Christmas is the time of giving... so I give to you, my dear readers, a new chapter! I hope you enjoy, it's pretty much a filler, fluffy, chapter.
Beta love to my huffletwin, Sweet Little Bullet.
~HufflepuffMommy
Once Draco signed the appropriate paperwork and received the keys to his newly acquired flat, the move-in process went by rather quickly (thanks to Magic). Hermione had ordered pizza for the two of them to share while Draco unpacked. While waiting for the food, Hermione made the door that was to go between the two flats, setting up charms so that muggles couldn't see it if they happen to come over.
As Draco unpacked his bedroom, Hermione sat on the floor on a blanket next to a wiggly and kicking Finn who was coo-ing at her. When the doorbell rang, Hermione got up to pay the delivery man and bring the pizza inside and when she returned to Draco's room, she saw the blond haired man laying on his back next to his son, talking softly to him. A warmth spread within her chest and she didn't realize she was smiling and staring until Draco noticed her and beckoned her in. She made herself comfortable on the floor again and the two adults ate on the blanket, with their son lying between them. Between talking with Hermione and playing with Finn's feet through his footie pajamas, Draco forgot all about Astoria.
The next morning, as Hermione groggily trudged from Finn's room into the kitchen for some much-needed coffee, she stopped suddenly in surprise and gaped at her surroundings. Her living room, which was the same as it ever was when she went to bed, was currently decorated from ceiling to floor with Christmas decorations. There was even a decorated tree in the corner of the room with presents piled underneath.
Frowning with confusion, she walked over to the door to Draco's flat and knocked, all while never taking her eyes off of the lit tree.
Draco opened the door, clearly just waking up as his hair was sticking up in all directions and he was wearing a plain white shirt and flannel green pajama bottoms. He yawned into his hand as he greeted Hermione. "Morning, everything alright?"
Hermione finally took her eyes away from the tree. "Yes, however… do you know anything about that?" she asked as she pointed to her living room.
Draco glanced over her shoulder then frowned. "Oh..." He then turned around and looked into his own living room, seeing it was also decorated for Christmas. "Oh…"
Finally turning back to Hermione, he gave her a sheepish grin and shrugged. "Mother loves Christmas. She must have sent a house elf over to decorate. Coffee?" he asked as he motioned for Hermione to follow him into his flat.
Hermione frowned and crossed her arms as she followed him and leaned a hip on the counter. "I appreciate your mother doing this for me, but, I wish she would have asked me first. I do have my own Christmas decorations to put up."
Draco poured two cups of steaming coffee and handed one to Hermione. "She meant well. Plus, she figured you'd just been too busy to put them up and didn't want you to miss out." He took a tentative sip. "Christmas is tomorrow, after all."
Hermione choked on her drink. "What?" she squeaked. "Tomorrow?"
Draco motioned to the calendar that was behind her and she looked at it wide-eyed before turning back to him. "I…. I didn't even realize. I.. I have so much to do! I need to go shopping… I have presents to buy! And dinner! I need to get things for Christmas dinner. Oh, Merlin, I can't believe I forgot and it's Finn's first Christmas and.."
Draco walked over and grabbed her shoulders softly, lightly massaging them. "Calm down, Granger. We can go to Diagon Alley after breakfast and pick up some gifts. As for dinner, if you don't mind, we can always go to the Manor? I'm sure my Mother would love to throw us a huge feast. You can even invite all your Gryffindor friends if you like."
Hermione chuckled as she took a deep breath, calming under Draco's ministrations to her shoulders. "Ok. Yes. Let me go ready, write a few owls to Harry and Ron-don't make that face, you know I can't not invite him- while you do the same with your Mother and your friends."
"My friends?" Draco asked, dropping his hands back to his side as he gave her a curious look.
"Well, it only seems fair. If I'm going to have my friends there, you should be able to have some of yours. Meet in my living room in a half hour? Finn should be asleep until then, giving me plenty of time to get ready."
Draco nodded. "Leave the door open and I'll get him if he wakes."
