Despite their disappointment regarding Mia's adoption, Hermione and Draco didn't let it affect their family. After all, Hermione loved Mia and treated her as her own, without needing papers to prove she was now her mother. As for Zara she was informed of her name change, and she immediately started using the name Malfoy. Mia was just as thrilled with Zara's name change, and the two little girls loved the fact they were now both called Malfoy. All that was missing was Hermione officially becoming a Malfoy, but that would happen in the summer.
However, before the family could even think about the wedding, they had Christmas to celebrate first. Hermione started making plans in November as she wanted their first Christmas as a family to be special. Of course, Draco and Hermione had been together the previous Christmas, but this year was different. They now all lived together, and they were a family rather than a couple who happened to both have children.
Since things were now different in their relationship, Draco and Hermione sat down and made Christmas lists for the girls. No longer would Draco be buying for Mia, while Hermione bought for Zara, and each of them giving the other child a token gift. Now all their presents would be bought together, and they'd be from the girls' Mummy and Daddy. Unsurprisingly Draco didn't just stick to the Christmas list and a couple of times he came home with extra presents for the girls. Even though Hermione suspected both girls were going to end up spoiled on Christmas day she didn't object as it was a special occasion – their first Christmas as a proper family.
The first weekend of December, the family went out and bought a brand new tree and new decorations. They then spent the rest of the weekend decorating the tree and making the front room look all festive. By the time the presents were under the tree, the small family were looking forward to their first Christmas together. It would be Zara's first Christmas with a Daddy, and even though Mia had experienced a couple of Christmases with Astoria, it would be her first Christmas with Hermione as her Mummy, and according to Draco it would be nothing like the Christmases she'd experienced with Astoria as her biological mother hadn't exactly been very maternal.
On Christmas morning Draco and Hermione were awoken by Mia and Zara running into their bedroom first thing in the morning. When Draco cracked his eyes open and saw the time on the clock beside the bed, he groaned. It was just past six o'clock, and in his opinion it was too early to be getting up. However, he could remember what Christmas was like as a child and when you were four years old it was never too early to get up and open your presents.
"Mummy, Daddy, get up," Mia cried. "Santa will have been."
Even though Santa Clause was a muggle thing, it had seeped into the wizarding world and Mia knew all about Father Christmas before Hermione and Zara entered her life. Draco had decided to tell Mia about Santa Clause because he thought it added a bit more wonder to Christmas. When he was a child he knew all the presents he received were from his parents and in his eyes Christmas was just a day where he was spoiled even more than he was the rest of the year. Mia, however, believed in Santa and she knew that in order to get presents she would have to behave for the entire year.
"It's too early for Santa to have been," Hermione grumbled. "Get into bed and we can sleep for a while longer."
"No." Zara stubbornly shook her little head. "Santa's already been. We heard his bells ages ago."
"Bells?" Draco asked, looking at Hermione who looked as baffled as he was.
"Santa's bells, from his sleigh," Mia explained, looking at her father as though he should automatically understand. "We heard them when it was still dark and we shut our eyes and went to sleep so he would leave the presents."
"Did you make the bell noises?" Draco whispered to Hermione, wondering if his fiancée was just humouring the two girls and trying to make their Christmas special.
"No," Hermione whispered back. "But when I was little I used to think I could hear bells on Christmas Eve. I was just so excited I imagined hearing things, the girls have probably done the same thing."
"Can we get up, please?" Zara pleaded, interrupting the whispered conversation between Draco and Hermione.
"Pretty please with a cherry on top," Mia added, offering the two adults a sweet smile.
"It's not as if you're going to go back to bed anyway, so we might as well get up," Hermione said, throwing back the covers of the bed. "But before we go downstairs I want the pair of you to go and put your slippers and dressing gowns on."
Jumping off the bed, Mia and Zara flew out of their parents' bedroom, leaving Hermione and Draco to drag themselves out of bed. Once the pair were up, they headed out onto the landing and Mia and Zara appeared a few seconds later. Considering both girls were wearing big floppy novelty rabbit slippers, Draco and Hermione each took hold of their hands, making sure they took their time going down the stairs.
"Wow," Zara cried when they entered the front room and found presents stacked all around the tree.
"I'm going to go and make some coffee," Hermione said to Draco. "Girls, don't open anything until I get back."
"Can we look?" Mia asked.
"You can look," Hermione replied as the two girls set off towards the tree.
While Hermione was making coffee, Draco settled down on the sofa while Mia and Zara crowded around the tree to look at the presents underneath it. A few minutes later Hermione returned with coffee for her and Draco and some juice for the girls.
