Disclaimer: I do not own the Harry Potter franchise, nor anything affiliated with it.
Hermione's POV
It's the last day of school before the Christmas break and everyone is pretty relaxed. Draco and I wait while our classmates file into the classroom and sit down at their seats.
Since it's the last day, we're mostly just going to have research day with a little bit to clarify some confusing bits of the project. I clap my hands to get their attention once I think they've settled down. While I start to talk, Draco quickly takes attendance since knows our class pretty well and doesn't have to call out names to know who's missing.
"I know there's a bit of confusion as to what you need to hand in for the project and when they're due, so I made a calendar for you guys with all the details. I'm just going to review it verbally for those of you who I know won't actually go through the document.
By January 20th you will hand in your presentation, preferably with sources listed in the presentation at the end or as a separate document on the same day. Presentations will be held from the 21st to the 27th and I will eventually get you guys to sign up for when you want to present. You also need to hand in a set of jot notes on your topic by January 15th. We will use them to create the exam study packages so it would be better for the you and the whole class if they are thorough. You don't have to include all the information in your unit in your presentation. The exam study packages will be handed out January 20th, the same day your projects are due, and the exam itself will take place on the 30th during your usual classroom time slot."
I then divide my stack of calendars and pass them down the tables for the students to pass out to each other.
"Are there any questions?" I ask the class. When no one raises their hand, I continue on. "In that case, you can use the rest of the period to do research for the project and work on it. You have about 1 hour left so get to it!" They all turn to their partners and get to work. I walk over to Draco who is sitting by the desk behind me.
"Do we have any idea what we're going to do for this presentation?" I ask Draco.
"Not really, though I did have a couple of ideas based on similar project examples I found while creating this project." He answers while pulling out his laptop. I sit down next to him, pull out my own, and log on.
"Let's create a document to brainstorm ideas and then narrow them down when we have a decent amount of them." I say. He nods and then I get a notification that he's already shared the document. I open the document and add my own ideas to it while Draco does the same. I then create a table with the ideas. We work on the project till the bell rings. I dismiss the class and we pack up to go to lunch.
The rest of the day is a blurr. We spend most of the classes doing light school work, or just messing around. I kind of feel bad for making the class do work this morning, but they didn't seem to mind that much and we're a month behind. When Draco and I finally head up to our dorm to drop our binders and textbooks off, he asks me if we can take a detour before dinner.
"Sure, as long as we get to eat some food at some point this evening." I reply
"Great, we have to just stop by McGonagall's office. She asked if we could stop by, though she said we should get changed into more comfortable clothes before coming." It sounds a little suspicious, but I do as he says.
We head up to McGonagall's office and enter after knocking.
"Ah, Ms. Granger, Mr. Malfoy. I was wondering if you could do me a favour. I have to pick up a collection of antique books for the library from an old friend. There are quite a few and I have to be going to the feast to do a speech soon. I wanted to know if you could retrieve them for me and just leave them by my desk. I'll take you there by side along apparition just so you know what to visualize the next few times you do it."
"Sure, we'd love to."
"Wonderful. Mr. Malfoy take my hand, Ms. Granger take Mr. Malfoy's hand."
We do as she says and I feel the familiar tug of apparition. However just before we leave, I see McGonagall let go of Draco's hand. I guess that means Draco is guiding us since I know I'm not. I start to panic about what's going to happen to us if we don't know where we're going. Just before I do however, my feet touch solid ground and I let out a sigh of relief. That is short lived however, as I look at my surroundings and see that we are just in front of a gate.
We seem to be on the threshold of a large house or mansion and I quickly recognize it as Malfoy Manor. I turn to Draco and see that he's checking his watch and muttering something under his breath.
"Draco, what are we doing here? Why did McGonagall let go of your hand? What's going on?" I ask him.
He turns to me and answers. "Just trust me okay? It's a surprise." He then starts walking to the Manor and I walk with him down the cobblestone path. We make the journey in silence, but thankfully it doesn't take long to get to the door. We walk up the step to the door and Draco knocks on it. It opens to Bipsy's smiling face.
"Master, Bipsy has everything all set up and ready." I turn to Draco again in a questioning way.
"Has what set up?" He just tells me to wait a little while longer. We step in and Bipsy leads us down the main hallway. There are beautiful landscape paintings hung on the walls and many sculptures on little tables in between the paintings. It seems a lot more vibrant than when I was here during the war. It seems so long ago, back when I was tortured by my, now, boyfriend's crazy aunt. I was worried I might have a panic attack being back in this house. However it's so much different from when I was here that I seem to be alright, though I'm not the most comfortable.
