It was so cold out that she could see her breath when she huffed out a loaded sigh of frustration. Ron could be such a jerk sometimes! Blaming her for the argument during Prefect shift change... When he was the one upset by the fact that Hermione had agreed to go with Cormac McLaggen to Slughorn's stupid Christmas Party instead of him. She wasn't sure how he had found out so quickly, but he was under some grand delusion that she owed him an invite.

He even had the audacity to tell her that the only reason she had asked the bloke was because of his relationship with Lavender. When in actuality McLaggen had asked her to go as his "plus-one"! He had cornered her and started bragging about some of the higher ranking wizarding officials he would be able to introduce her to. She had agreed just to get him to stop talking…

The thought of asking Ron had not even crossed her mind considering he had an annoying girlfriend to worry about. Why did it matter who she decided to take with her? It wasn't like she liked Cormac like that... He was a pretentious self-serving ass.

But Ron had always known how to push her buttons! When he implied that the only reason the invitation was extended was because the "douche" wanted into her panties, she had totally lost it on him. In the end, she told him that he must have been confusing her with his own loose girlfriend and stomped away. Leaving him to fester in his own rotten mind.

Hermione did not want to entertain the nasty things he would have said if she had been able to ask the person that she really wanted to…

The stupid git! She was not going to let him ruin her night.

She slowly worked her way down the trampled path, made by students earlier in the day, towards The Great Lake. While the wind had mercifully died down with the storm early that morning, it was still freezing out. When you added in the hindrance of tricky patches of ice hidden under the new snow to watch out for she had some high expectations that would need to be met for the evening to be worth the effort.

Eventually she made her way to the frozen coastline. Other students had already cleared a decent amount of snow to form a mock ice skating rink. It was a favorite pastime in winter when there wasn't much else to do. Hermione preferred to stick to the warmth of the castle and her books, where there was less of a chance of injury and the added benefit of not acquiring frostbite. She scanned the barren landscape carefully, but Draco was nowhere to be found…

She stepped away from the ice and started to walk along the shore. He had said he would be here... He wouldn't leave her out in the cold for the second night in a row. Would he? Not really paying attention as she walked, she was preoccupied with the thought of all the different hexes she was going to use if he didn't show up. The sound of snow crunching under the soles of her boots barely made its way to her ears over the frenzied ranting inside of her head.

Slowly the stillness of her surroundings started to settle around her. Winter had a way of making the castle seem as if it was in stasis. It helped to calm her chaotic thoughts. As she walked, her annoyance worked its way from her body and she allowed herself to relax.

Thoughts about turning back and waiting to see if Draco showed up kept creeping in but the movement helped to keep her warm. So she continued on, working her way around the lake by the light of the moon and stars.

Her mind was distracted by carefully placing one foot in front of the other as the path started to become less worn and more haphazard when his voice unexpectedly rang out. "Well if it isn't the ferocious Gryffindor Kitten."

She looked over to her left quickly and saw him lounging on a blanket on the cold ground. He didn't look the least bit phased by the temperature. To the contrary, his arms were crossed behind his head as he leaned up so he could look directly at her. Even curled at such an awkward angle he managed to look comfortable with the corners of his lips threatening to break out into a smile.

"Hi." Hermione responded simply, her own lips lifting into a soft smile in return. How things had changed so absolutely in just a few days was kind of mind boggling... She realized that she was staring and quickly walked over to the blanket to cover the faux pas. As soon as she stepped across the edge she realized why he was so relaxed laying on the frozen ground. He had cast a warming spell. Smart.

"How are you tonight? Well, I hope." He inquired before laying back on the blanket, his arms still crossed behind his head. The perfect picture of nonchalance.

"Better now." She admitted shyly, feeling the tell tale heat of a blush flame her cheeks. She sat down next to him on the blanket and brought her knees to her chest before shifting her gaze up to the unpolluted night sky. The sight was still breathtakingly beautiful to her, even after six years…

"That is nice to hear..." He responded before they lapsed into silence, both of them getting caught up in staring up at the stars.

They relaxed there for a number of heartbeats before she looked over her shoulder at him and asked. "What about you?"

"My night was right shit but something tells me it is going to improve." He answered as his eyes continued to scan the different constellations above them.

