Chapter 7: Beds are Burning

A/N: Pfft, that is right... I'm just that good. Two chapters in two days. Its a record. Oh my god, calm down, I'm just playing. I do nothave that big of a head. Teehee, anyways...onwards! Seventh chapter - Christmas time at Hogwarts.. SMILE! Woohoo, so after you read the chapter what are you going to do? No, not look for another story or anything... REVIEW dang nabbit. Please? Thank you! Laterdays!


It was Christmas Eve and most of the students had gone home to visit with their families. Draco decided to stay, having no where else to go. Hermione, Harry and Ron were staying too, along with Ginny and many others from other houses. The grounds were covered in snow and being the holidays most of the kids were outside. Hermione was hanging out with Harry and, surprisingly, Ron. Ron hadn't apologized yet, but they had a "peace agreement", or something. They were building a snowman and it was huge, about six feet tall; thanks to a little help with Hermione and her wicked wand skills.

"There. Perfect." Hermione said as she put on the finishing touches – a scarf.

"It really is Hermione. We're pretty good snowmen builders, eh?" Ron said and smiled. Harry, out of no where, threw a snowball at Hermione, which hit her smack dab in the face!

"Hey!" Hermione yelled at Harry. She made one for herself and threw it at Harry; meanwhile, Ron did the same thing. It looked like it was Ron and Hermione against Harry. Hermione stood behind the huge snowman building snowballs while Ron hurled them at Harry. Hermione couldn't stop laughing. She was having a load of fun.

Sitting on the stone steps of the school was Draco Malfoy, watching Hermione and her two best friends have a snowball fight. There was a sudden pang of jealousy that ran through Draco. He got up and started to walk towards her. She saw him coming and threw a snowball at him with a huge smile on her face. It missed. "Oh, so you wanna play rough eh?" Draco smirked.

"Heck yes." Hermione said as she backed away and threw another snowball at him. This time it hit him right in the face. "OH! SORRY!" She laughed and ran, hiding behind her snowman.

"Granger," Draco said jokingly, "you're gonna pay for that."

Meanwhile, Harry and Ron had stopped their fight to watch as Draco snuck up behind Hermione and yelled "Boo!" She screamed and giggled. He grabbed her and started to tickle her. Her laughing could probably be heard by all of the people outside. They fell to the ground in one pile and Draco started to kiss Hermione. Ron and Harry looked at each other and smiled. They were actually happy for Hermione, well, Harry mostly. You could tell that Ron was a tad jealous. He could be in Draco's position right now, if he wasn't such a fuck-up.

They watched as Draco picked Hermione up and started to walk away back up to the castle. Hermione waved at the boys and yelled, "I'll see you at the feast." Blew them a kiss and was back paying her attention to Draco.

Draco put Hermione down when they got inside, and took her hand. He led the way back to their room stopping every once in awhile to kiss Hermione. She couldn't stop smiling. She was so happy. It was Christmas, she was in love, and she had her best friends back.

Draco led Hermione to his bedroom, to his bed and pushed her onto it, gently. He crawled over to her and kissed her. She smiled and shivered.

"Boy, I sure do love the holidays." Hermione said to Draco. She undid his robe and slid it off, then grabbed the bottom of his white wife-beater and pulled it over his head. She adored his perfectly sculptured body. Draco was now on his back, Hermione straddling him. She kissed his neck, his body and started to undo his jeans. She slid them off, meanwhile thinking: Is this really what I want? She was contemplating about everything to do with Draco. She knew he wouldn't wait around for ever for her; probably get bored if they didn't have sex. Hermione shivered at the word that kept running through her mind. Yes, she was still a virgin.No,she couldn't picture herself having sex with Ron, he wasn't 'the one'; but does that mean Draco Malfoy is? Someone she has hated for so long, her enemy, could he really be the one to take her innocence? Underneath his jeans he wore black boxers, suited him. She looked up at Draco who was watching her.

