A/N - Welcome to December. Hope you all are staying safe and healthy.

*TGE*TGE*TGE*

The pair of Gryffindors entered the Great Hall and found Draco settled at one of the smaller tables with Blaise and Daphne. With the final two seats, saved for the arriving Gryffindors, filled, the group began to eat their breakfast. Hermione showed Daphne the card Harry gave her and the witches giggled at the effects.

"The Weasley twins expanded their product line into paper goods as well. This was one of their first successful cards. Feel free to promote it and I'm sure we can get more cool stuff from them." The table laughed at Harry's suggestion.

As the owls arrived, Draco kept his eyes up watching for the deliveries he expected. Hermione's first delivery, a bouquet of flowers, was delivered by a lovely little owl with large orange eyes. It wasn't so large it would be considered extravagant but still large enough to catch the attention of those seated around them. Hermione heard some of the fifth year Ravenclaws at the table behind to them whisper about the flowers.

"I would guess they are from Malfoy. And if not, he is going to be on the warpath."

"He doesn't look upset, in fact he looks pleased. He must have sent them."

"Are there both white and purple lilacs in there? Mum said Dad gave her those when they started courting."

"Yes, both along with daisies and lavender springs. That is an impressive display of intent."

As the witches pointed out, Draco's obvious pleasure at how the arrangement turned proved the flowers were from him. Hermione didn't quite catch his expression also related to the response from those around them. His claim staked yet again. He watched Hermione as she looked at the bouquet and heard the whispers at the next table. She'd be searching out a book on flower symbols soon.

"They are lovely Draco. Thank you." The witch leaned forward and gave Draco a kiss. He smiled when she pulled away and took the package from a second owl handing it to the witch. Opening it, Hermione found a lovely crystal cut vase that was the perfect size for the bouquet. "Oh, you didn't have to do this Draco. Thank you so much, now I can put them on my side table and see them before I go to sleep and wake up in the morning."

Draco didn't say anything, he filled the vase with a simple spell and Hermione placed the bouquet in the water. As she expected, it was just the right size and the bouquet spread out perfectly in its new home. She kept her attention on the lovely flowers and didn't notice Narcissa's owl arrival. Draco held out his arm for Sarff to land and hoped she wouldn't peck him. Hermione noticed the bird once she landed on the offered arm and hooted to gain the young witch's attention.

"Good Morning Sarff, thank you for bringing this. While I open it, will you let Draco give you some food? I'm sure you're tired, this looks like a lot of stuff." The owl, in an incredibly haughty way, turned her head toward Draco and opened her beak. Hermione, not paying attention to the interplay between Draco and the bird, took the bag from Sarff's talons and set it on the table.

The top package was the smallest, there was no card so she opened the it and found a pair of leather gloves along with a new hat. Both the gloves and hat were lined in a burgundy fabric so soft the girl groaned when she felt it. The hat was a heavy wool that Hermione knew would keep her nice and toasty when the temperature dropped. Daphne reached into the box and pulled out the note. "Here Hermione,"

Hermione,

I hope you like these, your mum mentioned how much you like wearing your Gryffindor scarf. I believe the burgundy should match it but if not, we can work it out over Yule. Stay warm dear.

Love,

Cissy and Lucius

Hermione set the gloves, hat and letter back in the box and looked at the other two gifts. Both were about the same size but one had her mother's writing on the outside. Suspecting who sent the other, Hermione opened the far safer bet. The gift was beyond anything she'd imagined. She stood to pull out a lovely winter cloak. The cloak itself was made of the same heavy wool as the hat, and the lining also matched. It seemed the pair of mothers plotted their gifts.

"Mum probably had warming charms woven into this. It's similar to the one she has." Draco ran his fingers over the cloak and nodded to himself. It seemed like he hadn't know what she was getting either. Hermione wrapped the cloak around herself and agreed it had warming charms, she took it off before she started to get overheated since it was still warm in Scotland. The letter from her mum was at the bottom of the box.

Hermione,

I assume you opened the gift from Cissy first and you've deduced these were part of a planned gift. I have been informed you will be walking from the castle to Hogsmeade and it's not the shortest of walks. You're also fourteen now and are old enough to have a nice winter set. This should last you for a few years. Cissy added extra material at the lower edge hem in case you grow a bit more and also included some warming charms. She said those will make all the difference.