"Does anyone want any breakfast before we open presents?" Hermione asked, placing the drinks on the table.
"Presents first," Zara answered.
"Okay," Hermione replied as she dragged Draco off the sofa and the pair of them settled down with the girls in front of the tree.
For the next couple of hours the four of them sat in front of the tree opening their presents. Mia and Zara opened dozens of gifts each, ranging from toys and things to play with to more practical things like clothes. Hermione and Draco also opened a few presents from each other and from the girls. Both Draco and Hermione received clothes in their present selection, alongside jewellery for Hermione, books for both of them and a new watch for Draco.
"Daddy, this one is for you," Mia said, handing Draco the last present under the tree. "But it's not from Santa."
"It's from me and Mia," Zara added.
Draco smiled at the two girls as he ripped open the paper on his gift. Tossing the wrapping paper to one side he found himself holding onto a frame. Turning it around, Draco grinned as he saw the front of the frame. The frame was a silver affair with the word 'Daddy' written across the top in blue glitter. Inside the frame was a picture of a smiling Draco with his arms wrapped around both Mia and Zara while they waved at the camera as they sat on his knee.
"It's great," Draco said, happily beaming at the two girls as he swept them up in a big hug. "This is just what my desk needs at work. A reminder of my two favourite little girls."
"We picked it ourselves," Mia beamed proudly.
"They did," Hermione said. "When we were out shopping they spotted it and asked if they could buy it for you."
"I'm very pleased you did, it's the best present ever," Draco told Mia and Zara, before he let them go and they returned to study their own presents.
While Mia and Zara began to play with their new toys, Draco placed his new frame on the mantelpiece where everyone could see it. Hermione chuckled at the proud way in which Draco was looking at the frame before she headed off to make some breakfast.
Once breakfast was finished, everyone headed upstairs to get dressed. Draco then settled in the front room with the girls while Hermione got started on Christmas lunch. There would only be the four of them for lunch, but later that afternoon Lucius and Narcissa would be popping round. On Boxing Day they would be heading to The Burrow, and they'd briefly seen Hermione's parents the previous day. Hermione's parents still weren't over keen on Hermione marrying Draco, but they at least made the effort to be polite to him and they were trying their best to accept Mia as part of the family. However the whole thing had been uncomfortable and Hermione was pleased that there would be no such discomfort when Lucius and Narcissa arrived later that afternoon.
Once lunch was all prepared and she had everything cooking, Hermione returned to the front room where she settled down next to Draco and watched the girls play with their new toys. The family spent a fun Christmas morning playing with Mia and Zara's presents, before they settled down for a delicious Christmas lunch, complete with crackers and brightly coloured paper hats.
"My hat's too big," Mia complained as her orange hat fell in her eyes yet again.
"I'll fix it," Draco said, whipping out his wand and re-sizing the hat so it sat perfectly on Mia's head. He then did the same for Zara so the two girls could eat their lunch without their hats falling into their eyes.
Once lunch was over, Hermione quickly did the dishes using magic before the fun of playing with new toys was resumed. About an hour after lunch, Lucius and Narcissa turned up with two big sacks full of presents. After greeting everyone they gave one sack to Mia and one sack to Zara.
"Santa left these at our house, but I think they belong to you," Narcissa said with a smile.
"They do, look," Zara cried, pointing to the names on the sacks. "Mia and Zara."
"You best get opening them then," Lucius said as he took his seat to watch the two girls open their presents.
While Mia and Zara were tearing into their presents from Lucius and Narcissa, Narcissa pulled out presents for Hermione and Draco. Draco and Hermione opened their presents and thanked Lucius and Narcissa before handing over the presents they had gotten for Draco's parents. Draco then jumped up and grabbed his frame to show his parents.
"Look what my girls got me," he grinned, handing the frame to his mother.
"It's lovely," Narcissa replied, chuckling at the pride in Draco's voice. Even though Zara now called him Daddy, she knew that the frame was a big deal for her son. It truly showed that Zara thought of him as her father and that he now had two daughters.
Once Draco had shown Lucius the frame it took pride of place back on the mantelpiece and attention was returned to the girls and making sure they had a great day. After a few hours of playing all sorts of games, Hermione persuaded the girls to do something more relaxing like colouring in. When the girls settled down to use some of their new art supplies, Hermione headed off into the kitchen to prepare a bit of food and drink for people. There was still plenty of turkey left over from dinner so she planned on making a big plate of turkey sandwiches for people to tuck into.
