"…five golden rings! Four calling birds, three French hens, two turtle doves and a partridge in a pear tree!" Hermione Granger was skipping and singing as she walked down the street from the store. It was Christmas Eve and she was home for the holidays. Her mother had asked her to go to the nearest grocery to pick up a few things for dinner. The weather wasn't the best, but with a warming charm and a need for fresh air, she happily obliged. She was happy to be home. She missed her family, her room, her bed and most especially, she missed the silence. She was happy to be spending Christmas with her mum and dad and her grandparents who would be flying all the way from Australia to see them.

It has been two and a half weeks since that night. THAT night – the night when all rationality was swept from her and she engaged in ANOTHER passionate kiss with her former enemy, current admirer, one Draco Malfoy. She had been extremely jumpy. She was always deep in thought, lying low so as not to bump into said boy and making up every possible excuse to not engage in a snog session with current "boyfriend" Ronald Weasley. She was running out of excuses. She had tried homework and prefect rounds and study sessions and fatigue and mouth sores and even contagious colds. It was not easy but she had to do it. She just COULD NOT kiss Ron after kissing Draco. It wasn't because she stopped having feelings for Ron and had loads of them for Draco. It was just because she had absolutely NO idea where her life was supposed to go now, relationship-wise. Suffice to say, it had been a tough two and a half weeks, not the toughest because she did spend weeks devising plans on how to eliminate one Dark wizard, but this was definitely in her top 5.

She was walking up the path to their front door and was nearly done with her singing of The 12 Days of Christmas. She cheerfully unlocked the door with her key, hung up her coat and scarf, left her damp boots by the door and called out, "Mum? Dad? I'm back!"

A woman with brown hair, although not very bushy, stepped into the hallway with a giant smile on her face. "Oh my darling, there's someone waiting for you in the living room. I think you will be very surprised!"

"Nana and Gramps are here? Already?" She squealed, passing on the bag of grocery goods to her mother. "They came a day earlier, that's great!" She took off and started running to their living room. She was surprised however to see that in place of an elderly couple who slightly resembled her was a young man with blonde hair and gray eyes.

"Hello there, Grang—Hermione." Draco said standing up and greeting her.

Hermione forced a very awkward and scared smile – careful not to be rude because both her parents were watching. She was too stunned to speak. She wondered if this was some sort of apparition or someone was trying to pull a prank on her. It was probably just a weird Christmas joke and the mask would come off and it would just be her grandfather or grandmother behind it. But of course that would be weird. They had no idea who in the world Draco Malfoy was.

"Draco came while you were in the grocer's, darling." Jean, her mother, said. "We were actually very much surprised to have him show up here after all the stories you have told us about your constant fights."

Richard, Hermione's father, then added. "Oh but he was very polite and asked us to forgive his immaturity. I actually believe your friend here is a fine young fellow, princess."

Hermione's eyes only widened at both her parents statements.

"I have very much matured." Draco spoke up after a few seconds. "I have come to realize what a wonderful and beautiful girl your daughter is, Mr. and Mrs. Granger. It took a while, yes, but here we are."

Hermione's parents were beaming – and her mother was blushing! She could not help but gag at the flattery Draco was displaying. He had her parents at the palm of his pureblood hand! She knew he felt some things for her but to suck up to her parents was just something she never expected Malfoy to do. Actually, showing up in her home was something she never expected ANY Malfoy in the world to do. This was just too wrong.

"Well darling, your father and I will leave you two alone to chat while I prepare dinner." Jean said as she stood up to leave.

"Will you be staying for dinner, Draco?" Richard inquired as he stood up from the couch.

"Oh, no, thank you, sir. I would very much love to but I have to go and have dinner with my mother." Draco explained.

"Oh yes, that's right. Well then," Jean gave Hermione a knowing wink, "you kids have fun."

Mr. Granger shooed his wife out of the living room and the two were left by themselves.

Draco turned to look at the still unmoving Hermione. She was by the doorway of the living room looking at Draco with wide eyes. After a while she started blinking multiple times. "I'm not gonna go away if you keep blinking. I am very much real, Granger."

That was when Hermione snapped out of her musings and finally spoke. "Malfoy," she hissed, "what in Merlin's name are you doing here? In my home? On Christmas eve?"

Draco shrugged, "I came to wish you a Happy Christmas."

"And writing that in a letter never occurred to you?"

Draco shrugged again, "I was in the neighborhood anyway."

"How is that even possible? Don't you live in a manor in the middle of a forest?"

"I was flying about and I happened to realize that I was in your neighborhood."

"How do you even know my neighborhood?"

"I am all-knowing, Granger."

Hermione flashed him a look of amusement. "If I didn't know better, Malfoy, I think you're stalking me."

He scoffed. "I don't stalk, Granger. If this were stalking, I would be hiding behind a bush outside your house watching your every move. As it is, I am comfortably sitting in your couch and you are very much aware of my presence."

"Well, this has been great, Malfoy, but I have some preparing for Christmas to do." She said, now standing up and reaching over to drag him off the couch.

"What?"

