AN: So it's been a while, work has been mega busy, which is great because it means I'll still have a job next month but not so good for the writing part of my life. However I have been very cheeky, done very little work the last two days and put together this little chapter for you, hope you enjoy and review to let me know what you think.
Thanks to Astarte_Lydianna for looking this over for me. She has 2 great HP stories happening right now along with a lot of great twilight fics so get over to her profile.
Disclaimer: All recognized characters and situations belong to J. K. Rowling. I make no money from this and own nothing in the Harry Potter Universe.
Christmas Day
A loud ringing sound woke Hermione from a sweet dream. She was disorientated and contemplated just ignoring it and curling back into Draco's side but the ringing continued and groaning she extricated herself from her boyfriends' embrace and left her bedroom to find out what was going on.
She picked up her wand from the side table and slowly walked down the stairs wiping the sleep from her eyes and made it to the front door. She checked the peephole and saw jet-black hair and glasses.
She pulled the door open and pointed her wand straight at Harry, "What is the name of my godmother?" she asked, using their secret question to make sure it was Harry and not a death eater in disguise.
Harry smiled and answered, "You don't have a godmother; your parents argued so much between whose sister to use that you only have a godfather"
Hermione lowered her wand, "what can I do for you Harry?" she didn't let him past the doorstep.
"Come on 'Mione, it's freezing out here, at least let me in" Harry replied, his teeth chattering to emphasize his point.
Hermione crossed her arms and stepped aside to let Harry in before shutting and warding the door.
She led him down the hallway and into the kitchen and put the kettle on. "What are you doing here Harry?" she asked while pouring hot water into coffee mugs.
"It's Christmas Hermione, I wasn't going to leave you alone no matter what's been happening at Hogwarts", Harry replied.
"She isn't alone Potter" came through the kitchen door, they both turned to see Draco in the doorway in his pyjama bottoms and his hair all tousled, obviously the sound of the conversation had awoken him.
"Oh Merlin 'Mione, you brought him home with you?" Harry exclaimed.
"Yes Harry, my boyfriend has come to spend the Christmas holidays with me, he didn't decide to abandon me like my so called friends" Hermione gave said friend a scathing look before sweeping past both men and back upstairs.
Harry went to follow her, but Draco stood in the doorway, towering over Harry. "I suggest you leave Potter" he spat.
"I just want to talk to her Malfoy, get out of the way" Harry replied, but kept his distance, he didn't want to end up in a fight when he was trying to apologise to Hermione.
Draco heard Hermione call from upstairs and left Harry in the middle of the kitchen and went straight up to her.
"He says he just wants to talk to you, I would be happy to physically throw him out if you like" Draco told her as soon as he was upstairs.
Hermione shook her head and went back down the stairs and into the kitchen. She sat at the table with her coffee and indicated with her eyebrows that Harry should say whatever he was going to say.
Harry sat and took a deep breath before starting, "Hermione, I didn't abandon you, I was just in shock. I wanted to write, but I had to chase after Ron and stop him from apparating straight to Hogwarts when we read the letter." Harry drank some of the scolding coffee before he continued. "Once I had calmed him down and made him go back into the house I sat down to write to you but I didn't know what to say, so Molly said she would write and I gave her my owl"
"Why him 'Mione? Of all the guys you could have dated, why Malfoy?" he asked.
"It's not like I planned it Harry" Hermione snapped. She closed her eyes and calmed herself down before speaking again "he's really different, don't give me that look he is, and he said it best, now that he doesn't have to live up to his father's expectations he can be himself, and Harry he is nice, really nice"
Harry scoffed but shut his mouth when he looked at Hermione and saw that she was serious.
"Is he good to you 'Mione?"
"Harry, he's wonderful to me. A little possessive but I don't actually mind it as long as he doesn't go too far with it" Hermione replied.
Draco was listening from the top of the stairs and almost laughed out loud when she said that, that was one he would try to remember when she was berating him for kicking Longbottom's arse.
Back down in the kitchen Harry asked what Hermione meant by possessive and she told him about Neville after making him promise to keep it quiet.
"Wow, I always thought he was into Luna" Harry said after Hermione finished.
"So did I, I don't really know how to handle this when I go back to school, I have to share living quarters with him!" Hermione began to worry her bottom lip between her teeth.
"Maybe it's just a crush, you know because you're living in such close quarters" Harry suggested.
