Saving Christmas

Title: Saving Christmas
Author: BobotuberPus
Pairing: D/Hr
Rating: NC-17
Disclaimer: I don’t own any of the characters; I am merely borrowing them for my own perverse pleasure until JKR sees the light and writes D/Hr
Summary: A disagreement over holiday traditions threatens Draco and Hermione’s first Christmas together.
A/N: Written for Tricia for the IATQO Secret Santa Fic Exchange. I’m sorry this is late. I was attacked by the grinch bearing procrastination. Information included here about Kwanzaa and Chanukkah are from http://www.officialkwanzaawebsite.org and http://www.jewfaq.org/holiday7.htm, respectively.

Pristine, white snow blanketed the world outside the Hogwarts castle, creating a picture perfect winter landscape. Parts of the lake were frozen, and it seemed that even the Giant Squid had decided to retire to the bottom for the time being. It continued to snow, ensuring that the innocent scenery would be preserved for at least another day.

In one teacher’s private quarters, the activities on a rumpled bed were decidedly not so innocent. Hot, urgent kisses that started from the base of her neck worked their way down her spine, and stopped with a nip on her bum. Hermione sighed as he turned her over and began to kiss the inside of her knee, working his way up to the apex of her thighs. At the juncture, he kissed either side of her lips, knowing his unhurried ministrations were driving her mad. Checking to see if she was really awake, he looked up from between her legs, a move that left a dissatisfied ache in her core.

“Draco…” she begged, looking down at him. “Stop teasing.” He obliged, slowly running the flat of his tongue on her wet center before proceeding to feast on her. She lifted her hips, urging him on, and he willingly granted her request. The tension in her lower regions was building, and when he finally took her clit between his lips, she exploded crying out his name like a prayer. Hermione loved being woken up like this.

Thankfully, it was a Saturday, three weeks before the Christmas holidays. Students as well as teachers were taking advantage of being able to have a late morning start. Hermione had a full day ahead of her, but wanted to savor every second of being naked on a bed with a very sexy wizard who really should not have been in her private quarters in the first place.

Hermione’s nine month relationship with Draco Malfoy began unexpectedly. He’d shown up at the Welcoming Feast sixteen months before, preening in his Hogwarts governor robes. She hadn’t seen him at first, being immersed in a discussion with Firenze. He had come up behind her.

“Granger. Or isn’t it Potter now?”

The shapely witch in teaching robes spun around to face him. Her eyes widened in surprise and she paled. She recovered quite quickly, her eyes narrowing.

“Malfoy. What are you doing here?”

“Tsk, tsk, Mrs. Potter, is that the way to greet an old friend?” He gave her a quick peck on the cheek, a gesture that bespoke complete familiarity.

She shoved him off, her cheeks flaming. “Don’t call me that!” she said vehemently, “And it’s Professor Granger to you, Malfoy! Again, what are you doing here?” Draco glanced at her left hand and quirked an eyebrow upon finding it devoid of any rings.

“Why, attending my first Welcoming Feast as Hogwarts Governor, of course!”

Hermione’s ill-fated engagement to the savior of the Wizarding world, and their eventual break up was well-documented in society news. Yet Draco had spent some time abroad, away from the gossip and tabloids, that he while he knew of the engagement, he wasn’t aware of the break up.

Draco had a brief, passionate affair with Hermione in their seventh year, during the height of the war against Voldemort. In each other, they found solace from the stresses of making life and death choices at every turn. When Harry Potter finally defeated Voldemort, their affair ended. They had left school at this point, each going to a different University. Neither felt the need to continue their affair in a long-distance relationship. Each had things to preoccupy them. Hermione had Harry’s post-war trauma wounds to heal and Draco had his family fortunes and reputation to rebuild.

