Christmas at the Noble and Most Ancient House of Black
December came sooner than everyone expected, and soon they were all packed into a compartment with all their trunks and pets. Hedwig was sitting on Harry's lap again and Crookshanks was sitting next to Hermione. It turned out that Ron was not the only one with a dislike for the cat. Draco had also not taken to it well. Apparently, when he was younger, he had a run in with a particularly ferrel cat that scratched deep gashes into his arms and face. His father had healed them by magic, but had then punished Draco for crying at the gashes running down is body. Hermione had winced when she had heard the story, so she agreed not to take her cat out of the basket. Draco had thanked her and they had an enjoyable ride back, laughing, talking and generally having fun. They pulled up at the station later that night and got off the train, taking all their stuff with them.
After finding Sirius and Lupin standing on the platform waiting for them, for they were on the train, except in a different compartment, they made their way outside of the station and down a side alley without anyone spotting them. As soon as they reached the darkest point in the alley, Sirius pulled an old beer bottle out of his pocket. Hermione and Harry raised an eyebrow at him, but he merely shrugged.
'Dumbledore gave it to me.' He whispered in explanation. Harry and Hermione shivered at the thought and took hold of the bottle, with Sierra, Draco, Ginny and Lupin following soon after. Then Sirius tapped the object with his new wand, and they instantly felt a tug behind their navel, and the next thing they knew, they had landed in front of a large square of houses, then, all of a sudden, the place showed up in front of their eyes, bit by bit, very slowly, painfully slowly actually, and then it was there. Sirius walked forward and opened the door to let the others in first with a sweep of his arm. Hermione and Ginny smiled at him as they passed and Sierra and Draco just took in everything they went passed, staring at everything with awe. Harry and Ron just walked in without even looking up, their conversation was very important. Lupin was the last in before Sirius closed the door with a snap behind himself. The snap just happened to wake up Sirius' well known mother.
'Filth! Blood Traitors! Mudbloods! Scu-!' But that was about as far as she got before Sirius yelled 'SHUT UP!' and sent a spell her way to close her curtains. Everyone had made their way down into the kitchens to find the rest of the Weasley troop and Draco and Sierra where left there stunned. Hermione came back out looking for them
'Come on. We're all in the kitchen. What's wrong? You act like you've just had your death told to you, and its coming up soon.' Hermione joked, giggling.
'What was that?' Draco asked, still a little shocked. She giggled again.
'That was Sirius' mother. Apparently she put an everlasting sticking charm on the back of her portrait, so Sirius can't remove it. Every time someone rings the doorbell, or knocks something over, or yells really loud, she erupts into all these insults about muggleborns, blood traitors, scum, all that type of stuff. She gives you a huge headache though if you allow her to go on about it too long. Come on, everyone's in the kitchen waiting for you. Don't worry, everyone's been told of the situation, and as long as you're nice to them, they'll be nice to you.' Hermione said. She took Draco's hand and ushered Sierra along behind her.
They came to the kitchen quickly and Draco took in the sight before him. There, before him, sat the entire Order of the Phoenix, accompanied by the rest of the Weasley family and Sirius. Hermione pulled him over to where she had saved seats for them. She put Draco down in the seat next to hers and Sierra sat in the seat next to Harry. That's when Draco caught sight of Alastor Moody. His eyes went wide, he turned pale and shifted his gaze to the floor. Hermione caught sight of this and stifled laughter. Moody was oblivious though, he didn't know what his infiltrator had done in his body while he was locked in a chest. Harry had also seen Draco's reaction and was stifling laughter. No one noticed the two giggling and chuckling though, because the room was full of laughter and talking.
After about fifteen minutes, Sirius clapped his hands for quiet.
'How about dinner?' He asked, smiling brightly. Everyone cheered as he called for the house-elf.
'Kreacher!' He yelled. Kreacher came into the room with a crack that no one heard and stood waiting patiently next to Sirius, though, he was muttering under his breath. 'Bring dinner out, would you. And you better not have burned it!' Sirius called after the little elf, seeming as he disappeared after the first sentence was said. He returned soon after bearing dinner though, and it didn't look burnt at all. Hermione smiled at the elf as he put her dinner down on the table.
'Thank you Kreacher.' She said politely. Kreacher just kept mumbling to himself as he kept going along the table. Draco turned to whisper in her ear.
