Hermione
Hogwarts
December 25th 1996
Waking up Christmas morning alone at Hogwarts felt hallow, Hermione thought. She peaked outside of the curtains of her four post bed, which she closed out of habit rather than for privacy what with no one there, and she could see that it was a bright, frigid looking day.
She wrapped a fluffy robe around her which did a proper job of keeping the chill from the old castle at bay, and slid on her slippers. At the front of her bed she spotted a small pile of wrapped gifts.
Harry had gifted her a book she had talked his ear off about. It was a book by an up and coming wizard author out of Stockholm who wrote on the ethical role magic played in society, which fascinated Hermione. Honestly, she was shocked Harry had even remembered her bringing it up.
Surprisingly, despite her not going to the Burrow, Mrs. Weasley had sent Hermione a new maroon and gold wool sweater with a giant H stitched into the middle. She had been worried that Mrs. Weasley would have been offended by her not going, but the fact she still sent a sweater made a knot of tension in her chest ease.
And then she opened the gift from her parents. They had sent small little knick knacks and sweets from the French Alps, but under the knick knacks was a wrapped gift. Beneath the glittery market wrapping paper, she saw an item that looked like a book, but the cover was rather squishy and there was no title.
Upon opening the cover she found herself looking at a large 8 x 10 portrait of her and her parents in front of the Hogwarts Express, capturing the first time she had left to go to Hogwarts. Hermione's hand shot to her mouth to stifle a sob.
Page after page were still photo memories of her growing up as a muggle, her with her parents (she always looked happiest when she was pictured with them), her with her Hogwarts friends. There was even one wizard photo of her with her parents, which they had delighted at.
Tears began to splash down onto the pages, which she quickly wiped away.
She tried her best to put it out of her mind that soon enough, her parents wouldn't even know who she was, but looking at how she was when she was with them, made her heart shatter.
After spending almost an hour looking over the photo book, switching between sobbing and watery tears of laughter, Hermione readied herself to go down to Christmas Breakfast.
Before leaving, she reached to her beside table for her Malfoy parchment.
Theo is dragging me down to breakfast. Maybe I'll see you there
On her way down to the Great Hall, Hermione figured she might as well stroll towards the Ravenclaw tower to see if she could catch Luna. Her parent's gift was making her feel very sentimental towards her friends at the moment.
The Ravenclaw door swung open right as Hermione neared. Sure enough it was Luna looking exactly as Hermione would have envisioned her to look on Christmas morning; she wore a silver tinsel sweater and in a festive change of pace, she sported twin blonde buns that laid on the top of her head. It was a very Luna look.
"Happy Christmas Luna" Hermione smiled. "I was hoping I'd catch you"
"Oh? Why did you want to catch me?" Luna asked, looking genuinely perplexed.
"So we could go down to breakfast together" Hermione clarified. Luna nodded pensively.
The two made idle chatter on their way down to the Great Hall. With almost no one in the hall, it was easy to spot Draco and Theo sitting on their own at the Slytherin table. Besides the two Slytherins, there were small groupings of students scattered across the different house tables, and then a more prominent cluster of Hufflepuffs and what looked to be the Creevys playing some wizard game that someone must have been gifted. The professors all looked relaxed at the front of the room.
Hermione mindlessly followed Luna as her friend told the story of how her father was off in Vietnam, and while he would have loved to have bring Luna on his expedition to hunt Thorly Gnarls, it was simply too dangerous.
Hermione was loosely paying attention, her mind torn between memories of her parents, and the recent thrill of seeing Draco, when she realized that Luna had guided them over to the Slytherin table.
"Happy Christmas, Theo, Draco," Luna said pleasantly. Hermione's eyes finally narrowed to see the bewildered looks on Draco and Theo's face, which Hermione was sure, mimicked her own expression.
Draco gave Hermione a quick look that seemed to communicate, 'What is going on?' to which Hermione attempted to wordlessly communicate back 'I don't know'.
Theo cleared his throat and relaxed his expression. "Happy Christmas Luna, uh.." he looked at Hermione, but he just nodded at her.
"May we join you for breakfast?" Luna asked, unaware that the request could have had her committed to St. Mungos.
