DPOV

The healers had managed to get Granger fixed up for the most part - there was only so much one could do for a Crucio victim - and they'd run a few tests as well. Granger had wanted to know what was going on with her magic - not that I blamed her. I'd never heard of a muggleborn witch having that kind of power.

Then again, it was safe to say that most of what I knew about muggleborns was absolute shite anyway.

So here we were, Granger with a death grip on my hand as we waited for St. Mungos magical specialist to explain what was going on.

"How much do you know about your family's lineage, Miss Granger?"

This specialist - Dr. Greene, if I remembered correctly - looked to be around 40 with smile lines and a calming demeanor. He sat in the chair opposite the hospital bed where I'd joined Granger, a clipboard in his hand as he looked at her, waiting for her response.

"Not much." she said with a shrug, "I'd never traced my family back further than my great grandparents."

Dr. Greene nodded, a small smile on his face as he said, "Well, I think this will be of some interest to you then."

He handed her a sheet of parchment, a spiraling family tree on it, that ended with her name. So who -

"Holy shite, Granger."

She looked to me, confusion clear as day on her face, "What?"

"Siobhan Kolgrim is considered one of the most powerful witches in the world. She started a rebellion against the church during the Burning Times and managed to save thousands of accused witches."

Her eyes widened almost comically and she looked to Dr. Greene, as if for confirmation.

"Mr. Malfoy's right." he chuckled, "Siobhan leveled an entire village in her rage after one of her daughters had been burned at the stake. It's what spurred her into action. The story goes that she called upon a horde of dragons and they came and wrought havoc with her. She's a major reason why we still have magic today, actually."

Granger shook her head, staring back down at her family tree as she asked, "How many of my family members were witches or wizards? My parents were certainly muggle."

"The magic started to taper out here," he explained, pointing midway into the tree, "Siobhan was dead and over time people just forgot the ways, married other families, but that didn't mean that magic wasn't still in there. I would assume that your magical core was the first one in generations that's been strong enough to handle Siobhan's magic."

She shook her head again, opening and closing her mouth in an attempt to find words.

"What does this mean?"

He gave her a sympathetic smile and said, "It can mean whatever you want it to mean, Miss Granger. You're a very powerful witch. I'd be surprised if there was much you couldn't do."

"What about restoring memories? Memories that I took." she asked quietly.

I squeezed her hand reassuringly before Dr. Greene was speaking.

"It takes specialists months, even years to restore obliviated memories. I'm not saying that you can't, but it would be difficult."

She just nodded, blinking her eyes a few times before looking up between the two of us and smiling, "Well at least this explains it."

I smirked, turning my attention to Dr. Greene as I asked, "Is she free to go, then?"

He nodded, "We didn't have to do much - the affects from the Crucio had been mostly burned off by your magic. You're cleared to go home."

"Thank gods." she muttered, thanking him again before tugging me out the door.

"Do you want me to take you to Grimmauld Place or -"

"Can we go to yours?" she interrupted, "I want some time to sort through all this Siobhan stuff without having Harry, Ron, and Ginny asking me a million questions."

"Of course." I said easily, wrapping an arm around her shoulders, "You know I love having you at mine."

She smiled, leaning into me as she asked, "How are you? I mean with everything...?"

It was a valid question. My mother had completely lost her mind and was now certainly facing serious time in Azkaban - or in a mental health facility. At the moment I wasn't really sure which I hoped for her. The sight of Granger being tortured - again - right in front of me wasn't something I was going to forget.

But, she was still my mother, and I knew that she hadn't always been like...like that.

"I'm good, Granger." I said honestly, "You're okay, I'm okay, my parents are okay, and the fact that my mother's going to get whatever the Wizengamot decides is fair...that's something she brought on herself."

She nodded, biting her lip before saying, "We should probably go to Grimmauld Place so you can find out what's going on with -"

"No," I interrupted, "We're going to mine. I'm going to make you the perfect soup for this shite day, we're going to hang out with Brill, and you're going to try not to drive yourself insane researching Siobhan."

She laughed, wrapping her arm around my waist, "That does sound pretty perfect actually."

HPOV

"It's strange to think Christmas is two days away." I said, curled up on Malfoy's couch with a book he'd gotten from the Manor's library on Siobhan Kolgrim.

Ever since I'd found out about her - about me - I'd been reading anything and everything I could get my hands on. She had been a fascinating woman, going out of her way to advocate not only for accused witches, but anyone who the Church looked down on and treated poorly.

