Synopsis: They exchanged gifts

Disclaimer: Not mine…… Maya's not even really MINE, just the plot and Lils when she's here

A/N: GUESS WHAT??? I cut my hair off it's short again, yay!! Now I will be donating about a foot of ugly curly red hair to people who really need it! Anyone with long hair who's looking to get it cut, I recommend Locks of Love, esp if you were just gonna throw it out anyway. More at the end…..

The next morning, Hermione and Draco woke up, and each got ready for the day. At eleven, they met in the study.

"Do we need to bring anything to the meeting?" Draco asked.

"Parchment and quills, I'd guess."

As soon as they were organized, the two of them walked up to Dumbledore's office.

"Mmmmm….. what was it? Oh, candy cane!" Hermione said to the gargoyle, which promptly swung open.

They walked up and seated themselves in Dumbledore's office, where Fawkes was waiting patiently for them.

"Good morning Miss Granger, Mister Malfoy," the Headmaster said as he walked in.

"Good morning, sir," they answered in unison.

"Now," Dumbledore said, sitting down, "let me see. Ah, yes, I will tell you all of the information you need to know, so you might want to write this down. You'll be leaving January twenty-fifth in the evening, and staying until February fourth. On the twenty-sixth, you'll be having an introductory luncheon, the Italian Ministers will all be there, as well as the delegates from the other schools. From the twenty-sixth until the thirty-first, you'll be doing some tours, and learning about the different countries which will be represented. On each country's day, they will do their presentation, so you will be speaking on the thirty-first, you'll be last. For the last four days, you'll be going to a few international cooperation seminars, but it's mostly free time. The other headmasters and I all agreed that your preparation should be rewarded with some free time. Any questions so far?"

Draco and Hermione looked up from their parchment and shook their heads.

"Very well. Now, your presentation is, as I told you, on modern defense against the Dark Arts. Of course, no one expects you to come up with a solution for vanquishing Voldemort, but a thorough overview, and some suggestions on what might be done will be excellent. It should be about ten minutes in length, and preferably both of you should speak, it's not mandatory. Any questions on this?"

"Yes sir," Hermione said, "Will we be able to have access to the Restricted Section of the library? And, also, can arrangements be made for interviews with some people at the Ministry perhaps?"

Dumbledore chuckled, "You may have access to the Restricted Section, yes. I will try my best to contact the Ministry about meeting with some officials, I should be able to pull a few strings. Also, please feel free to talk to Professors Snape and Lupin. I'm sure Hagrid and Sirius will be more than willing to oblige, though I don't know how much Sirius will be able to tell you about his work. And, as always, if I can be of any help, I'm more than willing. Anything else?"

Hermione shook her head, and looked at Draco.

"No, sir," he said.

"Excellent! Well, we can head down to the Great Hall, it's nearly time for lunch!"

The trio walked down, but when they reached the Hall, they were the only ones there.

"Please excuse me for a moment, I must go speak with Professor McGonagall," Dumbledore said.

Hermione and Draco sat down at the table, and both looked over their notes.

"I don't even know where we should start!" Hermione sighed.

"I think we should do as many interviews as possible, primary sources are always good. I mean, I could even, you know, include some of the things that I know," he said awkwardly.

"Well, if you'd feel uncomfortable….."

"I wouldn't, this is important to me, you know?"

Hermione nodded, "I'm so excited about all the free time, I'm sure there are loads of museums and things to go see! And the canals will be fun to see."

Draco smiled, "Yeah, I should brush up on my Italian. You know, 'donde esta el baño?' and such."

Hermione giggled, "That's Spanish, Draco."

He smiled and shrugged, "Whatever, Granger."

"Well, you'll be the one pissing themself!"

"So, Draco hasn't figured out how to use the bathroom yet, eh?" Harry's voice came from behind them.

"We were just discussing Draco's linguistic ineptitude," Hermione said.

"'Linguistic ineptitude'? Gimme a break Hermione, you couldn't just say, 'we were discussing how Draco can't speak Italian'?"

"Well, I have to keep you in your place," she replied with a smirk.

Harry and Draco rolled their eyes at her, and Harry sat down.

"So how was your meeting with Dumbledore?"

"It was fine," Hermione told him, "He gave us the itinerary, so we're pretty much on our own from here."