"I really hope so Harry, I really hope so" Hermione replied.
"Do you want to stay for lunch, I'm not the best cook as you know but Draco and I are going to attempt a proper Christmas meal" Hermione offered.
"I wish I could but Ginny will kill me if I don't get back to the Burrow soon, now that she's back at school she says we have to spend every minute we can together" Harry said with a small smile, he didn't seem to be too unhappy about his girlfriends clinginess.
"Okay Harry. It was good to see you" Hermione said, giving him a long hug and a kiss on the cheek.
"Oh before I go…" Harry pulled a small bag out of his pocket and enlarged it with his wand before handing it to Hermione, "some Christmas presents from the Burrow, Molly has been knitting up a storm, I think there's even one for the ferret" Harry joked but stopped when Hermione gave him a look.
"Well thank everyone for me" Hermione said before pulling out her wand and silently casting 'Accio' on the presents she had bought for her friends from under the Christmas tree, just in case they contacted her.
After another hug Harry left and Hermione went back upstairs to find Draco.
….
After another hour back in bed, having a cuddle and getting a little more sleep the couple got up and went downstairs to open their presents.
Hermione handed Draco two gifts first and insisted he opened them. The first was a book, causing Draco to laugh at his "little bookworm" but on closer inspection he understood her thinking. It was a book on muggle objects and how they worked, something towards helping him pass muggle studies.
Tearing the wrapping paper off the second package, Draco found that he was holding a jewellery box. He opened it and found a simple platinum chain.
"If you don't like it I understand, I'm sure you have much nicer things at home, it just called to me" Hermione said quickly.
"It's perfect sweetheart, I won't take it off" Draco said, slipping the chain on.
He then handed Hermione her gift, the package seemed large and soft, and Hermione was certain she knew what he had done. Sure enough when she pulled the silver wrapping paper from her gift she found the pale blue dress robes she had pointed to on their first date.
She gave Draco a sweet kiss and thanked him, adding in that it was far too much and he shouldn't have.
"Try them on, I want to see how beautiful you look" Draco told her and sent her straight up to the bedroom and waited at the foot of the stairs for the gasp he was sure would come.
"Oh My Word!" came from upstairs a moment later. Draco smirked and quickly moved back to the living room so that Hermione wouldn't know he had been waiting.
A moment later she came into the room holding out a small box, "Draco this is too much, I can't accept this"
"Yes you can, because it is very important that you do" Draco said taking the box and pulling the small sapphire ring from inside.
"I want you to wear it like a promise ring, it is my promise that I will never be the boy you knew throughout school and I will continue to make myself a better man. It's your birth stone"
Hermione was battling back tears, it was the single most beautiful present she had ever been given and the meaning behind it warmed her heart. She allowed Draco to slip the slim sapphire ring on her middle finger and then wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him sensually. All other presents were forgotten as they made love in the middle of the living room.
….
That afternoon after a lunch of turkey, roasted potatoes, four different kinds of veg and Yorkshire pudding, something Draco had never had as the wizarding world hadn't discovered them yet, they sat in front of the television and watched the queen's speech, something else Draco had never done before as the Manor certainly would never possessive something so muggle orientated as a television.
"I don't understand why people sit around watching her on a day they are supposed to be celebrating, I mean she doesn't even do anything, it's not like the royals run the country" Draco commented.
"How do you know that? It's not like our world keeps up with muggle politics and muggle royalty" Hermione asked, amused.
Draco shrugged his shoulders, "Muggle Studies"
"But Draco you failed Muggle Studies, otherwise the Wizengamot wouldn't have made you take it again as part of your sentence" Hermione replied.
"I failed deliberately; do you think my father would have been proud of an 'outstanding' in Muggle Studies?" Draco wrapped his arm around her and pulled her into his side, "please can we turn this drivel off, it's obvious that she didn't even write it, you can see her eyes moving as she's reading it"
Hermione handed him the remote, not hiding her amusement at his confusion, "Go right ahead"
Draco, who after much practice, still couldn't quite work the remote to turn the TV over and always ended up turning the volume up instead, looked at the gadget for a few moments before pulling out his wand and switching the TV off altogether.
"I have a better idea" he said, pulling Hermione to lie back on the couch and lying on top of her.
Hermione giggled, most uncharacteristically, "Again?"
Draco smirked, "Again…and again…and again" punctuating each again with a kiss; he pulled her leg up over his hip and began to rub himself against her core.
