Hey everyone, thanks so much for all the positive reviews, even if I did have to google translate a couple of them :) It makes me so happy to know you guys are reading my story from wherever you're from! Keep the reviews coming, Okay on with the story

Chapter 8

Dumbledore sat in his office contemplating the events over Halloween. His plan was falling apart. He was banking that Severus would not be able to get over his hatred of James Potter and would treat young Harry accordingly but house loyalty seemed to have trumped this. Not to mention the troll, He had willingly ignored the signs of Professor Quirrell being possessed by Voldemort. He was hoping that the troll would bring Mr Weasley and Mr Potter together in friendship as once again, a spanner had been thrown in the wrench with the boy being sorted into Slytherin. Not that the great Albus Dumbledore had any issue with Slytherins, it would have just made everything easier if Harry had been placed into Gryffindor.

He also had an unsettling feeling about Harry's friendship with Miss Granger, it would not do for the boy to become too powerful after all, then what need would Harry have of him?. "Fawkes, I will be summoning Mr Potter for a chat soon, I need you to see whether he has any inklings towards the dark, I'm hoping he doesn't, I'd hate to take drastic measures against one so young" Dumbledore said turning to his familiar. It unnerved him that Miss Granger's familiar bond was supposedly more powerful than his but there was nothing he could do about that for the moment. "All for the greater good" He mumbled as he popped a lemon drop into his mouth, Muggles made the most creative things in his opinion.

Hermione, Blaise, and Harry were just leaving potions class chatting happily amongst themselves, Hermione had been responsible for a lot of points for Slytherin which earned her nods of respect from her fellow snakes and scathing glares from the Gryffindor's. As they traveled the hallway Hermione was suddenly shoved rather hard, she stumbled abit before regaining her footing with a withering reply on her tongue towards her attacker but she need not have bothered.

"Weasley, what did I tell you about respecting your betters? Or are you blind as well as useless?" Draco said scathingly, coming up to stand beside Hermione ignoring the shocked expression on her face. Ron squared up to Draco before replying "I didn't see her. Defending muggleborns now are we Malfoy? What would your precious family think about that?" Draco turned slightly pink before saying "Malfoy's are honorable, we defend our own and since Granger is a Slytherin he'd be proud of me, not that I have to ask you about your family, there's that many of you do your parents even remember who you are?"

The crowd that had gathered around fell silent, No one could quite believe that Draco Malfoy was defending Hermione "Muggleborn'' Granger so openly but Hermione saw it for what it was: His way of trying to get on her good side without apologizing. As if she was going to let him off that easily. Ron had no reply for that and stormed off in a huff, Seamus and Neville shuffling off with him, The crowd quickly dispersed after that, there was no more drama to witness now. "Thank you Draco I really appreciate you stepping in for me, even if it wasn't needed, it was only Ron, I could have handled it myself" Hermione said evenly. "No problem Granger, like I said to weaselbee, you're one of us. I hope this makes up for my previous offenses?" Draco asked

Hermione walked off slowly with Harry and Blaise and said over her shoulder "Close but no, you know exactly what I require to forgive you Draco, the choice is yours" the trio then turned the corner and were out of Draco's sight. Running a finger through his hair Draco sighed. This was not going to be easy.

Christmas time crept up on the castle and before everyone knew it the grounds were coated in snow, the students lapped it up, you could barely make it two steps outside without having to avoid a snowball to the head. The Gryffindor's were the most boisterous, taking advantage of the chance to get one back at the Slytherins since the house of serpents was beating them at everything whether that be quidditch, house points, or grades.

Hermione smiled as she sat near the entrance hall watching Harry and Blaise engage in a snow fight with Crabbe and Goyle, she was a bit worried for him at first but he had exceeded her expectations of him, Harry and Blaise had quickly come up with a strategy to win. Since Blaise had the better aim he was taking most of the shots while Harry focused on building the snowballs and maintaining the "fort" they had made. Turning her attention away from him Hermione focused on the letter she had received that morning from her parents, with all the excitement of the last couple of months she had only written once, something she was very much regretting now

Dear Hermione

Are you okay? You haven't written us since September to tell us you got sorted into slithering? Is that what it's called? Anyway we miss you! There's not much news from us, the practice is doing well as always but the house feels so empty without you. Please tell us you're coming home for Christmas! We want to know everything about what you've been learning and we miss you terribly

All our love

Mum and Dad

Hermione felt terrible that she wouldn't be going home for Christmas, Harry had made it very clear that he wasn't welcome with his relatives and she couldn't stand the thought of him being alone. She wanted to make it as special as she could for him even if she had no way of getting him a proper present. She was determined it was going to be his best Christmas yet!

