and shook her awake. "Hermioneeeeee!" "Geroff Draco… I'm trying to… no I'm not its Christmas!!" Draco grinned as Hermione's eyes shot open and she let a smile twitch the ends of her lips. "Merry Christmas, Hermione." "You too, ferret boy!" she laughed as Draco put on a fake scowl and jumped up. She threw open her dresser and grabbed her now very long and heavy robe and threw it on over her boxers and tank top. "It's too cold for Christmas!" she wined, grabbing her wand. She decided to torture Draco by making him wait to open his presents, and wandered over to the bathroom. "I'm going to take a show…show…shower…" Stifling a yawn, she heaved the door open and froze. That stiff feeling sprinted up her arms and through her stomach. She whimpered as she collapsed into a small heap on the floor. Noticing her figure on the floor, Draco ran to her side. Her eyes were glossed over in feat and her face was damp with tears. "Draco!" she screamed, throwing herself into his arms. He stroked her still shaken body and whispered to her that it was okay. "Herms, you have to get over this… I'm not dead… well not yet anyways… OH, well I meant… er… yeah." Hermione smiled weakly and let herself be pulled to her feet by Draco. "Presents after I get dressed. Draco mumbled his complaints but strode off to his room.

Her closet had a rainbow of clothes. After looking at every color, Hermione finally settled for a deep red sweater with a low v-neck and a pair of flares. Draco was waiting in the common room looking rather cute with his tousled blonde hair, metallic green tee shirt and black boxers. Hermione laughed when she saw his annoyed face. "God Draco its only been about five minutes!" he mumbled something that sounded more gibberish than English. Hermione sat next to the tree and pulled out the closest present. After about ten minutes, all but one present was opened. "Wow, candy from Hagrid, a book as usual, from Ron, shopping spree to Fred and George's joke shop from them, normal sweater from Mrs. Weasley, more makeup from Ginny, and MORE books from Harry! God! Do those two think that I do anything else besides read??" Draco sniggered as he opened his present from Hermione. A box from a very expensive wizard jewelry making company fell into his lap. "Wow… Hermione…." He opened the box to find two rings. Both were gold, but sometimes one would flash fire while the other would send ice across it. Hermione giggled. "Which one do you want?" Draco looked at the flaming ring to Hermione and then to the ice ring. "What do they mean?" "Well, both of them stand for our love…" she blushed. Draco grinned. "…And?" "And what?" "aaannnddd?" Hermione cocked her head. "And what?" "Don't they do ANYTHING else???" he flashed her another smile. "Well… I fixed them up with Dumbledor so that they will both give you even more protection. That power that you got from Dumbledor ONLY works on humans and they can only be males that are exactly 300 pounds! Do you really expect your father and Voldemort to be the same weight and do you really think that both of them wouldn't think about using some kind of animal to attack you?" Draco fingered the rings nervously. "The fire one will protect you against any animal and against any human. The other ring will protect against only humans and potions." Draco nodded thoughtfully. "I think that Ill take the fire one. You take the ice one." They both took the rings and pushed them onto their ring fingers. The rings locked down and flashed their colors. "AH! Its cold!" "Yeah, mine is burning suddenly!" the colors shinned brightly before blowing to each other. The rings each glowed a brighter gold shine, and sent a blast of warm air followed by a blast of cold wind past their faces. "What's going on?" Hermione screamed as the rings suddenly shot to each other. Hermione crashed into Draco and the rings each turned shades of red and blue. An aura surrounded each of them, and then everything stopped. Standing up and brushing off, they stared at the rings again. "That, was weird." Draco gave a short laugh and grabbed Hermione's present. "Here, this is for you." Hermione pulled the wrapper off of the present to find two boxes fall out. "Open the small one first." Draco ordered, grabbing the bigger box away from her. "God Draco, don't be so picky." She gasped as she opened the box to find a small silver necklace with a small silver snake curling around the feet of a gold lion. "Its, well. It's beautiful, Draco!" She gave him a huge hug and kiss before turning around so that he could the silver chain together. "Glad that you like it, herm." Smiling, Hermione grabbed his hand and started to leave. "Wait, Hermione." Doubling back, Draco ran to his room and came back with a blindfold. "Put this on." She gave him a suspicious look before tying the black fabric over her eyes. He led her to the couch and let her sit before pulling the present out of its box. "Okay, Hermione. Hold out your hands." He set the present into her hands and pulled the blindfold off of her eyes. Her shocked expression was more than enough for him when she opened her eyes and saw a gleaming broomstick in her hands. "An IceBlocker??" (A/n yeah I know it's tacky. Sorry, too lazy to think of something else.) Draco beamed. "I knew that you would like it!" She was speechless. "I figure that we can go to the quidditch pitch and try it out. I know that you will need one if you go into the ministry!" Still speechless, she gave him the biggest hug that anyone has ever received. "Thank you, Draco! Thanks soo much!" *pause* "by the way, Draco. You're getting the other half of your Christmas present t.o.n.i.g.h.t!" Draco stood there, in a little bit of shock (well, he was trying to looked shocked.) 'Its about time too.' He thought, watching Hermione's laughing face. "Oh… kay…" Hermione just laughed and grabbed his hand to drag him to breakfast.