Hermione’s relationship with Harry Potter and Ronald Weasley had changed over the years. Gone was the closeness they had in their seven years at Hogwarts. Following the demise of Voldemort, they no longer had to rely on each other to survive. Harry’s emotional scars ran deep, and Hermione mistook platonic concern for romantic love. When Hermione broke off her engagement to Harry, Ron chose his best mate’s side over hers. Consequently, her relationship with the two were strained for a while. Now, they maintained a distant relationship that was a mere shadow of what it had been. Not one of them were keen on making an effort to keep in touch with one another.

Draco and Hermione’s meeting at the Hogwarts Welcoming Feast would be their first since parting ways. Following that, Hermione saw Draco more and more frequently at Hogwarts. Initially, he came purportedly for monthly tea with his godfather, Hogwarts’s Deputy Headmaster, Severus Snape. Then he visited on pretense of being on governor business, soliciting feedback from the teachers about everything from certain curricula being considered to the direction the school should go. Minerva McGonagall, now the school’s Headmistress, was quite impressed with young Malfoy’s dedication. Of the school’s twelve governors, Draco Malfoy had been the one to consistently attend to meetings and provide hands on direction for the school. Despite his limited experience in the position, he was emerging as leader of the board. Of course, it did not dawn on Minerva until a year later that Draco Malfoy’s visits were particularly motivated by the Muggle Studies teacher.

Hermione and Draco didn’t revert back to being lovers right away. In between their meeting at the Welcoming Feast and their first adult romantic kiss, they had enjoyed seven months of platonic friendship. Hermione was surprised to find that she felt as comfortable with Draco as she had been with Harry and Ron. In those seven months, Hermione saw Draco visiting in his official capacity as governor. Draco’s monthly visits to Hogwarts became longer and more frequent. After a meeting with the Headmistress he would make it a point to see the Muggle Studies teacher. They’d either have a meal together or take a walk on the grounds. One time in the middle of a rather busy time when she could not spare the time to take a break, he contented himself in sitting through her lesson. Draco was surprised to find that he’d enjoyed the hour and a half sitting at the back of the classroom with the fourth year students listening to Hermione lecture on Muggle electronics. He wasn’t particularly interested in the subject, but he basked in being able to see Professor Granger in action. She was methodical and related well with her students. Later on, Draco realized how possessive he’d become with his time with Hermione, if he could “sacrifice” an hour and a half sitting through a Muggle Studies lecture just so he could be with her.

Draco’s visits to Hogwarts increased in frequency as his relationship with Hermione intensified. How he managed to run his business enterprises while Apparating to Scotland on a weekly basis was anybody’s guess. To avoid perceptions of impropriety, Draco rarely stayed overnight. On these personal visits with Hermione, he was careful not to be seen by the students. Most students knew that his presence at Hogwarts was on official governor visit and that he just happened to be good friends with their Muggle Studies teacher, as both had been in the same year in school.

Because of their situation, it was rare for him to sleep over. Even on a Saturday morning, there was a chance that one of the students could be knocking on the door to her private quarters to seek her advice on something. Finding an overnight guest, much less one of the school governors, in an unmarried teacher’s quarters, was highly inappropriate. Hogwarts had a decidedly conservative attitude on staff members’ private relationships. While married staff were accorded privacy through secret entrances, such accommodations were not available to those who were unmarried. It was the same principle applied to the staircases in the Gryffindor girls’ dormitories. When Draco did sleep over, they made sure he put on his invisibility cloak as soon as he stepped out of Hermione’s quarters.

Hermione relished the mornings when she’d wake up with Draco, and not just for the sensual way Draco’s tongue woke her up. She’d found herself falling in love with the snarky prat for his intelligence, his ambition, and his unique ability to rile her up at the same time making her scream in pleasure. She valued that they had become friends first before evolving into lovers. Loathe as she to acknowledge it, she would be forever grateful to Severus Snape for convincing his godson to take up a post as school governor and returning Draco to her life.

***

After Draco had returned home that morning, Hermione set about preparing to tackle the long list of things she had planned for the weekend. Foremost was a meeting with the Head Students to plan the Holiday Feast. This year’s theme was “A Muggle Christmas” and as the school’s Muggle Studies teacher, Hermione had an advisory role in the planning.

