"You don't have to tell me a thing," Hermione cut him off, her voice barely above a whisper.

Draco leaned forward and took her shaking hands in his. "Hermione–"

"I'm serious, Draco," Hermione cut him off again earnestly, her eyes unusually dark against her pale, tearstained face. "I didn't mean for it to come out like this. I don't want you to think I'm manipulating you into telling me something you clearly don't like talking about."

"Granger–" Draco tried again.

"No," Hermione shook her head resolutely. "There is no need to tell me anything. You didn't ask for this marriage, and it's not fair of me to force you to share things out of guilt."

"Merlin, woman!" Draco snapped irritably, clamping a hand over Hermione's mouth. "Let me get a fucking word in, would you?"

Hermione nodded, her eyes wide. In the silence that followed as Draco contemplated his words, the muffled thumps of Jingle Bell Rock filtered through. A distant 'oi!' and 'Avada Kedavra, you fucking tree!' could be heard, along with the faint whistling of the whizzing snowflakes; but neither of them cared. The world around them had shrunk to the hidden recesses of their hideout.

Eventually, Draco cleared his throat. "I never meant to hide it from you, Granger," he said, as he took his hand from her mouth and intertwined his fingers with hers. "There just never seemed to be a good time to open up about it. You can't deny that the last few months have been exceptionally crazy, even by our standards."

"So you pick now," Hermione asked incredulously, raising her voice to be heard over the sharp raps of balls pelting into the wall they had entered through. "When the Manor is under attack by a bunch of Christmas decorations?"

"No time like the present," Draco shrugged, smirking, as he lazily leaned against the wall. "Besides, given the way things have been around here, who knows how crazy it will get tomorrow? For all we know, this is the only moment of peace we'll have for several weeks," his face lost it's mirth as he awkwardly averted his gaze. "Nearly four years ago, I made an Unbreakable Vow…"

"To?" prompted Hermione breathlessly, as Draco faltered.

"Aurelia," Draco responded shortly, running his hands through his hair. Damn, I've spent far too much time with Potter. "After I failed to kill Dumbledore, things got extremely uncomfortable for me with the Dark Lord and the other Death Eaters. While the Dark Lord was pleased that his ends had been achieved, he was extremely disappointed in what a useless minion I was turning out to be. Of course, while he had made our house headquarters, he couldn't exactly off me there and then. He didn't quite understand familial love, but he did have a very strong grasp of pinpointing weaknesses. He knew that while my life was simply threatened –but not taken– mother and father would jump through as many hoops as he asked them to."

Hermione nodded, leaning closer to hear him over the thumping and yelping. "I can see that."

"Maybe that was why he sent me on all those raids," Draco mused out loud, sorting through his turbulent thoughts. "Or perhaps he thought he could make a true Death Eater out of me yet. Regardless, one night, a couple of weeks before the final battle, he sent a few of us to kill several muggle-borns that had offended him in one way or another. It was a long night, and despite the sick pleasure the others were getting from the tortures, by the time we reached the last house –where we were ordered to torture and kill a muggle couple– everyone was quite keen to go back to the Manor for a revel. After shooting a few Cruciosat the husband, Nott came up with the idea of using a relatively slow acting poison to kill them so that we could leave."

"Why not just kill them and be done with it?" Hermione interjected, shaking with anger.

Draco drew soothing circles along the underside of her wrist with his thumb, raising his voice to be heard over the noisy peals that were unmistakably from the large golden bells. "It sounds terrible, but for the Dark Lord the torture was almost as important as the kill. He would've been displeased if they let the couple off easy."

Hermione paled. "That's vile."

"It was," said Draco flatly, now running his callused fingers over Hermione's delicately manicured nails. "The others decided that since I was new, I was to practice the Cruciatus on the couple while they trooped off to the Manor. As soon as they left, I went on a mad hunt around the house, trying to see if they happened to have the ingredients for the antidote at hand. The wife, who was in a better state than her husband, began interrogating me on what I was doing. At first, I mainly ignored her, but then I figured that maybe she would be able to help me find the ingredients, or tell me where I could get them from quickly. I only had three or four hours to administer it before it would be too late."

