Hey all. Sorry it took me ages, and I mean ages to write this chapter, it's just the chapter was hard to get right. Anyway I read all your reviews and it kind of motivated me. I know at the end it's kind of O.C-ish but it wasn't meant to be I thought for ages for another word but that's the only one that flippin' works.
Christmas day whizzed by, Hermione wore her new dress, they ate with the house elves, chatted, played games and drank fine wine. Soon it was evening and they were all rather drunk. They had changed into comfier clothes during the day.
Hermione had some black track pants on and a gryffindor red tank top, Draco had black combat trousers on and a charcoal grey jumper, Sirius had some cream pants and a black top, James had some navy pants on and a lighter blue top.
"Let's go out in the snow!" Hermione said, they'd just finished playing a rather loud and wild game of snap.
"Oh dear God!" Draco said smiling,
"Yeah!!" James said, "I'm gonna' go get gloves!"
"Might as well..." Sirius said with a shrug to Draco,
"Come on then!" Hermione said getting up from the couch and running out, she ran up to her bedroom. She looked at what she was wearing and decided to change. She put on some tight low ride faded jeans and tucked them into some black furry demonia cub boots. She then put on a long sleeved black top over her tank top, then a jacket that reached just to her waist, with a black furry collar on. She then put on a black scarf, a black hat and some black gloves with some red gloves on top that had the fingertips cut off. She ran out, and straight into Draco,
"Ooof!" She said, and giggled, "Sorry" She said,
"I'll let you off this one time you clumsy muffin head!" He said, then asked himself in her head why he called her muffin head, he sounded like a husband talking to his wife or something far out like that. Hermione laughed and held his gloved hand tightly, she looked into his eyes and gave him a peck on the lips. "Come on then,"
"Yeah, I wanna hear you scream like a girl when I kick your cold snowballed ass!"
"You'll be the one screaming like a girl!" He said and ran off, Hermione ran after him, they were chasing down the corridors and down the stairs, where Draco skidded to a halt, and Hermione skidded into him. "Again! You are so going to pay!" Draco said,
"All ready to have their asses whooped?" James asked,
"Nope!" Hermione said, "I'm on your team, see how Sirius and Draco shape up!" She said,
"Well you guys prepare to lose!" Sirius said, "Last one to throw a snowball is as greasy as Snape!" He said laughing and ran out,
"HEY!" Draco shouted running after him,
"Come on!" Hermione said pushing James out and slamming the door, "Aim for their balls!" She said, "And don't be afraid to put chunks of ice in the middle!" She giggled, and ducked as a snowball was flying straight towards her nose. It slammed into the middle of the wreath on Draco's door, leaving a snowy splat-shaped white blob. They ran over to a waist high hedge on one half of the huge driveway.
Hermione looked at the pond behind her with a fountain in the middle she sat on the edge and kicked over the icy covering leaving loads of little fragments and a few big table top shaped pieces. She pulled one out, trying hard not to break it. She then soved it into the hedge, as a shield. James laughed out loud,
"Nice one!" He said, trying to contain his laughter. He grabbed a chunk of ice and wrapped it in the middle of the snowball, He got by the shield and aimed for Sirius, who was running behind a tree, he got him right in his balls,
"HEY!" Sirius shouted, "YOU DIRTY SKANKS! THEY'RE USING ICE DRAKE!" He shouted, and Hermione and James laughed,
"YOU DIRTY CHEATERS! THAT'S MY JOB, I'M THE SLYTHERIN!" Draco shouted, Hermione sent a snowball, without ice, flying towards Draco's face. Draco dodged it and sent one flying back towards Hermione who was running towards shoulder height hedges. She crouched down to make some snowballs, someone ran up behind her and put some snow down her back. She screamed, and turned around looking at the retreating figure of Sirius,
"SIRIUS YOU SCUMMY LITTLE BASTARD!" She shouted and grabbed a handful of snow and threw it at Sirius, not that it had any chance of hitting. Hermione ran towards the flock of trees, a snowball hit her ass, and she could feel a sharp piece of ice hit it. She took a snowball from the dozen in her arms and threw it at Draco, who was the closest, it hit his chest, and he threw one back. Hermione did a James Bond-esque roll away from the flying sphere. She threw one at Draco, a particularly hard one, it hit his face.
"THAT HAD ICE IN IT AGAIN, YOU LITTLE COW!" He shouted jokingly and threw one back at her. It hit her back as she was running towards the trees,
"Psst!" She heard from above her, Hermione looked up, it was James, he looked exactly like Harry he was grinning wickedly and his hair was a right mess, he had hidden up a tree. "Want some help up?" He said Hermione nodded and started to climb, James pulled her up the last bit, and she started making snowballs. "Shh!" He said, and they listened to Draco and Sirius pondering where they were. They had a huge pile of snowballs when Draco and Sirius finally ventured into the trees.
"They'll be hiding!" Sirius said,
"Sneaky little gryffindors..." Draco said, sounding happy,
Hermione let out a huge war cry, and the pair bombarded the other two with snowballs. Hermione and James shook the snow onto the two guy's heads.
"Arghhh!" Sirius said, "That's fucking cold you know!"
Hermione giggled, and the two swung off the branches, down to the other two, who were laid in the snow.
"Bloody freezing!" Draco said,
"We win!" James said,
"YAY!" Hermione said and danced around,
"I'd fight back, but I think my bones are frozen in place" Sirius said,
"Here you go, padfoot" James pulled him up, "I'm gonna go get warm, get some hot chocolate and pyjamas on"
"Yeah, sounds good to me," Sirius said, he watched as Draco sat up then pushed himself up,
"I'm going to go for a walk," He said, he looked like he needed some space, "I'll walk you guys back up to the house,
"Okay then" Hermione said, "One second" She got her wand out, "Deseque" She said, and her clothes were dry and fuzzily warm, she then repeated it with the other three.