“Professor, at the Prefects’ meeting on Thursday, we voted to have a multicultural holiday celebration this year. Instead of just concentrating on Christmas, we thought it would be fun to celebrate other Muggle cultural holidays.”

“I think that’s a splendid idea! I suggest you divide up the Prefects and assign them to a particular holiday, and plan the menu and decorations accordingly. I will be available for consultation on any of these items in the following weeks. Now, if there isn’t anything else, I’ll let you two get on with your planning.”

“Professor, there is one more thing,” the Head Girl said tentatively. She was in Hufflepuff and still a bit in awe of her teacher’s fame, not only because Hermione had also been Head Girl but because of Hermione’s role during the War. She looked tentatively at her partner. The Head Boy, a Ravenclaw, interjected.

“We would like to invite the Board of Governors to the holiday feast.” Hermione knew that the Head Girl’s father was on the Board of Governors, and she was anxious to show off the results of her hard work and leadership skills.

Inwardly, Hermione rejoiced. She hated acting like a besotted schoolgirl but she was excited at the prospect of having Draco attend an event she worked closely on with the students. Plus, it was an added bonus to have him there in an official capacity and to celebrate the holidays with him. It being their first Christmas together as a couple, she wasn’t sure about how to broach the subject of spending the holidays with him. He hadn’t discussed the matter with her, either. He had briefly mentioned that his mother would be spending the Christmas and New Year at the Malfoy lodge in Switzerland, on a skiing party, but he had not said if he would be joining her.

Perhaps, Hermione hoped, having him there at the Holiday Feast would prompt him to solidify holiday plans that would include her.

***

The following week, when she met with Draco at Madame Puddifoot’s in Hogsmeade, she told him excitedly about the ideas and preparations the students were making for the Holiday Feast. When she began to tell him about incorporating Chanukkah and Kwanzaa celebrations, he frowned.

“How can you have something else other than Christmas? It’s not tradition---“

“We’re not getting rid of Christmas, Draco, we’re just simply adding a new dimension to the holiday celebration.”

“Well, I think it’s rubbish. Celebrating Muggle cultural holidays, especially an American Muggle one, detracts from Christmas. It confuses the children.”

“I disagree. Exposing them to other cultures broadens their minds.”

“I’ve nothing against exposing them to various Wizarding customs, Hermione, but Muggle cultural traditions? What’s the point?”

“A third of the current student body are Muggle-born, Draco, and most of the students have Muggles in the family…”

“Well, then, they should be getting this precious multicultural experience from their families, then, not Hogwarts,” he said testily.

“What do you have against Muggle traditions anyway?”

“Nothing, Hermione. It’s just that as a school governor, it is my duty to advocate for preserving traditions and to ensure a certain standard is maintained at Hogwarts.”

“Standard? So, you equate having Muggle and Wizard traditions side by side as sub-standard?” Hermione’s voice rose, earning a few curious stares from the other patrons.

“Stop putting words in my mouth!” Draco retorted, straining to keep his voice low.

”Why are you even with me?” she asked softly, tears threatening to fall, as she gave way to insecurities she long held inside.

“What does that have to do with anything?”

“Shouldn’t you be with some Pureblood witch, if you value tradition so much? It must gall you to be involved in such a sub-standard relationship!”

“This conversation is getting ridiculous and I don’t appreciate being attacked.” He sighed. “Look, I need to get back to London. Why don’t we talk later on in the week, when you’ve cooled off.”

He didn’t wait for her to reply. He got up, left a few galleons on the table to cover their tab, and Disapparated before she could say another word.

***

They never did talk later that week. She didn’t hear from him in the weeks before the Holiday Feast, and Hermione resolved that she’d have to spend the holiday season on her alone, her hopes of having a first Christmas with Draco utterly dashed.

