Christmas morning was cold, bitterly cold, and under normal circumstances, Lucius Malfoy, would hex anyone who dared to try and get him away from the warmth of his bed. This morning, however, was different.
He woke up before everyone with an unusual spring in his step. He felt like he did when he was a child at Christmas, where the anticipation melted even the strongest mind and turned it into a ball of excitement that nothing would calm.
He wasn't exactly sure why he was so ready to get everything underway, but he had his thoughts on the matter.
The first thought that came to mind was the fact that in the years after the dark lord had returned, it seemed as if all the life had been sucked out of him. Christmas became a day where it was really just another day. There hadn't been a Christmas in many years where his family could enjoy a perfectly prepared dinner or where he, Narcissa, and Draco could relax in front of the fireplace and open gifts. He had been raised with traditions and just like many other families, blood status unimportant, Christmas was a day to be with family and friends. To have a break from the everyday and just enjoy the family he had been given.
But with the dark lord growing stronger, Christmas became a favorite day to send his rapidly growing army out into the streets and ruin the lives of muggles and muggleborns everywhere. Christmas had lost its innocence and blood had been spilled in the name of blood purity, and idea he once held as dear as his own life.
His views on blood purity had begun to change slowly in the years before, but it was an event last Christmas that nudged him further away from the tyrannical views of and ways of many purebloods.
As higher ranking deatheaters, Lucius and Severus were both excused from participating in any Christmas slaughtering, well, until Draco's repeated failures to carry out Voldemort's plans and Severus always being the one to step up and complete the job meant for Draco became a regular thing. The three of them had all lost favor in the inner circle, the Malfoy name didn't carry the weight it once had, and in an effort to encourage Draco, Voldemort sent the three of them to a small house in Bedsworth on Christmas morning with the orders to kill everyone and burn the house to the ground. They were all sickened at the thought.
Upon arriving at the house, the smell of breakfast wafted through the air and the sounds of children laughing and playing filled their ears. He felt his stomach hit the floor when he heard the cry of a small baby.
Sucking up their nerves, none daring to speak, they blasted the door from its hinges and went inside. The scene that played out before them would be forever etched in his memory.
A young girl, the age of ten at most, sat in a rocking chair by the fire with a baby in her arms, her brother, if the blue blanket was anything to go by.
The furnishings told them that the family financially struggled and with the absence of anything male related, they could only assume that they had entered the home of a single mother who did what she could to provide the necessities for her children.
The little girl screamed so loud that their ears were ringing. The baby, who had mostly calmed before they entered now wailed as hard as his little lungs could manage, and a woman in her late-twenties ran from the kitchen, knife in hand ready to defend her children with her own life if necessary.
The panic in the woman's eyes is what really set him back. It didn't matter that this woman was a muggle, or that her daughter was a muggleborn judging by the energy that crackled above her. The look in her eyes was the look of a parent, a mother, not some uneducated animal that could walk away from her dead child and move on with life as if nothing ever happened.
It had dawned on him in that moment that the only thing that really made them different was that he could perform magic and she could not.
His eyes scanned away from the woman and back to the little girl and baby she clutched to her chest. Her eyes, glassy and wide in panic also held innocence. It was a pure and untainted innocence that struck him to the very core of his being.
The girl didn't understand what was happening. All she knew was that three scary men had come into her home uninvited and scared the daylights out of her. She knew nothing of the dark lord, or of the order, she probably didn't have the slightest clue that the strange things that had no doubt plagued her from early childhood was her magic because she was a witch. She didn't know any of this.
And yet, in his quest for glory and power, Voldemort wanted him, his son, and his best friend to taint their souls forever and slaughter three innocent lives just because he wanted it so.
He knew he would take whatever punishment Voldemort had to offer, but he would not harm a hair on a single head in the house. Draco and Severus agreed with a silent nod of understanding.
Severus had been the one to calm the woman, his voice being soothing and steady. He had explained what was going on and also explained that her daughter was indeed, a witch. He then apparated the entire family to the gates outside of Hogwarts where Dumbledore hid the family.
Draco and Lucius did their part and burned the house to the ground in hopes to cover their failure of the mission… it had worked for a bit.
But this Christmas would be free of Voldemort and missions to spill the blood of innocents, and that in itself was reason enough to wake up ready for what the day had to offer
The second reason he could come up with was Hermione. He felt silly when he actually thought about it. She was young, his son's age at that, and yet this woman had managed to show him a way of life that he had really never known.
Being married to Narcissa was a roller coaster. There had never been anything real between them as most arranged marriages were just that, arranged. Marriage was a duty to the families, a way to align two pureblooded families and ensure that neither strayed to taint the bloodline.
They had tried to come to some sort of understanding with each other, especially once Draco was born, but they were like two strangers passing in the night with the only common ground between them being a child.
But with Hermione… it was just different. When he had come to the order in desperation, everyone ignored him or gave him looks that told him he was not welcomed. Days had passed where the only person who spoke to him was Severus, and on his 4th day there, a muggleborn witch that had every right in the world to despise his very existence and yet she engaged him, talked to him, and without even trying, showed him that everything he had ever known was complete horse shit.