"Oh….. Hey, listen, you guys aren't still, you know, mad about that mistletoe or anything, are you?"

Hermione fought hard against the smirk that was aching to cross her face, "Harry, we DO have a sense of humor you know!" she replied genuinely, exchanging a Look with Draco.

"Really, Potter, it's not like we can't take a joke," Draco added, being very aloof.

"Oh, well, good!" Harry smiled. "Here come the rest of them."

Maya, Ginny, and Ron filed into the Hall, looking groggy. Hermione noticed that Ginny had a certain look on her face that she couldn't figure out. Hermione threw Ginny a questioning look, and Ginny shook her head and mouthed "Later."

After breakfast, Hermione went back to her room to organize some of her questions for interviews, and she heard a knock on her portrait. She opened it and saw a very flushed Ginny.

Hermione plopped down on her bed, "WELL???"

Ginny inhaled, and squeaked, "Harry asked me OUT!"

Hermione grinned, "Oh, Gin, that's GREAT! Oh, wow, congratulations! You must be so happy!"

"Oh, Mione, it was SO sweet!"

"Tell, tell!"

"Well, we had all gone back to the Common Room, and Ron and Maya went up to bed, so we were just kind of sitting there, and, get this….."

"Getting….."

"He turns to me and says 'So, Gin,did you get everything you wanted for Christmas?' and I just said 'Yeah, I guess so.' And I noticed that he looked kind of sad, just a bit, and I said, 'Did you?' and he said, 'No, not yet.' And I said 'Not yet? Well, Harry, it's almost midnight, so you might not want to hold out hope.' You know, just kidding. So HE says 'Well, that all depends on you, actually.' And I asked why, and then he turns to me and says 'Well, because the present I didn't get was a girlfriend, and I was wondering if you could solve that problem for me.' And, then he KISSED ME!"

"Ohhhhhh!!!" Hermione squealed and gave Ginny a big hug. "Aww, Gin, that's great!"

Just then, another knock came on the portrait. Hermione opened it, and a grinning Maya came in.

"What are you smiling at?" Ginny asked.

"Your brother," she replied dreamily.

"Why, did he put some smiling hex on you? I know that'd be the only reason I'd smile about Ron."

"Nooooooooo…… HE ASKED ME OUT!!!!!!!!!!"

"Eek!" Hermione squealed again.

"Ewww," Ginny groaned.

Hermione whacked her with a pillow, "That's great, Maya, ignore Ginny, she's in Harry-land."

Maya laughed, "Yeah, she told me last night."

"How come you didn't tell me last night?" Hermione asked.

"We came down and knocked, but you didn't answer, so we, uh, assumed, you and Draco were ~ahem~ exchanging gifts." Ginny was unable to hide the smirk on her face, nor was Maya.

Hermione glared at them, "We were exchanging gifts, actually. You know, real gifts, like, solid presents."

Ginny's eyes grew wide, "Well, what'd he GET you? We have to interpret it!"

"Interpret?"

"Yeah, to see how much he LIKES you, duh," Maya chimed in.

"Oh, what's that? Lavender and Parvati? I didn't even see you two walk in, I could have sworn it was Ginny and Maya."

"Oh, Mione, come off it, everyone knows you two want eachother!" Ginny said.

Hermione spluttered, "We most certainly do not!"

Ginny threw her a skeptical look, "Sure thing, champ."

"The Mudblood and the Malfoy? That's novel. Maya, Ginny's just messed up, but you don't understand the past that he and I have."

"I don't need to know about the past, Hermione, I could tell at the Yule Ball! It's obvious."

Hermione shook her head. "Whatever, I can see that this is a losing argument. But, unlike the two of you, I have work to do, so, go snog your boyfriends or something," she said with a smile.

Ginny and Maya just grinned at Hermione, and left.

Hermione sighed to herself, "I do not know what is wrong with them."

Hermione and Draco spent the next day and a half compiling research, and preparing questions for Lupin and Snape.

"Ugh, I just can't wait until we can just go and get this over with," Draco groaned the next evening.

"Are you kidding? I know when we get there I'll never want to leave! Venice! It'll be great! The Piazza San Marco, I mean, it's been around almost a thousand years! And the Palazzo Grassi, it's got loads of art! And the Cathedral of San Marco, and there's a Guggenheim Collection there! They've got "Empire of Light" by René Magritte, it's my favorite painting!" (A/N: That's true, they do have that painting….. and it's my favoUrite)

"Yeah, yeah," Draco interrupted, "And the rivers and those gorgonzola boats."

