Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter.
I'm sorry that it took so long to get this chapter out. Things were crazy around here for a while with the hurricane and such.
Thanks for all the reviews and I hope you enjoy this next fun filled chapter.
Recap: All Pansy could do was stare at Ron, utterly confused about what to do, her emotions tearing at her from all angles.
She looked up at into Ron's eyes and immediately saw how much he loved and cared for her. She felt the same way. She stared so deeply into his eyes that the whole world faded away and they were the only two people left standing in it. And without anymore doubt or hesitation she simply said yes, and let an emotion filled smile cross her face.
"Yes!" Ron yelled in triumph as a huge smile, mimicking the intensity of Pansy's, began to grow on his already bright red face. He ran over to her, picked her up off the ground, held her close to his chest, and twirled her around. He placed small kisses where ever he could till his lips found their destination and locked with Pansy's in the most heart felt kiss either of them had ever experienced. The two finally broke apart panting and gasping for some much needed oxygen.
"Why can't you be sweet like that to me!" Ginny said playfully as she punched a very stunned Harry in the arm, who could do nothing but gape at the unlikely pair.
"She said yes?... But…why? How could he be such a stupid git? I mean, Pansy?" Harry questioned baffled as to what just happened. Just as shocked as Draco and Hermione who were standing only few feet away with similar awed expressions. Ginny on the other hand was quite please with the turn of events. She couldn't be happier for her brother and she didn't understand why the others were in such a state of shock. In an attempt to break Harry out of his frozen state she picked up and handful of snow and pegged him in the face with it. "Oww, Ginny, what in the bloody hell was that for?" He asked her completely oblivious as to why she had such a look of fury about her.
"That was for being a complete git, and unless you want me to do it again, you will go over there and congratulate my brother and his future wife. Or so help me, Harry James Potter, I will make your life a living hell." Ginny finished in a huff before she rushed over to coax the other two back to reality.
Once the shock wore off and Ginny returned to her normal cheery self they all treated Pansy and Ron to dinner at the Three Broomsticks. After they finished eating the girls headed for the bathroom to get some girl talk in. To the one woman on her way out of the restroom this was truly a strange sight to see, a girl walking into the bathroom followed by two guys. This left the guys alone at the table to have a discussion of their own. "Why'd you do it, man?" Harry asked Ron as he patted him on the back.
"Yeah, I mean, did you get her knocked up?" Draco asked, completely serious.
"No, guys, look. I love her. That's all there is to it." He said looking at Draco. "You of all people should understand that."
"What are you talking about, what makes you think that I would… I mean.." Draco said trying to keep face but fighting a losing battle.
"I've seen the way you look at her, even before all this started. I'm not blind you know, just because I've been kinda preoccupied with Pans doesn't mean that I am oblivious to everything around me."
"Well, that's a first," Harry said, interrupting him.
Choosing to ignore Harry's comment solely because he looks like his sister he continued what he was saying. "I know you love her, and the was she is when she's with you, I'm fairly certain that feeling is mutual."
"What feeling is mutual?" Hermione asked, walking up behind Draco and rubbing his shoulders, a huge smile on her face. Draco immediately began to turn red and Harry quickly changed the subject.
"It's starting to get late, maybe we should start heading back now." Draco gave him a huge thank you look and got up to leave. Slowly they all filtered out of the Three Broomsticks into the cold night air.
"Can we walk on ahead? I just can't take watching Pansy and Ron make googely eyes at each other for at least another seven years." Draco joked, looking at Hermione, who immediately began to laugh.
"Sure," She replied as they picked up the pace to distance themselves from the others. The wind started to pick up and Hermione clutched her dress robes closer to her body. Draco noticing this put an arm around her shoulders and pulled her closer to him then extended his other hand to take the large bag she was carrying.
"No, it's ok." She said as she saw what he was doing.
"Let me carry it, I don't mind." He said in the sweetest voice she had ever heard (which was only slightly bizarre because it was hers).
