Needless to say, if Draco thought the news that he was going to the ball with Hermione had spread round the school quickly, the news that he had been kissing her in the middle of the entrance Hall travelled at record speed. And where the day or week before Draco would have been entirely consumed with the worry and anxiety about people talking about him, now it didn't matter. He didn't care who spoke about him, he didn't care about what they were saying. Draco Malfoy was dating Hermione Granger and that was the only thing that could occupy his mind. And it certainly did, for the rest of the day he was aware of this kind of breathless fluttering that was present inside his chest cavity. He felt light, and the happiest he had been in a very long time, he wanted to shout it out in the Great Hall, he wanted to tell people in the corridor that he was dating Hermione Granger.
His classes that day were almost insufferable, mainly because he could hardly bear to sit still. Unfortunately for him, he only shared one class with Hermione, and that was potions – and he was across the other side of the classroom from her. The only comfort he got during potions was when he caught Hermione's eye, felt his heart rate increase and a smile spread across his face. This separation during the days classes only frustrated Draco – he couldn't focus on what Professor Slughorn was talking about during potions, or what Professor Flitwick asked them to do, it all seemed to filter in through one ear and out of the other.
They had agreed in the morning that they would meet and go to dinner together, so Draco had used his lunch time to smarten himself up properly. He found an ironed shirt, he did his hair, he even took time to polish his shoes so that he would look smart. He did all of these things despite the fact that he knew Hermione didn't care about his appearance; he knew that the external wasn't of importance because if it had been, she would have never been interested in him after she had seen the state of his arm – but that had never mattered to her. Even that morning she had displayed that Draco's appearance wasn't what she cared about; instead she cared and liked the him inside – she liked who he was – and that made Draco feel amazing!
After his last class he almost ran down to his dormitory to leave his bag and then up to the entrance Hall to meet Hermione. He waited for her to arrive, and when she did reach the bottom of the marble staircase, he held out his arm and she slipped hers through it and smiled at Draco. In that moment, he thought he was the happiest he had ever felt.
For the next week, Draco felt like he was living in a dream, but not a nightmare like he had been used to experiencing for the past couple of months. He felt like he had stepped into another dimension where all of his wildest dreams had come true. He still had moments of panic – where he was anxious about other students and what they were saying, but everything seemed to be so much easier to face when Hermione was by his side. Hermione had been and continued to be his constant source of support and encouragement. And what was more, when they had officially become a couple, Neville and Luna had started talking to Draco and trying to include him in their crowd. Ginny was still distinctly frosty to the two of them as a couple, but Hermione reassured Draco by telling him that Ginny would go home for the Christmas holidays, have a bit of a moan and then be set straight by Harry. That was weird to Draco also – that Harry Potter, who technically he had fought against – was more than happy for him and Hermione to be together.
Draco had put his name down for staying at Hogwarts over the Christmas holiday – there was not a chance of him going back to that huge empty manor to spend Christmas alone. So he had been very pleasantly surprised to find out that Hermione, too, had put her name down to stay over the Christmas holidays. At first he was concerned that she was doing it simply for him, and he didn't want her to miss out on visiting her family; however when she explained that it was her last opportunity to stay at Hogwarts for Christmas and she was going to take it! She also told Draco that her parents liked to go skiing at Christmas time (which was true) and that she wasn't much inclined to go skiing for all of her holiday (which was also true!). Which meant that the two of them would get to spend the Christmas holidays together for their final Christmas for Hogwarts.
The Christmas ball – which had been arranged by a committee overseen by Hermione and Professor McGonagall - was scheduled for the night before everyone would go home for the Christmas holidays, and it seemed that the students were more excited about the ball than they were about going home. From the Monday that began their last week before the Christmas holidays, all of the talk in the castle turned to the ball. Both Hermione and Draco hadn't heard anyone talking excitedly about Christmas presents or visiting families, instead they were surrounded by conversations about what people were wearing, how people were going to do their hair, and what they wished would happen with the person they were going with.
Hermione couldn't have been more excited than she was in the few days before the ball. Her planning and working with the other prefects to get everything ready had definitely paid off – and she was really glad that she had delegated responsibility to the rest of the committee, otherwise she would have been running around like a mad thing trying to get everything ready. Professor McGonagall had, slightly reluctantly, agreed when the prefects decided on a Christmas Ball that Thursday would be the last day of classes, and the Hogwarts express would leave at noon on the Friday – which meant they wouldn't have to worry about kicking everyone out at the stroke of twelve. The necessity of use of the Great Hall meant that – even though it had been decorated with the twelve Christmas trees as usual – the Ball committee couldn't decorate the Hall the night before as it would ruin the surprise; so they would take the Thursday afternoon off with their decoration planner to deck out the Hall. She was looking forwards immensely to the holidays starting for two and a bit weeks with Draco, but for some reason the week just wasn't going quick enough for her liking… The only consolation that made slowness of the week slightly better was that the ball committee were perfectly capable of arranging the last minute details, which meant that she was able to spend all of her time outside of classes with Draco.
When Wednesday evening finally arrived, and the air in the castle felt almost unbearably excited, Hermione ate her dinner surrounded by the ball committee who wanted to clarify the final plans tomorrow, but she was desperate for the moment that she would be able to escape – back to Draco. She could see Draco's back as she sat across the other side of the Great Hall, he was sitting with Luna and Neville, and the three of them looked in deep conversation. Hermione wrenched her gaze away, trying to focus on the conversation happening right next to her.