Hermione felt the blood drain from her face, as the pieces of the puzzle slowly started to fall together. "Who was she?" she managed to choke out, barely audible over a resounding 'fuck I hate Christmas' from outside.

"You're the Brightest Witch of Our Age, Granger, surely you can figure it out," Draco replied, involuntarily clenching her hands.

"But you said Aurelia was your wife," Hermione breathed. "And where was Juls?"

"Juls was only two days old," Draco replied, ignoring her first statement. "Miraculously, Aurelia had managed to cast a Silencing charm on his nursery without any of us noticing. She was a right whizz at wandless magic, from the little I saw. We hadn't been tipped off that there was a child in the house, so none of us ventured beyond the sitting room."

The memory of the muggles Ernie had found in the list of war causalities surfaced in Hermione's mind, making her feel sick. "You saved Juls," she murmured, still in shock. "You took him in and raised him as your own."

"It was Aurelia's last request. Once I realised that there was no way I could help either of them, I couldn't hold back the feeling of being a failure. Aurelia, despite the burning pain of the poison, listened to me. She gave me a reason to be better. I watched her die and her final act was to save me–" Draco broke off hoarsely, his silver eyes melting into shimmering mercury. "She told me that she could think of no one else that would care for Juls the way she would've."

"That was incredibly brave of you," Hermione murmured, as someone yelled 'that was my nose you moron' across the wall.

"No it wasn't," Draco insisted, over shouts of 'it's not my fault your stupid red nose resembles the bon-bons!' and 'I have a cold you prat!'. "It was the fucking least I could do. I sat with Aurelia for several hours, just getting everything off my chest. She told me everything about her life and I told her everything about mine."

"Where was her husband?" frowned Hermione, forcing herself to dispel the sickening image of a young wife and mother's last moments.

Draco sighed. "He was more or less out of it. He had been attacked ruthlessly only two days before that night, and the Crucios were the final straw. He was drifting in and out, and we sat by him till he died only two hours after the poison had been administered. Aurelia held his hand till the last second, assuring him that she would be with him soon, and that she had no regrets. I sloped off to the kitchen to find some pain relieving potions for them, and when I came back, he was dead."

Hermione squeezed his hand. "I'm so sorry."

"Professor Snape came by not long after the husband had died," Draco continued, his eyes glazing over. "He wanted to make sure I was alright. That was when Aurelia made me take the Unbreakable Vow –with him as the binder– that I would do all I could to raise Juls as my own son. That I would make sure that he never faced any danger because of his blood, and that only those who absolutely needed to know would be told that he wasn't my son."

"Merlin," Hermione muttered, as a particularly loud bang from outside made them both jump.

"In the confusion of the war, it was easy to say that I'd had a quiet wedding to a foreign pure-blood witch. We put out that she'd been killed in the war, and seeing how it was common knowledge that the Manor had been headquarters, no one asked too many questions. We said that we'd been married shortly after my seventeenth birthday, and that Juls was conceived not long after. Mercifully, the dates fit and there was no need for anybody to look too closely," Draco explained, leaning back against the wall. "We kept Juls pretty quiet, only informing our circle of friends of his existence, and in the light of Lucius' arrest, nobody suggested we take out a birth announcement, or follow the traditional ceremonies for the birth of an heir."

Hermione shifted herself so that she was leaning against his chest. "Why say you were married, though? Would it really have been so bad if people thought Juls was illegitimate?"

"It may have been," Draco admitted, slinging an arm around Hermione's shoulders to pull her closer, as the steady thump of Jingle Bell Rock started up again. "But the main reason we had to say that was that Malfoy men are rendered impotent until they are married–"

"What?" Hermione cut in, looking astounded. "Rendered impotent?"

"Surely you know what that means, Granger," Draco scowled, his cheeks pink. "It was impossible for me to have sex, in order to prevent illegitimate heirs."

"But– But– That would mean you were…" Hermione trailed off, as the implications sunk in. They sat there silently for a few seconds, only half-listening to the Avada Kedavras flying around and the cries of 'get that nutcracker', 'no you get it!' and 'man up you both, this is how it's done –Aaah! Fuck!'

