Title: A Christmas To Remember
Description:
Category: Books - Harry Potter
Challenge(s): None
Prompt(s): None
Length: Oneshot – 3,639 words
Rating: (K)
Pairing or Characters: Draco Malfoy/Hermione Malfoy and their boy Scorpius.
Thanks: To my betas Kyla and LJ for taking the time to patiently read this Oneshot and editing my sometimes horrid mistakes! I really appreciate all of your help, both of you!
Disclaimer: Though it pains me to say so, I do not own the rights to anything that belongs to the Harry Potter universe, nor do I make any money from writing about them. The only thing(s) that I can claim as mine own are the ideas and/or characters that may be woven into the wonderful world of all that is Harry Potter. Everything else is used in the spirit of good natured fun or naughty shenanigans. What can I say? I just like to play!
Author's Notes: This story was written in secret as a Christmas present for The Last Poison Apple. She was nice enough to make the Christmas Exchange challenge for everybody this year so that they could have a written Christmas present. I knew she wasn't going to get a gift, so I decided to get together with some of the challenge participants in order write gifts for her and place them in a community. As always, thanks to those who take the time to read and review! It means so much!

A Christmas to Remember

Hermione Malfoy stuffed the last handful of baby rompers into a sage green changing bag when she heard Draco yelling from the floor below. "Hermione! Hermione! What's taking so long? You said that you were grabbing a few things, not the entire nursery!"

She sat back on her heel with a loud sigh, wishing that they didn't have to spend the holidays with her in-laws. Especially not this Christmas, she thought glumly. Hermione wanted Scorpius' first Christmas to be special. And how could it be special at Malfoy Manor? Narcissa and Lucius didn't celebrate in the same fashion that her own family did. Draco told her that his family used to make a big deal about it when he was a boy, but after he turned seventeen they barely acknowledged the holiday season. This wasn't how Hermione wanted her son's first Christmas to be.

Christmas was a time of year for giving and good cheer, a time for friends and family, pretty decorations, and thoughtful gifts. Maybe Hermione disapproved of Christmas with the Malfoy's because it was her favorite time of year and when they spent it with her in-laws it just didn't feel like it was supposed to. Perhaps she was just being a fussy mum. Despite the fact that Scorpius was too young to remember it, she wanted her son's first Christmas to be a special one.

"Hello? Hermione? We're going to be late, love! I told my parents that we were going to be there in time for tea!"

"We're visiting your parents' for god sake, Draco! We don't have to be there at a precise time! Tea isn't until half-past six! We have plenty of time!" Hermione yelled, zipping the changing bag shut and getting to her feet.

"What?"

"I said that I'm coming now," Hermione took one last look around the nursery to make sure that she wasn't forgetting anything. Deciding that she hadn't, she flipped the light switch off, closed the door and headed downstairs.

Draco was standing at the foot of the sweeping staircase tapping his foot as she descended. He had Scorpius propped up on his hip with a protective arm around his son's small back. Scorpius was chewing on his small fist until he saw his mum. Bursting with excitement, he flung his arms out wildly and gurgled with a big grin on his cherub face. A wave of happiness washed through her to see Scorpius so excited by her very presence. Hermione leaned down to plant a gentle kiss atop of the white-blond head.

Draco stared at Hermione with his mouth gaping. She lifted an eyebrow at his stupefied expression. "Yes?"

"Why do we need to bring two big bags for a one night stay at my parents'? I figured you'd have used an extending charm." Draco said, as Hermione handed him their overnight bags in exchange for the wiggling baby reaching for his mum.

Hermione cuddled Scorpius against her chest and gave him a big kiss on his wet mouth. The loud screech he gave echoed through the entrance hall of their spacious home. Hermione's eye grew wide and she popped her mouth open in mock surprise at the loud sound. This made the baby giggle up at her. Suddenly his attention turned to his tiny fist gripping at Hermione's jumper. With a jack-o-lantern smile on his chubby face, he leaned forward and began chewing the extremity.

While Scorpius gnawed at his hand, Hermione turned her attention toward her husband, "I did use an extending charm, but I ran out of room in Scorpius' changing bag."

"Sweet Salazar, Hermione! How much did you bring with us?"

She thought for a moment, "Loads of clothes for Scorp, his favorite toys and picture books, his collapsible swing, the bouncer chair, his playpen, his portable crib, shoes, his Christmas suit, oh and the patchwork quilt that my mum made, his Boba… well, pretty much anything we might need."

At the mention of his favorite stuffed toy, Scorpius clapped his hands together and squealed, "Boba, Boba, Boba!"

