A/N: Halfway done!
"Mum? Dad?" called Hermione as she opened the front door. She walked in, taking note of the familiar living room and smiled to herself. Draco followed in behind her, closing the door quietly behind him.
Hermione shed her coat and scarf, placing them on the coat rack near the door; Draco followed suit.
"Hermione? Is that you sweetie?" came a voice from the other side of the house.
A small woman entered the living room through what Draco could see was a kitchen. She smiled when she saw the two of them. "Oh, Hermione! It's so good to see you." She walked over and gave Hermione a hug,
"Hi mum," she said softly, squeezing her mother back. She pulled back and said, "Mum, I'd like you to meet my friend I was telling you about, Draco."
Draco offered his hand "Hello Mrs, er, Dr. Granger. You have a lovely home," he said, giving her a charming smile.
"Oh, thank you dear!" she said, placing her small in his. He squeezed her hand gently before letting go, "And don't worry about all that Mrs or Doctor stuff. You can call me Kathleen."
"Where's dad?" asked Hermione, as she and Draco followed her mother towards the kitchen.
"Oh, he's at the office. Poor Mr. Porter chipped a tooth on some peanut brittle. Your father took pity on him and told Mr. Porter to meet him at the office. He should be back soon."
"Do you need any help with dinner?" offered Hermione, leaning against the counter top. Draco looked around the kitchen, noting all the different types of pig figurines that were littered throughout.
"Oh, no thank you dear, I have everything taken care of. Why don't you show Draco where he will be staying and everything should be ready in about 10 minutes," she said, as she stuck her head in the oven to check on dinner.
"Ok," Hermione said, turning to Draco. "Follow me," she said with a smile.
He followed her out of the kitchen back into the living room and towards a set of stairs that started near the front door. Along the stairs were pictures, mostly of Hermione in various ages. He stopped and chuckled at one where she had a very short hair cut, making her already bushy hair even bushier, and had a mouth full of braces.
"Ya ya, I know. Lovely picture of me. Come on," she said, grabbing his hand and leading up the steps so quickly he couldn't look at any more pictures.
"You'll be the last door on the right," she said, indicating to a closed door. She opened it and was glad that her mum had given him the simple blue comforter instead of the overly flowery one that usually draped the bed. Draco's trunk was already there, sent by Hermione earlier with a simple relocator spell.
"I hope this will do," she said. "The bed's kind of old, but it's very comfortable. It get's a little chilly at night so there are extra blankets in the closet. There's a TV, but you probably won't want to bother with that," she said sheepishly.
He looked around the room, more family pictures in frames throughout. "It'll do," he said with a smirk.
She smiled thankfully at him and reached into her bag and procured the shopping bags from earlier that day. She made them their full size and placed them on the bed.
"Where's your room?" he asked curiously.
For some reason this made Hermione blush vividly, and she turned to point out his door, "It's right across from yours. And the bathroom is next to mine. Mum and Dad's room is on the other side of the hall and there's another spare room next to yours."
"Can I see it?"
"What? The spare room?" she asked.
"No, your room," he said, smiling. He knew he was making her nervous and was having fun with it.
She looked at him warily, "Why…?"
Draco shrugged, "Just curious."
She sighed and said, "Alright, fine. But don't touch anything," she said, as she walked the two steps across from his room and into hers.
The room was painted a soft purple color. On the walls hung pictures of her friends, newspaper clippings, both magical and muggle. She had bookshelf that went almost up to the ceiling filled with all sorts of books of various sizes. A simple twin size bed was against the wall and it was covered with about a dozen stuffed animals. There was a small desk in front of the window and Draco could see her sitting there in the summer, reading her school textbooks and doing extra credit homework assignments. The room was full of stuff, but yet, it didn't feel cluttered; it looked lived in, with lots of memories.
She watched him hesitantly and finally said, "So… was it what you expected?"
"Yes and no," he said, wandering over her to bed and sitting on the edge of it, picking up one of the stuffed animals, an otter. "You have quite the collection here," he commented.
"Whenever my parents went on conferences they would bring me back a present, usually a stuffed animal," she explained. Seeing him on her bed made her stomach jittery; he looked entirely too comfortable there.
"I… I'm going to see if mum needs help in the kitchen," she said, eying her door.
Draco lifted an eyebrow at her. "Do I make you nervous, being in your room?" he asked.
"Kind of," she said with a nervous laugh, "No boy has ever been in here… not even Harry or Ron, actually."
He stood up and walked over to her, "Well, it was a privilege being the first then." He gave her a wink then exited her room. She took a calming breath before following him. She heard the front door open and close and her nervousness went away when she heard her father call out, "Kathy? Are they here yet?"
"Yes, Joe. She's just showing her friend his room," she heard her mother call from the kitchen.
Draco let Hermione pass him in the hall so she could go down the stairs first. She had walked halfway down when her father spotted her, "There's my little girl!" he said.