'He isn't really a people person, is he?' He asked her. Hermione shook her head with a strange look on her face.
'No, not really, but I'm just polite to him because no one else is.' She returned. Draco nodded and they started to eat their dinner quickly. Once done, all the kids were shipped upstairs by Mrs. Weasley and Hermione and Harry showed Sierra and Draco where they were sleeping. They each said goodnight to each other before dropping into their beds and falling into an exhausted sleep.
The next morning, Draco woke up happy. For once in his life he didn't have to wake up to the sneering face of his father as he beat him to get up. Looking to his left and right, he saw that Harry and Ron were still asleep. Draco laid in bed for a while and just thought about everything. His father, Hermione, Sierra, Harry, Ron, Pansy, everything.
After a while he heard noise and voices from downstairs, so he decided to get dressed and go down to get breakfast. When he opened the door to the Kitchen, he saw Tonks, Hermione, Ginny, Mrs. Weasley and Sierra all sitting at the table.
'Draco! You're up! I think this is the first time a guy has been up before 10 before.' Hermione teased, going up to him and giving him a hug. Draco wasn't awake enough to even glare at her, so he just wrapped his arms around her and held her tight.
'Morning.' Draco muttered to everyone. 'What's for breakfast?'
'Come sit down, dear, I'll fix you up something nice.' Mrs. Weasley said as she bustled over to the bench and cupboard. She came back a moment later carrying a bowl of steaming hot porridge.
'Thank you.' Draco said as he dug into it. He was starving. Hermione giggled as he shoved the food into his mouth. Sierra glared at him in disgust and Ginny raised an eyebrow at him.
'What? I'm hungry.' He said after he had swallowed.
'Well, at least he swallows before telling us he's hungry.' Ginny said.
'True, Ron can be such a pig.' Hermione said.
'Can be? Is! I swear, I don't know anyone who is a bigger pig than he is.' Ginny replied. Hermione and Sierra laughed at this and the boys slowly traipsed into the Kitchen, pulling bowls of porridge towards them. They mumbled something that could have resembled a good morning on some distant planet and began shovelling food into their mouths. Ginny raised an eyebrow at Hermione and she grimaced, knowing the younger girl was telling the truth about their friends and brother.
'Do you two boys know where Fred and George are? They didn't come down for breakfast this morning and I don't think they came home from work last night.' Mrs. Weasley fretted. Harry swallowed before speaking.
'They didn't. Don't worry Mrs. Weasley, they'll be fine. They are good wizards you know, they just don't like to show it.' Harry said, shrugging. Mrs. Weasley still looked worriedly at the door and wrung her hands. Next to come down for breakfast were Remus and Sirius. They weren't as tired as the other boys, but plonked into their seats all the same, and pulled their own bowls toward them. There was scarce talking as people ate their breakfast, but soon things got a lot rowdier. Fred and George entered the house, looking incredibly hung over.
The look on Mrs. Weasley's face was priceless.
'WHAT DO YOU TWO THINK YOU WERE DOING STAYING OUT ALL NIGHT!! THEN HAVING THE GALL TO COME IN HUNG OVER!! I AM ASHAMED TO CALL YOU MY SONS!!' Mrs. Weasley screamed. Hermione, Harry and Ron quickly grabbed the Malfoy's and dragged them out of the door with Sirius and Remus following close behind.
Of course, Mrs. Black had started on her yelling tangent yet again, but there was no real point to shutting her up if Mrs. Weasley was just going to keep yelling.
Fred and George were holding their hands over their ears and wishing that their mother would stop yelling her head off at them. They had a headache as it was.
The others quietly and quickly walked up the stairs and into the boys room, with Sirius and Remus heading into Sirius' room to talk privately. Before they left though, they got Sirius to put a silencing charm on the door so they could talk without having to listen to the ranting of Mrs. Weasley.
'Is it always like this around here?' Draco asked. They had all seated themselves on the beds, Draco and Hermione on Draco's, Harry and Sierra on Harry's and Ron and Ginny sat on Ron's.