Draco broke the silence sulkily. "Which is why I couldn't give you a straight answer when you asked me how many people I'd slept with, I could hardly say 'none' with Juls running around, could I? And it always came up at times where giving an explanation was ridiculously unfeasible."

Hermione sank back into his chest, dumbstruck. "I can't believe this."

"Surely you shouldn't find it hard to believe considering how disappointing my performance was," Draco snapped testily, glaring at the thudding wall which no doubt had more ornaments pelting into it. "You haven't touched me since."

"That's not why I haven't touched you!" Hermione retorted, her temper flaring. "I was under the impression you were still madly in love with your ex wife, enough to run into a burning building to get her things. Whenever I tried to talk about the issues, you blew me off, and then expected me to act as though everything was okay. Sex isn't a substitute for a healthy relationship."

"I only saved her things because I'd promised her that I'd give them to Juls for his future wife to have," explained Draco, his tone softening. "I was so worried about failing her that I didn't stop to think about how things would appear to you. I'm sorry."

"It's okay," Hermione mumbled, feeling wrong-footed. "It's just, it was such a Slytherin ring. I was sure it was from you."

To her surprise, Draco threw his head back and laughed. "And you call yourself muggle-born. Aurelia told me that the ring was a replica of one from her favourite book and movie, Gone With The Wind."

Hermione glared at him for a second, before succumbing to laughter. "I can't believe I missed that! It's my favourite book and movie too."

"So, are we good now?" Draco asked softly, as he tucked an errant curl behind Hermione's ear.

"Definitely," Hermione answered at once, and leaned in to give him a kiss to prove her word. "And for the record, there was nothing wrong with your performance."

They sat there kissing for several minutes, lost in their own world of tongues, hands and heavy breathing, only surfacing when they heard a panicked scream for help. Breaking away from each other, both Draco and Hermione drew out their wands, and cautiously peeked out to assess the situation.

It was pandemonium.

It seemed as though almost every ornament had gathered around the wall, almost as if they could sense that the couple was hiding behind it. Never before had Christmas decorations looked so ominous, from the curling streamers that slithered along the floor and up the walls, to the flying balls, whizzing snowflakes and menacing candy-canes. The scariest of all were the large floating bells, lined up neatly and swinging wildly from side to side, easily capable of smashing someone that got in their way painfully against the stone wall. The newlyweds exchanged a determined glance, before they held hands and stepped out to face the gauntlet in front of them.

"Avada Kedavra!" Hermione yelled, catching a candy-cane off guard and making it topple to the ground.

"Watch your feet!" Draco screamed, as he shot the killing curse frantically at all the streamers that had started to curl up towards them. "Fuck, I can't get a clear shot at these bells."

Hermione let go of his hand, dropping to her stomach, and ignoring Draco's yelps, rolled right under the bell. For a split second she froze as the mouth of the bell soared towards her, the gong mere centimetres away from the tip of her nose, but then gathering herself together, she pointed straight towards the inside of the bell and screamed, "Avada Kedavra!"

"Hermione!" Draco screamed at the same time.

The bell shuddered and fell, with Hermione managing to roll away to safety just in the nick of time. Just as Hermione picked herself off the ground, Harry and Blaise rushed to the hallway, stopping at the other end of the line of swinging bells.

"There you both are," Harry exclaimed with relief, in-between shooting curses at every ornament in sight. "We've been looking everywhere."

Blaise took out another thumping candy-cane, panting. "We heard a scream. What happened?"

"Avada Kedavra!" Hermione cried, stopping a snowflake from slicing Draco just in time. "I found a way to kill the bells."

"Bloody reckless way too," Draco roared, as he shot a miniature Christmas tree that had been inching up to Hermione's back. "How many of these ruddy things are left?"

"We got all the nutcrackers," Harry informed them, as he swatted away a ball and then shot the killing curse at it. "Ron's out in the living room dealing with the rest of the miniature trees and snowflakes."

"Fuck! Draco, look out!" Blaise screamed, as a wreath dropped itself around Draco's neck and started to shrink.

