Disclaimer: Blah, Blah, Blah -- it's getting overly redundant to write what is suppose to be written here

Author's Note: WARNING: may contain some more "naughtiness/sauciness/raciness" concerning our favorite lovebirds so consider yourselves warned. That's all I can say right now. Other than that, please read & review 'coz I honestly want to know what you guys think. This is the idea I have been mulling about since I got over my writer's block. hehehehe

Summary: Hermione & Draco received a nasty blow to the head when an out of control bludger careened towards where they stood bickering during a Quidditch practice. They woke up in the hospital wing not knowing each other--but they know everyone else--and an instant attraction towards each other soon formed.

Setting: 6th year

Pairings: Draco & Hermione

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

XXVI. Merry Christmas; I Love You

"Show yourself." Draco repeated again when he received no reply from his first command. His gray eyes scanned the room carefully. "I know you're here somewhere. Now show yourself!" he pushed away from the fireplace and moved to the middle of the room, looking here and there for his unseen intruder's possible location.

"Dammit Hermione. Show yourself!" Draco hissed, his gray eyes squinted to tiny slits.

After a few seconds he heard a rustling of cloth against leather and his gaze darted to the armchair near the fireplace. Hermione's head first appeared from underneath the Invisibility Cloak then she shrugged it off her shoulders and met Draco's gaze.

"Hi." she smiled sheepishly.

"What are you doing here?" he barked.

"I...I...I followed you to-to give you these." she produced the cupcakes she stored away for him.

Draco raised an eyebrow and eyed the cupcakes questioningly.

"I didn't want any desserts." he said coldly.

"I don't buy that. Dessert is the whole point of going through an entire course." she pointed out, setting the cupcakes on the coffee table.

"I'm not selling anything to you anyway." he snapped and walked back to the fireplace. "If that's all you came here for you can leave now."

"But I can't leave you all alone on Christmas Eve!" Hermione protested, leaving the armchair and walked up to where he was standing. "Surely you'd like someone to keep you company."

"I don't need company."

"Yes, you do." she insisted, "It's Christmas Eve. Nobody should be alone on Christmas Eve!"

"God, do you have to be so damn cheery, woman?!" he asked irately, glaring at her. "I-don't-celebrate-Christmas!" he spat out word for word.

"That's bull! Of course everyone celebrates Christmas one way or the other." she pointed out matter-of-factly.

"Count me out as one of those who celebrate Christmas." he snarled, "Now if you're done--"

"Actually I'm not quite done yet." she cut him off.

"Hermione..." there was warning lacing his voice as he threw daggers at her with his glare.

"I'll cut through the chase. You're lonely. It's Christmas. And you're troubled. You need a friend and I'm here to be your friend."

"I don't need a friend and I most certainly don't need you so get the hell out of here now!" his voice kept on rising until he was shouting at her, his hands braced on the ledge were now balled into tight fists. "Get out!"

Hermione jumped when Draco's fists hit the ledge. Her dark eyes stared at him wildly and willed him to calm down, but she saw pain and anger all mixed together in his gray eyes and knew then it would be futile to remain here and be a friend to someone who obviously doesn't want one. With a heavy sigh she walked back to the armchair, picked up the cloak and headed for the portrait hole when she heard Draco say something.

"He's a fucking bastard, my father. He has done nothing but manipulate me. He wanted me to become someone like him, follow in his footsteps and serve that damn dark lord." he paused, his hands now gripping the edge of the ledge tightly, his gray eyes focused on the blazing embers from the fireplace, "Well screw that and screw him! He can't tell me who to associate with and who not to associate with. Hell, he can't tell me who to love and who not to love." he smirked at the mention of the word love and shook his head. "Yeah, like love is even part of the Malfoy vocabulary. Malfoys don't even know the meaning of love, let alone know how to love."

Hermione watched, in stunned silence, as Draco pour his heart out. Silent tears were falling from his cold and fierce gray eyes as he stared at the fire. She couldn't leave him like this now. No matter how tough he was, no matter how he kept on insisting he doesn't need a friend, truth of the matter was he does need someone to talk to. Walking back towards him, she left the cloak draped over the back of the armchair she was using earlier and headed to where Draco was. She slowly turned him so he was facing her and pulled her into the circle of her arms. She felt him bury his face instinctively between her neck and shoulder, his tears dampening the skin of her neck as he continued to cry.

