A/N: Fluff alert! This chapter is just fluff and adorableness and more fluff! And some sassy Ginny which is always good. I really like this chapter so I hope you guys like it too!

Tallyho!

Chapter 15:

A week before Christmas, Hermione awoke to find the space in the bed next to her was empty. She frowned at it in confusion before looking towards the door as it opened. Draco walked in quietly but when he saw that she was awake, he closed the door as he normally would. "Morning," he smiled.

"Morning. Where were you?"

"Helping set up the Christmas tree downstairs," he said as he sat down on the bed next to her. "They needed an extra set of hands so I volunteered to help."

"They?"

"Potter, Weasley, and Mr. Weasley. Mr. Weasley's gone, said he had some things to finish up at the Ministry before taking time off for the holiday. Potter and Weasley are downstairs waiting for you."

Her brows furrowed in confusion. "Why me?"

He shrugged. "They didn't want to decorate the tree without you."

She nodded in understanding and looked over at the clock. "Sweet Merlin! It's after nine! Why did you let me sleep in so late?" she said as she jumped out of bed.

Draco chuckled. "Because you needed the rest. And Potter cancelled training for the time being too."

She stopped and looked at him. "He cancelled it?"

He nodded. "He said we should take a break and enjoy the holiday. Frankly, I agree, I'm exhausted."

Hermione bit her lip as she thought about that. She nodded as she saw Harry's point and sighed. "All right, fine. But after the New Year, we're jumping right back into training."

Draco smirked. "Yes ma'am."

She took a quick shower then went downstairs to join the boys to decorate the tree. Ron never understood the point of decorating the tree the muggle way but Hermione and Harry insisted. It had been a tradition in Hermione's household that they decorate everything for Christmas the muggle way and Harry had never had the opportunity to decorate the tree with the Dursleys so both jumped at the opportunity to decorate it the way that they were raised.

Although the tree would be decorated the muggle way, the rest of the house would be decorated with magic since it was quicker. Narcissa and Ron got put in charge of putting up tinsel and candles while Draco would go back and forth between helping out where he could and playing the piano. As he finished helping his mom set up a mistletoe (which he raised an eyebrow at but his mother merely shrugged), they heard Ron exclaim loudly in the next room. Both followed the sound into the living room where Harry and Hermione stood proudly, admiring their handy work with the Christmas tree.

"What do you think?" Hermione asked.

It was covered, head to toe, in silver and gold. There was a gold ribbon and a silver garland wrapped around the tree and there were candles all along the tree that made the ornaments sparkle. On top, was a bright gold star that just made the tree seem complete. Draco was surprised; despite the fact that the tree was simply decorated, it was the most beautiful Christmas tree he'd ever seen.

"It's beautiful," he heard his mother say. Hermione beamed which caused him to smile.

"You did that all without magic?" Ron asked.

Harry nodded. "Well, kind of. There's a fire proof charm on the tree so the candles don't set it on fire but otherwise, yeah. We did it completely the muggle way."

Draco nodded. "It looks good," he simply said. Narcissa rolled her eyes as Harry's brows furrowed but Hermione just smiled. The only people he opened up to was her and his mom so she understood that he wasn't about to give her tons of praise in front of Harry and Ron. He didn't feel comfortable doing that. Hermione didn't mind, though, because she knew that he meant it looked amazing and that she and Harry did a good job. Her suspicions were confirmed when he winked at her. She chuckled and rolled her eyes as she began to pick pine needles out of her hair from when she got too close to the tree. Narcissa laughed at the brunette and helped her as Harry and Ron sat down to play a game of Wizard's Chess while Draco sat down in a chair and read quietly to himself.

It was only as a light snow began to fall outside, however, that it truly began to feel like Christmas.

Christmas Eve. A majority of the Order was at Grimmauld Place, including all the Weasleys (excluding Charlie and Percy). Andromeda, her husband Ted, Tonks, Remus and Kingsley were there as well. Although Draco had grown accustomed to the mass of people and noise that the Order created, Narcissa had not and was initially uncomfortable with the whole situation. Andromeda managed to bring her out of her shell, however, when she instigated a conversation between her sister and Molly Weasley. Surprisingly, the two hit it off right away.

As for Draco, he may have become part of the Order but was still uncomfortable with socializing with everyone there. It was Bill, however, who managed to get Draco to open up a bit and ended up in a full blown conversation with the eldest Weasley and Fleur.