We enter a door on the left side about halfway down the hall. The door is wooden and covered in ornate carvings, but painted a soft cream colour to match the light blue of the walls.
"Surprise!" I hear. I look at the table in the middle of the room and see the grinning faces of all of my friends, Luna, Neville, Blaise, Ginny, and Harry. I turn back to Draco and see him looking at me with a great big smirk on his face. I quickly step over and hug him; almost knocking him, and his walker, over in the process.
"Hi guys." I say to my friends in a slightly breathless voice. "What are you guys doing here?"
"Draco owled all of us and asked if we could come out for a dinner at the Manor. It was going to be a surprise for you." says Ginny in a very matter of fact way.
"He even got permission from McGonagall for us to leave early." adds Blaise.
"Well are we going to actually eat or are we just going to stand around talking? I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm starving." Says Harry with a mock bored expression. We all laugh at his interruption and Draco smirks at him.
"Well you can't always get what you want Potter. Even the Chosen One has to wait a bit and have some patience." We laugh even harder at that and I find the playful banter to be pretty nice to listen to. If only it was like this when we were younger. Instead the teasing was mean and could be very hurtful at times.
"Having said that, it is almost 6 o'clock. Bipsy, can you bring out the food for us?" Draco asks.
"Yes Master!" She squeaks before running off to get the food. She returns levitating all sorts of food, and places it in the middle of the table. She then snaps her fingers and dishes appear on the table. While she does this, Draco and I sit down at our seats. Bipsy then grabs a bottle of sparkling apple juice and pours us each a glass of it.
I look at the spread of food and marvel at the variety. A closer look at it makes me realize that the bacon covered turkey, the asparagus, the onion mashed potatoes, and the portabello mushroom dishes are all there. I realize that Draco is trying to make me feel as comfortable as possible with this holiday since it brings back a lot of emotion. I smile at him from across the table and mouth the words 'thank you' at him.
Luna starts to hum a song I recognize as 'Love is All Around' from the really old muggle film 'Love Actually'. I mock glare at her and she just gives me her trademark innocent smile in return.
We eat and talk for at least 2 hours. It's a lot of fun and the food is wonderful. Somehow Bipsy was able to capture all the flavours I used to taste when I had it with my family. It tastes exactly like it's supposed to and it makes me feel so much more comfortable about the season. After a while when everyone is done with their food, we move to a sitting room one door over and sit huddled close as a group by the fireplace. At around 8:30, Bipsy comes by with a tray of hot chocolate and tea cakes. We scoff the cakes and slowly sip our hot chocolate after adding candy cane pieces and cream on top. By the time everyone has to leave it's about 10 o'clock.
Harry goes home with Ginny since they are both staying at the burrow for the Christmas season. Blaise, Luna, and Neville all floo back to Hogwarts since we're all staying there over the break. Draco and I stay a little longer to help Bipsy clean up and put stuff back to their original spots. We finish pretty quickly since most of the stuff was already done before and because Bipsy had lots of experience using magic to do it and knew a lot of handy spells for the job. It doesn't take very long for us the be standing in front of the fireplace preparing to floo to McGonagall's office.
While we're about to leave, I turn to Draco. "Thank you so much for this evening. I had a blast and I feel much better going into this Christmas season. I had so much fun and I really enjoyed this time."
"You're welcome, maybe we should make this a tradition since most of us no longer have parents to spend the holidays with. I thought it would be a good way to end the calendar year." He says with a very genuine smile.
"Well it was amazing. Thank you again, you did an amazing job here."
"Well we should probably leave now." He says and I nod.
Then I take a handful of floo powder and throw it into the fire. As I step into the emerald flames, I wonder what I did to deserve such wonderful and amazing people and friends in my life.
Author's Note: This is just a shorter chapter for you guys before Christmas. Sorry it's not the best in terms of length, but it's hard to right lengthy scenes that are happy as well. I'll try to get one up for boxing day, but no promises. Go spend time with your families if you can, or just enjoy this time of year before the next one hits us in the face like usual. Thanks for all of your support guys, I love reading your reviews. Please review and send feedback. Have a great weeks guys, Merry Christmas, Hannukkah, and Kwanza for those who celebrate it. Till next time!