Hermione smiled at him. "Yes, you love your Boba, don't you?" Transferring him to one arm, she used her wand to accio the brown bear from his overnight bag.

"You are aware that we're only staying one night?" He asked. ushering his wife toward the door.

"Of course, but I like to be prepared. Oh, Draco? Be a dear would you and grab the little red bag right there. It has all of our Christmas presents in it and I would rather we not forget it." With that, she disappeared out of the front door, leaving him to lock up.

o.O.o

Nearly two hours later they were driving down the lane that would bring them to Malfoy Manor. Hermione wasn't exceptionally excited about finally arriving at her in-laws, nor had she been particularly pleased with the two-hour car ride spent bickering with Draco. At least Scorpius had fallen asleep shortly after they had started the trip. Hermione's frustration had been rising near to the boiling point, but the sight that greeted them washed it away.

The Malfoy's cast iron gates were closed across the drive when they pulled up. Telling: Though this was normal, the lovely decorations which were draped over them left Hermione's mouth gaping! Wound around the black metal were great lines of thick pine garland speckled with pinecones and brilliant crimson ribbons. Two great big wreaths with matching red ribbons were hung on either of the two swinging entrances blocking their path.

Hermione gawked at the adornments with wide eyes. In the three years she had spent with the Malfoy's, not once had they decorated for the holidays! Turning questioning eyes toward Draco she said, "What's this all about?"

"I dunno," Draco replied. He was clearly just as shocked as she was. "My parents must have been watching for us." He nodded to the gate that began slowly swing open.

All along the drive, the hedges were wound with strings of twinkling lights that sparkled in a cheerful dance as they drove past. Giant candy canes had been placed upright between the hedges to hang over the drive. Each was hung with an old-fashioned lantern that burned brightly, lighting the way toward the house.

"Your parents haven't started taking pills or anything?" Hermione asked in awe, as she stared out of the window.

Draco considered that for a moment. "Come to think of it, my mum did seem unusually excited when she talked to me through the fireplace yesterday. She was going on about how much she was looking forward to the holidays this year. I…I think she even said something about having a proper Christmas tree this year."

As they rounded a bend in the long driveway, they were astonished by the sight of the great big manor. Instead of the large house sitting forebodingly in the center of the expansive lawns as it normally did, it was lit up by millions of tiny multicolored lights. The dazzling colors cascaded across the front garden to light the beautifully landscaped grounds. Hermione thought that that would have been marvelous all on its own, but there was even more decorations across the yard.

Nobody could have mistaken the display to one side of the yard for anything other than the North Pole. There were minute buildings constructed to form a cheerful little town. As they pulled up in front of the house Hermione could read that one of the buildings said "Santa's Workshop", while another said "Reindeer Stables", and the rest were all labeled in the same fashion with green and gold signs. In the center of the miniature town was a candy cane striped pole with a golden globe on top. Strung from the globe were strands of tiny lights that stretched down from the pole to the tops of all the houses, lighting up the cobbled streets. Hermione couldn't believe the beauty of it all.

On the other side of the garden was a large spruce tree that was looped with both lights and tinsel garland. Beneath the tree were loads of decorative packages that lit up brightly with different colored ribbons and bows. Around the tree, grazing in the foot deep snow, were eight reindeer that wore scarlet harnesses with silver bells. Hermione could see that their names had been stitched onto each harness and she couldn't help but squint through the falling darkness to read them all. Behind the tree was a great big crimson sleigh where Santa Clause sat waving a black mitten covered hand at them.

"Th….those aren't real ar…are they?" Hermione asked.

Draco scoffed, "Of course they aren't! What do you think, my parents paid some fat bloke to wear a red suit and pretend he was Santa? I think not, especially not in this snow." Draco turned the engine off and climbed from the car to retrieve their bags from the boot.

Hermione got out and plucked a sleeping Scorpius gingerly from his car seat trying not to wake him. Her efforts were wasted however as the child's little silver eyes blinked open slowly to look up at her. Wanting to make sure he would be warm enough, Hermione wrapped his magic warmed quilt around him snugly before pulling Scorpius out of the cozy car and into the falling snow.

Scorpius was instantly aware of the lights twinkling around the yard. All signs of sleep disappeared in a matter of seconds and his eyes sparkled as he turned his head to see all the decorations. Hermione smiled, seeing the glee in her son's little face.

As they made for the front door of the manor Hermione reasoned that, perhaps this Christmas wouldn't be as horrible as she originally thought. Draco, who was carrying the overnight bags, was just reaching for the knob when the door swung open. Standing in the doorway was a sight that Hermione wouldn't have expected in a million years!