"You've greeted me a Happy Christmas. Your business here is done." She smiled now, happy to have found a good excuse to be rid of him.

"Oh, you are very much mistaken. I have another reason for being here." Now he was the one smirking.

Hermione raised her eyebrows suspiciously. "And what is that?"

"I came to give you your present."

"Oh, thank you." She then proceeded to look at him expectantly with her hands raised in front of her.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm waiting for you to give me my present so you can go."

Draco pondered for a while and then replied, "Maybe later."

"What?"

"You're not gonna get rid of me that easily." He then stood up. "Come on."

"Where are we going?" She asked warily.

"We're gonna go make a snowman."

"A what?"

"You know, you roll two giant balls of snow, stack them on top of each other, put eyes, a nose, a mouth, limbs and a hat and scarf?"

"I very well know what a snowman is Malfoy." She replied haughtily. "I want to know why in Merlin's name are we going to do that?"

"Because, I don't want to go yet and well, there's a pretty good amount of snow outside and maybe it'll help you ease up if you got a bit of fresh air. You're very rude to guests, do you know that Granger?" He then proceeded to grab hold of her hands and pull her to the front door.

She crossed her arms and huffed, "I am not rude. You just caught me by surprise and you don't even know how much presents I still have to wrap for my parents and grandparents! And I have to mail my gifts to Harry, Ron and Ginny, you know. And then I still have to—"

Draco put a finger on her lips to keep her quiet. "Hush. Just one snowman, Granger. That's all I ask. And then I swear to be rid of you until I feel like terrorizing you again with my presence. Is that all right?"

Hermione only nodded.

"Good." He said, now grabbing hold of her coat and scarf and placing it on her while she stood there.

"What are you doing?"

"You don't seem to want to move so I'm helping you to your clothes." He said, now wrapping her scarf around her neck. "Unless you wanna freeze?"

She shook her head and grabbed her boots as he opened the door.

"By the way Granger, next time you ramble on like that I may have to use another method of shutting you up."

"Huh?"

"Something more effective and more fun." He winked and puckered his lips.

She wrinkled her nose in disgust.

"Oh don't play coy." He said, then leaned into her and whispered, "We both know how much you enjoy it."

She punched his arm, told him to shut up and ran to where a hefty amount of snow was in her front yard. Draco followed suit and they both started making giant balls of snow to stack on top of each other. For a while, Hermione forgot how troubled she was and started to enjoy herself – even if one of the causes of her trouble was with her. It was ironic that the reason for her constant frets was also the reason she felt so cheerful and content at the moment. It scared her to realize that Draco Malfoy could make her feel so warm and fuzzy inside – something very different from how she used to feel around him.

"We need a scarf and a hat!" Hermione said was she finished placing a few stones they found as the snowman's eyes.

"It's your house. Can you produce one for our new-found friend?"

"Hmmmm, let me go check." She dashed inside the house and came back a few minutes later with an old hat and one of her scarves. She placed it on the snowman and stepped back to take a look at their work. "Something's missing."

Draco skewed his head to the left then to the right to figure out what she was talking about. "A nose?"

"Yeah, he looks incomplete without it."

Draco looked around and found a flat stone and pressed it on the face of the snowman. He stepped back to look and started to laugh.

"What?" Hermione asked, amused at Draco's amusement. "What's so funny?"

"His nose is flat." He continued chuckling.

"Yes, it is. What of it?"

"He looks like Voldemort." He said, now laughing so much.

Hermione squinted her eyes to examine their snowman and started to laugh as well. "I cannot believe you associated a dark wizard who was out to murder everyone in his path to a snowman."

"Hey, the coot's long gone. And I would very much like to ridicule him all I want to make up for everything he's put all of us through."

They fell silent for a while, just looking at their Voldemort-look-alike snowman.

"Wanna make another?" Draco asked then lit up and said, "We can make this one look like Weasley! Now if only there was a way to make fiery god-awful red hair on a snowman."

Hermione scowled, "That's not nice, Malfoy. And besides, you said one snowman, then gift and then go."

"Oh come on, just one more. It doesn't have to look like Weasley now. Just a regular snowman."

"Malfoy, do I have to reiterate to you the amount of things I still need to do?" She turned to him, placed her hands on her hips and started her litany. "I have to wrap my gifts for my parents, my grandparents and my friends. I have to help my mother cook Christmas dinner. I have to clear out the guest room for my grandparents who will be arriving tomorrow to spend a week with us. I have to go to the neighbors' houses to deliver the cookies my mother made and I even have to primp myself up to look good for Christmas dinner despite the fact that my hair won't tame itself and my eyes look like I haven't slept in months and I don't think I – mmmf!"

Draco Malfoy took this as the moment to shut her up the way he knew best – by taking her lips into his. Of course he had also been meaning to do this since the last time he did two and a half weeks ago but this one was like hitting two birds with one stone – kissing the one he liked and getting his chatterbox former enemy to shut the hell up. He was surprised to feel a hand wrap around his body and another work its way up to his hair. He took this as a sign to go further and decided to deepen the kiss.

