As soon as Hermione got home for Christmas break she headed straight for her father's study. A couple of days earlier there had been an incident with Arthur Weasley and all four of the Weasley children had gone home for Christmas early. Harry had stayed behind, but it was him who'd alerted people something was wrong with Arthur and since the incident Dumbledore had become worried by his connection to Voldemort.

Entering her father's study, Hermione froze as she spotted a long, dangerous looking snake curled up beside the fire. A snake had bitten Arthur and Hermione was betting that it was the snake in her father's study. What the snake was doing in her father's study, was a different matter entirely and Hermione was very wary of the venomous creature.

"She won't hurt you." Voldemort told his daughter, as he came up behind her. "Nagini's very gentle, unless I tell her otherwise."

"When did you get a snake?" Hermione asked, still hesitant to move closer to the creature.

"A few weeks ago." Voldemort replied, walking over to Nagini and running his hand over her scales. "She's a magical beast and we have a connection."

Hermione watched as her father hissed at the snake, causing her to slither over to a nearby basket and curl up. Hermione knew her father could speak Parseltongue, but it was a skill she'd yet to learn. Voldemort had promised to teach her and she was guessing the presence of a real snake would help.

"Now, how's school?" Voldemort asked, leading Hermione over to a nearby sofa where they settled down to catch up.

"Fine." Hermione shrugged. "We can talk about that later, right now we need to talk about Harry."

"What about him?" Voldemort questioned. "I thought things were going well. He's having the dreams about the Department of Mysteries."

"Yes, but now Dumbledore is aware of your connection." Hermione pointed out. "Harry dreamt about Nagini attacking Arthur, that's how they got to him so quick and were able to save his life."

"I wondered about that." Voldemort said. "Nagini's venom is very powerful, I expected Weasley to be dead long before anyone found him."

"Anyway, the point is that incident made Dumbledore suspicious." Hermione told her father. "He's sending Harry to have private lessons off Snape so he can learn to block you out of his head."

"Ah yes, the occulemency lessons." Voldemort chuckled. "I know all about them."

"How?" Hermione frowned.

"Severus has been to see me and told me all about the lessons." Voldemort explained. "According to Severus, Potter is far too curious about his dreams to want to get rid of them. Severus is confident the lessons will be a failure."

"And do your trust him?" Hermione questioned.

"I'm starting to believe Severus is loyal to us." Voldemort replied. "Although we'll hopefully know for sure in the New Year."

"How?"

"Because over the holidays, he's going to find out I've got a daughter." Voldemort answered. "If he runs to the Order and tells them, then his loyalties are with them and he'll be dealt with."

"Is it safe to tell him?" Hermione questioned, worried about her own safety.

"Don't worry, you'll be perfectly safe." Voldemort reassured his daughter. "Like the rest of the Death Eaters, he'll merely know I have a daughter. He'll not have a clue as to who you are or what you're called. The only people who know that are Lucius and Narcissa."

"Narcissa knows?" Hermione looked at her father in surprise. "Since when?"

"Shortly after you went back to school." Voldemort replied. "Both Lucius and Narcissa also knew who your mother is. It's just too impractical for Lucius not to know everything and as his wife I thought it only fair that Narcissa knows as well. I trust them both and I know they would never dream of betraying us."

"What about Draco?" Hermione asked. "Will you be telling him who I am?"

"Not just yet." Voldemort shook his head.

"Don't you trust him?"

"I do, actually. I just think with the pair of you at school together it could complicated. I don't want either of you changing the way you interact with each other, it would be so easy for one of you to reveal something with meaning to."

Hermione thought about her father's words and she could see the wisdom in keeping her identity a secret from Draco. As things stood Draco barely glanced her way unless he was insulting her and she didn't want that to change and cause suspicion. With the knowledge of who she truly was he might regulate his insults or even weaken them without realising what he was doing. Her father was right, for now it best that Draco was kept in the dark about her identity.

"Enough business talk." Voldemort suddenly announced as he stood up. "It's the holidays, we should be looking forward to spending time together as a family."

Hermione jumped up from her seat and together with her father they left his study. Finding Kathleen in the front room Hermione and Voldemort joined her and Hermione spent a few hours telling her parents about school. Hermione was still telling her parents about Umbridge and the group she'd helped Harry to form as they settled down for dinner.

Over dinner the conversation turned to their plans for Christmas and the New Year. Hermione was shocked when her parents mentioned spending New Year's Eve attending a party at Malfoy Manor and she was even more shocked when they said she would be accompanying them.

"How is that possible?" Hermione questioned. "I can't attend a party, I'm bound to be spotted by someone."

"Firstly the party is exclusive to my Death Eaters and their partners." Voldemort explained. "After what happened with Nott, I decided that I should allow my followers partners to know about you."

"That doesn't mean they won't recognise me." Hermione argued. "Some of your Death Eaters have children at Hogwarts. It's extremely likely that they've seen me on Platform Nine and Three Quarters, not to mention all the fuss there was over Harry last year in The Triwizard Tournament. I was in a load of the articles written by that horrid Rita Skeeter as she tried to cause a fuss over Harry."

