It's a day before Christmas on the less crowded street, and there's an empty pub. The pub is less crowded as people will choose to gather with their families on Christmas. Draco is drinking alone; he can hear Hermione's laughing with her friends in another corner. He recognizes her laughter from the other side. She walks to the bartender and orders a drink; she's waiting and standing. Draco looks to her side; they lock eyes as their gazes meet.
Why does he keep looking at me?
He doesn't bother looking at me?
He usually looks away. I believe his eyes become irritated if he catches mine.
Of course, she's still staring. Lioness.
Her laughter is still ringing in my ears.
Out of this place, I only recognize her; I only know her.
"Here you go," the bartender pushes her drink to her.
"Her drink is on me," Draco announces to the bartender.
Hermione's eyes widen, unable to believe what she just heard.
"Nn..no, I can pay," she blurts out, shocked.
"I know you can," Draco replies.
"So why?"
"It's Christmas..."
"And?"
"And... it's cold; you need a drink."
Hermione laughs, her head tilting back.
"Very funny, Malfoy."
"I'm glad I amuse you."
"You never did before, obviously."
"I'm sorry."
"Huh?"
"For what I did to you."
Hermione, dumbfounded after the laughs the mood suddenly turns into serious. She clears her throat and blinks her eyes.
"We were kids... that's a long time ago."
He is silent for a while and then says, "Thank you."
She glances at him. "Alright," she says, sitting and sipping her drink at the bar, thinking, Why am I suddenly sitting beside him?
"Where are your friends?" Hermione asks.
"With their families."
"Where are your friends?" Draco asks her back.
"Harry and Ron?"
He nods.
"With theirs, too."
They both nod, looking ahead. The silence does not bother them; instead, it calms their chaotic minds on this lonely Christmas day of an only child. They find it strange to speak with each other, but somehow, it is surprisingly peaceful.
"Whom were you laughing with?" Draco frowns.
"What?"
"Earlier, there..." he nods his head towards the corner.
"I knew them; they were Gryffindors." She's looking into his white, pale, slim fingers, no ring.
"You're not married?"
He replies with a smile, "No."
"Aren't you purebloods supposed to marry early and continue the legacy?"
He's sipping his drink. "Not for me."
"Are there no pureblood women you fancy?" She teases him.
"I think it's less, to be precise."
"Less pureblood women to be married?"
"Yes, and I'm not interested for now."
"So complicated," she shrugs.
"What?" Draco narrows his eyes.
"Your world, it's so different; we're so different," she continues.
"Let's not talk about differences then."
"You're an only child, right? Me too," Hermione says.
"Do you read books when no one is around to talk to?" Draco asks suspiciously.
"Yes," she smiles at him, nodding.
"How do you know?" she continues.
"I do that too," Draco says.
"I never scared that someone will leave, I always have books. Because at the end of the day, I will always have them; they never leave." Hermione says, looking at her glass. Draco stares at her.
"What are you working on these days?" she asks.
"Potions."
"You still love doing potions? You were always good at it."
"There's always something to make and discover about potions; it's endless."
"I get dizzy when it comes to potions. Like a puzzle I can't complete or a riddle I can't answer."
"If you need help, I can help you."
She's gaping at him and laughing; her eyes make crescent moons on her face, she wipes a tear from her eyes.
"What?" Draco is confused by her reaction
"Imagine if we had this conversation a long time ago; do you think we could have talked?"
"I think we could."
"How?" Hermione asks.
"We have a lot of similarities."
"Books and an only child? That's only two."
"Maybe if we keep talking, we might find something more," he's looking into her eyes.
She's staring back. She just discovers Draco has gray eyes, since she never looked deeply into his eyes before.
What do those gray eyes think when he's looking at me? Disgusted?
"What are you thinking?" Draco shoots her a question.
"Nothing." She answers right away
He frowns while looking back at his drink.
"What's Christmas like in your home?" Hermione asks curiously.
