A/N – I would like to point out that this will eventually become a Dramione – but we all know how complicated their relationship is, and so it will take time to get there. Please bear with me, due to the holidays I haven't been able to write as much, so the updates are getting a little slower! As always, reviews welcome and much appreciated.

Disclaimer – This all belongs to JK Rowling, except my OCs.

The Snow Queen

Friday dinner saw the 'golden trio', complete with Ginny and Neville, sat around the Gryffindor table excitedly planning for the weekend. Hermione had her diary out in front of her, and she was scheduling homework sessions as well as periods to practice her elemental magic. Luckily much of the work they were covering in defence against the dark arts, charms and runes she was already very familiar with – a year spent with Harry and Ron on the run had taught her about the first two, and she had also read up on runes when trying to understand the hallowes. This meant that she did actually have some free time, and planned to dedicate it to working on the wolfsbane and the elemental magic.

Harry and Ron were busy discussing plans to go to Hogsmeade next to her, as McGonagall had stated that morning that the 'eighth' years, as they were technically not of school age anymore, could leave the castle whenever they wished to. Ginny was not impressed by this; she was actually a seventh year and so couldn't accompany them. Hermione was vaguely listening to their argument while she made her plans, but was interrupted by Ron.

"Fancy heading to Hogsmeade tomorrow, Hermione?"

She looked up to see Ron gazing at her hopefully. She dithered, torn between actually spending time with her boyfriend and completing her plan. Ron's expression made up her mind. "I guess I could spend some time in Hogsmeade in the afternoon, I can go to the library in the morning."

Ron's smile was enough to justify her decision, and she finished dinner happily. However, as she was about to leave to head to the library and make a start on her homework, her good mood was ruined in one word.

"Granger."

She would know that voice anywhere. Sighing, she turned around to look into grey eyes that were closer than she expected. "What do you want, Malfoy?"

"McGonagall wants a report on our ideas for the Christmas dance on Monday."

"Monday!" Hermione panicked, thinking of her already busy weekend. "How am I meant to get any ideas together in three days?"

"Relax Granger," Malfoy drawled, "It is meant to be a joint project, or had you forgotten already?"

Hermione hadn't forgotten, but she had assumed that Malfoy wouldn't be interested in working together on it. "No, I…"

"I'll be in our common room after breakfast." And with that he sauntered off, leaving her staring after him in bewilderment. She then cursed as she realised that her plan to hit the library the next day was now thwarted. She couldn't let Malfoy do it himself – the ferret would almost certainly try to take all the credit and show her up. Irritated she headed straight for the library to continue working on her assignments, scowling to herself all the time.

-x-x-

The next morning Hermione found herself waving goodbye to Harry and Ron, who were heading to Hogsmeade first thing, before walking to the fourth floor to try to find her Heads common room. She hadn't used it yet – she was comfortable in the Gryffindor common room and hadn't found it necessary to find somewhere else to work. Eventually she found the portrait of Dumbledore, who smiled genially at her before swinging forwards to reveal a large room behind.

The room was large, with big windows that looked out towards the forbidden forest. It was beautifully decorated in white with gold trimmings, a large fireplace was in one of the walls with a white marble surround. Some watercolour landscapes were dotted about on the walls, small figures of livestock and wildlife moving sedately throughout the frames. A golden chandelier lit the room, with candles attached to the walls to provide extra light into the corners. The wooden floor gleamed, and a large rug was placed in the centre with some sofas and tables dotted around in a classical style, all white fabric and pale wooden carvings. McGonagall's outdone herself Hermione thought as she looked around at the room that had previously been a classroom.

Malfoy wasn't there yet, but some books were spread on a small coffee table suggesting that he had been here before. Hermione settled into a large, wingbacked chair and pulled open her potions book while she waited. She soon lost herself in it, losing track of time and the reason why she was there.

The sound of the large portrait swinging open made her jump, and Malfoy scowled as he saw the flash of fear that was momentarily in her eyes. He couldn't blame her for being scared of him – after all, he had been a witness that day in the former Malfoy Manor (even if it had sickened him) and she had no reason to trust him. However, he needed to get into her good graces and so decided to make an effort.

"Morning, Granger."