Theo looked to Draco for guidance. Hermione wasn't sure, but Theo didn't seem all that put out at the idea with Luna joining them. What she was sure about was he was less than thrilled to have Hermione there.
Draco shrugged his shoulders as an answer, but Hermione could tell that even he was struggling to feign indifference in the moment. The brash decision making of Luna Lovegood literally threw out the inner workings of their secret operation.
Taking the shrug as an invitation, Luna took a seat across from Theo, and Hermione did the same across from Draco. Her body felt awkward and stiff as she sat on the bench.
"So why are you two not at home for the Holiday?" Luna asked abruptly, reaching forward and grabbing a piece of toast. Draco who had just took a sip of tea coughed slightly into the cup.
"My father is an asshole," Theo replied plainly, not being put off by Luna's forwardness. "You?"
"Oh my father is very nice actually" Luna answered. Theo stared at Luna for a long moment, carefully evaluating her answer, until the serious looked turned into a smile. Luna seemed to understand she misinterpreted. "He's in Vietnam hunting Thorly Gnarls. They only come out in December, and it was too dangerous for me to go with"
Typically, a topic such as Thorly Gnarls brought up by Luna would would in shifting looks and changing of subjects. But instead, Theo nodded thoughtfully.
"Why are they dangerous?" he asked, taking a bite of bacon.
Luna blinked a few times. Even she wasn't used to being taken seriously.
"Their skin is naturally invisible, so it's impossible to see them without a trained guide. That's why most people believe they don't exist," Luna explained. Theo nodded for her to go on. "But if you handle one without proper protection, their poison can seep into your skin, and then burn off the synapse of your brain, slowly making you go brain dead, and then die"
Draco looked horrified. Theo on the other hand looked casually intrigued all the while Hermione watched the interaction unfold with disbelief.
"I'm sure they'd be pretty interesting to study for their disillusionment qualities," Theo added, taking a sip of coffee, acting as if this was just any other conversation.
"Exactly" Luna smiled as she reached out and grabbed a pot of tea, giving the tea cup positioned in front of her a hefty pour.
Theo looked up hesitantly this time. "Uh, your mum, she died right?"
Luna nodded and looked at him sadly. "Yours as well right?" He nodded back. Then both turned casually back to their breakfast.
"So Granger, what's the deal? Why are you here?" Theo asked, dropping the inquisitive tone he had with Luna, now sounding more accusatory.
"Nott.." Malfoy warned, but then cleared his throat realizing there was no reason why he should be censoring Nott for Hermione's benefit. Malfoy looked carefully over to Hermione who gave a reassuring smile.
"Well, over the holiday Muggles eat raw rabbits and smear blood on their faces then dance around a fire preying to their pagan gods," Hermione answered nonchalantly, then reached for the butter. "I guess I figured I could skip it this once"
Theo's mouth went slack as he stared at Hermione. Draco did his best to not look amused. Then, Theo's eyes crinkled, realizing she was being sarcastic and pointed his fork at her.
"I always knew that's what you all did" He added, playing along.
The rest of breakfast was oddly, comfortable. Hermione and Draco did their best to limit their interactions with one another, if only for the fact neither knew how they should act in mixed company. Luna and Theo continued to engage over interesting non traditional topics, sometimes with the group at large, but mostly just between themselves. At times Draco would throw in a snobby, pessimistic opinion, and Hermione would throw in a highly pragmatic correction of the facts.
"Will we see you both at the Christmas Feast tonight?" Luna asked, her cheeks flushing slightly, darting her eyes away from Theo.
Draco nodded. He flicked his eyes quickly to Hermione and then back to Luna.
"Yeah," Theo responded, pushing some food around on his plate.
"Well," Luna said, her voice wavering slightly as she stood up, "we will see you then"
Not expecting the sudden departure, Hermione scrambled to her feet, following Luna's lead to leave the table.
"Bye," Hermione called out over her shoulder to Theo and Draco, holding Draco's stare for a fraction of a second longer before turning.
Hermione caught up to Luna who had glided away as soon as she got up from her seat. Hermione left feeling the most confused she had been in recent weeks, which was saying something.
"Why did we just eat breakfast with Malfoy and Nott," Hermione asked as the two exited the Great Hall. Hermione looked back once at the other students to see if anyone gave them suspicious glances, but no one seemed to have noticed the foursome eat together.