Three weeks later, the Great Hall was festooned in multicultural decorations reflecting not only Christmas, but also Chanukkah and Kwanzaa. On one corner of the hall, seven candles symbolizing the seven principles of Kwanzaa, were lit on a kinara, a wooden candle holder. Kwanzaa is an African-American and Pan-American holiday created in the 1960s that celebrates family, culture and community. Andrea Johnson, a Muggle-born exchange student from Massachusetts and fifth year prefect was the lead student who researched the celebration of Kwanzaa. Latkes were served in the holiday feast, as well as other fried food which signified the importance of oil to the holiday. A menorah was lit in another corner of the hall.

The trepidation that Hermione felt at having to see Draco at the feast wore off as the evening progressed. Draco Malfoy was the only Hogwarts governor not in attendance. Hermione’s disappointment grew; either he was avoiding her, or he felt so strongly about the theme of the holiday feast that he chose to stay away. Either way, Hermione’s Christmas was ruined.

Keeping control of her emotions, she stood towards the back of the Great Hall where she watched the holiday production put on by the prefects and Head students. She smiled when she noted the look of pride one of the governors gave his daughter, the Head Girl. It reminded her of the look she used to get from her father. Even when her magical abilities asserted itself and he understood her less and less over the years, he never looked at her with less than pride in his eyes. Hermione missed her parents, fatal victims of Death Eaters during the dark wizards’ last stand in the war. Thinking about them brought home the fact that she’d be spending this Christmas alone. Hermione felt tears roll down her cheeks, and she stepped out of the Hall to have a private moment somewhere else.

Walking down an empty hallway with the sounds of celebration fading behind, she didn’t expect the comforting arms that embraced her.

“Merry Christmas, Granger.”

She gasped and turned around, disbelieving. “Draco!”

He noticed her wet cheeks, and cupping her face, wiped away her residual tears with his thumb. He drew her to him, kissing the top of her bushy head, and whispering, “I’m sorry for being a prat.”

She looked up at him. “You’re here.”

“Yes, the invitation to attend the Holiday Feast was hard to ignore. It would’ve been bad form for me not to attend. All the other governors are here.”

“Oh.” And here she was thinking he’d come for her. Stupid, stupid, stupid…

“You missed the feast.”

“No, actually, I didn’t. I’ve been there since right before it started. Congratulations, by the way. Hogwarts’s first multicultural Holiday Feast is a success. We may yet make a tradition of it.” He said this so sincerely that Hermione wanted to believe what she heard.

“How come I didn’t see you until now?”

“I was hiding underneath this,” he said pulling out a shrunken invisibility cloak. “I was looking for an opportunity to approach you in private, not in front of the entire damned school.”

“You had three weeks to talk to me, Draco. You could have floo-ed anytime.”

“I know. I have no excuse other than I let work stuff get in the way. When I returned to London, I was just in time to prevent a hostile takeover of Malfoy, Inc. initiated by an overly ambitious vice-president. Apparently, some disloyal colleagues saw my frequent trips to Scotland as a sign that I was uninvolved. I hastily proved them wrong.”

“And it only took you three weeks to sort out everything?”

“Actually, no. Still sorting things out, but there is a more important matter that I needed to get sorted out also.”

She didn’t say anything, so he continued.

“I’m sorry for being an utter prat to you last time. I was completely insensitive and I let my prejudices hurt you. I was only trying to save Christmas. I promise never to do that again. The worst of it is that I left without ever answering your question.” He paused and gazed into her eyes. “Hermione, I’m with you because you’re smart and exciting and sexy and you make me feel alive. Being with you gives my life more meaning. I don’t give a damn if you aren’t Pureblood, because I don’t want to be with anyone one else, right now or ever. Please, forgive me for being such a wanker to you. If you want, I would very much like to spend this Christmas with you.”

“You…you would?”

“Will you forgive me?”

“It depends. Will you spend most of my Christmas vacation off with me, or will you come and go as usual? You do still have some things at the office to sort out.”

“I have an even better plan. Come back to London with me. I’ll get things at the office sorted out by the end of the week, and then we can spend the rest of your Christmas vacation at the Malfoy lodge in Switzerland.”