He planted kisses all over her face, jaw line and down her neck, suckling on the spot he had discovered made her moan each time he did it, and making her moan was something Draco had come to enjoy very much. He continued to suckle on the spot as he undid her shirt and pushed it from her shoulders and then preceded lower to suckle her breasts through her bra.
Hermione couldn't contain her moans from the sensations he was causing, her back arching as he pulled the cups of the bra down and began to lavish her breasts with attention from his talented tongue.
Draco moved his attention lower, dipping his tongue into her bellybutton and gently biting the soft skin of her abdomen before descending to her core and pulling her skirt up to pay attention to the apex between her inner thighs.
He pulled her panties aside and dove straight into her wet lips with his tongue, drinking her in and flicking his tongue against the nub to the sweet sound of her panting and saying his name.
He slipped two fingers into her and pumped them in time with the movement of his tongue, causing her to cry out as she fell over the edge. He removed his fingers and continued to suckle on her juices until she came down from her high.
Watching her orgasm was the single sexiest thing Draco ever saw and could not hold back any longer, using his wand to remove his clothes and hers, casting the contraception charm and sheathed himself inside her.
She was so tight, hot and wet that Draco struggled not to cum instantly. He began to thrust quickly, lifting himself upwards to hit the right spot in her, causing Hermione to clench with each thrust.
Hermione began to move her hips in time with his movements, allowing more of his length to enter her with each thrust, eventually using her thighs to roll them off the couch and onto the living room carpet where she could move at her own pace, holding Draco's arms above him.
She thrust her hips down on him, harder and faster as she grew close to falling again. Draco was struggling to hold back, desperate to keep going, enjoying watching Hermione as she bounced up and down on him.
Hermione's grip on Draco's hand began to tighten as she reached her peak, bending to thrust her tongue into his mouth as she came on him, moaning into his mouth as she felt him thrust up and cum inside her.
Hermione collapsed on Draco's chest, feeling him envelope her in his arms as they came down from their joint high.
….
New Year's Eve
The couple spent the week between Christmas and New Year frolicking and enjoying each other's company. They spent hours making love, in most of the rooms of the house and went outside for a snowball fight in the back garden.
Hermione made sure to get her homework done; even with Draco doing everything he could to distract her, including literally throwing her on the table and giving her a release on her assignment with his fingers and then making her promise to give in that piece of parchment to Professor Flitwick.
On New Year's Eve an owl began tapping on the kitchen window as she and Draco sat to the Chinese takeaway they had ordered. When Hermione took the letter from the bird and turned it over she saw Kingsley Shacklebolt's official Minister of Magic Seal on the back.
Hermione's fingers trembled as she opened the envelope; there was only one reason that she would hear from Kingsley… Her parents.
She pulled out the parchment and began to read, her hands were shaking and tears welled in her eyes as she took in the information.
"Sweetheart, what's the matter?" Draco asked getting up from his seat and coming around to put his arm around Hermione's shoulder. Hermione handed him the letter and used her napkin to wipe her eyes.
Dearest Hermione
How are you? I wished I could have gotten in touch with you sooner but I only found out this information today, I know how desperate you are for news of your parents.
They have been found, running a dental practice in Sydney. We have sent two aurors to watch over them until you can get there and organise their return if that is your wish, just let me know what you would like to do.
Make sure that only I open the envelope from you. You know how.
Best Wishes
Kingsley Shacklebolt
Minister for Magic
"Darling this is wonderful" Draco said after reading the letter. He pulled Hermione from her chair and into his lap and cradled her in his arms.
Hermione nodded and quietly sobbed in his arms, so relieved to finally know that so far her plan had worked and they were safe.
"We could go before school starts again" Draco said, "we could write to McGonagall, tell her we will apparate and not to expect us on the train, we could leave tomorrow"
"You would come with me?" Hermione asked.
"Of course, I told you that I would do anything I could" Draco assured her.
"Write to Kingsley, tell him that we need a portkey and that we will send him word of their decision as soon as possible" Draco prompted Hermione.
She was speechless with relief, and so pleased that Draco was taking control, because in all honesty after all the fighting during the war, all the planning, all the fear, now she was tired.
AN: I really hope you enjoyed it, I'm going to put a pic of the Promise Ring on my profile page, I think it's pretty. Looking forward to the reviews...