"Um," Luna started, her voice soft. "Well I had this feeling, that perhaps you may like Draco."
Hermione stopped walking, Luna stalled as well. The two stalled right outside the Great Hall doors.
Hermione tried to keep the treacherous burning of her cheeks at bay. She shook her head and laughed a little too unconvincingly. "No, no that's insane"
Luna tilted her head at Hermione. "Why is it insane?"
"Because… it's Malfoy. He hates muggle borns, that would be insane for me to like him," as she said it, she felt guilty that her mind and body had betrayed the cold hard facts; that on paper, she really should still loathe him.
"He doesn't hate muggle borns," Luna replied back to Hermione. "He was only raised to hate them. And anyways, I think he likes you too"
Even though Hermione had strong reasons to believe that Malfoy did not in fact hate her, she could not understand why anyone other than herself would know that.
Luna took the hint at Hermione's lingering stare and answered. "He looks at you quite often, even if it's not for too long. I've noticed it after the first detention you two had together. He just seems drawn to you."
A burning feeling tugged at the center of her chest. Again, Hermione's lack of speech and her befuddled stare prompted Luna to keep speaking. "I like to watch people. You learn a lot when you do."
"So, you think we, Malfoy and I like each other, which is, of course, untrue," Hermione added at the end, for good measure, "and that's why you asked to eat breakfast with them?"
Hermione had slowly started to walk again. Luna followed suit.
"It appeared Theo Nott was not leaving Draco alone. I thought if we all ate together, I could somehow distract Theo," Luna said sheepishly.
Hermione desperately wanted to laugh at the situation, but it would give away too much.
"But you and Theo seemed to get along well," Hermione added, watching Luna for her reaction. Luna bowed her head and blushed in a flustered way that Hermione had never seen.
"I was not expecting him to be so nice," Luna replied quietly. "and inquisitive"
Hermione continued to watch Luna as they walked. Hermione had the impression that Luna was attempting to process what she was feeling after their breakfast.
The two friends walked in silence towards their common rooms, both staying mute about their true feelings for the Slytherins they had just had breakfast with.
"And to that I say, Happy Christmas!" Dumbledore rejoiced to the table at large, gesturing his wine glass in a controlled manner to the guests.
The students and teachers rose their glasses of wine, or for the younger students, juice, cheersing every glass that could be reached with their own.
The seating arrangement that evening was not as accommodating as Breakfast had been for Hermione and Draco. Luna had found seats next to Flitwick near the head of the table, and Draco and Theo were on the other side of the table, next to Snape.
The thick wooden table for dinner was as long as train car. At the center of the table were a slew of tacky charmed Christmas decorations that meandered about the food and plates. A toy train barreled around the inner circle of the table, with a pile of cookies in tow. Mice were skating on miniature frozen lakes that were placed between serving dishes.
At times, Hermione would look up to catch a glimpse of Draco through a dancing mini Christmas tree that walked up and down the table, or through the periodic snow storms that dusted the table with what looked to be powdered sugar.
Luna and Flitwick carried on comfortably in conversation with Hermione joining the conversation every once and awhile to provide her two cents.
Eventually, Dumbledore declared it was time for everyone to open up their crackers which they all did in halfhearted unison.
Once cracked, Hermione fished out her tissue paper crown and seeing that others were putting them on, placed it on her head. She looked to the other side of the table to see Theo placing his crown on then looked to Draco expectantly, only to receive an incredulous look back, as if to say 'Not a chance in hell'. Hermione stifled a laugh.
She turned her cracker over to reveal that there was a small metal knick knack also included.
The small figure laid in her hand, and Hermione stared at it skeptically.
It was an otter; the form her patronus took. For a moment she thought it could be a weasel, which despite it being a quite unkind name towards Ron, would be an unwelcome reminder of him all the same. But in inspecting the figurine, she could confirm it was an otter by the squat neck. Even the details in the metal gave the impression that the animal had just come out of the water.
She hadn't intended to keep any of the silly knick knacks that came out of her cracker, but she felt a kinship with the little piece of metal, and so she stuffed it in her pocket.