Now, the other gift is from your father. Open it in your room sweetheart. As you know he loves you deeply but his sense of humor is warped.

Happy Birthday

Love,

Mum and Dad

The rest of the table watched wondering if the third gift would be opened and were only slightly disappointed when the witch packed everything back into the delivery bag without looking interested in the third gift. "That's from Rich isn't it?"

"Yes, Mum told me to open when I'm alone. I have to bring these up to my room before we met with Professor Flitwick. I best leave now." Hermione stood only to be stopped by Draco.

"Drizzle". A small house elf appeared in front of Draco and smiled at the boy. "Hello Drizzle, thank you for coming so quickly. Would you mind taking this bag and these flowers to Hermione's room?" Hermione watched as the elf seemed quite happy with the request.

"Of course. Drizzle will hang up the lovely cloak and set the flowers on the table. I will also add a preservation spell so the flowers last for longer than normal." The elf looked to Hermione, to see if the witch agreed.

"That is lovely Drizzle, thank you. Would you please leave the unwrapped gift on my bed? I'll look it later tonight." The elf gave a little bow and with a quick snap the elf and Hermione's gifts were gone. "Looks like I don't have to leave just yet. Thank you Draco."

"Don't thank me yet." The wizard handed one final box to Hermione. "Happy Birthday Hermione, I hope you like it." The boy licked his lips with a nervous flick of his tongue. Hermione, knowing her complaints would fall on deaf ears, opened the small wrapped gift to find a new charm.

"Oh Draco it's lovely." Hermione placed the charm in her hand and looked closely at it. "Is it an Aster?" At Draco's nod, the witch began to smile brightly. "That's the flower for September babies, it's perfect." Hermione spun her bracelet and selected a space near the sapphire and watched as it connected itself. With a flick of her wrist the bracelet settled.

Draco, who didn't know the flower had any connections to September, smiled at the witch. He wondered when she'd figure out he picked the Aster for an entirely different reason.

*TGE*TGE*TGE*

The meeting with Flitwick went well and Hermione left knowing she needed to write to her parents. They spent a good portion of the time discussing a simple way to test if the enchantment would be effective and it was something within the children's ability. Hermione figured Narcissa and Lucius hadn't thought of it, but with her parents starting to work on more complex enchantments, this could help them. The boys led Hermione to the third year common room and everyone settled for a few hours.

"Earth to Hermione" the girl turned and realized the room was looking at her.

"Yes, sorry I was thinking about something. What did I miss?" The room chuckled and most returned to their conversations or activities. Daphne and Susan pulled their chairs over to Hermione, pushing Draco out of the way, before they began their interrogation.

"So the flowers this morning, Draco sent them?" Hermione nodded and gave Draco a smile. She forgot about wanting to look up the meaning of the flowers. After lunch she would stop in the library. "I couldn't see all the flowers in there. What were they?" The expression on Susan's face was more than just interested, maybe Hermione wouldn't have to stop at the library.

"There were a few, lilacs, daisies and lavender. I love purple and Draco picked purple and white flowers,—" Draco preened at the perceived compliment on his flower selection skills, "— they looked so lovely." Susan nodded slowly with her gaze flickering between Hermione and Draco for a moment before looking at Daphne. Hermione followed Susan's eyes and when they landed on Daphne, Hermione saw her best friend with a wide smile.

"Well, that is some display, isn't it Daphne?" The other witch nodded and looked to Draco with more than a bit of mischief.

"Daphne, do you have something you want to say?" Hermione now knew something was going on and she was out of the loop. Daphne slowly shook her head.

"Nope, let's talk about the rest of your gifts instead. That cloak looked gorgeous." Hermione agreed to drop the subject for the time being. She saw Draco relax a bit and knew she needed to get to the bottom of whatever was going on.

Draco watched the girls talk and calmed after giving Daphne a glare about the flowers. Hermione needed to understand his intent on her own and not because two witches were more interested in gossiping. He would be sure to tell his mum how much Hermione liked the gifts. She seemed to be going on and on about the set. After a bit more of them talking about the fabric and color and Merlin knew what else, Harry interrupted.

"So what did Rich send you?" Hermione shrugged.