Hermione smiled as she saw Draco interacting with people he usually wouldn't talk to. It made her happy to know that he was allowing himself to become a part of something and that the others were starting to open up to him as well. She was standing next to Harry who was looking longingly at Ginny who was laughing at something Fred had said. Her smile fell as she saw the sadness in her friend's eyes. Harry and Ginny had barely talked since before she left for Hogwarts and she knew that it killed him to be apart from her when, the truth was, he needed her now more than ever.

"Why don't you go talk to her?" she suggested.

Harry snapped out of his daze and looked at Hermione sadly. "I want to but there's nothing I can say that would improve the situation at hand. It's not safe for us to be together, Hermione and I don't want to put her in danger."

She chuckled. "And you think it's safe for me and Draco to be together? Harry, everybody is at risk right now; that's the price of war. But we shouldn't let it take away our happiness when we have so little left at the moment. Merlin knows what will happen tomorrow so it's best to just enjoy the little things in life while we can. That includes romance and love." She smiled as she noticed Harry and Ginny's eyes meeting. She gave him a slight nudge on his back. "Go talk to her. Tell her how you feel."

Harry nodded and gulped but before he could walk over to her, he was intercepted by pink hair and a baby belly. "Harry, Hermione!" Tonks said, "Remus and I were wondering if we could talk to you for a moment?"

The two friends looked at each other before looking back to Tonks and Remus and nodding. The couple led the two out of the living room and into the piano room. Harry and Hermione sat on the piano bench while Tonks and Remus sat on the couch. The friends waited for the couple to begin.

Tonks cleared her throat. "Well, as you know, the baby won't be here for a few more months but we wanted to do this now before we got distracted by everything else. You both have been so wonderful to us and you're both just such great people that we couldn't imagine asking anyone else this. Will you two be the godparents to the baby?"

Harry and Hermione were speechless. Neither had seen that coming but both were very flattered. Hermione had tears forming in her eyes. "Yes," she choked, "I'd be honored."

"Absolutely," Harry said.

Remus and Tonks grinned as they stood up to hug the two. Hermione sniffed and laughed as Tonks told her that she expects the baby to have the Oxford Dictionary memorized by the time he was two. When they left the piano room, all four were grinning but Harry's smile fell slightly as Ginny walked towards him. Hermione gave Harry an encouraging smile before patting his shoulder and letting them have a moment alone.

"Hey." he said.

"Hey."

"Look, Gin-"

"Harry, I know that you broke up with me to protect me and whatnot but I've been thinking. And I've come to the conclusion that I don't care. Chances are, we'll all end up on the battlefield and when it comes to that, I will be fighting by your side until the very end. And nothing you do or say is going to change my mind about it. So you get the notion that staying away from me will keep me safe because you and I both know that's a load of bollocks. Now, are we in this together or not?"

Harry couldn't help but smile at the redhead. "You always manage to find a way to take the words right out of my mouth. Of course we're in this together."

She smirked. "Good." Then she threw her arms around his neck and pulled him in for a kiss. Hermione had watched the scene in front of her unfold and couldn't help but clap along with everyone else who noticed the happy couple. Fred and George even made a couple of wolf whistles while Ron just rolled his eyes. Hermione smiled at two of her best friends as Harry kissed her forehead while Ginny was beaming with happiness. While watching them, she felt a pair of eyes on her. She turned to look and found Draco standing next to Tonks with a small smile on his lips. Hermione returned the gesture before walking into the kitchen to heat up some water in the kettle. As she came back out, she ran into Draco in the hallway.

"Hey." she smiled.

"Hey," he smiled back.

"You seem to be enjoying yourself." she teased.

He rolled his eyes. "Yeah, well, they're not that bad."

She raised an eyebrow. "That's all you're getting." he joked.

She chuckled and shrugged. "I'll take what I can get." He smirked.

"Uh, Hermione?" a new voice said. Both looked to find Ginny looking at them apprehensively while Fred and George snickered behind her. "I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but you might want to look up."

Hermione and Draco complied. "Oh, crap." she said. Right above their heads was the mistletoe that Draco and Narcissa had hung up. Draco look towards his mother who was smirking at him now while Hermione looked around her. She reached her hand out to find a force field of sorts around them. She glared at the twins.

"Please tell me you two didn't enchant the mistletoe with a kissing charm…" she began.

The twins tried to hide their laughter. "Okay, we won't tell you." George said.

