Halloween Mix-Up

Halloween Mix-Up

by: Tassana Burrfoot





Chapter Twenty-Five: Christmas





Dear Eros,



Two months ago, I incidentally said a prayer to Aphrodite, asking her to help me find my true love. Since you are a god, I know you know this already. And while I appreciate her effort, it has made my life a living Hell.



This isn\'t me, Eros. I am not this person. I prefer peace and quiet. A good book under a shady tree. Not this.



Please, if there is anything you can do, help me. I\'m not one to ask gods for help. Praying to Aphrodite had been an accident. You know this. I never meant that prayer. Never meant for any of this to happen. I am begging for your help.



Last night was just... terrible. I have never in my life acted that way. What I... what we did was wrong, so very wrong. One, I was with a married man... I am so ashamed. That\'s not supposed to happen. I\'m not a tramp and I don\'t believe in cheating, regardless of how "open" he claims his marriage is.



I cry out to you in what is my darkest hour, because I know you can help me. At least, I hope you can. I\'ve done terrible things. Horrendous things. I don\'t know how much longer I can take this. It\'s too much. Please, please, help me, Eros. You are my only hope...





Hermione blinked back her tears, but could not stop the stray from falling out of the corner of her eye. She stared up at the ceiling in Draco\'s room. Sunlight from the early dawn poured through the window and over the bed, but she had no desire to get up. She felt Draco next to her and knew he would be stirring soon.



She felt dirty, ashamed. Christmas Eve had been... well, she didn\'t exactly know what it had been, only that she regretted it. She never should have allowed Lucius to take advantage of her like that.



Of course, when she thought of all her sins, there were a lot of things to be ashamed of. She had slept with so many guys, both her age and older. She had sex with a married man and with two boys who were like brothers to her. She had slept with her professor. She had ruined at least two relationships, and if Narcissa found out, it could very well be three.



While she consoled herself that it wasn\'t entirely her fault, after all, she hadn\'t realized that prayer was a spell; she mentally kicked herself for having allowed her curiousity to get the best of her. She had acted dumb, and that was unacceptable. Now, she was paying for it.



She heard Draco moan and rolled onto her side to look at him. She was happily greeted with a pair of silver eyes. It was a shame she didn\'t feel as happy as the look he gave her.



"Happy Christmas," he whispered with a smile.



She returned his smile with a small, sad one. "You, too."



He frowned at her obvious distress. "I know what has you upset," he told her. "You don\'t have to worry about last night. It will never go beyond the four of us. And, most likely, will never happen again."



She shook her head and closed her eyes. "I acted like a wanton slag. I feel like everything Lavender and Parvarti said was true," she whispered, willing, without hope, for her tears to stay away.



He touched her cheek. "Those girls know nothing, Hermione," he replied. "Don\'t let their words get to you. They don\'t know the situation. They don\'t know what you are going through. You\'re not a wanton slag. You\'re Hermione, just like you\'ve always been."



She sniffed and blinked her eyes. Bowing her head, she allowed him to pull her close to his chest. She could hear his heart beat through the fabric of the comforter. "I don\'t know what to do anymore. Your father..."



"Should not have done what he did," he interrupted. "I don\'t believe he is affected by the spell as one might assume. Remember what he said about my mother being his true love? After he told us that, I read the book again. It\'s true. If one has already found their true love, then they shouldn\'t be affected badly. If that\'s the case, then he should not have been that affected by the spell. Which means that, he probably just wanted an easy shag and knew he could use the spell to his advantage."



"You mean, use me to his advantage," she corrected, anger seeping into her eyes. "He used me."



It was then she realized that Draco was really tense. He sighed, "After we open presents, we are leaving. I can handle Zabini and the others. I will not have you subjected to my father any longer. It was a mistake staying here. For that, I apologize."



She pulled slightly out of his grasp to look up into his silver eyes. Only, they weren\'t silver, but steel. Apparently, the realization of what his father had done angered him greatly. "Will you talk to him?" she asked.



He shook his head. "Regardless of this information, he is still my father. To talk to him would end up in me attempting to hex him. And, honestly? I could no sooner hex my own father than I could you. I love you, Hermione, whether you choose to believe that or not. I love my father as well, though right now I really, really don\'t like him. I\'m not even entirely sure I\'ll forgive him. I\'d rather not see him at all than risk a confrontation."



Hermione nodded then sat up in bed. Her eyes widened in shock as she looked at the foot of the bed. "Great Merlin!" she gasped.