"Malfoy," Hermione replied, nodding her head slightly, trying to disguise her momentary alarm. Ever since the war she had been particularly jumpy – she was very good at hiding it but sometimes was caught offguard. She indicated the rest of the room around her. "This is a beautiful room."

In reply Malfoy just grunted, flinging himself down onto a small white sofa that was at right angles to Hermione's chair. He kicked off a pair of boots he was wearing and put his feet up, causing Hermione to raise an eyebrow in surprise. Malfoy smirked at her in reply and gestured to her book.

"Looking for inspiration for the Christmas Ball?"

Hermione snapped the book shut loudly and tucked it away, but not before Malfoy managed to see the title 'Potion Remedies for the Unwary and Unwise' (that just happened to have an excellent description of the wolfsbane). He looked at her incredulously. "Remedial potions Granger? You?"

She sighed, flipping a loose strand of hair back behind her ear. "Not that it's any of your business Malfoy, but it's Potion Remedies and not Remedial Potions. Now did you have any ideas where to start on this ball?"

"Guest list," he said promptly, surprising her. "We need to decide if we're going to invite all years, or just some years, if we are going to invite family members and the governing body. If we are going to invite people outside of Hogwarts we will need to organise invitations as soon as possible."

He waited for Hermione to input, watching as she bit her lip whilst considering the options. "I think…I think it may be best to just have students at the Christmas ball. We could run it similarly to the Yule Ball a few years ago, and only allow fourth years and above to attend unless accompanying an older student."

Malfoy nodded at her. "Very well. Theme?"

"The Snow Queen?"

The blond looked confused. "What is the snow queen?"

"It's a muggle fairy tale…it will help to show that the time of feeling ourselves superior to muggles is over. We can put the story on boards leading through the entrance hall so anyone who wants to can read it before they arrive." Hermione watched Malfoy warily as she said this – in the past he and his family had been some of the strongest supporters of the pureblood ideals of Voldermort, and while she personally believed that Draco had long since been disenchanted she wasn't sure he had changed enough to accept a muggle themed ball. Wait – since when have I thought of him as Draco?

Malfoy scowled but didn't dismiss the idea out of hand. "I need to read this story before I can agree."

"Of course!" Hermione stood up abruptly, causing Malfoy to stare at her in irritation.

"Leaving already, Granger?"

Hermione huffed to herself, but decided to humour him for once. "I thought I would fetch you my copy of The Snow Queen, given that you're so eager to read it."

Malfoy had the grace to look momentarily embarrassed before snapping out of it again, almost as though he suddenly remembered he was a Malfoy and Malfoy's don't get embarrassed. He composed himself to see Granger sweep out of the room, muttering darkly to herself, which appeared to amuse the portrait of Dumbledore no end.

She returned after a few minutes, carrying a large hardback book. Malfoy looked at it suspiciously, gauging its size.

"You're expecting me to read that now?! I'm not a bookworm like you, Granger. I have better things to do with my weekend than sit around reading a silly muggle story."

"It's not the whole book!" she replied indignantly. "This is a complete, illustrated collection of Hans Christian Anderson's fairy tales, the snow queen is just one of them." She banged the book loudly on the table as though to make a point. Malfoy half opened his mouth, as though planning to ask who Hans Christian Anderson was, but then seemed to decide against it and shut it with a snap. Hermione frowned at him, but busied herself with opening to the page that the story began and placing it on the coffee table in front of him. She shooed Malfoy's feet out of the way and sat next to him on the couch, something he was about to complain loudly about when his attention was taken by the book she was practically shoving under his nose.

On the first page the title of the story was written in large, golden letters with the most beautiful, intricate illustrations surrounding it. There was a few lines of the story here, written amongst the swirling patterns, tempting the reader to go on with the story. Despite every intention Draco was impressed, he hadn't realised that muggles would put so much effort into a book. Subconsciously he leaned forwards, towards the book and towards Hermione as he began to read the story. Hermione was surprised but also pleased with his reaction, and she settled herself comfortably to read along with him. They both became engrossed with the story, taking it in turns to reach forwards and turn a page. If anyone had entered the Head's common room at this time, they would have assumed that the pair sat in front of the fireplace were old friends, not recent enemies. But the only eyes that gazed upon them through the back of a large portrait were too wise to know that this was anything other than a momentary truce, although he did find it interesting enough to go and tell a particular person all about it.