Once Dumbledore departed, and the dessert had long since been served, the attendees began to slowly disperse.
By chance, it seemed, but with Luna you never could be quite sure, Hermione and Luna happened to time up in step with Draco and Theo towards the entrance of the Great Hall.
"Did you enjoy the feast?" Theo asked, looking mostly at Luna who looked charming as ever; her hair still pulled up into twin buns, but now wearing a gold flowy dress that was even more festive than her get up from earlier.
"It was quite good. I wanted to take a mouse with me but Flitwick said the charm on them would expire at midnight and I didn't want to confuse them by bringing them to some unknown part of the castle."
Theo nodded earnestly as the four naturally began to walk in the same direction.
They approached the Slytherin dungeons first, what with it being the closest to the Great hall and on the way to Gryffindor and Ravenclaw. But when Theo turned to head down to their common room, Draco gave him a reproachful look. Theo groaned.
"Yeah yeah, lets escort them back," Theo grumbled, giving the slightest rueful grin as he angled his head at Draco, "His mom was an absolute task master about this stuff. Draco had to take etiquette classes and everything."
Hermione stifled a laugh as Draco attempted to keep his face even.
"Thank you Draco that is very nice of you," Luna said kindly as they continued along to the girls common rooms.
The Ravenclaw entrance was first. In front of the entryway was a statue of an austere looking woman with a turned up nose and judging dead eyes. Theo looked at the statue that guarded the Ravenclaw common room curiously. It was a well known fact that to get into the Ravenclaw tower, you had to answer a riddle asked by the statue of Rowena Ravenclaw.
"You really have to answer a different riddle each time?" Theo asked, looking up to the stern woman encased in marble.
"Yes, it's a very good way to keep the mind nimble," Luna smiled turning to the statue. The statue's cold face moved ever so slightly and began to speak.
"What word in the English language does the following: The first two letters signify a male, the first three letters signify a female, the first four letters signify a great, while the entire world signifies a great woman. What is the word?"
Hermione began to consider the answer, but Luna was rather quick with her response.
"A Heroine" Luna spoke clearly. The statue gave Luna a proud nod, then turned a curt glance to the two wizards before her, and then finally swung open the door.
"Statue lady seems nice," Theo remarked after Luna entered and closed the door behind her after saying goodbye. The three began walking towards the Gryffindor entryway which was not far from Ravenclaw's.
The mildly comfortable silence that the four experienced prior to Luna's departure was replaced with a stifling awkwardness.
"So Granger…" Theo began uncomfortably. Draco gave Theo a look of caution as if to say don't say anything stupid. Theo threw up his hands in defense. "I don't know what to say to her! You're the one who insisted we do this. You figure out something to say."
Draco sighed deeply. "Theo, we can just walk in silence"
"Do you really think anything in this castle could even threaten her at this point? Didn't you go after a troll the first year?" Theo rambled, gesturing wildly towards Hermione. "Honestly, if anything, walking around with a bunch of muggle hating purebloods is the most dangerous thing she could do"
Draco gave him another careful look, and by the look on Theo's face, only confused him further. The blonde Slytherin turned his focus away from his friend when he realized the protectiveness he displayed was perhaps too revealing.
Mercifully, the walk to the Gryffindor tower was short. Hermione stood in front of the Fat Lady, then turned her body, crossing her arms to face the two wizards.
"I'm not saying the password in front of you two," she clarified.
Theo threw up his hands and stormed away. With Theo walking away and distracted, Draco reached out and took hold of Hermione's hand, squeezing it gently and giving her a soft smile before turning away himself.
An hour later, close to 11pm, the parchment shook with magic. Leaning from where she sat in bed, she took hold of the paper and read the new message.
Meet me by the west courtyard entrance in 10 minutes
She sat upright in bed, scrambling for a quill. What?
I do not think you misunderstood what I wrote so I have to assume you are just shocked?
Yes! What do you mean meet by the courtyard? That is an exposed place in the castle, and Theo will hear you leave, or the Creevys will be up and see me leave.
I took care of it, just meet me down there Granger
She wasn't sure if she liked the sound of that. What do you mean you took care of it?
Oh don't panic. I dosed Theo with a sleeping draught so he's knocked out. Also spiked those Creevy kids food with sleeping draught, so like I said, took care of it.
