A/N: I own nothing pertaining to Harry Potter and the wizarding world and earn nothing from writing this bit of fiction.

Thanks for reading!

Chapter 12 - Silver Bells and Silver Spoons

The first Christmas after the war isn't at all the same as it was before, but it hasn't entirely dampened Draco's spirits. A certain witch coming to stay might have something to do with it.

December 27, 1998

Hermione's time at Harry's and with the Weasley's was a bit more sober than usual, a sense of loss hanging over the group. They were slightly cheered by an appearance by Andromeda with Teddy, but that, too, was tinged with sadness. Even so, the sense of togetherness that always permeated the crowded home (even rebuilt) was still present; hugs and mild festive cheer were still welcome and Molly had gifted everyone a nice jumper and matching socks. Bill and Fleur surprised everyone with the announcement that they were expecting, which meant that the entire family erupted in tearful hugs and a sense of joy slowly warming their hearts in a way nothing else could. It also meant that Hermione could leave without being smothered by concerned looks and well-intentioned advice.

She'd packed her trunk the night before so after some heartfelt goodbyes around mid-morning, she stepped into the floo and called out the words she thought she'd never hear herself say: "Malfoy Manor".

She arrived in the usual haze of green smoke and soot, carefully spelling herself clean as she stepped through the far larger, more ornate floo and onto tiled floor that she was sure cost more than the reconstruction of the entire Burrow. With a *pop* she was greeting by a cheerful elf who took command of her trunk and disappeared just as Draco Malfoy walked into the receiving room.

"Morning, Granger," he said stiffly, pondering whether to shake hands or just stare at the girl. This was quickly overshadowed as Blaise barreled in behind him and, shunting Draco to the side, greeted her effusively, kissing the back of her hand with great flourish. Draco glowered for a moment before he schooled his features back into place, but not before she noticed.

"Good morning, gentlemen," she cooed, a smirk crossing her face. A clicking of heels was heard in the hallway just before Narcissa herself crossed into the room. "Lady Malfoy," she called out, bowing her head politely. The woman quickly stepped in, grasping the unsuspecting Hermione by the elbows and kissing the air next to her cheek before stepping back once more to give the younger witch an appraising look.

"It's Narcissa, dear. I do hope these two young gentlemen have seen to your things?"

"Bibble got to her first," Draco sputtered.

"Of course she did," Narcissa returned with a knowing smile, certain she was going to enjoy watching her son navigate unknown proprietary waters. "Draco, show Miss Granger to her room and then we'll all take tea in the conservatory. Blaise, you may join me."

Blaise gave Hermione a wink and left with Narcissa while Draco offered his arm to Hermione.

He led her down hallway decorated with various wizarding paintings and sculptures and to a wide staircase where they climbed the shallow steps and then down another hall, stopping at the 4th door.

"This is the room Mother fixed up for you. We hope that it's to your taste," Draco announced blandly.

Hermione snorted and opened the door, curious to what Narcissa Malfoy would have dreamed up for her. To her great surprise, the room was charming rather than stuffy and there was even a shelf of books along one of the walls. She felt herself immediately drawn to it, eager to peruse the titles. As she walked toward them, Draco let out a laugh.

"Of course you would."

"Beg your pardon?"

"You went directly for the books. I knew you would."

She felt her cheeks grow warm. "I was curious, you know."

"And?"

"I'm surprised to see some Muggle titles mixed in here."

"Oh really?" He walked nearer to take a look himself. "Which ones?"

"These over here," she gestured, pointing to a few odd titles that he didn't recognise. "And over here, my goodness, these are rather new. I didn't even know she'd written a new novel. It's been ages since I've been able to go to the library," she mused.

"You're always in the library," Draco replied, somewhat confused.

"Not the school one. The one in my town. Where I live, er, lived."

He put a hand on her shoulder in an attempt to be of comfort. She gave him a half-smile and he inwardly congratulated himself that she hadn't immediately moved away. He cleared his throat. "Well, Mother is waiting with Blaise…"

"You're certain this isn't a bother?" she queried, rounding to face him. She watched as his grey eyes widened.

He cleared his throat. "Not at all. We're- she's glad to have you here."

Hermione paused to pull out a few wrapped parcels from her bag.

"Don't worry about that now, Granger. Mother said we'll do gifts tomorrow."

She blinked back. "But surely... you don't mean..." she babbled.

"Did you really think she'd invite you to Christmas dinner without having a gift?" He rolled his eyes, pretending that he himself hadn't agonised over what to give her. "We do have manners you know."

She smiled up at him, both surprised and doubly glad that she had brought gifts in that case. "Let's go have tea then and I can tell your mother about how great of a study partner you've been this term." With that she moved away, exiting the room without waiting for him.

He chuckled quietly and closed the door to her room and, taking a few large steps, easily joined her, slipping his arm beneath her own as he steered her back down the staircase.