"We know all that, dear." Kathleen said. "That's why Narcissa is throwing a masquerade ball. We are going to get you an enchanted mask that will hide most of your face and change your eye-colour as you wear it. I promise by the time Narcissa and I are finished with you, no-one will recognise you as Hermione Granger."

"This will be the perfect opportunity to mix with the Death Eaters and allow them to get to know you." Voldemort told his daughter.

"Excellent." Hermione smiled, suddenly looking forward to New Year. "Will Draco be there?" She asked, trying to sound nonchalant.

Hermione's attempt at playing it cool didn't fool her parents and they shared an amused look. Hermione blushed as she realised she'd just revealed her crush on the blond Slytherin to her parents.

"Yes, he'll be there." Voldemort said with a smirk. "Chances are before long he'll be an official Death Eater, but I thought he deserved a reward for his display of loyalty earlier in the year."

Hermione nodded and hastily changed the subject, asking her mother more about the mask she was thinking of getting. Kathleen was more than happy to talk outfits with Hermione, and by the end of dinner Hermione was really looking forward to the masquerade ball. Not only would she get to see Draco in a setting where he wasn't going to insult her, she got to dress up and have fun, which was something she did precious little of posing as Harry Potter's muggleborn best friend.

[][][][][]

Draco was lying on his bed with his eyes closed, barely paying any attention to Pansy who was chattering on beside him. Both teenagers were in their underwear having spent most of the afternoon in bed together. Draco had finally decided the time was right to sleep with Pansy and in his humble opinion the experience had been one she would be bragging about to her friends.

"Draco, are you even listening to me?" Pansy huffed, elbowing the blond in his side.

"Don't do that." Draco hissed as he opened his eyes. "And yes, I was listening to you."

"What was I saying then?" Pansy asked, sitting up and crossing her arms over her chest.

"You were talking about Christmas Day, and how drunk your Aunt got." Draco replied.

"That was five minutes ago." Pansy retorted. "I was actually talking about the masquerade ball your parents are hosting on New Year's Eve."

"What about it?" Draco questioned.

"Well, I was thinking that since I'm your girlfriend I should go with you." Pansy said, lying back down beside Draco and running her nails over his torso.

Draco grimaced at Pansy's use of the word girlfriend, he would definitely have to end things once she'd spread the word about his prowess in the bedroom. "Sorry Pans, I can't help you. I'm not allowed to bring a guest." He told her.

"But it's your house." Pansy pouted.

"I know, but it's actually The Dark Lord's party." Draco argued. "I'm being allowed to attend as a courtesy to my parents. If I didn't live here, there's no way I would be going to the party."

Draco knew that if Voldemort hadn't wanted him at the party then he wouldn't be going. Even living in the house that was hosting the party wouldn't have ensured him an invitation. Lucius had already told him that the invite was a gesture of appreciation for what he'd done with Nott. His father had also implied it meant Voldemort was seriously thinking about initiating him into the Death Eaters, meaning he needed to make a good impression.

"That's so unfair." Pansy complained. "We could have had such a good night together."

"I know, Pans. I wish you could come as well." Draco lied. Personally he was thrilled he wasn't allowed to bring anyone, the last thing he would have wanted was to spend the night with Pansy draping herself all over him.

"Can you at least tell me about the party?" Pansy asked, looking up at Draco.

"Sure, but I don't think there'll be much to tell." Draco shrugged. "It'll just be a bunch of adults hanging out and drinking."

"Yes, but The Dark Lord will be there." Pansy said excitedly. "You're the only person at school to have met him and now you're attending his party, that's a big thing Draco."

"I guess it is." Draco said with a smirk as he thought about the good this party would do to his reputation. Just meeting Voldemort had given him a boost, but attending his party would make things that much better for him.

Draco let Pansy ramble on about how great it was that he was interacting with Voldemort for several minutes. Eventually the sound of her voice began to grate on him so he shut her up by planting his lips over hers. When Pansy realised Draco intended for them to have sex again, she happily shut up and melted into his arms.

An hour later Pansy left the Manor and Draco breathed a huge sigh of relief. He now wouldn't see her again until school and practically straight away he intended to make it clear that he wasn't interested in a long term relationship. To be honest he wasn't even sure if he wanted to sleep with her again, all she did was lie there and expect him to do all the work. He knew he was Pansy's first lover but he'd still hoped for a bit more from her, however the important thing was she enjoyed herself and would undoubtedly tell her friends about him.

Shaking off thoughts of Pansy, Draco re-dressed and headed downstairs. The New Year's masquerade ball was in a few days and he'd promised his mother he'd help her sort the decorations for the ballroom and the back garden. For the last week several charms had been cast on the garden to keep it permanently warm and twinkling lights had been hung from almost every tree and bush in the spacious gardens. However the finishing touches were been put in place at the minute and Narcissa had insisted doing them herself, and roping Draco into things.

"Finally." Narcissa tutted at her son when he entered the ballroom. "Take this box and get into the garden."

Narcissa placed a large box in Draco's arms before turning to the house elves, which were bustling around the room, and barking orders at them. Not wanting his mother to yell at him Draco hurriedly headed into the garden where another set of elves were working. Finding out what needed to be doing, Draco got to work on the decorating. While it wasn't the most enjoyable of jobs he'd promised his mother he would help her and the last thing he wanted to do was disappoint Narcissa.