Author's note: Hi guys, it's been….. a while.
Alright so. This isn't a complete chapter. Since we're normally not allowed to only post an author's note as a chapter, I'd rather give you, well, what I wrote back in 2017, that was supposed to be the beginning of Chapter 36.
I am posting this here to let you guys know that I am working on this story again, but from the beginning. Yes, yes. I know. I'm annoying. I'm not sure how this all works around here, if you guys get notified when a story you follow is updated (while I write fanfictions, I've read maybe five in my life so I'm not really in the know), but since there's like 374 of you following the story, I think there's no harm in trying to reach you to let you guys know that you can find the new version on this story on my profile, under the name "Scar Tissue (Rewrite)". I thought I'd just rewrite the exact same story but hopefully better - 'cause I've reread this and I am cringing -, but I've ended up changing a whole bunch of stuff, of dialogues, relationships, I've added scenes, etc.
So… Well, if you guys are interested, you can check it out anytime! Hopefully this time, I'll finish it…..

Anyway, I also wanted to thank you all for the incredible support you've shown me over all these years, even after I disappeared from the internet.

Harry was in the Room of Requirement for the last D.A meeting before Christmas when the door was creaked open. Entered Draco and Hermione, talking together, holding hands. They didn't notice him, at first, Hermione pulling Draco inside with her. Harry was still trying to get the baubles down, after Dobby had decorated the room with them. His face was on each of them and they were all saying "HAVE A VERY HARRY CHRISTMAS!" and he wasn't sure he wanted for everyone to see them. As he eyed the couple, at least, he saw that the tensions between them seemed gone. Maybe Christmas had this effect on people.

"Mistletoe," Draco said as he pointed the mistletoe above their heads. Harry felt uncomfortable, seeing them kiss, as did Hermione when she finally noticed that they weren't alone.

"Harry!" she said, flustered, when she turned around and saw her friend. They both avoided eye contact. Draco only smirked as he approached Hermione, staying behind her and passing his arms around her.

"What are you doing, Potter?" Draco asked, seeing all the baubles that he was done getting down. Harry shook his head and sighed.

"Dobby decorated the room…" Draco lost his smirk and rolled his eyes after Harry's explanation. He didn't have time to answer as he looked behind him. Entered Luna, to whom he gave a small smile. She seemed to be in a good mood. She was followed by Pansy and Theo and they all approached the group as Luna was asking about the decorations in the room and if Harry had put them up. He managed to say that it was Dobby's idea before Luna pointed at the large mistletoe.

Pansy looked up and rolled her eyes before moving from under it.

"Good thinking, it's often infested with nargles," she said, looking very serious.

Again, they didn't have time to discuss more and ask what nargles were, even if Draco could see that Hermione was trying to keep her sigh for herself, because people were starting to come in.

Angelina used the opportunity to talk about the replacements made in the team, surprising everyone by saying that Ginny Weasley was the new Seeker. She seemed really bitter about Harry not being able to play, though, almost as if she was reproaching it to him.

Ron and Neville arrived, followed by a bunch of other students and soon, they were all there. They didn't do much during this last lesson, besides working on a bunch of Jinx they had been practicing, like Impedimenta, before they practiced Stunning. Harry was very proud of everyone, seeing how good they had all become, even Neville, who had improved the most. Draco was kind of curious when Harry talked about learning Patronuses after the holidays. He wondered if he would be able to summon one, one day. But he also thought about the holidays. After the Slytherin trio had helped the Gryffindor trio to stack the cushions away, Draco asked Hermione if they could get some time alone to talk.

That's how they ended up in the unused classroom again.

"Are you okay?" Hermione asked, surprised as to why he wanted to talk to her alone. Draco only nodded, sitting on one of the desks.

"Yeah, yeah, don't worry. I was just wondering about your holidays."

"Are you staying in the castle?" She asked, wondering if he was hoping to spend the holidays with her. "Because… I'm going skiing with my parents, they told me in a letter this morning."

"Skiing?" Draco asked, frowning. He watched as Hermione laughed and started explaining what it was. First of all, Draco thought skiing was one of the most absurd things he had heard ever heard of, but he liked seeing Hermione's excitement.

"I'm going back home too, maybe Panse will come over for Christmas Eve so it's fine." His parents had said so, this year, he could go home despite the cycle being during the holidays. Draco suspected that it was his mother's doing. He was pretty sure his father would be there but would rather have him away, with everything that was going on. But his mother, who was still sending him letters every day with tons of sweets, was probably dying to see him, to make sure he was okay, and wanted to spend what remaining time they had left with him. They never knew when everything could be over.

"Even with the cycle coming up?" Draco only nodded but his little smile was obvious, and Hermione smiled, approaching him and holding his hands, looking up at him. "That's great. I know you miss them, don't you?" She asked more quietly, as if she knew Draco wouldn't say it too loud. But after a few seconds, and as he looked down, he smiled sadly as he nodded again.

"Yeah, kinda."

"How's everything going back home?" she then asked, trying to meet his eyes. Draco shrugged as he looked away.