Hermione felt extraordinarily welcomed by Narcissa and was touched by the lengths that the woman had gone through to make sure that she would be comfortable. Tea was very relaxed and Narcissa chatted with the three of them as if they were all her children, pushing more tea cakes on them, asking personal questions. Questions such as "Draco, have you been keeping up with your studies?" or "Blaise, are you being paid fairly?" and her favourite of the evening, "Hermione, Draco hasn't been holding you back, has he?" That brought a laugh from the younger witch as Draco's ears went crimson. Blaise smirked in his chair, pleased as punch.

After tea, Blaise and Draco took her on a tour of the house and grounds, which went on until Bibble the elf arrived to call them in for a rather late lunch, after which they began making plans for their visit to the henge. Hermione, of course, asked if he had any books about it and demanded to see them straight away.

For dinner that night, they were all instructed to wear something "nice", which Hermione took as an occasion to wear one of her new dresses. She found herself thankful that the girls had talked her into getting more than one. Draco fetched her just before it was time and, from the way he looked at her, she decided that the dress was perfect for the evening.

They met Blaise along the way and entered the dining room together, where Narcissa had the table already laid out

"Hermione, how lovely you look tonight. Please, do sit, here, next to me ad Blaise you go on the other side. Draco, if you'll sit just across from Blaise?"

Which left another chair, but for whom? They looked at one another in bewilderment. After all, who would come calling over the holidays?

"Since we're all here together tonight," Narcissa continued, "I thought we'd have a sort of Christmas dinner, though the day is already past. I've also invited –"

Just then the door to the dining room opened.

"Severus, how good of you to join us," Narcissa greeted with a smile.

Snape was wearing his usual black and looked as dour as ever, though one corner of his mouth was turned up just a bit. Hermione reasoned that it was the closest he could actually come to a smile. His gaze flicked to the others in turn.

"Draco, Mister Zabini," he drawled and then paused for a moment before adding, "Miss Granger."

"Good evening, Professor," they replied in chorus, Hermione's own voice a bit squeakier than usual.

He ignored it and sat down to join them at the open chair at Narcissa's left, placing him directly in front of Hermione. The girl gulped. She looked over at Draco who simply shrugged. Apparently he didn't know any more than she did that Snape would be joining them.

"And what did you do for Christmas this year, Severus?" the lady of the house enquired.

He snorted in response. "Nothing."

"Nothing at all?" Her own voice belied the fact that she didn't believe him.

"Nothing of import."

"Well. As I was just saying to the children, I thought we could have a nice holiday dinner tonight since we're all here now."

He made a noise that could have been one of agreement.

"You know, Andromeda came by on Christmas. She brought Teddy with her, the darling boy. I feel so terribly for him." She paused and sighed. "I've decided to do all that I can so that the boy will want for nothing."

Hermione watched the exchange with interest, knowing full well her own feelings on the matter and having cried a great deal over it the day before. She held back her tears from falling by focusing on her plate before her.

"You got to see them as well, Hermione, didn't you? She told me she'd gone to the Weasley home already that morning."

The curly-haired witch sniffled. "Yes," she managed to squeeze out.

"I know Remus and Tonks were your friends. I'm terribly sorry. It's been rather difficult to do what I can to make amends when I can't even leave the house, but you must know that…" the blonde's voice was choked with emotion. "That I'm fully aware of some of the costs of that bloody war. I'm honoured that you would even stoop to come here and eat with me."

Hermione's eyes went wide. While this wasn't the dinner conversation she'd been expecting, she found that she was profoundly touched by the sincerity of the woman's words.

"Everyone pays a heavy price when there is a war," Snape suddenly added. "I for one am glad that it is finally over."

Narcissa's soft gaze drifted over to her friend. "I imagine that it is easier to teach this year?" she queried, partially changing the subject.

"I'm certainly not going to be winning any Most Popular Professor awards."

"I think you're doing a fine job at being in charge of our year, Professor," Hermione chirped.

"Arse-kisser," Draco coughed and Hermione rolled her eyes. Blaise snickered until Snape gave him a dark look that quelled him into silence.

"You see, Severus, not all is quite as glum as you make it," Narcissa prodded, a twinkle in her eye.

"Miss Granger has the tendency to see things in a skewed, overly positive light. Perhaps that's why she'd been studying with you, Draco?"

Draco flushed crimson at the man's needling.

"We happen to study very well together, thank you. My marks have never been better."

"Yes, it's nice to study with someone who actually does their work without complaining every ten minutes," Hermione defended.

"Well, we all knew that Potter and Weasley were riding on your coattails," Snape concluded.

Hermione started to say something back, but then thought better of it. He was, after all, partially right.

"So Severus, Draco tells me that you are Miss Granger's advisor for the year."

"An oversight by Minerva that she has continually refused to correct."