Eventually Hermione turned the last page over and sighed happily. Although she knew the story very well, the ending affected her every time, and Draco was surprised to see her eyes welling up as she closed the book and looked at him with a smile on her face. "I always get emotionally caught up in that story," she explained. She didn't say the unspoken words, that the story helped her to forget about some of the horrors of the last two years, but somehow Draco realised it anyway, and wordlessly handed her a handkerchief from his pocket. She looked at it incredulously for a moment before using it to wipe the tears away.

"So what do you think?" She asked, once she had finished.

"It's adequate," was the reply, served alongside a patronising sniff. Hermione gazed at him in surprise, which quickly gave way to a stronger emotion.

"You're unbelievable! I know you really enjoyed that, and all you can say is it's adequate?! You're so full of sh- nonsense!" Malfoy almost cracked a smile at the idea of the good-girl swearing loudly, but then her words hit home.

"How would you know I enjoyed it, you know nothing about me!"

"Oh really," Hermione said sarcastically. "It's not like you've been terrorising me for the past 7 years, I can't imagine why I'd get the idea you were enjoying it. It's not like you had the same expression as when Ron got hit by the slug spewing charm or anything."

Malfoy's expression darkened, and he almost had a faint flush of anger rushing up into his cheeks. Almost, of course, because Malfoys never blushed. They never lost their composure at all, except he did whenever Granger was around.

"You know nothing about me." He hissed quietly, and Hermione was taken aback by how much venom was in his voice. He stood abruptly and stomped away from her until he was stood next to the fireplace, inwardly cursing. It was all her fault, he should have known that he wouldn't be able to form a truce with Granger. She made him so angry with her arrogant attitude, just assuming that she knew him. Well she didn't, he had changed in the last couple of years whilst under the tyranny of the Dark Lord, so much so that beneath his façade he was almost unrecognisable from the spoilt, naïve child that he used to be. However externally he was still the aloof man he had been portraying for years – in essence, he was a Malfoy.

Except Granger always made him lose control, she had ever since he had first met her. The only time in his life that he'd ever been rendered truly speechless was when she had slapped him. There had been a fire in her eyes, and he had never quite been able to convince himself she was the same boring bookworm afterwards.

His train of thought was interrupted by a searing pain in his left forearm, so strong that it caused him to double over and gasp for breath. He tried to hide it from Hermione, but wasn't quick enough, and straightened up to see the shock and worry register in her brown eyes. He spun and nearly ran out of the room still clutching his arm, not noticing that she had stood up and started to move towards him. She watched him leave with thoughtful eyes, biting her bottom lip abstractedly.

After a few moments she returned to her potions book, curling up in the chair again and leaving her book of fairy tales in the centre of the coffee table. She started reading again, but this time not researching the wolfsbane. No, now she was looking to see if there were any potions strong enough to combat a particularly potent dark curse.

-x-x-

Malfoy ran down the corridor and into the Slytherin common room. Ignoring the stares of some late waking students and the concerned gaze of Blaise Zabini he hurried into his room and shut the door, locking it with a wave of his wand. Once he was sure that he would not be interrupted he pulled back the sleeve of his robes to stare at the dark mark. It had gone red and was blistering, and was still incredibly sore. Wincing, he applied a soothing potion which took the edge off the pain but didn't dull it completely. Once it was more bearable he stared at the mark in horror – it almost felt as though he was being summoned…except, he wasn't. He had felt the call of the Dark Lord enough times to know that this was not the same. He wound a bandage over the mark, pulled his sleeve back down and sat in a wooden chair, worrying about what this development could mean.

-x-x-

Hermione spent so long researching in the Head's common room that she lost track of time, only realising once she snapped the book shut that the sun was streaming in through the large windows, meaning that it must be mid afternoon. Inwardly swearing, she nearly threw the book into her bag – although not quite, this was Hermione after all. She ran from the room, furious with herself for being late to meet Ron in Hogsmeade.

To say that Ron was not best pleased was an understatement when Hermione finally rushed into the Three Broomsticks in Hogsmeade, her curly hair waving everywhere as it threatened to escape from its untidy ponytail, her face flushed red from the exertion. She had run through Hogwarts until she reached the perimeter and could apparate away, but it didn't change the fact that she was two hours late for their date. She warily walked over to where Ron, Harry and Ginny were sat around a small table tucked into one corner.