"Don't know, Drizzle took it up for me and I haven't had a chance to open it yet. After lunch I have to run to the library but I'll go up after that. I'll be sure to not tell you." Hermione glared a bit at Harry. It seemed her expression didn't do anything as he snickered.

"I'll just sent him a note and ask. I had to do that last year and I've yet to see you wear what he sent. The way he described it, you should have loved it and worn it all the time." Hermione's glare intensified at the dark haired wizard's comment. Her father, the traitor, told Harry. She'd deal with that later, right now she had a wizard to reprimand.

As she opened her mouth, she paused with an innocent smile Hermione spoke, "I wasn't planning on wearing at school, but if you want me to, than maybe I'll find a day once it cools off a bit."

Harry wasn't too worried, it would be funny to see her in it and not to mention how Draco would react. "Go ahead Hermione, I dare you."

The two Gryffindors looked at each other and each smiled. Draco looked to Blaise with a bit of worry. Blaise shrugged and mouthed 'no idea'.

*TGE*TGE*TGE*

Harry's taunting only bothered Hermione for a few minutes before she figured it out. She smirked to herself, she'd make Harry regret it and Daphne would probably help. "Daphne, I need to run to the library, care to come along?" Daphne's expression was similar to the one Hermione wore and the boys all wondered what it could mean.

The witches left quickly, but not before promising to meet everyone in Hall for lunch in an hour. "So Harry is being a pain and I want to mess with him. You in?" Daphne nodded and the pair of witches took to plotting. When they reached the library they had a bare bones plan. "I'll send Mum a note, I have to anyway, but she will more than agree. She doesn't appreciate my father's antics most days."

Daphne really liked Hermione's parents. They were much more relaxed than her parents and Rich really seemed to get Lucius to show his fun side. Hermione led the way into the library and went straight to the reference section. "If it's not here I'll have to ask Madam Pince, but I'm pretty sure it will be here." Daphne figured she knew what Hermione wanted, but would let her find out the answers for herself. She would just answer any questions her friend was going to have. It took the other witch only a few minutes to find the book and for them to settle at one of the tables.

Hermione pulled a piece of parchment from her bag along with a quill and ink. Daphne watched in amusement at how meticulous Hermione was.

White Lilac - Youthful innocence

Purple Lilac - First love

Daisy - loyal love, purity, faith, innocence

Lavender - Happiness, love, devotion, peace

Hermione looked at her best friend. "Does he know what those flowers mean?" Daphne, seeing a bit of fear in the girl, nodded slowly.

"He wouldn't send a bouquet of flowers without knowing their meaning. It's bad form but sometimes it can led to issues if the flower's meaning is some sort of agreement." Hermione nodded again.

"Do others know what they mean?" Hermione surmised the answer was yes based on the reaction of the two Ravenclaws at breakfast and Susan's expression when she heard what flowers were in the bouquet.

Again Daphne nodded slowly. For the first time, Hermione closed her and Daphne had no idea what was going through Hermione's head. "Hermione? Those flowers have the same meaning as your bracelet. He was signaling his intent, only in a different way." Hermione retained her blank expression while listening to her friend.

"He's saying … he is telling me … no, —" Hermione's head was in quite a state and finishing her thoughts seemed to fly out the window, "— Daphne, is he saying he loves me?" The question hung in the air as Daphne thought of her answer.

"I wouldn't say love, at least not yet in the sense you are thinking. He is devoted to you. I've not seen him this happy ever and you brought that." Daphne paused as she read the flower meanings again. "I would say you are his first love Hermione. Right now I don't think he is ready to admit more and you seem quite freaked out by the whole idea. So what do I need to tell you? What do you need to hear?"

Hermione shook her head, she didn't know what she needed to hear. With an unconscious movements she rubbed the two baubles on her bracelet. Not that they were baubles, but she tried to not think about what they were. She thought about the canary yellow stone and remembered how he told her it represented the brightness she brought to his life. His gifts all had multiple meanings, not to be sneaky but because relationships were complex. She swallowed thickly and pulled the book toward her again.

She slowly read what Aster's represented and nodded. Her eyes shown a bit with unshed tears. "I'm not ready to say I love him Daphne. What do I do?" Daphne nodded in an expected way.

