It was still dark outside when Hermione suddenly awoke from her slumber. She could hear the frogs down by the pond and the crickets chirping, all down in Mrs. Weasley's garden. Hermione looked around the round and listened carefully. She could also hear the sounds of the others snoring and also the little sound of her son sleeping next to her.

Once Hermione felt it was safe, she turned her body so she was facing her son. As usual, Caden was clutching his bear as though his life depended on it. He made faces in his sleep, telling Hermione he was having a nightmare. She pulled his little body closer to her and ran her fingers through his hair, trying to calm him.

Caden's eyes flew open and he looked up at her, frightened. Like Hermione, he looked around the room, before snuggling closer to his mother. Hermione could feel him shaking and she held him tighter. They held that position for a moment or so before Caden's brown eyes slowly looked up at her once again.

"I had a scary dream, Mama," he told her quietly. "There was this scary bald man and he was yelling and laughing at me. He hit me, Mama, and he wanted me to do bad things for him. He was a heartless, scary man, Mama."

"Shush," Hermione quieted her sound when she had a feeling of whom he was dreaming about. "You're safe here, Caden. I'll protect you."

She looked around the room when Caden's shivering continued. Slowly, she got up and went across the room where her suitcase that were now their normal sizes. Hermione pulled out the green flannel blanket and returned to the bed to wrap Caden in it. He grinned up at her when she had finished.

"Feel better?" She asked him. Caden nodded and soon fell asleep within the blanket.

The next morning came rather quickly. The sun stuck Hermione's eyes causing her to groan and stretch as she awoke. She let out a sigh and massaged her temples as she drained the sleep out of her. Downstairs, she could hear Mrs. Weasley scurrying about in the kitchen with the pots banged and a timer when off. The smell of bacon and eggs reached Fred and George's old bedroom, where Hermione and Caden were staying. Hermione turned her head with a smile, but it faded when she realized the blanket and Caden were missing.

Quickly, Hermione shot out of bed and ran downstairs. Mrs. Weasley was putting a pile of pancakes down on the table. Harry and Ginny were laughing in the other room and Mr. Weasley was reading the paper on the kitchen table as he drank his coffee. Hermione scanned the kitchen until she was positive there was no sign of Caden.

She ran into the other room, where Harry and Ginny were, and let out a sigh of relief. Caden was wearing the blanket like a cape and was sitting on the couch upside down. He wore a huge grin on his face, while Ginny laughed as she went to tickle him. Harry was watching them from the other side of the room, rolling his eyes and laughing also. Caden was the first to notice his mother's presence.

"Mama, check out what Ginny did." He motioned to the blanket tied around his neck. "I'm the evil Lord Harold," he told her as used his right arm to bring the cape in front of his face.

Hermione sat down on the couch next to him. "I thought you like Roland the best."

"I do, but bad guys have capes," Caden explained. "Roland doesn't have a cape."

She raised her eyebrows. "You want to be a bad guy?"

"No, I'm a good boy. I'm just pretending, Mama." He defended. He untied the blanket, and looked at her concerned. "See? I'm a good guy now. No need to pretend that."

Hermione laughed as Mrs. Weasley called everyone for breakfast. Caden, who must have been up for a few hours as he was now comfortable around everyone, was the first to react to the calling. He ran into the kitchen and took a seat, and then waited to be served. Harry followed the boy, leaving only Ginny and Hermione.

Ginny watched Harry go before motioning for Hermione to stay. She sat back down on the couch and looked at her old friend. "Who are Harold and Roland?" She asked her.

"They're just characters of a bedtime story I made up for Caden. He likes to use them to make up his own stories." Hermione told her.

Her friend gave her a look, as though she doubted it for a moment. But she looked back at the place were Caden had left for the kitchen and smiled. "He's a good kid, Hermione."

"Thanks." She replied.

"I'm not going to ask, Hermione, about… you know. But," she added. "Do you regret it?"

Hermione grabbed their green blanket and began to fold it in her lap as she thought about it. Finally she turned to Ginny and said, with a straight face, "I do not regret having Caden. But if you want to know if I regret how I came to have a son, I would do it all again if I could." Just to spend a few more moments with him, Hermione added silently to herself.

