A/N: So yeah I had this idea like two years ago and am only just now getting around to writing it...but it's a different fandom than originally planned...so yes. The song it's based on is Pentatonix's cover of Kanye West's "Coldest Winter." Anyway...yeah let's get on with it, shall we?

Disclaimer: Hahahaha, yeah no. If I owned Harry Potter, Dramione would have been canon long ago. JKR is a wonderful lady, though, which is why she owns it.

Coldest Winter

Malfoy Manor was cold without her here.

His parents were both in Azkaban, though Narcissa was supposed to get out sooner than Lucius, who would most likely be in there for the rest of his life. For all Draco cared, he could stay there.

But the Manor was large and cold and drafty, and she wasn't there to help dispel the chill anymore.

"On lonely nights, I start to fade...
Her love's a thousand miles away...
Memories made in the coldest winter...

Goodbye, my friend
Will I ever love again...?
Memories made in the coldest winter...!

Du, du, du, du
Du-du-du-du, du-du-du-du-du-du -"

Draco sighed and ran a hand through his hair. It was colder outside than it was in the Manor, but considering the Manor was practically a castle in its own right, that wasn't saying much. He was in the drawing room, and a fire roared in the grate, but it did little to warm the room - at least, not to him.

Not without Hermione.

If someone had told him in first year that after eight years of school together and a brutal repeat war with Voldemort he would end up in love with and actively dating a Muggle-born know-it-all, he would have laughed in their face and then cursed them into oblivion (or more likely, had Lucius do it for him). But that's exactly what had happened - after eight years of school (Draco had been among the few students who had wanted to return and finish their seventh year as "eighth years" - Hermione had of course, but Potter and Weasley had not, giving Draco plenty of time to get to know Hermione for real), Draco and Hermione had graduated Hogwarts as possibly the English Wizarding World's most unlikely couple ever. Hermione had helped him through his trial and was the main reason he'd escaped Azkaban along with his parents. Potter had also assisted with the trials of not only Draco but his parents as well, and was the reason Narcissa wouldn't spend the rest of her days in that godforsaken place.

But Hermione had endured the trial and all the skepticism that a relationship between a pureblood and a Muggleborn could ever work out, and she'd stood by him. She'd been his light, and had been what seemed to keep the Manor warm no matter what season it was.

But now she was gone.

"It's four a.m. and I can't sleep...
Her love is all that I can see...
(Her love is all that I can see...)
Memories made in the coldest winter...

Goodbye, my friend
Will I ever love again...?
Memories made in the coldest winter...!

Du, du, du, du
Du-du-du-du, du-du-du-du-du-du -"

Draco didn't even know what time it was at this point, but he knew it was Christmas. He checked the time on the Muggle watch Hermione had gotten him - four a.m. God. He needed to get to sleep...but he knew if he tried, the memories of her would keep him awake anyway.

He had very few friends left after the war. Blaise Zabini was about the only other Slytherin in his year that had managed to escape Azkaban, mostly because he had never been working for Voldemort in the first place. He and Draco had stayed in touch, exchanging owls every week. But other than that...the Weasleys still hated him, Ronald even more so because he'd stolen Hermione's heart. Potter was a little more civil, but with Ginny Weasley as his girlfriend Draco didn't see how Potter managed to even send him the occasional owl. That was about it - since Hermione wasn't speaking to him, that is.

She'd left after an incident with Draco's temper. He'd unfortunately inherited his father's short temper as well as his white-blond hair, and when things got hard after the trial (finding a job, mostly to prove he didn't need the Malfoy inheritance to survive, had been intensely difficult considering no one wanted to hire an ex-Death Eater), Draco had taken it out on her. Hermione had left the very next day and hadn't been back since.

And Draco, he had to admit, was miserable.

"Goodbye, my friend
Will I ever love again...?
Memories made in the coldest winter...!"

Hermione had been his Only. He knew that after her, he'd never recover. After here...there was no life after her. Not one with love, anyway. Not for him.

