"Why are there not any holiday decorations?" In a place so fancy, Hermione would have thought there would have been something to mark some sort of traditional celebration.

"Draco hasn't celebrated Christmas in years," Narcissa informed with a hint of sadness in her voice. "He gets upset by the sight of anything decorative, so I do not have the elves decorate for the holiday."

"Oh." Well that was mildly depressing news. "Why is he so sensitive to the holiday?"

"Something happened a few years back." And that was all Narcissa said about it.

"But I have a room!" she added in an excited whisper. The woman linked her hand together with Hermione's and pulled her with her. The Manor had to be at least the size of Hogwarts, so it was a while before Narcissa stopped at her destination.

She looked over her shoulder, almost looking like she was about to do a horrible thing, and unlocked a door with her wand. Narcissa quickly hustled Hermione inside and slammed the door closed, breathing heavily.

"He mustn't know!" she said through a chuckle. Colour shaded the woman's face, and Hermione turned to see the cause. Her jaw dropped.

Narcissa had turned the entire room into one giant Christmas festival. Fairy lights by the thousands twinkled, a Christmas train resembling the Hogwarts Express weaved through a village where the buildings were four feet tall. Decorative snow was coated all over, and tiny little flakes of it littered the floor. Christmas trees were heavily trimmed with baulbs, icicles and assorted ornaments (edible ones, cheap ones, expensive ones, homemade and magical ones!).

There was so much to look at, that Hermione was sure she wouldn't see everything all at once.

"Snowmen!" she gasped, hurrying over to the cute family of five. They were part of the village, standing outside a cottage, all posed, waving.

"Draco's favourite used to be the snowmen too," Narcissa said softly. "Go on, touch one."

"Oh!" Hermione jerked her hand back from the mother snowman. It was cold!

Narcissa laughed. "It took me months to make them. They are all made from real snow!"

"Brilliant!" Hermione breathed out. "You'll have to teach me that!"

"Of course! But there will be plenty of time for that all later. Come on, let me show you around more— I know! I will introduce you to my peacocks!"

*/*

"Eventually, you'll have to come out of the shadows and meet her."

Draco stared out of the window, watching the woman walk through their enchanted garden. It was 2 degrees outside and snowy, yet the garden was in full bloom as if it were late spring. The enchantment seemed to amaze the woman. This puzzled Draco. She was a witch afterall, she should be used to such spells.

"She certainly likes it here," his mother noted cheerfully.

Of course Mother would be happy with all this! She had been trying to get him to date a woman and find the one that would break his bloody curse. But a curse was a curse, and finding one's soulmate was exceedingly impossible.

That mess of hogwash only existed in fairy tales. And that was why Riddle used it as a way to break his curse. Riddle knew it was impossible too.

Draco scoffed and turned away from the window. "Don't get any ideas, Mother. I doubt she's even single!"

Narcissa beamed. "Oh, but she is! I asked her already!"

Draco shook his head. His mother didn't waste any time at all. "That woman isn't going to fall for me— and I'm not too interested in marrying someone that I have to keep as a prisoner. Why do you think Riddle cursed me so? Real women don't tend to fall in love with their captors."

"She doesn't have to know she's a prisoner. I haven't told her—"

"She must know eventually. She's not going to want to stay here forever."

Narcissa frowned at that statement, but then she waved her hand, brushing it off. "I suppose we can deal with it if we come across that bridge later."

Draco sighed. "I have no idea what to do…" He turned around to look out the window again just in time to see the woman sniff a rose. "If she leaves here, I'll forever be like this, and it won't just be a seasonal thing, and it won't only be limited to the forest. I'll be a monster for the rest of my life, killing— searching for young children to eat until I die."

"You have a wonderful charm, Draco, she could fall in love with you before she even finds out about the curse."

He shook his head doubtfully. "Love doesn't work like that, Mother. And remember, it is not just she who has to love me, I must also love her…"

And he didn't have the heart to tell her, but Draco didn't believe in love. Not that kind of love anyway.

