A/N: Thanks to everyone who favorited/added an alert to/reviewed "Head Over Heels In Love?". I really appreciate the positive encouragement! Just so you know, my inbox is always open to ideas for "filler" chapters that act as a break from the main plot.

Chapter 6: Christmas at the Malfoy Manor

Oh and her heart did melt. All of the bad thoughts about her family faded away as a tall, blonde figure walked through the door. "Daddy!"

She was such a daddy's girl. He spoiled her so much as a child and left her mother to do all of the real parenting. When he was home, Sarah found that she could look past the Death Eater exterior, and past the mask of his pureblood supremacist nature.

"Hello my love." He leaned down to kiss her forehead and held out her favorite candy, Fizzing Whizbees, in his hand. Although she was sixteen, she still basked in this childhood delight. "How's Hogwarts?"

"It's okay. My boyfriend should be coming over soon for the holidays," she smiled.

"Good, good. Let's hope Lucius and Narcissa don't scare him away," he joked. She loved the fact that he didn't immediately ask if he was in Slytherin, although he was probably thinking it anyways. Sarah looked at her father, Abraxas Malfoy, very closely. Her towered above her (and just about everyone else in their family), wore plain black glasses, and had a good-natured face. If Sarah didn't know any better, she would never guess that he was a Death Eater or even a Slytherin, which was perhaps how the Malfoy name remained untarnished for so long. At home, he was her hero; someone who would never even harm an animal, much less a human.

Abraxas went in to greet Lucius and Narcissa in the dining room, while Sarah went back upstairs to help Reina clean. After everything she learned at Beauxbaton's in terms of house cleaning, it seemed a shame not to use it. Of course, whenever her family walked upstairs, she had to pretend she was doing something else. They would never approve of Sarah helping a house elf.

They were working on the drawing room with the vaulted ceilings. Snow fell delicately outside as the sky became darker. Sarah realized that Severus probably wasn't going to come that night, but hoped he would be over for breakfast. They finished cleaning, and Sarah went to her room to change out of her robes into a pair of pajama pants and a tight gray t-shirt. Then, she headed down to the kitchen to grab a snack of chocolate mint cookies.

At exactly 10:00 that night, the doorbell rang. Sarah doubted it would be Severus, but went to the door anyways. To her surprise, she was wrong; it was him!

- Severus' POV -

"Sorry for coming so late," Severus said after she hugged him and kissed his icy cheek. He didn't add that it was because his mother didn't believe he was going to the Malfoy Manor; nor did she believe that he was dating Sarah Malfoy. How embarrassing.

"Oh, no problem. Here, come in from the cold," she beckoned him inside to the warmth of a dozen fireplaces. Apparently, she didn't realize what she was wearing before, because she added, "Wow, I'm sorry for my appearance," and turned bright red.

"You don't need to apologize, you always look amazing." He leaned down and kissed her softly, but pushed himself away as soon as he heard someone enter the room.

"Well, well. If it isn't Severus Snape. Kissing my sister." Lucius and Narcissa walked into the room. He extended a hand.

"Oh shut it, Lucius," Sarah said with an added eye-roll.

"Lucius," Severus said with a nod, while shaking his hand. He greeted Narcissa in the same manor, and Lucius told a lingering house elf to take Severus' trunk upstairs to the room he would be staying in.

"Mum and Dad already went to bed. They always sleep so early," Sarah explained as they walked up the black marble staircase. She pointed to a door at the end of the hall and told him that it was her room. Then, she opened a door that was a few rooms away from hers and told him that he could stay in that room or choose a different one.

It was exquisite. There was a charm placed on the room so it would seem smaller from the outside and then open up to several rooms on the inside. What was supposed to be Severus' "room" ended up as an apartment. It featured a kitchenette, bathroom, and bedroom, all with top-of-the-line furnishings. It had an elegant gothic feel. And it was bigger than his entire house. "How do you need this much space?" he wondered aloud.

"Well things get pretty crazy around the holidays," Sarah explained. "You'll see. We have a bunch of relatives that end up too drunk to leave on nearly every occasion. So, will this room be okay?"

"I feel as though I should be paying you for rent. But other than that, yes, the room is spectacular." He smirked, although he felt strange in the midst of one of the wealthiest homes in Britain.

"Good," Sarah smiled. "I think I'll need to go to bed. I'm so used to going to bed and waking up early for Hogwarts classes. I'm completely exhausted. But make yourself at home. I'll see you tomorrow." He nodded his understanding and gave her a sweet goodnight kiss.

- December 25, 1976 -

The days since Severus arrived were filled with lounging around, mostly. Sarah was very busy helping her mother prepare for the Christmas party, which was going to start later that night. He was nervous to meet the rest of her family, but at least the parents were out of the way.

