Hermione sat with Draco in the drawing room, the two staring at the Vanishing Cabinet and thinking of where to start when school resumed. Hermione was sprawled on the couch, soreness still present from helping Fred and George improve the armor, but now they were finished with that stage of development. The new design was better, too, and Hermione couldn't wait to get her set. The Dark Lord had given the twins all of his followers' measurements so they would be perfectly tailored to each. Even her allies still at school would be provided with some generic outfits if they decided to join the attack. Fred and George just had to make the armor for a few more Death Eaters, but they could do that without Hermione.
"You aren't even thinking about the cabinets, are you?" Draco asked, looking at Hermione. She was staring at the cabinet but wasn't paying any attention to it.
"No, I'm thinking about Christmas presents."
"We have to go shopping soon. This is your first Christmas with us, I'll have to teach you all the family traditions. Just think of me as your big brother."
"I'm older than you."
"Only because you used a Time-Turner during third year."
"I'd be older than you, anyway. How about a walk? I'm bored sitting here and we clearly aren't being productive."
"Maybe if you actually focused on the task at hand we would be," Draco teased.
"Oh, so it's all up to me to come up with ideas, is it?"
"I'm not the one thinking about Christmas, am I?"
"Well, what did you come up with?"
"An apple."
"What?"
"An apple. If we send one through the cabinet we can use it as a starting point to fix the magic, then we just work our way to larger objects. And living things."
"That's not a bad plan."
"You say that as if I'm completely useless."
"You aren't completely useless. More like half useless." Hermione flashed him a teasing smile.
"How about that walk, then?" Draco asked with a chuckle. They stood, walking to the garden together. It was cold and the trees were bare. There wasn't any snow but the ground was frozen and hard beneath their feet. Hermione cast a warming charm over both of them. They walked in silence, looking at the dead trees and plants. There were some flowers still in bloom, pale and icy looking. They glimmered in the December light with a gentle twinkling effect.
"How come Cissa doesn't have the garden magically preserved in the winter?"
"I think she likes to see the seasons. It reminds her that no matter how dismal things get, they always get better."
"I never thought of it that way."
"Most people don't. I think when Bellatrix was imprisoned she needed something to help her stay hopeful. Family is everything to her and she had already lost Andromeda. But now she has both of them back, and you, too. I don't remember ever seeing her so happy. She's still waiting for you to propose to Bellatrix, by the way."
"Oh, Merlin. She told you?" Hermione's face reddened, and it wasn't from the cold. She looked away from Draco, staring at the pale blue sky.
"She's my mother, she tells me everything."
"I'm trying. Every time I think I can do it, I just get so scared and I can't bring myself to ask her."
"You can do it, 'Mione. You're a Gryffindor. You had a casual conversation with the Dark Lord last year, the evilest wizard alive. You turned your back on everything you've ever known to embrace a family you had never met, a family of the most feared witches and wizards in the world. You're the bravest witch I'll ever know." Draco put his hand on Hermione's shoulder, pulling them to a stop. "You have nothing to be afraid of, Hermione. She'll say yes."
Hermione looked at Draco, chewing her bottom lip. "I know, I just never thought I would be at this point. It's hard."
"Doesn't that make it all the more worth doing?"
"Yes," Hermione whispered.
"It doesn't have to be some super special thing. It's coming from you and you mean it. That's what makes it special, even if it's just something you walk up to her and do."
"I just know that I'm going to be nervous and I'm going to start ranting and I probably won't make much sense because it'll just be a bunch of words falling out of my mouth."
"Like now?" Draco asked teasingly.
"Yes! It isn't funny, Draco!" Hermione shouted. She wished there was snow on the ground so she could pelt him with a snowball.
"Hermione, just ask her. You're making it way more complicated than it needs to be."
"I know," Hermione groaned.
Narcissa glanced through the window of the library, catching sight of Draco and Hermione walking through the garden. She smiled faintly at their interaction, watching as the two conversed. Bellatrix burst into the library, pulling Narcissa's attention away from the window. She looked at her sister, a brow raised in question at her loud disruption.
"I need your help," she panted, hair framing her face in wild, disheveled curls.
"And you had to throw open the doors instead of walking in through one?"
"Yes," Bellatrix hissed, grabbing her sister's arm and pulling her up. Before Narcissa could respond, she felt the sensation of side-along Apparation. They landed in front of a waterfall but Narcissa didn't have enough time to examine the details before Bellatrix was pulling her into a cave behind the water. She didn't protest or resist because she recognized the fervor Bellatrix was in and knew it would be useless. Narcissa flinched and closed her eyes as Bellatrix pulled her straight into a wall. She waited for the collision but it never came, instead, she opened her eyes to find a spacious cavern lit by balls of light conjured by her sister.
"What is this place?"
"Not important. I need your help making this place look nice. Nicer. Whatever. I want to propose to Hermione here on Christmas Eve but I don't want it to look like this," she gestured to the stone walls, half marble, half obsidian, "I want it to be decorated."
"You're going to propose to Hermione?" Narcissa blinked in shock. She didn't realize Bellatrix had been planning to propose to Hermione at all, but she should have. If Hermione was feeling the desire to marry Bellatrix, then Bellatrix would be feeling the same.
"Yes. Catch up, Cissy. This is important."
"How do you want it to look? What kind of lights, anything on the walls?" Narcissa snapped into decorating mode.
Bellatrix launched into a detailed description of what she wanted, sometimes stopping to pace and think. Narcissa remained patient, taking note of everything Bellatrix wanted and devising a strategy. It would take a few people if they were to finish before Bellatrix's self-imposed deadline. It was doable, for sure, and Narcissa cast everything from her mind as she surveyed the cave and envisioned it with the decorations her sister wanted.
"I can do it, Bella, but you'll need more than just my help if you want it done before Christmas Eve."
"Andromeda, Tonks, and Aurion can help. What about Draco and Lucius?"
"That should be enough, but what about Hermione? Who will keep her from looking for us?"
"Fuck," Bellatrix mumbled, running through a list of people in her mind, "Oh, she has plans to meet McGonagall for lunch in a few days. We can do it then."
"Excellent. Hopefully, that will be enough time."
"Knowing Hermione, they'll probably talk for a few hours. If anything, we can always have Draco keep her occupied."
"Yes, we could do that. I suppose if we have to, we could always enlist the Weasley twins, though they seem more of the destructive type."
"We'll use them as a last resort. Thank you, Cissy," Bellatrix said, hugging her sister tightly.