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Finally it was Christmas Day!

Hermione was not sure what Draco and she had could be called a friendship. Calling it a truce would have been more apt. She had still brought him a Christmas gift but had decided against sending it to him. She had instead sent him a card with an ungodly hour of the dawn and location.

Draco almost decided not to go, but his curiosity got the better of him. He reached the seventh floor corridor and magically a door appeared before him. Inside the room was elegant, like a study inside a home. He was quite surprised to see it.

Hermione was there, sitting on one of the high back chairs by the fire.

"Hi…" He said sitting down on the chair across her

"Merry Chirstmas" She smiled "I got you a present but I wasn't sure if it would be okay for you to open it or even accept it in your dorms. So um… here it is…" She said holding out a beautifully wrapped green package with a silver bow..

"Thank you…" He said truly touched…. Then he frowned suddenly and said "I didn't get you anything… " flatly

"That's okay.. The books you've been lending me are far better than any gift I've ever gotten… "

"So… Umm… what is this room…"

"It's the room of requirement, it appears as whatever one needs it to be"

"I know about the come and go room Granger… I was asking about this room that we are sitting in… "

"Oh… it's my study…back home…"

"It's… nice… " is what came out but what in his head he thought, it's not what I'd have imagined

She smiled hesitantly "Umm… okay… so I hope you like the gift, Merry Chirstmas" She held out her hand and he took it… A quick short awkward shake and Hermione picked up her bag to leave

At the door she turned to say

"I didn't realise how wrong I was about house elves… I get it now, it's a deep connection, they are not obligated they are happy, but even you have admit, some of them are being oppressed just cause they were born into the wrong household…Don't you think they deserve to bond with whomever they chose?" With that seed of thought planted, she left…

Draco stood there for a minute. Before opening the package. It was a mint flavoured sugar quill but it had his initials engraved on the nib. There was a note too. It read

So that you don't splutter on feathers anymore

Draco laughed a little. It was cheeky and sweet and it made him feel warm and fuzzy inside. A part of him had felt the change in emotion around Hermione. Yes he had started calling her that in his head. He figured he was wrong about a lot of things. Maybe his boyish fantasies about her were finally over. They were becoming sort of friends.

He didn't know how wrong he was, but he would find out later that day.

—

Hermione ducked back into the dorms just as the first ray of light hit Parvati Patil in the face. As her dorm-mate began to stir, Hermione quickly undressed and put on a bathrobe to make it look like she'd just gotten an early start. Who could blame her, she after all had to fix her hair for the ball this evening.

Once everyone was up the tittering in the dorms began. The usual morning routine's went on for much longer. There was much discussion about hairstyles and reminders of borrowing pins and promises of doing each other's hair. Hermione watched Parvati and Lavender titter and for once smiled thinking about the slumber parties in muggle films.

—

After breakfast and spending the morning the boys exchanging gifts, the trio went down for lunch. Ron and Hermione had stopped being frosty to each other and the 3 of them were sitting in their favourite spot enjoying the feast.

Hermione sneaked a glance at the Slytherin table and saw Draco. He was busy trying to ask Kurm something but the quidditch player seemed to be ignoring him. Right next to him was Pansy who was clearly very irritated with the lack of attention she was getting from Draco. Something about that entire situation made her smile.

After lunch when everyone stepped out into the snow, Hermione didn't join the snowball fight, choosing to watch the snowball fight with her foster family.

—

Draco pacing in common room and it was pissing his Blaise off.

"What…" Blaise finally braked at him looking up from the book her was unsuccessfully trying to read "… has got you all worked up? It's not like this is the first ball you've ever been to?!"

Draco stopped and shot him a glare. He then flopped as gracefully as possible into the armchair opposite Blaise.

"Krum…" Draco grumbled

"What's that?"

"Krum…. Victor fucking Kurm…"

"What about him? I thought you boy's were getting all chummy?"

"I don't know who he's taking to the ball?"

"And that matter because…."

"…." Draco had nothing to say. He had a hunch it had to be Granger because Krum had asked about her… however he didn't want it to be her… He didn't want her to go with the Weasel either… The worst part was that he didn't know why…

Blaise had already given him a hard time about him disappearing in the library and about all the packages he was receiving from home. He knew if he said something Blaise would piece it together, he wasn't daft.

"Well…." Blaise asked waiting for a response

"… You're right, we don't… Let's step out for a bit…"

"Gladly…" Blaise said levitating his book back onto the shelf in the common room.

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