She'd apparently had a special affinity with dragons, and after she'd called the horde to destroy the town, her and her other daughter had left with them - riding the dragons. She did a lot of great work for the magical community, but she was pretty feared by most village-folk - and for good reason, honestly. She was an incredibly powerful, vengeful witch, and if you weren't ready or willing to treat those with magical bloodlines fairly...well she had no problem dealing with you.

There was a part of me that couldn't understand her harsh nature, but a larger part certainly could. I'd faced adversity throughout my entire time at Hogwarts for being a muggleborn - and particularly during the war - and there had certainly been more than one occasion where I'd let my anger control me.

I couldn't help but wonder if her magic was part of the reason why I felt so strongly about magical creature rights, or if it was because I felt so strongly about them that I'd gotten her magic.

Regardless, finally having an answer for my seemingly out of control magical outbursts was a relief. It was great knowing that there wasn't anything wrong with me - the opposite, in fact.

"Speaking of Christmas." started Malfoy, moving to join me on the couch, "I was wondering if you'd like to help me make dessert. Potter might have mentioned that your mother used to make something that you're actually capable of cooking."

I laughed, bumping his shoulder with my own as I said, "I'm getting better!"

He snorted, a smile still on his face as he said, "I'll give you that, but you're no Ramsay."

"Oh, and you are?" I asked with an eye roll.

He ignored my dig and threw an arm around my shoulder, tugging me into him as he re-asked his earlier question, "So will you help me with the dessert? I'd planned on making it myself and surprising you with it, but I didn't want to risk mucking it up."

In moments like these I realized how sweet Malfoy really was. He was constantly going out of his way to do nice things for me - things that I never would've asked anyone for.

"Of course I'll help." I said, curling into his side and wrapping an arm around him.

We were silent for a while, simply enjoying each other's presence as the fire roared in front of us.

"I really enjoy having you here, Granger." he murmured softly, pressing a kiss to the top of my head.

I couldn't stop the smile that slipped onto my face at his words, because I honestly felt the same way. Being with Malfoy was easy. He made me happier than I'd been since before the War, and I honestly couldn't picture my life without him anymore - the fact that it'd only been 4 months since we'd really known each other didn't seem to matter at all.

"I was dreading Christmas." I said quietly. It would be the second Christmas I hadn't spent with my parents, but the first one I'd been immersed in the war. This one, though, wouldn't give me any distractions and I'd been truly dreading it.

Malfoy's arm tightened around my shoulders but he said nothing, letting me continue in my own time.

"I knew that I could go to the Burrow - probably would've as well - but the thought alone was exhausting." I took a deep breath, reigning my emotions back in check. I wasn't sad, so I wasn't going to start crying. "Without my parents, Christmas just isn't...it isn't..." I cleared my throat, feeling myself getting choked up regardless thinking about them in Australia with no memory of me.

"Hermione," he said softly, "You don't have to -"

I shook my head, sitting up so that I could face him and take his hand in mine, "I know that I don't have to. I just - I need to." I said firmly, "I'm truly grateful to have you in my life, Malfoy. You -"

"Stop it, Gra-"

"You're so much more amazing than you give yourself credit for, Draco." I murmured, holding fast to his hand even as he dropped his eyes from mine. "You've done so many things that I would've never expected, never even asked for - yet you seemed to know exactly what I needed when I needed it. Merlin, you're the only one who's ever been able to connect with my magic and calm me down."

At that his eyes did flick to mine, the look of surprise clearly written across his face, "What?"

I nodded, "I don't know what it is, but something about your magic - about you - you just seem to know me."

I watched the small smile tug up the corners of his lips and pushed forward.

"I guess all of that is just to say that I'm really looking forward to Christmas with you."

Without a word he slid his free hand to the back of my neck, pulling me forward into a soft kiss.

"You know that I'm not...I'm not great with words. Not like this." he said, running a hand through his hair as he huffed out a breath.

"You don't have to say anything to -"

"I know that I don't have to." he said, mirroring my earlier words, "But I need to. I - this is -" he cursed, shaking his head at himself as he started over, "I've never felt like...like this with anyone before, and it's odd. It's odd and sometimes infuriating and bloody terrifying, but I wouldn't change it for anything. I wouldn't change us for anything."

His words surprised me, though after everything I suppose they really shouldn't have. He was constantly proving to me how he felt with his actions, but something about hearing him express it - especially when I knew how uncomfortable sharing things like that made him - seemed to make it more real. Tangible.

Morgana, I really did love him.