Hermione had always loved Christmas. As a child, her parents had always gone above and beyond the normal holiday cheer. They got the biggest tree, the best decorations, and that most fantastic presents. More than that, though, Hermione loved the feeling of being close to her mother and father.
She'd been knitting furiously in her spare time, ever since school started. She'd improved vastly in the last year, and could now knit for hours without dropping a single stitch. She'd knitted a sage green jumper for her father, the sort with cuffed sleeves that he loved so much, and for her mother, an ice blue wrap to go with her favorite blue dress.
"Perfect," she said, wrapping her father's jumper and tying a dark green bow at one end of the package. "Just one more," she thought aloud, picking up a tightly wrapped package covered in mistletoe paper.
"Happy Christmas, Blaise," Draco said, hiding the sadness in his voice behind feigned joy. "I've got something for you. "
He sat down next to her, pushing away the remnants of a cracker she'd pulled with Fiona moments earlier.
"Oh," he said, as though he'd only just noticed Fiona there. "Happy Christmas to you, too. Didn't get you a present, though."
"Don't worry," answered Fiona, smiling in spite of herself. "I didn't get you one, either."
"Anyway, here," he said, pushing the tiny package across the table. Blaise carefully peeled away the paper, revealing a pair of onyx earrings, shining in the firelight like diamonds.
"I can't believe your mum parted with them!" Blaise said excitedly. "She's knows I've always loved these."
"Blaise... mum's dead," he said quietly. "I'm sorry... I should have told you sooner."
"Oh, my God," she gasped.
"She would have wanted you to have them. She thought of you as her own daughter."
"I... thank you," Blaise said, her voice stiff, struggling with emotion. She turned her face away from Draco, brushing the tears from her face. "Excuse me."
She rushed from the room and disappeared up the stair to her dorm.
"She didn't take it quite as well as I'd hoped," he sighed, turning to Fiona.
"Draco... I'm sorry," she said, and for the first time she saw Draco as a person, and not an empty shell of one.
"Why? Why are you sorry?," he asked, "And don't say that it's because you know how I feel, because you don't... she was all I had."
"Draco, my father died when I was young... when I needed him most. That left me with only my mother, and that made me feel alone." She paused, trying to look in his eyes. He turned away from her.
"But I wasn't alone, and neither are you. You have Blaise, Snape, Dumbledore, and hell... you've even got me," she added reluctantly. "You aren't alone."
"Maybe you're right..." he said thoughtfully, still doubting her. His thoughts kept drifting to the Gryffindor common room, where Hermione was probably sitting alone, reading a book. I have Hermione, he thought.
"Thanks, Fiona," he said finally. "Would you give this to Blaise?" he asked, fishing a folded piece of parchment from his robe pocket.
Fiona took the parchment, looking at it curiously.
"A page from my mother's diary. She was writing about Blaise. I think it'll help her."
Fiona smiled, tucking the parchment gently into her own pocket.
"Of course," she said, leaving Draco standing alone in the common room. To occupy his time, he owled Hermione, asking her to meet him in their 'usual place'. God save us if we ever need to meet during the day, when there might actually be someone in there.
Hermione sat patiently, the mistletoe wrapped package lying next to her.
"What's in the box?" Draco asked, shutting the door behind him.
"Why don't you open it and find out," she answered smartly. Draco ripped away the paper and opened the box.
"I didn't spend as much time on it as my fathers," she rushed, checking Draco's expression, "but I thought it suited you."
He held up the gift, looking at it appreciatively. It was a black jumper. It was knitted with tiny stitches, almost thin enough to see through. Draco pulled it on, the slim green pinstripes matching nicely to his dark green trousers.
"I suppose I got the arms a bit too long," Hermione said, fussing over the sleeves, which totally covered his hands.
"No... it's perfect," Draco said, cuffing the sleeves and reaching into his pocket. "I've got something for you as well," he said, holding out a small box wrapped in shiny gold foil.
"I didn't make it, and it isn't even new, but I thought it suited you better than anything else I could have given you."
Hermione carefully opened the box, and removed from it a sparkling gold chain. On the chain was the red, teardrop-shaped garnet that his mother had loved so much.
"It was my mum's, it was her favourite. My grandmum gave it to her just before she married my father... it was very special to her."
"Oh, Draco... I love it. Thank you."
He stood just in front of her, the evening light shining in on them from the skylight. To him she was quite a sight to behold, resplendent in her quiet, dignified way. He loved her, he realized in that moment. It was like a pinprick of light in the darkness he'd been feeling.
"Thank you, Hermione," he said, drawing her up into his arms. "Thank you."