Hermione was about to start writing again when he interrupted her.
And to answer your follow-up questions: The teachers were getting plastered, they won't be out, and Filch loves me from last year, so if he catches us I can talk us out of a bind.
The quill in Hermione's hand stilled.
Any more objections?
Ten minutes later Hermione tentatively approached the spot Draco had told her to go. The entrance to the courtyard was darker than she had ever seen it. Almost no torches were lit, giving the atmosphere a cold, wet feeling. She stepped lightly across the stones in her trainers.
Up ahead by the doors out to the courtyards was Draco, his pallor skin and blonde hair acted like a beacon of light in the dark. Spotting him, she hurried her steps and rushed nervously to where he stood. He seemed amused by her antsy behavior.
"OK why are we here? What is going on?" Hermione rattled off nervously once she was close enough, her arms already wrapped around herself to stave off the cold of the hallways, but also to calm herself down.
Draco simulated a frown. "What, no 'Thank you Draco for taking care of all the arrangements so we can see each other in private for a few moments on Christmas'"
Hermione's face scrunched up into a reluctant smile.
"I'm sorry, Thank you Draco for drugging almost everyone left in the castle to arrange this meeting," Hermione bowed her head, "not at all reckless"
"I never said I wasn't reckless Granger," He winked then positioned the bag he had slung over his shoulders to his front. It took him a second to fish out something soft and warm looking.
"Here put this on" he handed her perhaps the softest cashmere sweater she had ever felt in her life. She had to restrain herself from not putting the soft material directly to her cheek.
"Why?" she asked pointedly, after regaining her bearings from the soft sweater.
"We're going outside and I don't want you to be cold," he said in a very matter of fact way. Her eyes turned to the doorway. "I'd like you to show me one of these snowmen of yours"
As they walked out into the courtyard, Hermione surveyed the surroundings for what would be the best location to construct their snowman. Draco remained critical of the snow beast, as he put it, while they made their way into the snow, but Hermione could now see through the act and could tell he was intrigued.
She found even ground with good snow coverage a few yards from the doorway to the castle. Leaning down, she gripped the snow in her hand and was satisfied with it's ability to stick.
Draco had already begun to pull out his wand when Hermione grabbed his wrist.
"No magic" She warned.
He rolled his eyes but reluctantly put his wand back from his pocket.
"See you take the snow and pack it like this," she demonstrated in front of him. The moon was only a half crescent in the sky, not being all that generous with it's light that particular evening, but providing just enough to light their way.
"Then once you've packed enough, you put it on the ground and begin to roll it gently. You have to go back and forth to make sure it's round"
Hermione looked up at Draco who to his credit, was paying close attention to her instructions. Seeing the level of concentration in his eyes, she got the sudden urge to kiss him, and with no one around, she did.
It was more chaste than their previous kisses, but on her toes she was able to make contact quickly and sweetly. His focus seemed rattled.
"I'm trying to pay attention here Granger," he said, acting put off, but smiling all the same.
She smirked. "OK you start making the base. That will be the biggest one, and I will make the middle which will go on top of the base. And then we will make one more"
As they worked, she couldn't help but look over at Draco, earnestly participating at the task at hand and taking his role of shaping the base into a nice round mound seriously.
"Should it be bigger?" he asked eventually, staring at what he created so far.
He had rolled it enough to come up to his waist. Hermione saw that there were slight beads of sweat at his forehead from the exertion. She could feel sweat on her brow as well, but it felt nice against the cool, still night air.
She looked down at her own creation and determined it to be a proper size to go on top of what Draco made. "I think yours is good. Here, lets get mine over to yours and we can put it on top."
Draco made his way to her and the two pushed the ball of snow Hermione was working on over to where his was. Together, they lifted the mound and plopped it on top of the base.
"Now you have to smooth it and pack it in so it's sturdy," Hermione instructed, packing snow into the crevices. She could see Malfoy was doing it as well, but she felt his eyes watching her.
"And now we need to make a head," Hermione said.
"This isn't enough for a snowman?" He asked incredulously. She pinched at his arm in protest of his protest.