Draco paled as he tried to pry the tightening wreath from around his neck. "I can't get it off!"

Hermione abandoned the snowman she'd been duelling and raced to his side, clamping both hands around the wreath. "It's shrinking around him! And we can't use the killing curse on something that's shrinking. What if we hit Malfoy instead?"

"We have to do something!" Harry insisted, as he stopped a streamer from wrapping around Hermione's ankle. "We can't just let it choke him!"

"I know," Hermione cried desperately.

One minute the four of them were standing there, feeling increasingly panicked and hopeless, the next second, the room was filled with a blinding white-gold light and several large thumps were heard. Draco, Blaise and Harry felt themselves fly across the room and collide painfully against the stone walls, as the very floor of the Manor began to develop thin cracks. When they opened their eyes, all the decorations had ceased and had fallen to the floor. Only Hermione stood in the centre of the ruckus, shaking with rage.

Draco was the first one to his feet, and he cautiously approached his wife. "Calm down, Granger," he soothed nervously as he stepped over the motionless ornaments, taking in her glowing skin and curiously golden eyes. "It's okay, the decorations are gone now. Calm down."

"I'm so sorry," Hermione whispered, looking horror-struck. "I don't know what happened. I was so angry at the wreath and then…"

"It's okay love," Draco repeated, as he enveloped her shaking body into his Quidditch toned arms. "You stopped them all. Now, please, calm down. We're all okay."

Harry stirred, rubbing his head mournfully. "Blimey, what the hell was that?" he blinked, feeling around for his glasses.

"Granger had a little accident," Draco explained feebly, using the same carefully soothing tone. "But she's okay now, aren't you, Hermione?"

Hermione nodded, too shaken to tell him off for talking to her as though she was Julius. "Little accident," she repeated, her voice high-pitched. "Just a little accident."

"Merlin and Agrippa," Blaise groaned, as he carefully stretched. "If these are your 'little' accidents, I don't want to be there for the big ones."

Before Hermione could respond, a dazed Ron walked into the room, rubbing his elbow. "What the fuck happened here?" he moaned, taking in the sea of decorations around him. "One second I was fighting the decorations, next second everything went white and I was up against a wall. Though the decorations have stopped."

"Hermione happened," Harry answered, sounding remarkably like a proud parent. "She stopped them all."

Hermione nodded, still looking thunder-struck. "I stopped them all," she repeated numbly.

"I think she's in shock," Draco muttered to the others in undertone, looking at Hermione with concern. "It's been an intense couple of hours for her. I think I'll take her up to bed."

"Bed," Hermione parroted, looking as though she had never heard the word before.

It was only after Draco tucked a thoroughly dazed Hermione in, after giving her a healthy dose of Dreamless Sleep potion, that he reflected on the fact that he had left out one of Aurelia's conditions to the Unbreakable Vow. He was only allowed to tell the truth to the people that absolutely needed to know and to the woman that he fell in love with.

Having spent a long evening both clearing up the decorations and salvaging them for the party, Draco was in no mood to deal with the HitWizard squad from Magical Law Enforcement when they arrived at the Manor to investigate the hundred and eighty seven counts of Avada Kedavra that they had detected. Draco was infinitely thankful for the presence of three Aurors to back his statement –and that the squad was understanding enough not to wake Hermione, seeing how she was a part of their department– and for the fact that Lucius had been taken by Ministry officials earlier that afternoon for a routine check against tampering on his ankle cuff. After affirming that both Narcissa and Lucius had been away from the Manor, and that the Aurors themselves were responsible for the bulk of the killing curses, the entire matter was wrapped up rather quickly.

The three Aurors, Draco, Narcissa and Lucius tucked into a hearty supper as they discussed the events of the day. Draco had toyed with waking up Hermione, but after a quick Floo call to Healer Simple, had agreed to let her sleep and recuperate. Julius and Teddy had been safely tucked in to bed after two bites of Sleeping Draught infused cookies. Andromeda had departed to Herman's, in order to give him the news in the calmest way possible.

Having wrapped up all the issues as efficiently as possible under the circumstances, Draco gratefully sank into his bed and fell asleep as soon as his arms curled around Hermione's stomach.

