Disclaimer: I own nothing except for my ideas. Everything else belongs to J.K. Rowling.
Author's Note: hello readers! Well, here it is: this is the sequel to my story Gone. I really do hope you enjoy it. If you haven't read Gone, you can probably pick up on what's happened, but I think I would recommend reading it. This story essentially starts off right after the epilogue of Gone, which is sixteen years later from when Gone takes place.
PLEASE READ AND REVIEW AND LET ME KNOW WHAT YOU THINK LOVES! 3
also, Merry Christmas to everyone! or Happy Holidays if you celebrate something else :) I hope you're all having a nice holiday, love to you all 3
Chapter One: Christmas Morning
December 25th, 2019
"Mummy, Mummy, Mummy!"
Hermione Malfoy opened her groggy eyes, feeling someone bouncing practically on top of her. She caught sight of her six year old twins - Lyra Brooke and Scorpius Draco - bouncing eagerly on her bed with a huge smile upon each of their faces.
"It's Christmas!" Scorpius yelled.
Hermione heard Draco groan next to her and she smiled, sitting up and pulling the two kids into her arms, kissing each of their foreheads.
"You're right. It is Christmas!" Hermione said with a grin.
"Did Santa leave us presents?" Lyra asked, her grey blue eyes sparkling as they widened.
"You bet Santa left you presents!" Draco said, finally sitting up and pulling Lyra into his arms.
There was a chorus of cheering from the twins before the door opened, revealing twelve-year-old Jeremy. He grinned and joined his family on the bed. Hermione's heart warmed at the sight of him - she loved when her house was full of children.
Her five children. The children her and Draco had always dreamed of.
Each year, all of her children climbed into their bed before going downstairs on Christmas morning. She loved cramming her family into the bed, each one sitting on each other and holding each other tight. Jeremy gave her a tight squeeze before hugging Draco.
"Merry Christmas, angel." Draco whispered, leaning over to kiss her lips.
"Merry Christmas." she said, kissing him with ease.
She would never tire of waking up next to Draco Malfoy.
Suddenly, the bedroom door opened again, revealing the tired 20 year old form of Meredith. Her blonde hair was cut short to her collarbones with a blunt fringe framing her face. She sat on the edge of the bed, smiling weakly at her family.
As always, the worry for Meredith filled up Hermione's heart. Her baby girl, once so full of love and life, had become the shell of who she had used to be. And it was all Ron Weasley's fault.
Even now, over sixteen years after the abduction, Meredith was still plagued by what had happened.
"Merry Christmas, pumpkin." Draco called out, leaning over and kissing Meredith's forehead.
"Yeah, Merry Christmas." she said, hugging her pajama clad knees on the bed.
. . .
Meredith tried her best to force a smile onto her lips at the sight of her family all snuggled on her parent's bed. She knew it probably looked ridiculous - her smile, that is - but it was the best she could do.
Meredith was just not a happy person. In fact, she was mostly miserable. And she hated it. She hated having become this person. She knew her parents thought that it was just because of what had happened to her when she was a child, when in reality, that was only part of it.
Yes, she was still overcome with nightmares and horrible thoughts involving Ron Weasley and her months held in kidnapping. But... she had been dealing with that for long enough that she was often excellent at covering it up.
But, no. It was more than that. Much more than that.
But, it was Christmas and Meredith was going to try her damnedest to have a good day, if not for herself, for her parents.
"Any sight of your sister?" Hermione asked.
Meredith sighed inwardly at the hopefulness of her mother's voice. Her sixteen year old sister, Marley, had come home last night from Hogwarts in the midst of a row with her best friend, James. Meredith knew that Marley was desperately in love with James - and vice versa - but refused to admit it to anyone.
James was the son of her parents' best friends Harry and Ginny. For as long as Meredith could remember, her Uncle Harry and Aunt Ginny were around. They weren't actually related, obviously, so Marley being in love with James wasn't weird.
Meredith didn't know what had happened yesterday between James and Marley. When Meredith had tried to talk to her, Marley had only repeatedly muttered that James was an idiot before beginning to sob into her pillow.
"No. Want me to go wake her?" Meredith offered.
Her mother smiled sadly and Meredith wished that Marley would just get her ass out of bed and join in on the tradition of Christmas morning. She didn't care that Marley was upset, she still had to be a part of the family.
"No, no. It's okay." Hermione sighed.
"Go wake her. You know she'll sleep forever." Jeremy mumbled.
She smirked at her brother, leaning forward and ruffling Jeremy's hair. He was right.
"Alright, I'm doing it." Meredith said, getting up and heading out of the room for Marley, despite her mother's shouted protests.
She knew that her mother wanted Marley to wake up just as much as everybody else.
Meredith started down the enormously long hallway to Marley's room. Her house was outrageously big - almost as big as her Grandma Cissa's house. Sometimes, she missed her childhood cottage home - the site of her parents' wedding. But, she knew that this house made sense for a big family and was more suited to her father's taste.