Curious, Draco sat up as well, and nearly choked at the sight before him. Across the foot of the bed and spilling out onto the floor were at least two dozen or more presents. Wrapped packages of all shapes and sizes and colours. The most prominent colours were red and gold, though there was some green and silver thrown into the mix.



Draco cracked a half smirk as he glanced at her. "Well, considering I detest the colour red, I\'m assuming all the red and gold ones are for you. I didn\'t realize you had that big of a family."



She slowly shook her head. "I don\'t," she answered as she reached out to touch one of the pretty packages.



He grabbed one of the green gifts and shrugged. "Well, we might as well start opening them. As pretty as they are, I\'m sure they\'ll be even better once this paper is off them," he commented as he tore through the wrapping.



Hermione nodded ever so slightly as she began going through her own presents. Her parents had been the first gift, the newest edition of Guinness World Book of Records. Then, there was her aunt and uncle, who had gotten her some clothes. Harry had bought her a new watch-- Thank Merlin!-- she thought.



Then, there was Ron\'s gift, an autographed copy of A History of Magic. (She remembered that his father had spoken to Bathilda Bagshot at the Ministry and had probably gotten the book for Ron.) Fred and George had given her some things from their shop, including her very own Skiving Snack box. Molly and Arthur Weasley had given her a knitted sweater and some cookies. Hagrid had given her a box of his biscuits.



But, what brought her to tears was a small red envelope with the words To: Hermione written in gold ink. She recognized the handwriting to be Ginny\'s. Holding her breath, she opened the envelope to find a letter within. She unfolded the letter and read:



Hermione,



I don\'t exactly know everything that is going on, but Ron explained some of it to me. Harry sent me a bracelet for Christmas, so I\'m pretty sure that what Ron is saying holds some water.



I am terribly sorry for ignoring you. Problem is, I had noticed Harry spending more time with you. Then, there were the rumours flying around school and you being around Malfoy. I had honestly thought you meant to steal Harry from me, like you had done to Parvarti with Seamus. I thought it was just some horrid plot of yours... I don\'t know what I thought. All I know is that I should have known better. I was being a jealous idiot and I\'m sorry.



I didn\'t get you anything for Christmas, and I apologize for that, too. I honestly thought we\'d never be friends again. I hope I haven\'t truly severed that connection. You\'ve always been like a sister to me, and I would like to continue that friendship. If not, then I will count my losses. Again, I apologize for the way I acted. I hope you and Malfoy have a happy Christmas.



Love Always,

Ginny



P.S. I can\'t believe you are staying at Malfoy\'s place for the holidays! I would say "come over here quickly," but I don\'t think that would be such a good idea. Bill and Charlie are here as are the twins. No need for you to get into any more trouble.





Hermione bit back a sob as she folded the letter and carefully placed it back in the envelope. Ginny forgave her. That was the greatest gift Hermione could have received. She couldn\'t wait to return to school so that they could talk and hang out. She missed having a girl friend around.



"What is that?" Draco asked as he popped a jelly bean into his mouth. He made a face slightly and, grabbing a napkin from his nightstand, spit it out. "I hate black pepper."



Hermione choked on a laugh and handed him the envelope. "You can read it, I don\'t mind," she told him as she continued through her presents.



Severus had bought her a potions set, which made her smile. Her eyes then grew wide when she realized what the set consisted of. He had bought some pretty rare ingredients for her, which must have cost him quite a few hundred Galleons.



Lucius and Narcissa had gotten her a very fine blood red velvet cloak, complete with gold trimmings. The Gryffindor crest was sewed onto the left side and the clasp was a 24 carat gold lion\'s head. The inner lining of the cloak was black silk. The weight of the cloak told Hermione that it would be very warm.



Seamus had bought her six books about Ireland. She smiled at them, though she already had two of the books. She didn\'t need to tell him that, of course.



"So, Weaslette has come to her senses and wished to be friends again?" Draco asked as he put the letter back into the envelope.



"Please don\'t call her that," Hermione softly chided as she carefully placed the books back into their box. "Also, if you don\'t mind, I would ask that you be nice to her. She\'s my only female friend right now and I don\'t want to lose her because of your tongue."



He held his hands up in surrender. "I\'ll be nice as long as she\'s nice," he promised. Then, he pointed curiously at six other presents. "Who are those from?"



Hermione shrugged. "I don\'t know, but one of them is sporting a letter," she commented, picking up said package.