'Only when they Weasley's are here. And they always set up residence here for the holidays so we can all stay together. The Weasley are also in the Order, so it's easier for them to attend the meetings if they live in the Headquarters. Sirius would probably get bored without all this company anyway.' Harry said. Draco nodded and laid down on his bed with his hands behind his head and stared at the ceiling. Hermione followed his lead and laid down next to him. She put her head on his chest and closed her eyes, snuggling close to him. He smiled down at her and wrapped his arm around her shoulders and rubbed them gently. She opened her eyes and smiled warmly at him. Draco looked up and saw that Harry and Sierra were in their own world, and Ron and Ginny were talking about something of their own kind. Draco turned to face his loved one and wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her towards him. Hermione opened her eyes to looked straight into Draco's, which made her jump a bit, which made him chuckle. She glared playfully at him before settling into a comfortable position beside him. Her head was resting against his chest and her arms were wrapped tightly around him. She smiled and sighed contently before snuggling deeper into his embrace.
Draco stared at the beauty in his arms. It was almost impossible to believe that he had once hated her beyond any one else, apart from Harry. He kissed the top of her head and leaned his head down close to her ear.
'Will you be my girlfriend Hermione?' He asked, quietly. Hermione looked up suddenly and she gave him the biggest and brightest smile she had ever given anyone. She nodded her head and kissed him full on the lips.
'Of course I will. I'd love that.' She whispered back. Draco smiled back down at her and captured her lips again. He pulled her up to eye level and the kiss deepened. She slid her tongue against his lips and he quickly opened her mouth to let her in. He rolled onto his back, taking Hermione with him. She squealed a little about being pulled on top of him, but soon got used to the idea. Hey, she had already lost her innocence, she should know.
Draco snuck his hands up the back of her shirt and rubbed the soft skin on her back gently. He could tell she liked things gentle, and he didn't want to push her in front of all of them, though they didn't look like they would have noticed anyway. Well, Ron and Ginny may have, and that was worse then Harry and Sierra noticing.
He felt Hermione pull away and looked up into her smiling eyes.
'I love you.' She whispered.
'I love you more.' He teased. Hermione laughed quietly and rested her head on his chest again and stroked it lovingly. Hermione sighed in contentment again and listened to Draco's racing heart. Apparently he liked it when they kissed. But she noticed that his heart never slowed.
Maybe it's because I'm laying on him. Hermione thought. She smiled at the thought and rolled off of him. She was such a tease.
She heard Draco groan at the loss of contact, and she giggled, before resting her head on him again, only to have him pull her back up onto him. He wrapped his arms around her waist securely so she couldn't get off him again.
Hermione stole a glance over at Harry and Sierra. What she saw made her instantly make up her mind to leave. She pointed out this to Draco and he nodded, not wanting to see his cousin screw Harry. Hermione got Ron and Ginny's attention and pointed to them. Ginny's eyes went wide as galleons and Ron just went bright red. They both jumped up and started to leave, with Draco and Hermione following close behind.
'I never want to see that again.' Ginny said once they got outside the bedroom.
'You're not the only one.' Ron and Draco muttered. Hermione was in a fit of giggles. The boys just stared at her and took it, but Ginny started to giggle soon and then both girls were in fits of hysterical laughter.
'Why are you laughing? Seeing that wasn't funny!' Draco said. This just made the girls laugh harder. Ron and Draco sighed and lead the two hysterical girls down to the Lounge Room and sit them on the couches. By that time they had calmed down sufficiently and were starting to just come to term with smiles. Hermione leaned into Draco's chest on the couch and they began to talk with the other two.
About half an hour later, Sirius and Remus waked in with a huge tree in their hands and positioned it in one of the far corners to where they were sitting. Sirius noticed something was amiss.
'Where's Harry and Sierra?' He asked. Ron went bright red again and the girls started to giggle.
'Thanks Sirius, we'd only just got them to stop laughing. They're upstairs, Harry's probably deflowering her by now. And since it is a silenced room, we can't tell, and might I add, don't want to know.' Draco said. Sirius nodded in understanding and Remus' eyes went wide. He obviously wasn't expecting that answer.
'And you don't care?' Sirius asked, surprised that Draco didn't seem to care that his most loved relative was probably getting screwed over right now.
'I learnt how to not show my emotions at the age of six. I haven't really showed emotion ever since. But, I am trying to restrain myself from launching up those stairs and pulling Sierra down here by her ear.' Draco said, glaring up the stairs. Sirius laughed a little before cupping his hands around his mouth.
'Hey Harry! Better watch out! Draco's going to kill you for screwing his cousin!' Sirius yelled. The lot of them laughed. Although, it was a fruitless attempt at a warning because Harry couldn't hear a word.
