Epilogue.
Three years later.
Humming along merrily to the Christmas carols being played on the radio, Hermione paid for her purchases in the local grocery shop and wishing the friendly witch who ran the place a Merry Christmas, she headed back outside to rejoin her boyfriend. She found Draco looking in the window of the sweet shop next door, and the pink and white stripe bag he was holding in his hand, indicted he'd been inside to purchase something.
"I'm all done," she said, letting him know she was finished.
"So we can go home now?" Draco checked.
Home for the couple was a modest cottage on the edge of the village in Wiltshire, which was only a few miles from Draco's childhood home, Malfoy Manor. They couple had bought the cottage over two years ago, after spending their first six months after leaving Hogwarts living separately and finding it too hard to be apart. What had started as a possible Christmas romance three years ago had turned into the real deal, and they were now very much in love.
"We can go home," Hermione confirmed, tucking her arm into Draco's as they carefully manoeuvred the icy streets of the village where they lived.
It had been snowing for the last week, and a cold snap a few days earlier had made the trip to the village slightly treacherous, but it was only a couple of days until Christmas and when they got home, they wouldn't need to venture out again until after the festivities. It was going to be a quiet Christmas, with just the two of them snuggled up in their cottage. They'd met with their friends the previous evening and exchanged presents, and they'd done the same with their parents earlier in the day.
"I cannot wait to get inside," Draco muttered as they reached the front gate of their cottage. "I'm freezing. My toes are like ice."
With the cold, the front gate was a bit stiff and Draco had to force it open. Holding onto the gate, as he suspected he was going to have to force it to shut properly, he gestured for Hermione to go on up to the cottage. Once Hermione was through the gate, Draco slammed it shut with enough force to ensure it remained closed. He then turned to follow Hermione up the path, just in time to hear her cry out and witness her crash down to the floor as her foot slid out from underneath her.
"Hermione!" Rushing to her side, he pushed the bags she'd dropped to one side and discarded the single bag he'd been carrying.
"Damn ice," Hermione hissed.
"Are you okay?"
"I'm fine," Hermione insisted. "Pick those bags up before our shopping is ruined."
"Let's get you sorted first," Draco insisted. "Can you get up?"
"Of course I c…." Hermione cried, her reply turning into a walk as she tried to put pressure on her ankle.
"Talk about history repeating itself," Draco chuckled, easing Hermione to her feet and taking the weight off her injured ankle.
Summoning the bags they'd dropped, he helped Hermione hop the few steps to the front of the house. Once inside, he dropped the bags in the hallway and ushered Hermione into the living room. Helping her off with her coat, he eased her boot and sock off and examined her ankle.
"It's not broken," he announced after a thorough examination. "I will need to wrap it, and you'll need to rest for a few days."
"Why do I feel as though it's three years ago?" Hermione asked with a groan. "How can this happen to me twice? And both times at Christmas?"
"Look at the bright side, it brought us together last time," Draco said with a grin.
"But that was then. We're together now, so no good can come of this. It'll just make Christmas all the harder. How am I supposed to cook Christmas lunch with this foot?" Hermione argued.
"Use your hands instead," Draco joked.
"Draco," Hermione snapped, not amused by her boyfriend's joke as her ankle was starting to throb painfully.
"We'll sort Christmas lunch nearer the time, for now let me look after you."
Draco's looking after Hermione involved giving her a pain relief potion, rubbing her foot down with the same sort of sports lotion he'd used three years previously and wrapping her ankle in a bandage. He then made sure she was settled in the front room with a hot drink while he unpacked the shopping and checked nothing had been damaged when Hermione had fallen. He then returned to the living room, carrying a box of chocolates which he handed to his girlfriend.
"What are these for?" Hermione asked with a smile as she accepted a box of dessert flavoured chocolates, which she'd been eyeing up in the sweetshop a few weeks previously.
"I was going to add them to your Christmas present, but I think you deserve a treat," Draco replied, settling down beside Hermione. "How's your ankle?"
