Chapter 17
The morning of Christmas Eve was the coldest day of winter, yet. Hermione woke up shivering and, with her eyes still closed, frantically bunched together and wrapped the duvet tightly around herself. But that was no use. Her teeth began to chatter and goose bumps made their place on her arms and legs. Hermione sighed and decided it was too cold to be able to fall back asleep, so she got up quickly to run to the shower. The thought of a hot shower made her walk faster towards the bathroom, as fast as her numb legs would take her.
Hermione was in such thought about the warm shower that she nearly ran right into the bathroom door. Which, in fact, was closed. A frown grew on her face when she heard the water running and a faint humming coming from inside. Hermione lifted up a fist and was about to pound on the door when the water stopped. A minute later the door opened. Steam poured out at if she just opened a oven that had over cooked whatever was inside.
Hermione had to take a couple of steps back before the steam would capture her in itself. As she took one last step back, out came Draco, in nothing but a towel wrapped around his waste. Hermione felt her cheeks grow pink, but she made no movement to turn and look away.
"Hermione, why are you standing outside of the bathroom?" Draco asked as he wiped his hair with another towel. Hermione stood there for a few seconds, mute, until she back to her senses.
"Oh, um, well I woke up to the freezing cold and thought it be nice to have a warm shower." Hermione answered, trying very hard to keep her eyes on his instead of letting them wander. Draco made a face, one of guilt. Hermione saw this and narrowed her eyes at him. "Please tell me there is still hot water left in there."
"Funny you should say that…" Draco let out a nervous laugh and scratched the back of his head, but Hermione wasn't laughing. "No, there isn't."
"Great, just great!" Hermione exclaimed and threw her hands in the air.
"Just wait an hour or so." Draco recommended as he made his way back to their bedroom. Hermione glared at the back of his head as she followed him.
"I'm freezing!" Hermione said to him and threw herself onto the bed, wrapping the duvet tightly around herself once again.
"Did it ever occur to you that you could wear a coat?"
"I want a shower with hot water!"
Draco rolled his eyes at her being overly dramatic. He didn't even think it was that cold. Hermione just stared at him as he put on a shirt. Her eyes went wide.
"Wha…what are you doing?" She stammered.
"Getting dressed." Draco said, like it's the most obvious thing in the world, well it sort of was, then a sly grin appeared on his face. "I know you like what you're seeing, Granger, but I do plan to be clothed during the day especially since it's winter."
Hermione glared at him. "That was not what I was implying."
"Whatever you say," Draco said with the grin still on his face.
"I meant, what are you doing dressing while I'm here."
"Geez, Granger, I was just putting a shirt on. I wasn't on planning on taking this towel off in front of you, unless that is if you want me to." Draco wiggled his eyebrows at her. Hermione made a noise of disgust and threw a pillow at him. Draco ducked just in time. "Learn to take a joke." He said before grabbing the rest of his things and leaving the room.
Hermione heard the bathroom door close seconds later and shook her head at him. She got up to put on a large coat and decided to go check on Owen and Eleina. Upon entering the room, she nearly stumbled on the toys scattered on the floor. Hermione couldn't even remember how they got so many toys. She threw that thought aside and made her way to the beds. Both of them were still asleep. She slowly sat down at the end of Owen's bed, as that was the one closet to her, so that she would not wake him.
She looked down at this tiny face and looked over to Eleina. She felt her heart become heavy and her throat started to tighten. Hermione lowered her head and closed her eyes so that the tears could not escape them, but that just made her eyes burn and she had to open them again, letting the tears fall freely. She wiped them away and let out a sniffle.
"Mommy?" Came a tiny and sleepy voice. Hermione lifted her head and saw that Owen had awoken. "Why are you crying?"
"I…" Hermione want to deny it, but her voice cracked.
"Because daddy used all the hot water and she couldn't take a shower."
Hermione shot her head towards the doorway, where Draco's voice came from, and saw him leaning on the doorframe. She quickly wiped her face dry and looked back to Owen, wondering how long Draco had been standing there.
"Don't cry, mommy. The hot water will come back. I know because it does every night you give me and Elaina a bath."
Hermione let out a laugh. She didn't know whether or not to be embarrassed that her son thinks she was crying over the temperature of water, even though that wasn't the truth.
"Don't listen to your father. He's lying." Hermione said to him.
"Then why are you sad?" Came a tiny voice from the other bed.
Hermione looked over to her daughter, who had woken up. She just shook her head with a smile.
"It's nothing. Now, let's get you two ready for breakfast and then we can go play outside!" Hermione announced with a clap of her hands.