"Mother says everything's fine, that they're doing okay, but I never know if she's just trying to reassure me so that I don't lose it," he said before finally looking at Hermione. "I'll see them anyway, so I'll see for myself."

"And what is your father saying? Does he still write to you as often?"

"Yeah, he tries to," Draco said with a little smile, always happy to see that his father was doing everything he could to keep in touch. "As much as he can. He's doing fine, but he's always telling me that I shouldn't do anything, that he's taking care of things."

"D'you disagree with him?"

"Well, I joined the D.A., didn't I?" Draco asked with a quiet laugh as he looked down, not really proud of himself.

"Yeah, but I mean… do you tell him anything about how you would like things to go?" Draco directly shook his head.

"I wouldn't even dream of it."

"You're afraid it's going to upset him?" Hermione asked, letting go of one of his hands to distractedly take his tie between her fingers, focusing on it. She knew Draco had always difficulties to talk to her about his father, because he knew Hermione and her friends didn't like him very much. Of course, they had reasons. But still, it was always making them both uneasy. But Hermione wanted him to be able to confide in her about anything.

"No, not upset him," Draco said, frowning a bit as he was thinking about it. "He wouldn't get upset, he would be worried I might do something dangerous or whatever. He's really… overprotective, sometimes. And it's fine. But… You know."

Overprotective was a euphemism, knowing Lucius had an hippogriff executed -well, almost- for harming his son. As he had had the werewolf that had bitten him executed. He would go as far as killing other beings to keep his son out of harm's way.

"So, he never gets upset?" Hermione asked, smiling a little as she looked up at Draco again. "You guys never argue about anything?" Draco couldn't help but smile too, obviously trying to stop himself from laughing, thinking about it.

"No, not really. It's like I can do no wrong. But when he's annoyed or yeah, upset, he just doesn't say anything. Usually, the message is clear, you've disappointed him." Hermione grimaced and Draco shrugged. "It's fine, it never happens with me or my mom. I just saw him do it with other people."

"People that are not as good as you all are?" Hermione asked, tilting her head. Draco shrugged again, keeping a little smile on his face and Hermione ended up shaking her head a little. "Well, I'm just glad it's going well with you three, you know."

"Yeah, I know," he said quietly, meeting her eyes again. He leaned as she approached, and they exchanged a kiss before the door opened, startling them.

Ron arrived first, directly talking with Hermione about Muggles sports. She had explained what skiing was to him too, that morning, and he had been curious ever since. Draco simply listened, a bit annoyed that they had been interrupted. But apparently, everyone had decided to stay with them, as Pansy and Theo arrived not long after. They seemed to be disagreeing about something and from what Draco heard as they entered the room, they were talking about Luna.

"What's going on?" he asked, suddenly curious. Was it the same kind of disagreements he had with Hermione?

"I've just learned Theo has been spending some time with Lovegood, did you know?" Pansy asked, crossing her arms as she sat on the desk next to Draco's.

"I had no idea," Draco said, a small smirk being visible on his lips. Theo was smiling broadly, not caring about the remarks his friends would surely make from now on.

"She is very interesting," he simply said, standing in front of them. "She has a lot of interesting things to say."

Draco couldn't help but glance at Hermione, waiting for her to talk about Luna's nonsense, but he saw that she was instead glancing at Pansy. That's when he remembered the story he had invented about Pansy's crush on Theo and he looked away, feeling his cheeks becoming a bit warmer.

Hermione could see that Pansy didn't look annoyed in the slightest, though. But maybe she was hiding it?

After a while, as they were all sat down and talking about various things, Hermione writing a letter on the side, Harry finally came in the room too. He had taken a lot of time and Ron and Hermione were curious about what had happened, especially after Ron mentioned Cho was still in the Room of Requirement when he left Harry there.

Harry seemed to still be shocked over what happened and he simply sat on a chair, not talking right away. He nodded, though, when Ron asked if Cho cornered him after the meeting. Draco looked at Pansy and made a little face, making his friend snigger. Hermione caught Draco's eyes and he stopped, hardly holding his smile by biting his lower lip.

"Did you kiss?" Hermione then asked. Silence again. Ron was getting very impatient.

"Well?" He asked. Harry glanced at Theo and Ron's curious look, at Pansy and Draco's neutral expressions and at Hermione's slight frown before nodding again. Ron started asking questions, obviously, like how it was. When Harry said that she had been crying and that Ron asked if it was because Harry was that bad at kissing, Draco and Pansy couldn't help but burst out laughing. Theo simply tilted his head, his arms crossed and a small smile on his face as he was staring at Harry.

"Maybe I am," Harry said, worried.

"Of course you're not," Hermione said, still writing her letter.

"How do you know?" both Draco and Ron asked sharply as they looked at Hermione before exchanging a glance. Draco's was annoyed, while Ron seemed flustered.

Author's Note : so there you are, that's what I've last written back in the days… Hopefully I'll see you soon with the other version! Thanks again for your support over the years!