A/N: Thank you Thank you thank you…thank you for reviewing and reading!

Anyway… some people were asking why Draco couldn't see his dream girl's face and realize that it's Hermione (you're not supposed to know that, btw)… well it's like this: Face it, dreams are almost all the time blurry and quite faded. Have you ever had a dream that was you know, really clear? Draco just knew that it was his parents in one dream because he's lived with them his whole life and surely he'd know them instantly…

Oh yes: HOW TO MAKE WORDS ITALICIZED… if you're uploading a word document, go to Save As, then go to the Save as Type (located at the bottom), then click HTML document, then save. All the italicized and bold words in your document will be retained. :-)

Anyway…on with the story!

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MY GUARDIAN ANGEL

BY Rage

CHAPTER NINE: CHRISTMAS

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It was a crisp, chilly morning when Draco woke up. Snow was gently falling on the castle grounds and the sky had a light tinge of gray splashed onto its pale blue color. It was indeed, a perfect winter's day… and it was exactly three days before Christmas.

Draco had just had a dream about the girl again, and the instance he woke up, he wanted to go back to sleep again in order to see her. However, he already felt so energetic that it was impossible for him to even close his eyes. So, being fully awake, he went out of his sheets and prepared for the day.

****

Yes, it was going to be a long day because a Hogsmeade visit was scheduled today. It was the students' annual visit to the small but very alive town every Christmas and it was the time when everyone would be doing their Christmas shopping. Draco sighed as he thought of how full the village town would be later. However, it was the last Hogsmeade visit for the year and besides, he needed to do a bit of shopping himself.

Now, Draco never, in his Hogwarts years, shopped during the holidays. He never gave anyone gifts, for he expected everyone to give him gifts. He never wasted his money on anything useless and unnecessary and he never spared even a second to think if he was going to give someone a Christmas present, or even a Christmas card!

However, it was going to be different this year. It was time for him to show his gratefulness to Hermione, and he was going to do it by giving her a special gift. But he wasn't going to forget the mystery girl; she herself said that she was real, so he was going to buy her a present as well.

Draco smiled gleefully, and grabbed his pouch of money. He pocketed it, and exited the Common Room.

****

Will Harry like this? How about Ron? Hermione browsed through a rack of sweaters. She was alone in Hogsmeade, doing her Christmas shopping. It was easier that way, because first of all, it took less time and her two best friends wouldn't know what she was going to get them.

She pulled out some clothes and examined it. Ron gets sweaters annually and Harry doesn't like sweaters that much, she thought, putting them back on the rack. In her opinion, the older boys got, the harder it was to shop for them. Hermione sighed and looked around. For a moment, she seriously considered giving them money instead. That way, they'd be able to buy what they wanted. However, Hermione thought, it wasn't really appropriate.

So, she exited the clothes shop and proceeded to a small souvenir shop. Once she entered, she proceeded to the Quidditch department. Wizarding boys of all ages never tired of the sport, so Hermione decided that she would buy something for her two friends that was Quidditch-related.

Hermione grabbed seven models of the players of the Chudley Cannons for Ron and a special Anti-theft Broom device for Harry's beloved Firebolt. She smiled at her choices and made her way through the crowd to the cashier counter. She paid a total of fifteen Galleons and four Knuts for them and left the shop, her money pouch relatively lighter.

Now that she was done, she prepared to go back to the castle. She held two bags on each hand, and walked through the snow. It was cold, but luckily, her scarf and her cloak kept her warm.

"Let's see… I'm done with Ron, Harry, Lavender—" Hermione peered inside her shopping bags. "Parvati, Seamus, Dean, Neville, Ginny, Susan… I think that's it! Wait a minute—" She stopped and dropped her bags on the ground. "You've got to be kidding—"

She had forgotten about Draco. Hermione groaned in complaint and smacked her head. That meant she had to go back once again to Hogsmeade to buy him his gift. So, she picked up her bag, sighed heavily and turned back.

****

"I doubt that he likes Quidditch as much as Ron and Harry," Hermione muttered. She was back at the same souvenir shop, at the same department, and she was at lost. It was only this year that she had gotten to know Draco a little bit more, and that was a problem. She had no idea what to get him, and it was almost dusk. Hermione was already panicking, because the curfew was drawing nearer and nearer and she wasn't done with her shopping.