She was abruptly brought out of her musings when a snowball collided with her head. Layla hissed in warning before burying herself further in Hermione's jumper to avoid the chill. She rose to her feet, shook off the snow and shrieked "WHO DID THAT?!" the four boys below her froze before immediately pointing their fingers at each other

"BLAISE DID IT" Crabbe bellowed

"OH HELL NO IT WAS GOYLE" Blaise whined

"ITS HARRY'S FAULT" Goyle shouted

"Harry? Who actually did it?" Hermione asked calmly. Harry grinned at her before replying "I'm not telling I'll get pelted in snowballs if I do" Hermione smiled back and said primly "Fine then you all shall suffer the consequences"

Over four dozen snowballs formed and raised into the air with a flick of Hermione's wand and mercilessly rained down on the poor boys, none of them had a chance to duck or hide, every snowball hit its target and by the time it was over the four boys now resembled literal snowmen. Blaise spat some snow out of his mouth before mumbling "It was still Goyle"

What had started off as a small chuckle from Hermione soon turned into a full belly laugh, she fell over clutching her sides, tears streaming down her face at the state of the boys. She eventually got some semblance of control over herself and dragged herself back up to help her friends from their icy prisons. Once they were all free they ran back inside to warm up and found a cozy spot by the fireplace to enjoy their newly acquired hot chocolate.

"Hermione?" Crabbe said slowly as if he was having difficulty forming the words "Yes Vincent?" Hermione replied turning to him with a smile "I'm sorry for not doing anything when Draco called you a mudblood" He said turning a little pink "Me too" Goyle said quietly "That was wrong". Hermione got up from her seat and gave the two boys a hug one by one making them both turn even redder "I forgive you, let's just move on and be friends, I don't like holding grudges" Hermione said smiling widely at them.

Unbeknown to Hermione, Draco was lurking in the corner watching the whole interaction. He was absolutely livid. He had stood up for Granger in front of everyone at the risk of his reputation and his supposedly mindless lackeys had apologized one on one and she forgave them like nothing happened? He needed to write again to his father. He was so confused about how to play this, the conflict of what he was raised to believe and what was right in front of him was really messing with his head and Draco did not like it.

"Merry Christmas Harry!" Hermione said, running into his arms as they met in the common room. Over the last few months Harry had come on leaps and bounds and now he barely flinched before hugging Hermione back firmly "Merry Christmas Mione" He mumbled into her hair. "Mione?" She asked, pulling back slightly. "Just a nickname" Harry muttered turning red "If you don't like it I'll change it" Pulling Harry back into her arms she said "No I love it, but only you're allowed to call me that, it makes it special"

Sitting down on what they had claimed as "their sofa" Harry and Hermione turned to their presents, Hermione dug into hers with gusto while Harry just sat there shell shocked, who would have gotten him presents? He'd never had a present in his life so to see this small pile was overwhelming to him.

Hermione had been given some sugar quills from Blaise, some chocolate frogs from Crabbe and a random assortment of sweets from Goyle. Her parents had gifted her a photo album and 5 disposable cameras so she could scrapbook her first year at Hogwarts and print them out when she got home, overall she was very happy. Turning to Harry she was surprised to see him still frozen in front of his pile. "Um Harry?" She said tentatively "Are you going to open your presents?"

"I've never had presents before, who are they from? Who would buy me anything" Harry said as if this was the most logical thing in the world which only broke Hermione's heart even more. "Well you'll just have to open them and find out" She replied trying to put on a smile and masking her thoughts of exactly what she would do to his relatives when she met them.

Harry opened his first present carefully trying his best not to break the wrapping paper too much. It was a quidditch book from Blaise, He held it as if it were a treasure and that's when Hermione realized that to this poor boy it was. It was the first present he'd ever received in his life. Harry slowly put it on the ground beside him and opened the rest of his presents in a similar fashion. He opened some sweets from Crabbe and Goyle and a bottle of butterbeer from Mrs Weasley. "Harry don't drink that" Layla hissed quickly "I can smell something in it that isn't what was advertised"

Hermione grabbed the bottle from Harry and peered at it suspiciously, "I think we should listen to Layla, She's not normally wrong about this kind of thing, I remember one time she stopped me from eating some chicken and a few days later both of my parents had food poisoning" She said turning to him

" I just don't understand why Mrs Weasley would send me a present anyway, I only met her once before we got on the platform and I wasn't exactly the nicest after what Percy did" Harry replied frowning at the memory "What should we do?"

Hermione stood up wrapping her robe around her to ease the chill that had swept the common room "I think we should go to Professor Snape, If this is poisoned he'd be the best one to help us" Harry quickly agreed and the pair rushed back up to their dorms to deposit their presents. Once they had done that they re-met in the common room and rushed out the entrance, the bottle of butterbeer clasped tightly in Hermione's hand.

Okay and that's it for chapter 8 guys! I hope you enjoyed it, I'm sorry it took me a bit longer but I wanted to make sure I gave you something readable and the story flowed properly. As always please review!