The day before Christmas Eve, Harry was in his room wrapping his Christmas presents. Sitting beside him he also had a list, so he could ensure he'd bought presents for everyone. Aside from the family, he'd bought presents for Draco and his parents, and Daphne. He'd also bought some smaller presents for the Slytherins as he and Hermione were going over to Draco's on Christmas Eve morning to exchange presents and Draco had invited some of his other friends.

With the aid of magic, wrapping the presents wasn't too hard and before long, Harry reached the end of his pile. As he magically tied the bow around the jumper he'd bought for Beth, he checked his list to make sure everyone was accounted for. Satisfied he hadn't missed anyone, Harry then sorted the presents into two piles. One pile was for taking to the manor the following day, while the other pile was to take to his grandfather's for Christmas day. Just as Harry finished stacking his presents, there was a knock on the door and his father poked his head around the slightly open door.

"Is it okay if I come in?" Severus asked.

"Sure," Harry replied. "Come on in."

"The place is looking good," Severus remarked as he took in his son's room. Even though they'd moved into the house over the summer, Harry was still in the process of making the room his own.

"I like it," Harry replied with nod. "Now what can I do for you? I'm not late for dinner or anything, am I?"

"No, dinner's not for another hour," Severus replied with a chuckle as he sat down on Harry's bed. "There's something I want to discuss with you."

"It sounds serious," Harry said warily as he joined his father on the bed. He was just hoping that he wasn't about to get a sex talk now he had a girlfriend.

"It is," Severus confirmed with a nod of his head before he lapsed into awkward silence.

"Then what it is?" Harry pressed, growing increasingly anxious by his father's obvious hesitance to discuss what he came to talk to him about.

"I want to ask you something," Severus said. "And I want you to know that in no way does this affect the feelings I have for your mother. Lily was, and will always be, the love of my life. However, I love Rosmerta very much and I want a future with her."

"I know all this," Harry interrupted. "Isn't this why we moved in with her, so we could all be a family?"

"I guess so," Severus replied. "But I want to make it official. I want to ask you if you would give me your blessing to ask Rosmerta to marry me."

"That's brilliant," Harry declared happily, grinning at his father. "And yes, I give you my blessing. When are you going to do it?"

"As you know you're staying with father after Christmas while Rosmerta and I have a break, I thought I'd do it then," Severus replied, sighing in relief that his son was fine with his decision to propose. "If all goes well, we'll be engaged by New Year."

"I think its excellent news," Harry reassured his father.

"Thank you, Harry," Severus said quietly. "It means a lot to me that you're on board with this."

"So do you have a ring?" Harry questioned.

"I do, but it's locked away where Rosmerta won't find it," Severus answered. "I'll show you after dinner when Rosmerta goes to close the pub."

"Great," Harry replied. "And I hope you've got something good planned for the proposal. Make it so good, she can't say no."

"You think she might say no?" Severus questioned with a frown. To be honest it had never once occurred to him that Rosmerta would turn down his proposal.

"Of course not," Harry laughed. "I just think you need to make it special."

"I'll do that," Severus replied unsurely as he got to his feet. "I'll leave you to finish your wrapping. Don't be late for dinner, and not a word to Rosmerta. I want this to be a surprise."

"My lips are sealed," Harry vowed as his father left his bedroom.

Grinning happily at the thought of his father and Rosmerta getting married, Harry returned to his presents and double checked they were in the right piles. He then placed the two sets of presents in gift bags and put them to one side. Although with the excitement of what he'd just learnt bubbling inside him, Harry was too keyed up to lounge around his room until dinner. Instead he pulled his broom from the cupboard and went for a quick fly before he settled down for an evening in with his father and soon to be stepmother.


C.O.T.D.


Shortly after everyone arrived at Malfoy Manor on Christmas Eve to exchange presents, it began to snow and the teenagers debated if it would be a white Christmas. However, since the snow wasn't the reason for the meeting, people soon forgot about it and focused on the present exchange that was about to happen. Aside from the trio, Daphne, Theo, Blaise, Pansy, Vince and Greg were at the manor. Blaise had also brought Luna with him, and she was sitting snuggled up next to Blaise.

As they exchanged presents, the group nibbled on biscuits and juice provided from one of the Malfoy house elves. Most of the gifts were just small tokens, but certain people gave slightly larger presents to particular people. Harry and Hermione had just bought small trinkets for the Slytherins they were just getting to know, while the Slytherins had done the same with the pair. However, Harry had bought Draco a pretty decent present of a signed quidditch book and a new top, while Draco had bought Harry tickets for a match over the summer.

Then came time for couples to exchange gifts. Daphne had bought Harry a new quidditch top, while he'd bought her a silver necklace and a bottle of her favourite perfume. As the couple were lost in thanking each other, Draco and Hermione exchanged gifts. Hermione had bought Draco a new shirt and some aftershave, and he'd bought her an emerald bracelet and a set of books she'd been wanting to try.

"I've also got another present for you upstairs," Draco whispered to his girlfriend as they exchanged gifts.

"Then why didn't you bring it down?" Hermione asked.

"It's sort of personal," Draco replied with a cheeky grin.

"How personal?" Hermione questioned, smirking at her boyfriend.

"Very," Draco answered. "Do you want to see? I'm sure we can find some reason to disappear for a while."

"Okay, I'm dying to see what you've got for me," Hermione replied.

As luck would have it, the opportunity to slip away came fairly quickly. After the exchange of presents the group just settled down to chat, so Draco took hold of Hermione's hand and pulled her towards the door while their friends were busy talking. However, Blaise was on the ball and he spotted the couple trying to sneak away.

"Hey, where are you two going?" He called.

"We'll not be long, I just want to show Hermione something," Draco replied.