"Actually," Draco observed, "I think they are all sporting letters."



She opened the letter to the first package and her eyes widened. She read it aloud this time:



Dear Hermione Granger,



I know I am not supposed to contact you, due to the agreement we have. However, I feel this is necessary for me to say.



I know I can not ask your forgiveness for what I have done. It was wrong of me and I regret it every moment of every day, and will for the rest of my life. It takes true courage for someone to show the mercy you have shown me and I am eternally grateful. I do not think I can ever repay you save to say that I promise never to bother you again.



That, in itself, is a difficult task for me. However, I am a Slytherin, and I intend to keep my promise once it\'s made. I hope you find both this letter and the gift I have sent you to your liking. I know it\'s not much, but I thought you\'d like it nonetheless.



Yours,

Blaise Zabini





The young couple looked at one another in surprise. Zabini had apologized? And not only that, but he had felt remorse for what he had done.



Looking at the nicely wrapped gift, Hermione took a deep breath and unwrapped it. It was... a box.



She blinked, confusion written on her face. Gently, she pulled the lid off the box and pushed aside the tissue paper. She sucked in breath through her teeth as she stared at, what had to be, the most beautiful gown she had ever seen.



Pinned to the gowns collar was a note, in Zabini\'s handwriting, that read: To wear to the Valentine\'s Day Ball



She climbed out of bed and gently took the gown out of the box. The gown was made out of gold silk, with red lace trim. It was V-neck and A-lined. The sleeves stopped at the elbows and then billowed out, like that of a Medieval gown. Real rubies ran along the waist and the back was red pull-string with a large red satin bow that you had to tie.



Even Draco looked impressed. "It\'s a beautiful gown," he commented. "From the looks of it, it\'s custom made. Must have cost at least... a few thousand."



Hermione\'s eyebrows shot into her hairline. "A few thousand Galleons?!" she gasped.



He shrugged. "For people like Zabini and me, it\'s like Knuts, really. How much did you think that cloak my parents bought for you cost?" he asked, as if that answered everything.



She shook her head. "I can\'t accept this..."



"Yes, you can," he argued. "You deserve it, after what that moron did to you. And I\'ll bet those other gifts are from the other five guys. Considering they are all purebloods from old wealthy families, don\'t expect anything much less than that dress. And don\'t return anything. It would look bad."



"It would look bad to accept this," she pointed out.



He made a face. "You still don\'t get it, do you? We aren\'t talking about second class citizenship here. Your friends, like Weasley or, oh, I don\'t know, Longbottom, they apologize with flowers, cards, and candy. Consider this dress to be a boutique of roses, ‘cause that’s what it is. At least, to us."



She stared at him long and hard. "You want me to keep this dress."



"Yes."



"And wear it to the dance?"



"Yes," he answered. "To do anything less would be a bit insulting. You don\'t have to accept the apology and start talking to Zabini as though nothing happened. He doesn\'t expect that. But, to not keep the dress would be like a slap in the face. He went through a lot of trouble to have that dress custom designed and made for you."



She seemed to think it over for a moment. "Yeah?" she questioned, her jaw set. "Well, it was a mighty slap in the face when he raped me!"



She threw the dress onto the box and roughly pushed it off the bed. The dress, tissue paper, and box scattered onto the floor. "I don\'t give a damn how much trouble he went through. Imagine how much trouble I went through to allow those boys to continue going to school! If I didn\'t value education so much, they would all rot in Azkaban," she snapped.



Draco stared at the mess on the floor. He sighed, "I understand where you are coming from. Just, at least... think it over. Honestly, where are you going to get such a beautiful dress from?"



"I didn\'t do so badly with the Yule Ball in fourth year. I can do well this year as well," she commented as she picked up the next gift.



The note had been short and to the point, much like its writer, Goyle generally was. He was sorry and he got her something.



She shrugged as she tore away the paper... Another box.



Sighing, she opened the box and gawked at the pair of shoes. They were glittery gold stilettos with red soles. They matched the dress perfectly. And, like the dress, they looked to be custom made for her.



Her eyes hardened as she realized what was going on. They were apologizing by buying her an entire ball gown set. Each buying a separate piece. Mordred Bulstrode\'s gift confirmed her suspicions. A red leather purse with gold chain-link straps and a gold clasp. The straps also contained rubies embedded between the chain-links.



Tristan Yaxley had bought her ruby and gold hair clips. Theodore Nott had gotten her an oval ruby bracelet that was 24K gold with diamond accents. Vincent Crabbe had bought her the matching earrings and necklace.