The rest of the day was spent having snowball fights and chatting with Harry and Ginny. Draco finally decided to be on speaking terms and found it fun to talk to Harry and Ginny. At about four, Hermione and Ginny ran back to the head student's room to get changed. "Thanks so much for letting me get changed down here, Hermione. I don't think that I could take listening to Parvati and Lavender from the other side of the tower!" Hermione laughed. "No prob!" At seven, Draco, Harry, and Ron all trudged to the tower to get ready and play some chess.

Ginny had left Hermione's room twenty minutes ago. Hermione was sitting in front of the mirror. "I'm so lucky…" BAM! "Herms! We gotta go! Hermione!" Hermione sighed and strode to the door. She opened it to see Draco. He stumbled backwards in shock. "Wow! Hermione! You look great!" she smiled as he looked at her black dress. She wore the ring and her necklace that Draco had given her. Her hair was silky and was hung down to her shoulders, and her nails were a deep blood red. Kissing Draco on the lips and grabbing his arm, they started to leave the room. "Come on we have to be there early… I think." Draco smiled while they walked down the halls.

The great hall was full of excited students and couples. Hermione clutched Draco's hand tighter from her nerves as they entered the hall. Ten minutes later, the first song started and everyone danced. An hour later it was ten o'clock. "Draco, one more dance then we need to go get a drink." He nodded. The dance finished and the couple sat down.

-Somewhere else-

"Master… it is time." Nodding, a dark figure made it's way to the center of the room. "Good… This will be the end of everything…"

Draco and Hermione sat together at a table. Hermione was a little tired, so she let her head rest on Draco's shoulder as they watched the couples dance, friends laugh, and teachers waltz. "It's such a nice party…" The lights in the room faded to just a flicker of light. Everyone stopped moving. "What's going on?" "Huh?" "What the-" "I want my mommy!" "WHAT THE FUCK!" a crashing sound like a million pans clanging together exploded in the hall. Purple smoke poured out of a hole in the floor. Lightning flew through the ceiling. In just a second, Hermione, Draco, Ron, Harry, and the teachers recovered from their shock and ran around the hole. "Draco! Go directly across from me!" "Why?" "Because the rings will make a dome to protect us, and every good person in a twenty foot radius!" Draco, still confused, gave a worried shrug and ran to the other side. A cold laugh was heard and in the center was a figure. A tall man with billowing robes. He laughed and started shouting "Avada Kedavra!" The green lights shot out and hit two people. Everyone screamed as the light smacked into Cho Chang and Ginny Weasley. "Ginny!" Hermione was horrified. "Draco! The rings are not WORKING!!!" Draco looked shocked. "YES THEY ARE! LOOK!" Ginny and Cho stood back up, their eyes flashing red and yellow. "What's wrong with them!" Hermione was shocked. This wasn't supposed to happen. The two stalked into the center of the room, their backs perfectly straight and their eyes blood red. Hermione screamed. Her fingers had a blue light flashing out, while Draco's ring had orange lights coming out. Her eyes were electric blue, and his were orange. The figure laughed and let all of the lights flow around him. "Expelliarmus!" Harry's voice was faint above the buzzing sounds and screams from everyone. The figure's wand flew to Harry who caught it and broke it in half. The room swirled. Everyone flew back. When the room stopped spinning, only Hermione and Draco were left standing. Even the teachers were lying on the floor, stunned and staring. "Draco! Snap your hand back!" Draco shrugged again and did so. The protection was gone, and the figure laughed that evil laugh again. It reached for Harry's wand, and turned on Draco. "You will pay for your resisting of the dark side, Malfoy. Your father… well… let's just say he's gone at last." Laughing, it cast Avada Kedavra. The spell hit Draco Square in the chest before rebounding and smacking into the man. He crashed to the floor, and a green haze speed up from every body lying on the floor. The light formed a ring that exploded in the air. Sighing, Draco pulled himself over to Hermione. "We… did it…" Hermione blacked out. Just when Ginny and Cho hit the floor, the purple hole closed, and the lights flew back on. Draco wiped sweat from his brow, and collapsed. The world was black now.

A/n Wow… that was hard to write!! I hope that you like it; I don't know how good it is. PLEASE REVIEW!! I have to know how good it is!! Thanks! No, this is DEFINITELY not the end!