A/N: So if you're not following me on instagram or tumblr (mrsaturtle) please do, unless we're friends on facebook. I post an aesthetic for EVERY chapter! I also finally fancasted Narcissa, yay!

This story finally bit me again, so HOPEFULLY (knocking on all the wood) this story won't take so long to update again.

Thank you for all your lovely reviews, they truly warm my heart. If you ever have questions about the story, PLEASE ask away.

Much beta love as always to gidgetmalfoy

Chapter 7

Draco and Hermione got out of bed as Ariana ran up the stairs to get dressed for Christmas morning. Hermione found herself unable to stop looking at the ring, as she pulled her jeans over her legs. She was happy to leave on the Slytherin Quidditch shirt, which she knew Draco loved to see her in. She looked over to see him pulling on jeans and a crisp white t-shirt, looking utterly gorgeous.

With his back turned, she walked around to stand in front of him, and as he stood up straight, she put her left hand on his chest and wiggled it back and forth, admiring the way the light hit the diamond.

"Do you like it?" Draco asked, a hint of worry in his voice.

"Draco, I love it, it's perfect," Hermione replied, hugging him. "It's not how I thought an engagement ring from you would look like."

He pulled away and tilted his head to the side, regarding her curiously, "And what does that mean? From me?"

She stifled a giggle, he was so easy to bait, "Well, I assumed it would be something gaudy, and ridiculous, probably with emeralds all over it. This is positively normal."

Draco huffed, before pulling her close again, "Witch, I was worried you weren't happy with it. As for emeralds, they wouldn't work for my Gryffindor princess, now would they?"

Hermione giggled as he began kissing her neck, "No, I suppose they wouldn't. I love it, but I love you more."

"I love you too," Draco whispered as he made his way up to her ear, "I know it's fast, and we're in no rush, I just wanted to make sure everyone knew that you we-"

Draco was cut off by a loud, "PAPA!"

"Yes, Ariana?" Draco called.

"Papa, it's Christmas, hurry up!" the five year old demanded.

Draco and Hermione walked hand in hand out of the closet and into the family room, where Narcissa was currently putting 3 large boxes under the tree.

"Mother," Draco acknowledged, walking up to the older witch and giving her a warm hug. They both let go and Narcissa hugged Hermione, before picking up Ariana and sitting down with the five year old on her lap.

Draco and Hermione sat opposite her on the couch, "Mother I have some good news that I would like to share with you," Draco took a deep breath, "Hermione and-"

"Nan! Papa and Hermione are getting married!" the five-year old squealed.

The older witch looked at the five year old then back at her son, as her son grasped Hermione's hand with his right and held it up slightly, showing off the ring. "Sweet Salazar!" Narcissa exclaimed, jumping to her feet. Setting Ariana on the ground, she rushed over to Hermione and hugged her tightly, "Oh my dear, I am so happy! We love you so much! I am so happy you'll be my daughter!" the older witch, started to shed some tears of joy as she held her tightly.

Draco just watched as the two witches hugged, and picked up his daughter as she rushed over to him, wanting to be near the commotion. "Papa, why is nan crying?" Ariana whispered in Draco's ear.

"Nan is very, very happy that Hermione is going to be a part of our family," Draco explained in a whisper.

"Yes, nan is very, very happy, to have Hermione as part of our family, but also that your papa is so happy, and that you have another person to love you," Narcissa explained to Ariana, still hugging Hermione. When she finally let her go, both witches dried the tears from their eyes. "Well, this is the best Christmas, we have Ariana and now we have Hermione, what luck the Malfoys suddenly have," Narcissa laughed.

Hermione went to lean on Draco, who still held Ariana. Ariana looked at Hermione carefully before motioning that she wanted Hermione to hold her. "I love you," the five year old whispered.

"I love you a bushel and a peck and a hug around your neck," Hermione whispered back, to curious glances from Draco and Narcissa. "It's something my Gram used to say to me."

Narcissa and Draco both smiled, before Narcissa smoothed her shirt down. She looked so relaxed in dark pants and a silver top. "Well, I must go start our brunch, do you mind if I call over Toby to aid us with the brunch?" Narcissa asked, clearly looking at Hermione.

"No that would be fine, in fact my dad has always wondered about house-elves, he might enjoy it immensely."

"Oh dear, you told me first, will your parents be put out?" Narcissa asked, concerned.

