A/N: So yeah sorry I haven't updated in a while but things have been crazy around here, I haven't been home and when I was home I was cleaning or sleeping.. so yeah.. and umm.. I would like to say thank you to siriusblackshottie, HPlover12, StormMasters, and Em3191 for all the reviews. It's amazing how many of you actually like my story, I mean I always thought that I'd never be a good writer but I thought I'd give it a shot! So, I hope you like this chapter. :)

JOELSANGEL

Chapter 21

The Rest of the Family and the Dinner

DRACO--

The next couple days were interesting, Tina, Hermione and I spent a lot of time hanging out walking around. I was always looking over my shoulder of course, I was afraid my father was going to show up and want to kill me right then and there, but Hermione assured me plenty of times that I was safe.

Finally, Thanksgiving was upon us. I woke up early and I found that Hermione had already gotten up. I got out of bed and went to take a shower, then I went to the kitchen to find Hermione and Layla cooking. The food smelled delicious. I couldn't believe that I had never taken part in things like that at home. Hermione looked like she was having so much fun.

"Good morning." Layla said as she saw me.

"Good morning to you as well." I said smiling at her. Hermione smiled to me and I sat down on one of the barstools.

"Are you hungry?" Hermione asked standing in front of the fridge.

"Not at the moment, but thank you anyway." I said.

"Okay, well, you know where the fridge is if you do get hungry." She replied. She continued helping her mother cook and she laughed almost the entire time.

"Hermione, why don't you go wake Tina up?" Layla asked.

"Okay," She replied and left the kitchen.

"Draco, I just wanted to say, that Tom and I really like you. You are a very respectful young man, and we appreciate you coming for the holiday, we'll always be here for you, if you ever need to talk or anything." She said smiling at me.

"Thanks, it's just weird because I never had that at home. My parents follow Voldemort." I said at the confused look on her face.

"Oh, well, you aren't planning on following their influence right? I mean, if you were you wouldn't be with Hermione right?" She asked.

"No, if I was following them then I probably wouldn't be in school right now. Of course, there have already been two incidents this year when I almost died, while at school." I said looking at her.

"How?" She gasped.

"My father. He found out I liked Hermione and since she's muggleborn, no offense, my father disapproves of it. He hates people who aren't 'pureblood' and supposedly I'm a pureblood, although I feel that the only pure blood I have in my veins is that of my mother's family. Hermione's friend Harry had a godfather, Sirius, and Sirius was my mother's cousin. Which is why my father is the way he is with me, he's tried to beat the blood of my mother's family out of me. The only impure blood I have is his." I said thinking of how much I hated my father.

"I'm sorry to hear that. Well, you know if you ever need anything at all, we're always here to help, even if you're not with Hermione." She said smiling at me. I finally felt like I had a mother that wasn't going to sell out at the last second, my mother of course would have went and told my father if I had said anything about him. I felt right at home in Hermione's house.

"Layla, can I ask you something?" I said looking at her.

"Of course," She said.

"I was wondering if it was alright with you and Tom if I could ask Hermione to marry me, I don't want to marry her right away, I want to have a really long engagement, I don't want to get married until we both have stable jobs when we're out of school." I said.

"Well, I'm sure Tom wouldn't mind, and I think it would be great. I mean you are a very nice young man, and I think you'll do good for Hermione. You'll treat her right." She said smiling at me.

"Thanks." I replied.

"Thank you, for asking." She said.

"You're welcome, now I just have to find a ring and a way to ask her." I said realizing that I hadn't thought about a ring.

"Don't worry, when the right moment comes you'll know it, and Hermione won't get mad at you for not having a ring. When she was younger she used to ask why people had rings when they got engaged, it was just another piece of jewelry to her, she didn't understand. So, she won't get mad." Layla said.

"Okay, Thanks." I said smiling at her.

"Why do I have to be up so early?" Tina yawned as she came into the kitchen.

"Because it's Thanksgiving, and most of our family is going to be here later and we need your help with the cooking." Layla said looking to her neice.

"I don't know how to cook." She said looking at her aunt.

"Yeah right, your mother is a caterer. You forget, she's my sister." Layla said. Tina was lost for words so she groaned and started helping.

"Can I help?" I asked.

"Yeah, come here." Layla said smiling at me.

"I need you to stir this while I get the rest of the things I need for it." She said handing me a spoon, I had no idea what I was stirring, I really didn't cook.

