A/N: Hello, everyone! Before you start, this is a little sequel to Spy in the Dark , which you don't have to read to understand this story, but don't complain if you don't know the reasons why some characters are OOC. Some background for you:

Established relationships are as follows: Draco/Hermione, Harry/Ginny, Luna/Neville and Dumbledore/McGonagall (Yes, I'm aware of his sexuality).

The war is over so this is a retake of seventh year, where Ginny is not in seventh year as she has finished her sixth year.

Dead people are as follows: Voldemort, Bellatrix, Fred, Tonks, Remus, Parvati, Lavender, Seamus and Professor Binns.

Draco. Blaise and Pansy were spies and Lucius was under the Imperius curse. Whilst under the curse, he killed Draco's older sister, Astrid (My OC)

The picture used is not mine, all credit to the artist.

I'm going to try to attempt to update every day leading up to Christmas including Christmas day. I'm expecting the chapters to be quite short. I'm aware that the 12 days of Christmas refers to the 6 days either side of Christmas, but I'm doing it during the lead up. Enjoy, guys! hsx

CHAPTER 1-

This is the first year I've had at Hogwarts where I don't have to worry about anything. I grinned at that thought as I brushed my hair, looking at my reflection in the mirror. I had moved back into the Gryffindor girl's dormitory instead of the Head's common room, as they hadn't yet fixed everything that was destroyed in the battle. Parvati and Lavender were dead, and I was sharing a dormitory with Ginny and two other girls from her year: Lauren Adams and Kate Fortknight. They were practically reincarnations of our previous dorm mates.

As I was doing up my tie, Lauren poked her head around the door. 'Hermione, Draco's downstairs waiting for you.' She sighed. 'You know how impatient he is. He's giving Kate a piggy-back.' As I laughed she left and I grabbed my cardigan off my bed and left the dormitory.

Harry and Ginny were sat on the settee with Ron, who was being watched from a distance by Lauren. Ron was still in mourning for Lavender, who had been killed by Fenir Greyback during the battle and his hand was still wrapped in a bandage with an injury from the war, making him the only one who had any injuries left. My split lip had healed and Draco's slightly singed arm was as good as new.

I transferred my gaze to Draco, and he was running around the common room with Kate on his back, just as Lauren had said. Kate was tiny for her age and looked – and acted – like a second year. 'Draco Malfoy!' Everyone stopped what they were doing and looked up at me stood on the stairs. Draco grinned at me and I felt myself fall for him even more, if that were even possible.

'Yes, Hermione?'

'Put Kate down. She doesn't want man handling.' He laughed and Kate slid off his back, going over to where Lauren was stood by the fire.

'Come on, breakfast.' He took my hand, squeezing it as he did. We walked out of the common room, the others following. Draco pulled me closer towards him and whispered into my ear, 'You look very pretty,' as he did every morning since the battle. I rewarded him with a kiss on the cheek and we heard Ron groan from behind us.

'It's not even nine o'clock, guys!' I blushed and we entered the Great Hall, Pansy, Blaise, Luna and Neville already sat at the head of the Gryffindor table. Blaise waved at us and we went over to them. It had been dubbed by Dean Thomas as the "couple's section" of the table since we always sat there, with the exception of Ron, Lauren and Kate. Draco helped me onto the bench and sat down next to me, and I instantly put my legs onto his lap and slid closer to him, as usual. He placed his hand on my thigh and began to stroke my leg softly through the material of my tights. I leaned against his shoulder contently and picked up a piece of toast and began to eat whilst Draco poured some cereal into a bowl and began talking to Blaise about the last quidditch match, and Pansy and I discussed the two balls that were coming up.

'Are you buying two dresses then?' I nodded.

'Yep. I think I'll buy a better one for the Malfoy ball though.' We both grinned and Draco turned to me.

'Did you say my name?'

'Not directly. We were just talking about dresses for the Winter and Malfoy ball. Do you think I'll need a better dress for your family's ball?'

'It doesn't matter, you'll look beautiful anyway.' He kissed me quickly on the lips and I vaguely tasted the orange juice on them.

'Why can't you say things like that to me?'

'Because, Pansy, I already risked my life against an imperioed version of Lucius Malfoy by stealing his son's fiancée.' Pansy crossed her arms at her boyfriend's comment and turned back to us.

'You're lucky, Hermione. Draco risked death by Voldemort, killed his other fiancée, stopped your arm from scarring, killed your almost rapist and you've already met his mum who's in love with you too. I don't even know what Blaise's mum looks like.' They began to argue and Draco whispered to me.

'Have you finished?' I nodded and we left the Great Hall together unnoticed by the majority of people. 'Fancy going for a walk before potions?' I nodded and we stepped outside into the entrance courtyard, where we shared our first kiss together. We carried on walking hand in hand until we were stood by the lake. I looked up at Draco and saw that his silver eyes were a stormy colour instead of bright like they usually were.

'Are you okay, Draco?' He nodded.

'Just nervous.'

'What about? Voldemort's gone.' I grinned and he smiled at the ground.

'About the Malfoy ball. My mother likes you, but you haven't really spoken to my father, and he's harder to impress…' He looked out to the lake and I reached up onto my tiptoes and stroked the side of Draco's face, bringing his eye focus back to me.

'Who cares if your father doesn't like me? I love you, Draco. I didn't spend three months heart broken in a tent thinking you hated me to give up now. What matters is how we feel.' I bit my lip and looked up at Draco nervously, hoping he wouldn't say what my heart couldn't bear to hear, not again and certainly not for real this time.

'Okay.' I relaxed as he pulled me closer towards him, hands around my waist, and kissed me slowly and softly and sweetly, and I felt like I was in heaven. We eventually pulled away from each other and my feet felt like they had frozen into the ground. 'We need to go and get our bags for potions.' I nodded and we headed back to the castle, parting at the first floor landing on the grand staircase.

'I'll see you in the dungeons.' I let go of his hand and turned to go up the stairs, but he pulled me back and kissed me soundly.

'I love you too.' I blushed and began to head back up to the Gryffindor common room, putting my hands in the pockets of my cardigan, becoming alarmed by the feel of something cold in the left pocket. I ran back up to my dormitory, and after making sure no one was around, I emptied the contents of my pocket. Apart from the wrapper of a humbug, there was a bracelet that I had never seen before along with a note with my initials on. With shaking hands, I opened the note, feeling quite relieved at the contents:

On the first day of Christmas I give to my true love a partridge in a pear tree.

I turned over the note, expecting to find some sort of indication of who it was from, but there was none. I picked up the silver bracelet and saw that there were two charms sliding along the chain. One was a silver and black leave, and the other was a small crystallised pear. Was it from Draco? We loved each other, and no other boys had taken an interest me, but someone could have easily slipped it in my cardigan during breakfast. I slowly put the bracelet on my left wrist, hid the note under my pillow and grabbed my bag from the bottom of my bed before leaving the tower.

I think I spoke to soon about not having anything to worry about.