"Plain."
Draco continues, "You?"
"I think I can relate to that," she answers.
"What's your favorite book to read nowadays?" Hermione asks.
"Relationship with Yourself."
"Elaborate, please," Hermione asks.
"Sometimes when you're surrounded by people, you try to mold into them unconsciously or try to fake or please them. That's how I thought since I was a child. Sometimes you can forget yourself or forget to see and truly enjoy your surroundings.
Hermione smiles, "That's what I thought," Hermione agrees.
They're smiling together. Hermione felt the warmth that malfoy gave passing through her after their conversation. Maybe it's the snow, or the Christmas songs, or the alcohol, or the holiday season vibes, or the fireplace near her.
"I also read books about breaking the old way."
"Very interesting," Hermione says after hearing his books of choice.
Hermione continues, "I'd like to read that if you give me the titl..."
"Draco!"
They're turning their heads instantly. And it's Blaise Zabini with a bunch of his male friends and female companions. He walks closer to Draco.
"It's a surprise that I see you here, this is not your usual pub," he gazes at Hermione, shocked that he sees her.
"Are you two... together? No, right?" Blaise looks back and forth between Draco and Hermione, waiting for their answers. Hermione turns her head to Draco, and he answers Blaise's question,
"No."
Right, he's not wrong; we didn't come together, we met here accidentally. Hermione just nods to Blaise, acknowledging Draco.
Blaise shields her from Draco's side, puts his right arm on Draco's shoulder, and introduces him to his friends and female companions. They all start to speak French.
"I'm glad I found you here. I just told these ladies that I have single pureblood friends that I want to introduce them to. I personally invited them from France."
"Let's celebrate Christmas at my manor; it doesn't always have to be boring. I found a way to lighten up our lonely Christmas day." Blaise continues
Hermione finishes her drink in one shot. She widens her eyes from the bitter liquid going down her throat, knowing that Blaise has come like a Santa Claus from France, kindly bringing Draco a gift: his pureblood French woman.
Draco doesn't look at Hermione anymore after Blaise arrives as Blaise talks nonstop;
Hermione glances at Draco. Is he embarrassed knowing his friends almost found out he was with me? Or he was talking to me?
He blends perfectly with Blaise and his friends, suited and tied, very formal for everyday attire. The blonde woman stares at Draco and smiles with her red lips, speaking in French. She looks like a model.
He's just lonely on Christmas day, like Blaise said. He was lonely and bought me a drink. That's it. No more. What am I thinking? Warmth? Jokes on me.
Hermione descends slowly from her seat and slides away without a word. She walks out, inhaling the snowy air.
Fuck!
She taps her cheeks to sober up until they turn red.
We shouldn't talk, ever! It's dangerous! Yes. There's a line that shouldn't be crossed. There's a reason that there's a line in the first place. You make stupid decisions when you're lonely.
She nods and starts to walk; it's cold. She could portkey but she refuses. She's looking at the colorful lamps on the street, the trees full of Christmas decorations beautifully. She sees another shop selling beers, walks to it, orders one, and drinks half of it.
"You'll get drunk."
She chokes and coughs, gazing to her side, where Draco stands there, heaving. Is he running?
"I think it's not polite to walk away just like that after someone pays for your drink."
"I didn't ask you to!" Why am I mad? I don't know. I'm definitely drunk.
"What do you want?" Hermione frowns at him.
"Did you and Blaise bet on me? Did he tell you to run here? Make a joke out of me?"
"No one can tell me to do anything," Draco's face is disturbed.
"So what are you doing here? You might miss your chance to get a pureblood wife. Those women Blaise brought are French pureblood witches, right?"
"I took my chance."
"You did? Good!" Hermione shouted. Snow falls on their heads as they look at each other, Christmas lights surrounding them. Hermione finishes her drink and starts to walk.
"I took a chance when I talked to you earlier." Draco shouts at her.