*/*

"Madam? Or is it Miss?"

Hermione looked up from the book that she had been scanning through. A tall, pale headed blond man was approaching her, and when he reached her, he gave her a slight bow. Hermione set the book back onto the shelf where it belonged. She had been engrossed in the library since Narcissa gave her free range of it— it was bigger than any public library she had ever visited.

"You're fine to call me Hermione."

"I'm the Draco Malfoy you've been requesting to meet."

"So you're my savior," Hermione commented with a smile. "I'm pleased to finally meet you, and of course, thank you for saving my life."

The man's lips thinned as if he wasn't very impressed with what she had said, but he quickly loosened up and gave her a smile of his own. "You gave me a fright, you did, but I'm relieved to see that you have survived the attack."

"About that attack, did you happen to see my wand perhaps?"

"Your wand…?" He frowned, and with a wave of his hand, something appeared into it. "I had hoped this wasn't yours…"

Hermione let out a squeak. Her wand was shattered into pieces. It barely looked good enough to use it as fire starter. Her lip trembled in devastation.

"I deeply apologize," Draco whispered. "A person's wand is incredibly hard to replace."

Hermione took the remainder of her wand and cradled it into her hands. "Yes," she said with difficulty, "Yes, it is."

"If you would like, you can borrow one of mine until you can make a new purchase. The wand crafter in Hogsmeade is on holiday at the moment, but she makes the best wands these days."

"Oh, that is very kind of you! I would appreciate that a lot!"

Draco conjured up a pouch, and he set it onto a nearby table, unrolling it, revealing over a dozen assorted wands. "You may take your pick from these."

"Wow, you own them all?"

"And several more. You can't have too many wands. Most of these are older than the two of us combined in age."

Hermione's eyes widened. "They're antiques! I can't use these…"

"Nonsense, I doubt any beast is going to attack you here. There's nothing that can occur here that will break a wand. It's usually rather dull at Malfoy Manor."

Draco took a wand out of the pouch and eyed it over. "This is probably the closest thing to your wand that you will get. It's a little shorter and a bit more flimsy, but the core and wood are the same."

"Flimsy wands are perfect for temporary use."

Draco nodded. "Indeed they are. You have studied wand lore?"

"A little. I'm a big reader."

Another nod. Hermione could tell this man didn't talk much. He looked around the room. "You'll definitely have plenty to read here."

"I just don't know where to start."

"Curses."

"Excuse me?"

Draco brought his eyes back to hers. "You should start with curses— I have shelves and shelves of books on them." He tilted his head, and his eyes slightly went out of focus. "Though, a few of them are a bit on the fictional side, but there's nothing wrong with fictional characters suffering, is there? They aren't real afterall."

Hermione's eyebrows raised. It was her turn to nod, only hers was slow and forced. "I read fiction all the time."

"Happily-ever-afters, huh? And I bet you believe in true love."

"Is that supposed be a bad thing?"

He shrugged. "Seems pointless to dwell on fantasies."

"Dwell…?" What an odd choice of a word...

He sent her a smile. Hermione knew it was fake. "It was lovely to meet you, but I have some work to do. Feel free to call on Querty if you should want anything."

"Thank you," she said politely, making a quick decision of not starting an argument with him about her refusal in using house elf labour.

He left the wand that he had picked out for her on the table and rolled up the rest, then he apparated without saying anything more.

Draco Malfoy was a bit on the strange side, Hermione concluded. And while he was quite cordial, his mother was a bit more friendly than him. He was too stiff for her taste.

Even if he was extremely handsome.

AN: Thanks for reading my story, some questions I cannot answer until the final chapter is live (which you'll be happy to know that I finished this morning!), but I will be sure to answer as many as I can (ones that the story will not cover) on the last chapter, so ask away!

Until next time, lovely readers!