Harry glanced up at Hermione, looked over at Ron's stony face and quickly made up an excuse about meeting Hagrid, before dragging Ginny out with him. Ron continued to sit stonily at the table, staring at his empty glass of butterbeer.

Hermione timidly sat down next to him in Harry's recently vacated seat. "Ron, I – I'm so sorry…" When Ron didn't reply Hermione hurriedly ordered two more butterbeers before turning back to him. "I mean it Ron, I'm really sorry. I completely lost track of time."

"With Malfoy." Rons voice was icy, and his eyes never left the empty glass, even as Rosmerta brought the new drinks Hermione had ordered. His hands were balled into fists and they rested on the table either side of the glass, arms held out stiffly in front of him.

Hermione gaped at the implication, shaken. "What?! No! I was studying." She reached forwards and took one of his fists in her hands, stroking it gently to try to get him to relax a little. "I just got lost in a book Ron, honestly."

For the first time Ron turned to look at her, his eyes holding a strange anger Hermione hadn't seen there before. "I overheard you yesterday, you were making plans with him this morning."

"We did Ron, for a bit, but then he left so I started to do some work instead. I'm so sorry Ron…but seriously? Malfoy?"

An uncertain smile began to form on Ron's face, and his fist unclenched in her hands. "Yeah I guess…bit stupid huh?"

Hermione's answering grin was radiant and her voice conveyed her relief. "Just a bit."

"It's just that… I feel like I've barely seen you since term began, 'Mione. I came back to Hogwarts in order to spend time with you, but you've been so busy that we've had no time together at all. I miss you." A pang of guilt washed over Hermione as she looked at Ron's mournful expression, his eyes fixed on hers. Am I meant to be feeling like this? I mean, I'm really happy to be with him but I'm not that sad about being busy…

"I've missed you too," she managed eventually, realising that he was waiting expectantly for her to reply. "But we're going to be busy this year Ron, you knew that before we even got here. It will only be for a year…"

"Yeah, and it's better than not seeing you at all," Ron brightened considerably at the thought.

"Exactly," Hermione passed Ron one of the butterbeers, all doubts vanished in the contentedness she felt as she passed the rest of the afternoon sitting in the pub with Ron, chatting normally about everything and nothing. I sometimes forget how much I love him.

-x-x-

She spent the rest of the weekend studying hard, and eventually managed to catch up with all of her homework whilst even fitting in the pre-reading for some of the next week.

Breakfast on Monday was relaxed, as Harry and Ron were laughingly regaling Hermione and Ginny with stories from the quidditch try outs that had occurred the day before. Although Harry and Ron couldn't play, they'd been invited to coach the team, something they had taken to enthusiastically. Hermione was listening fondly to what they were telling her whilst eating breakfast, when she became aware from their expressions that there was someone, probably a teacher, standing directly behind her. She spun around to see the headmistress waiting to have a word with her, and putting her toast down she began to scramble to her feet but McGonagall waved her down.

"There is a head's meeting in my office after dinner tonight, Miss Granger. Professor Snape is aware that you will be late to his tutorial. I would like to discuss any progress you have made towards out integrated events."

Hermione nodded and McGonagall left satisfied. As she sat back down Hermione stole a glance at the top table, wondering how Snape had actually taken the news that she would be late. He had a thunderous expression on his face as he scowled into a cup of pumpkin juice. Hermione couldn't tell if he was annoyed because their session had been delayed, she had a sneaky suspicion that it may be related to the fact that Professor Dante was laughing happily two seats down, her blue eyes twinkling as she conversed with Professor Sprout. Seeing the way Snape's eyes slid sideways towards his fellow teacher, Hermione guessed it was [probably a combination of both. He really doesn't like her much.

-x-x-

After dinner Hermione headed straight to the headmistress' office, not getting it wrong this time and arriving promptly. She was surprised to see that Malfoy had beaten her again – when she entered he was sat on one of the squishy chairs around the small fireplace, his scowl in place as usual. Hermione hadn't seen him since he stormed out of the common room on Saturday morning, and she looked at him for slightly longer that she might normally, taking in his pale appearance and very un-Malfoy-esque rumpled hair. Noticing her attention, he raised his eyebrows at her and deepened his scowl. Blushing, she turned away and sat in the second chair that matched Malfoy's. McGonagall took a seat on the small settee that faced them across a small table.