Meredith knocked on Marley's door before walking inside. She found her sister still fast asleep under the covers. As she caught sight of her, she was thrown back to her sister as an infant, innocent and peaceful. When she woke up, all the innocence and peace would be gone and for that, Meredith almost didn't want to wake her.
But, she had to.
"Marley..." Meredith sighed, approaching her sister and shaking her.
Marley groaned, pulling the comforter overtop of her head immediately.
"Marley, come on. Wake up. It's Christmas." Meredith said, sitting down on the edge of her sister's bed. "Come join everyone in Mum and Dad's room."
Marley muttered something incomprehensible under the covers and Meredith just yanked them off of her. Marley sat up, crossing her pale, thin arms over her chest and narrowing her eyes.
"Do I have to?" Marley groaned.
"Yes." Meredith said, standing up and offering her hand to Marley. "It's a tradition, you know that."
"I know, but I really could care less." Marley said, but standing up all the same.
"Just do it for Mum, okay? She loves this." Meredith said, turning around and walking out of the room with Marley following close behind her.
"Why is everything done for Mum? You always tell me to do stuff for Mum." Marley sighed.
Meredith stopped, shaking her head at her younger sister. They were almost the same height, but looked incredibly different. Marley had inherited her mother's dark brown hair and her father's ice grey eyes, instead of the opposite like Meredith had. They both were thin with incredibly pale Malfoy skin, but that was about the end in physical similarities.
"Mum's just done a lot for us, okay? We've got to do stuff for her." Meredith sighed.
Marley never would truly understand just how much gratitude Meredith held for their mother. When Meredith had been fourteen, she had finally asked her mother about the first few years of her life - before Draco had been there. Hermione had reluctantly explained the toll the War had taken on their relationship, all the while not going into specific detail, and said that she had lost touch with her father.
Draco hadn't even know about her until she had been three and a half. Hermione had raised Meredith all alone.
For that, Meredith would be forever grateful. She knew just how easily Hermione could have given her up.
She was almost certain Marley - or the other kids - didn't know about any of that. She wasn't sure if her siblings knew about her kidnapping either - Scorpius and Lyra definitely didn't. Jeremy had always been the most intuitive of the family, so she was almost sure he could put it together. Marley knew very scarce details.
Meredith went into the room first, knowing Marley would follow with her arms crossed over her tank top clad chest and scowl for a minute before lightening up just slightly.
"There she is!" Hermione called out brightly at the sight of Marley behind Meredith.
Meredith turned around just in time to see Marley's scowl change to a smile.
. . .
Draco hugged Marley for as long as she would let him - which wasn't that long, unfortunately. But, he let go all the same. Soon, all five kids plus Hermione and himself were on the bed, just as they were every Christmas morning.
With the way Marley was going, Draco wouldn't be surprised if this was one of the last mornings. She was becoming increasingly distant from him and Hermione, and he really didn't know what to do about it.
And then there was Meredith - she would most certainly be getting her own place soon. Once her European adventures with Teddy and Victoire were over.
"Well, shall we get downstairs for some breakfast?" Hermione suggested.
With that, all the kids clambered off of the bed and ran down out of the room - well, Meredith and Marley followed slowly behind them.
Draco chuckled as him and Hermione climbed out of bed. Hermione instantly headed for the door, but Draco caught her arm. She turned around and he captured her lips in a deep kiss, the kind that could still make her melt after all this time.
"Merry Christmas, angel." he whispered once they'd pulled away.
Hermione's cheeks were red and her face lit up with an even bigger smile. "Merry Christmas, Draco."
She wrapped her arms around his waist and rested her head against his chest. He held her close, breathing in the familiar smell of her hair.
"Stop making out and come downstairs before Lyra and Scorp start eating the presents!" Marley yelled from down the stairs.
Draco barked out a laugh as Hermione looked up at him, kissing him quickly before grabbing his hand and pulling him out of the room and down the stairs.
. . .
Marley watched and sipped her coffee as Lyra and Scorpius argued over the remaining few blueberries. She rolled her eyes and leaned forward, tipping the rest of the blueberries off of her plate onto Lyra's and helping Scorpius get the rest from the near empty dish on the table.
Satisfied with them having quieted down, Marley leaned back and took another long sip of her coffee. She looked around the table, finding her sister staring down at her plate with a near-empty expression as always. Her heart stung for her sister and her clear troubles, but she really didn't know how to reach out to her.
Jeremy was talking with Draco at the other end of the table as they ate, while Hermione was helping Lyra cut into the last piece of her waffle.
Marley loved Christmas morning, but she was too distracted with the thought of James and their row from yesterday.
He was such an idiot. She hated him.
Except, of course she didn't hate him. He was her best friend. In fact, he was more than that. Marley didn't understand her feelings towards James and she almost didn't want to. The intensity of the feelings she tried desperately to ignore were more loud and present than ever and it was pissing Marley off.
