D/Hr Advent

The fire gently crackled in the Malfoy sitting room, casting golden light across Hermione’s playful grin as she perched on Draco’s lap. Her cranberry-red dress clinging to her skin, her stockings grazing against his thighs, she could feel his heat through the flimsy fabric.

"You’ve been very naughty, haven’t you?" she whispered. “And don’t lie, I’ll know.”

Draco’s silver eyes are glazed over, his face tinged pink, lips twitching upward in a slight smirk. “Was that meant to be a threat, Granger?” he drawled feigning disinterest, his long fingers ghosting over her stocking-clad legs. “I see no point in lying, I certainly haven’t been good.”

Hermione leaned closer, the cranberries pinned to her dress brushing against his chest. “Good,” she murmured, her lips grazing his ear. “Because Santa doesn’t bring gifts to boys like you. Just me..” He shivered at the contact, and leaned back.

And Draco thought perhaps being naughty wasn’t so bad after all.

The room bursts into catcalls and whoops, but Hermione just blinks down at it. Charcoal? It doesn’t immediately compute.

“You don’t seem surprised,” Malfoy drawls. “Have you been naughty this year, Granger?”

Oh.

Those bastards.

---

Or, where a new Weasley's Wizard Wheezes product is featured at a holiday party.

Written for D/Hr Advent 2024.

Hermione yearns. For love, for success, for contentment. Above all, she yearns for something—or someone—she'll never have.

—

Malfoy is everywhere. He’s in the way she takes her tea—black with a splash of honey, like he does. Etches and echoes of sweeping tendrils of silver-blond strands falling across his forehead, shadowing his cheekbones beneath the harsh afternoon sun. Long fingers that drum against his thighs when he’s bored.

His sharp wit comes out on pub nights, and it’s a delight to see it turned on other people. To laugh with him. He looks at her sometimes, in those moments, and the secret smile he gives her is nothing short of earth-shattering. 

Unity is the theme for Hogwarts’ first-ever Eighth Year, including a reprise of the highly-acclaimed Yule Ball. Draco gladly makes himself a shining example of the effort, though, to be fair, he’s mostly only interested in uniting with his co-Head, Hermione Granger.

★ For some, magic is Christmas, and for others it's Muggle garland ★
DHr Advent 2024

Hermione long ago learned that the only way to take care of a problem is to deal with it herself. That's why she's determined to hunt down the vampire assaulting students at Hogwarts.

Or, what's 8th year without a bit of blood drinking for Christmas? A Vampire Draco AU

It's their first Christmas together and their first public outing. They might as well dress to impress.

“Christmas Crackers?” Malfoy asks, holding one up, then looks at her with a surprisingly warm expression. “Cute.”

Hermione fights a blush. They’re no ordinary Christmas Crackers. She had George and the staff at Weasley’s Wizard Wheezes whip up a special surprise for the Ministry—except she explicitly requested they be red and green, not gold and silver.

It’s not that big of a deal. She’ll get over it. Tomorrow.

Malfoy busies himself by helping to distribute several tubes on each table without request. It’s easy, working with him in a silent tandem. They’ve done it a few times on shared projects, holing up in her office or his, and quickly fall into an easy rhythm. Every time she sneaks a glance, he’s conveniently looking elsewhere.

At the final table, he shakes one close to his ear. “So what’s inside? They’re light.”

She hurries over to him. There’s few enough people around that the surprise won't be ruined if she gives him a peek, and the prototypes were perfect.

“We’ll have to be quick.”

A sly smile pulls at his lips, and he holds one end towards her. “On three?”

Written for D/Hr Advent 2024.

“You know,” she says, her voice a little too tender, a little too honest, “I’ll allow you to be rude to me. Just once. Tell me how you really feel.”

He hesitates, his gaze dropping to her lips and then back to her eyes. “I don’t think you’d like it.”

“Try me.”

“Still using caffeine to bribe the local business owners into liking you?”
“Doing my best.” He held up his copy of the card. “Has any person ever looked less happy about Christmas than this man? His idea of nice decorations is probably a fake tree and some dusty plastic garland.”
“I opened Crooks’ Book Nook four years ago, and in all that time the DABA hasn’t done anything except collect annual dues and turn down permit applications for new benches. I almost don’t want to participate, just on principle, but that’s a lot of money.”
“If you ask nicely, I’ll share some of it when I win,” said Malfoy as he turned to leave. Hermione shot two fingers at his back.

or: Hermione and Draco decorate competitively.

Hermione Granger joins the Ministry after a year abroad. Draco Malfoy becomes her friend, then she learns something about him that makes her not want to be his friend, then she plans an office Christmas party.

-

OR: Draco Malfoy, reformed rake simp, holiday edition