"Thank you, dear." She said when she came back to me.

"Draco, will you help me, I need that big blue bowl but I'm too short." Hermione said looking at me.

"Of course," I said and grabbed the bowl. She thanked me and went about putting little pasta things in the bowl.

"What are you making?" I asked looking at her.

"Okay, I know it sounds gross but it's a dessert and it's really good, it's called Frog Eye Salad. Don't ask me why they came up with that but that's what it's called." She said. I looked at her questioningly.

"It has these little round pasta and on these pasta is a liquid stuff, made of sugar and pineapple juice, you let it sit overnight and then the next day you put in the pineapple, mandarin oranges, mini marshmallows, and of course, the whipped cream. It's really good, you have to try some, if you don't like it then fine but you have to promise me you'll try it." She said looking pleadingly at me.

"Okay, I'll try it." I said smiling back at her.

"Good, will you stir this, my wrist hurts." She said handing me the spoon she was using, I tried to mix it all and I realized that women really must be strong because it was hard for me to even stir the stuff. After the fruit was mixed in, she added the marshmallows and whipped cream. I stirred it all together and she put a lid on the bowl and put it in the fridge.

"Thank you so much." She said.

"You're welcome. When should your family start to arrive?" I asked wanting to look presentable when they showed up.

"Most of them should arrive at about two oclock, and they'll keep showing up until about three. Then we will eat at four." She said looking at me.

"Okay, is there anything else you want me to do around the house, Layla?" I asked looking at her.

"Umm.. no I don't have anything else that needs to be done, but thanks for offering to help, I really appreciate it." She smiled at me.

"You're welcome, I think I'm going to go write Alex a letter. I also have some homework that I haven't finished yet." I said looking at Hermione. She gave me a stern look about the homework but I assured her that I would do it.

So, I went to my room and I pulled out some parchment, I wrote a letter to Alex asking how his holiday was going so far. I told him about Tina, Tom, and Layla. I liked them, they were all nice people and I was thankful to have met them. I then tied the letter to my owl's leg and he took off through the window.

An hour later, when I finished my homework, I recieved a letter back. Alex said he was having fun and that the Weasleys had a huge house. I liked to think that my best friend was happy. I then glanced at my alarm clock and realized that it was almost one oclock. I got up and changed my clothes and went to the kitchen. The girls were done cooking and they said that they all needed showers and that they needed to change their clothes, so I sat down on the couch and just stared for a while. I wasn't really interested in anything, I was still thinking of how to tell Hermione how I felt about her.

HERMIONE--

Thanksgiving morning we woke up and I helped my mom cook. Draco came in the kitchen some time later. My mother asked me to go wake Tina up and so I did and she and Draco helped us cook for a little while. We finally finished and I needed a shower, as did my mom and Tina. I was first to take my shower, I got out and went to the living room to find Draco sitting on the couch not really looking at anything.

"Hey," I said sitting down next to him.

"Hey, how are you this morning?" He asked smiling at me.

"Fine, how are you?" I asked.

"I'm fine, I just feel a little bad cause you guys had to do all the cooking and I couldn't really help." He said giving me a sort of sad look.

"It's okay, you tried, that's all that really matters to my mom and me. At least you put forth the effort to try." I said grabbing his hand.

"Thanks. Hermione, you know I love you right?" He asked looking into my eyes.

"Of course, and I love you." I said smiling at him.

"Well, I've been thinking about it. I love you and you love me, so why don't we get married? Not like right away but eventually, when we feel ready." He asked sounding really nervous.

"Are you serious?" I asked.

"Hermione, I wasn't trying to upset you or make you mad. I just--" He started.

"I'm not mad, I'm surprised and excited." I said smiling at him.

"Really?" He asked sounding hopeful.

"Of course, to both questions!" I shouted and jumped on him. I kissed him and hugged him.

"What are you yellin about?" My mom asked as she came out of the bathroom.

"Draco just asked me to marry him, not right away obviously, but you know, later on when we can and feel we're ready." I said excitedly.

"That's wonderful." She said winking at Draco. I gave her a suspicious look and then ran back to Draco.

"I'm sorry I don't have a ring for you." He said looking sadly at me.

"It's okay, I don't mind. As long as I know you asked me to marry you, that's all that matters." I said looking at him.

"Okay, but I'm gonna get you one as soon as I can." He told me.

"Okay, yay, I'm excited" I said bouncing excitedly in my seat, reminding myself a lot of Ginny.