"Oh really?" She teasingly countered before scooting herself so that she faced him and didn't have to deal with the uncomfortable angle on her neck.

"I hope so."

"Me too."

He finally fully smiled and shifted so that he could look over at her, she noticed dark circles had started to form under his stormy gray eyes. "Why were you marching like you were on a mission most of the way over here?"

She looked over towards the path that she had taken and saw that he had the distinct advantage of being able to lay there and watch her angry descent. And she hadn't even known if he would come... She had hoped he would keep his word, of course, but there was still a large part of her that didn't trust him to not be playing some kind of game. It was an extremely fragile string of trust that connected them. Unfortunately the only way to build on it was to be honest and see what happened... "I was angry."

"Obviously..." He drawled, raising an incredulous eyebrow at her, acting as if she had offended his intelligence.

"I was angry at Ron..."

Draco rolled his eyes at her and sighed. "What did the weasel do now?"

"Let's just say he decided to over step his boundaries when it comes to my personal life… I had to straighten him out and that is never fun. I don't enjoy arguing with the people that I care about." She laid her head on her knee, the hard bone digging into her temple. Yet she couldn't bring herself to care, suddenly hit with how emotionally exhausted she was.

"Did you deck him? I've heard that you have one helluva right hook." He asked her playfully.

She snorted and shook her head.

"Of course not. I try not to resort to physical violence... Sometimes people do deserve it though."

He rolled his eyes before responding. "I'm kind of glad you didn't... I would much rather be able to bear witness when it does finally happen. So please, if you ever feel the need make sure that I am around, alright?"

"Sure Malfoy. I will make a conscious effort to only use physical violence if you are near. I promise." She ceded sarcastically. She had no plans to deck Ron (or anyone else) in the foreseeable future…

"Good. So what did you do today?" He asked her as if it was a normal inquiry for him to make.

Which it was... If the person asking was just about anyone other than Draco Malfoy. She couldn't believe he actually cared about her day. Hell, she barely cared about it. Most of the time she was shut off from what she was actually doing. Her body and mind would disconnect so much she could go on autopilot. She ate, showered, took notes in class, practiced wandwork and a number of other things- all checked out and barely there for the last few months.

She had been warned that depression was a normal side effect after getting hit with a curse with such strength as what Dolohov had used. The healers had warned of the nightmares and the possibility of panic attacks. No one had told her how crippling it would be. Or how the scar would still ache six months later. They had never figured out exactly what she had been hit with. They just said it had left "lasting psychological and physical effects that could last an indeterminable amount of time".

Very helpful.

She shrugged before sighing. "I don't know what you want me to say..."

"Tell me about your day. That is why I asked..." He told her before looking back up to the expansive sky, giving her the time she needed to collect her thoughts.

"Well... I went to classes. Worked on the essay Bones assigned. Did my rounds. And then I came out here... I don't do much." She answered briefly.

He smirked and responded. "You deliberately left out all of the good stuff."

Unable to look him in the eye, she stared off towards the lake. "No, I am just boring... Really."

"I highly doubt that. Starting off the year great with your mates, fighting with them and then the eventual make-up scene that is all but inevitable? I don't think you give yourself enough credit... That sounds like something straight out of a muggle soap opera." He pushed heedlessly.

"If you say so..." If she hadn't been so surprised by the fact that he knew what a soap opera was, she might have remembered to be offended by the off-handed jibe. Even if his assumptions seemed like the most logical outcome.

And it went on like that until after two in the morning.

They had continued their careful conversation that was riddled with playful banter to ease any tension that snuck up. Slowly they started to learn small things about each other. They talked about what a normal day in their lives were like. How they had met those that were closest to them at school. Hermione had learned he hated cashews after a bad encounter and his favorite class was Astronomy. He had learned that her perfume was the same as her mother's and that she hated early mornings.

After a while she had started yawning and he insisted it was time for them to retire to the confines of the castle. Once again, he left her with a chaste kiss at what was quickly becoming "their corner" in her mind.

It was too late when she realized that she had forgotten to tell him that she would see him after the Holidays. She doubted they would be able to sneak off again before the break in less than two days. She had Slughorn's party tomorrow and then they would be off…

Disappointment welled up inside of her for not making their kiss goodbye last a little bit longer...