"Sore," Hermione replied. "I just can't believe it's happened again. I really should avoid icy weather."
"Yeah, you should," Draco laughed. "But like last time, you've got me to look after you."
"You did do a good job last time," Hermione conceded with a smile as she recalled the way Draco had looked after her, and the way he'd shown her a side of him she hadn't known existed.
"And if needs must, I'll just have to cook the Christmas lunch," he announced seriously.
"You? Cook?" Hermione snorted. "You have trouble making a sandwich."
"Hey, I'm not incapable," Draco protested. "I made you lasagne a few months ago for your birthday."
"Only because Harry sent you step by step instructions," Hermione laughed. "And answered several emergency floo calls when you ran into problems."
"Damn Potter for spilling the beans," Draco grouched. "Until he told you what happened, you thought I'd done that on my own."
"I did have my suspicions," Hermione admitted. "But I suppose it does show you can follow instructions. So I could always sit in a chair and direct you on what to do."
"You bossing me around. That doesn't sound at all like you," Draco laughed.
"Watch it, or I'll not help at all and then there'll be no Christmas Lunch," Hermione warned playfully.
"I'll be good," Draco vowed, laughing her a smile that promised anything but goodness.
"Oh, I'm sure you will," Hermione purred, pulling Draco closer so she could give him a searing kiss. "Before we settle down for the night with these chocolates, I think I fancy a bath," she whispered when their lips finally parted. "But I'm going to need a lot of help."
"I could always run it for you, and then be a good boy and wait outside in case you need help," Draco offered. "I can even keep my eyes closed," he added with a smirk.
"I'd rather you were a bad boy and scrubbed my back," Hermione retorted. "Are you up for it?"
"Always," Draco chuckled, giving his girlfriend another searing kiss before jumping to his feet.
Leaving the chocolates to one side, he helped Hermione to her feet and assisted her to the bathroom. In the bathroom, he ran the bath, but rather than leaving as he'd done three years ago, he'd slowly helped strip Hermione of her clothes, kissing and caressing every patch of skin he uncovered as he went. Once she was naked, aside from the bandage, he cast a waterproof spell over her foot and helped ease her into the water.
"I think it's going to be easier if I join you," he decided, already tugging his jumper over his head.
Within seconds, Draco was naked and grabbing a wash-cloth, he settled himself in the bath behind Hermione. Squirting some pineapple and papaya body wash onto the cloth, he began to slowly cleanse Hermione's body. Given the fact they were both naked it didn't take long for things to take a sexual turn, and Draco was more than happy to satisfy his girlfriend several times before helping her out of the bath.
"I think you need a reward for being so helpful," Hermione purred as Draco carried her into the bedroom and set her down on their bed.
"What did you have in mind?" Draco asked with a grin. "I don't want to hurt your ankle."
"What I'm planning does not involve my ankle. I can manage it sitting here. I just need you. Oh, and summon the chocolates, I don't think we'll be leaving the bedroom again today."
Doing as Hermione wished, Draco summoned the luxury box of chocolates he'd picked up in the village and placed them on his bedside table. He then gave himself over to Hermione to receive his reward, before they settled in for the night, more than happy to spend the beginning of their Christmas tucked up together in bed.
Draco looking after Hermione thanks to a bad ankle hadn't been their plan for the festive season, but it was a poetic callback to how they had gotten together in the first place. After all, if Hermione hadn't slipped on the ice three years ago, they might never have embarked on their Christmas romance, and their relationship was something neither of them would want to change.
The End.
A/N - Thanks for reading, and I hope you all enjoyed this fluffy little story. As you can see, I never addressed if Ron ever came around to Hermione and Draco's romance, but I felt as though there was nowhere in this epilogue where mention of him would have fit properly, so I guess it's up to each reader to make their own mind up on Ron and if he's still part of Hermione's life. But for me the focus was on romance and our lead pair. Thanks again for reading, and just a reminder that tomorrow's one shot will be my last story of the year.