"I know it's early to discuss the Christmas Ball, but starting to make arrangements now will help to portray a untied front to the rest of the school and, possibly more importantly, the government and the ministry. After last year the school is under scrutiny this year and we need to come across well in order to ensure our future success. Have you met to discuss plans yet?"

"Well yes," Hermione began. "We thought the ball should run along the same lines as the Yule Ball during the tri-wizard tournament, with attendance limited to Hogwarts and associates, and students from fourth year up. However, we thought that there should be a theme this time, and we have chosen a muggle fairytale called the Snow Queen in order to connect with muggleborn students."

McGonagall nodded slowly, mulling over the idea. "It sounds like it could work – I assume that implementing a theme means that you are considering some form of costumes?"

"Well…" Hermione was stumped, their session the previous day hadn't been the most productive and she was too wary of her seeming truce with Malfoy to make suggestions without running them past him first. Not something it appeared that he shared her concern in.

"Of course Professor. Granger and myself will be attending as principle characters from the story, and encouraging others to do likewise."

Even McGonagall appeared to be surprised at this interjection, and looked from Hermione's gaping expression to Malfoy's bored gaze.

"Very good, Mr Malfoy. I must confess that I'm not very familiar with muggle stories, could you please elaborate on this particular tale?"

Again, Malfoy surprised Hermione by actually volunteering the information. Strange how he keeps doing that she thought to herself, as he began to explain the complex story.

"One day shards of a tainted mirror fall in a boys eyes and heart, turning his heart to ice and causing him to believe everything around him is ugly and bad. He is captured by the snow queen and taken to her palace in the ice. His closest friend, a young girl, eventually finds him and melts his cold heart with her tears, and burns away the shard of mirror. His tears in reply then wash the shard out of his eye and they escape with the help of friends the girl makes on the way. They then live happily ever after."

"Well…that seems suitably, and certainly festive enough. I trust that you will keep me updated on your plans?" When both Hermione and Malfoy nodded their assent, McGonagall smiled at them. "I must say, I am impressed with how well you have put aside your former difficulties to work together this year. I know that being forced together is hard for both of you, but your maturity in working together regardless of your past history is a fine example of other, less forgiving members of Hogwarts." Behind McGonagall the portrait of Dumbledore was smiling genially at his students, and Hermione smiled slightly at the sight although she saw Malfoy averting his eyes. A memory of what Malfoy had been asked to do by Voldemort in their fourth year came into her mind, and she felt some pity for the blond boy.

The headmistress let them go soon after and Hermione raced down into the classroom where her potion was bubbling to find Snape sitting behind a desk, marking essays. He scowled when she came in, standing and moving over to their potion. She expected a diatribe regarding priorities, so was pleased to find that he merely commented on the status of the potion and gave her instructions regarding its handling. They poured the potion into goblets and watched it steam as Snape tested its effectiveness using another potion as an indicator.

"This is a sufficient wolfsbane, not excellent but acceptable for a first attempt. Now we need to consider how to improve it – we need to be able to suppress the side effects whilst maintaining its potency. I have been working on this for many years without success and I do not hold out much hope that an addition can be found, however Professor Dante seems to believe that using this so-called elemental magic you possess you may be able to find a solution where I have not." A sneer that Hermione hadn't seen since before the war had appeared on Snape's face, and his lip curled up at the mention of elemental magic.

She didn't know what made her ask, but the question was out before she could help herself. "Why do you dislike Professor Dante so much?"

Snape just glared, before picking up several spare vials and noisily rearranging them into the cupboard. "There is a reason elemental magic is rarely used, it is unpredictable and unreliable. No one knows how to use it properly, and suddenly she shows up and claims to be an expert. Nobody else seems to see that she is, at best, grossly exaggerating her abilities." He cleaned the cauldron with a simple spell, and noisily it folded itself up as he stared impassively. Just as he turned away to clear up ingredients, Hermione could have sworn she heard him add "And she smiles too much."

Having been summarily dismissed by Snape, Hermione walked back to her dormitory, thinking about the enigmatic teacher's answer. She believed that Professor Dante was very knowledgable about and capable of harnessing the elemental magic, and was unsure as to why Professor Snape was so determined to think otherwise.