This is a little Christmas Dramione drabble series. Some fluff and holiday cheer to make these dreary December days a bit happier. I'll update every other day. There are twelve parts.

One

Draco Malfoy watched his seventh year NEWT students walk out of the Potions classroom. They were talking excitedly, happy they had finally finished their last class before the Christmas holidays. Tomorrow, they would board the Hogwarts express and spend the next three weeks with their families. His lips twisted in a sneer as the last student closed the door behind him. Envy, anger and resentment flared through him, and he took a deep breath trying to suppress those feelings.

Draco knew, knew his behaviour was unprofessional, but he couldn't stop himself. He became uncharacteristically snappy at his students, impatient and frustrated, as soon as the first fir tree appeared in the Great Hall. Draco hated Christmas.

He pressed the heels of his hands into his eyes and sighed. He had been especially terse today, and unfairly so. With a lazy flick of his wand, he gave back all the points he had taken, then he started to clean up his classroom.

Draco hardly noticed the stampede of students leaving for the holidays, since he had more or less locked himself into his quarters, trying to distract himself with Potions research. He knew full well he was in a foul mood and so the easiest thing to do was to avoid company altogether. He had the house elves bring him food in his rooms, and only ventured out about once a day to go flying.

A few days before Christmas, with his mood on an all time low, he was hurrying through the halls towards the entry hall, his broom slung over his shoulder, when he literally ran into the Muggleborn bane of his existence. She almost toppled over from the impact and he reached out a hand to steady her.

He'd almost snapped at her, but stopped himself just in time. At the beginning of the year, McGonagall had told him in no uncertain terms she wouldn't stand for childish quarrels between her professors, and she expected him to behave maturely when Granger joined the staff as the new Transfigurations professor. So he bit the inside of his cheek hard, and then said, coolly, "My apologies, Professor Granger, I didn't see you."

"Well, if you weren't running around like a madman, Malfoy, perhaps you wouldn't be…" she huffed, then stopped. It was funny to see her eyes widen as she realised he hadn't insulted her or blamed her for the incident, in fact, he had apologised. Draco smirked, nodded and continued towards the entrance hall.

For some reason, the smirk didn't leave his face all day.