"No, there's something in there I don't want you to see." She said with a smile, her face feeling oddly hot outside in the cold. Draco realizing why she didn't want to hand over the bag began to blush as well.
"You got me something? But why? I've been horrible to you." Draco questioned in a sad tone, remembering the terrible things he's done to her throughout the years. 'How could I have been such a bloody git?'
"All that's in the past, you're a different person now, a better person… And well, I.. umm… I wanted to… well… I just wanted to get you something." She stuttered out. Draco seeing her embarrassment began to flirt with it.
"Why, you must have a reason for wanting to get me something." He pushed, hoping that she would confess what he has been secretly hoping to hear.
"Well, it's just that… We've been hanging out a lot… It's been great… I, well, I wanted to… there's something… I feel…" Hermione was obviously having trouble admitting her feelings to him. She just wished she could run away from the whole situation, but she was almost there if she could just.
"Just say it, what is it? You can tell me anything." He said giving her a reassuring squeeze on the arm. She looked up at him and gave him a weak smile.
"Well, it's just that, well, lately I've been.. feeling differently towards you…" She admitted in a voice so quiet it was almost a whisper. The two made their way up the final front steps of Hogwarts. Draco reached to open the huge front doors and the moment he did they were welcomed with a refreshing burst of warm air. Quickly ushering her inside they made their way to an abandoned classroom to continue the conversation.
Draco knew that Hermione was hesitant to start where she left off so it was Draco's turn to admit something. "Hermione, I think it only fair to tell you that I feel differently towards you as well." He began with a source of courage he didn't know he had. "I'm not sure when it all started but somewhere along the way of you repeatedly slamming my head into a desk and my intensely pathetic attempt at beating you in a snowball fight, I, well, I started to…" He was having trouble forming his words. 'Malfoy's are just no good at admitting feelings, or having feelings, or sharing them with women. This is harder than I thought it was going to be. She needs to stop looking at me like that. Merlin, Draco, pull yourself together.'
"What? What did you start to do, Draco." Hermione could feel the all too familiar butterflies in her stomach. Silently praying for him to take the conversation where she's been hoping it would go.
Looking at Hermione and figuring it's now or never, he began again. "Well, you see… There's just something about you. Something completely unexpected, I just never thought… I love spending time with you… Talking to you… Messing with you, watching you get mad… That came out wrong. I meant as in flirting, you're funny when you're mad… it's cute when you get flustered… I mean… Ok, let me start over. I don't know how you did it Hermione, but you made me fall for you." He finished, looking down at his feet standing there in a very uncomfortably empty classroom, in considerably more uncomfortable silence for what seemed like hours when really it was only seconds.
"You… you what?" She was shocked, happy, elated in fact 'why am I not acting elated? He is expecting me to say something… Say something you fool. Come on Hermione, where's that Gryffindor courage? Start talking!' "I've fallen for, Harry?"
"Harry?" Draco questioned in a wave of confusion.
"NO! Harry is over… Harry what do you want… I'm kind of in the middle of something important." Hermione stated trying to keep the anger, which was raging inside of her from being interrupted, from being evident in her voice. Not doing a very good job of it Harry took a step back before he opened his mouth to speak.
"Well, it's just that, Dean, Seamus, Crabbe and Goyle are themselves, though I don't really see much of a difference in their behavior. I guess they are more alike then we thought." Harry was rambling, 'Stop rambling and leave'. He thought to himself as he backed out of the room.
Hermione looked back at Draco her courage failing her yet again. 'Damn Harry and his horrible yet inevitably bad timing.' This was just not going the way she had hoped. She noticed that Draco seemed nervous as well so she scrapped together what little courage she had left to finish what she started out to do. "I've fallenfor youtoo." She forced out so fast it took Draco a minute to figure out what she said. They moment he did a huge smile came to his face as he walked over to Hermione and pulled her into one of the strongest hug he could, seeing as he had the strength of Hermione, and then everything went black.