Hermione smiled and nodded as she made her way back to her flat, taking one glance look at her living room, a smile now plastered on her face, as she went and got ready for a day of Christmas shopping.
An hour later, the duo, along with a sleeping Finn who was wrapped around Hermione's body in a baby-wrap, entered Diagon Alley through the magical doorway of The Leaky Cauldron.
"Ok, so I think first up, we should check out the Quidditch supply store. I'm sure I can find something for Harry, Ron, and Ginny in there," Hermione said with determination.
Draco smirked and made an 'after-you' motion, allowing Hermione to lead the way.
The door jingled as she opened it and began scanning the wares on display. "Uh…" she turned to Draco. "Would you mind helping me? I'm rubbish at anything quidditch really…"
Draco chuckled and led her to a display of broom cleaning kits.
"I got Harry one of these while at Hogwarts. I'm pretty sure he still has it... though, it's probably time he gets a new, upgraded one…" She grabbed two, one for Harry and one for Ron. "Now for Ginny… I know she wants to go professional after she takes her N.E.W.T.S. Maybe something to help with that?" she asked him.
Draco nodded, pointing to another section and the two of them browsed through many different things before Hermione decided on a new set of elbow and knee pads along with a helmet, all in a deep purple color and her initials engraved on them.
As they were in line to check out, Finn started to fuss in the wrap. She tried to calm him but his cries became more desperate and urgent and Hermione's breasts started to tingle with a sign of needing to nurse. She looked over at Draco and said "Can you take him for a moment while I pay? Then I'll feed him."
"I can pay if you want to nurse him?" he suggested, pulling out his satchel of wizard coins.
Hermione held up a hand while bouncing lightly and rubbing Finn's back. "No, I got this. They're my friends I'm buying for. Please, just take him?" she asked.
Draco nodded, pocketing his satchel into his cloak pocket as Hermione unwrapped the baby and handed the crying infant to his father.
"I'll go wait outside with him, Maybe some fresh air will calm him," he said.
Hermione nodded as she stepped up next in line, hoping this wouldn't take too long.
Five minutes later, she walked out of the store with her purchases shrunk in bags and placed them in her pocket. She looked around, trying to spot the platinum blond hair among the crowd. After craning her neck around the other shoppers, she finally spotted him standing in front of the toy store, pointing out all the fun and exciting things in the storefront window to the little bundle his arms. Finn had seemed to stopped wailing and was staring at the window as if he was understanding exactly what his father was saying. Hermione smiled as she walked over to them, noting that Draco had placed a small beanie on top of Finn's head to keep him warm.
"Showing him all the toys you're going to spoil him with, huh?" she asked as she joined them.
Draco turned to her and smirked. "Just keeping him entertained. He really enjoys watching the trains going around the track," he said, motioning with his head the train set that was an exact replica of the Hogwarts Express, complete with little puffs of smoke that streamed out every few seconds.
Hermione smiled, that was until Finn spotted her and started fussing all over again. She chuckled as she held her hands out to him. "Why don't I go feed this little guy while you pop in and pick out a present for him? Then when you're done you can take him while I pick something out?"
"You know you can buy him a present with him around and he'd never know, right?" Draco said, handing Finn over to his mother. round
Hermione rolled his eyes. "What's the fun in that?"
Draco just chuckled as the witch walked away to find a warm spot to feed their baby. He glanced at the shop's front window again, knowing exactly what he was going to get his son, and walked in with purpose.
An hour later, with Finn asleep in the pram that Hermione had packed and shrunk down, only taking it out when needed, she and Draco were sitting inside a warm cafe, eating sandwiches and soup to warm up from the chilly weather outside.
"I hope it snows," Hermione said thoughtfully, sipping on her soup and glancing out the window. "A white Christmas for Finn's first Christmas would be, well, magical."
Draco smiled at the term and nodded in agreement. "Indeed it would. Are there any other stops you need to make today?"
Hermione shook her head. "I think I got everyone. What about you?"