Narcissa stood, smiling, in the entrance way dressed in a floor-length Mrs. Clause gown. The bodice was a scarlet satin, front clasping bustier with white fur trim around the top. A thick skirt made of crimson velvet layered with sliver netting cascaded in the most attractive fashion to the floor. On her slender hands, clasped gracefully before her, were elbow length velvet gloves which matched the dress. Even Narcissa's hair had a touch of Christmas about it. It was twisted up in a tight chignon, and pinned into place with clips decorated with holly.

Standing behind one of her shoulders was Draco's father, Lucius. He appeared to have gotten into the Christmas spirit as well because he wore a red velvet Santa Clause outfit trimmed with white fur. He also had a matching Santa hat on his white-blonde head, black gloves on his hands, and shiny black boots upon his feet. To finish off the look, Lucius had grown a white-blond beard on his face. From behind that beard, Lucius was grinning at his grandson.

Hermione lifted her brows thinking that she had never seen anything more outrageous in her entire life! Of all the things she had expected, this hadn't been one of them. She glanced at Draco and the look on his face let her know that he was amused by his parents' performance. Hermione was so surprised by her mother and father-in-law that all she could think to do was smile at them awkwardly, and hold back a giggle?

"We're glad that you've finally decided to show up," Narcissa said by way of greeting. She stepped forward and held her hands out for her grandson. Hermione handed him to her at once. "How's my little guy? All excited for Santa?" Narcissa turned and disappeared into the brightly lit house.

Lucius motioned that they should follow Narcissa, shutting the door behind them as they walked in. Draco set down their bags and glanced at all of the decorations. "Mum, you are aware that he isn't even a year old? He doesn't know who Santa is. All he is interested in are the bright lights and how many strands of lights he can pull off of the tree."

"Now, that's not true, Draco," Hermione protested, "whenever we talk to Scorpius about Santa, he gets excited. Even if he doesn't know who Santa is, he knows that Santa is someone to be excited about."

Narcissa snuggled Scorpius against her tightly, swaying gently from side to side. As Hermione watched, she saw his fingers stretched dangerously close to the dangling silver earrings that his Grandma was wearing. Without really thinking about it she reach out and took his little hand in hers, making her son angry because he couldn't reach the object of his interest.

As Scorpius slapped at Hermione's hand Narcissa gave Hermione a disapproving scowl. Stepping away from Hermione, Narcissa said, "There…there now…we'll have none of that temper tantrum business while you're here for Christmas." Narcissa smiled down at the little boy before swishing away toward the giant Christmas tree.

Hermione chose to ignore the look that her mother-in-law gave her. Instead she grabbed their bags and took them up to the guest room where they normally stayed during visits. While she was in the room she took the time to set up the portable crib for use later that night. Hermione also decided to set out some of Scorpius' other stuff that he might want throughout their stay.

Just as she was placing a bottle on the extravagant dresser in the guest room, Draco walked in with Scorpius wobbling unsteadily in tow. Her eyes caught sight of Scorpius' candy smeared face and she groaned aloud. "What has your mother done now?"

Draco's hoary eyes dropped to look at Scorpius for a moment, "Mum decided that she wanted to give him a candy cane to cheer him up after you left. Only thing is that he made a mess of himself. Not only that…I'm pretty sure he's made a mess in his trousers as well." Draco scrunched up his nose when he picked up Scorpius and caught a whiff of his bottom.

Sighing, Hermione took Scorpius from his father's arms. Placing him gently on the changing table that she had brought with her, she made fast work of changing his dirty nappy. As she worked she said, "Your mother is already getting on my nerves. Did you see the look she gave me when Scorpius started to cry? He is my son for god sake! I was just trying to keep him from ripping out her earrings!"

"I know, love," said Draco," it's been so long since she's had a baby in the house, I think she might be just a bit baby crazy. Don't think anything of it." Draco rubbed a hand up and down her back as he spoke.

"What was she thinking, giving Scorpius a candy cane? Did she bother to ask if it was alright? He'll be up for hours tonight." Hermione had stopped working and she was staring down at her son, who had grabbed his foot and was trying to put it into his mouth. "I know that she has the best intentions. It's just that I wonder sometimes whether or not she actually thinks things through first."

"Let's just make it through this evening and then tomorrow morning we'll have a fantastic time watching Scorp open presents, okay?" Draco kissed her forehead softly.

"Okay," Hermione agreed.

Ten minutes later, they were walking into the dining room for tea. Just as they sat down, one of the house elves brought out a cake and placed it in front of Scorpius where he sat in his highchair. Hermione's eyes widened at the sight.

"What's all this about?" Hermione asked uncertainly.