"You wanted to know how it was done. Now come on, it'll be quick, it doesn't have to be big"
In a haughty manner which Hermione now found kind of cute, he joined her in pushing a newly formed snowball into a tight round snowman head. This time, Draco picked the head up on his own and placed it atop the snowman's body. The height of the snow creature ended up being taller than Hermione. It was actually pretty impressive work.
"Now we need to decorate it," she said, tapping her finger to her lips looking around the courtyard. "You go get two sticks about this long" Hermione gestured with her hands about how long they should be. "And no magic!"
He bowed,"Yes Ma'am" and walked out of sight.
With Draco out of sight, Hermione picked up small pebbles near the courtyard to make for his face and buttons.
When Draco returned it was with two perfectly sized sticks, so perfect in fact that she suspected he may have summoned them. But she gave him the benefit of the doubt.
"Now, place those on either side of the body," Hermione instructed, and he obliged, sticking the stick arms in. She then walked forward, and with two matching stones, gave their snowman eyes. Then with smaller pebbles, gave him a smile.
"Normally we'd use a carrot ot something for a nose, but I found this pinecone, so that will do," she explained as she shoved the pinecone where the nose would be, having to stretch slightly to reach.
"And now, we add buttons to his shirt" she said, feeling her smile become broader with every step. "And, there we have it!"
In unison they took a step back to look at their creation.
"So that's a snow man?" Draco asked, sounding amused.
"A rather good one at that. You're reasonably decent at rolling snow," Hermione complimented seriously. He laughed.
"I will take that as a high compliment," he remarked, still looking at their snowman.
Standing still for the first time since being outside, the chill of the air creeped up on her. Draco moved to stand behind her and placed his arms warmly around her. She muttered a soft thank you.
"Have you ever thought about enchanting the thing?" he asked, his chin now resting on the top of her head. She tried to melt even further into his embrace.
"I haven't considered it, but I suppose I never had the opportunity until now. Every time I've made one before I wouldn't have been able to use magic" She told him. "And not everybody knows the minister and can get away with whatever they want," she elbowed him softly, to which he tightened his hold on her.
"Do you think we should try?" Hermione finally asked, looking at their blank faced snowman, wondering what it may look like if it was animated.
"No, I think its' good the way it is," Draco said into her temple, kissing it softly.
They stood there for a few long moments, Draco holding on tight to Hermione, her body feeling warm and happy in his arms.
"Thank you," Hermione muttered, her voice wavering.
Draco having heard the sadness in her tone turned her around to face him. His thumb reached out and brushed a tear that was falling from her eye.
"What's wrong?" he asked, his deep voice ringing with concern, his blue eyes scanning the plains of her fae.
"No no, it's happy. I'm OK," she laughed self consciously. "My parents gave me a photo album for Christmas and I've been feeling sentimental today. I'm grateful that I was still able to make a Christmas snowman. It just means a lot"
He pulled her in and she let her cheek rest against his chest. "Thank you for showing me what a snow man really is," Draco said into her hair. "The image I had in my mind was giving me nightmares"
A hearty laugh rolled from her chest. She wished she would have thought to have done something for him.
She placed a hand in her jean pockets and felt around for the little metal otter that had come with her cracker at dinner that night. Perhaps it was cheesy, but at least it was something.
Hermione pressed the metal figuring, no larger than a galleon, into his hand. Turning his hand over he looked at it carefully.
"Granger, please do not tell me you're giving me a weasel figurine," he questioned drolly. She shoved him playfully.
"It's not a weasel, I would never," Hermione smiled. "It's an otter"
He looked down at it, and then back up to her. She felt embarrassment creep up into her cheeks which she hoped could pass for reddening from the cold night air.
"It was in my cracker, and well, it's the form my patronus takes when I cast it. I know it's not much, but I wanted you to have it. And I promise an otter is not at all like a weasel…"
But her rambling explanation was cut short. Draco had reached down gently to Hermione chin and lifted her mouth to his.
They stayed there, kissing with no rush or urgency, for what felt like hours. Each of their arms wound loosely around one another, shielding their bodies from the cold night air. Their noses and cheeks were growing red at the chill of the air against their skin, but the combination of all of the sensations together was magical.
It was something Hermione didn't think she'd ever forget.