Day 2- Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree:
Sitting in her car on the way to the garden centre, Draco fidgeted uncomfortably, protesting "why do we have to traipse all the way out here when we could just magic up a tree into the flat?"
As they pulled into the car park, Hermione leant over and pecked him on the cheek. "Because, my enthusiastic conscript, picking out a tree and somehow getting it home is so much more of an interactive, rewarding experience than magicking one up at random."
Her boyfriend rolled his eyes, but without any animosity. "My father has a catalogue."
"And these trees are a buyer's market," she said. Surveying him quickly, she did a quick check of the man opposite her. Wand; left at home on the cabinet table. Wizarding vocab; zipped up. Jeans; on and looking rather fit if she did say so herself. "Let's go snatch the best one!"
She pulled him by the hand into the poly-tunnel, the bell to signal their arrival to the owners making him jump into the air like a skeleton shocked out of its body! At her resultant laughter he shoved her sideways before threading his arm through hers with his own mirrored smirk- only freezing when a grey haired woman with her hair in a messy bun held up by a spade approached them, pulling off her gardening gloves to intercept and hug the young witch. "Hermione! How lovely to see you again! So grown up! Have you moved back down here? It's been so sad to see your parents here alone all these years while you've been at that boarding school! Apart from two years ago when they didn't show- I heard rumours they'd moved as well?"
"Their stay in Australia was planned to be longer," she said truthfully, but submitted the memory wiping part of why they left. "But yes, my boyfriend Draco and I," she lifted their joined hands with a smile as he forced one as well, crinkling up his eyes. "Moved back down south. Not as close as I used to be-"
"An exorbitantly long travel time," Draco drawled.
She stuck her tongue out at him teasingly. "But there wasn't anywhere else I'd rather go to get this tree!"
The shop owner wiped away a tear, beaming. "How sweet of you, dear. Well let's find you the perfect one then!" They gave her the measurements of their living room and then she directed them to a copse of trees. It always amazed Hermione how different the same species could look. They pulled them out by the trunks, arguing over whether to have one with more branches at the bottom or more overall, but eventually decided on a tree which was nearly perfect, just slightly too tall so they'd have to chop the top part off. The little old lady stunned Draco when she lifted up the tree alone, he rushing to help her but she was almost supernaturally strong! However the couple helped her by taking the end to shove into the netting machine, which her boyfriend at first jerked back from, worried a goblin was going to leap out of it! Once their tree was fully wrapped they wiped off their muddy hands victoriously. She let Draco pay in muggle money because he was so excited to show her and prove he could do it after all, but once they'd manoeuvred it into the car, the old lady wasn't done yet.
"Since you've travelled so far," she arched a jocular eyebrow at Draco, who blushed despite the fact they all knew they were messing around, just making the two women laugh harder. "Take a little something extra, free of charge." She produced a festive wreath, decorated with dried oranges, lemons, limes and cinnamon sticks; the scent of Christmas personified!
Thanking her profusely, Hermione handed the wreath to her boyfriend to smell, who inhaled deeply then had the same reaction as her, despite his far different upbringing and what, as it was becoming increasingly clear, had been a far different experience of Christmas. "It feels like I'm at the Great Hall Christmas banquet," he murmured appreciatively.
"Some work party?" Asked the old lady as she took back the wreath and wrapped it for them.
Hermione shook her head. "School."
The owner chuckled. "Perhaps I should have gone to boarding school. Sounds positively magical!"
They strolled gloved hand in hand across to the little tearoom she'd visited every year after getting their tree before she'd started spending Christmases at school. It was unbelievably refreshing to realise they'd pinned up the same decorations they'd always used. There was a new teenage waitress to take their order; a normal muggle girl with a Saturday job other than fighting evil masterminds- But she could see the chef in the back was the same as the one who'd always run the kitchen, and there was the same potted plant next to their table, only a little taller, the same non-moving artwork in its frames around the room. They ordered the Christmas afternoon tea she'd always shared with her parents. First the sandwiches: grape and brie; turkey, cranberry sauce and stuffing; and prawn and smoked salmon. The lavish toppings astounded her boyfriend, who it seemed had been expecting corned beef and cheese spread or something of the sort. Then there were the scones, with the small Christmas twist of having flecked pieces of fruit in them- naturally this led to the debate every couple has at some point in their relationship on which goes first; the cream or the jam? The top tier contained fruit cake cupcakes, mince pies, little slices of Yule Log, stollen and panettone. By the time they had scoffed down every crumb they were ready to use an enlarging charm for their seatbelts!
