Recap! So Hermione and Draco are besties and do a bunch of crazy awesome shit together. Draco dared Hermione to try-out for the Gryffindor quidditch team and she pretty much nearly died. Harry is sort of aware that Draco is "friends" with Hermione but he's skeptical. Hermione has to stay at Hogwarts for the Christmas holidays but it won't be all that bad because a certain Slytherin is staying as well :)

Chapter 20: "I don't think either of us knows what we're doing but who gives a shit?"

I woke up on the first day of the Christmas holidays to peace and quiet. There was no Parvati banging around the room looking for shoes or Lavender swearing loudly at how terrible lessons are. The only thing I could hear was absolutely nothing. Ah, bliss.

I rolled over to my side and pulled back the curtains on my bed. I looked out the window and smiled, seeing the snow swirl gently in the air and carpet the ground in white. I peeked at my clock and realized it was already 10:30.

I sat up and stretched, my back cracking from the stiffness of sleeping in. I started slowly getting ready for the first day of freedom and it wasn't until I realized that today I could actually hang out with Draco without hiding it did I speed up. I few minutes later I was stowing my wand in my pocket and leaving my dorm, humming We Three House Elves of Orient Are to myself as I made my way to the common room.

I jumped down the stairs from my dorm and strode happily through the common room, poking Christmas decorations with my finger as they floated around my head. I walked over to the portrait hole but stopped suddenly, my hand half outstretched towards the portrait. Wait… I slowly turned around.

"It's so clean in here," said Draco.

I stared in astonishment at Draco who was lying casually on his back on the couch in front of the fireplace. He was holding his wand and using it to make one of the floating decorations do backflips in the air. He turned his head and grinned at me.

"How did you get in here?" I asked, amazed but definitely not complaining.

"Oh, me and the Fat Lady go way back," said Draco. He tried to say it offhandedly but I could hear a sort of reluctance in his voice.

"It's okay, you can tell me," I said, already having a pretty good guess as to what he was going to say.

"Well, I actually used to… do a Gryffindor as hard to believe as that is." I smirked. "But she graduated last year," added Draco hastily like I might think he was still seeing her. Ha, ya right.

I winked at him, telling him it was all good. I yawned and stretched and was about to tell Draco we should go down for breakfast when I realized something.

"Wait…" I said slowly. "If you came here to see her… does that mean you know how to get up the girls staircase?"

Draco just winked.

I rolled my eyes (though knowing that that could potentially come in handy) and offered out my hand.

"Want to go get some breakfast?"

Draco grinned and stood, taking my hand. As we were walking towards the door I said with a laugh; "You know, it's weird to think that last year when I still hated you you spent some nights creeping around my dorm."

"Shut up, I don't creep," said Draco flatly.

~O-O~

Draco and I walked slowly and happily through the castle, hand in hand. We didn't have to worry about people seeing us or people talking about us. We could just… walk.

When we reached the Great Hall we both dropped our hands at the same time and walked in through the doors standing a good 5 feet apart. We stopped at the entrance, surveying the room. There were only two people in the Great Hall; Sinistra up at the staff table who was reading some dusty stargazing book and a timid looking Hufflepuff whose feet didn't even reach the floor from where he sat.

Draco and I both looked at the Gryffindor table before turning to look at the Slytherin table that suddenly looked so far away. I looked over at Draco and he looked over at me.

"Oh, fuck this!" said Draco loudly. He strode forward past me and, to my amazement, sat down at the middle of the Gryffindor table and pulled a plate of waffles towards him.

I stood there dumbly for a few moments before I shook my head in awe and disbelief and followed him down the table. I sat down opposite him and after a moment's hesitation, grinned and poured us both pumpkin juice.

After a few minutes of no one else showing up or any outbursts from the Hufflepuff or Sinistra about us sitting together, Draco and I both relaxed and started talking animatedly to each other. We joked and laughed and had for the very first time a normal, couple-ish breakfast in a public place.