They were woken up the next morning by two three-foot tall blurs that raced into their bedroom and eagerly jumped on their bed.

"Wake up! It's my birthday!" Julius informed them solemnly, as he poked both his parents. Hard.

"Happy birthday kid," Draco mumbled, as he tried to dodge the pokes.

Hermione sat up groggily, feeling as though she had just been trampled by a herd of Hippogriffs. "Happy birthday Juls, morning Teddy," she managed, as she pulled both boys in for a hug. "How are you both this morning?"

"Good, Aunt 'Mione," Teddy answered brightly, as he snuggled up to her. "Juls is four now, just like me. We're big boys."

"Definitely big," Hermione groaned, as four elbows tried to find a comfortable spot to rest on her slim body. "Why don't you both go down to breakfast like big boys? Draco and I will join you there."

"Can I have my presents first?" Julius wheedled, as he put on his best puppy-dog look. "Please Mummy?"

Draco forced himself into a sitting position. "Now Juls, we already told you that you'll get all your presents at the party."

Julius bounded off Hermione's lap and clambered all over his father eagerly. Hermione winced as his elbows narrowly missed some rather sensitive regions. "Daddy! You're awake! Can't I get even one present for going down to breakfast like a big boy?"

"Sure," Draco pretended to think it over. "How about this one?" he reached over and tickled Julius. "Do you like your present?"

"Stop Daddy!" Julius panted, between peals of laughter. "I go down to breakfast now."

Draco winked subtly at Hermione, who grinned back. "Okay, if you're sure…"

"I'm sure!" Julius squealed.

Teddy and Julius leapt off the bed and raced down to breakfast, talking nineteen to the dozen. Draco sank back into his pillows with a soft sigh of contentment as Hermione snuggled up to him. "How are you feeling today?" he asked, pulling her closer.

"Much better," Hermione assured him. "I can't believe I lost control of my magic so spectacularly. Did you manage to get everything done after I went to bed?"

"It's all taken care of," Draco replied, playing with one of her rumpled curls. "And the back gardens have been warded against Juls and Teddy until tonight. Thank Merlin today's Friday, because after last night I sure could use a weekend."

"I don't know how relaxing it's going to be, what with the party tonight and Blaise and Audrey's housewarming tomorrow," Hermione warned.

Draco slumped against her. "Things really need to slow down around here."

They got out of bed and got dressed as quickly as possible, both of them running slightly late to head to work. A bleary-eyed and messy-haired Harry joined them at breakfast, wincing at the flashing lights that filled the room every time either of the boys had a bite of their cereal. By the time Harry and Hermione dragged themselves to work, they were already exhausted.

The hours seemed to drag throughout the working day, even though Hermione managed to nip back to the Manor for birthday lunch with Julius. Between the flurry of concern from her co-workers about the incident at the Manor and Draco ending up being unable to make it back in time for the lunch, by the time Hermione got back to the Ministry she was ready to call it a day. Unfortunately for her, Blaise, Harry and Ron had called an emergency meeting to discuss the decorations, which Vanessa –the resident Charms expert– also attended. Despite the five of them trying their level best to work out who could've possibly been behind the tampering and what charms they might've used, they failed to make much headway. Eventually, Hermione insisted that she had to leave and Apparated back to the Manor, with a headache pounding behind her eyelids.

As soon as she stepped into the Apparition chamber, she was met with a sight that made her want to giggle and gasp in horror at the same time.

Draco stood there with Crookshanks glued firmly to his face, his arms flailing and a stream of profanity issuing from his mouth, while Lucius tried to find a way to hold on to Crookshanks' furry body. Crookshanks himself was happily scratching and hissing at both Malfoys, indignantly swiping his bottle-brush tail across Lucius' appalled face.

"Get him off me!" Draco was shouting. "Please, Father, He's getting his manky paws in my hair."

"I'm trying to do just that," Lucius retorted, his own hair hanging wildly around his shoulders. "The feral creature keeps scratching me."

"I cannot believe you of all people are scared of a stupid cat," Draco yelled hotly, as he tried to prise Crookshanks off his face.

