The Seventh Year (Dramione Fanfiction)

Chapter 13 - Ornaments and Feelings

Do not own the characters x
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Hermione stepped back and admired the mammoth-sized pine tree that her and Draco had spent hours decorating. Draco was still whizzing around on his broomstick changing the colour of the red baubles to green ones, but for the most part, the tree was complete. There were two thick layers of tinsel intertwined around the tree, stretching down and down in a spiral pattern. The colour of the tinsel followed the scheme for the rest of the decorations: red and green.
Many would argue that this was the selected colour because they are "Christmas colours" - but those who know anything about Hermione or Draco, would know how much pride they show in their own houses. Therefore, the green represented Slytherin, and the red, Gryffindor. Arguably, the most notable thing about the tree was the way the two colours worked together so beautifully, each contrasting the other - but if you asked the decorators, they'd say the colours far from worked together - it would be much better if it was all one colour (depending on who you asked depended on which sole colour.) As much as the pair would deny it, there was no doubting how much fun they'd had decorating the tree. Hermione had even taken Draco's broomstick at one point, just to touch up some things at the top. The laughter of all in the great hall that afternoon, participants and onlookers alike, was enough to remind anyone that Christmas was just around the corner.
Despite all of their efforts, however, Hermione still couldn't shake the feeling that something was missing. She was frowning hard at the tree when Draco caught sight of her face-

"I agree, the red does look rather dull. I'll fix it up right away!" He taunted, changing every bauble he flew past to a glistening emerald green.

"It's not that, you foul-faced ferret." Hermione snapped, as she'd been close to working it out when he interrupted her, "there's something missing."

"I agree, miss Granger." Professor Flitwick spoke as he stood beside his best student. "Might I suggest a decoration on top?"

Draco had landed beside them by now, and he too was staring towards the empty top branch of the tree. "Granger! How couldn't you see we needed a topper?" He hissed, and once again mounted his broom.

"Oh come off of it! You didn't think of it either." She retorted sourly, eyeing him as he took off. "A star will do- gold."

"Of course." Draco replied sarcastically, and began to form a shape on top of the tree.

Hermione watched as out of the boy's wand came a figure, yet it wasn't even remotely like what she'd asked for. Once Draco finally finished, and moved out of the way, Hermione could see the full thing. She wasn't happy.
There, perched proudly atop the tree, was a shimmering silver serpent.

"Draco! I said a gold star. I knew you weren't the brightest but this is beyond you." Hermione cried, snatching the broom from his grasp as soon as he'd landed.

Hermione hated flying more than anything, in fact it was one of the few things she didn't excel at. This fact, however, did not stop her from having to use the broomstick to touch up Draco's additions to the tree multiple times that day. As she made her way to the top, she magicked all of the red baubles back to their former glory, despite the Slytherin below's protests. Once she reached the silver snake, she was a little stumped on what to do next. The tree clearly was a representation of both houses, so it would be a little unfair to completely rid the tree of the snake - yet only adding a lion would exclude Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw.

"Miss Granger!" Came Professor McGonagall's voice from below, where she too, stood at the foot of the tree. Upon seeing Hermione look towards her, she continued, "if you don't know how to top the tree, I can do it for you dear."