"I don't think so, but I know Draco wanted to tell you right away, you mean so much to both of us." Hermione smiled, hugging her again, before heading towards the library, "I'll be right back."

Narcissa, Draco and Ariana headed into the kitchen, Ariana seating herself at the island, to watch.

"Toby," Narcissa called out in a clear voice, as Draco pulled things from the fridge. Thirty seconds later, a young house elf appeared, wearing a tiny kilt, white shirt, mismatched socks, and black clogs. "Toby, thank you so much for coming, and working on Christmas."

"It's my pleasure Mistr-" the house elf swallowed and shook his head, "Missus, always happy to help our family," the house elf added with great emphasis.

"We're having six people for brunch, could we have eggs, sausages and some type of pastry?" Narcissa asked, pouring juice into six glasses, "I'll take care of the coffee and drinks, if you could help."

"Yes Missus, happy to help," Toby said before bounding over to the counter where Draco had laid everything out.

"Help yourself to anything Toby, and call us if you need any help," Draco added, smiling at the house-elf.

"Thank you mister," Toby said, levitating things over to the counter by the stove.

"Papa? Can I say hi to Toby?" Ariana asked, watching the elf curiously.

"Of course."

Ariana jumped from her chair, to stand in front of the house-elf who stopped what he was doing. She looked at him curiously, before saying, "It's nice to meet you Toby, I'm Ariana."

"Toby knows who you is Missus, you is Ariana Malfoy, heir to our great house," Toby said his voice clear, not very squeaky.

"I like him papa!" Ariana beamed, as Toby's face grew red and he lowered it, to look at the ground.

"Toby there is a step stool in that pantry over there, would you like me to grab it?" Draco asked, smiling at the exchange.

"No, Misters, I can gets it. Thank you."

Draco picked up Ariana and followed Narcissa back into the family room, where Ariana scrambled out of his arms to go grab Aster who was sitting by the back windows watching the birds.

"This way mum, dad."

Draco looked up as he heard Hermione from the library.

Coming down the hallway was his beautiful fiancée, and her parents, Helen and Richard Granger. Her mother had short brown hair with the same curls his witch did, with warm hazel eyes. Her father had lighter brown hair, with Hermione's chocolate brown eyes.

Draco got to his feet, as did his mother, and made their way over to greet them, "Mr. and Mrs. Granger, it's a pleasure to meet you both," Draco said, extending his hand to both of them.

"It's a pleasure Mr. Malfoy," Helen said.

"Please call me Draco," he admonished, "This is my mother, Narcissa Malfoy."

"It's a pleasure to meet you both," Narcissa added, shaking Richard's hand and hugging Helen, who looked momentarily surprised, before she hugged her back.

Hermione went to stand by Draco, who entwined his fingers with hers. Ariana headed over and stood slightly behind both Draco and Hermione, shyly peeking out, before Draco picked her up and held her, where she hid her face, again, against his chest.

"This is my daughter, Ariana. Ariana, can you say hi to Mr. and Mrs. Granger?" Draco said turning his body to help Ariana look at Hermione's parents.

"Hi, Ariana, you can call me Helen. It's nice to finally meet you, Hermione has told us so much about you," Helen said cheerfully. "She also told us that you love books, and we brought a few with us that were Hermione's favorites when she was your age."

Ariana peeked up a little, and looked at Helen with a small smile.

"When Hermione was your age she loved the American Girl dolls, and after she sent us a picture of you, we went out and bought you one of your own, would you like to open it?" Richard asked, smiling at Ariana.

Ariana pulled her face away from Draco, who was smiling, and nodded.

The group all sat down on the couch, Ariana sitting between Hermione and Draco, as Richard dug through a bag of presents, and pulled out a rectangle one, handing it to Ariana.

Ariana hurriedly ripped off the paper, to see an American girl doll, with brown curly hair and bright blue eyes looking back at her. "She's so pretty!" Ariana exclaimed. "Papa! Open it!"

"Manners, young lady. What do you say to Helen and Richard?" Draco admonished his daughter. She sat the present down and ran over to them and hugged them each.

"Thank you!"

"You're most welcome, love." Helen smiled, hugging the five year old tightly.

When Draco opened the box, and got the doll out, Ariana sat on the floor and began admiring her, the adults watching happily.

"Mum, Dad," Hermione said, scooting closer to Draco. "Draco and I have news we'd like to share."

Helen's face broke into a big smile, looking excited. While Richard looked a little weary.

