Slytherin Love - Harry Potter One Shots

Chapter 16 - Under the Mistletoe (Draco x Female Harry)

Thank you for reading! I don't own any of Harry Potter! Please let me know if you enjoy!
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Hogwarts became a different place after Harriet won her victory against Voldemort.

Draco Malfoy, along with the rest of the castle's returning students, experienced an academic year filled with new lessons and carefully planned activities that had been designed to heal the many battle scars that the war had inflicted.

Mixed feelings were harbored by the staff and the students as gradually, the world began to move forward and look towards the future.

Severus Snape had survived the attack that he had suffered, thanks to Harriet and her quick-thinking friend, Hermione Granger.

Britain's wizarding world had been shocked to find that Headmaster Snape had been working as a spy, but their surprise had intensified when it was revealed that he was indeed.....Harriet Potter's, or, Harriet Snape's father.

After Voldemort's defeat, in an effort to save their reputation and their vast business empire, the Malfoy family had immediately sought to grovel their way back into the public's favor.

Lucius and Narcissa had made many charitable donations, one of which was to Hogwarts.

At Lucius's urging, Headmaster Snape had agreed to use a small portion of the donated money to hold a grand winter's ball at the castle for the students and staff in an effort to seal the growing divide between houses, especially between Gryffindor and Slytherin.

As the benefactor for the event, Lucius had bought himself a seat right beside the headmaster in the Great Hall that night.

Severus looked bored as he watched the crowd and chatted with his old friend.

Harriet Snape....as she had become known after the war, was there in her beautiful, green dress, with her dark hair in elegant, loose waves and her two best friends, Ron and Hermione, at her side.

Draco had come, but his Slytherin friends no longer stood with him.

After he had thrown his wand to Harriet during the Battle of Hogwarts to use against Voldemort, it was unlikely that Lucius's son would ever have support or companionship from any of his housemates again.

Loneliness wasn't a feeling that Draco favored, however, he had become quite accustomed to it.

As the evening wore on, he watched Harriet laugh with her friends across the room and he frowned while he envied her ability to courageously carry on.

Harriet had been through so much....

Draco thought that the light he saw in her emerald eyes seemed quite remarkable, almost as remarkable as the plumpness of her lips and the subtle, alluring hint of cleavage that he could glimpse over the neckline of her dress.

He took another sip of punch from the goblet that he held in his hand as he looked away.

No one knew, not even Harriet, that when Draco had aided her in the battle, it hadn't come from a place of selfless heroism.

Draco hadn't been able to stand the thought of his darling being destroyed.

His heart had nearly leapt through his chest when she had sprung from Hagrid's arms, back to life, and ready to fight.

Draco sniffed as he stood in the Great Hall that evening and glanced over towards Harriet once more.

His efforts had been futile.

Draco fretted that not once during the last seven years had she recognized his torment of her for what it really was, a cover up for his true feelings.