XXXIII.
Hermione awoke to an empty room. Light should have filled the room by now, but instead, a dull fog lingered outside the windows of the manor. Snow fell in dizzying flurries around the large estate. She smiled as she wrapped her arms around herself. Snow on Christmas. It was lovely.
She turned away from the window and saw Draco leaning against the door frame. His pajamas rode low on his hips. She followed the whisper-scarce line of hair from his navel that dipped below the elastic of his trousers with her eyes.
“Happy Christmas, Granger.”
A smile broke out across her face.
“Happy Christmas, Draco.”
The anticipation of this day weighed on Hermione. She had no idea what to expect.
“I have to warn you…”
Her stomach clenched with a wave of anxiety.
“My mother, Kippy, and Pansy tend to go overboard. It can all be very… overstimulating.”
“A family trait,” Hermione grinned.
He gave her a wolfish grin and stalked toward her.
“I thought you preferred my overstimulation.”
A nervous laugh escaped her lips. He brought his lips down to her neck.
“I do…” she stammered.
“Good girl.”
Her eyes fluttered closed as his lips moved across her neck and up behind her ear. He brushed her hair over the other shoulder while he pressed his teeth against her earlobe. A small moan escaped her throat.
“We should go,” he said. “Everyone’s waiting for us.”
She didn’t trust her voice to make any coherent sounds, so she nodded. Draco slid his wand out and tapped her nose. He’d transfigured her into a deep green dress with black tights. He wore black trousers and a cashmere jumper that matched her dress exactly.
They went down to the dining hall, where everyone was waiting for them. Hermione had no idea that everyone wasn’t an exaggeration, though. Theo, Luna, Pansy, Blaise, and Narcissa were all seated, chatting absently. Draco placed a kiss on his mother’s cheek before pulling out Hermione’s chair.
Hermione couldn’t stop her wide grin when she saw Kippy enter. She looked like a miniature tree herself. She was decked in tinsel from head to toe and wore glittering greens and reds for her skirted layers. It also looked like she had tried to use green eye shadow as well as red lipstick.
“Happy Christmas, Kippy,” she smiled.
“Oh, miss,” Kippy gushed. “Thank youses for the presents. Kippy is so lucky.”
“Oh,” Hermione started, but Draco’s hand wrapped around hers.
“Kippy couldn’t pick just one, so she picked them all! Miss is so thoughtful to remember Kippy.”
“You’re welcome, Kippy,” he interrupted.
She looked over at Draco once Kippy was busy with Narcissa and gave him a questioning glance.
“We bought Kippy the skirts she’s wearing.”
“We?”
He shrugged innocently.
“Someone must have signed my name.”
Draco took a sip of coffee to avoid answering and offered a wink instead. Hermione’s heart swelled. She hadn’t had time to get gifts coordinated for everyone, and she was so grateful that Draco had thought to take the initiative with Kippy. He knew exactly what Kippy would want.
Breakfast came, and they all settled into their spaces and began eating. Luna was picking Narcissa’s brain about a rare kind of fungus only found on the hooves of Thestrals. Theo and Blaise were engaged in a conversation about the latest quidditch scores. And Pansy and Draco were discussing the latest sketches she’d made for a tattoo he’d been wanting.
The happy chatter around the table wasn’t so different than the Burrow. There was usually less formalities and a little more chaos, but the atmosphere was the same. People surrounded with love. She thought losing Ron would mean that she’d lost the only family she had left. The Weasleys absorbed Harry as if he’d been born to them, and it was clear when she and Ron separated they didn’t have the same strong ties to her. But this breakfast, these people, this table made her feel like she had it back. It was different but better. Before, she’d been included by association. These people chose her.
Draco took her hand in his and brought it to his lips. He mouthed that he loved her and turned his attention back to something Pansy was saying. She smiled as she watched him. She could feel his love. It was so forceful and potent, and she felt it all the time. It was so unfamiliar and remarkable.
She was grateful as she watched Draco and Pansy. Their relationship had been strained since he learned about the vow. For the first time in weeks, he was smiling with her again. It seemed both of them felt lighter from it.
After breakfast, they transitioned back to the library. It had been completely made over. The tables with the potion equipment were long gone, and in their place were three huge Christmas trees. They glistened with lights and decor. The shelves were lined with tinsel and giant floral arrangements with candles and evergreens. It looked as if they’d just walked into a Christmas village.