She could tell Ginny was shock and was going to point out what she thought about the situation, but Mrs. Weasley called again for them impatiently. Ginny joined Harry at the table and Hermione found that Caden saved her a seat. Ron soon came downstairs, fully dressed. He took the seat across from Hermione, and glared at Caden, who was returned it.

Breakfast went by silently, although it did not go unknown to Hermione that her old best friend and son were having a glaring showdown right in front of her. Occasionally, one would break it off. Caden would grin up at her, or Ron would add more to his plate. But they would continue soon afterwards. Mrs. Weasley also noticed the glares her son sent the young boy, and she knew the reason.

Even if one was blind, they could figure out Ron had a thing for Hermione, everyone knew. Mrs. Weasley had watched her son through the years get more attached to the girl, and could not help but smile at her son's crush. When Hermione disappeared that day, Ron hardly slept. He focused all his energy into finding her, but ended with no luck. He was an absolute wreck the day of Hermione's funeral.

But now, after eight years, Ron was still in love with her. Mrs. Weasley, like the others, was also shocked to see the little, black-haired boy with Hermione's eyes. There was also something different about Hermione the others had yet to notice. She looked at Ron differently now. There was still love in her eyes, but more of a sibling love. Something had happened to Hermione during her years while held captive. Something happened that made her fall out of love with Ron.

Mrs. Weasley examined the little boy's face. She could see traces of Hermione in the boy, like his eyes and maybe even her ears. Once he was comfortable around everyone, mostly everyone, he smiled a lot. His smile was somewhat like Hermione's, but she could see bits of another.

Hermione gave her son the look she used to give Ron, but with a motherly touch. After studying the boy's face, Mrs. Weasley knew that he held a lot of his father, whoever that was. His hair was like no one's she had met before. His jaw and most of his face made the face of the unknown man. Mrs. Weasley had a feeling she looked at her son that way, sad but happy, as a way of remembering the man. But why?

When breakfast was over, Caden leaped down from his chair and impatiently asked his mother if he could go outside and play. At the cottage, Hermione rarely let him out, fearing they would be captured. Caden loved the outdoors and the sun on his face. He began to shake with excitement as he waited for her answer.

"Alright, you may go out," she said to him. He cheered and ran outside with his bear in his hands. After changing into everyday clothes, Hermione followed him outside, as did Ron.

"Where are Remus and Tonks?" Hermione asked Ron suddenly, when Caden found interest in chasing a gnome.

He watched coldly Caden for a minute before answering, "They left shortly after you two went upstairs last night."

The two were in an awkward silence as they watched the boy run after the gnome and chase him into a hole. Caden tried digging him out, but gave up after seeing another. He bolted after the gnome and gave in no chance to escape underground. He caught the gnome by his feet, but quickly let go after feeling it lumpy skin. The texture surprised him, but he recovered and went after it again. He tackled the gnome to the ground, almost killing it.

"Hermione," Ron said to her suddenly, "is there a reason you decided to keep Caden? After all, he's the son of a Death Eater, isn't he? It's in his blood to… well, you know."

She gave him a dark look. "Ron, he may be a Death Eater's son, but he's also mine. He's half of me and my blood. And you don't even know what happened to me during those few years, so don't go jumping to conclusions on my son and his father." She defended angrily.

"I'm sorry, but you were gone for eight years, Hermione." He told her as he looked into her eyes. "I didn't know what happened to you and I thought you had died. But instead you show up, alone, with a son. You can't blame me for jumping to conclusions."

"You're right. I'm sorry." Hermione apologized after a while.

Ron let out a sigh. "Just answer me one question: Did he take good care of you?"

Hermione smiled sadly, "Yes, he took very good care of me."

"Oh come on," he laughed. "It can't be that bad."

She glanced up at him as he wiped the rest of the chocolate of his face with the napkins he had brought. He took his spoon and tried the ice cream. Hermione giggled as his face twisted and he, too spat out the ice cream, only off to the side and not on her face like she had done to him.

"OK, I lied. That is the worse chocolate ice cream I ever tasted." He admitted.

"Your bag must've sprung a leak," she told him, "or maybe your skills do not work so well with muggle ways of making things."