"You don't have to you know that?" Draco said. "There's always another time, when you're ready." He smiled. Hermione relaxed. Why didn't he act like this always? He's so… perfect. She wandered back up to his lips and kissed him; she opened her mouth and let his tongue slip into her mouth. Draco took of her robes. Hermione grabbed her shirt and threw it aside. Underneath she was wearing a black lacy bra. "Hermione! That is hot." Draco said and smiled. She giggled and went back to kissing him. Unexpectedly, Harry and Ron came bursting through Draco's door.

"AH!" Hermione screamed, grabbing her shirt to cover herself. Draco didn't really know what to do with himself so he just sat straight up, looking innocent.

"What the fuck are you two doing in here? How did you get in!" Draco said. He was angry at them for disturbing his fun.

"Sorry." Ron said, out of breath. "We just came to tell Hermione something."

"What? What is it that you couldn't tell me… say at dinner? Jeez."

"Hermione, we don't know what happened. Mrs. Weasley just sent an owl. It is addressed to you. Here look at it." Harry said.

Hermione took the letter and looked over it. "Oh! Oh my goodness, Daddy!" Hermione broke down and sobbed. Draco eyed the parchment suspiciously and then grabbed it as Hermione let it go.

Hermione,

Hello dear, hope your Christmas break is going alright. I am sorry to have to tell you this, but your mother is too distraught at the moment. I am over at your house and I have somebad news;your father has had a heart-attack. He is in a local hospital and is being taken care of. He is not awake at the moment, or else we would be over there with him. It looks like he is going to be okay, but it is defiantly a shock. Your mother says that, no, you do not have to come home, unless necessary. She says that it would be best if you stay at school and that she will keep you informed through mail.

Keep well. Happy Holidays

Love,

Mrs. Weasley.

"Hermione! I am so sorry. He will be okay I promise" Draco said. He hugged Hermione and laid her head onto his lap.

Ron spoke, "What is it?." He took the letter and read it too, along with Harry. "Oh my god! I am so sorry! That's horrible. Uh, but yes, like Malfoy said… he will be okay!"

Hermione was still sobbing. Draco kissed her forehead. Hermione sat up and said, "Harry, Ron, thank you for bringing me the letter but I think I would like to be alone now. Yes, I will be down for dinner. It is Christmas, no worries I will be alright." She hugged Harry and walked with them to the door. "Bye."

She walked back into Draco's room and saw him eyeing her. He wasn't sure what to do. "Are you really going to be okay?" He asked.

"Yes, I am fine. Everyone is overly confident that he will okay. So yes, he is going to be alright. It's just horrible that it happened at Christmas, my parents were supposed to go to Canada to visit their friends for Christmas. I guess they won't be going anymore."

"Guess not." Draco said and hugged Hermione. "So, what do you want to do now?"

Hermione looked around, "I don't know. Want to go for a walk?"

"Sure why not." He looked down at himself and then at Hermione. She had put her shirt back on but he was still in his boxers. "Give me a minute." He said and laughed.

Hermione woke up, again, in Draco's bed. He wasn't in it though. She looked at her watch. 9:00 AM, it read. Christmas! She smiled. Hogsmeade with Draco. She got up and put on some sweatpants over her shorts. She was wearing a pink tank top, so she just grabbed a sweater and went into the commons room. Draco was sitting there, reading and drinking tea. He smiled as he saw her come in. "Didn't want to disturb you." He said and got up to kiss her. "Happy Christmas! Still up for Hogsmeade?"

"Merry Christmas to you to. Yes, I can't wait. We have to go get butterbeer for sure okay?"

"Fine, but we have to go to the Dervish and Banges..."

"Deal." Hermione smiled and kissed Draco again. She loved him, she decided.

She looked at the tree that was put up in their room, it was huge and there were a few presents under them. From Dumbledore & the rest of the staff they received plaques, for their duties as Head Boy and Head Girl. From Harry, Hagrid and Ginny she had received books, of course. From Ron, unexpectedly, there came a letter and a small package. She opened the letter.

Hermione,

I am truly sorry for all the pain and hurt I may have caused you; that was not my intention, though I am not sure what exactly my intentions were that day. See, I'm admitting it… I am stupid. I am glad that you are happy now. I want to be friends though; I miss you and feel bad for causing you and Harry to grow apart. Please accept this gift and Happy Christmas!

Love,

Ron.

