Oh mah goodness, oh mah goodness, oh mah goodness! I'm so sorry, my lovely, lovely readers! I thought for sure I had posted the second chapter before I hada crisis after the other, having me fail to post some of this story. It's been a hell of a few months, I'm sorry for not getting this up. Still working on HW, and BM, so stay tuned for those.

Oh, and this fic was only meant to entertain you guys and gals for a while while I work out the others. I know there are a few mistakes in there (like aparating and whatnot) but it was two years ago that this was written, it was when I would write any old thing that would pop into my head. XD Maybe it's best that I waited to post this one, it's more fitting now that it's almost Christmas time.

Hope you enjoy the second chapter of Mistletoe

>>>>>.

"How will Hogsmeade be this afternoon with all the hustle and bustle of Christmas shopping?" I think to myself as I head for the village. It's not as cold as it was last night. But that bite of winter is still in the wind, hitting my bare face with full force. It doesn't bother me though, infact, it's quite the refresher.

Another question is what to get Ron and Hermoine for Christmas. I didn't have the time to shop for them before they left, so I'll be sending Hedwig for a late Christmas delivery.

I'm about half way there when I hear that familiar crunch of snow under boot from last night, and now, some panting as if this person was trying to catch up.
I stop, and look behind me, and a grin appears on my face as I see Malfoy running.

He reaches me after a few seconds, and bends over to catch his breath.
"Yes, Malfoy?" I say, not being able to resist a tiny smirk.

Without bending back up, he holds up his right hand, a green pouch dangling from it.

"You. . .You dropped. . . this." He says, still trying to catch his breath, gulping after he got it out.
I raise an eyebrow, and soon realize that this was my money pouch! How could I have dropped it?

"Oh my, thank you! I would've looked pretty stupid if I went and bought presents and couldn't pay for them." I say as I take the green pouch from his hand.
I put the pouch in my pocket, and smile at a now standing Malfoy.
But the smile soon disappears as I realize that he ran all this way just to give me back my pouch. There has to be something more to this.

"What's the deal, Malfoy? You don't just run about half a mile to return a pouch."

He smirks as he runs a hand over his hair to push down the loose strands, "Well, Potter, I thought I might join you. I have business in Hogsmeade as well."

"Um, okay." I say, a bit stunned at his words. And I'm a bit confused as well. Did he mean join me as in he wants to join me? Or did he mean that he just wants to join me because he really has business in Hogsmeade? Or maybe-

"Potter! Are you still there?" I'm jutted from my thoughts as he yells to get my attention. I look at him, his hands are on his hips, annoyed that I haven't been listening to him.

"You don't need to yell! What is it?" I say as I look at him, annoyed as well.

"Apparently I do need to yell. I was asking if it was alright if I joined you."

He's asking to join me? What in the name ofMerlin is going on?

"I-I guess that would be fine." I say. I start walking again, but now I have someone at my side. The last person I thought would be walking to Hogsmeade with me. Draco Malfoy .

>>>>>.

"It's not that busy, is it?" I say to Malfoy as we enter the wizarding village. He snorts at me, and says, "What did you expect, Potter? It's almost Christmas."
"Well sorry." I mutter, and we continue our way into the village.

We soon depart our separate ways, for he has to go one way, and I have to go another to get Ron and Hermoine's gifts.

(and we skip where he buys presents, for tis boring I say! )

Grinning to myself, I'm proud that I have found the perfect gifts to give to my best friends.
A model of the Quidditch World Cup arena with realistic players from the Irish team flying about for Ron(can you believe they only had just one?), and a huge book on everything you can imagine on magic for Hermoine.

As I'm walking, I notice the post office. Hmm, I think these packages might be a bit too big for Hedwig. I head over, and go inside, the door sounding with a little jingle as I do.
It's quiet in here too. Like all the other shops. I go up to the counter, and set my things down on the counter.

"And how may I help you today, sir?" I jump as a man seems to appear out of no where behind the counter.
He's tall, blonde hair, and his cheeks are somewhat sunken. But he has a kind smile spread out on his face.

"Um, yes. I would like to have these presents to be shipped out."

