A/N: Welp, please don't hate me after this one! Remember, it's Christmas all around! *runs and hides*.

Happy Holidays!

TWENTY-NINE

The Webs We Weave

The following day, the pair had spent a majority of their time in silence. Draco had closed his shop down until the twenty-seventh, allowing him to be at home. Hermione knew most of it was due to the holidays; that it was a perk of owning a business. Yet, there was a part of her that knew it was that he didn't want her to be alone.

The morning of Christmas Eve, Hermione woke early with a stomach full of knots. Draco was already awake. He was lying on his back beside her, staring up at the canopy above them.

"If I wasn't in the picture, would have you taken Potter up on his offer to leave his wife for you?" he asked.

"If you weren't in the picture, he never would have offered," she countered, shifting to lie on her back as well. "And no," she whispered. "There was a time when I wished he would, but that was long ago." She closed her eyes. "Why are you asking me this?"

"Did you leave him because of me or did you leave him for you?"

The knots in her stomach tightened. She had been asking herself that question since she had told Harry they had to break it off. She had thought it was for her, but she knew that if it hadn't been for her relationship with Draco, they would still be seeing each other.

"I did it because I wanted us to work."

"Wanted?" he asked, turning his head to face her. "Do you not want us to work anymore?"

Her eyes snapped open and she turned to lay on her side. "Of course I want us to work, Draco. I'm just not sure that we can."

"What makes you say that?" he asked, mimicking her by turning on his side, propping his head in his hand.

"Because my baggage could fill the entire Hogwarts Express. Because instead of focusing on you and our relationship, I put you right in the middle of my sordid love affair. I had no right to bring you into that. You didn't deserve to be dragged into it." She took a deep breath and plucked at the sheets. "And my addiction… It's not something I can fix quickly. Maybe it's not something I want to fix."

He reached over and slid his hand over hers. "As if my baggage doesn't match yours or possibly surpass it?"

Her lips quirked into a smile as she slid her hand down to tap at the Dark Mark. "Your baggage is well in the past. Mine is still trying to pack itself."

He laughed and pulled her to him so he could kiss her forehead and hold her tight. "It seems we have a serious conversation that needs to be had. But it's the holidays. I think we can just put everything on the back burner for now and talk about it when we get back from my mother's."

"So we just pretend everything's a-okay?" she asked, pulling out of his grasp to sit up. "You still expect me to meet your mother even though we might break up the next day?"

"Are you planning on walking away?"

"No…"

"Neither am I," he assured her. "All I said was we needed to talk; and we do. We will. Let's just enjoy the holiday and regroup when it's over."

She swallowed over the lump in her throat, but nodded anyway.

"What time do you usually arrive at the Burrow?"

She groaned and leaned forward, burying her face in her pillow. "I don't want to go. No one wants me there anyway."

"Have you been uninvited?"

"No, but-"

"Then we'll be going," he said with a tone that informed her the decision had been finalized.

"The presents aren't-"

"Have you forgotten that you're a witch?" he asked, his lips brushing over her shoulder. "We'll have those wrapped in a matter of minutes."

She sighed and propped her self on her elbows. "Molly usually serves dinner at seven. I used to arrive first thing in the morning. Everyone shows up by six at the latest and then we stay until we just can't."

He chuckled against her shoulder and then kissed his way down her back, taking the sheet from her body as he went. "Then we're already going to be late," he informed her. "Might as well make the most of the morning."

"Draco-"

"Hermione, don't make me use Silencio on you."

Despite the world crashing down around them, Hermione felt that familiar flicker of desire in her stomach. She shuddered and brought up her knees so that she was exposed and ready for him. He positioned himself on all fours behind her as well and without saying a word, he leaned in and separated her folds with his tongue. She sucked in a breath as he tasted her.