"Hi dad!" she said, taking the rest of the steps quickly and launched herself in his arms, inhaling his familiar scent of spearmint.
She looked up at him and smiled, "I heard Mr. Porter chipped a tooth? He's alright now?"
"Yes, yes, he's fine. I told him to lay off on hard sweets for the rest of the week and he should be good to go after that." He looked down at his daughter and smiled warmly, "You look so grown up."
She blushed, "Thanks dad."
Draco walked down the stairs slowly, watching the exchange, not wanting to interrupt. He had never witnessed so much love shown between a father and their child.
When Hermione saw him at the corner of her eye she said, "Oh, dad, this is my friend, Draco. Draco, this is my dad, Joseph."
"Please to meet you, Dr. Granger," said Draco, shaking the man's hand firmly.
"Oh, call me Joe, please. No need for formalities when it comes to my daughters friends," he said, smiling at Hermione, before turning his attention back to Draco, "So, she says you go to her school too, right? Are you a Gryffindor as well?"
"Um, no Sir. I'm in Slytherin," Draco said, a bit hesitantly, unsure if Hermione had mentioned about the different houses and what they were known for.
"Ah ok. I must admit, I only know of my Hermione's house," he said, chuckling.
"Dinners ready," said Mrs. Granger from the kitchen entrance.
"Just in time," said Joe as he swung an arm around Hermione's shoulders, "I'm famished!"
They sat around a small, rectangular dining room table, with Hermione's parents at either end and Draco and Hermione sitting across from each other. A large casserole dish of lasagna sat in the middle with bread and salad on either side of that.
"Well, tuck in everyone," said Mrs. Granger.
"So, Draco," said Mr. Granger as he heaped a pile of lasagna onto his plate, "How long have you known our Hermione?"
"Oh. Well, we've known each other since we first started Hogwarts. We're in the same year," he said, taking the offered spatula from Mr. Granger and helping himself to a piece of lasagna as well.
"Oh.." he said, looking at Hermione, "You've never mentioned a Draco before. You always talk about Harry, Ron, Ginny, and Luna."
"Well, that's because our houses are quite the rivals," said Hermione, glancing at Draco and giving him a grin, "They don't really hang out or get along. But this year, since we're Head Girl and Boy, and have all the same classes together, we've been able to get to know one another."
"You said you and Hermione are in the same year, but she would have graduated last year if she hadn't been…" started Mrs. Granger, who didn't quite know what to say. She cleared her throat and continued, "Why are you at Hogwarts this year, if you don't mind me asking?"
"I wasn't allowed to go school last year, with everything that was going on," said Draco, who wasn't lying but was also omitting the whole truth.
"That happened to a lot of students, mum," said Hermione, helping Draco.
"But not a lot of students returned to finish school," said Mr. Granger, "Why did you?" he asked Draco.
"Well, to be honest, I wasn't sure if I was going to. My mother however, convinced me that it would best if I finished up the year," he glanced at Hermione, before turning his attention back to her father, "I'm glad she did, otherwise Hermione and I may never have became friends."
Hermione blushed slightly before changing the subject, "So mum, who all is coming tomorrow for Christmas Eve dinner?"
"Oh, everyone!" laughed Mrs. Granger, "It's been awhile since you've been home for Christmas so they all wanted to see you," she said, smiling warmly at her daughter.
"Does your whole family know about Hermione? I mean that she's a witch?" asked Draco curiously.
"Yes," the three Granger said at the same time, causing them all the laugh.
"They know not to say anything though, even the children, otherwise Hermione could get in serious trouble with her Ministry," said Mrs. Granger.
"But no using magic," Hermione said, looking at Draco, "My cousins will ask you to show them tricks, but tell them you're not allowed. Otherwise they'll never stop bugging you," she said chuckling.
Draco was surprised at how comfortable he felt being with Hermione's parents and had no problem answering the questions they asked him. They finished dinner and were ushered into the living room while Hermione's parents cleaned up the kitchen. Hermione walked over to the Christmas tree and flipped the switch so that the lights turned on. She stood there, smiling at the tree as Draco stepped beside her and examined the ornaments. He wasn't used to such an array of different kinds of trinkets. His mother only used certain colors on the various trees throughout the manor, but the Grangers seemed to have one tree, filled with ornaments that must have been chosen with certain memories attached to them. He smiled and fingered one that looked like a barn owl.
"I got that one the year I found out I was a witch," she said. "And this one," she said pointing to a pair of miniature skis, "Was from the year I learned how to ski. And this one was from when my parents took me to Paris," she said, indicating a miniature version of the Eiffel Tower.
"Do you have one for this year?" he asked.
She shook her head, "Not yet. Mum and dad usually give it to me Christmas Eve. It's sort of a tradition."
Draco nodded, thinking about how he would be able to sneak out at some point tomorrow to get Hermione an ornament just from him… and he knew exactly what to get her.