"You don't need to do anything or act any differently. He did this to make sure you knew and he is not expecting you to respond. He is declaring his intent. He wants to continue with you at his side. Is that what you want?"

*TGE*TGE*TGE*

Draco knew the moment Hermione said she needed to go to the library what she was going to do. Luckily Harry started carrying the map and cloak with him after their first exploration. Draco borrowed both and made his way to corner where the girls sat quietly talking. He heard Daphne's last question and his breath stopped. He swallowed not realizing how important her answer would be.

"I do, but I don't want others to think we are getting married. We are just kids." Daphne's eyes lit with understanding and she raised her hand.

"This, —" Daphne waved her hand over Hermione's head, "— your worry, has nothing to do with Draco or his presents. It is because what people will think when they see the items." Hermione nodded, it was a relief for her to realize her worries only had to do with others. "Well, that is easy. These types of presents, wizards or witches declaring intent, happen all the time. Everyone raised as like Draco sees it as a right of passage."

"So, it's not what he wants?" Hermione began to be confused on the whole thing. This is something that needs to be written down so she knew how to act.

"You are what he wants and I suspect it's been that way since the day he met you. You are both just kids and no one expects you to announce an engagement. The flowers told people Draco wants to continue with his suit. To formalize your arrangement a bit more. Nothing in what he gave you was an agreement to spend the rest of eternity together."

That Hermione understood. She read books and watched movies about relationships and realized every one grew over time. All Draco was doing was telling her he wanted to continue as they are. She nodded slowly to herself and didn't realize Daphne let out a relieved breath.

"I agree with him and want to continue as we are. Do I need to tell him?" Daphne smirked and shook her head.

"Nope, advantage of being a witch, we just have to just be us and the wizards have to do the work." With a quick wink, Daphne stood and pulled Hermione to her feet. "Come on we have a letter to send to your mum. This is going to be great." The pair of witches left and Hermione turned back once and looked to just where Draco stood. Her expression was very similar to what Severus had the other night. Draco wondered if there was something off when the cloak was used.

*TGE*TGE*TGE*

While Hermione was thinking about flowers and how they related to her relationship, Sophie returned to her office after sending a missive to Lucius. "Alfonso, do you have all the books?" As the man nodded with a relaxed smile, Sophie found herself releasing some stress. It has been almost two weeks and the pair spent every spare minute, obviously with Alfonso having more spare minutes, reading the journals with documentation of the schools wards.

Sophie looked over the stack of books and parchment with a sense of dread but maybe a glimmer of hope. "I think this is at least a starting point. Hopefully Lucius —" what Sophie hoped paused when the floo lit up with the face of the blond wizard.

"Hello Sophie, I have time now if you are available. Frank would like to attend as well." Sophie agreed, pleased Lucius thought to include Frank. She didn't know how involved the pair were previously, but they obviously took their role as Regent quite seriously.

"Thank you both. I'm not going to waste time with pleasantries, I worry there is work to do." Sophie motioned for the men to be seated. Alfonso held Sophie's chair and sat next to her once she settled. "Alfonso and I have finally gotten through the journals we believe have information on the school's enchantments. It's taken so long as the writers have a lot to say about how powerful they are and what they want to do versus what they actually did."

Lucius nodded when the witch took a breath. "I've had some conversations with the former headmasters and that is a good assessment of them." The portraits along the walls humpfed in disagreement, but didn't say anything.

"I agree, but the professors seem to be just as bad from what I can tell." Alfonso unrolled a large parchment and the two wizards immediately knew what it was. "Based on the journals, these are some of the additional enchantments made over the years. I suspect more occurred but weren't documented. From what I can tell, the Board of Regents is a more recent addition to the school and before them the headmaster had carte blanche on the running of the school."

Alfonso, rather proud of what they put together, explained a bit more, "What is here is merely what the journals tell us. We feel these are accurate. Filius and Mitchell compared them to what they've identified so far and everything matches. There are, of course, many more we don't know but we are all hopeful the rest can be identified as easily as the first batch."

The wizards continued to listen while focusing on the map. Lucius's fingers ran over the various enchantments until he found one that was familiar. He slowly turned toward the portrait of Phineas Black. "Phineas, do you have anything you'd like to add?"

A slow smile spread across the face of the portrait. "I do but how do you know?"