She was surprised again and even more surprised that she was taking the lead. Merlin, if only Ron would kiss her this way then she wouldn't be in such agony. But as it is no one could make her feel the way this Draco sodding Malfoy did. And she couldn't help herself. She knew this was as wrong as when it happened the first time but Merlin, how could something so wrong feel this right?

After what seemed like forever, they both pulled away to take in some air. Draco placed a hand on her cheek and started stroking it. Hermione's both hands were still wrapped around his neck and both their foreheads were pressed together.

"I told you I would shut you up if you didn't cease with the talking." He said in between breaths. She could only smile in response.

"I know when I'm not wanted anymore, Granger and I think this is my cue to leave and let you do the things that you need to do. Merlin knows there are a lot of them. Besides, I think mother is waiting for me already. Here," he said, taking out a small rectangular box from his coat pocket. "I do hope you like it. Don't open it until it's actually Christmas."

He leaned in again to give her a soft peck on the lips. "You have a charming home and a wonderful family. Please tell your parents I said good bye." He then turned away from a still shell-shocked Hermione and rummaged through their bushes for his broom. As he was mounting the broom, he turned to look at her and gave her a wink. "Happy Christmas, Granger." And then he flew off.

It was almost midnight, only a few minutes until Christmas. Hermione slumped onto her bed, very tired from today's events. No matter how hard she tried the entire day, she couldn't shake off or wash off THE kiss. She was perplexed. She didn't know why it was that he was able to steal THREE kisses from her already. Yet even if she tried so hard to be angry about it, she found she couldn't.

"Augh! Stupid, annoying, addictive and augh, attractive bouncing ferret!" She exclaimed as she covered her face with her pillow.

At that moment, she heard tapping coming from her window. She stood up and found an owl with a small parcel wrapped around its feet. She opened the window, let in the owl and took the box and the note that came with it.

Happy Christmas, Mione. I know you'll make good use of this.

Ron

She practically tore open the gift in excitement. She had been waiting for this all day and she could hardly contain herself. And then there it was, Ron's gift to her – a bookmark. It was red and in gold letters was her name. It was pretty, she definitely thought it was. She was sure Ron put effort into this and thought long and hard about it. So why was she so disappointed? She fell on her bed again and continued thinking.

Ron was her boyfriend. Well, her supposed boyfriend. He knew she liked books but was this really all he could think of giving? On Christmas? She was never really picky with gifts. She refused to be petty about these kinds of things but why? It was just a gift. It didn't mean anything big. It was just a gift. Just a gift.

"A gift!" She shot up and remembered she had one more gift she hadn't opened yet and it was sitting inside her coat pocket downstairs. She flew down the stairs and rummaged through her coat pockets to find Draco's present. When she did, she didn't take another second to pause and tore apart the wrapper. In it was an emerald velvet box. Her hands were shaking. Why were they shaking? It was just a gift from a supposed friend. Just a gift. She closed her eyes, counted to three, opened the box and eventually, her eyes as well.

"Holy mother of Merlin." She breathed as her eyes took in the beautiful silver necklace that lay in front of her. She wasn't in to jewelry. She hated having things tied around her arms and neck and all that. This however was more than just a necklace. There was a beautiful otter pendant attached to a long chain. An otter, her patronus. "How did he know this was mine?" She whispered again, taking the necklace out of the box and hanging it around her neck.

She slowly walked up to her room, mind clouded with even more thoughts now. On one hand was Ronald Weasley, her supposed boyfriend and best friend. They were meant to be together – at least that was what everyone was expecting. She knew a lot about him and he knew so much about her. But then they've been friends for the longest time and he seemed to think that that was good enough. He never seemed to make an extra effort to make her feel that they were so much more.

On the other hand was Draco Malfoy, her supposed former enemy and number 1 bully. No one would EVER expect them to be together. They were almost opposites in everything. They would always agree to disagree and the only time they would ever speak was when they were arguing over something. He made her life hell for 6 years with his taunting and teasing. Yet here he was. He knew so much about her – things she herself never even expected others to know. He made so much effort to find her, to be with her and to even get to know her. He was so much more than the git he had been those past years.

Her mind started to replay all three kisses she had with Draco, all three moments wherein she was caught off-guard. She replayed all the things she felt, all the things he said and all the things that he did. She ran a finger through her lips and felt a shiver run down her spine. Did she like him? Was she falling for him too? He who was so damn sweet all the time and he who made her feel so beautiful without having to try.

She held on to her otter pendant and turned to her side. "You will be the death of me, Draco Malfoy. Damn you for refusing to get out of my mind." Turning to lie flat on her back she sighed before closing her eyes, "But damn me because I love it."

And so Hermione fell asleep with a smile on her face, clutching the otter pendant, not even noticing that on her bedroom floor lay a red and gold bookmark, completely forgotten.

A/N: Was that inspiration enough? I'm not so happy with this chapter. But yeah, so Hermione realizes she has feelings for Draco as well. Now I wonder how she'll tell him? And I wonder how they'll break the news to Ron.

Again, HP isn't mine. Never was, never will be mine.