There was no need for words right now. What he needed was a good shoulder to cry on, and that was what she was offering him.

~*~

"So why'd you become that evil person that you are?" Hermione asked, sitting across from Draco in front of the hearth to warm up an hour later. Once Draco had stopped sobbing he began telling her things he never told anyone; things about his childhood and why he loathed his father so much.

"Because that was what Lucius wanted me to be. He was molding me to become a young replica of him. He wanted me to become a Death Eater and serve Voldemort." he snorted, sitting Indian-style in front of the fire and tossing small pieces of paper he shredded into the hearth.

Hermione flinched at the mention of the dark lord's name. Although Harry used it often enough, she still hasn't gotten used to hearing it mentioned as casually as Draco and Harry does.

"And what is it that you really want?"

Draco's gaze lingered on the dancing embers for a couple of seconds, then slowly he turned and rested his now cool as steel gray eyes on her face. Hermione suddenly felt all fidgety as Draco studied her in a way that told her he wanted to undress her or something.

"What I really want is to be with someone I really care about regardless of her being a Pureblood or not. Regardless if she belonged to some rich, noble, and powerful family." he admitted.

Hermione's mouth formed a silent "Oh" as she lowered her gaze and stared at the two cupcakes between them. Draco managed to munch on one while he talked, but now one of the cupcakes lay half-eaten, and suddenly she felt the urge of have a bite of it just so she could have something to do.

"So, have you found this someone you wanted to spend the rest of your life with?" she asked the cupcake, but of course her question was directed for Draco. She just couldn't look at him straight in the eye right now and be able to hide her slowly breaking heart to him.

"Yeah." he nodded, speaking so softly that Hermione almost didn't catch his reply, but she did and now she was sorry she asked.

"Wicked." she managed to reply, dislodging the sudden lump she felt closed around her throat. "Uhm...so...uh...does your father know you have found that one--" Hermione's voice trailed off when Draco caught her chin between his thumb and forefinger, lifting her face up so she was looking at him.

"Mione, please look at me when you're talking." he smiled lovingly at her before his head inched closer and closer until their lips were locked together in the sweetest kiss they have both been deprived off for a while now.

Hermione's sighed against Draco's lips which then parted and his tongue darted out and cajoled her lips to part. She didn't give much resistance and responded to his kiss. She was soon being hauled into Draco's embrace, the cupcakes between them shoved aside as Draco continued to kiss her passionately, his hands running up and down the side of her, pushing her robe open.

Hermione's hands did some wandering of their own and parted Draco's robes as well, untucking his shirt and slipping her hands underneath to feel his warm flesh against the skin of her hand.

Draco leaned back, his arms wrapped around Hermione and took her with him, letting her lay sprawled on top of him as they continued to kiss and feel each other. They parted briefly to take their robes off and threw it aside, Draco's eyes wandering appreatively as Hermione's curves visible on the tight baby-tee shirt she chose to wear and the flowy schoolgirl skirt she was wearing. He sat up and caught the back of her neck in his hands and pulled it back, kissing her long throat down to her chest, dipping his head lower and pushed down the stretchable shirt until one breast was exposed.

Hermione gasped when a draft from the room chilled her exposed flesh, but she didn't suffer from the chill for too long. Draco's mouth covered her exposed flesh and started nipping on it, making Hermion whimper at the sweet torture he was giving her.

She raked her fingers through his heavy mop of blond hair, ruffling it from its usual slicked-back style. After a few seconds of him lavishing each of her breasts with the same attention, she pulled his head away from her chest and kissed him hungrily on the mouth. She pulled away then and pulled his shirt off him and tossed it along with their discarded robes. Pushing him down, she started trailing kisses down the side of his face, his neck, his throat, his chest, his stomach...she grinned wickedly when she heard Draco's sudden intake of breath and she moved her head lower still and she started undoing his pants...

~*~

Hermione lay on her back with a warm Persian rub beneath her, her head propped up on a pillow Draco pulled from one of the chairs nearby, and she was looking lovingly at the man dressed down to nothing like herself. He was positioning himself between her, his hands on her kneecaps pulling her legs apart gently. He paused just above her and looked down to meet her gaze.

"Are you sure about this, Mione?" he asked, pressing the tip of his hard arousal at the crux of her womanhood.

