Chestnuts Roasting Over The Open Firewhiskey: A Hogwarts Christmas Tale

Christmas Day

"Where am I?" Draco thought to himself as he cracked his eyes open. His body was sore, sitting against the arm of a couch. A weight pinned him from his chest down. He glanced down to investigate and a nest of curls covered his chest. "This is new." He was cuddling a girl in a hideous room. He was cuddling Hermione Granger on the Gryffindor common room couch. For a moment Draco was sure he'd body swapped with Potter. But their morning slowly crept back to him, which he found was surprisingly nice. They'd spent a few hours discussing leads that he knew would go nowhere and playing games. He shifted slowly, debating staying still until she woke up or trying to leave without waking her, when Hermione let out a sigh and cuddled closer into him. Without thinking, he brought a hand up to her shoulder and squeezed her tighter to him.

As soon as he did, Hermione sat up quickly, looking around, clearly confused about where she was. Her thin t-shirt was tugged aside, allowing Draco an eyeful of her clavicle, which he quickly revisited, thinking of their run-in at the prefect baths. As her eyes landed on him, a small noise of surprise escaped her. Draco considered commenting on it, but thought it better to forgo his usual snark.

"Hi Granger," Draco whispered, his voice coming out hoarse from sleep. "Guess we fell asleep talking. What time is it?" Hermione performed a wordless tempus.

"Two in the afternoon! Merlin, we've been asleep for hours," she exclaimed, jumping up off the couch and further from him. While she smoothed her shirt and pants, Draco looked up at her hair, caramel curls wilder than ever.

"Right, sorry I had shite sleep last night," he said as he swung his legs over the couch. "The floor of the potions lab isn't particularly comfortable."

"You slept there?" Hermione asked quietly, looking guilty. When he nodded, she gave him an apologetic look. "I didn't sleep at all last night. Too worried about...everything," the witch looked down at her feet before glancing back up at him nervously.

"I should probably go," Draco said, stretching his arms wide above him to help with the crick that developed in his neck. "Don't want to take up your entire Christmas."

"Wait! Don't you want to keep trying to figure out what happened to you?" Hermione asked, her disappointed look secretly thrilling him. Theo's letter in his robe pocket came crashing into his mind as she spoke. "We crossed out most of our potential leads."

"No, as convinced you were this morning that it was Pansy, I think we should just chalk it up to a Slytherin prank gone wrong," Draco shrugged, hoping she'd let it go. He was usually a confident liar, but this swotty witch made it difficult.

"Oh," Hermione responded, her brows drawn in thought. "Well, I'd rather get to the bottom of it because it impacted me too. Maybe we can keep brainstorming? I could write Fred and George to see if any of the potions they are selling have the side effects you exhibited." Draco thought for a moment, weighing his options. If he didn't share what Theo had written, investigating this with her would only mean they'd spend time together. As much as Draco loathe to admit it, today was nearly as relaxing as spending last night with her under the potion had been. Perhaps Theo was a little right. He just had to keep her on the wrong track.

"Why don't we look up more information in the library first? Perhaps they will have information on the various forms a love potion could take. We could research together." Draco cursed the way his heart fluttered as her entire face lit up at his suggestion. "It is just the library, Granger, not a Christmas present. Bloody swot," he added harshly, sure to roll his eyes. Though he was enjoying her company, he couldn't afford to let her get too close. It could jeopardize her, just like Pansy. Likely worse, given her blood status. But it would be far worse for his parents and for him. He knew what the Dark Lord would do if he uncovered the truth about Draco's views of blood purity or his waning allegiance.