Fog escaped Hermione's nose into the chilly air of December. The cold hadn't crept into her bones through her coat, but her nerves sent a shiver up her spine. It was nearing Christmas, and the Grangers were invited to spend from Boxing Day to New Year's Day at Malfoy Manor. Hermione would be lying if the concept alone didn't blow her mind. Her beaded purse was just a little bit heavier, weighed down by the present she had gotten for Draco and her butterflies almost leapt out her throat but she swallowed them.
Hermione and her parents would usually go to the Burrow for Christmas, but this year, Harry had invited everyone to Grimmauld Place since it was their first year living together. So she was standing on the doorstep, her collar turned up against the wind with her parents behind her, warm and comforting as the door creaked open and Harry peered at them. He pulled Hermione into a hug and pecked her on the cheek, his stubble tickled her skin.
"Mr and Mrs Granger!" Harry greeted her parents as she slipped past him and hung her coat on a rack fixed to the wall.
"Oh, please, dear!" Hermione's mother simpered fondly, "Call us Jeanine and Charles! How many times do I have to say so." Harry just grinned and hugged her, before shaking Charles' hand.
"At least one more time, I think." He looked so happy, Hermione thought he must be halfway through a bottle of wine by the ruddy colour of his cheeks. When the cold had thawed from her face and she hung her parents' coats, the smell of Christmas wafted through and hit her smack in the face. Hermione grinned, mirroring Harry's as they all single file followed him into the kitchen. Molly and Arthur were laughing over a card game and jumped up to greet Jeanine and Charles then Hermione. Ginny ran into her like a solid wall and squeezed her until her ribs hurt. Her cheeks were the same ruddy red as Harry's, and Hermione spotted the half finished bottle of mead.
"George and Charlie will be here in an hour! Percy and Audrey should be here in a minute!" Molly was explaining to Hermione's parents whose hands both held a glass of mead each.
"Hey Mione. Come on, Harry and I got you something." Ginny linked her elbow with Hermione's and steered her out of the amazing smelling kitchen and back into the corridor. Hermione noticed Harry- or Ginny- made an effort to decorate and lights glittered in the air, but it was too sparse to be breathtaking; it was simply warm, fuzzy, and felt like home. Ribbons in gold and red hung on the walls with reproachful looks from the portraits under them, but even the portraits were holding glasses of wine or what looked like milk and their cheeks were all pink from drink.
Something about Grimmauld Place on Christmas day was warm all the way through, the air filled with nutmeg and cinnamon, baked chicken and veggies, the salty ham was just breaking through it all and Hermione felt an overwhelming fuzziness fill her chest. Some of their happiest moments through the years had been Christmas, especially when they were on the run or just before they were thrown into the thick of it all.
Ginny alone accompanied her; Harry remained downstairs to host, but when she pushed through the door of one of the third floor bedrooms, Hermione stopped in her tracks. She knew Grimmauld place had bedroom after bedroom, having been home to a big family through years of occupation.
But this bedroom, like the warehouse type bedroom used for Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes, was not a bedroom. There was no bed, no cabinets or closets. Instead there were shelves on one end, a couch in the middle, and a desk at the far end. A proper work desk, beautiful and new in a wood that was dark and upon closer inspection was purple.
"You guys got me a new work desk?" Hermione skimmed her finger across it. She remembered reading about Purple Heart wood, found in Central and South America; it was a beautiful purple with shades of lilac and going into maroons and reminded Hermione of a twilit sky. Ginny laughed. Hermione looked around to at least see her nodding but Ginny had one hand over her stomach and the other to her mouth stifling a giggle.
"We got you an office, Mione. The room is yours, to work on Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes merch, or to write, or to work if you want to." Ginny gestured around the room and Hermione blinked.
"What?" Hermione's throat went dry, her eyes became wet. She blinked back the tears and looked around, noticing the shelf was stocked with books from the library/drawing room, and another shelf held ingredients and drawers. There was a cauldron in the corner, unlit but meticulously placed with a scale and weights, all looking shiny and new. On the other side of the room with her writing desk was another desk, broad and wide, and Hermione recognised it as a work surface so she could construct and experiment with spells and items. "This is for me?"
"We had to get you something so we can see you often enough. After Draco gives you a room in his Manor, we're pretty sure you'll never come around." Ginny smirked and dodged as Hermione tried to jab at her ribs. Hermione's mouth was open with indignant protestation.
"I will be seeing you guys!" Hermione huffed because Ginny proved to be too agile to grasp and she dropped into the squishy couch. "Just because we're getting to know each other-"
"We know -" Ginny wagged her eyebrows.
"-doesn't mean I won't want to see you guys." Hermione threw a pillow at her and she caught it deftly.
"Speaking of the tosser, are you seeing him for the holidays?" Ginny flopped beside her. Hermione was staring around the room and the amount of thought that went into it. Of course she had been making potions for Harry and herself for months now, but this was hers .
"I'm going to his tomorrow, until New Year's." Hermione said absentmindedly. Ginny turned to look at her and Hermione met her bright eyes, teasing at the very heart of it. "Not just me! My mom and dad are coming, it's like a mini vacation for them!"
"Thank Merlin, otherwise I'm pretty sure you'd never leave." Ginny grinned. Then her mouth dropped open. "Do you think he's going to propose?"
"Gin!" Hermione swatted at her. "Are you kidding me, we know each other for-"
"14 years-"
"A couple of months!" Hermione rolled her eyes. "Draco and I only started dating a couple months ago, come on Gin, he'd be nuts to propose to me already."
"Or a smart bloke." Ginny held up her finger for emphasis and Hermione thought she was being scolded for a moment. "I mean, if he's stupid, I think I'd be legally obligated to break you both up."
