Hi all and i hope that you all had a great christmas and new years!!

First i must apologise about the long wait for this next chapter, but i lost my writing mojo and then alot of stuff was going on and i just didn't have any time at all to sit at the computer to write, so i sincerely apologise to all my faithful readers and all the new ones who have left the wonderful reviews. I will state once again that all my stories will be completed eventually, but i'm working on several stories at once, most of which i haven't posted as of yet because i don't want to leave readers hanging anymore than i already am!!

Can you all believe that my youngest daughter (the one i had while i was in the first stages of writing this story) is now 1 year old!!! its gone so quick!!

I hope you all enjoy this chapter and know that i am in the process of writing the next chapter now so hopefully if time stays on my side i should get it out soon!!

Thankyou all again for your patience.

Disclaimer: my standard line, i own nothing to do with Harry Potter.

Cheers and HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

Chapter Twenty: A Malfoy Christmas: Evening

That evening after dinner found all six occupants of Malfoy Manor in what was once called the parlor, but had now been dubbed the television room. Hermione had instructed them all on how to load and play the DVD's before reclining on a bean bag. Draco had quickly enlarged it, then climbed on with her and the two of them were curled up together similar to how they had been that morning, only reversed. Draco was contentedly sprawled out between Hermione's knees, his head on her abdomen and one of his arms resting along her leg, the hand curled over her knee. The other was holding Hermione's hand, their fingers entwined and resting on his chest. Hermione's other hand was playing with his hair. Lucius and Narcissa were in a similar position on the huge plush couch that they had transfigured out of one of the stiff and uncomfortable settees that had previously been there. Blaise and Snape were sprawled out luxuriating in the two recliners that Hermione had transfigured out of the two formal sitting chairs. Both were looking extremely comfortable and relaxed, even Snape had a slight smile on his face. They had had an early dinner, as none of them felt really that hungry after the huge lunch, then had moved to the tv room to watch some of the DVDs. Lucius had been so excited at the prospect of seeing Lord of the Rings that they had decided to watch those, and so had settled down comfortably in order to watch all three in succession like a movie marathon.

"Everyone ready?" Hermione asked as she pointed the remote at the screen. As she received confirmation, she pressed play and leaned back, ready to enjoy the movie.

As the movie played, Hermione found herself watching the others more than the movie. All were in awe of the scene playing before them on the big screen. Lucius in particular was enraptured with watching one of his favorite books brought to life before his eyes. As soon as the movie finished, Lucius wasted no time in putting the second disk in to watch that, the same happened with the third. By the time they all finished, it was nearing 2am and the occupants of the room were tired, though each were reluctant to admit it. Blaise was the first to break the comfortable silence.

"That was awesome!" he exclaimed. "I'm definitely getting a set up like that when school finishes!"

"It was indeed quite good! I must admit that I enjoyed that immensely" Snape admitted graciously.

"It played out just as it did in my head when I read those books! Thankyou Hermione for the gift" Lucius stated, allowing Hermione to see the man relaxed for the first time.

"It was wicked! How did they do all that Mia?" Draco asked as he turned his head to look at his girlfriend. Hermione smiled.

"The other disks in the cases show how they did it all, its quite fascinating to watch actually, but if you have never seen the movies, it takes away from the magic of them if you watch them first" she responded.

"It was indeed magical Hermione, Thankyou, I can't wait to watch the rest of them" Narcissa smiled.

"I'm looking forward to watching those star ones" Draco grinned.

"Star wars?" Hermione asked. Draco nodded.

"Yeah, they sounded really good when I read the back of the cases" Draco replied with a grin.

"They are one of my favorites, but if you want to watch them all in succession, then you need to put aside a whole day as it takes that long to get through all six in one go" she replied.

"Could we watch them tomorrow perhaps? I must admit that I was quite intrigued with them when I read the backs as well, and since I leave tomorrow night to go back to Hogwarts and there is a blizzard forecast for tomorrow it would keep us all entertained" Snape spoke, surprising them all.

"Sounds wonderful Severus, we can ask the elves to serve us meals in here, they can even join us to watch the movies if they would like to" Narcissa agreed. Hermione turned and smiled brightly at Narcissa.

"I'm in!" Blaise grinned. Draco and Hermione nodded in agreement as well.

"Alright then, we'll come in here in the morning after breakfast and watch them all, but right now I believe that we should all head to bed or we will find that we won't have enough time to watch them all" Lucius stated. Everyone rose to their feet and headed off to bed at those words. Saying goodnight to each other, they all headed to their own rooms. Draco, Blaise and Hermione walked along the hallway to their rooms.

"I'll see you two love birds in the morning, ciao" he stated as he slipped into his room and left the couple standing outside their doors. Draco turned to his girlfriend and kissed her lightly.

"That was a wonderful gift for my parents, Thankyou Mia" he whispered as he gently caressed her cheek.

"I'm glad they liked it, I was so lost as to what to get them, it wasn't until Narcissa told me about Lucius buying a TV and DVD player that I knew that to get them" Hermione replied softly.

"The gift you gave me was perfect" Draco stated.

"As was the one you gave me" Hermione smiled as she fingered the pendant around her neck. Draco tilted her face towards him and lowered his lips to hers. Hermione granted him entry when he gently asked with a probe of his tongue and returned his caress with equal measure. They pulled apart slowly and smiled at each other.

"Goodnight Mia" Draco said softly, kissing her again lightly.