Draco was beginning to mutter the levitating charm when she put her hand out to stop him, determined that they would do this part of Christmas the muggle way. "But what's the point of having magic if you can't use it for time consuming tasks like this?"
"So that you can enjoy your humanity!" Hermione suggested, wiggling her eyebrows at him as her hands were too full to poke him. Having unlocked the door with one hand, she now put both back on the tree and re-calibrated herself to walk back through the door. "Now come on! Push!"
There were a few Friends-like "pivot!" moments which Draco didn't see quite the same humour as she did with her crazed laughter! Eventually they managed to squeeze the tree into its pot, chopping off the top so it no longer bent against the roof. After they hung the literal fairy lights, Hermione and Draco each brought out a cardboard box, taking turns to pull out an ornament. "Oh my Godric!" Hermione exclaimed, displaying a dodgily shaped reindeer covered in felt and glitter, with one eye a dot and the other the size of a snitch. "I made this in Year 2!" At his incredulous look, she clarified, "primary school year 2! I was a slightly better artist when I was thirteen."
"We should try and recreate them and see how much better you can do," Draco chuckled.
She rolled her eyes. "It'd probably be worse!" His pick was a bauble with a scene inside. At first glance it seemed rather mundane, not as blatantly magical as the fairies, but when Draco gave her a closer look, she realised it contained a moving image- rather like those in The Daily Prophet- of a five year old Draco and his parents sat around his a Christmas dinner table. She glanced between the innocent eyes and the ones that had seen war, caused hurt, suffered to support his family. "It's lovely," she smiled, squeezing his hand. "How did you do it?"
"I'll teach you the charm if you like," he said excitably. "We can make our own to celebrate our first Christmas together."
"There's nothing I'd like more this year," she declared, to which he tipped his head, putting his hand into his back pocket.
"Does that mean I should return this?" Her breath caught in her throat as she watched him sink to one knee with an emerald and ruby ring in its case glittering up at her. Her own knees felt like jelly; she couldn't believe she was still somehow standing, although her mouth had dropped open gormlessly. "Before you faint," he clarified. "This isn't an engagement ring." That did manage to close her mouth, although now her mind was just clouded with confusion. "You've introduced me to a lot of your traditions today. In Pureblood families, usually as children, betrothed couples receive rings to symbolise commitment," he pushed his hair back, a sign of nervousness that she'd come to adore. "I had one with Astoria Greengrass, but her parents tore up the contract during the war, horrified by my family."
"I'm sorry," she said, though she wasn't really. She couldn't imagine if that had gone forward and she'd never gotten to be with the blond herself.
"Don't be. My parents made the commitment for me, but I want to make this one of my own free will." With the empty hand he gripped her own, laying a soft kiss on it. "I got an offer for an ambassadorship to the magical government of Spain," her heart dropped. "And I've been thinking about it for a few days, but I don't need to spend any more time doing that. Your future is here- our future. This is what I want. You."
She shook her head. "Draco that's such a wonderful opportunity. You can't just discard it for me."
"You act as if you wouldn't be worth it," he stroked her hand gently. "But no darling, I am doing this because that may have been what I wanted in an alternate universe, but now I want to be here, with you where your job is- which I know you won't leave- and I want to see you every day in person, not through the Floo. I want to develop my own career in England to lay the groundwork for the family I hope we'll one day have." Now it was her heart that was stopping again. "I'd never rush you into marriage 'Mione, but this is a promise that I do want to be your husband someday, and I'd love to spend our first Christmas together with the anticipation of that future."
Four years ago when they were sparring at school; three years ago when he was skulking the corridors suspiciously; two years ago when she was on the run and Voldemort was squatting at his house; Godric, even one year ago when they kissed at the Yule Ball, she never would have imagined the possibility, but now it was the simplest decision in the world. This was what she wanted too.