Hermione blinked groggily, staring up at the ceiling in confusion. Where was she? Why was she on her back? And why did that sound so vulgar to her? Groaning, she rolled over and sat up, rubbing her head and gazing around at her surroundings. She was still in the classroom and she was still in position across from Draco Malfoy who was waking up as well with a mirrored expression of confusion on his face. Her mouth fell open as she gazed at him, blinking and rubbing her eyes with the heels of her hands, she looked at him again. It wasn't so much the look of surprise on his face that she found so shocking, but the mere fact that it was his face. Draco has his own face. With a gasp, her hands went to her chest and she held her breast, a bright smile forming on her face.
"Oh thank God." She sighed in relief, looking up at the ceiling as Draco realized who he was now and smiled happy.
"I have a penis!" He said, but his comment was blocked out by Hermione's voice, who at the same time cried.
"I have breasts!"
They both stared at each other silently before Draco took in a deep breath.
"Are you alright? What happened? Where are we? Why are we switched back? Are we in trouble…." He began to ramble. Hermione picked this moment to lean forward, put her hands on either side of his head and kissed him rather aggressively as she crawled on top of him. His words were quickly silenced as his hand slid around the back of her neck, pulling her closer. They were so busy….interacting, that they didn't even hear or see George and Fred pass by the doorway. Fred whistled and cheered, George made a gagging noise and in the end, both clapped politely.
"Well done, very well done mate." George said, smacking Draco on the shoulder as he helped Hermione to her feet.
"Very well done, I give it an eight for performance and a ten for right timing." Fred added, giving Hermione a thumbs-up before pulling George after him as he exited the classroom. Hermione and Draco stood in silence, both of their mouth's hanging open and their eyes full of astonishment.
"That wasn't awkward at all." Draco muttered, brushing a strand of hair out of Hermione's face, making her blush. He was about to lean in for another kiss when Harry and Ginny burst in, eyes wide.
"Is it true?" Ginny demanded, fixing her glasses.
"Are you yourselves?" Harry added, looking upset and a little confused. (Once again, when was Harry Potter not confused?) Draco smirked, nodding pompously at poor Harry's obvious distress.
"That's right Potter, I finally bested you at something…getting my bloody body back." He said, sneering. Strangely enough, the sneer didn't feel nearly as comfortable with his own face anymore. Harry's lower lip quivered and Ginny sighed, sensing a nervous break down coming. Hermione whirled around, glaring at her new crush.
"So that's all I am to you now? A conquest! You were only acting bloody civil to me to get your body back?" She demanded, looking ready to either cry or geld Draco. Draco looked at her nervously, shaking his head.
"It isn't like that, 'Mione." He stammered, shaking his head again. "I was just trying to prove a point to Po…" He began but stopped as Harry let out a small sob, running toward the exit.
"I can't take all this negativity!" He cried, bright red pony tail bobbing behind him, Ginny close at his heels. Draco fought the urge to simply laugh, swallowing it down as Hermione glared at him, tapping her heel in frustration.
"Look, I already told you…it isn't like that. I was just trying to make Harriet over there cry…which turned out to be easier then I thought." He added, tilting his head to the side and looking at the ceiling as he reflected on his triumph of upsetting Harry. A light but sharp sting across the cheek caused him to jerk back to reality, staring at a very upset and possibly nuclear Hermione. "Jesus Hermione, sorry. You have to admit it was funny!" He cried defensively, ready to cry himself. She sighed and rolled her eyes, shaking her head.
"I didn't smack you to yell at you, I smacked you to get your attention to do this." She said with a slight smile, grabbing him by the collar and pulling him down for a kiss, her left foot lifting up slightly off the ground as she passionately kissed him, pressing her body up against his. Draco silenced all of his doubts, his worries about Hermione's lack of affection toward him, about his family's honor…if they had any. He simply enjoyed the kiss, wrapping his arms around her tightly and pulling back to burry his face against the warm curve of her neck and simply hug her to himself, happy to have someone care about him and vice versa.