At the mention of having the chance to play out in the snow for the first time since the last incident, all thoughts left their heads as Owen and Eleina jumped to their feet and ran out towards the bathroom to brush their teeth. Hermione got up to follow, but right as she passed Draco, who was still standing in the doorway, she felt his hand grab her. She looked up shocked at his sudden action until he reached a hand up to her face.
"You missed one." Draco whispered as his thumb graced the left side of her cheek, where a tear had been claiming its place.
Hermione stared deep into his silver eyes. It was strange how intense the feeling was and yet it was so calm at the same time. It was like something she never felt before and for some strange reason at that moment there seemed to be a magnetic force pulling them together, slowly. Their faces were inches apart and Hermione could feel Draco's light breathing. She closed her eyes as her heart started to beat faster and faster. Hermione was ready to take whatever was coming…
"Come on, mommy! Let's go!"
But what came wasn't what Hermione had expected at all. She felt two little hands grab her cloak and started to tug her towards the closet to help them get dressed. Hermione opened her eyes wide in more shock than when Draco grabbed her earlier. She became embarrassed at what almost happened and by the look of Draco's face, he seemed to be feeling the same thing.
"Um, yes, you should probably help them get dressed. I'll be waiting downstairs." Draco said hurriedly and left the room before Hermione could even slip in a word.
The rest of the morning was a bit awkward between Hermione and Draco. The though of almost having their first kiss was lingering in the back of both of their minds. During breakfast they sat apart from each other. Owen and Eleina were placed in between them. They didn't talk much during that time. It was only times when Pansy and Harry were speaking to them about their Christmas Eve party later that evening did both Draco and Hermione contribute in the same conversation.
After breakfast, Hermione asked Harry, Pansy, Ron, and Millicent if they wanted to take their children out to play with them since Hermione did tell Owen and Eleina that they would be playing outside after eating their breakfast. Something Owen and Eleina kept reminding Hermione.
"You said that we could go outside." Owen would saw to her.
"Yes, I did say that." Hermione responded.
"Remember mommy, we're playing in the snow after this." Eleina would say a few minutes later.
"I remember." Hermione reassured her.
"You're letting them go outside to play? Wow Hermione, I'm surprised." Ron commented as he took a sip of his pumpkin juice. Hermione just glared at him, but she did ask them to join which they agreed.
The children were now playing together in what seemed to be a small snowball fight. All the 'parents' sat at a near by table talking about how strange it'll be to not have the responsibility of being a parent anymore in a few days. Hermione, however, had gotten up and walked closer towards where the children were playing, paying close attention to them. She was stilling feeling a little nervous allowing them to play so roughly with each other, which they really weren't, but she couldn't help the feeling of going through that again.
"Hey, are you okay?"
"Yeah." Hermione turned to her side and smiled at Harry.
"Well, you don't look like it. Something happened with you and Malfoy? You two didn't talk much during breakfast."
"No, nothing happened." Hermione said a little too quickly which made Harry raise an eyebrow.
"Really, Hermione? You're going to lie to your best friend?"
"I'm not lying." Hermione tried, but it didn't work. Harry gave her that I'm-not-going-to-stop-asking-until-you-tell-me-the-truth look. "Okay, fine. Something did…happen, well almost."
"I knew it!"
"What do you mean you knew it? You don't even know what it is!"
"Come on, Hermione, there's only one thing that could've possibly "almost" happened that you would be so nervous to talk about."
"There's not only one thing."
"Well that may be true, but it's not like you almost slept with him so it's has to be the other." Harry said. Hermione was so in shock that Harry would actually think of that that she was speechless. When Hermione didn't respond to what he said, Harry's face turned into anger.
"Hermione, please tell me you did not almost have you know what with Malfoy." Harry said firmly, but made sure not to say the actual word incase one of the children heard him.
"What?!" Hermione finally regained her voice. She shook her head violently at the mere thought of that. "No, absolutely not!"
"Good."
"No, it wasn't that." Hermione confirmed again.
"Well, then my first guess was correct."
Hermione just nodded.
"I could tell something was going on between you two."
"That wasn't even supposed to happen. It didn't happen, but it shouldn't have almost happened either. Does that make sense?"
"Not at all." Harry answered. Hermione frowned at him, but he just let out a laugh. "I'm not surprised it almost happened. He fancies you."
"What?!" Hermione nearly yelled. "How do you know? You two barely talk to each other, why would he tell you something like that?"
"I can tell. The way he acts when you're around, it's different."
"It's just cause he wants to set a good example for Owen and Eleina."
Harry shakes his head. " And the way he looks at you when you're not looking. He's changed because of you, Hermione. It may not be a whole lot, but there's something. You may not see it, but that's cause you're with him most of the time. From an outside perspective, you can just tell. Pansy sees it too."
