I Only Want To Be With You

Hermione Granger yawned and smiled as she walked down the stairs to the Heads’ Common Room. Just because Draco Malfoy had been chosen Head Boy hadn’t made her respect him any, but it was the holidays, and she had decided not to pick any fights with him. His father had disappeared several months ago, when it became apparent that the Ministry suspected him of being a Death Eater, and his mother wound up in St. Mungo’s, where it was found that she had been under a very strong Imperius spell for quite a long time. At least, that’s what was said. Hermione hadn’t been able to find anything that could prove that it was even possible.

As she headed down the stairs, she noticed Malfoy sitting cross-legged in front of the tree, opening a multitude of presents. Probably from Death Eaters, she thought, the corner of her mouth lifting in a slight smirk. “Good morning, Ferret Boy. Merry Christmas,” she grinned, sitting down next to him to open her own presents.

“’Morning, Mudblood. You know,” he started with a pleased look on his face, “Potty and the Weasel came by several minutes ago asking for you. I told them to fuck off. They might have taken it too literally, so you might want to wait a while before finding them.”

“Har har. How very witty of you,” Hermione responded, her voice dripping with sarcasm, as she picked out a present from her parents. It turned out to be a book about runes. Hermione smiled and set the book aside. Suddenly she heard jingling coming from the bathroom. She looked up and was surprised to see that Crookshanks had a new collar.

“I took the liberty of opening a present addressed to your cat, since it was meowing hideously and rubbing against my leg,” Draco seemed to shudder at that. “It’s from someone called ‘Snuffles’.”

Hermione grinned, biting her lip to keep from laughing. “Thank you, Malfoy.”

Draco shrugged and opened another of his gifts, just as Hermione reached for another gift from Sirius, this time for her. “Who is this ‘Snuffles’? It’s more of a dog’s name than a nickname,” he stated, his voice filled with contempt although his face was passive as he examined his gifts.

“He’s... a friend,” she replied succinctly, opening Sirius’ present and grabbing another one. She knew that this year’s presents among the Trio would be special, as they agreed to give meaningful gifts this time, since it was their last year at Hogwarts, so Hermione set Ron’s and Harry’s presents aside to open with them later. Then she saw it: a small present, shoved toward the back of the pile, wrapped in forest green paper and tied with a silver ribbon. She picked it up and a tiny card slipped out from the ribbon. She picked it up and it slowly enlarged in her hand.

For Hermione..

Hermione frowned in confusion and tugged at the ribbon, intending to untie it herself, but it began to unknot itself and fall limply to the ground. As Hermione was a bit distracted by the gift, she wasn’t able to note that Malfoy had stopped his perusal of his own gifts in order to watch Hermione.

She carefully unwrapped the rich green paper and gasped when she realized that it was a jewelry box. More specifically, a jewelry box made to hold rings. She swallowed hard and slowly opened the box. In it, there was a beautiful silver band, gemmed with a beautiful emerald.

Hermione didn’t realize she was crying until she felt a tear fall from the corner of her eye. It had occurred to her at some point during the unwrapping of the present that these were Slytherin colors, but she hadn’t thought to dwell on it since she was compelled to unwrap it. But now that she had finished unwrapping it, she knew to her very core that Draco had given her the ring.

“Draco.. it’s beautiful...” she breathed, slipping the ring out from the cushion inside the box to hold it in her fingers. She had noticed over the few months since school started that, despite still insulting her and her friends, he had lost much of the edge that really cut deep down and hurt her. It seemed to her that his insults were more of a display of wit. She had to admit, though, that she enjoyed it now.

But... Do I want to skip a step with him and go straight to ‘engaged’? she thought.

“Draco, I... I don’t know what to say...” she started, still staring at the ring. She could definitely see herself having feelings for him... But were they enough to be forever wed to him? Could she love him?

“Then don’t say anything,” came his soft, slightly teasing, reply.

Suddenly she knew. Yes, she could love him. Yes, she could marry him and live happily with him, forever. Yes, she wanted this, now. Slowly, as if the magical moment could end if she went any faster, she slipped the ring onto her left ring finger and turned to look into Draco’s eyes.

Oddly, he had a smirk on his face and a strange twinkle in his eyes. Hermione quirked a brow, confused, and then looked down at the ring on her finger. Maybe he meant it as a promise ring... Or I’m not wearing it on the right finger....

Suddenly, it happened: the ring slowly turned itself into a tiny snake, curled around her finger. It had silvery scales all around, except at it’s head, where it had emerald green scales. She jumped up, not truly in fright as she rather liked some snakes, but in shock. This wasn’t what she had been expecting. When she got over the shock of the beautiful ring turning itself into a beautiful snake, she laughed.

She looked down at Draco and noticed the triumphant grin on his face. “I should have known it was too good to be true,” she remarked, still laughing.