Hermione had only just started to make the sandwiches when Lucius entered the kitchen. At first Hermione thought her future father-in-law was looking for something, but it soon became clear he wanted to talk to her.
"I want to thank you," Lucius began quietly.
"What for?" Hermione frowned. "I'm only making turkey sandwiches."
"I'm not talking about the food, I'm talking about Draco and Mia," Lucius said. "Thank you for giving them what they both truly deserve, a loving family. Astoria couldn't be the wife Draco needed, and she certainly wasn't the mother Mia deserved, but luckily they found you."
"It works both ways," Hermione said, pausing in her sandwich making and turning to Lucius. "Draco has done the same for us. I've now got someone in my life who loves me and Zara has a wonderful father."
"I'm pleased you've found each other," Lucius said. "I was worried I'd ruined Draco's life when he married Astoria, but luckily things have worked out."
"Why do you hold yourself responsible for Draco marrying Astoria?" Hermione frowned. "Draco told me all about her and I know for a fact that you were against him marrying her."
"I was, but I'm afraid I pushed too hard and he married her as an act of rebellion," Lucius sighed. "I've always thought that if I hadn't been so opposed to the union that Draco would have woken up to her sooner and saw her for what she was truly like."
"How did you know what she was really like?" Hermione asked. She was genuinely curious as to why everyone else could see Astoria's true colours yet Draco had been oblivious to what she was really like.
"I knew Astoria's mother, back when we were teenagers," Lucius replied. "She was exactly the same as Astoria, out for what she could get. She propositioned me many a time, but I wasn't foolish enough to fall for her charms. I knew all she would be was a trophy wife, someone to spend my money and look attractive. I didn't want that, I wanted a partner who was my equal and was with me because she wanted to be with me, not because I happened to be a Malfoy, therefore I was rich and powerful."
"And you thought Astoria was the same," Hermione concluded.
"I did," Lucius confirmed with a nod. "I knew all she was marrying Draco for was the money and prestige of being a Malfoy."
"If that's all she married him for, then why did she leave?" Hermione questioned. "Draco doesn't talk much about the divorce, but I do know she left without receiving a big pay-off."
"Before they married, I made her sign a prenuptial agreement," Lucius confessed. "In the case of a divorce, Astoria got nothing more than what she entered the marriage with. I wasn't going to have her walk away with half the family's fortune. She would have known there was no point trying to get anything out of Draco, so there was no point in her sticking around."
"Is this why you've come to speak to me?" Hermione asked curiously. "Are you worried I'll do the same as Astoria? Do you want me to sign a prenuptial agreement? Because I will if that's what you need to prove that I love Draco and would never hurt him."
Lucius immediately shook his head. "No, that's not what I wanted. I just came to thank you for loving Draco and Mia. I don't need you to sign a prenuptial agreement because I know it won't be necessary. You're not with Draco because of his wealth, you're with him because you genuinely love him."
"I do," Hermione agreed. "And I would never hurt him like Astoria, I promise."
Lucius nodded, already knowing that Hermione was nothing like his previous daughter-in-law. "Let's get on with these sandwiches, before someone comes in thinking we've gotten lost."
Returning to her previous task, Hermione finished off the sandwiches while Lucius grabbed some drinks. The pair then returned to the front room where they proceeded to spend the rest of the day celebrating Christmas as a family.
After a perfect family Christmas, Draco and Hermione celebrated New Year with their friends. Lucius and Narcissa had the girls for the evening, while their other friends also got their parents to babysit for them. Blaise had organised for the group to rent a yacht on the river, complete with food and drink. The evening was a roaring success, and come midnight everyone was on the deck of the yacht as they watched fireworks exploding over the capital to welcome in the New Year.
"This is going to be our year," Draco said to Hermione as the pair stood wrapped in each other's arms, watching the fireworks.
"I can't wait," Hermione replied, smiling up at her fiancé. "Just think, this time next year we'll be celebrating New Year as a married couple."
Draco returned Hermione's smile before connecting their lips. As the fireworks went off around them and their friends celebrated, Draco and Hermione were lost in each other. The last year had been great for the couple, but they were hoping the year ahead would be even better. However what they didn't know was as they were celebrating New Year was that a blast from the past was winging their way back to the country and the life they'd built together over the past few years was about to be several tested. The year ahead was going to be anything but smooth sailing for Hermione, Draco and their family.
A/N – This is the end of part one, and next week part two begins. I want to thank people for reading, and I especially want to thank people for their lovely reviews. I'm so pleased that people are enjoying this story as I know that so far it's been drama free and very fluffy. I just hope that people continue to like the story and enjoy part two as much as they've enjoyed part one.