Lucius gave an offended sniff. "The closest I've come to talons is your mother. Forgive me if I'm a little out of my element here."

Hermione bit back a grin and stepped forward. "Accio Crooks."

A disgruntled Crookshanks flew into Hermione's arms, where he promptly calmed down and purred happily as she stroked his fur. "What happened?" Hermione asked, trying not to laugh as both Malfoys turned to her wearing identical expressions of annoyance mingled with relief.

"I Apparated on his tail," Draco admitted, scowling. "And the creature went nuts at me. Fa– Lucius was trying to get him off me."

"He was probably just scared," Hermione justified, as she set Crookshanks on the floor. "Be more careful next time."

"I bloody hate cats," muttered Draco darkly, as he looked to the floor –where Crookshanks was playing with Lucius' hair ribbon– and gave him a look of deep loathing. "I'm going to get changed."

Lucius, his robes ripped and his face hands scarred, turned to Hermione. "He almost called me father then, and he actually called me father earlier."

Hermione nodded, keeping the smile off her face. "Tough situations bring people together and help them put aside their differences."

"Wasn't it lucky that this situation happened on the one day Narcissa and Juls are out?" Lucius raised an eyebrow shrewdly. "What did you do? Spend hours whispering this plan into the cat's ear and hoping he went along with it?"

"Of course not," Hermione answered promptly. There were also some significant bribes involved…

Lucius gave an elegant snort of disbelief. "Well, thank you regardless."

"You're welcome, Lucius," Hermione smiled warmly, as she scooped up Crookshanks to take him to the kitchens where the House Elves had a plate of fresh Snappers waiting.

Against all odds, Julius' fourth birthday party was a smashing success. The uncharmed Christmas decorations, coupled with thousands of fairy-lights, made the back-gardens of the Manor look nothing short of spectacular. Even though the only children present were Teddy, Victoire and George and Angelina's infant son, the adults joined in the series of games that Hermione and Narcissa had planned to keep the children entertained. Hermione was also mildly surprised, but very pleased, with the turnout. All the Weasleys –barring Charlie– and their partners had shown up, along with Blaise and Audrey, Pansy, Harry, Herman, Andromeda and Vanessa. Fleur had shown up with two presents, one of which she discreetly slipped to Hermione with a coy wink. At the first chance alone, Hermione had opened it to find a book titled A Witch's Guide to Uncovering Her Wizard's Past: Foolproof Techniques From Britain's Most Efficient Detectives And Stalkers, which had given Hermione a much needed giggle.

The downside of the turnout was the mammoth scope of awkwardness that it led to. Hermione and Draco spent most of their time flitting between groups of people trying to prevent any massive fights from breaking out. Arthur and Molly glowered at Lucius every chance they got, while Ginny resolutely avoided him. Lucius stuck by Narcissa's side almost as if they were held together by a permanent Sticking charm. Ginny and Pansy stuck together almost as closely, eager to avoid Harry and Blaise. But even Hermione's efforts weren't always infallible, a fact that was blatantly proved when Blaise and Pansy ended up at the drinks table together, both looking hesitant and awkward about acknowledging the other. Hermione caught Draco's eye, and he excused himself from his conversation with Bill and quickly made his way to her side.

"Having a good time guys?" Hermione asked, stepping up to Blaise and Pansy.

"Everything looks wonderful," Pansy enthused, relieved to find Hermione there. "Juls seems to be having a great time."

Draco smiled easily, as he looked over at Julius, Teddy and Victoire. "It's turned out better than I expected. Where's Theo tonight?"

Pansy rolled her eyes. "Some work gala. He'd committed to it months ago, unfortunately."

"Are you both still together then?" Blaise asked, affecting disinterest.

"Most definitely," Pansy replied curtly. "We'll be there tomorrow night."

For a second, Blaise looked as though he had just been kicked in the groin. "You're coming tomorrow?" he asked weakly. "Both of you?"

Pansy looked at him squarely. "You invited us, why wouldn't we come to celebrate a friend's happiness?"

Blaise winced slightly at the emphasis on the word 'friend'. "I wasn't sure you'd be able to take out the time," he said hastily. "I'm glad you both can."