"If we hang back after lunch tomorrow we'll be able to start decorating as soon as the classes start, does that sound alright?" Hermione heard murmurs of assent from the rest of the group; then Padma addressed her directly: "Does that sound alright Hermione?"
"Yes, yes!" She agreed slightly absent mindedly, alarmed that she had been caught not paying attention, Padma glanced behind her and a smile crept over her face.
"On you go." She said simply.
"What?" Hermione asked, looking more intently at her now, but Padma didn't look angry or annoyed, she was smiling.
"Go on and be with Draco… We can cope here on our own, just hang around after lunch tomorrow." She replied, Hermione knew she should protest, she knew she should stay here, but she could feel her cheeks going red.
"Are you sure?" She questioned, her voice low; Padma nodded.
"Go." She consented, then added: "You two are cute together." Hermione rose from the bench and crossed the hall quickly, she tiptoed the last few feet up behind Draco, who was talking animatedly with Luna; placing her hands lightly on his shoulders she bent down next to him.
"Hey." He greeted her, and a warmth spread across his face in conjunction with a smile.
"Fancy going for a walk?" She asked quietly, the fork that Draco had been holding dropped with a clatter.
"Luna, can we finish this conversation later?" He requested politely, Luna had been chewing a mouthful of pudding.
"Of course!" She answered so lightly that they could have been talking about the weather, it didn't seem more serious.
"Let's go then," Draco started to stand up, but Hermione pointed out:
"You can finish your food!"
"I am finished, don't worry." He smiled, slipping his hand into hers and stepping out from the benches.
The air outside was crisp and cold, so sharp that Hermione could distinguish the frost in the air just by breathing in. Both of them had thick winter cardigans and jumpers under their robes, but even that could not defend against the harsh weather which had descended like a blanket over the area of the castle. Fresh snow crunched underfoot as they walked out away from the parapets that covered the edges of the castle, they walked towards the lake, which was predominantly frozen over with the cold weather. Hermione had always thought that Hogwarts looked extra magical at Christmas time, with snow practically covering every part of the castle and the grounds; and the lake sparkling in the light from the low sun during the day or the moon through the cloudless nights. Hogwarts had always been beautiful, she could remember thinking that the first time she had laid eyes on it, and even now – with parts of the castle rebuilt after the War with glass and stone – it would never stop looking beautiful. She remembered these things clearly because this would probably be her last Christmas experience at Hogwarts, unless she came to visit in future years; and, for some reason, walking through the grounds with Draco made this moments feel even more special.
"What are you thinking about?" Draco asked quietly, the air surrounding them was so silent and stiff with cold that his voice felt more intimate.
"Nothing really…" Hermione replied, she felt his hand squeeze in hers. "Just how beautiful the grounds are… and how special it is to be with you." Draco didn't blush as such, Hermione didn't think there was enough blood in his face for him to blush, but two tiny pink patches appeared just as his cheekbones. "It feels like this term has gone past so fast." She muttered, watching Draco out of the corner of her eye.
"But at the same time it's felt very slow at some points." Draco commented, "I don't really want to think about this being my last Christmas at Hogwarts…"
"That's what I feel too…" Hermione agreed. "It was bad enough last year not being at Hogwarts for Christmas…" She barely suppressed a shudder, "This time last year Harry and I were getting ready to go to Godric's Hollow – and that was an unprecedented disaster." Perhaps Draco hadn't realised, or expected, that Hermione would have a few situations or memories that she wouldn't want to think about because they weren't pleasant, and while he knew the burden of those kinds of thoughts, he couldn't blame her for them – or expect her to get over them, in the same way that she didn't expect that from him.
"But this year, we're both at Hogwarts." Draco responded soothingly, Hermione nodded and leant her head onto Draco's shoulder.
This moment… Hermione wanted to remember this moment forever; the coldness of the air, the feeling of Draco's cold smooth palm in her own, the physical presence that he let off standing next to her, and how happy she felt – like her emotions could overflow and melt the snow under her feet.
"I'm glad things worked out between us Draco." Hermione whispered, not moving as they stood at the edge of the frozen lake. Darkness was falling more quickly now, but even with her eyes closed Hermione could sense the whiteness irradiating from the snow.
"Me too." He murmured, "You've helped me change, get better… I can't imagine not being your friend now, I can't imagine not being your-" Draco faltered for a second, and Hermione lifted her head up from his shoulder to look at him. "I'm not going to let anything mess this up now…" Draco's silver eyes were shining with sincerity, and something else – something indefinable – and his gaze made her feel warm and secure. She leant up to kiss him, both their lips were cold from being outside for so long, but their mouths were warm. Hermione's fingers on Draco's cheek were soft and warm, and one hand was strong against the small of her back and the other was in her hair; and nothing had ever felt as good as this, nothing had made her feel so alive, so right. Nothing made her feel the way that Draco made her feel… Her heart full of an energy, a warmth that spread through her entire body and mimicked the sensation of her heart bursting through her chest – she wanted to wrap that energy around Draco, to pull him in and keep him close to her, in her heart.
A/N: Again apologies for an extended wait, I hope this chapter can make up for the wait. If anyone is still reading, I'm letting you guys know that this story is now drawing to a (current) end, so there will possibly be 2 more chapters and that will be it! Thanks for reading so far, and as always - I'd love to know what you think of this! :)