"Oh, no problem, sir! That's our job you know." he said with a smile and a wink, "Now, where would you like them sent?" With a flick of his hand, a quill appeared in it, with a piece of parchment in the other, "Name, and then destination. That's how we work." He said with a bit of a chuckle. To me, this guy seems a bit energetic.

"Ron Weasley, and Hermoine Granger." I wait as he scribbles down the names, "Destination is The Burrow."

"Oh yes, The Burrow! We've sent quite a few letters there over the years." he chuckles again, "Yes, a couple of our owls came back with some kind of weird disfiguration from those packages. We didn't wrap them up tight enough, you see, and a bit of the thing, yeah, you could call it a thing, had splashed up on the owls!" He laughs out loud now, and I think what kind of things Fred and George had been sending to The Burrow.

"Well, anyhoo, now that I've been down memory lane, I can assure you that these gifts will be sent safely, and to the right destination." He says with a smile as he pats the gifts.

"Will they be there by Christmas?" I ask.

"Oh, of course! We're very good about delivering presents at Christmas time." He then takes me over to the register, and adds up my total. I pay, and am headed out the door.
But then I spot Malfoy at the counter with a different clerk, and I hear the words, "I would like to send this to St. Mungos, please." I quickly dash out the door so as to not be seen overhearing his words.

"St. Mungos?" I say aloud. Why would Malfoy be sending something to St. Mungos?
I stand there for what seems like the longest time, pondering what I just heard.
And then, I hear the jingle of the door, and am face to face with Draco Malfoy once again.

"Potter, what are you doing standing there? Are you lost like a little puppy dog?" He smirks. I don't respond, biting my lip so not a thing can be blurted out. Now he raises an eyebrow at my silence, "What's the matter, Potter?"
I shake myself out of my stupor, and say, "Do, do you want to grab a butterbeer? My treat." Why did I just ask that?

"Are you for real, Potter? You're actually asking me to go have a butterbeer with you?"

"Yeah." I say, not believing it myself.
He smirks once again, and says, "Okay. You're on, Potter."

>>>>>.

"Well, it seems there's many more people in here than anywhere else." I think as Malfoy and I take a seat by the brightly decorated Christmas tree.
Yes, there's definitely more people in here than anywhere else.
A few older witches took up a table closer to the bar, a few older wizards looked as if they were scheming to go and talk to the older witches. A few more witches and wizards adorned the rest of Three Broomsticks, a couple of trolls, and. . . Even a veela was here! I quickly look away so as to not get entwined within the veela's beauty. Almost fell out of the balcony for doing that last time.

Soon, Madam Rosmerta comes, and is ready to take our order.
"Hello, Harry, what can I get you this afternoon?" she looks over at Malfoy, and a shocked look takes over her usual tranquil face. She then raises an eyebrow, and leans down to me and whispers, "Are you aware that Draco Malfoy is sitting with you?" He obviously hears, and does a little "hmph." and crosses his arms.

"I am well aware. I invited him myself." I whisper back.

"Oh, right! I was just joking you know!" She fakes a laugh, "Yes, right. Now, what can I get you?" She asks again, a smile now on her face.

"We'll take two butterbeers, please." I say, a grin spreading on my face as Malfoy does another little, "Hmph."

"Okay. Be right back, Harry." And she's off back to the bar.

"Of all the things to do! She should know better than to question." Malfoy said, keeping his arms crossed.
I laugh at his antics. Only a Slytherin would find it revolting for a barmaid to ask a silly little question.

"Well, it's not every day that you see a Gryffindor and a Slytherin go and have a butterbeer, is it?" I ask, still laughing a bit.

"I guess it's not. But it's not like the world's coming to an end!" He says as he dramatically thrusts a hand into the air.
"Yeah, not yet anyway." I say as I put my chin in my hand. He smirks at what I say, and shakes his head.

Finally our drinks come. I say thank you to Madam Rosmerta, and she nods back in reply. I take a drink from my butterbeer as she walks away, and it fills me with a warmness beyond compare.
"I really needed this. The cold was starting to get to me." I say, then wipe my mouth with the back of my sleeve. He nods in reply as well, and takes a drink.