OoOoOoOo
"It's Christmas! Everyone, its Christmas!" Harry yelled, running around in Ginny's…or his, new pink robe that he had bought himself. "Happy Christmas everyone!" He yelled, jumping on Ron's bed like the little girl he was and probably mentally always would be. Ron sat up with a jolt, waking a very upset Pansy with his rapid movement and looking around skittishly.
"The spiders are singing!" Ron yawned, finally waking up and rubbing his eyes. Harry smiled, a smile that Ron was having trouble seeing on his little sister's face.
"Bugger off, you wanker." Pansy muttered, falling back against Ron's pillow, pulling it closer and inhaling with a silly smile on her face. Anyone else and she would be nervous at being caught half naked in Ronald's bed, but Harry was just one of the girls, both figuratively and literally. Ron groaned and pegged Harry in the face with a pillow, causing the small boy to fall over the edge of the bed.
Harry, taking the hint, hurried out to the Great Hall where Hermione and Draco were already seated. They were whispering and giggling, as they held their respective wrapped presents when he walked into the room. They looked up as a very excited Harry and half dead Ginny stumbled into the Hall.
"Harry, stop…I'm not awake, I'm not coherent….this isn't natural." Ginny almost cried, attempting to fix her glasses and striped pajamas. Harry pulled her down next to him, handing her a large box with a large ribbon, smiling like an excited child. The present was so heavy that Ginny fell backwards off the bench with a thud.
"Well done Potter." Draco snickered, rolling his eyes. Poor Ginny sat up, attempting to hold an obviously off balanced present. With a final grunt, she pushed the box on the table and opened it. For a brief moment, she didn't say anything as she looked into the large box, her eyes wide. Harry fidgeted, moving closer.
"Do you like it?" He asked over her shoulder. She numbly nodded, a small smile growing on her face as she reached into the box.
"It's wonderful, Harry." She murmured, still not bringing the unknown thing out of the box.
"Oh, for fucks sake, just tell us!" Draco yelled, getting on top of the table as Ginny pulled a small grey ball of fuzz out of the box. At first, Draco assumed Harry had given Ginny a hair ball. He wouldn't put it past Harry to do something that incredibly stupid. Then the grey hair ball made a small gagging sound and moved. Tiny little paws stretched out and yawned, bright blue eyes blinked and Harry swore he was staring at his mother in the morning.
It was a kitten. A very surprised, tired, and obviously disoriented kitten. Ginny squealed, Harry smiled and in the end, they were both jumping up and down in excitement, holding hands.
"I can't believe you got me a kitten, Harry!" She cried, hugging him close and smiling again as Blaise and Neville exchanged chocolates and flowers, both blushing as they again openly flirted. Hogwarts was at peace. Neville and Blaise had switched back the night before and had come out of the closet. Draco's only response was that Neville had actually been in the closet, just confused to where he gaily was. Dean, Seamus, Goyle and Crabbe exchanged best friend necklaces and then it was time for the actually important characters to exchange gifts again.
With all the excitement of the kitten, which was now rubbing up against a very impatient Draco, and the shock of seeing Blaise acting civil towards anyone especially Neville, Draco and Hermione went back to the business at hand; their unwrapped presents, still sitting in front of them on the table. They both looked down at their respective gifts then back up at each other not sure of who should open their gifts first. "M' Lady, should always be first." Draco finally said, with a mischievous glint in his eyes.
Hermione gave him a look that said 'What are you up to' before she complied and unwrapped the pink box in front of her. She lifted the lid to look inside then slammed it back down, eyes wide as she looked at Draco. "What… what… what were you thinking?" She finally managed to get out as she watched Draco's face light up, obviously deep in thought.
"I was thinking, that when I tried it on, you looked ridiculously sexy." He said, a smirk on his face. Hermione's face began to flush as she took in his words. "And really it's more a gift for myself, I did get you something else, something I know you'll love." He could see that with that she was already getting anxious but he wanted to postpone her misery just a little longer. 'She's so cute when she's flustered.' "But first, I'm just dying to see what you got me." He said as he began ripping open the wrapping paper with falling snow on it. He finally got down to the box and opened it to find…. 'books, I should have known.' He thought to himself as he looked at the titles.