"I need to take these Butterbeers to Ginny," Pansy muttered, turning away rapidly. "Excuse me."

Draco nudged Hermione subtly, and inclined his head towards the corner where Audrey had just waylaid Pansy and was engaging her in conversation.

"Excuse me," said Hermione hurriedly, as she raced to the scene of Potential Catfight as quickly and inconspicuously as she could. Within seconds, she had effortlessly orchestrated a conversation between Percy and Audrey, and had taken Pansy away under the guise of wanting to introduce her to Angelina.

Blaise sighed and lightly massaged his forehead. "This is such a mess. Pans won't even talk to me properly."

"Give it some time," Draco advised, scuffing his leather shoe in the grass. "She's a stubborn bird, that one. What matters is that you and Audrey are happy together," he broke off looking uncomfortable. "You are happy together, aren't you?"

"It's an easygoing relationship," Blaise said tiredly. "No drama, no fighting, I'm content. Audrey's attractive, intelligent and caring. What more do you need?"

Draco observed Hermione idly, as she laughed at something Pansy said, enjoying the way the dying embers of sunlight hit her curls. "Sometimes what you need is the spitfire that keeps you on your toes, makes you lose your calm more than anyone else has ever managed to before, who absolutely bloody infuriates you and then makes it all okay with a kiss."

"You've got it bad mate," laughed Blaise, following Draco's line of sight. "By the way, Potter is accidentally blocking Ginny's route to the rest of the girls. You might want to do something about that before she gives up and walks past him."

"Fuck," Draco grumbled, as he set down his empty Butterbeer. "This shit never ends."

"Don't worry, even if we all make it through today, we still have tomorrow night for shit to go down," Blaise commented dryly, as Lucius and Arthur reached for the stack of pies at the same time.

"Can't wait," said Draco sarcastically. "I should go break up the awkwardness."

Draco managed to successfully extricate Harry from Ginny's path and steer him towards the refreshment table, foisting him off to a relieved Arthur, all the while giving Lucius a chance to quickly locate Narcissa –who was standing with Andromeda and Herman– and make his way towards her unhindered. Just as Draco was giving himself a mental pat on the back for his quick thinking, Hermione joined him with two Butterbeers and a smile, taking advantage of the momentary solitude.

"Aren't family gatherings just the best?" Draco groaned to Hermione as he accepted the drink.

Hermione gave a wry laugh. "I think it's safe to say that the Granger family gatherings aren't this awkward."

"Ugh, but at least I didn't have to listen to someone drone on and on about the Polysomething Chain Reasons," Draco scowled, remembering the barbeque. "Your father's cousin bored the pants off me with his constant nattering about advances in muggle medicine."

"It's actually a pretty important development," Hermione said defensively, lightly swatting Draco's arm. "Polymerase Chain Reactions have helped catch so many criminals even when there wasn't enough evidence to examine–" she broke off and paled.

"Granger?" Draco turned to her in concern. "What's wrong? Do you feel sick?"

Hermione numbly shook her head. "I know how they increased our blood."

A/n: Finally, the chapter you have all been waiting for! What did you think about the revelation? Love it/hate it? Think it wasn't worth the buildup? Whatever your opinions, let me know!

As usual, thank you all for your amazing reviews. I will definitely get around to responding properly to all of them, but for the time being I cannot even express how much all your kind words mean to me. I feel almost as though I have a sense of kinship with my readers, especially the repeat reviewers, and I love hearing from you all.

Apologies that this chapter is around a thousand words shorter than usual, but I've been swept off my feet with my to-do list of neverending crap. Who'd have known that dismantling a relationship is such hard work? Also, joint bank accounts are the devil. Don't get one until you're married. The bank will be sure to be as uncooperative as humanly possible if you try close them down.

Thanks also to all those of you that added me to their alerts and favourites! Hope that you are enjoying my work ^.^

From now on, I will also be posting my progress with the word count of the next chapter on my profile, just so you all have an idea of how long of a wait there will be. Hopefully it won't be longer than a week, but seeing how I am yet to begin writing chapter thirty-one, I'm not going to make promises I can't keep :P