"Draco asked me to marry him this morning and I said yes!" Hermione exclaimed, laughing as her mother jumped to her feet, and screamed out, "Yay!" She hugged her mother, but looked at her father who was smiling, but looked surprised.

Letting go of her mother, she sat down next to her father, who put his arm around her.

"Dad, you ok?" Hermione asked, happy when Draco distracted the group by talking about brunch with his mother and Helen.

"It's just very soon, pumpkin. You only just started dating him, and things are just moving very fast. Your old dad is trying to keep up." Richard laughed.

"I know, things are very fast, but Draco and I love each other, and we have Ariana. I think of her as my daughter and we're just going about this backwards," Hermione explained, hoping to reassure him.

"I'm happy for you, just want to make sure you're not moving too fast," Richard said, pulling her tight against him.

"Ok let's open presents," Hermione said loudly to the group.

oOoOoOoOo

Two hours later, they had finished brunch with Narcissa and the Grangers and were saying goodbye at the fireplace. They had spent an hour opening every present under the tree. Hermione had gotten a new purse from her parents, one she had been looking at for awhile, some new books from Narcissa, and Draco and Ariana had given her a beautiful charm bracelet with a book charm, cat charm and a little girl charm with Ariana's birthstone. Ariana was the most spoiled out of everyone. After opening her new doll, Helen had given her more clothes for the doll; Draco had bought Ariana her first child's broomstick, explaining that it was the safest on the market; Hermione had given her a locket with Draco and Narcissa's picture in it, but had been informed by Draco that they would have to add a picture of the two of them where his picture was; the highlight of the morning was when all the presents were gone, and Ariana looked curiously for a gift from her nan, who walked out of the room and returned with a trunk. Ariana opened it carefully then squealed seeing all the princess dresses, stuffed animals, princess books and princess figurine sets. Draco walked away with some new dress robes, from his mother; a few frames with pictures of Ariana, from Hermione; a special edition set of the Lord of the Rings, from the Grangers; and a new coffee mug that said, "Best Dad" on it from Ariana. Narcissa was given a new set of earrings from Draco; a frame with a picture of Draco and Ariana from Hermione; and a promise of a muggle shopping trip with Helen.

"Hermione, I want new pictures taken of the three of you for my frame, after the holidays are over," Narcissa teased.

"I agree, you seemed to give all of us pictures, but you did not include yourself in them," Draco added.

"Fine, we'll get new pictures taken of the three of us," Hermione said, trying to hide the smile.

"Thank you for a wonderful breakfast, it was a pleasure meeting all of you," Helen said as she wrapped her arms around Narcissa. The two mothers hugged, before Narcissa moved to Richard and Helen moved to Ariana, "My dear, it was a pleasure meeting you, we all need to have a girls' day soon."

After everyone said their goodbyes, Hermione helped her parents back through the fireplace. "I am so incredibly happy for you darling," Narcissa smirked at Draco, who smiled widely.

"Having your happiness and approval means so much to me mother," Draco smiled, hugging her.

"I'm going to take off, have a good time tonight," Narcissa smiled, walking towards the fireplace.

"We'll see, I can't expect all the Weasleys to be polite, after all I've done," Draco said, the guilt spreading over his features.

"Once they see who you are now, they'll love you, just like Hermione does," Narcissa said, touching his cheek, comforting her son.

The fire turned emerald and Hermione came walking out. As she dusted off the soot, she looked up to see Narcissa's hand still cupping Draco's cheek, and a small smile crept onto her face. Hermione loved how much Draco loved his mother; it showed in how much he loved Ariana, this unconditional, self-sacrificing love. Between Molly Weasley, Narcissa, Harry's mom, and her own mother, she felt confident that she had the most amazing examples of motherhood.

"Well I must take off," Narcissa said, walking from Draco to hug Hermione. "Have a lovely evening, and Happy Christmas."

"We'll see you in a few days," Draco smiled after his mother, wrapping an arm around Hermione's waist and pulling her close.

They both watched as Narcissa left in a whirl of emerald, before Draco turned Hermione and planted a soft kiss on her lips. Smiling he looked down at her, "How are you today, my lovely fiancée?"

Hermione beamed, "I am quite well."

"Papa!" Ariana interrupted, running into the library. "Come help me put on a princess show." Her brown curls bounced as she ran over and grabbed Draco's arm, to begin tugging on him.