Half and hour later when Draco was draining his 3rd cup of coffee and I was stretching out my legs on the bench, McGonagall walked by. Draco and I were too preoccupied to notice her approach until she was striding past me.

"Morning, Granger," she said, barely looking up from the roll of parchment in he hands. "Morning, Mal- Malfoy?"

McGonagall did a very obvious double take and stopped walking. Her gaze flickered back and forth between Draco's near maniacal grin from all the caffeine he's had and my casual position on the bench with my hand resting on the table only inches from where Draco's was. McGonagall blinked a few times before slowly turning away and walking off uncertainly like she'd just seen Lord Voldemort in a skirt. I can't decide which one would be more shocking.

Once McGonagall was gone, I slowly looked back at Draco. We both burst out into a fit of giggles at the same time and it was awhile before we could calm down enough to talk.

"Well that was awkward," I said burying my face in my hand though still grinning.

Draco chuckled and shrugged. "It could have been worse. She could have, like, asked us if we were seeing each other. Or she could have asked you if you suffered some sort of brain damage from the quidditch game which resulted in you having breakfast with me."

I looked down at my watch. "And that marks 16 hours of someone not mentioning the incident."

"Of course you would keep track," said Draco in an undertone. He dodged the piece of bacon I threw at him before standing up. "Shall we?"

I stood up and started walking towards the entrance to the Great Hall. I cast a look over my shoulder at the staff table. McGonagall was watching me with an unreadable expression. I lowered my eyes and followed Draco out of the Great Hall.

Once we were in the Entrance Hall and away from McGonagall's prying eyes, I looked up at Draco and asked; "So what's the plan for today?"

Draco grinned and his eyes gleamed with sudden excitement (though it could have just been from all the caffeine he had).

"Okay, go back up to Gryffindor tower and put on warm clothes and a hat and mitts," said Draco ticking them off his fingers as he said it. "And meet me back here in 10 minutes." Before I could answer he swooped down and kissed me on the cheek before bounded away towards the dungeons.

"You already planned out our day?" I called after him, stunned and touched by his thoughtfulness.

"Malfoys always have a plan!" Draco laughed over his shoulder before disappearing down the stairs to the dungeons.

I rolled my eyes before dashing up the stairs to get ready.

~O-O~

I got back to the Entrance Hall before Draco and was starting to overheat in my hat, mitts and scarf when Draco came running up the stairs from the dungeons. I opened my mouth to say something but Draco but he just grabbed my hand and tugged me down the hall and into the white outdoors.

It was snowing slightly outside as Draco and I stumbled through the thick snow that went all the way up to our knees. All of Hogwarts' grounds were blanketed in snow and the bare trees shone with ice. As we walked closer to the frozen lake, Draco suddenly scooped me up into his arms bride-style and kept walking, his lips glued to mine. I wrapped my arms around his neck and we shared a prefect scenic moment… before he dumped me into a snow bank while laughing his head off.

There was so snow much snow that I struggled futilely to stand which made Draco laugh even harder. I growled angrily and picked up a handful of snow. I molded it into a snowball and threw if right into Draco's face.

He stumbled back and sputtered as the snow dripped down his face. I took his momentary distraction to heave myself out of the snow and tackle him to the ground. He yelped in a very unmanly way and I burst out laughing. We rolled around on the ground, each trying to gain the upper hand, before Draco pinned me down. He looked at me with a hungry look in his eyes before crashing down his lips to mine. I kissed him back before shoving snow down the back of his coat.

"BLOODY SHIT!" Draco yelled, jumping to his feet and trying to shake out the snow. I stood and ran off until I had to stop. I bent over, dying with laughter, and only moved again when I saw Draco sprinting at me with a murderous expression.

I bounded off through the snow with Draco storming up behind me until I came to the lake. The ice looked thick enough to stand on so I jumped onto it. The minute I hit the ice I slid forward and had to stop to regain my balance. This gave Draco enough time to catch me. He bear hugged me from behind but because of the ice we both lost our balance. We tumbled down onto the ice and slipped around, laughing the entire time. When we finally hit a snow drift and stopped moving I clambered into Draco's lap and wrapped my arms around his neck.