"He's not stupid." Hermione grabbed Ginny's finger and yanked her hand back to her lap. "Plus, we're not into that whole 'get married' thing everyone's doing these days."
"Ha! You're telling me if Draco Malfoy got down on one knee right now, that you wouldn't say yes? You looove him!" Ginny poked at Hermione. They were both grinning like idiots when the door opened and Harry peeked in.
"How'd she handle it?" Harry addressed Ginny like Hermione wasn't sitting right there. "Is she staying with us forever?"
"What?" Hermione looked between them both and saw their chaotic smiles before she knew finally that they were teasing and she tossed the throw pillow at Harry's head at the door which he shut as a shield and the pillow flopped to the floor tiredly.
Hermione had been to the Manor several times in the past weeks, using Draco's Library and potion's room for research and to make more Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes items. She made a mild morphing potion you could spike friend's drinks with and they morph into a different person with wildly differing features for a laugh. The effects lasted about a minute.
She created more event items like bouquets of flowers that turned into butterflies that fluttered away like reverse confetti; after she had figured out how to not create dead lightning bugs from fairy lights of course. Galleons were being deposited into her Gringotts account with how quickly they were all selling, and that was just her side gig. The ministry job that was offered to her had been a new branch in the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. The Magical Being Protection Unit protected the rights of magical creatures and beings whenever they got in trouble with the law; they conducted investigations before persecution happened to ensure fair treatment and build better relationships with the Goblins in that regard.
She saw Draco at the Ministry almost every day now. They ate lunch together and he'd bring her tea or a treat throughout the day, and Hermione, on other days would have minded. She'd have thought it was mildly embarrassing to see him as often as she did and to peck him on the lips in a workplace but she couldn't care less. When Draco entered the room, he was all that mattered in the moment.
Entering the Manor with her parents in tow? Hermione's insides felt like chopped liver bound together by sheer force of will. Of course, Jeanine and Charles had interacted with Draco several times since meeting him and they had all been very nice and in fact, acted like family already; but realistically, going to the Burrow, a magical home, versus coming to the Manor, another wildly magical home… Hermione feared it would overwhelm them, or more pressingly, she hoped they didn't get intimidated.
To her parents' credit, they entered just like any other visitors, were gracious, didn't stare too long at moving portraits or random magical items. Hermione thought maybe they were preoccupied with Draco's hand in hers more than she was. They were just overjoyed that their daughter was in love.
After dinner, Hermione reached into her beaded purse and found Draco's present, placed near the top of stack of books in the corner. Draco eyed her carefully.
"Did you get me a present, Granger?" He teased, and Hermione blushed like she wasn't used to his teasing when she was in fact. Her parents were talking quietly with Narcissa and hadn't paid them any attention.
"I did, Malfoy ." She teased back, often with his surname as he did with hers. She slid the wrapped present toward him, it was thick and heavy and Draco lifted an eyebrow.
"As it were, I also bought you a present." Draco said as he delicately parted the paper instead of ripping into it. And then he saw it and a smile lit up his face with all teeth and pink cheeks. He thrummed his finger over the leather surface of the book; Hermione knew it was soft. On the front was an embossed branch with delicate leaves. "A journal?"
"And inks for your illustrations. I thought-" Draco stood and kissed her and promptly sat again, grinning giddily. "-you might like to keep your hobby going, but with me?" Hermione finished her sentence like a breath because she didn't think she could speak properly after that.
"I love it, thank you." Draco turned to Narcissa. "Mother, I'll be right back." He looked at Jeanine and Charles, "If you wish to retire for the night, let Goose escort you to your sleeping chambers. Thank you for coming to spend this time with us, it means a lot that you can spare Hermione some time with me."
"It's not a problem, dear. Thank you for having us. Dinner was divine, and this place-" Jeanine's cheeks had turned splotchy pink and Hermione thought it was a combination of the blushing and the wine. "-it's wonderful. Good night, Hermione, honey. We'll see you in the morning."
Hermione walked to them and kissed them goodbye before Draco's fingers laced through hers and gently pulled her from the room before she fell into stride. She almost giggled with giddyness, intoxicated on nothing but happiness.
"Where are we going?" she finally asked as he pushed open a heavy door that led into the gardens on the west side of the house. A peacock, pale and like a corporeal patronus, walked away with a sashay of its long feathers. Hermione would never be used to them, they were unbelievably gorgeous and eerie. The air here was delicately warm so without their coats, the chill of the December air didn't penetrate through her clothes.
"Happy Christmas, Hermione." Draco said as he rounded the corner to the south end of the west wing. Rising twenty feet into the air and the size of a cottage, was a greenhouse. It sparkled in the Manor's window's light and under the stars, inside seemed to have moving lightning bugs floating around.
"You built the greenhouse!" Hermione looked at him excitedly.
"Come on." Draco pulled her along again and entered through a glass door with a crystal doorknob and the air was humid and warmer inside. Water particles hung in the air like the beginnings of mist and Hermione inhaled deeply; the overwhelming smell of greenery filled her lungs.
"Wait, this is my present?" Hermione blinked when the thought finally found its way through the haze of her blissfullness. "You built me a greenhouse?"
"I thought when we forage for things, we can add to it, and because of your wonderful present, I can document it all." Draco turned her by her waist to face him.
"You built me a greenhouse and I bought you a journal." Hermione laughed.
"It's on my property so if you decide to leave me-"
"I'm not leaving you!"
"-then technically it'll just be mine." Draco laughed and pulled her closer. "Do you like it? I know it's a big gesture."
"I love it." Hermione kissed his chin and he grinned, the lights twinkling in his eyes. "I love you."
"I know." Draco kissed her nose and huffed in laughter when Hermione poked his sides with her fingers. She wrapped her arms around his shoulders and tilted her chin up. "I love you too, Hermione."