Chapter 19 – Christmas

Hermione smiled. She could feel the warm body of her husband behind her, his arm wrapped around her waist holding her tightly against him. Charlie must have been awake as she felt a soft kiss placed on her bare shoulder. She rolled on her back to look at him and found him smiling gently at her, a look of pure contentment on his face.

"Merry Christmas, my love," Charlie said in his husky morning voice.

"Merry Christmas," Hermione responded, reaching up to give him a kiss.

The two spent a wonderful few hours in bed together. They were completely lost from the world, in their own paradise.

"Well, love," Charlie said, "I guess it's time for your present."

Hermione looked at him surprised. "What present? I thought the wedding was going to be our Christmas presents this year?"

Charlie smiled. "Oh, believe me, it was. I could not ask for a better gift than to have you for my wife. Thus, I just had to spoil you for our first Christmas together."

Hermione blushed, feeling a little guilty now that she had not gotten anything for Charlie in return. Charlie must have seen it on her face as he immediately leaned over and kissed her gently.

"My love, the greatest gift you can give me today is by letting me spoil you. I promise, that is all I could want this Christmas." Hermione stared at the determination and tenderness on his face and could not for the life of her come up with an argument. Finally, she gave in, nodding at him and smiling.

Charlie smiled excitedly. He looked just like a child would on Christmas morning. He jumped off the bed and ran from the room. Hermione couldn't help but laugh at his enthusiasm.

She grinned when he came running back in, a small box held in his hands.

"This is very important to me." Charlie said, handing Hermione the box.

Hermione glanced once more at Charlie, who smiled and nodded encouragingly, before opening the box.

Hermione gasped. There, sitting on a piece of satin, was a green dragon scale. It was stunning! As Hermione picked it up the light caught it and changed the whole scale to a deep turquoise, than to a beautiful sky blue, before returning to green. Benignly, Hermione noticed a thin black chord was attached to the scale, turning it into a necklace.

"Charlie," Hermione sighed, "this absolutely stunning!"

Charlie grinned. "I'm glad you like it, love. It is the first dragon scale I ever touched at the reserve. It is from a Welsh Green. Notice how the colours change? That is a biological reaction to sunlight, as it absorbs the nutrients from the sunlight, much like a plant. It is an extra protection for the dragon to get extra nutrients during long travel."

Hermione smiled and leaned over to give Charlie a deep kiss in thanks. She was honoured to be gifted something of so much importance to Charlie. She could not believe how lucky she was to have such an amazing man as her partner in life.

A/N: Hello Lovely Readers! I am SOOOOOOOO sorry for taking so long to update! I struggled with my muse for a long time. When I finally got these chapters done I could not post them. Not really sure what was going on but it would not accept it to publish it.

I know this is a short chapter, but I really truly struggled with it. I have another chapter ready, and if I can get it to post I will post the other one later today. It is Pansy and Ron's wedding.

Thanks for all of your wonderful support of this story! Please read, review, favourite and or follow to keep me going!

Until next time,

missmysterygirl out