"I'm glad my parents ditched me for the beach," I murmured into his neck. "And I'm glad you're here with me."

Draco put his arms around me and hugged me into his chest. He didn't need to say anything. I got all that he felt from his hug.

~O-O~

We stayed out there all afternoon. We didn't go in once to warm up or even to get lunch. We spent the day slipping around on the ice and sledding down snow banks on a sled Draco transfigured from a stray twig. The sledding part didn't last long though. We stopped after we hit a tree and Draco got poked in the eye by a branch. I thought it was all very funny until he threw me face first into a snow bank. When darkness had finally fallen, Draco and I were lying on our backs inside the snow fort we had built, staring up at the stars. Draco's arm was around me and I was curled up against his chest.

"So, seriously," said Draco, breaking the silence, "what are we? You can't honestly tell me we're still just mates."

"We're still just mates."

Draco bumped my shoulder. "Common, admit it."

I grinned and buried my head into Draco's coat, closing my eyes. "I don't really care what we are. As long as I have you."

Draco didn't say anything but I knew he was smiling.

~O-O~

We watched the stars for a while longer before we realized we were very cold and very hungry. We trudged happily back to the castle with me leaning heavily on Draco and his arm wrapped tightly around my waist. I grinned, not feeling the cold anymore.

Dinner was long over so we made our way instead to the kitchens. Once inside, Draco and I started peeling off our layers of warm clothing while the House Elves bustled around, preparing us a plate of food. Draco and I were both flushed and happy and I was pleased to see that Draco was actually really nice to the House Elves. I watched him thank a House Elf when she handed Draco the plate of food and I couldn't help but smile.

"Why are you smiling like that?" Draco asked apprehensively when he noticed me looking at him.

"Nothing, nothing," I said suspiciously with a wave of my hand. His eyes narrowed but he didn't say anything.

We walked hand in hand back to Gryffindor Tower where, without even asking for the password, the Fat Lady let us into the common room with a suggestive wink.

While Draco waited in the common room, I ran up to my dormitory and stripped off all the freshly laundered blankets from my bed as well as Parvati's and Lavender's. I tucked all of our pillows under my arms and levitated the blankets down the stairs. I settled the blankets down in front of the fire and piled the pillows down on top of them. Draco and I lay down on our makeshift bed and happily ate our dinner, laughing and joking with the only light coming from the fireplace.

When our dinner was gone and the fire was reduced to embers, Draco and I snuggled down into the bed. I pressed my body up against his and twined his fingers through mine. Draco's shirt was lying off to the side, leaving him bare-chested. I ran my fingers slowly over the clearly visible scars on his chest, thinking about how I had caused this.

"Don't even think about apologizing again," murmured Draco, as if he had read my mind. I looked up slowly at him with sad eyes. Moonlight danced across his face as he looked down sadly at me. My bottom lip started to tremble and I looked down again.

"It is my fault, you can't deny that," I said quietly, not taking my eyes off the scars.

Draco pulled his hand away from mine and placed it under my chin, gently pulling my face upwards so that I had to look at him.

"Hermione, I'm glad I have these scars," he said strongly, gently brushing his fingertips across my cheek. "I got these because I chose to step in to save you and if I hadn't… I wouldn't be here with you right now. I didn't have to do anything and I wouldn't have gotten hurt if I hadn't but getting these scars helped you to trust me. And even if I could I wouldn't go back and change what Steven Moore did to me. Because it brought me to you."

It wasn't until right now did I realize two things; one, that I had been steadily crying for the last minute and two…

I don't feel a single thing for Ron Weasley anymore.

I leaned up and kissed Draco on the lips before winding my hand in his and snuggling back into his chest. I think he might have said something else but I was already asleep.

A/N Sorry for the flat and pretty short chapter. Today was more of a "cutesy/fluffy" chapter than anything else. Next chapter will be Christmas day so get excited ;) Keep reviewing!