She undid the packaging which covered a box. She opened it and inside was two of the ugliest earrings she had ever seen. Oh, yuck. She thought. There was another piece of parchment inside the box.

Ugly? I know. These are very different earring though, see whenever you put them on they will magically transform to match your outfit… colour and shape wise. Whatever will look good. Try them on, they're pretty neat.

Love,
Ron.

"Sweet." Hermione said. She noticed that Draco barely had anything under the tree for him, "Where are all your presents?" She said, not thinking.

"My parents. They're dead, so it's kinda hard for them to send them to me." He said. Hit a nerve. Hermione thought. Oops.

"Draco, I'm sorry! I wasn't thinking. Here, I got you something." She pulled her gift out from under the tree, "It's nothing really." She said. He unwrapped it and wasn't truly surprised to find a book, a book all about Quidditch. It was huge too.

"Whoa. Cool, thanks 'Mione." He kissed her. "By the way, I got you something too, it's nothing really." He said playfully.

Hermione noticed it was beautifully wrapped – in a gold paper with a red bow; house colours. Aw, how sweet! She thought. She ripped off the paper carefully and slowly, not knowing what to expect. She opened the little box and gasped. It was a ring. It was a ring! She smiled huge before pouncing on Draco and kissing him. It was white gold and had a massive diamond, but not too big, just the right size, the diamond was in a circular shape and was captivating. It fit perfectly onto her middle finger and she told Draco that she was never taking it off. He was ecstatic; he hadn't expected such a reaction from the ring. He thought that she would get the wrong picture from it. They finished cleaning up and ate a quick breakfast before parting ways to get ready.

An hour later they were finally in Hogsmeade and were heading for Dervish and Banges. Draco needed some things for Quidditch. A couple hours later they walked into the Three Broomsticks exhausted. They plopped down at an empty table. It was their first time out in public together and they were getting some weird looks. Pansy was eyeing Hermione evilly in the book store and Blaise kept smiling at them. Blaise was sitting with some other Slytherins in there; he waved at Draco and started to walk over. He grabbed a seat, "Hey there. Long time no talk. How's it going?"

"Good. Hermione, this is Blaise Zabini. One of my good friends." Blaise extended his hand to Hermione and Hermione took it without questioning. Blaise has always been nice enough to her. "And how are you?"

"I'm good," She responded, "and yourself?"

"Just wonderful. Look, Draco, Pansy is looking murderous these days. I would just be careful." Blaise looked at Draco and pointed at Hermione while she wasn't looking.

"Don't worry about it. Pansy couldn't hurt me or her." Draco whispered to Blaise. Hermione was sort of off in her own little world. She saw Harry and Ron come in and they spotted her and waved. She looked at Draco and told him he was going to see them.

"Harry! Ron! Hey you guys. Oh man, Zabini came over to talk to Draco and it got kind of awkward. I don't know the guy. Mind if I hang out with you for a bit?"

"Sure 'Mione. Can we get you anything?" Ron asked.

"Butterbeer please. Here, let me pay." Hermione handed Harry some money.

"On me." Harry said and gave the money back. Before she could argue they were walking away and within a few minutes were back with three butterbeers. Hermione smiled as it went down.

"Oh, that feels good. Yum." She said. "So, how was your Christmas morning?"

"It was alright, got a lot of good stuff." Harry said. "The usual, you could say. Thanks for the book by the way, Hermione." She smiled.

"Oh yeah, thanks for the book too!" He smiled, she was wearing his earrings. But they also noticed that she was sporting a huge ring on her middle finger. "Where'd ya get the ring?"

"Oh, present from Draco!" She smiled and admired it. The boys just stared at her.

"He got you that!" Ron said. "Whoa, no wonder you love him so much."

Hermione playfully punched him, "That is so not the reason that I love Draco."

"So you do love him?" Harry said, raising an eyebrow.

"I think so." Hermione said. She looked over at him and noticed that he was staring at her. She giggled and waved. The boys looked over to him and glared at him.

"I gotta go you guys! Ron, thanks for the earrings by the way and thanks Harry for the book. Man, I love you guys." She hugged Harry first and went on to hug Ron, in his ear she whispered, "I missed you too" and walked away.