Draco pondered as he took a bite of his sandwich. "I still need to get Mother something. It's hard to buy her gifts when she can just buy whatever she wants. Everyone else I wanted to get gifts for are taken care of though."
Hermione sat in thought for a moment before she brightened and looked up at Draco. "I think I have the perfect gift idea for your mother."
Draco quirked at her enthusiasm and listened attentively as she explained, a smile spreading across his face as she did indeed come up with the perfect present for Narcissa Malfoy.
Christmas morning came early for Hermione, as Finn started to wail from his cot a little after midnight. Yawning, she tiredly entered his room and quietly started making "shh-ing" sounds as she picked him up and walked over to the rocker. Once his cries stopped as he started to nurse, Hermione looked down at her little bundle and smiled. "Merry Christmas Phineas," she whispered quietly and bent over to brush a kiss on his soft, downy head.
He had just drifted off to sleep when Hermione heard a noise in her living room. Her heart pounded loud in her chest as she laid Finn down as quietly (and quickly) as she could. She walked slowly to the door and opened it a crack, trying to determine if someone was in her home. She cursed herself for leaving her wand in her bedroom, but she didn't normally need it when she was nursing the baby in the middle of the night.
She realized, however, that her flat was heavily protected with charms, done by herself, so whoever was in her flat had to be someone she knew.
She opened the door slowly until she could slip out and close it behind her before tiptoeing down the hall.
She saw someone at the foot of the tree, laying even more presents underneath it. She smiled slightly and crossed her arms as she walked in further.
"Santa Claus?" she asked teasingly. "And here I thought you were just a myth."
Draco snapped his head up in surprise and looked over at Hermione. "You weren't supposed to see me. Did I wake you?"
Hermione shook her head as she sat down on the couch while Draco continued to place wrapped box after box under the tree. "I was feeding Finn when I heard something in the living room. I knew it had to be someone I know due to the wards I have set up. But still, I had to investigate." She paused a moment as Draco laid out the next present. "Are those all for Finn? You do realize he's only a few weeks old, right?"
Draco turned and smirked her way. "Not all of it is for him. There's a few in there for you as well."
Hermione's face lit up. "Really? Which one?" she asked as she moved to sit next to Draco. She started reading the labels of the gifts and was about to reach out for one with her name on it, when Draco slapped her hand playfully and tsked under his breath.
"You need to wait until Christmas morning, Miss Impatient," he said.
Hermione huffed. "In case you haven't realized it, it is Christmas morning."
Draco rolled his eyes. "Barely. You have to wait until at least the sun is up."
Hermione sighed and looked longingly at the gifts. "I suppose you're right."
Draco looked over at her before picking up one of the smaller gifts. "I suppose opening one wouldn't hurt."
"Really?" Hermione asked, taking the present tentatively.
Draco nodded. "Sure, let's make it a tradition."
Hermione smiled at him before looking at the presents to find one with his name on it and handed it to him. "It's only fair," she answered at his questioning look.
The two of them tore open their presents and laughed when they realized they had gotten each other nearly the same gift.
Draco had gotten Hermione an ornament that had a woman with brown hair holding a baby with blond hair. Under it said, "First Christmas as a Mum, 1998".
Hermione had gotten Draco something similar, though with a blond man holding a blond-haired son with the words "First Christmas as a Dad, 1998".
"I love it, thank you," Hermione said looking over at him.
Draco nodded and indicated to his with a soft smile. "Same here."
Hermione stood and placed her new ornament on the tree, with Draco following suit, placing his next to hers.
"Merry Christmas, Draco."
"Merry Christmas, Hermione."
I might, MIGHT, be able to squeeze in another Christmasy chapter soon. We'll see. Life is hectic right now. We just celebrated my daughters 6th birthday; we sold our house in the beginning of December and bought a house shortly after. Movers come the day after New Years. We have LOTS to do and my writing has been put on the back-burner. So, while the story isn't on hold, it IS on a slow update for the time being. I hope you all understand. ~HufflepuffMommy