She pulled away from his embrace. “With your mother? Draco, I don’t think I’m ready to spend a day with Narcissa, much less two weeks…”

He chuckled. “Mother won’t be there. The skiing party was canceled. She’s spending the month in Paris instead.”

“Oh.”

“However, I would really like for us to have dinner with her one night. I want her to officially meet you as my girlfriend and the witch who might possibly be the mother of her grandchildren.”

Hermione’s eyes widened. They’d never really talked much about the future. This was the first time she heard that their relationship may evolve to something more long-term. And to have Draco broach the subject first made her heart flutter.

“So, what do you say?”

Hermione stood on her tiptoes and wrapped her arms around Draco’s neck. “You’re forgiven, you prat.” She kissed him soundly, to which he responded with equal fervor.

They stood like that, in the empty hallway, wrapped up in each other as their tongues took their kiss to a more passionate route. Hermione felt Draco’s hand cup her breast, his thumb slowly encircling an aroused nipple. She responded by caressing his erection, which was presently poking her in the stomach. He groaned, and she increased her ministrations, paying close attention to the leaking head.

Draco maneuvered them into an alcove, but when he reached under Hermione’s teaching robes to pull down her knickers, she stopped him. “Not here. Students. They’ll be coming out of the Great Hall soon,” she panted.

“Yes, here. Got the invisibility cloak, remember?” Deftly, he’d removed her knickers during her half-hearted protest at his choice of location. The thumb that had played with her nipple was now rubbing against her clit. Hermione spread her legs, and Draco lifted her up so that she was now sitting at the edge of a window ledge. While Draco changed the invisibility cloak to its normal size, Hermione opened his trousers and freed his demanding cock. Draco threw the cloak over them and thrust into Hermione just as the doors to the Great Hall opened releasing a gaggle of students, teachers, and school governors into the hallway.

“That was awesome!” exclaimed a wide-eyed first year.

Hermione bit her lip as Draco’s engorged cock slid happily into her moist center.

“I must congratulate Ms. Granger,” said Professor Sprout to Professor Flitwick, “That was certainly something new for Hogwarts.”

Hermione and Draco had never publicly engaged in a sexual act until now. The risk of being seen or heard by students or fellow teachers and governors added to the excitement of the moment. Hermione was wet and Draco was hard as the marble statue guarding the alcove they were in.

“The prefects and students worked extremely hard to put together this production,” replied Madame Hooch.

Draco grabbed a fistful of Hermione’s hair and plundered her lips with his as he pounded into her. Hermione moaned into his mouth, begging him, Please, Draco harder, harder...

“Ms. Granger certainly went above and beyond on this.”

Hermione was unable to suppress a scream as her orgasm took her over the edge. Fortunately, at the very moment, a group of fifth years launched into a rendition of “Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer, “ drowning out the sounds of ecstasy coming from the alcove.

“It’s too bad Malfoy couldn’t come,” said one governor to another.

Draco came with a shudder, spilling his seed into Hermione.

The two lovers clung to each other, panting, unmindful of the hallway full of students and colleagues. Their world, at that moment, consisted only of each other. There were no thoughts of future plans, no awareness of present holidays, no memories of past differences.

“Merry Christmas, love.”

“Merry Christmas, Draco.”

FIN


11. Name/Pen Name: Tricia
Pairing of the fic you want: Draco/Hermoine
Rating(s) of the fic you want: R - NC-17
3 - 5 Things you want your gift to include:
- Hermione is a teacher at Hogwarts while Draco is a school governor
- Draco first notices Hermione at the welcoming feast
- They become lovers and Draco visits Hermione at Hogwarts
- They have a fight and Draco makes it better with make up sex ;P
What you don\'t want your gift to include:
- Rape
- Angry! Ron and Harry
- Draco afraid of what his father thinks, he no longer is controlled by him
- Death to Draco and Hermione, unhappy ending
- Over fluffy plot