"Two guesses what he wants to show her," Theo snorted.

Draco rolled his eyes at his friend as he led Hermione from the room. Knowing they probably wouldn't have much time before their friends decided to come and interrupt them, the couple quickly made their way to Draco's room. When they entered the bedroom, Hermione found a box wrapped in deep purple paper and tied with a bow, sitting on Draco's bed.

"Hmm, now what can this be?" Hermione asked, toying with the ribbon on the box.

"Open it and find out," Draco urged.

"If it's what I think it is, this is more of a present for you rather than me," Hermione said.

"I like to think of it as something we'll both enjoy," Draco retorted. "I may enjoy the visual side of things, but I promise you'll enjoy the effects it'll have on me."

Laughing lightly at her boyfriend, Hermione opened the present to reveal a sleek black box. Pulling the lid off the box, Hermione found a set of lacy red lingerie, edged with white fur. Laughing even more, Hermione pulled the bra and knickers out of the box and held them up in front of her.

"Very festive," She chuckled.

"I thought so," Draco answered. "So do you like?"

"I do, we can have fun with these," Hermione replied. "Only I don't think I should take them home with me. If we leave them here we can use them some time over the holidays. After Boxing day, everyone's going to be busy with preparations for the New Year, so we're bound to be able to get some time together."

"Sounds good to me," Draco answered with a nod. "I'll just keep the box in my wardrobe and hope no-one comes across it."

"Why would anyone come across it?" Hermione asked as she returned the lingerie to the box and Draco slid it onto the top shelf on his wardrobe.

"Who knows?" Draco shrugged. "But it could get embarrassing if I have to explain it. I don't want people thinking I've got a penchant for women's underwear."

"I think if someone found it, they would know it was for me," Hermione pointed out. "Somehow I don't think people's first thoughts will be that you like wearing women's knickers."

"I guess not," Draco laughed. "So should we get back to the others?"

"Not just yet," Hermione answered, smiling at her boyfriend. "I have to thank you for your present."

Draco grinned at Hermione as she pulled him to her and wrapped her arms around his neck. Pulling her boyfriend down, she connected their lips in a searing kiss. Draco eagerly returned the kiss, slipping his hands down to Hermione's backside and giving it a squeeze. Hermione playfully slapped Draco's hands away from her backside as she pulled away from him.

"Naughty, naughty, I'm supposed to be the one thanking you," Hermione taunted.

"Do you have something more in mind?" Draco questioned, cocking his eyebrow at Hermione.

"I did, but I don't think we have time," Hermione replied with a sly smile. "Maybe next time."

"Maybe next time what?" Draco asked curiously.

Hermione smirked at Draco as she leant in and whispered in his ear, telling him about how she would have thanked him if she'd had time. Draco groaned at the images Hermione put in his head, and he found himself regretting inviting all his friends over. He should have just arranged to exchange presents with Hermione in private.

"Are you ready to go?" Hermione asked innocently as she pulled away from her boyfriend.

"I might need a minute," Draco muttered.

Hermione giggled as her eyes fell to the slight bulge in Draco's trousers. Deciding it wasn't wise to tease her boyfriend too much, she backed off and watched as Draco took a few deep breaths, obviously cleansing himself of the dirty thoughts she'd put in his head. Once Draco felt he was ready to face the others, the couple left Draco's bedroom and headed back down to the front room, where fresh refreshments had been provided.

"That was quick," Blaise remarked when the couple re-entered the room. "You're not one for messing about are you, Draco? It must have been right down to action."

"Shut up Blaise," Draco muttered. "We weren't doing anything like that."

"As if," Theo chuckled. "We all know you snuck off for a quickie."

"We don't do quickies, Theo," Hermione replied in a cool voice. "We like to take our time. Believe me, if that's what we'd snuck away to do, we would still be very busy."

Theo blushed at Hermione's words, and she chuckled as he quickly changed the topic to the snow that was still falling outside. Everyone was quite happy to drop the subject of what Draco and Hermione had been up to, and the rest of the morning was spent chatting about how people were going to be spending Christmas. And of course, talk also turned to New Year's Eve and the party Narcissa was planning on throwing especially for Voldemort and his followers.

"It should be a good night," Draco said when Blaise mentioned the party.

"I've heard The Dark Lord is going to make a speech and outline his plans for the New Year," Theo remarked, glancing at Harry and Hermione in the hopes that they would know more about what Voldemort was up to.

"I'm sure my Father will say a few words," Hermione replied with a casual shrug. "Although, I'm not really sure what plans he could be going to mention. As far as I know, he's very happy with how things are progressing. We now have control of the Ministry and Hogwarts, and the influence of muggles is rapidly diminishing from our world."

"But the Order are still fighting," Harry cautioned his Aunt. Unlike Hermione, who felt that there wouldn't be a break out of violence, Harry suspected otherwise. "Just look at how they tried to get Neville to fill my place in the prophecy. They're still a threat."

"They're a nuisance at best," Hermione snorted. "Yes, they can try and cause trouble, but it will only be a few rebellions here and there. I'm sure Father can deal with the troublemakers when, and if, the need arises."

"Let's hope you're right," Harry said. "But personally, I still think we need to be on guard. Everything is going too well. Things are running just a bit too smoothly for my liking."

"Honestly, Harry, you're just being a worry wart," Hermione laughed. "Nothing is going to go wrong. We're in control and there's nothing the Order or anyone else can do about it."

Harry nodded his head and dropped the subject, but deep down he still felt uneasy. He still felt as though the Order were going to be a danger to them sooner or later. However, what he didn't know was just as he was worrying about the Order, they were celebrating after finding Slytherins locket stuffed in an old box under the floorboards in Regulus's old room. The Order had yet another Horcrux in their hands, and they could still provide the threat Harry was worried about.