Hermione bristled visibly at the comment. Blaise watched, avidly taking it all in and hoping to leave with plenty of fodder to drive both Draco and Granger mad. With this new juicy bit about Snape, he smirked more visibly at the witch beside him.

"You would question the Headmistress's judgement?" she asked demurely as she cut up her potatoes.

"I believe you're initial remarks to her were 'There must have been a mistake'. Were they not?"

She flushed red and accidentally dropped her knife, making it clatter off the side of the plate.

Narcissa swooped in. "Well, I'm sure that's all in the past now, isn't it dear?"

"I rather thought that things were going fine," Hermione replied.

Severus snorted, but refused to add further commentary. He thought the girl was possibly deranged, but that was ultimately someone else's problem. In any case, she'd be out of his hair in just six short months and he'd never have to deal with her or her awkward gift giving ever again.

"So Blaise, you're going to continue on with Rosmerta?"

"Yes, she's offered to extend my stay for another 18 months."

"How lovely for you. Hermione, what would you like to do after N.E.W.T.S.?"

"Well, I had considered a job at the Ministry, but I'm really not too sure. I'm afraid I haven't discovered the thing that I'm best at."

"Your top marks in all of your classes hasn't given you any clues?" Draco finally chimed in.

"I don't know. Are yours helping you decide?" she jibed.

"Oh how wonderful, Draco," Narcissa broke in. "You told me that you were doing well, but I didn't know you had top marks."

"He's got Granger as a study partner, what else would you expect?" Blaise added with a wink.

Draco, ears burning, decided it was time to change the subject. "So, Godfather, did you tell Mother about Dueling Club?"

Snape's lip curled. "No, I did not."

"Oh yeah, he's running it with a new professor, Martinez. She's a right pain in the— ouch!"

Hermione had kicked Draco under the table just then. She was only glad she'd kicked the correct leg. On the way back, however, her foot bumped Snape's and she recoiled in shock, shrinking down in her chair. Two pairs of Slytherin eyes were fixed on her. "Sorry," she murmured.

Narcissa's keen eye had missed none of this. Eager for a bit of gossip, she turned to her old friend with a smile.

"Is she really that terrible, Severus?"

Snape grimaced. "Tolerable. She's attempted to apologise, but I'll believe it when I see it."

The younger three, who hadn't heard this bit of news, exchanged looks. It was sure to be discussed whenever they were alone. Draco, for one, had a gleam in his eye.

Snape then steered the conversation to Narcissa's rose gardens and other safer topics. It was after dinner when Snape was excusing himself from their company when he addressed his three younger dinner companions.

"Do try to keep out of trouble. Especially you, Miss Granger."

Hermione once again visibly winced.

"Don't worry, Godfather. We'll be sure she gets back to school in one piece."

"That's hardly what I was referring to," he drawled. "Miss Granger simply has a knack for finding trouble. I'm not sure it was always Potter's doing after all."

Hermione now looked as if she were able to say something regrettable, so Blaise carefully steered her toward the library, claiming he needed her help. She shot her professor a baleful glare, but allowed herself to be hurried away.

Draco, however, stayed to see the man out.

"There's no need to be so hard on her," he griped.

"It's for her own good. And moreover, she knows that I'm right."

"That's not what I meant. Did she…" he hesitated before continuing, "did she ever tell you about her parents?"

"I don't see how any of that is my concern."

"As her advisor, you should know that she's currently without parents. Why else would she be here during holiday?"

"I'm sure your little research project has a great deal to do with that. She would hardly turn down the chance to learn something new."

"How did you know about that?"

"Your mother, of course." Snape let that sink in for a moment. "Why do you say that she is currently parentless?"

"She modified their memories during the war. But now she doesn't know if it can be undone. They don't even know they have a daughter. She tried with the Ministry in Australia but it was all deadends."

"Australia?"

"Where she sent them."

"Of course she did," he sneered. "I'm assuming that she didn't go to Minerva over this."

"She hasn't been keen to tell anyone."

The older wizard exhaled a deep sigh. "I suppose this means you think I ought to do something about it?"

"You could, you know."

"I'm not a memory charms expert, Draco. I'm a Potions Master."

"Your point being?"

"I'll think on it."

Draco knew that was as good as a yes, though he bit back his smile. It was best to play the game. But that didn't mean he couldn't be cheeky.

"Did Martinez give you a Christmas gift?"

Snape's nostrils flared. "Enough. I'll be back for New Year's Day. Be sure to tell your mother." He turned in a swirl of cape and hurried to the floo before Draco could wheedle anything else out of him.

Draco, for his part, strutted the whole way to the library.

A/N: I apologise for the shorter chapter, but I am dreadfully overdue (at least in my head) in giving you all another chapter. I hope that you found this one fun! We'll get a bit more of Snape's perspective in the next, promise.