"Why did it get so silent?" I think to myself as I take another drink. I look at Malfoy, and he's staring at his drink, a look of. . . longingness in his face? No, no. That couldn't be it. What's that look then?

"Um, Malfoy." He looks toward me, a frown upon his face now, "Last night, at dinner, what book were you reading? It seemed to be quite interesting if you could hardly stop to eat dinner." I then take another sip as I wait for his answer.
He looks down at his drink, and answers without looking, "It was nothing. Just a book I found to pass the time at dinner." Is it me, or did that line seem a bit rehearsed?

"I just thought that, you looked so engrossed in it, that it might have been a favorite of yours."
He snorts at my statement, and starts to speak with a smirk on his face.

"And what business is it of yours, Potter if I was reading anyway?" He says as he finally looks at me.

"Because I'm trying to be nice." I say rather calmly for myself. He does another, "Hmph" and takes a great drink.
As he does this, I ask another question, "How come you're spending the Holiday at Hogwarts?" He sets down his mug down harshly, and says, "Because I felt like it, Potter! I'm still wondering why this is any of your business!"

I say calmly again, "Because, I'm trying to be nice. That's all."

He knocks down his chair as he stands up, and starts to put on his cloak and scarf very quickly.
"I don't want to sit here and be asked questions that I'm not about to answer!" he shouts, and heads quickly for the door.

I sit there, a bit shocked as I watch him leave. I stand up with a start, and act quickly myself. I put my cloak and scarf on, and pay for the drinks. And now am out the door like a bat out of hell to catch up with Draco Malfoy.

Malfoy was already down the street when I ran out of The Three Broomsticks. "Geez he's fast." I say aloud, and start running after him.

"Malfoy!" I yell. He doesn't look back. I yell again, "Malfoy!" He looks over his shoulder quickly, and keeps on going. I curse under my breath, and start to quicken my pace.

I finally about catch up, and start to talk to him once again, "Malfoy, could you stop for just a minute?"

"I don't see why I have to. I'm a Malfoy. We can do as we please." He says rather huffy.
"Even so," I start, a sarcastic tone comingfrom my mouth,"I'm trying to talk to you, and you should stop and listen!" I shout at him this time.

He now stops and turns to me, a scowl on his face.
"Well, what is so important that you have to talk to me?" He says as he crosses his arms.

"Look, I was just trying to be nice. I was trying to put our differences aside and just have a conversation with you. I don't know why you get all huffy at me asking just a couple of simple questions."

"Because it's none of your damn business, Potter!" He breaths deeply after his shout, and stares at me with daggers in his eyes.
As I stare in those cold, gray eyes, I realize that I might be hitting a cord in Malfoy. Maybe he doesn't want to talk about his Christmas plans because it has to do with his family. God knows it won't be the same at home with his father in Azkaban.

I sigh, and say, "Malfoy." He still stares at me, and says gruffly, "What?"

"I'm sorry. If you don't want to talk about those kind of things, I shouldn't be asking them." I hold out my hand in a gesture of friendship. Now I know I see a look of shock on his face. He still stares, mouth agape, but just a little.
He realizes what he just did, and straightens up, a look of that aristocratic charm on his face. He takes my hand, and now says, "It's, it's quite alright, Potter. Just quit being so nosy." I laugh at how he acts now, and he drops my hand for it, "What are you laughing about?" He asks.

"I hardly think I was nosy." He does a little "hmph" like before, "But I shouldn't have pursued asking."

He has his eyes narrowed, but soon they soften, and now, I'm quite shocked myself. He has an actual smile on his face!
"Think nothing of it, Potter." He pats me on the shoulder, and starts to walk once again.

I stare after him a few seconds, and think, "He's not so bad looking when he smiles."
I start to walk again too, thinking that I thought that Malfoy wasn't that bad looking. How strange is that?


And that's chapter 2! Hope you enjoyed. Sorry about my absence again. And sorry I didn't respond to your reviews this time, I just wanted to get this thing posted. Chapter three coming in a couple days. (for real this time XD)