Day Seventeen - Scarves

Hermione and Draco get their scarves mixed up after a secret indoor picnic at The Three Broomsticks.

A/N: apologies in advance if you're not a fan of Dramione, as this is a Dramione one shot. Feel free to kip it if it's not for you :)

Hermione was relieved to be back in the warmth of the castle. It was a very cold day, and the snow just kept falling. Since it was a Hogsmeade weekend she wanted to make the most of it and get some shopping done, but that meant braving the outside world.

Thankfully, she'd had some respite at lunchtime. She told her friends she had spent the entire lunch break in the book shop, but she had actually spent the time with Draco Malfoy, who she had secretly been dating since the end of the previous year. Draco had organised an indoor picnic for them in a private room in The Three Broomsticks, and they'd had a great time.

She'd then finished off her Christmas shopping alone before braving the long walk back to the castle, laden with bags and her hands almost falling off from the cold. She'd already been to drop off her bags in her dorm room, and was making her way back down to the Great Hall for dinner. Given how cold she was, she was still wearing her hat, scarf and gloves.

'Hey,' she told Harry, Ron and Ginny as she sat down at the Gryffindor table next to Ginny. She finally pulled off her gloves and hat, but she kept her scarf on, not wanting to take off the final things giving her extra warmth just yet.

'Hey Hermi…ne,' Harry trailed off a little as he looked up at her arrival. He nudged Ron, who was too engrossed in his food to notice anything amiss.

Ginny sent a questioning look at her boyfriend before turning to look at her friends herself. Her jaw dropped slightly as she took in what she was seeing.

'What are you guys staring at?' Hermione questioned, shifting uncomfortably under their stares.

Harry just continued to stare at her while Ron suddenly looked up to see what the fuss was about and promptly choked on his food.

'Hermione,' Ginny began quietly, trying not to draw too much attention to them. 'Why are you wearing a Slytherin scarf?'

'Don't be silly Ginny, I'm not wearing a -' she cut herself off as she pulled the scarf up to her own eyes and saw that it was in fact sliver and green instead of the typical red and gold of Gryffindor. 'Slytherin scarf,' she finished lamely.

Her head snapped up and her eyes scanned the Slytherin table. She couldn't see Draco anywhere.

'Umm, well I must've put my scarf down in the book store during lunch, and must have got it mixed up with a Slytherin's by mistake,' she explained lamely, hoping they'd fall for it. They didn't.

'Hermione, I'm pretty sure you'd notice if a Slytherin spent some time in the book shop with you, long enough to "accidentally" swap scarves with you,' Ron told her with a smirk on his face. He was enjoying watching Hermione try to lie.

'So whose scarf is it, 'Mione?' Harry asked slyly, leaning forwards.

'No one's, I don't know!' Hermione was starting to panic now.

'You sure about that?' Harry asked, nodding his head to someone who was standing behind her. She had a guess who it was.

She turned around in her seat to find Draco standing behind her, proudly wearing her Gryffindor scarf. More and more people throughout the hall seemed to have noticed their strange attire now and were turning to give the couple their full attention.

'Granger,' he said simply, giving her that smirk that was only reserved for her.

'Malfoy.' She stood from her seat so she was at least not looking too far up at him.

'I believe you have something of mine,' he gestured to his scarf around her neck.

'And I believe you have something of mine,' she said stiffly. She wasn't sure where this was going. Was he going to give a reasonable explanation as to why they would have swapped scarves without revealing the truth?

'Care to return what's mine?' He asked.

'If you do the same.'

Draco gently undid the scarf at the front, but then used the fact it was still around the back of her neck to pull her gently towards him.

'Only if you give me a kiss, too,' he smiled at her before he leant in and kissed her, right in the middle of the Great Hall.

Well, she guessed now was the time everyone would find out about them dating.

'He pulled back after a few long moments, his smirk now back in place.

'What the hell?' Ginny shouted from behind Hermione, making her jump. 'How long has this been going on and why didn't you tell me?'

'Since the end of last year,' Draco responded before Hermione could even think.

'WHAT?!' Everyone in the vicinity covered their ears at Ginny's outburst. 'How could you not tell me?'

'Don't worry, Red, Draco didn't tell any of us either,' Blaise Zabini had strolled over to their little group.

'Draco, mate, Pansy's waiting for you to come back so she can teat you a new one for not telling her you've been dating Granger for months. She's under the impression Draco has to tell her everything since they've known each other since they were babies,' he explained to Harry, Ron and Ginny, who were all looking confused.

'Well, I can understand her frustration,' Ginny said, giving Hermione a stern look.

'Looks like we're both about to get yelled at by our closest friends,' Draco told Hermione, pulling her attention back to him once again. He removed his scarf from her and replaced it with her own before giving her another quick kiss.

'Meet me outside the hall after dinner?'

'Yeah, of course,' she smiled, glad she had finally snapped out of it in order to actually speak again.

Draco strode off with Blaise back to the Slytherin table and Hermione slid herself back into the bench next to Ginny, who was glaring at her friend.

'So?' She asked Hermione simply.

'So what?' Hermione asked innocently, starting to get herself some food.

'So how did it start and why didn't you tell us?' Harry cut in before Ginny could speak again. She looked like she was about to explode with questions.

Hermione let out a sigh before she began telling her friends all about how she and Draco came to start dating.

She hadn't expected to be revealing their relationship anytime soon, but she supposed it was bound to happen sooner or later. At least now they could be seen around the castle together and not have to hide. And all because of an accidental scarf swap…