Biting her lower lip, she nodded and braced herself. She knew there would be pain the first time, but how painful it was she couldn't be certain. There was a hitch in her breathing when Draco sheathed himself inside the warmth of her very being, making her wince as he made himself comfortable inside her.

"I'm sorry, baby." he whispered gently and captured her mouth again for another searing kiss. He remained kissing her until the pain she felt subsided and replaced by something else unexplainable. He was soon moving in and out of her and Hermione caught on the rhythm he was making.

Soon they were both soaring to new heights, their breaths coming out hard until neither could control their own climax. Draco poured his seed into the crevice of Hermione's untried body, collapsing on top of her and burying his face between her shoulder and neck once again. After what seemed like ages have passed Draco pushed himself up and met her eyes. He smiled softly at her and kissed each of her eyelids.

"I love you, Hermione Granger."

Hermione's eyes widen at his confession, but before she could say anything, Draco's mouth was covering hers already.

~*~

Lying beside Draco Malfoy before a blazing fire to keep themselves warm, Hermione couldn't help from having that dopey grin plastered on her face.

He loves me. her heart sang joyfully. Oh God, he really does love me. she stroked his hair as he slept, his face slightly averted from her and she could see the outline of his chiseled face. Sometime after they made love the second time Draco summoned for a blanket from his room and wrapped it around themselves to keep themselves warmer as they fell asleep in each other's arms.

It must be close to sunrise now, but she couldn't really tell. It was too dark inside the Slytherin common room and she was very much comfortable lying beside Draco to move. She sat up however and just gazed lovingly at the man she have just given herself to. Having his love was the best Christmas present she has ever received.

She glanced over her shoulder at the coffee table behind her and saw a parchment lying face-up. She wouldn't have given it much thought if she hadn't caught her name being mentioned. Gingerly she picked up the parchment and read what was written there.

Son, Do whatever you wanted to do with that Mudblood of yours and be done with it. It is just lust that is making you act this way, thinking you are in love with that Granger girl when you could do great things with Purebloods that are currently living with. Pansy Parkinson is a good choice for a mate. I won't ask you again, Draco. Bed the damn Mudblood and move on. You'll see that it was just lust that was making you act irrationally. Father

Hermione stared transfixed at the letter in her hands. She couldn't believe what she just read.

No, this can't be. she shook her head in denial, a hand covering her mouth to stop her from screaming. Draco didn't just use me for sex! He loves me. Dammit, he said he loves me! He is not as vile as anybody thought he is.

She quickly threw the parchment back on the table and looked down at the boy sleeping beside her, slumbering peacefully with a content smile on his face. Could it be that he just wanted me in his bed after all? she thought to herself, her heart cracking at the thought that Draco took heed at his father's orders and used Hermione.

"But he said he loves me." she whispered brokenly, tears slowly streaming down her face.

"Malfoys don't even know the meaning of love, let alone know how to love."

Draco's words from last night came back to haunt her. He said it so himself last night that no Malfoy knows how to love, so how could he tell her he loves her when he wasn't even exposed to the word?

"Oh no..." she moaned and hastily scampered off the floor, gathering her discarded clothing, throwing them on her and snatched Harry's Invisibility Cloak. She needed to get out of here. She couldn't stand staying in the same room with him any longer. She have just been had, and fool that she was, she let him have her!

Stupid, stupid, stupid! she scolded herself all the way back to the Gryffindor tower.

~*~*~*~*~

to be continued...

A/N: hehehehe, so whaddya think? I told you this chapter is A WHOLE LOT RACIER. Uhm...didn't want to go into lengths with the love scene here, but I'm sure ya'll could just use your imaginations and picture it yourselves! *lol*

nessa-girl: who's fierce and paranoid? Draco? well, what do you think of THIS chapter?

kristatwen: I'm sorry for making the previous one a cliffhanger--and I think this chap is a cliffy too--but it just happens that way.

Queen Li: well last chapter I intended to make it a cliffy so ya'll would be excited to read the next one--which is this one--and yeah, being alone sux. Draco's really a tortured soul.

Hannah4Daniel: you want more? well here's more! hehehehe, thanks for liking my fic so much!

CrystallineLily: hmm...stay away from sweets! *lol* and yeah, Draco loves Hermione, but then I threw another wrench into their relationship! *lol*

song*breeze: ciza & becci, thanks for reviewing you guys! and what do u mean kill someone??? WHO AM I GOING TO KILL??? hehehehehe