Underneath the trees were dozens of wrapped gifts, and Hermione felt a pang of guilt. She’d wanted to make the holiday special for all these people in her life. But accessing her Gringotts account wasn’t exactly feasible at the moment.
Luna and Theo set to work disseminating the parcels among the group. Hermione was mortified and shocked to find her stack as large as the others. She was so touched.
“Me first,” Pansy announced and handed Blaise a package.
He gave her a mischievous smile and tore open the wrapping. Inside was a small stuffed snake with a Slytherin scarf tied around it. He gave her a curious look that the rest of them all mirrored.
“I thought perhaps it could be baby’s first toy.”
The room erupted with excitement. Blaise whooped and threw himself around Pansy. He buried his face against her stomach and animatedly began speaking to their unborn child. They all stood and wrapped both of them in hugs and congratulations. Draco kissed both Pansy’s cheeks and Hermione wrapped her in an emotional embrace. Pansy would make the fiercest mother. And Blaise would be a perfect father.
Everyone began opening their gifts after that. Draco got Theo a set of cauldrons that were thermo-controlled for varying degrees of potion-making. It said Hermione’s name on the card. Draco got Luna a first-edition book on Alchemy which she gushed over. Hermione’s name was on that card. In fact, every gift that Draco purchased for someone contained Hermione’s name alongside his.
Hermione was overwhelmed with love as she opened her presents. Theo and Luna had gotten her three new books on spellcasting and charms. Pansy designed a new piece of jewelry for her. This time a golden serpent bracelet with emeralds over it.
“Not just a bracelet, is it?” Draco asked, raising his eyebrows.
Pansy just smirked and shrugged her shoulders. She offered Hermione a wink.
“It’s beautiful,” Hermione said. “Thank you.”
She saw Draco was opening hers next. She’d recruited Narcissa’s help yesterday to organize it. It wasn’t much, but she hoped he’d like it.
He unwrapped the small case and found a watch sitting on a velvet cushion. He turned it over, studying it. It was a watch he already owned. Narcissa retrieved it from their vault yesterday for her.
“I thought you deserved your own,” Hermione said. “We could match it to mine. Make new numbers. Put in new special places.”
He beamed as he looked up at her. His hands pushed through her hair and tugged her face toward his. His lips crashed against hers, and she melted against him.
“Brilliant,” he whispered. “I love it. Thank you.”
He began latching it to his wrist, and Hermione looked up to meet Narcissa’s eyes.
Thank you, she mouthed. Narcissa’s eyes were wet with tears as she smiled back.
“For you,” Draco said, handing over a small box. “One of many.”
“Not too many I hope…”
“As many as I wanted to get,” he said. “And then some.”
Hermione rolled her eyes and began tearing off the paper. Nestled inside was a bottle of Dorée. Hermione’s eyes welled with tears. It was a gift her mother gave her every year. She’d nearly used up the last of the bottle she’d given her two years ago.
“Thank you,” she whispered.
Draco pressed a kiss to her forehead as she leaned into him. She didn’t think she’d ever be gifted this again.
“It’s tradition, right?”
She nodded.
“I think she would have gladly passed the torch to you.”
Part of her worried that the day was going to bring on too many painful memories she’d otherwise forget. But it felt right. She was so grateful for the presence of this new family and the warmth they had all offered her. There was a lightness in the air that wasn’t just caused by Christmas. It was something more. Something she’d been missing for so long. Hope. For the first time in years she found herself hopefully anticipating the future. She was imagining doing this ten or twenty years from now. The same group around her, perhaps with more children, and the infectious and overwhelming feeling of love.
Draco pulled her against his chest, and she settled there while she watched the others. Luna and Narcissa had started a game of chess. Pansy was shooting down Blaise and Theo’s baby name suggestions. And Draco was humming lightly in Hermione’s ear. It was perfect.
“I’m not done with you yet, Granger,” Draco whispered in her ear. “You’ve got a long night ahead of you.”
She smiled. A whole day had passed without worries about the Ministry, her health, the war, death, or Inferi. It felt normal. A normal she’d not experienced in years. So she sat back and soaked in the feeling of Draco wrapped around her.