Draco knew that sounded foolish, even to himself, but it was true. She had been the only person to ever set his heart on fire...and even if she didn't return the feeling anymore, he knew that flame would never die. Not for him.

He just couldn't believe that he'd had something so beautiful and so precious, and he'd let it slip through his fingers yet again.

"If spring could take the snow away...
(If spring could take the snow away...)
Can it melt away all our mistakes...?
(Can it melt away all our mistakes...?)
Memories made in the coldest winter!

Goodbye, my friend (Goodbye, my friend)
Will I ever love again...?
Memories made in the coldest winter...!"

A loud crack was heard in the hallway outside the drawing room, so loud that it startled Draco to his feet, wand at the ready. Could anyone blame him for being a little paranoid about someone Apparating into his house at four a.m. on Christmas in the coldest winter England had seen in decades?

He heard someone cursing quite colorfully, and lowered his wand a little when he recognized her voice.

"Damn it, I missed the drawing room again...I really need to work on my aim..."

He'd know that voice anywhere. But just to be sure...

"Who are you?!" Draco yelled through the door, mentally cursing when he realized that if she was an impostor, he'd just given away his location.

"Hermione Granger, Muggle-born witch, graduated Hogwarts a year late due to the war, had the word 'Mudblood' carved into my arm by Bellatrix Lestrange right there in that drawing room, helped you through your trial, freed the house-elves of Malfoy Manor, and gave you the Muggle watch you haven't taken off since for your birthday last year."

Draco relaxed. It was her. But he tensed again after a moment; what was she doing here? He couldn't pretend he wasn't glad she was here, but there had to be a reason.

"What are you doing here?" Draco called.

"I - oh, damn it, open the door, Draco -"

A simple silent Alohomora let the door swing wide, and Hermione stood there indeed, snow in her hair and a scarf around her neck; she'd obviously Apparated from somewhere outdoors. Just seeing her again made Draco's heart race; she was as beautiful as he'd remembered.

"Hermione, what are you doing here?" Draco asked again. "If this is about before -"

"No," Hermione said. "It's not."

Draco had to admit he was confused. "Then what -?"

Hermione walked straight to the fire and sat down beside it, removing the scarf and her gloves and taking off her coat to reveal the warm yellow-orange sweater she wore beneath it. It occured to Draco that she must be freezing, so he went to the door and closed it before retrieving a blanket and walking back over to the fire, where Hermione had by now shed the damp sweater as well; she must have been in the snow for quite some time. She wore a simple soft pink blouse under the sweater, and black Muggle jeans with her boots, which she also kicked off. She accepted the blanket gratefully and huddled in it, warming herself by the fire. Draco sat opposite her, his back to the stone of the fireplace.

"If it's not about before, then what is it about?" Draco asked.

"It actually kind of is about before, but not about you. It was me. I overreacted. You snapped, and I freaked out. Tensions were still high then, Draco - after all, the Wizarding World had just come out of its second major war against Voldemort. Everyone was on edge, including me. So when you lashed out..." Hermione trailed off, shivering.

Draco scooted closer. "You panicked," he guessed. "That's why you left."

"Yes," Hermione nodded. "And I thought about it all for a while, and I decided that I love you, and that I had been gone for far too long already, and that I owed you an explanation. I'm sorry for running out on you like that, but the time to think was almost worth the pain of missing you."

"And what did you discover?" Draco asked.

"That I love you, and nothing will ever change that," Hermione said. "And I'm here to stay this time."

"Oh, that's a relief," Draco sighed. "I don't think I could have lived without you for much longer."

Draco moved so he was sitting directly next to her, and Hermione leaned into him. He put his arm around her, pulling her close.

"Goodbye, my friend
I won't ever love again...
Memories made in the coldest winter..."

And the two young wizards sat there together by the fire, watching the flames, until long after the sun had risen on a beautiful Christmas morning.

That turned out better (and shorter!) than I expected, actually. Please review, I hope you enjoyed, and Happy Holidays!