"George…" Hermione said darkly.

"Okay, so we might have put a little charm on it just for fun because we wanted to see what we could catch underneath it. And frankly, this is better than we could of imagined!" he and Fred started to laugh while Hermione huffed in frustration.

She looked at Draco who seemed to be struggling not to laugh as well. "Oh, you think this is funny too?" she asked.

He shrugged. "I have to admit, that's pretty good."

"Don't encourage them!" she said.

He laughed. "I'm not encouraging, I just think it's funny!"

"That's encouraging them." Hermione and Ginny said at the same time.

He shrugged. "I still think it's funny."

Hermione huffed and looked towards the kitchen as she heard the kettle go off. She looked back to the twins. "You gonna let us out of here or what?"

Fred smirked. "You and I both know that there's only one way out of there."

Her eyes widened. "Seriously?"

The redhead nodded enthusiastically. Taking a deep breath she turned to face Draco who seemed to be having a silent conversation with Narcissa. When he looked down at her, he gave her a small smile. She sighed in exasperation. "We could just wait for the spell to wear off, you know." he suggested quietly.

She shook her head. "Knowing Fred and George, the spell will last until it's done." she said, matching his tone.

He raised an eyebrow and sighed. "You know what we have to do then."

"You and I both know that there's no going back after that. They'll know."

He nodded. "I'm okay with that." Hermione furrowed her brows. "I'm serious." he said, "If I could, I'd yell from the top of a mountain how I feel about you but you know I'm never that open. I do have a reputation to keep after all."

Hermione rolled her eyes and smiled at the blonde. "Come here, you." She grabbed his shirt and pulled him into a kiss. He smiled and kissed her back as he wrapped one arm around her waist and tangled his free hand in her hair. Their kiss was short lived however as they heard a loud whoop coming from the living room. They pulled apart to find the Weasley twins looking very triumphant while everyone else looked either surprised or confused. Hermione blushed and buried her face into Draco's shirt as he chuckled and wrapped both arms around her while Narcissa, Harry, Ron, and Tonks were behind everyone laughing.

"I told you!" Fred said. "Pay up!"

"Wait, what?" Hermione said, looking at the twins.

Ginny groaned and pulled out four Galleons from her pocket. "Fred and George had their suspicions about you two so they took two different sides and placed a bet. When everyone else got wind of it, they joined in."

"Wait, suspicions? Did you say anything?" she asked Harry.

His eyes went wide as he was put on the spot. "No, but I wish I had!" he laughed.

"You knew?" George asked. "So that's why you didn't want to bet!"

Hermione rolled her eyes as she saw everyone else pay Fred including Remus, Bill, Fleur, even Kingsley, Mr. and Mrs. Weasley and Andromeda and Ted! What in Merlin's name… "Wait, who bet on which side?" she asked.

"Fred bet that you were together and I bet that you weren't." George said.

"So of course, I won!" Fred replied happily.

"Hey, don't forget, you owe me half of that!" Tonks interjected.

"You're only getting half if you name your kid after me!"

"No way, she's naming him after me!" George said.

"She might as well name her kid Pinhead if she names him after either of you." Ginny added.

Draco laughed. "So let me get this straight: you two made a bet about us, and you won," he pointed at Fred, "and yet, somehow you," he pointed to Tonks, "get a share in the profits?"

"Of course!" she said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world, "How do you think they got the idea in the first place?"

Hermione sighed in exasperation and threw her hands into the air. "That's it. I give up! This evening has gotten way too weird for my liking!"

Ginny laughed. "Now you know how we feel."

Hermione shook her head as she walked back into the kitchen (the spell on the mistletoe now gone), muttering to herself. Draco smirked and followed her. She was leaning against the counter, running her fingers through her hair. He stood in front of her and entwined his fingers with hers as he rested his forehead against hers. She sighed.

"Did that really just happen?"

He chuckled. "Yeah, it did."

"I think we kind of shocked them."

"I don't know;" he said looking to the door frame before looking back at her, "if they were taking bets, then it's obvious they knew something. I think those who bet against it were just in denial."

"That sounds about right." said a new voice.

Both looked to the doorframe to find Narcissa smiling at them. "Although both Ted and Arthur are questioning whether or not they've had too much firewhisky to drink tonight."

The couple laughed. "Well," Draco started, "the big secret's out. Now what?"

Hermione shrugged. "I have no idea."