"No, darling. You need to go lay down. It's already half past one, and we have to leave at five, so you must get some sleep, as it'll probably be a late night for you," Draco said, sternly.

"I get to stay up past bedtime?" Ariana asked, her little eyes widening.

"Yes, so you must go get some sleep now," Draco explained.

"Ok, papa! Can Aster come to bed with me?"

"Don't force her to stay, but yes she may lay in bed with you," Draco agreed, grabbing Hermione's hand as he followed Ariana out of the library.

Ariana went up the stairs and to her room, while Draco pulled Hermione towards the bedroom. He closed the door behind them and quickly waved his wand over the handle.

Hermione was already sitting on the edge of the bed, ready to lay down herself; she was quite tired from today.

"Well everyone seemed to get along well," Hermione commented, as she pulled Draco's tshirt over her head. She always preferred sleeping in a bra and undies, but at nights was forced to wear a shirt, because of Ariana.

"You're father didn't seem too happy," Draco commented, sitting down beside her.

"I think he's just worried, that it's too fast. He'll catch up. No dad wants to see his daughter get married," she winked at him, noticing the far off look he now had.

"So one last important question for the day," Draco smirked, as he pulled Hermione onto his lap.

"Another question, very presumptions aren't you?" Hermione smiled.

"I want you to move in with us," Draco stated, "It just doesn't make sense for you to have a house, that you're never in," he paused, "Just move in here, all your stuff."

Hermione leaned down to kiss him, softly at first, before he placed a hand on the back of her head and pulled her into him. "Of course, I'll move in with you."

"Today?" Draco asked, trailing kisses down her jaw line.

Hermione giggled, "Why the rush?"

"I just want you here, I want you to be mine," Draco breathed.

"I'm not going anywhere, I'm all yours," she murmured against his ear, as he trailed hot kisses down her throat.

Suddenly she was flipped over, and on her back, looking up into Draco's smirking face. Lowering his lips to the shell of her ear, he breathed again, "All mine," as his hands moved over her body.

oOoOoOoOoOo

"Are we sure they want me there?" Draco moaned, as he stood in the closet trying to find some clothes.

"Yes, I'm sure. Emily said she spoke with Molly, and assured me you were more then welcome, and they're very excited to meet Ariana," Hermione replied, throwing on an old t-shirt, and pulling her pants back on.

"One Weasley was enough, haven't I paid my dues for the year?" Draco whined.

"They're my family, an extended family of sorts, so you will behave Draco Malfoy," Hermione ordered. "I know you can do this, you sat with Ron and Harry yesterday and didn't die, and today you had Muggles in your house. The twelve year old version of yourself wouldn't believe this, you've come along way," she purred as she wrapped her arms around his body.

"Papa, I'm ready!" Ariana shouted as she came running into their closet. Draco and Hermione both turned to look at her, and laughed.

"Oh darling, we might need to find you some different clothes," Hermione explained, grabbing her hand, and walking out of the closet, while Draco finished getting ready.

"Why?" Ariana asked, walking up the stairs in front of Hermione.

"Well, you don't need wellies today, and while your tutu is quite lovely, you'll want to play today and I'm afraid it might get ruined. Also it's winter, so you need something more than a tank top on, though I think this outfit is lovely," Hermione smiled.

Fifteen minutes later, they all stood before the fireplace in the library, Draco with Ariana, and Hermione holding one gift bag, that housed all the gifts for the Weasley family.

"Ready?" Hermione asked, checking the bag one last time.

"Ready as I'll ever be," Draco grumbled.

Hermione stepped toward the fireplace, and throwing in the floo powder, called out, "The Burrow" before stepping into the flames and disappearing.

Before Draco could approach the fireplace, Ariana laid a hand against his cheek and turned his face towards her, "What's wrong, papa?"

"Nothing, darling," he started, but stopped as she shook her head.

"Something is wrong," her little voice, full of concern.

"Well, when your papa was much younger, but older than you are now, he wasn't always nice to The Weasleys It's hard to say sorry, for so many things," he wasn't sure how else to explain it.

"Papa, you're nice now," Ariana stated.

"Thank you, darling," Draco smiled, "You know I love you."

"I love you more."

Draco gave her a kiss on the cheek, and walked towards the fireplace. He hesitated for another moment before throwing in the powder and calling out, "The Burrow." As he stepped through the flames, his only thought was of his girls, and they were worth whatever awkwardness awaited him.

To be continued...