"Mmmm" Sirius said, "Come on then" They headed back towards the house and it started to snow again they soon reached the snowballed door. James turned the doorknob and let the four in,
"I'll be back soon, I'll just check the grounds and stuff" He smiled, "I have my wand too, don't worry Herms" With that he shut the door and walked down the path to the right of the drive, there was no footprint along this small path,
"One second. I'm going to go see what he's up to" She smiled and the two adults nodded,
"We understand, you guys need some privacy sometimes. You're not kids" Sirius said wisely,
"Yeah, I mean we can leave if you guys want." James said, obviously voicing something him and Sirius had been wondering about,
"No, of course not. We'd be lonely without you two." She smiled, "Thanks you guys, I mean for Draco"
"We understand" James said,
"Yeah, now scram! Go catch up with him before he wanders too far" Sirius smiled at Hermione,
"Thanks again bye!" She said quickly and gently shut the door after walking out. She ran after Draco, following his footsteps, when she turned the corner she slowed down a bit. Draco turned around, and looked at her, and he knew what he had to do, what he needed to say. He smiled,
"Hey" He said,
"Hi" She said, half running half walking up to him,
"You didn't have to come you know?" Draco said,
"I wanted to, so we could spend some time together." She said, "Yeah, seems we haven't talked that much for ages" She said and he took her hand and carried on walking along the path,
"I've never been much of a talker." He said,
"Yeah. I wonder what's happening at Hogwarts now?"
"I can guess," Draco said, "They'll all be in our dorm. Drinking, eating the remains of food, messing the whole place up with the fire crackling, and they're probably wondering what us two are up to." Draco finished with a warm laugh,
"Yeah, we should've owled them and told them we were together. You know we should see them for new year, get some drinks in, have a party." She said,
"Do you think Dumbledore would let them leave?"
"Should do? I mean there's no reason why he shouldn't." She said,
"We could owl them and get them to ask, they could come on like new year's eve's eve?" He said,
"Yeah, that would be cool" Hermione said, "What about James and Sirius though?"
"A dodgy surprise, but I mean, it'll be good for Harry" Draco shrugged and they carried on walking,
"Yeah, I was so surprised when Sirius changed his looks back to himself. A kind of happy feeling, and James, he's so fun, he's exactly how Harry would have been if he hadn't been shitted up by Voldemort and the Dursley's and all that crap."
"What about Weasley anyway?"
"What do you mean?" Hermione asked,
"Well, I mean you guys were like best friends for years. Does that not mean anything?" Draco questioned,
"Well, that's like me asking if you care that you never talk to Crabbe and Goyle anymore... It's just... Not important anymore." Hermione sighed, "Situations change. I'm with you now, and he couldn't deal with it. He was willing to walk out on me over one thing, that's not us being friends. That's me being his possession." She shook her head, "Anyway, why do you care? You got the girl. You beat the Weasley's."
"Yeah, I know. I just thought you gryffindor's valued friendship."
"Everyone values friendship Draco, you do, and I know you do. Different people show it differently." She shrugged, holding Draco's hand tight.
"'Mione?" Draco asked, staring out at the garden they were in,
"Wow, this is beautiful Draco" Hermione said, looking around at the white wonder around her. Icicles and snow covered the flowers and trees; the cherub fountain was covered with frozen water, forming patterns,
"'Mione?" Draco said again,
"Yes?" She asked looking at Draco. Draco held both her hands so they were facing each other,
"'Mione... I-" He stopped, "Happy Christmas" He said with a weak smile, cursing himself inside,
"Happy Christmas too" Hermione said, Draco kissed her, one hand on her tailbone and the other in her hair. Hermione wrapped her arms around him. They pulled apart after the innocent kiss and a flake of snow fell on Hermione's nose. They giggled together, and Draco brushed it off. The snow was falling heavier, and Hermione put her head to Draco's chest. "Draco" She said looking up, her arms still wrapped around him, "Draco, I don't know how, I don't know why. I know this wasn't meant to happen, but..." She paused and looked into his cloudy eyes, that were reflecting the snow,
"I love you" She said, Draco paused, he didn't know what to say. He couldn't open up to her, could he? He wasn't sure, all he could seem to control was his eyes, the silence was really long,
"Thanks" He said weakly, trying not to look as confused as he felt,
"We need to get back" Hermione said monotonously, "Come on" She took her arms off him and headed off back, Draco followed her looking down at her footsteps. He felt stupid, and so lonely, the one person who's ever said she loved him and all he can say is Thanks.
Thanks.
There we have it, the fortieth chapter of Regrets.
A few questions for you all to answer just so I can gather where you all want this story to go, because I have a few ideas,
1.)Are you all happy with all the relationships? (friendly and sexual, as in H/L, B/G, Dr/Hr)
2.)Would Hermione and Draco make a nice married couple?
3.)James and Sirius? (general comments)
4.)What else would you like to see?
5.)Would you like Ginny, Blaise, Harry, Luna to come for New Year's eve?
Well, that's all, I suppose. Tell me what you think. And there will be some action next chapter. The questions are optional, I'd just like to know what you all think should happen so I can see if my ideas are far out, or ok. Leave a review because they really motivate me when I just can't be arsed. And special thanks to my ramblin' pal Miarae, because she was the one who really got me to start writing this chapter. Check out her Harry Potter story "The Aftermath of Killing", because it is really great. It's also a D/Hr and is literally fabbies.
Well leave a review, tell me what you think, answer some questions, or flame me. Having said that, I haven't had many flames considering how long this story is... Heh!
::Hands out various flavoured muffins::
Love
-P.C