"Goodnight Draco" Hermione replied, then she turned and entered her room. Draco, knowing that he was still too awake, turned and headed towards Blaise's room. He entered after Blaise called him in.

"I knew that you would want to talk Dray" Blaise grinned from his perch on the bed.

"You know me too well Blaise" Draco grinned as he sat opposite Blaise.

"So what's up?" Blaise asked his blonde friend.

"Nothing really, I've just got all these weird feelings and I needed to talk them over" Draco admitted reluctantly. Blaise gave a mock gasp.

"The great Draco Malfoy wants to talk about feelings? Call the loony ward at St Mungo's!" he exclaimed dramatically. Draco smacked him over the head with a pillow.

"Shove it Blaise" Draco chuckled. Blaise grinned.

"Alright, now seriously mate, what did you want to talk about?" he asked the blonde.

"I'm scared that I'll fuck this relationship up Blaise" Draco admitted reluctantly.

"What! Draco are you mental? The two of you are perfect for each other, sure you will probably fight and argue, what couple doesn't? but this is the first day of you two being a couple! Don't go getting all negative now!" Blaise exclaimed. Draco sighed heavily.

"I've never had a real relationship before Blaise, I'm not exactly sure what I'm doing with Mia, I don't want to scare her off or push her away, but it wasn't long ago that I was a selfish arrogant prat in her eyes"

"Not just in her eyes mate, but that's beyond the point" Blaise corrected.

"Then what is the point?" Draco asked.

"You can't plan relationships, they just happen naturally, go with the flow, don't try so hard and the most important thing is to talk to each other! Don't let jealousy or anger rule, if you see something or hear something that you don't like, talk to her before you fly off the handle, trust her, like she will trust you, and just let it all happen!" Blaise advised.

"You speak as if from experience" Draco commented as he absorbed what Draco was saying.

"I am" Blaise admitted. Draco gave him an intense look.

"Wanna tell me about it?" he asked, expecting Blaise to shake his head. He was surprised when the raven haired Italian nodded.

"Yeah I do, need to get it off my chest" Blaise admitted.

"Alright" Draco agreed as he sat back and waited. A few moments later Blaise started.

"I had a girlfriend last year, was totally infatuated with her, if I was older I would have proposed to her"

"What happened?" Draco asked. Blaise sighed.

"My cousin came over one day and we were mucking around and flirting like we always do, anyway just as she gave me a hug and kiss, Maria walked in on us"

"Oh no" Draco groaned, knowing what it would have looked like to Blaise's girlfriend.

"Yeah, she flew off the handle, stated how she knew that I had always been cheating on her etc, then stormed off. Took me nearly two weeks to get her to listen to me and when I finally explained she burst into tears and begged me to take her back" Blaise stated with a tinge of bitterness.

"Did you?" Draco asked, knowing that Blaise didn't have a girlfriend now. Blaise nodded his head sadly.

"Yeah I took her back and things were great for a couple of months, and then she turned up pregnant" Draco gaped in shock.

"What happened?"

"Well since we had never slept together I knew it wasn't mine, when I confronted her about it, she admitted that she had slept with her ex the day she saw me with Maria, and when she suspected that she was pregnant, she had been trying to seduce me so she could pass the baby off as mine"

"What was she after?" Draco asked reluctantly, knowing where this was leading.

"My money and name, it hadn't started off that way, but then again she didn't know how much money I had back then" Blaise shrugged.

"You loved her obviously" Draco grimaced, still uncomfortable with the word and this whole male bonding thing. Surprisingly Blaise shook his head.

"No, I realised later on that I had never loved her, just infatuated, I was more angry than hurt when it all went down" Blaise explained. Draco nodded, then taking the opportunity to change the subject slightly, smirked at his friend.

"You like Ginny Weasley don't you?" Blaise's eyes shot open in alarm, then he nodded reluctantly.

"Yeah I do, there's just something about her that draws me to her. That and I felt a spark when I kissed her under the mistletoe" Blaise admitted.

"Tell me about it, I feel that same spark everytime I kiss Mia!" Draco grinned. He wasn't being insensitive towards Blaise's feelings by bringing this up now. He just knew his friend well enough that he'd said what he wanted to say and was ready to move on from all that.

"Do you think that she might go for me?" Blaise asked suddenly.

"Only one way to find out mate" Draco replied.

"What do you mean?" Blaise asked, for once clueless.

"Ask her out you fool!" Draco sighed.

"What? I can't just walk up to the girl and say 'hey I felt a spark when we kissed under the mistletoe, wanna go on a date?' that would really go down well!" Blaise protested.

"No that would be bloody stupid and just asking to get hexed! But you could always ask her if she would like to accompany you to Hogsmeade" Draco suggested.

"Good idea" Blaise admitted, then he looked up swiftly "Oh Merlin! I'm getting dating advice from the guy that was too blonde to even see that he was crushing on the girl that was right in front of him! Even though the whole school saw it from a mile away!" Draco blushed slightly, then smirked.

"I may have been oblivious at the time! But I got the girl didn't I?" he questioned smugly, as he rose from the bed and headed towards the door. Blaise groaned.

"Yeah you did" he admitted reluctantly as Draco smirked then left the room.

Well there it is! i know its not too long but what else could i do with a small evening where they watching dvd's??(i'm not a big fan of this chapter but i got sick of re-writing it so decided to post it as is) hope you liked it and the next chapter will hopefully be longer and out soon, (fingers crossed) please read and review and no flames please, im hard enough on my work as it is thanks.