Hermione noticed the slightly disappointed look on his face and made an attempt to make it better. "Well, what do you get the guy who has everything? I loved 'Lord of the Rings' just give it a try, for me." She pouted with the sad puppy dog eyes she knew would get her anything. "There is something underneath, you'll like it, I know I did." Draco lifted up the books to revile a pair of black and red satin boxers that oddly matched the sexy night gown/teddy that Draco had given to Hermione only moments earlier.
"So you liked them huh?" Draco said, the sexy smile returning to his face. "Maybe we should skip your other present and try out the one's we already have." He whispered seductively to her only to receive a smile and playful slap, closely followed by a loud no and a pair of out stretched hands, impatiently awaiting her next gift. "Greedy, aren't you." He toyed with her as he pulled a small neatly wrapped gift from his pocket and handed it to her. She paused for a moment to admire the beautiful wrapping job before almost completely destroying the box to get to what was inside.
Hermione made it to her objective then paused and with a quizzical look held up and old bronzed key. "A key?" She questioned loudly enough that made George turn to look at them. He noticed the key and almost started to laugh.
"Man, please tell me that isn't the key to your heart, because I think I might die of laughter." He chocked out before keeling over and rolling on the floor.
Draco, realizing he better explain himself to Hermione, walked over and kneeled in front of her and looked up into her eyes. "It's a key to the bookstore." He could tell she was still confused so he went on. "I bought it for you. It's all yours." He finished, the weight of his words starting to sink in.
Hermione realizing what he gave her she jumped at him, knocking him to the floor and kissed him passionately right there in front of everyone with the exception of Ron and Pansy who were still back in Ron's bed.
"Ron Weasley, I demand to be given my present now." Pansy stated as she pulled the remaining covers from Ron's sleeping form.
"I'm tired, it's early and cold, so come back over here and let's sleep…. Please?" He added in an exasperated tone, still tired from the very little sleep he received the night before. Realizing that Pansy wasn't going to give up and severely wanting to ovoid the inevitable fight that was sure to explode from her at any moment he sat up blinking, letting his eyes adjust to the light. "Fine, I'm up… who wants to go fir.." But before he could finish his sentence Pansy shoved a small black velvet box in his face.
"Me." See yelled as she sat impatiently, waiting for Ron to open the gift.
"A ring?" He questioned as he looked into the box. He looked at Pansy as he held the ring out to her. "Ring?"
Pansy's eyes light up with excitement. "A ring? Oh Ron, it's beautiful. Thank you." She said, taking the ring from Ron and placing it on her left hand. "It's exactly what I've always wanted and it's just my size, who did you know?" She continued as she admired the hug diamond that was engulfing her ring finger.
Ron just stared at her in utter confusion. It was just far too early to try and figure out what had just happened. "Umm… you bought the ring, Honey. You knew what it looked like." He said trying to figure out what was mentally wrong with his fiancée. He was fairly certain it was had a very long, very unpronounceable term for what she had.
"I know you don't have a lot of money, and I wanted this engagement ring. So I bought it to give to you to give to me. And it's beautiful, I love it, thank you." She squealed as she lunged forward nearly knocking him off the bed as she pulled him into a big hug.
By the end of the morning everyone had exchanged gifts. Ron had given Pansy a beautiful, antique locket, with their picture in it, and an engagement ring (apparently), and Pansy had given him a brand new firebolt and an autographed picture of the Chudley Canons. Once Ginny found Harry she gave him a homemade picture frame of them enthralled in a pillow fight and Dumbledore gave all the students remaining at Hogwarts, for the break, beautiful suits and gowns for the ball he planned for later that day.
I hope you liked it. It was slightly longer then some previous chapters so I hope that makes up for the wait.
When will Harry and Ginny change back and what should she name the kitten? Drop me a couple of lines, let me know how you like the story.
Possibly Canadian