The Malfoy Manor was entirely decorated with gold, silver, green, and red. Sarah invited him to see the enormous ballroom, and it was magnificent. The ceiling was bewitched like the one above the Great Hall at Hogwarts so it looked like it was snowing inside.

- Sarah's POV -

Thank Merlin's beard she was done decorating. If she would have wasted any more time, Sarah wouldn't have been able to get dressed up for the night. After giving Severus some dress robes to wear for the night since he didn't have any, she hopped in her shower and began her long list of things she had to do. She shaved her legs, plucked her eyebrows, and started putting on makeup. The order went: foundation, eyeliner, mascara, blush, finishing powder, lipstick. Doing her hair came next, and she blew it dry before curling in some soft waves. She changed into the short, red designer gown her mum bought her for the occasion. Two hours after she first entered the shower, she was finally ready.

Severus looked bored, though handsome, when she went downstairs. "You look wonderful. But could you have taken any longer?"

She said "thank you", and was about to reply with quick wit to his second comment when the doorbell rang. The first guests to arrive were Evie Malfoy's sister and her two kids, Sarah's cousins. They were a bit younger than Sarah, and infinitely brattier. She couldn't stand to be around them very long and didn't this Severus would either, so she steered him toward the ballroom as her mum greeted the guests.

"This will be one hell of a night," she said, already sighing. "I wish you didn't have to meet my whole family."

"They aren't that bad, Sarah." He rested an arm around her, probably in an attempt to get her to relax. Her family's social functions always made her a bit anxious.

The ballroom's silence grew to a buzz with classical music in the background as more families arrived. Sarah saw Bellatrix, Narcissa's sister, and her husband Rodolphus, the rest of the Black Family (minus Sirius), and the entire Rosier family. Even from Sarah and Severus' spot at a table outside of the main hub, she could still hear the wisps of gossip flittering through the air.

There was talk of Andromeda, Narcissa's sister who was recently disowned for marrying a muggleborn. Evie spread the same gossip that the ladies who drank tea with her each Wednesday told her. A few people mentioned the fact that Sarah had a boyfriend, and more of them were surprised not to recognize the last name. They didn't ask her if he was a pureblood, but she could feel their doubts and instantly felt more anxious. Would Sarah be the next Andromeda? She certainly hoped not. Then again, half-blood wasn't too bad…the muggleborn were the ones her family truly looked down upon.

"Well, aren't you two the lively bunch," Lucius said as he strolled over to the table. "Get up and dance or something. You make me depressed just looking at you."

"I'm not one to dance, and I doubt Severus is either. Besides, the real fun will begin soon. I just saw Aunt Blair take a few shots…We're just waiting for the entertainment to come to us, Lucius." Sarah smiled.

"Fair enough," he winked at them and walked away, pulling Narcissa off to the dance floor.

Sarah had two glasses of champagne while waiting for everyone else to get drunk and start doing things they would regret later. At the last wedding the family went to, Sarah's grandma got drunk and started hitting on the groom. She hoped something like that would happen again. When one of their house elves extended a third glass to her and she took it, Severus stopped her and put it back on the tray. "I think you've had enough tonight. Keep going and you won't be laughing at your relatives, you'll be joining them. And I don't think your parents would appreciate it if I didn't try to prevent you from getting drunk."

"Oh, they don't care." She giggled for a long time, an effect from the special, magical type of champagne the Malfoy's presented at their parties.

It didn't take much longer for the party to get a little wilder. Sarah saw aristocrats with break their expensive high heels several times. She asked Severus if he wanted to go upstairs for a while, and he agreed. On the way out, Sarah saw her father and a few of his Ministry friends admiring an abstract painting on the wall. Abraxas, clearly drunk also, seemed to be telling them the deeper meaning behind it. Sarah giggled again and tugged on Severus' hand as they left.

They went to Severus' room first, and found five of Lucius' friends passed out on the floor, with five half-empty bottles of bewitched champagne scattered around them. It smelled horrible, and Sarah said, "It looks like you're sleeping in my room tonight. That is, if no one decided to pass out there."

As she predicted, no one was there. Before the party, she put a lock jinx on her door so that the guests couldn't simply use her room to have sex or throw up in after too many drinks. She locked the door behind them and took off her dress, deciding to sleep in just her lingerie. Sarah felt Severus' eyes roam around her half-naked body as she untied his tie for him. She crawled in bed and waited for him to join her as he stripped off the rest his clothes to just his boxers.

The couple cuddled under her mess of blankets for a long time before he said anything. Sarah rolled over to face him and smiled in the dark. Malfoy parties were always awesome, but this one topped them all in her book. She felt his face and kissed him, and he held her small waist.

"Tonight wasn't as bad as I thought it might be. No offense." He kissed her lips, and she could feel him shaking. She was about to ask what was wrong, or if he was nervous about something when he added: "I love you, Sarah."