Narcissa chuckled. "Now, you enjoy your Christmas. Focus on everything else later."

Draco nodded. "I can do that."

Hermione hesitated. "I'm not very good at just dropping stuff like that."

"No kidding." Draco muttered. He gave her an innocent smile when she glared at him. "Kidding."

"I'm serious," Narcissa said, "I know it's easier said than done but you need to relax, Hermione. Stressing about all this won't solve anything. So, take a deep breath, and enjoy the calm before the storm."

"Hermione!" they heard Ginny yell.

"Or not…" Narcissa trailed off.

Hermione laughed. "Yes?"

"Come here!"

She rolled her eyes and patted Draco's shoulder before walking to her best friend in the next room. As she reached the hallway she was accosted by something covering her eyes. "Agh!" she exclaimed. She lifted up the cover to realize that Ginny had placed a hat on her head. "Ginny, what the-"

"Put this on!" The redhead said excitedly as she handed Hermione her coat and gloves.

"What? Why?" Hermione asked as she took it.

"Because we're going to have a snowball fight." Ginny was practically jumping up and down from excitement. Hermione laughed at her best friend and put on her coat and gloves. Ginny linked her arm with hers as they went to the backyard as the Weasley brothers and Harry followed shortly after; Fleur was wrapped up in a conversation with Ted and Arthur so she backed out of the snowball fight and Tonks had been put on the sidelines by order of her mother due to her current pregnant state which did not make the Hufflepuff happy.

It had been snowing throughout the day so there was a nice layer of snow on the ground that would soften the landing if and when someone fell. As everyone came outside, they realized that there were an odd amount of people in the group which wouldn't work out if they split into teams. There was a quiet discussion amongst everyone before Ron yelled "Oi, Malfoy! Come here!"

Draco came to the door frame but stayed inside the house. "You called, Weasley?"

The twins nodded. "Grab your coat! You're joining us!"

Draco chuckled. "Thanks but no thanks. I think I'll just watch."

"What's the matter, Ferret face?" Harry challenged. "You scared?"

Draco's eyes narrowed as a smirk grew on his lips. "Not at all, Penguin boy, I just don't want to embarrass you in front of everyone as I kick your ass in a snowball fight."

Hermione covered her face with her hand. "Penguin boy?" she heard one of the twins ask but was overshadowed by Ginny's laughter. "If you think you're so tough, Ferret, then come on out here and I'll show you how it's done Weasley style!" Ginny challenged.

Draco chuckled. "You're on, Weaslette!" Then he turned back into the house to get his coat. Ginny beamed as her brothers and Harry looked at her impressed. Hermione just shook her head. Draco came back out with his jacket and gloves on and joined the group. When he made eye contact with Hermione, he rolled his eyes and shook his head causing her to smile at him and chuckle at the night's turn of events.

"Good," Ginny started, "now that we have an even number, let's break up into teams. Dibs on Hermione!"

"What?!" Ron exclaimed.

"Sorry bro, but us girls gotta stick together." the redhead said, pulling Hermione closer to her causing the brunette to laugh.

Ron grumbled under his breath. "Fine. Then we get Bill."

"Fine. Fred, George, you're with us. Which leaves you with Malfoy and Harry. Have fun!" Ginny teased as she led her team to the other side of the yard.

Draco, Ron, and Harry all looked at each other briefly before nodding in agreement. Months of training with one another has taught them how to work with each other and even, dare they say it, trust one another (although they'd never say it out loud) so being on the same team for a snowball fight was no different. If anything, with how they'd been working together in training, the other team should have been worried. But then again, the other team had Hermione and three of the most daredevil Weasleys. At this point, the snowball fight was fair game.

Each team had a few minutes to build up some sort of protection with the snow and then… the snowballs began to fly. Immediately laughter filled the air as snow became the only thing that anyone could see. It turned out to be a fairly even match as neither team let up. It wasn't until the twins accidentally knocked each other down by hitting each other in the face that the fight ended with Ron's team winning. The boys cheered as Hermione and Ginny laid down in the snow exhausted while Fred and George started to wrestle with one another. Bill laughed as he broke the two up while Draco and Harry went to help their respective girlfriends up off the ground.

Hermione and Ginny took the boys' hands as the former used it to stand up then shook the snow out of her hair while the latter pulled her boyfriend down into the snow causing him to faceplant. She laughed as Harry rolled over onto his back and sat up as dusted the snow off his glasses. After Bill got the twins to break up their wrestling match, the group went back inside to warm up which became easier said than done as the twins began to try and put their cold hands on everyone's faces.