Lucius gave the man a look before answering the question. "There was an issue with the enchantments this summer. Short story is both the Black and Malfoy wards were in danger. I saw the scheme and recognized part of it. Did you document your additions?"

"Of course I did. I also documented everything done before me." The portrait raised an eyebrow in a haughty manner and continued, "I also received permission to make my changes. I don't want to hear any of you claiming different." The portrait then huffed and sat quiet until Lucius's gaze got to him. "In my private journals, at Grimmauld Place, you should find what you need. All private journals are charmed to appear in the family library after our death. Young Regulus should be able to access them." Lucius seemed ready to move on, "One additional point you'll want to know, those blasted from the tree have no ability to remove or harm items belonging to the family. Even if they have accessed the building."

Lucius immediately realized what the comment was saying. "So they are safe?" The portrait nodded. "Good, I'll get with Regulus soon." Sophie watched the interplay knowing something important had been identified, she waited for Lucius to tell them. "Phineas Black was known to be a very meticulous and studious man. If what I've heard is true, in his journal we should be able to find what the wards were before Dippet took over. With that and some additions by Sophie we should be able to ensure the school and grounds are safe."

"Thank Merlin. Please contact Mr. Black, I would prefer this issued fixed as soon as we can." Lucius didn't wait a moment longer before exiting the office through the floo. He appeared at Grimmauld Place to find Kreacher waiting.

"Is Reg home?" The elf nodded and waved the wizard along. They entered the study and found Regulus bent over books seemingly unaware of what was going on. "Reg?" The other wizard jumped at the sudden arrival of Lucius.

"What's wrong? What else can go wrong?" Lucius shook his head.

"Nothing more is wrong. This is good news, I hope. The first bit we've had since the summer, but I believe it will turn the tide." Lucius began to wave the man up and out of the study. "Come on, I need you to pull something from the library." Lucius almost ran to the room he needed.

"Ok, we are here, do I get to know what you need?" Lucius nodded in pleasure.

"Phineas Black's personal journals," Regulus moved down the aisle to where the family journals were housed. When the journals appeared they remained grouped by individual but finding where they were took time.

"Charm gets them here in approximately the place they are on the tree, but with so many cousins running around historically it gets difficult." Regulus found the section and paused. They should be right there. He looked again and scowled. "Kreacher"

The elf appeared waiting for his instructions. "Can you track the books in the library? Can you tell if they are in one of the other houses?" The elf nodded and with a snap of his fingers a list of each property with the books contained therein appeared. "Thank Kreacher. Come on Lucius, we need to read."

The pair of wizards reviewed each property and each book located on the grounds. When Regulus finally found what they sought he hissed. "This is what he wanted." Reg jumped up and ran to the floo and called out the property before disappearing. Lucius pulled the parchment toward him and found the books.

"Fuck."

Regulus Black was livid, the library was almost totally destroyed, he hadn't inspected every room of the properties over the summer. He checked to make sure all looked ok and there was nothing untoward. He kicked himself. "Kreacher". Again the elf appeared and gasped. "We need to check all the properties accessed by Sirius. You have the list?" The elf nodded.

"Before I goes. The books are not damaged, at least the pages themselves and the journals can be put back to rights." Kreacher left the destroyed library to visit all the others. None of the others had the same level of damage, but each did have evidence of someone trying to destroy things. Kreacher packed up each property and sent them to Grimmauld.

When Regulus returned to Grimmauld he found Lucius waiting for him. The large box he carried made Lucius chuckle. "Phineas was a bit wordy wasn't he?" It was then Regulus set the box down and Lucius saw his face. "Reg what is it?"

"Apparently I've figured out why some of the properties were accessed." Regulus waved Lucius forward and the wizard saw the aftermath. "Kreacher says all the pages are undamaged but to rebind will take time." With that statement boxes began to appear. "Apparently it wasn't just at one property."

"Fuck."

*TGE*TGE*TGE*

When Lucius returned to Hogwarts it was with a definite scowl. "Lucius?" Frank and Sophie were discussing Neville but stopped as soon as the blond appeared. "What's wrong?"

Instead of answering, Lucius glared at the painting. "You could have told me they tried to destroy the books, not just they were protected. You're as much of an arse as the family says." The portrait laughed before standing and leaving. "He was an arse then and death hasn't changed that." Lucius mumbled to himself as he turned toward the others.