Hermione looked around the shop, desperate to find the perfect gift. She couldn't just give him sweets from Honeydukes, and she couldn't give him a card only. It had to be special and it had to be something he would treasure. However, no such gift was around. Hermione scanned through shelves of magically weird things and bit her lip. "This is just plain impossible," she uttered irritably, rummaging through a box. "How would I know what he would want! I mean—"

And she found it. The perfect gift. She had reached the end of the box's bottom and there it lay silently. A silver pendant, with the figure of a serpent. Simple, yet with class. It was indeed, the best gift to give Draco. It was quite small, yet wasn't it the thought that counted?

Hermione grabbed it, and dashed to the counter.

****

Christmas morning finally came. Hermione woke up, and looked out the window. Snow was falling softly to the ground and the sky was still quite dark. It was already 7:30 in the morning yet she was the only one awake in the girls' dormitory. So, she stood up, got all her presents, crept quietly to the door and went down immediately to the Common Room.

Upon arriving, she saw Harry and Ron opening their gifts. They too had brought down all their presents and opened it in front of the fireplace. Hermione grinned and joined them.

"Finally… a gray sweater!" Ron opened his yearly gift from his mother and was pleased that his sweater wasn't maroon. He placed it carelessly beside him and attended to his other gifts.

Harry had just opened Hermione's and was awed. "You shouldn't have, 'mione," he said, "This is just plain too much!"

Hermione smiled in reply. She then took her first present from Ron and neatly opened it. It was a set of quills and different colors of bottled ink. Afterwards, she took Harry's and upon opening it, she realized that it was a medium-sized blue journal. She grinned at her friends and placed their gifts behind her, and moved on to her other gifts.

****

"Hermione."

She spun around, and came face to face with Draco. And her heart skipped a beat.

"Merry Christmas." He said, giving her a smile.

Hermione returned it and reached inside her pocket. Finally, she took out a small package. "Here. Your gift." She handed it to him. "I hope you'll like it."

Draco muttered a 'thanks' and he as well took out something. "And here's yours. I looked hard to find it."

Hermione grinned and opened the small box. And she gasped silently. It was a single white rose that turned silver in the light. "It looks like an ordinary flower," Draco said quietly, "but it'll never wilt. That's the beauty of it. And mind you, it's one of the rarest."

Hermione looked up. She was astonished, and obviously, she was speechless as well. All she could do was thank him and say, "I-I'll take care of it. Don't worry."

"You're welcome." Draco smiled and now looked at Hermione's gift. Hermione bit her lip. "You might not like it, you know—"

But Draco was already opening the package, and after many seconds, he had already taken the pendant out. Hermione bit her nails, and knew that Draco didn't like it, seeing the way he stared at it. "I'm so sorry, Draco! It's not much but—"

But Draco turned to her and smiled. "I think it's wonderful."

****

Now that they had already exchanged gifts, the two sat silently on the stone steps. Hermione stared at the flower and sighed silently. It was really beautiful… although it was a flower and flowers really didn't intrigue her that much… this one was an exception. Maybe it was the fact that it was from Draco Malfoy or maybe it was a magical flower… Hermione didn't know.

"I forgot to show you what I was going to give her, didn't I?" Draco broke the silence.

Hermione looked at him. "Yeah," she replied.

Draco reached inside his pocket and took out a small box. Hermione raised her eyebrow and asked, "What's inside?"

Draco opened it carefully and gave the box to her. Hermione took it slowly and gasped. "It's beautiful, Draco," she said. She couldn't take her eyes off it and smiled widely.

"I know." Draco replied triumphantly.

It was a necklace, obviously made of white gold, and it had a matching pendant of a small angel… the angel was made of crystal and it shimmered beautifully under the moonlight. Hermione handed it back to him.

"What do you think?" Draco asked, putting the package back in his pocket. "Will she like it?"

Hermione smiled. "Yeah…" she answered, "Yeah…she will."

And oddly, when Hermione said that, there was a lump in her throat. And the pang of jealousy had returned. She turned away and looked instead at the rose. She bit her lip and played with it.

"Why shouldn't she like it?"

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A/N: Finally… I'm done with Chapter Nine… Hope you all enjoyed it! Now personally, I would have preferred the never wilting flower rather than the necklace… It seems so much more special… and besides, it's Rare…

He he… now, let's have a survey, shall we?

Which do you prefer? The flower or the necklace? Tell me by reviewing, k? I wanna know if girls prefer bouquets over jewelry… being a girl… I prefer… er… we'll see in the next chapter!

ANYWAY, REVIEW! BYE!

GOAL: 85-90 reviews or more… I shall be waiting…