After discovering that Hermione asked Binky to bring her certain muggle zip-lock bags, milk, ice, salt, and chocolate extract, Roland made it his mission to figure out what on Earth she could be doing with those certain items. He came down to her room an hour or so ago and found her making homemade ice cream. Hermione showed him how it was done and they were now testing his first bag, which would probably be his last as it was too salty to be called ice cream.

"I don't even know why you're making ice cream," Roland said as he stood up from his chair and continued trying to get the ice cream out of his black hair. "It's December."

"December?" Hermione repeated as her face fell. "December what?"

She had been his captive for the past eight months, she thought with a frown. It did not feel like she had been here for that long. Roland came down at least three or four times a week. Hermione had been requesting more books, sketch pads, and crossword puzzles to occupy her time on the days he did not come.

Roland thought about the date for a moment. "It's the twenty-fifth." He answered.

"It's Christmas?!" She shrieked causing him to jump in surprise.

He nodded quickly. "Yeah, why, do you celebrate that holiday?"

"Of course!" She told him. Her expression fell as she realized that she was stuck her, and not celebrating the day with her family and friends. She placed down her ice cream and wrapped her arms around herself. How could she miss that today was Christmas?

At the moment, it really did hit her. She was trapped, alone, until who knows how long? Hermione felt the tears being to form in her eyes as she thought about Harry, Ginny, and Ron. She might not be able to see them again. She would never be able to see Harry conquered Lord Voldemort, if he conquered Voldemort. She would never see Ginny and Harry be able to regain their happiness and might even marry. She would never be able to see Ron again and tell him how much she meant to her.

Roland stood in her presence, with a look of concern on his face. He approached her cautiously, coming around the table and towards her chair. "Hermione?" He questioned. "Is everything alright?"

She wiped the tears from her eyes, "Just go, Roland. I want to be alone right now."

He took a step back and searched her face to see if she really meant that. With a sad look on his face, he quietly left her room and the door disappeared. Hermione watched the place where he left for a moment, before getting up from the table and lied down on her bed. She felt the tears fall freely as she realized she would be spending Christmas alone, without family, friends, or even Roland. She cried herself to sleep.

When she awoke, Hermione noticed Binky had already left her dinner. She did not really feel up to eating, but she got out of bed anyways. She smiled faintly when she saw Roland had gone through the trouble to make her Christmas sugar cookies with red and green stars on them. She began to eat one and noticed the note placed under the tray written in his handwriting.

"Dear Hermione,

I'm sorry that you have to spend Christmas here in the stone-cold room. If I could have it any other way, I would allow you to be upstairs by the fire, or even allow you to leave and return to your family. But you know that is not possible.

I haven't really celebrated Christmas since I was five, but I do remember the sugar cookies my mother would make just for me. So just for you, I made a dozen cookies. I hope you like them better than my ice cream and I hope the blanket will keep you warm this winter. Merry Christmas!

Yours truly,

Roland"

Hermione looked up from the note and around the room. He mentioned a blanket, but she did not see it. Looking back at her bed, she noticed a dark green, flannel blanket. She touched it blanket and rubbed it between her fingers.

She had never before felt anything so soft in her life. Slowly and carefully, Hermione picked up the blanket and wrapped it around herself. It was bigger than her and it fell onto the floor beneath her feet. It felt a bit heavy, but not too much. It was almost like big strong arms were wrapped around her protectively. Hermione smiled as she felt how warm it kept her within the dungeon. She took in the smell of the blanket as she examined it further. It smelled vaguely familiar, almost like Roland, who had that masculine smell to him.

Taking another cookie and grabbing one of the books on the table, Hermione went back to the bed and carefully place the blanket over her. As she searched for her bookmark within the pages of the book, out of the corner of her eye she noticed that the door had reappeared. She raised her eyebrows and put the book down as Roland came into the room.

He was a bit surprised to see her wide awake, but he smiled anyways. He came over to the bed, but not before taking a sugar cookie off the plate. Hermione's jaw dropped a bit as he took a bit. "I thought you said those cookies were for me."

Roland glanced at her casually. "It's just one out of twelve. You can handle it."

Hermione pouted and she got off the bed and grabbed another cookie. Roland took note that the blanket was still wrapped around her. He smirked as he finished the rest of his cookie and watched her.