Decorations
A/N – My first Christmas fanfiction! I haven't posted anything for a while, so Merry Christmas for 2015!
Disclaimer – I own nothing ;)
16/12/2002
"Draco, pass me the box of baubles"
"The box of what?"
"Baubles" Hermione turned around to see her boyfriend rummaging through several different boxes at a time. "The round ball things"
Draco rummaged through another box, pushing a bundle of fairy lights out of the way. They had been 'decorating' their apartment for an hour now and the only change to the living room was setting up the large, fake tree, the escaped bits of tinsel covering the floor, and the dusty, cobweb covered cardboard boxes littering the coffee table.
"Then why don't they just call them balls?" Draco snapped. "What colour are they?"
"They're multi coloured" Hermione said. She turned away from the tree to help him. "They're here" she fished out the box of baubles. "See?"
She pulled out several large blue baubles and proceeded to hang them on the tree. Draco watched her in confusion.
"What is the point of this anyway? When I was a kid the house elves would always hang up the decorations"
"But that's sad!" Hermione exclaimed. "Decorating the house was always a fun thing to do with my parents, it was just a tradition!"
Draco laughed hollowly. "Can you imagine my parents doing this with me? And it doesn't matter if I didn't do it as a kid, I've done this every year since we got together, and I still don't enjoy it"
Hermione made a 'hmph' sound. "Well excuse me for trying to get festive. You've sat there the whole night complaining!"
"I've been helping!" Draco defended frostily. "Look at all the things I found while looking for your precious balls"
"Baubles!"
"I don't care, Hermione!"
Hermione glared at the blonde man furiously for a few moments and then turned away and continued decorating the tree in silence. Draco sat, unsure of what he was meant to be doing.
"Er, Granger"
She didn't respond. Draco frowned.
"Granger, aren't you supposed to put the tinsel on first? Otherwise the baubles and other stuff won't be seen"
Hermione let out a noise of annoyance and chucked the bauble she was about to hang to the floor. It smashed, hundreds pieces flying all over the floor.
"Oh, shit!" she moaned. "That was my Grandmothers antique one… I didn't realise…" And she promptly burst into tears.
"Hermione?" Draco jumped to his feet in concern, and moved to sling his arm around her shoulder and pulled her in tight. "Hermione, are you okay? What's this about?"
She shook her head and tried to push him away, but he held her firmly. "Oh, no. I'm not letting go of you until you tell me what's wrong. You usually love decorating the tree, but you're being very fussy today"
"I-It's stupid" she hiccupped. Draco smiled softly.
"'It's okay, love" he said while stroking her hair. "Tell me what's wrong"
"I'm just so stressed" Hermione moaned. "This will be the f-first Christmas I host for everyone, and it's going to be in a t-tiny flat, and you're always m-mad at me because I'm working late, and my boss in mad at me b-because I'm not doing enough and e-everyone else says I worry too much, b-but how do I help worrying" she was struggling to breathe by the end, the words coming out shallow and fast.
"It's okay, it's okay" Draco repeated in an attempt to soothe her. "Why didn't you tell me any of this before? I could have helped… I'm not mad at you, I'm just concerned, and you don't let me help… You shouldn't bottle things up like that sweetheart, that's not healthy"
She let out a shaky laugh, unable to do anything else. "I sound so stupid… ugh, the silliest things keep setting me off, I hate it"
Draco laughed. "It's okay… Come on, let's clean this up and keep decorating the tree… You know I do love it, really"
Hermione smiled. "I know… I'm sorry"
They continued to decorate the tree together, finishing with the lights.
"Wait!" Hermione exclaimed. "We forgot about the angel!" Draco frowned.
"But we just bought a new star to go on the top of the tree just last week!"
Hermione flushed. "I know, but… Okay, this is going to sound really stupid, but I don't want to let go of the angel just yet"
Draco tilted his head to the side, looking like a confused puppy. Hermione almost laughed.