'Shhh, don't give it away.' Draco said jokingly. They all laughed a little more before Sirius spoke up again.
'Hey, do you want to help me with decorating this stinking place for the festive holiday? Seeming as my Godson won't!' Sirius called up the stairs.
'You know he can't hear you Sirius. There really is no point yelling at the boy.' Remus said, holding his head in his hand. Sirius shrugged.
'So? At least I can say that I yelled at the boy at least once in his lifetime.' Sirius said. They started laughing for a second until Draco stood up slowly, causing Hermione to lay back on the couch.
'If you fart Draco Malfoy I will be forced to kill you when I wake from unconsciousness.' Hermione warned. Draco shot a glare at her as everyone laughed at Hermione's warning.
'Fine then.' And without warning, Draco jumped onto her and started to tickle her fiercely. Hermione started to squeal like little girl and Ginny started to help out Draco.
'Get off! Get off! Stop! Please! I'm begging you! Stop!' Hermione yelled between laughter.
'What do you say?' Draco asked.
'I already said please!' Hermione yelled.
'Nope, not the word I'm looking for.' Draco said. Hermione continued to squeal as the blonde and red-head continued to tickle her.
'Sorry!' She screamed. Draco stopped tickling her at the sound of the word. But didn't get off her.
'Why are you still on top of me?' She asked once she had caught her breathe again. Draco shrugged.
'Because I feel like it.' He answered. Hermione just shook her head at him and looked at Sirius.
'Of course we will help with the decorations. Where do we start?' Hermione asked. Sirius grinned.
'You guys can start in the Kitchen, Remus and I will start in this room, Molly is doing the upstairs rooms, just on the outside, if you guys want you're rooms done then you will have to do them yourselves. The Twins are doing the Library and Tonks is doing the Hallway.' Sirius said, but he was interrupted by a resounding, CRASH! From downstairs in the Hallway.
'Sorry!' Damn Troll leg!' Came the cry. Sirius and Remus chuckled at her and then sent them off to get the Christmas decorations and to start on the Kitchen. For the rest of the day, they put Christmas decorations around the house and everyone, including Harry and Sierra, helped with putting the Chrissie decs on the tree. Draco and Sierra put the Angel on, seeming as they had never been to a Black Christmas before, and they were now pretty much members of the family.
That night everyone sat around the fire enjoying the heat.
Hermione was curled up on Draco's lap, with him softly stroking her hair, Sierra and Harry were curled up on a chair, both of them were about to fall asleep. Ron was already snoring on one chair and Ginny had already gone to bed. Molly and Arthur had turned in as well as Sirius and Remus. The Twins had decided to go to bed early too, they wanted to get up early the next morning to wake everyone up with a bang. They were all hoping it wasn't literal. Though, they knew it was.
During the day, everyone had wrapped their presents for each other and placed them under the tree that evening. Many were oddly shaped and the ones from Fred and George people were reluctant to open. Some were small, but on the other had some were massive.
During the day, Sirius had kept giving Harry odd looks, like, I know something you don't know, type looks. Sometimes they were worried, others mysterious, but all-in-all, he kept looking at Harry throughout the day, not that Harry noticed though, he was too taken by Sierra to spend many people much thought.
Draco looked down at the sleeping angel in his arms and decided to take her up to bed, she would sleep better there than on that old couch.
He bid a silent goodbye to Harry and Sierra and bridal carried Hermione up to her room. When he got there, he placed her on her bed carefully, but maybe not carefully enough, because Hermione started to stir. She turned over to find Draco heading for the door when she decided that she wanted him to stay.
'Draco.' She whispered. Draco stopped abruptly. He wasn't expecting her to hear him taking her into her room. He turned around and smiled softly to the sleepy girl. He sat on the edge of the bed and stroked her hair, like he had been doing all night. She looked up at him and smiled.
'Will you stay with me?' She asked quietly. Draco wasn't expecting that either, and looked a little taken aback for a moment before he smiled at her and got underneath the blanket behind her and wrapped his arms around her from behind.
'You happy now?' He asked gently. He felt her nod her head and then felt her deep breathing. His angel was already asleep. He smiled to himself and brushed a strand of hair away from her shoulder before kissing it lightly and putting his head back onto the pillow and burying his head into her hair. His last conscious thought was that he hoped she liked his present tomorrow.