"Hey, what did Alex say? Are they having a good time?" I asked.

"Yeah, he said their house was huge. He loves being there, he says it's a lot of fun." He said smiling at me.

"Well, I'm glad they're having a good time." I said and two seconds later I heard someone knock on the door.

"I'll get it!" I yelled through the house, I went to the door and opened it, there stood my Aunt Linda, on my dad's side.

"Hey, you've grown up so much!" She exclaimed as I opened the door more to let her in.

"Yeah, it's been so long since I saw you!" I said hugging her.

More and more people showed up over the next hour and I introduced them all to Draco but hadn't yet told them that he had asked me to marry him, I was going to do it at dinner when we went around the table and said something we were thankful for. Almost all the women gave me winks when they saw Draco and then men shook his hand and welcomed him very well. I could tell he wasn't used to it since he seemed a little nervous and awkward.

Finally, it was time for dinner. Everyone went to the table, I sat next to Draco and Tina, everyone smiled and talked a little about how good the food smelled. Then it was time to tell what we were thankful for. We started with my mom who said she was thankful for having such a wonderfully brilliant daughter and such a nice life with my father. My father said that he was thankful for the work he's doing because it was supporting him and my mother very well. Then it was Tina's turn, she was thankful for having all of our family together for the holidays. Then it was my turn.

"Well, I'm thankful for a lot of things, but the one thing that stands out to me the most right now is that Draco asked me to marry him when we decide we are ready, we want to have a long engagement." I said smiling at Draco.

"Congratulations you guys!" Almost everyone said in unison. They all smiled at us and we smiled to each other, I loved his smile, it was gorgeous, but I hadn't known that before I got with him because all he ever did before that was wear an annoying smirk. I loved him so much.

DRACO--

Hermione's family was showing up and I felt really nervous, my family was never as welcoming as Hermione's, if we did have parties I was always introduced as their son and they left it at that. No one really treated me as if I was really wanted around. I was thankful for such a nice group of people. Finally, it was dinner time. We all sat down at the table and then we had to say one thing that we were thankful for.

Hermione stunned us all by telling everyone about us being engaged. I was stunned, I didn't know what to say after that. I sat there for a moment before I remembered that it was my turn.

"Umm.. I'm thankful for... knowing all of you." I said but got a few odd looks from a few people.

"My family never really does anything for the holidays and I've never met most of my family." I explained, everyone nodded.

We then continued around the table. After everyone was done, we all joined hands and Layla asked who wanted to say the prayer. No one said anything so she asked Tina if she wanted to do it. She gave Layla a scowl and then started.

"Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for all of this food that you have provided us with. Bless the hands that prepared it and make sure none of us die from it.That got a few laughs around the table. Also, thank you for all of us being able to be here tonight, and please take care of those who are sick or who couldn't be here for some reason or another. Please keep us safe as we finish our meal and leave her tonight. Amen." She said and then everyone else around the table said 'Amen' as well.

It was weird sitting at a table with a bunch of adults that didn't treat me like I was a child. I was happy that I had met these people. I couldn't wait to get back to school to tell Alex about how my holidays were. I was so happy and I smiled the entire night, which was something odd for me until I met Hermione.

"You promised you'd try some." Hermione said passing me the Frog Eye Salad.

"Yeah I remember." I said skeptically. I put a little on my plate and took a bite, it was delicious. I put some more on my plate and Hermione smiled at me.

"See, I knew you'd like it." She said.

"Yeah, I want to take some back to school for Alex to try." I said looking at her.

"That'll be fine, we always make extra." She said.

"Good, cause that stuff is awesome." I replied. We then continued eating and they asked us about school. We told them about our duties as Head Boy and Head Girl. Then we finished eating and everyone left after we finished the dishes. Then we went to bed. We said goodnight to everyone and without thinking Hermione came straight to my room. Her parents didn't say anything they just smiled at us. They then went to bed, I was so happy to have her. I loved her family almost as much as I loved her.

"Draco, I'm glad you like my family." She said right before I fell asleep.

"I'm glad to have met your family, I love you Hermione." I said kissing her on the ear.

"I love you Draco." She whispered back and we fell asleep.

A/N: So yeah, sorry it took me so long to get this one out. it's just that I had a crazy weekend and so far this week has been crazy, thanks to those of you who reviewed last time. But I have to put some kids to bed. So thanks for reading and reviewing!
JOELSANGEL