"My parents and I always used an angel, not a star. It was another tradition, not to use a star until the angel broke, because that was the sign that we had moved on in our lives… That there's no point in throwing away something perfectly fine. This sounds completely ridiculous but throwing away that angel would be like throwing that part of my life away, and I'm not ready for that yet"
Draco frowned. "I don't understand… But it's important to you, so I'll go along with it"
Hermione laughed. "Like always then"
Draco smirked. "I'll let you believe that. Fine. We don't need to use the star yet, I get it. Just don't let me waste ten galleons, the star changes colour!"
25/12/2002
Hermione had been exaggerating that day they had decorated the apartment, their flat was not 'tiny'. Draco's inheritance and both their high-end jobs made sure that they had a decent sized living space, but that did not mean that it was equipped to house this many people.
Hermione always wanted to host a Christmas dinner herself, and she had gone all out, and invited everyone close to her.
The Granger parents; Narcissa and Lucius; Molly and Arthur; Bill and Fleur with two year old Victoire and five-month old Dominique; Percy and Audrey with two year old Molly and one year old Lucy; George and Angelina; Ginny and Harry; Ron and his girlfriend of two years, Summer; Andromeda with four year old Teddy; Hagrid; and of course, Professor McGonagall.
The only person who couldn't make it was Charlie who had decided to stay in Romania that Christmas.
The house was full and the only empty room was the kitchen adjacent to the living room. Though the living room and kitchen were open to each other, people seemed happier on the couch or around the mistletoe.
Hermione had been cooking all day and only had a few finishing touches left, but was having trouble avoiding people. She kept getting steered away into conversations, or tricked into holding toddlers and babies for no less than twenty minutes while the parents did something 'important'.
Finally, she found a space to announce dinner and usher everyone into the dining room.
When they bought it, Draco and Hermione's flat was a three bedroom flat with an unsuit bathroom for the master bedroom, a regular bathroom, a kitchen and living room. They had used the first spare bedroom as a study, and both wanted a dining room over eating on the couch. It had served them well for three years, but Hermione had still been worried about that nights seating.
Somehow, it managed to fit perfectly.
The dinner was a success, people complimenting the food, doting on the children, reminiscing old memories, telling stories and breaking magical crackers.
Later that night as the last guests left, Draco and Hermione found themselves washing about a hundred dishes.
"What a night" Draco said. "I have to say, it was entertaining to watch our parents socialise, don't you think?"
"Oh, remember the day they first met?" Hermione giggled. "I don't think anything can top that meeting"
That was completely true, but that was a different story.
"Hmmm" Draco bought her in close. "I must say, I love these decorations" he kissed the Santa hat sitting on Hermione's head.
"Hmm" she agreed. "I must say, I'd prefer it without my other garments on"
Draco grinned and the two left the dishes on their own for the night.
25/12/2003
Another year, another Christmas. Although this Christmas was entirely different. The decorations were all the same, the spirit was all the same, and the loved ones present was the same, but some things were irreversibly different.
This year, Hermione wasn't as stressed; she had quit her old job in Law Enforcement and owned a bookstore in Diagon Alley.
This Christmas was to be spent in a charming house in the country-side, a complete turn from the flat in the heart of London.
And instead of a makeshift dining room, one of the houses spare room was a nursery, adorned by new decorations and a cute little tree in the corner.
Pictures were being taken at every moment of three month old Kera's first Christmas.
"Here, take a picture of me and Kera for once, you're hogging her" Draco said, grinning as he held out the camera to his fiancée.
Hermione took it and snapped a picture of the infant and her father. "There we go. One with daddy"
Draco took back the camera and looked at the photo. "She's adorable" he sighed.
Hermione smiled as she watched the love of her life hold their baby girl. "I know"
Behind them both, the angel on the top of the tree fell to the floor, crashing into several pieces. It wasn't huge damage, but enough to get out the star.
…
"For fucks sake, Granger, the batteries have died, it won't change colour! You and your bloody weird superstitions…"
A/N – Hope you liked it! I'm not sure about the metaphor, I think it was a little overdone.
Oh, well. Please review!