She could barely understand why she had gotten so mad at him yesterday. She had merely agreed to go to Hogsmeade with Colin Finnigan after the holidays and he had started laughing at her and calling her pathetic for no bloody reason! She didn't understand it. He played it off as a joke, saying it was no big deal, when it had hurt her. She didn't even like Colin like that.
"What time are Uncle Harry and Auntie Ginny and them coming 'round, Mum?" Jeremy asked, his mouth full of waffle.
"About 11, or so." Hermione answered.
Dread filled Marley's insides, as well as excitement. She knew that she couldn't ignore James forever, but he'd been such an ass yesterday, and she'd acted particularly immature. She glanced at the clock on the wall of the dining room and realized she only had an hour until they'd get there. James and the rest of his family had seen her looking ridiculous many times, but that didn't mean that she didn't want to at least try to look presentable.
"I'm gonna go shower." Marley muttered, placing down her empty mug on the table and standing up.
"But Mar, presents." Scorpius moaned.
"The presents'll still be here when I'm done, Scorp." Marley sighed.
There was another groan from Scorpius as well as Lyra and Marley began to feel bad, even though she knew that her mother would make them hold off on opening presents until the Potters got here anyways.
"Let Marley go, love. She'll be down soon, right?" Hermione said calmly, looking up at Marley with a smile.
"Right, Mum." Marley sighed before hurrying away.
. . .
James Sirius Potter was banging his foot against the wall as he waited for the rest of his family to get ready for their annual Christmas visit to the Malfoy's.
He was dreading it this year, due to what had happened yesterday with Marley. Except, at the same time, he couldn't wait.
"James, would you please stop kicking the wall?" his Mum shouted out.
He complied, sighing and turned around to see Ginny shrinking all of their presents and sending them into a bag to take with them to the Malfoy's house.
"Please try not to antagonize Marley today, alright?" his father called out, appearing in their living room with his eight year old sister, Lily Luna, at his side.
"I didn't antagonize her. It was just a misunderstanding." James sighed.
To be truthful, he wasn't sure why he had acted like he did with Marley yesterday. He was never sure why he acted like he did with Marley. As the two had grown up, he had just acted more and more stupid and careless with her. He wished that he wouldn't but she just... irritated him to no end. Yet, irritated him in the best way possible. He couldn't imagine this day - hell, life - without her.
"Whatever it was, let's just try to have a peaceful day." Harry sighed.
"Yeah, yeah." James groaned. "Tell Teddy not to snog Victoire in front of everyone then. I've seen enough of that to last a lifetime."
Teddy then appeared in the room, his eyes narrowed at his brother. James knew that Teddy wasn't related to him in blood, but he was still more than family and probably the person that James was closest to apart from Marley.
Teddy said nothing to James, just stood beside him staring at the fireplace to wait for the rest of their family.
"Albus, come on!" Ginny called out.
Albus Severus finally came into the room, and then, not long after, they took turns Flooing to the Malfoy's. As they all greeted one another, James was painfully aware of the fact that Marley wasn't there. He knew that she was probably just taking a ridiculous amount of time to get ready - she always did - but he was still worried that she was so mad at him that she wouldn't come downstairs and join them.
"Try not to be a prick today, yeah?" Meredith whispered in his ear as they hugged.
"I wasn't -" he started.
Meredith raised her eyes at him and he sighed, nodding in agreement. He towered over Meredith now, but she still always took care of him the same way she had when he was younger. Meredith always looked out for him, just as Teddy did.
And then, he saw Marley.
She was walking down the stairs, wearing a black dress with black tights, a thick brown belt cinched around her waist that showed off her thin curves. He felt himself take a deep breath at the sight of her, even though Marley looking good was nothing new.
Marley could be wearing pajamas and have bed head and he'd still think she was beautiful. In fact, he did.
She greeted everyone around him - and he noticed. She wasn't looking at him. She was looking everywhere but him, and he couldn't look anywhere but her.
When she finally reached him, he didn't know what to do. He saw in her eyes that she was still mad. She crossed her arms tight over her chest and it became clear that she was waiting for him to say something.
He was suddenly very glad that everyone else in the room was absorbed with laying out presents and talking.
"Marley, I..." he started.
She raised her eyebrows at him and pursed her lips, just as she had so many times over the years. He felt his heart stammer and he decided to just take a chance. He was rubbish at apologizing - especially to Marley. He got so tongue tied around her sometimes, it was embarrassing.
He pulled her into his arms, hugging her close.
"I'm sorry, Marley. I was being an ass." he sighed, whispering into her ear.
He felt her arms uncross and hug him back as she rested her head against his chest. He closed his eyes, breathing in the sweet vanilla and lavender smell of her hair before letting her go.
When they pulled away, she was smiling at him and he felt a weight lift off of his chest.
Life was always better when Marley was smiling.
Author's Note: PLEASE READ AND REVIEW! 3 I really wanna know what you guys think!