Eventually, everyone (excluding the adults) ended up in the living room sharing laughs and stories. Ron was playing Wizard's Chess with Fleur while Bill watched and gave his wife pointers much to the dismay of his youngest brother. Fred and George were telling a story of how an employee put a duplicating charm on the Pygmy Puffs and within minutes the store was filled with so many of them that no one could move or they'd step on one. Harry was sitting on the couch with Ginny between his legs as he played with her hair while Hermione was curled up on the other side of the couch with Draco as they listened to the story.

Other than their kiss under the mistletoe earlier in the evening, neither had made much of an effort to show affection towards one another. However, it wasn't surprising, since both were very private people, that they weren't much for PDA. The only sign that they were even acknowledging each other was that their legs were touching but only slightly. As the night continued, however, Hermione began to grow more tired and instinctively laid against Draco. He wrapped his arm around her and pulled her close as he ran his hand up and down her arm. He didn't think anything of it until he remembered they were in public and Ginny was watching them.

"What?" he asked.

She thought for a moment. "I approve," she finally said.

"You what?" Draco and Hermione said at the same time.

She shrugged. "I approve. Sure, you're a pain in the ass sometimes but you've got a good sense of humor and one hell of a throw," referring to his catapult of an arm during the snowball fight. "If you were in Gryffindor, I'd have suggested you be a chaser or even a beater."

"And put us out of the job?! Thanks, sis!" George feigned hurt.

"I mean like last year. After you two and Angelina left, we were pretty screwed at tryouts; we could've used someone like Malfoy on the team."

Draco snickered as the twins looked at her in disbelief while Ron chuckled and shook his head and Harry smirked. "Speaking of Quidditch," the latter said, "how are you guys doing this year?"

"We're not." Ginny said.

"What do you mean you're not?"

The redhead shook her head. "There hasn't been any Quidditch this year. Not since the new Headmaster came in."

"What new Headmaster?" Hermione asked.

"Snape."

"WHAT?!" Everyone asked in disbelief.

"Since when?!" Fred asked.

Ginny thought about it for a moment. "Since November. He came out of nowhere with a couple of Death Eaters in tow: the Carrows. They teach DADA now and to be honest, they suck. They don't teach us anything useful. As for McGonagall, she went back to Transfiguration and told everyone not to ask questions. That was the end of that conversation."

Everyone muttered to themselves in frustration but Hermione and Draco looked at each other.

"You think that's his alibi?" she asked him quietly.

He shrugged. "I guess so," he replied in the same tone. "But there's only one reason why McGonagall would give that position to him…"

"You think she knows?"

"It's the only explanation. You know the woman; she wouldn't just back down for anybody-"

"Except Dumbledore. And if Dumbledore told her to trust him-"

"Then she'd let him in. And together they'd keep the school safe. That's brilliant."

"Well, I don't know how safe it is if there's Death Eaters teaching DADA but yes, that is very clever."

Draco nodded. Everyone tried to get more information out of Ginny about what was going on at school but she wouldn't say anymore and simply asked to move onto a different subject which they did begrudgingly. Eventually, the activity in the house began to die down. It wasn't until everyone realized that it was after two in the morning that Mrs. Weasley ushered everyone who was left out of the house and back home to get some sleep.

Hermione had fallen asleep on Draco's shoulder so he carried her upstairs to put her to bed. As he finished getting ready for bed, he left the room to speak with his mother briefly but was intercepted by Ron. Draco tensed at first but relaxed as he saw Ron put his hand out. He shook it cautiously.

"Well, if my sister likes you, then it seems that I have no choice but to trust you now. Truce?" Ron asked.

Draco was taken aback but didn't let it show. He nodded. "Truce."

They released hands. "We're not friends though." Ron said.

Draco smirked. "Not in a million years, Weasley."

Ron returned the gesture. "Good. Just… just take care of her, will you? She could use someone to bring down that ego of hers at times."

Draco chuckled. "I'll do my best."

Ron shrugged. "G'night Ferret."

"Night, Weasel." Draco said chuckling to himself. He shared a few quick words with his mother before leaving her to rest for the night and returning to Hermione who was fast asleep. He kissed her nose as he snuggled closer to her in the bed. "Merry Christmas, my love." he whispered to her before falling into a deep sleep.