Things continued as normal for most of the year. After Hermione showed Ginny how to cast the protection spell on the younger students, they'd spent almost an entire DA practice doing it while the students reviewed the defense spells they already knew. It wasn't long after that detention became a more common occurrence in the school and Hermione was practically vibrating with nervous energy until a small third year came up to her at breakfast to tell her the spell had worked.

After the first successful report, Hermione found herself casting the spell on any student she saw wandering the halls whether they were apart of the DA or not. Ginny was guilty of the same thing and not long after that, Luna and Neville were as well.

With the problem of detention solved, Hermione had more time to worry about Ron and Harry who hadn't written to update her on their progress since finding out one Horcrux was locked away in Bellatrix Lestrange's vault. She'd sent a letter after doing hours of research, informing them how to get around the goblins and into the vault, but she hadn't heard anything back. There also hadn't been anything in the papers about a break-in at Gringotts so she supposed that was good, but now she found herself worrying more.

Hermione couldn't say the year was going well, but it also wasn't going horribly. She'd heard from Mrs. Weasley a couple of times and with Draco's assistance, she'd been able to meet and talk with Narcissa Malfoy a total of two times. They'd talked about protection spells, wards, and charms as well as long-forgotten healing spells Narcissa admitted to using in the First War.

"Lucius was often on the front line," she'd said softly. Hermione hadn't brought the subject up again, but she'd been grateful for the spells anyway. If they really were about to go to war, she wanted to be prepared for anything.

When the holiday break came around, Draco was unable to stay at Hogwarts. He didn't say much about the reason why, but Hermione was able to piece together enough information to know it had something to do with Voldemort.

Many of the students were staying over the break, too worried about the attacks that had been reported all year. Hermione figured most parents would think Hogwarts was the safest place for their kids and with the Carrows busy doing Voldemort's bidding, it probably was the safest it had been all year. Hermione was tempted to visit the Burrow for Christmas, but Mrs. Weasley had written to say they were all split up and there wouldn't be a big celebration. When even Ginny admitted to staying over the holiday, Hermione decided to stick around too.

"Write if anything happens," Draco said, pulling Hermione in for a tight hug. She wasn't sure why he was so worried as she would be the safest between the two of them, but war times put everyone on edge no matter how safe someone was.

"You too," Hermione told him. With so many Death Eaters and Voldemort himself staying at the Manor over break, she knew she wouldn't hear from him unless something terrible happened. She could feel the protection amulet under his shirt, though, and knew he would be safer than without it.

"Oh!" Draco said, pulling away from her and summoning something behind his back. "I almost forgot to give you your Christmas gift."

Hermione smiled as he pulled a neatly wrapped box from behind his back and handed it to her. She took it, sitting on the couch to unwrap it. Pulling aside the tissue paper, she found a hardcover copy of Spells of the Ancients. She pulled open the front cover to see what the book was about and a thin envelope fell out. Picking it up, she glanced at Draco. It wasn't his handwriting, but she knew she recognised it.

"From my mother," he told her. Hermione smiled and tucked the envelope back into the book, promising herself she'd read both after Draco left for the holiday.

"Your gift is at the Burrow," Hermione told him. She'd been planning on him staying for the holiday so she'd told Molly to send it a couple of days before Christmas. Unfortunately, she hadn't been able to get ahold of the other witch in time for her to send it sooner and so she'd be waiting until after the holiday to give him his gift.

"It better not be one of those merlin awful Weasley jumpers," Draco warned.

Hermione laughed and shook her head. She'd thought about asking Mrs. Weasley to make him one, but then she'd have to explain how their relationship had changed and Mrs. Weasley had never trusted Draco as much as she tried, so Hermione hadn't asked. Instead, she'd just asked if she could keep her gift for Draco safe until she could give it to him.

"I did consider it," she admitted.

Draco rolled his eyes and pulled her from the couch to kiss her one last time. She cupped his face before he could pull away and drew him closer, savouring the moment as it would be almost two weeks before she saw him again.

"Stay safe, Draco," she whispered as she let him go.

He pressed a kiss to her forehead in response.

"I will," he promised. They stepped apart and Hermione watched him levitate his bag out of the dorm. He waved before completely disappearing but once the door shut, the dorm was silent.

For the most part, the holiday break was quiet. Hermione and Ginny spent Christmas Day at Rosmerta's in Hogsmeade after visiting her shop a few days earlier and being invited. She'd be spending the day alone otherwise and wasn't in the mood to only cook for one person. When they mentioned Luna and Neville were back at the school, she insisted they bring them along as well. They'd left the school before breakfast and arrived at Rosmerta's apartment above her shop just in time to see her pull a delicious looking cobbler from the oven. As soon as she'd spotted them standing in the doorway, she'd ushered them in and put each of them to work.

"How do you have so many oranges?" Neville had breathed when he saw the large basket.  She'd assigned him the duty of pressing all the oranges so they could have fresh orange juice.

Ginny set the table while Hermione cut some fruit and Luna arranged it into an artful looking bowl. Half an hour after they'd arrived, they were sitting down at the table and starting their brunch.

Of course, as unplanned as the day was, there weren't any presents to give. Instead, Rosmerta brewed them all a fresh pot of butterbeer and they gathered in the living room to play card games until late in the afternoon. As darkness fell, Rosmerta bid them all goodbye and told them to stay safe on the walk back to the castle.

"You never know things are bad until they are," she warned. They promised to be careful as they left the apartment and started the walk back to Hogwarts.

On the way, they quietly discussed plans for the DA. Ginny felt like holding meetings on the same day every week at the same time was too predictable but Neville thought it would get too confusing to switch the day and time each week. At the very least, Hermione wanted to take advantage of the remaining holiday break and meet several times before classes started again.

"We could meet at the same time but change the day," Neville suggested, trying to negotiate with Ginny. Luna and Hermione had moved on to discussing what spells they wanted to be certain everyone knew well and what remaining spells they wanted to teach.

By the time they reached Hogwarts, Ginny and Neville seemed to agree on changing the meeting day around and adjusting the time only when necessary. Hermione was more than willing to do so as she was beginning to worry they were becoming predictable as well. That just left them with the task of informing everyone they planned to meet every other day for the remaining nine days of holiday.

It was easy enough to tell the Gryffindors that night and Luna promised to inform all Ravenclaws in the DA, but Hermione still worried about telling the Hufflepuffs. As it was, many of the younger Gryffindors and Ravenclaws were friends with some Hufflepuffs so the word got out they would be meeting in two days immediately following lunch.

What Hermione hadn't counted on was the paper announcing a Death Eater attack in Hogsmeade the following morning that reported several casualties on both sides.