He had developed a respect for the girl and within days, a comfortable friendship that he never expected to have or deserve.
And now she was his lover, and as much as he tried to deny it in his head, he was in fact in love with her, something he had never felt towards any other woman.
She was the main reason, he concluded, that he was ready for Christmas to kick off. He wanted her to be happy. He wanted to experience Christmas with a woman that he loved and was sure that loved him back. It was sappy and very un-Malfoy, but in this respect, he didn't give a damn what anyone thought.
A cough was what brought him away from his thoughts. He turned to see Severus sitting on the edge of the bed, completely bed raggled and tired looking.
The dark haired man rose with a grunt and made his way to the bathroom without a word to the blond who was already completely dressed.
A minute later, Severus emerged from the bathroom and went straight to the wardrobe, he was freezing if the goose bumps that covered his body was any clue.
"I'm going downstairs to get things ready." Lucius said as he gave Severus a pat on the shoulder, "wake her up and I'll get Draco and Potter."
Severus looked at the blond, notice his beaming smile, and rolled his eyes. Gods it was going to be a long day.
Lucius was like a man possessed. Harry and Draco sat on one of the couches, Harry still completely dazed, his glasses crooked, and his hair sticking up in every direction imaginable, while Draco sat with his head slumped back and his mouth gaping open, as he mentally screamed at his eyes to focus rather than bounce in all different directions. He found it unsettling that one eye could go off to the side while the other tried to have a conversation with his brain.
Lucius, on the other hand, was full of piss and vinegar. The late night surprise for Hermione was a large Christmas tree, it was real and it was heavy, and it damn near got the best of him and Severus several times as they tried to get it into the manor and up right.
Lucius had sneaked back down and decorated the entire thing himself once Severus and Hermione had fallen asleep. He wanted it perfect even if it did take him almost 4 hours to get it exactly how he pictured it.
Once Lucius was satisfied, he sat on the second couch and had the house elves bring everyone's gifts and set them under the tree. He was ready whether anyone else in the house was in the land of the living or not.
It took about 10 minutes, but Severus finally walked in and slumped onto the couch next to a very confused Harry and an almost unconscious Draco. Hermione followed, but unlike Severus she was bright eyed and bushy tailed. Lucius was glad he wasn't the only one with Christmas spirit.
Hermione stopped dead in her tracks when she noticed the tree that was most certainly not there yesterday.
"That is where Severus and I disappeared to last night." Lucius stated with grin
"How in the… it's huge! How did you two manage to get in in here?"
"With a lot of swearing and a few fresh bruises." Severus answered, finally becoming a little more awake.
"It's wonderful. I never imagined we would have a tree this year."
Hermione made her way to the couch and sat next to Lucius. It was a bit odd to see Severus sitting next to Harry and not with Lucius, something Severus must have noticed at the same time as he glanced over to the almost drooling boy and shuddered.
With grace, Severus stood and made his way to the couch with Hermione and Lucius, more comfortable with his couch mates instantly.
Hermione eyed the gifts under the tree and was ready to start passing them out. The anticipation was killing her, but she didn't want to step on anyone's toes as this was a whole new situation for her.
She fidgeted for a minute; ready to just ask how everything worked in this particular household, when a small female house elf appeared wearing a Santa hat and red apron.
Hermione knew there were elves in the manor, but they all managed to stay out of sight. This was the first one she had seen since being there.
She looked over to Lucius, visibly shaking, which unnerved Hermione a bit. Why did the elf look like it was going to spaz out?
Lucius let out a bark of laughter which made the elf smile from ear to ear, "Okay, okay, Ill not keep you waiting. Pass them out already."
The elf almost squealed, this had always been her favorite job and it had been quite some time since she was able to do it.
Hermione looked confused.
"She has been passing out the gifts since I was born." Draco stated, still groggy, but at least his eyes were focusing, "She's excited, not scared, Granger, Voldemort put a bit of a damper on Christmas the last few years, denying her of her favorite job."
Hermione smiled and nodded in understanding. She was actually quite tickled that the little elf was as happy as she was.
The gifts were passed out in almost record speed, and to everyone's surprise, the piles were damn near identical as far as amounts, which made everyone feel a little better that none would feel left out.
Harry finally rose from his stupor and while he was now used to getting gifts at Christmas, it still made him excited. He blamed it on years of going without.
Draco also seemed like he had gotten a new wind as the gifts were piled at his feet, which made Lucius glad that he had put the extra effort in this year. Draco might be a grown man, but he was still his son and he felt responsible that the last few Christmas's of his youth were shitty.
Severus eyed his pile and seemed a bit uncomfortable. It had been, well, never that he had gotten more than a card or an I.O.U. He wasn't really sure how to react but he had to admit that it was nice to finally feel as if he was a part of a family and had people in his like that gave two shits if he lived or died.
Lucius, Lucius eyed nothing. He attacked his pile in frenzy, making everyone in the room stop and watch package after package being torn to shreds. A new life was certainly suited for a man who had to lose everything in order to gain what he really needed.
And Hermione, she checked each label before carefully opening her gifts. She was excited, more so than she let on, but she wanted to remember every detail of her first Christmas with the two men she loved, and hoped with everything she had, that it would be the first of many.