Hermione's jaw dropped open, "You're KIDDING, right?" she asked disdainfully.

Draco shrugged, "What?"

"Draco! They're CANALS, first of all, and they're called GONDOLAS, gorgonzola is a cheese."

"Muggle thing, Muggle thing, aaaaaalways a Muggle thing."

Hermione sighed and shook her head at him.

"OK, Granger, it's time to call it a night, I have, uh….. something to do in the morning."

"What are you doing in the morning that necessitates you going to bed at eleven?"

"Are you my mother? Maybe I'm going to give Snape a haircut or something, what does it matter?"

"Touchy, touchy, just asking! Go to bed, you're no use to me when you're crabby."

He laughed a bit at that, "Night, Hermione."

"Night Draco," she replied as she smiled secretly at his retreating figure.

'Hope you have a good time at detention with Harry tomorrow!' she thought to herself, and retreated into her own room.

A/N: Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmkkkkkkkkk…. First things first, it has come to my attention that some stories are SEVERELY under-reviewed. The two I'd like to address at this point in time are "Spiritus Aduro" by HallieU and "I Can't Let You Love Me" by Persona Non Grata. SA is a Charlie/Original fic and ICLYLM is a Snape/Original fic. And I'm not doing this to kiss ass, b/c neither writers read this story, but you should all REALLY go read them!! And if anyone else feels that other stories are being under- reviewed, tell me so I can check them out! (Though, I must warn you, I'm not an Hr/H or an L/J fan, but if it's good I'll like it). Second thing's second- they're not gonna kiss for another 4 chapters or so…. I have it written, but they've got a lot to do between now and then! Sorry if that doesn't float your boat, but…….. it's really cute, I think! Third thing's third, if you want me to email you when I update PLEASE email me at KnL837@yahoo.com and tell me b/c it's really a pain in the ass to go back to get everyone's email addresses off of reviews. PLEASE R/R PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE!!!!

SO, on to thanks……

~Rachel Hunt, Trip, Asuka Soryu, Starlight, Ryoko, Daya, kat, Jordan, Susan, Amaiko, grizziestar, Night Spirit, firefaerie96, Trippinwithcats, JamieGirl, moon, Lion1990, Shaz Kay Gee ~*~SugarPlums~*~, Kearie, Viverz, Draco'z Chick, AngelicGirl, Mae Noelle, Priya-Chan, Avalon, DarkIllusion, Beauty Full, Chrissy, Jessie, Jenna Malfoy, Starbrite, Medea Malfoy, Sweet'n'Sour, LilyAyl, Lena, Lydia, Alanna Roseguard, Hermione Malfoy, carissa, wild barry, khatt, melanie, BuffySummers168, krissy

~Holly- If you're really interested I LOVE long reviews! Oh, and DO read P&P it's one of the best!~ Akiri Pie-Chan- Yipes! Hope those classes go well! ~ Resonance- Yay!! I love it when I convert people to D/Hr!! ~ Fleur- Good lord! I'm glad you squealed, though!!! ~ The Cat- I'll think about boxers…… ~ porkypop- LOL, you feeling ok?? ~ PauvreChanteuse- Ooh, are you a singer? I know a few people on Broadway and in tours…. Don't I feel cool…. ~ shattered-heart- Well, I'm glad you finally decided to review!! I hope you keep it up!! ~ me!- thanks….. whoever you are! ~ theslayerinback- FINALLY!! Some one who thinks I get my chapters up quickly! It's hard, and you know., I try to do it, like once every 5 days… some of my faves haven't updated since july! But, I just kinda write a chapter and a little bit of the next one at a time, so I know where I'm going with it. ~ Epequa- Thanks for reading, and great job w/ "DOTR"!! ~ Gryphon- Glad you stumbled in, welcome!! ~ michee- awwwwwwww, that's so nice of you to say!! Thanks! I'm glad you like it! ~

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaand Squinny- Everyone's e-crush love interest, thanks for everything and everything and so on and so forth. Cairo or bust!! "THERE'S AN AMERICAN ON THE PHONE!" me=ron, you=harry, your fam=uncle vernon…. yikes