After a few leisurely flickers of his tongue, he pulled away and sank two fingers inside her core. She pushed back against his hand, craving the friction. Her body was quick to respond; she could already feel her first orgasm winding up. Just as her world was about to explode, he replaced his fingers with a deep thrust of his cock.

She cried out with her release. He drove in and out of her punishingly, bringing her to a second orgasm at the heels of the first. She ground her face into the pillow as he gripped her hips tight enough to bruise her flesh.

As yet another one threatened to shatter her, she felt his pace become erratic and a moment later, they came together. His cock twitched inside her as his seed filled her. He slid off of her and landed on his back again, pulling her tight to him. Instead of speaking, they just panted for air as they stared up at the canopy.

They Apparated hand-in-hand to the edge of the property of the Burrow. They stood there for a long moment gazing at the oddly stacked house. "Come on, Hermione. Dinner will be soon and we don't have to stay long," Draco urged, placing his hand at the small of her back.

As they stepped beyond the wards, the screams and laughter of children running wild filled the air. They were wearing light winter gear despite the snow on the ground. Even now, knowing she was a witch going on two decades, it was still surreal to know that they must have a warming charm on them. Muggle children would have surely frozen to death by now.

As they approached, someone shouted a warning in the distance, but it was too late. A rogue snowball flew through the air and crashed into Hermione's face. She gasped and then shivered as snow began to creep down her clothes.

"Sorry, Mione!"

She looked up to see George with an impish smirk on his face despite the crimson flush of is cheeks.

She shook her head and gave a nervous smile. "I'll live."

George dodged a snowball from his niece and made his way to her and Draco. "You're late this year."

"My fault," Draco replied with a smirk, earning a wink from George.

"Did we miss anything?" she asked nervously.

"Not really. Ron and Harry are being quieter than usual. Ginny said something about the case they're working on. Lav says Ron's been pretty stressed since the other day."

She studied him; waiting for him to say something. She thought he might scold her or shout. Something. Anything. Her lips parted to tell him to get it over with, but nothing came out.

"Is there a place to put the presents?" Draco asked, saving her from having to say anything.

"Do your servants not put them under a tree?" George teased, nudging Draco with his shoulder. "Come on, Mum made her eggnog. If you want a chance at any, I suggest you get some now."

Hermione hesitated to follow, but Draco's hand sought hers and ushered her forward. Once they were inside, the noise level drowned out her thoughts. For as many kids as there were outside, there were twice as many adults inside.

She pulled her hand from Draco's and nodded down the hall. "Bathroom." His eyes narrowed for a moment and she smiled. "Just have to pee. Promise." She placed a hurried kiss on his cheek and hurried off down the hall.

This time, she locked the door before stepping away from it. She relieved herself and washed her hands, taking a moment to linger at the sink afterwards. She stared at her reflection in the mirror and chewed at her bottom lip. Before her self-loathing thoughts could get any louder, she pushed herself from the vanity and grabbed the knob on the door.

"Ginny, please!"

Hermione yanked her hand back from the knob and stared at the door.

"Harry, I don't want to fight here."

"Then you shouldn't have brought it up!" he hissed.

"Would you rather be surprised by the divorce papers when they show up to your office on Monday?"

Hermione raised her hand to her lips and forced herself not to make a sound.

"James-"

"I won't keep James from you, Harry," she interrupted. "You're a great father and just because we didn't work doesn't mean I'll poison his mind against you or anything."

"Ginny-"

Hermione reached for the knob and pulled the door open, giving them both a tight-lipped smile. She didn't want to hear anymore of their fight. She just wanted to find Draco and get out. It had been a giant mistake to come here. She knew that before and it was confirmed from the look on Ginny's face at the sight of her.

Ginny snorted and looked between the two of them. Slowly, Ginny's surprise morphed into pure hate as she looked at Hermione. This was the way she had expected Ginny to look at her when she first said that she knew about Hermione and Harry. She had wished for it, but now that she was living it, she wished she could sink through the floor and melt away. "Of course you showed up," she scoffed, venom in her voice.