"Sometime over the summer certain Black properties were accessed and the journals were destroyed. As Phineas said, they can't be destroyed but they were torn apart so each page is separate. It seems the pages were spread across a number of properties and some other books and journals were also destroyed to make it more difficult."

"Lucius, I'm assuming Reg has already started trying to sort the mess. I don't know everything there is in my new department, but let's say I'm sure they have something that can help. Even if they don't, I suspect Amelia will be more than happy to throw support behind this effort. I've mentioned my concerns with warding here and she's acknowledged, albeit reluctantly, she agrees." Lucius felt a bit more relieved and pleased he and Longbottom came to an understanding all those years ago.

"Thank you Frank. I hope there is something, there are thousands of pages, twelve large boxes filled to the top. It will take years to do this manually." Knowing the meeting was as complete as it could be, the wizards bid farewell to the headmistress and her husband, before heading to where they needed to be.

*TGE*TGE*TGE*

When Lucius returned to Grimmauld, he found not only Regulus, but Narcissa, Jean and Rich all reading pages and placing them in stacks. "I told Phineaus he was an arse for not warning us. He knew. Arse." Lucius was still upset at how unhelpful the portrait had been.

"Yes, well my family isn't really that lovey dovey. I think Narcissa and Andromeda are the only two who are pleasant. I know I'm not." Regulus said without looking up. "Jean, thank Merlin for Jean, she noticed Phineas dated and initialed each page of his journal. It's making it a bit easier to sort his journals out from not."

"At least there is a way to start to make a dent in this. I think someone should read the pages we remove to make sure we don't miss anything." Rich could not believe it when he learned what happened. While sorting, he was glancing at the pages and some of the information might helpful. "I'll do it, if no one else wants it." Jean snorted from the other side of the room.

"I assume you've found things you want to read without scorn. Hermione got her lack of cunning from you." The other adults all broke into laughter. It was needed and appreciated. "But, fine love, you read the pages that aren't what we need and the rest of us will toil." It seemed like an unattainable goal, but the safety of the children, all the children relied on this.

"I asked Frank Longbottom to attend the meeting and he was still there when I returned. He is going to check and see if there is anything documented at the Ministry that can help. If not, he will approach Amelia and get her to sign off on creating something."

"Thank Merlin. I don't think this is possible to do manually. Of course, that is what he wanted. I assume he believes we can't get this finished before he does whatever he wants." Narcissa was ticked, she was more than ticked really. She was pissed off and if Sirius wasn't going to end up back in Azkaban for life, she would end his life. She looked around the library and saw the book her mother showed her as a girl. "If he isn't sent away, I will do something."

Regulus knew the book Cissy saw and sighed. The Black women are powerful and very often deadly. They also like to document their successes and failures to pass on the knowledge. No one, but a Black daughter and he suspected Hermione, can read the book. "Let's leave the murdery book to the side right now, worst case I'll help." No one wanted to ask what could be done, but all knew Narcissa would kill for her children.

When Kreacher returned he saw the stacks and sighed. "They bes undamaged but charmed so elfy magic cannot helps. The bad brother knew I would tries." Those in the room nodded, they assumed as much since the boxes were a total mess. Kreacher would have put them in order if he could. "I gets food."

*TGE*TGE*TGE*

"Why am I not surprised Lucius Malfoy has the ability to find something about Hogwarts wards? I swear, going forward, we check with him first." Amelia Bones shook her head when Frank explained the situation. "Check the spell books, but I don't think there is anything. At least, I can't think of any spells that would sort and correlate pages. We may need someone in Experimental Spells on this. If you can't find something in an hour, let me know and I'll get the request sorted."

Frank nodded and thanked Amelia before heading to the archives. He didn't think there was anything either and between the pair of them, one would have remembered seeing something like that. As expected Frank found nothing and let Amelia know. The request was made with an immediate need time table. That still didn't mean it would be a quick discovery.

What Frank did find, sorted incorrectly in the records room, was a book about Dark Age Britain and magicals. He checked the book out thinking he might get a bit more information on Gryffindor or his ancestors. The wizard had to come from somewhere.

*TGE*TGE*TGE*