Hermione was once again speechless and could feel herself begin to blush. Harry saw this and smiled. He decided to change the subject for the sake of his friend.
"So, why are you standing over here and not joining us at the table? I mean, you were the one who asked us to come outside."
"I just felt a little uncomfortable sitting over there, with the talk about all this being over. It just makes me really sad and I really don't want to think about this being over."
"I know what you mean, Hermione." Harry sighed. "This experience has definitely been an interesting one. I mean, giving us the responsibility of taking care of a child and in yours and Ron's case, more than one. We're still kids ourselves. And to be paired up with Slytherins? They're lucky we got along as well as we did. I'm surprised we got along as well as we did."
"Tell me about it." Hermione mumbled under her breath.
"What?"
"Nothing. I…I mean, I agree with you." Hermione said. "Don't get me wrong, I'll definitely like not having to be a parent anymore, but it's just that we've grown so close to them and then to just have them disappear so quickly. I don't know how I'll handle it."
"It's going to be difficult, Hermione, no doubt about that, but we'll get through it. We're all going to have to go through it and I'm sure everyone, no matter if they try to deny it or not, will be feeling down when the day comes to say goodbye. We'll get through it together and just think, we'll have some great memories to think of when its all over."
"You're right, Harry." Hermione smiled. "Thank you."
Harry returned her smile and gave her a small hug.
"What's…um, going on here?" Came a voice from behind them.
"I was just giving my friend here a hug. Got a problem with that, Malfoy?" Harry asked with a sly smile on his face. He left his arm around Hermione's waist even after their hug, knowing that it would annoy Draco. And it did, but Draco didn't show it.
"Pansy needs you. Something about setting up for tonight's party."
"Oh, great." Harry sighed. "Okay, I'll see you later, Hermione." He gave her one last hug and a kiss on the forehead wanting to rile up Draco a bit more before walking off and letting out a subtle laugh as he walked past Malfoy. Hermione was confused at his actions, but Malfoy couldn't hold the annoyance waiting to show on his face any longer.
"What was that all about?" He asked.
"Beats me." Hermione replied.
Draco was going to ask what she meant by that, but Owen and Eleina came running towards them. There were two separate mounds of snow behind them. Both had sticks coming out from the side and rocks were placed on the front of the mound of snow. Both looked almost identical except for the placing of the sticks and rocks.
"Look, look! I maded a snowman!" Eleina cried proudly at them and pointed to her work.
"No look at mine! It's better!" Owen claimed.
"No mine is!"
"Mine is!"
"Alright, that's enough." Draco cut in before they got any louder. "We don't want what happened a few nights ago to happen again, do we?"
"And this time your punishment would've been not being aloud to go to Uncle Harry and Aunt Pansy's party." Hermione added.
Owen and Eleina both shook their heads quickly.
"No, please let us go!" Owen cried.
"We'll promise to be good!" Eleina chimed along.
"That sounds much better." Hermione smiled at them. "Now, let's go inside and get you two out of these cold clothes."
Draco checked the clock in the bedroom. Just in time. He grabbed his coat and walked to Owen and Eleina's room where Hermione was.
"I'll be back in a few minutes. Professor Snape needs to talk to me about something." Draco said to Hermione as she dressed Owen and Eleina in their nice robes for the party.
"But we'll be leaving for the party soon." Hermione said.
"Then, you three go ahead. I'll meet you there." Draco told her and threw on his coat as he walked out the door. He walked down the corridor, towards the dungeons. He made his way to Snape's classroom and found him at his desk. It was true that Draco was going down to see Snape, but it was more like Draco needing to see the professor instead of the other way around, like he so claimed.
"Ah, Mister Malfoy, you've finally showed up." Snape put down his quill and looked at the blonde boy.
"Do you have what I requested from you?" Draco asked, getting straight to the point.
"Perhaps." Snape replied.
"You agreed to have it by five thirty today. I've already waited too long to get this."
"My, my, no time for chit chatting I suppose?"
"Potter and Pansy are throwing a party. I have to be there soon."
"Ridiculous how you've all become, dare I say…friends? I never thought I'd see the day."
"We're not friends. Now, do you have it or not?" Draco was getting impatient, but Snape was not going to have any of it.
"Mister Malfoy, I do not allow that type of tone when you're speaking to me."
"Sorry, professor." Draco said, but he was still frowning.
"Here, take it and leave." He snapped, clearly annoyed.
Snape threw Draco a small box and returned his attention to his quill and whatever he been working on before Draco entered with a glare on his face. However, Draco walked out of the classroom with a smile as he carried the box tightly in his hands.