She stops and turns to him.
"When you sat down and started talking back to me and gave me the apology that I never knew I needed the most, it lifted my burdens. I thank you."
"You're welcome," she turns to walk away.
He apparates in front of her, and they bump into each other. They fall to the thick snow.
"What are you doing?" She brushes the snow off her clothes.
"I'm sorry, I just..."
"Just stop. We should stop. Don't you think?" Hermione says to Draco.
"I don't want you to leave. I just feel like, with you, I can always have someone to talk to endlessly about.." She continues walks away, pissed. He follows her.
"Please don't go." Whose laugh I could recognize anywhere..
"Well, you should have said that before!"
Draco walks beside her. "You understand that I have to listen to him to be polite, you know that, right?" He's trying to explain to her.
"What? No, you don't have to explain anything to me"
"It's just a habit I had since I was a kid. I'm sorry. I try to change; I really do, but..."
"Just stop, stop following me and go back to your friends. Just... pretend that we never talked. I can do that," she nods, still walking.
"No, I don't want to," he stops walking. She stops too and turns, looking at him. What is wrong with this snake?!
"I came here not knowing what the problem is. All my questions are unanswered, but you came, and you are the answer."
He continues, "I don't want to stop; I don't want to pretend we didn't talk."
"You will be embarrassed if your friends knew you talked to me, so we could just..."
"No, they can fuck off; I don't care."
Hermione is blinking, looking at him. His white hair is wet from the white snow that is falling.
"Young man, buy this beanie; you two are wet. Just stop fighting" An old lady came selling scarves and beanies.
"I'll take two," Draco said and walked to Hermione, putting the red beanie on her head. He held another beanie in his hand.
"You should be the one to put the beanie on your head," Hermione said, looking at him.
"Will you put it on me?" he asked her.
She stared at him. She realized their different backgrounds caused a misunderstanding. She sighed and grabbed his beanie. She put it on his head after she almost finished. Draco suddenly kissed her lips, and her eyes widened.
"I should kiss you, or you will forget me and pretend we never talked."
"You shouldn't," Hermione said, still in shock.
"Merry Christmas, Hermione"
"Hermione?"
"Well, I kissed you, so..."
They are drinking hot chocolate by the fireplace at Malfoy Manor. Draco's parents went to France after Christmas Day.
"Do you like the hot chocolate?"
"It's from my favorite chocolate shop."
"Very good," Hermione answered.
"Really? Mine is not very good," he said, looking at the fire.
"What?" Hermione said, confused, looking at his cup.
"I think yours looks better than mine," he said, looking at his cup.
"No way, it's the same" She checked his cup and hers.
"I need to taste yours," Draco said.
Hermione gave her cup to him, but Draco ignored it and kissed her lips instead. He kissed her slowly and licked her lips, opening her mouth and swirling his tongue on hers as he French kissed her. He devoured her lips like melted chocolate smothering around her lips.
"Draco," she tried to push him away to breathe, but he wouldn't let her.
"Draco, huh?" he teased her; she could feel him smile on her lips.
"Mm... Malfoy," she was breathing heavily.
"I can't breathe," she mumbled. He let go of her. After a while, she asked,
"What's the name of the chocolate shop?"
"Je te veux."
She turned her head to Draco slowly after she heard the shop name.
"The chocolate shop in France that sells this is named 'I want you'?"
He smiled as he bit his lips.
"I know a little bit of French," she tilt her head to her side annoyingly.
"That's the name? Really?" she narrowed her eyes at him.
"There's also another shop; it's called 'Si tu veux,'" he nodded seriously at her.
"Another shop named 'If you want to?'" Hermione chuckled. He nodded, looking at her lips.
"I think I found a new favorite hot chocolate shop," he said. His fingers brushed her wet lips, his eyes locked on them.
"These lips are my new favorite hot chocolate shop that could warm my heart through this cold season," he said, looking into her eyes.
"Je veux."