All They Want For Christmas...

And So It Begins...

Hermione Granger. Smart, perfectionist, and in her 7th year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizarding. The Head Girl had welcomed returning to her academic schedule after the fiasco that would have been her seventh year. With Voldemort gone for good, and surrounded by friends, Hermione felt peace for the first time in a long time. Of course, she still had to deal with a few people who simply couldn’t accept change, most of them coming from pureblood families, but she found herself taking everything in decent stride. In fact, Malfoy retaining his jerk-like personality throughout the entire ordeal had been a relief. It had brought her a certain peace of mind, knowing that some things were left unchanged by the war. If she hadn’t had to share close quarters with him, her 7th year would have been perfect so far.

Draco Malfoy. Pureblood, intelligent, and in his 7th year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizarding. The pureblood had also been appointed to be a head of the school. Perhaps the last showing of his family’s power in the wizarding world. Though, despite his irritable attitude, he had proven suitable for the job. He was outranked only by Hermione grade wise and had for the most part been a responsible person, though not an entirely honest person throughout his school years. Many suspected that Dumbledore had appointed him Head Boy to try to fuse the gap a bit between the Gryffindor and Slytherin houses, as well as between muggle borns and purebloods.

Needless to say, it wasn’t exactly working. Draco still sneered at Hermione’s presence when they were within touching distance from each other, and his snide remarks had not ended, though they were a bit less frequent. All in all, the pair of Heads did a decent job of staying away from each other. Hermione often spent her time in the Library or the Gryffindor common room, while Draco spent his time in his dorm and the Slytherin common room. They only spoke to each other about Head business, except for Draco’s scathing comments on occasion. 

Unfortunately, all this was about to change. The Holidays were approaching quickly at Hogwarts, and nearly all the students were leaving. In fact, Draco and Hermione seemed to be the only students above 5th year who were going to stay at Hogwarts over the holidays. Hermione’s parents were going on a second honeymoon, and while she had been invited to stay with Harry, Ron, and Ginny at the Weasley’s, she had politefully declined, not wishing to stir up any sense of awkwardness with Ron. Their falling out had been a difficult one, and, while they were still very close friends, their friendship was at times laced with awkwardness, as it was apparent that Ron had not quite gotten completely over her yet. Draco was staying for the mere fact that he hadn’t anywhere to go really. His mother had been sent to St. Mungo’s after a severe mental breakdown following the war and wasn’t even allowed to have visitors. His father had been banished to Azkaban for the rest of his life for cavorting with the Dark Lord. Draco wasn’t about to go back to an empty manner filled with annoying house elves and little light all alone for the holidays. He’d decided he would rather stay at Hogwarts.

Hermione sat in the comfort of the Head’s common room, letting the afternoon light streaking in through the windows provide her with ample reading light. A small fire was ablaze in the fireplace, giving off just enough warmth as she lounged in an oversized comfy chair with a large book resting on her lap. She took a moment to look around the room, reveling in the peace. Dumbledore was a wise man. He had chosen colors that reflected neither of their houses as to avoid any conflict. However, when she was here alone, she noticed that little things changed. The reds became more scarlet, a few items began to shimmer with a gold light, and the large carpet on the floor developed a Gryffindor crest and changed to Red and Gold. Normally, it was just a boring black fuzzy carpet. Hermione wondered if the room changed to green when Draco was here alone. She assumed that it probably did, and resumed her reading. 

Classes were finished for the semester and everyone had already departed that morning for their holiday location of choice. Essentially, the Heads had the day off. Actually, they had the next three weeks off. There was nothing more to look after for the rest of break, as the Heads weren’t actually required to stay over the holidays. This left Draco with little to do and pacing the halls of Hogwarts. He turned a few thoughts over in his mind as he walked. None of his ‘friends’ had stayed over the holidays, which meant going to the Slytherin common room would be pointless. Going to the library without a reason literally made him shudder. Sure, he was smart and liked to learn, but going to the library simply because he had nothing to do? He was far above that. His face lit up when he thought about going flying, only to fall when he realized that his broom was being repaired after an unfortunate lightning incident when he had insisted on practicing in a storm.