"We thought that since you wouldn't be here for Scropius' birthday, we would celebrate tonight. We've had a chocolate cake made because you mentioned that he loves his chocolate. There are some gifts over there too." Hermione looked to where Narcissa was indicating. On a long table there were bags and boxes stacked to the point of overflowing.

Hermione squeaked in horrified shock brought on by the birthday surprise. She didn't want to be rude, but she couldn't believe that Draco's parents had decided to celebrate Scorpius' first birthday four days early. Especially since Draco and Hermione had planned a party for the following weekend. A candy cane, and now this? Hermione thought.

Draco must have seen the look on her face because he cleared his throat to get her attention. Once their eyes met he said, "Mum, Dad, you really shouldn't have."

o.O.o

Hermione wasn't sure when she finally got her sugar-high son to sleep the night before, but she knew that it was far too early in the morning for somebody to be knocking on their bedroom door. It felt like she had only just fallen asleep! Hermione's eyes refused to open no matter how hard she tried, and all she could think to say was, "Draco tell whoever that is to go away."

Draco's bare chest rumbled beneath her cheek and she could tell that he was chuckling at her. She scowled at him, wondering what was so damn funny, but sleep was trying to suck her back under. Draco nudged her off him just enough to climb out of bed. Hermione didn't even mind that he was gone. She had just rolled over and pulled the blanket around herself more securely.

"Hermione…..Hermione? It is time to wake up, love." Draco's voice pulled her back from the edge of sleep.

Moaning, Hermione mumbled, "It's too early Draco….I just need a few more hours….please."

He chuckled, "You don't have a few more hours. It's already eight-thirty and there is one happy little boy who wants to see what Santa brought him." Hermione felt a slight shift of weight on the mattress. Then all of a sudden Scorpius was crawling on top of her, slapping his little hands on her chest to wake her up.

"Hey baby," stifling a yawn, Hermione leaned up on her elbows and cracked her eyes open enough to see her son. His smiling face stared back at her.

She didn't know how she managed it, perhaps only because of her son's smile, but Hermione was able to climb out of bed and get dressed. Draco clothed Scorpius in his Christmas suit before getting dressed himself and then the little family made their way downstairs.

Scorpius was beyond happy with the brilliance around the giant, brightly decorated Christmas tree. There were piles of wrapped boxes, loads of overstuffed bags, a stocking for each person filled to the brim with goodies, and a choo-choo train chugging along with different Scorpius friendly candies on each of the train cars.

Despite feeling overly tired, Hermione was surprised with how much effort that Narcissa and Lucius had put onto making Scorpius' first Christmas special. Hermione wound her arm through Draco's, laying her head against his shoulder once they had taken a seat on the overstuffed couch. Lucius, who was dressed as Santa again, insisted on handing the presents out…including the ones that Hermione and Draco had brought with them.

The pretty wrapping paper was enough to make Scorpius happy all on its own, yet he seemed to recall opening birthday presents from the night before. He began to tear through the packages with more enthusiasm than Hermione had ever expected for a near one year old. First he unwrapped a rocking horse that was almost too big for him to sit on. Lucius said they had bought it because they knew he had almost outgrown the one they had at the moment. Then Scorpius had found a box that contained a broom, made of top quality materials of course, which would keep him only a couple inches off the floor. "His very first broom," Narcissa had said. Next Scorpius opened a smaller package which was crammed with chocolate frogs.

One gift after another was opened until all of them had been emptied. Hermione had been given loads of housewares, some of which had been passed on through the Malfoy family, to replace the ones they had been given as bridal gifts. Narcissa claimed that if they wanted to uphold their good name, Draco and Hermione would need quality items in their house. This led to Hermione being given a full set of furniture for their spare bedroom and their dining room. She had also been given a bunch of brand new books about magical study and putting magic to good use around the home. Draco on the other hand had been given a different variety of gifts. Many of them were items of clothing, including lavished cloaks, warm scarves, hats, and coats. He was also given a collection of high quality quills to use at work that would only work for him. The gift that he was most excited about was a huge box of his favorite chocolates, which Scorpius took great interest in trying to get into.

While Draco sat on the floor playing with their little boy, she sat back on the couch sipping coffee from a large mug. Hermione watched as snow drifted to the earth outside and her sleepy mind turned over the morning events. Scorpius had thoroughly enjoyed his first Christmas. He understood the excitement and magic that Hermione had wanted him to experience. That was what she had wanted more than any other gift she could have gotten on Christmas day. Material possessions mattered little to Hermione. What really counted was the happiness of her family. Turning her attention back to her husband and son, Hermione couldn't help but smile. The joy on Scorpius' face as he played with his dad warmed Hermione through. Yes, the happiness of her family was everything that mattered.