A/N: Sorry this has taken so long to update, but I had a little writer's block going on. You're going to hate me by the end of this chapter, I guarentee it. . Don't worry. The Draco/Hermione ship will prevail! Patience, grasshopper. Thanks to all my reviewers. You guys are great. Enjoy.

Chapter Six: A Christmas Snow

Hogsmeade was cold. That's about all the Hermione was thinking about. Her fingers were numb, even with her red gloves that Mrs. Weasley had knitted her the year before for Christmas. They were usually enough to keep out the chill, but the wind was biting especially hard today. Perhaps because there was no one there beside her.

Harry and Ron were "getting her apresent." At least that's what they told her, but she had seen them enter Zonko's, which didn't exactly stock the types of things she'd want for Christmas. They told her they'd meet up with her at noon in the Three Broomsticks for butter beers and lunch, but the more Hermione thought about it, the more she didn't want to go.

She began to make her way to the top of the hill where the Shrieking Shack stood. She stood at the top of the hill and looked down onto the small village, and it looked trapped in time, like something out of one of her story books. Magical, yet almost normal. Like any other town could have taken it's place and it wouldn't have made a difference at all. Maybe it was the snow. Maybe it was the cold. Maybe it was the truth. Hermione didn't know. And, quite frankly, she didn't care.

After a moment, she noticed a person walking up the path to where she was standing. Blonde, and with blue eyes cutting through the swirling snow. She stood with a smile, waiting for Draco to meet her.

His trek was not exactly easy, but he made it with a wide grin on his face that Hermione had grown accustomed to seeing, and loving. There were perfect snowflakes stuck on his hair that fell into his eyes, which were twinkling mischeviously. She looked at him skeptically.

"What are you up to?" she asked, and he laughed.

"Nothing bad," he said, cheerily. "Can't a guy just be happy? I mean, it's almost Christmas."

"True," Hermione agreed, "but you don't seem the type to enjoy Christmas."

"I am when I've just found the perfect present for a certain witch."

Hermione looked at him in surprise. "You got me a present?

"Yep."

"Can I see it?"

"Nope."

"Oh come on!" she cried.

"You have to wait until Christmas!" he said, shaking his gloved finger at her.

"Please, please, please, please, please!" she pleaded. "I want to see it, pretty please?"

"Who would have thought that I could lower the leading witch in our class to begging in a matter of minutes?" Draco said, thoughtfully. He reached behind him and pulled a small package out of the bag he was carrying. "All right, you can open it. But don't expect another one for Christmas morning, all right?"

Hermione took the package excitedly, and carefully opened the wrapping. She opened the little white box that came out of the paper, and was alarmed to see a beautiful golden charm in the shape of an otter.

"An otter?" she asked, quizzically. "Why an otter?"

"That's your Patronus, right?" he asked, worriedly. "I asked Cho Chang, but she might have gotten it wrong..."

"Oh, yes, you're right, it is," Hermione said, quickly. "I love it, Draco. It's wonderful."

He smiled warmly, but it began to fade as he noticed the sadness lingering on her face. "What's wrong?"

"I just... didn't get you anything. And it seems really expensive, and I just... feel really bad for accepting it..."

"Don't, please. You've given me more than you know. I don't need a present. And it wasn't too expensive, really. I can afford it, I swear."

"But it's gold," Hermione noted. It seemed a little serious for her liking. Like something a boyfriend would buy for his girlfriend. And she and Draco had only just become friends.

"Think of it as a token of my gratitude for helping me pass that Potions test we had last week, okay?" Draco smiled at her and Hermione couldn't help but smile back.

"All right. Fine. But at least let me buy something for you."

"I'd rather you didn't really," Draco said. "I don't really want anything for Christmas except..."

"What?" Hermione pressed curiously. Draco shrugged and looked up at the sky, the swirling snow falling onto his cheek flushed from the cold.

"Something you can't give me, Hermione," he said. "Something I don't think anyone can give me."

Hermione sensed that it wouldn't be wise to press the matter any further, and tilted her head up so she could look at the falling snow with him. The sky was filled with gray clouds, the same color as the snow. She couldn't see the flakes until they were right in front of her nose. A lot of things worked like that.

"It's pretty," Hermione said, her voice just a breath.

"Not compared to what I see," Draco said. Hermione looked at him to see that he was no longer looking up, but at her. She blushed.

"You know how corny that was?" she asked.

He touched her blushing cheek and said, "Yes. But it worked."

They looked at each other, directly in the eyes, and if it had been possible to melt in that weather, Hermione would have. His face was only half an inch away from hers, his breath smelling like peppermint. She wondered what the last thing she had eaten was.

After a few seconds, Draco grabbed her hand and looked at it. "Hermione, I don't know how to tell you this..."

"I know, Draco, I feel the same."

"No,not that. And you don't feel the same. Believe me."

"How do you know?"

"Because... you haven't done what I have. You haven't been there, Hermione. You haven't."

"What are you talking about?"

"I can't tell you. I've got to go."

Hermione had been left out in the cold by her friends more times than she could count that year. But this was the first time that it had been literal.

A/N: Told you you'd hate me. :P R&R, pretty please. Oh, and happy holidays.