She threw them all onto the floor. "I don\'t want them," she sneered. "Nice jewelry and expensive clothes cannot make up for what they did. They violated me in a way that no one should ever violate a person. If I were to wear these, it would be like saying that what they did was okay. And it\'s not okay."



Draco watched, a mixture of horror and fascination on his face as she threw each item onto the ground. A part of him applauded her for not accepting their apologies. But, "Just because you wear the things doesn\'t mean you accept anything, especially an apology. Those are really nice gifts," he pointed out. "Actually... it makes what I got you seem... redundant..."



She looked at him curiously. "Redundant?"



He blushed sheepishly. "Well..."



He picked up his wand and waved it at his closet. The door opened and two packages floated out into the room and landed softly onto the bed. "Like I said, I hate red," he commented, apologizing for the green wrapping paper.



She tilted her head to the side as she picked up the larger of the two gifts. "May I?" she asked.



He waved his hand to give his consent and she tore through the wrapping paper. She lifted up the box top and brushed aside the tissue paper.



"It\'s not... well, it\'s not as nice as the gold dress," Draco stammered.



But, Hermione wasn\'t listening. Her eyes were transfixed on the dress as she lifted it out of the box. The halter top bodice was heavily embedded with diamonds... real diamonds. As the diamonds went down the gown, they became less dense, until only a few remained at the bottom. The dress was made out of emerald satin with an emerald satin waist band that only bore a small collage of diamonds on the front clasp in the shape of a heart.



Her eyes filled up with tears. "It\'s beautiful," she breathed.



Draco caught himself before he started apologizing and a soft smile played on his lips. "There\'s more," he told her, indicating the box.



She looked down and was startled to find a matching purse. Emeralds were embedded along the purse\'s strap and the clasp was sterling silver. The purse was made out of green leather.



She smiled. "The other present is the matching shoes, isn\'t it?" she asked.



He shrugged nonchalant. "Who knows? The only way to find out for sure is to open it," he commented, relaxing.



She giggled as she gently folded the gown back into its box and turned to her other present. She opened the gift with ease and was pleased to find the very thing she had guessed: the matching shoes.



She climbed into the bed and wrapped her arms around Draco\'s neck. "You are the best!" she squealed. "Thank you so much! I can\'t wait to wear my gown and shoes. They are so beautiful."



He chuckled as he held her close. "You\'re very welcome. Though... I think there may be more. You really should take a close look at that purse," he suggested.



She pulled away and gazed at him curiously. Tilting her head to the side, she reached for the purse and turned it over in her hands. It was a really small purse, designed more for show then for actual use. But...



She heard a noise coming from inside the purse and opened the clasp. Reaching into the purse, she pulled out several small boxes. Her eyes filled with even more tears as she realized what they were.



Sure enough, one box contained an emerald tennis bracelet. Another held an emerald heart pendant on a white gold chain. The third held emerald twine drop earrings in 10K white gold with diamond accents.



"Oh, Draco, they are beautiful," she heard herself saying, feeling like a broken record but not caring.



"One more," he said.



She turned to him, her eyes glistening with both shed and unshed tears. "What more could you possibly give me?" she questioned.



He smiled. "Only this," he said as he pulled out a box slightly larger than the earring box, but smaller than both the necklace and bracelet boxes.



Hermione gasped as he opened the box to reveal a heart shaped promise ring. The heart was made out of emeralds. Around the 14K white gold band was 1/4 carat diamonds.



"I don\'t know whether we are meant for one another or not," he said to her as she gazed at the beautiful ring. "But, I do know what I feel for you is real. I can\'t promise that things will always be easy for us, but I can say that I will spend a lifetime making you happy. I promise this, Hermione. I don\'t care what Valentine\'s Day reveals to us. Regardless of the outcome, I want you to know that I will always be there for you and, if we are meant to be, then I plan on turning this into an engagement ring. That is... if you\'ll have me?"



For once in her life, Hermione could not find the words to express the emotion she was feeling. She didn\'t know why it was happening, but she was falling. Her heart beat in her chest and all she could do was nod as he slipped the delicate band around her left ring finger. Tears poured unchecked from her eyes and she didn\'t care. All she cared about was this thing she was feeling deep in her heart for the boy who was worming his way into it.



Suddenly, her favourite colour was green.

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Author\'s Note: I hope you all realize that this story will not be finished until February 14th... I\'m a hopeless romantic...