She wasn't sure what caused Ginny's change in attitude towards her. Last time she had seen her she was kissing her under the mistletoe and bringing up the foursome idea again. All of that was gone now, replaced by a desire to see Hermione burst into flames and get out of her sight now.

"It was a mistake. I'm sorry. I… I'll go," she said, taking a step forward.

Molly's voice rang through the Burrow with a boost of magic announcing that dinner was being served. She called for everyone to take their seats at the table outside.

"You'll stay for dinner," Ginny stated. "And then you'll leave."

Not wanting to argue, she nodded and turned to follow the red haired witch down the hall. She looked back at Harry, but his eyes were fixated on the floor. She found Draco through the crowd and hung back to see him.

"You alright?" he asked.

"Ginny asked me to leave after dinner," she said quietly.

"We can go now," he said, squeezing her fingers. "We don't need to stay."

She shook her head. "I think leaving now will raise questions. She hasn't told her family."

"Okay, then let's eat," he said, leading her out, careful to dodge the meal being magically carried through the air outside to the table to set itself.

They were one of the last ones out the door. As Draco pulled back a chair for Hermione to sit, something slammed on the table a few seats away and Ron got to his feet; anger plain as day on his face.

"You have some nerve showing up here," he spat at Hermione.

"Ronald!" Molly exclaimed, glaring at him. "Mister Malfoy has-"

"I was talking about Hermione, Mum."

The only sound around the table was that of the children who were too young to know something was happening. Otherwise, everyone slowly stared between Ron and Hermione with confusion. "Ron, please," she whispered, trying desperately to keep tears from spilling down her cheeks.

His lip curled at her before he pointed his bottle of beer towards Ginny. "I'm sure you want her here less than I do."

"Ronald? Ginevra? What is going on?" Arthur asked.

"Should I tell them, Little Sister, or would you like the honors?" Ron asked.

"Ron-" Harry started, getting to his feet.

He slammed his fist onto the table. Most people jumped and some of the kids started to cry. Lavender put her hand on his arm to try and calm him down, but he shrugged her off. "We did everything for you, Harry. We took you in when those horrid Muggles treated you worse than Purebloods treat Muggle-borns. You were like a brother to me and Merlin knows I had enough of those!"

"Enough, Weasley," Draco warned.

"Piss off, Malfoy," he snapped and then snorted. "Actually, this may concern you. Did you know that you're dating a cheater and a liar? Quite a good one at that."

"Ron, come on," Lavender said, getting to her feet, trying to pull him away from the table. "Let's get you a Sober Up."

He shrugged out of her grasp. "Being sober won't change the fact that Hermione and Harry were fucking behind my back. Behind Ginny's back."

Hermione trembled in her seat and bit her lip. Everyone was staring at her. Her eyes flickered towards Harry to see that he was simply slumped in his seat with his head down, avoiding everyone's gaze entirely.

George let out a whistle under his breath and Hermione cast her eyes down.

"Actually, they've been carrying on with the affair this whole time," came Ginny's voice.

Hermione's eyes lifted to hers as her heart broke.

"After everything we did for you," she continued. "Taking you in as part of our family when you went and Obliviated your own. I suppose you'll have Malfoy to lean on now. So long as he puts up with your bullshit." She shrugged her shoulders. "Come Monday, Harry will be free too. Then the three of you can carry on with your sordid kink."

Chaos erupted.

Ron had launched himself at Harry. As the two of them collided, the rest of the adults began to shout. Some shouted for them to stop, others voiced their disbelief. A few of the brothers stepped in to break up the fight.

But while the Weasley's were focused on the fight, Hermione ran. She pulled herself from Draco's grasp and ran as fast as she could towards the Apparition line. Draco was close on her heels, but she was faster. "Hermione, stop!" he shouted. "Wait for-"

"I'm so sorry," she cried and disappeared from sight.