"Three minutes out."

Hermione looked down at the car floor as her security detail made its way to Malfoy Manor. Was it the place she hoped to spend the holiday? Absolutely not. Was it better than spending Christmas alone? Barely. She looked out at the trees, lightly dusted with snow, zipping through view of the window. Her job was important, but she missed those Christmases that were giant family affairs. Things with Ron were so awkward the past several years that "holidays with friends" became more of "look at my ex-husband with his new family."

Because Hermione wasn't family anymore.

She sighed and twisted her gloves between her fingers. She was one of the most powerful people in the English government, yet … There were fewer things more terrifying than a Christmas filled with her friends and their happy families. To make it worse, she was spending the holidays at the home of one of her least-favourite people on the planet. Her chest tightened up a bit as the small caravan of cars approached the entrance to Malfoy Manor. They stopped, with the back end of the fourth vehicle not quite able to fit onto the drive. The first vehicle approached the guard station, so they waited for the gates to open.

Two minutes later, they were still waiting.

Five minutes later … Still waiting.

After ten minutes, Hermione was half-tempted to forget the whole holiday and turn back to London. Just as she leaned forward to tell the driver to turn back, she heard an all-too-familiar voice shouting from up the drive.

"Oi! What the bloody hell do you think you're doing?! If you are not on the guest list, you need to leave or I will phone the police!"

Hermione chuckled, thinking how delightfully horrible that would be for him. Draco Malfoy always had a knack for making things ridiculous. She leaned back on the seat and watched as he stormed out of the gates. Malfoy came into view wearing a long camel-coloured coat, his hair smushed beneath a knit hat with a pompom on the top. It should seem ridiculous, but he was the frustrating sort of person who managed to look good in anything. He was shouting at the lead car, so Hermione rolled down her window and stuck her head out to shout,

"That would be rather awkward for everyone!"

Malfoy rolled his eyes then walked to where she was in the second car. Hermione looked up at him as he leaned closer. There was a humorous glint in those grey eyes that had been missing the past several years. His breath froze in a cloud around his lips as he said,

"MP Granger, terrible to see you, as always."

"Malfoy, I see you're still vampirically pale. Makes sense; each time I see you I slowly lose my will to live and the blood begins to drain from my body."

"Would that you commit to the bit."

"Threatening a member of Parliament?" Hermione shot back. "I believed that was your father's thing."

"Bribery was my father's thing, Granger. Now, would you care to explain to me why there are four large black vehicles attempting to enter my home?"

Hermione frowned and said, "It's my security."

Malfoy pointed to the guard station and said, "My home, my security."

"They'll be unnoticed the whole time."

"I know they will, because they're not entering."

"They go where I go."

"Good." Malfoy said, "I want them to leave, and would be delighted for you to join them."

"I'm not leaving, all my friends are spending Christmas here, so if you could—"

"Is everything alright here?!"

Another member of the detail had exited one of the vehicles and come to confront Draco Malfoy. Hermione sighed, knowing this would not end well. Nothing ever did with him. Malfoy replied in an irritatingly level tone.

"No, it's not alright, your bloody cars are clogging up the road. It's policy to keep the area around the guard station clear at all times unless a vehicle is checking in."

"We are meant to accompany—"

"I don't care."

"This is official government business."

"Yes, and as Granger—"

"MP Granger, Mr. Malfoy."

Hermione closed her eyes and sighed. This was a new member of the detail who clearly slept through the de-escalation course. Draco spat back,

"Apologies. Leader of His Majesty's Most Loyal Opposition, President of the Frizzy Hair Society, and Notorious Pain In My Arse, MP Hermione Granger needs to tell her security detail to get the hell off my property!"

"Can't I take one car through the gate?" asked Hermione.

"No," replied Malfoy.

Hermione knew it was just to be contrarian. Any inconvenience to her was a win for him. She asked,

"How do you propose I get to your home, then?"

"The same way I came. You can walk."

Hermione huffed, "Fine." She threw open the car door and stepped out, grabbed her coat and stuffed her arms into the sleeves. Not bothering to button up, she walked to the back of the car and pulled out one holdall and one large rolling case. She walked to the driver's window and told the head of her security detail,

"Stay here, I should have special dispensation for you in ten minutes."

He replied, "I do not believe that is a good idea, ma'am."

"It's fine. The only person who would murder me in here is Malfoy himself, and I would love nothing more than for him to spend life in prison. I believe this is a win-win scenario."

"Not assuaging the concern, ma'am."

"It's private security, the same we've been using for seventy years and a total of zero Malfoys have been assassinated." Draco snapped, "Can't say the same for MPs."

Hermione rolled her eyes.

"Dispensation incoming."

Hermione walked toward the gate but Malfoy was hot on her heels. He grabbed the holdall and the case from her hands saying,

"I'll take these."

"I'm not an invalid, I can carry my own bags."

"Oh, stop, I would never hear the end of it from my mother if I let a woman walk from the gate to the door carrying her own bags. You are head of Labour, though, so she likely wouldn't mind if I 'accidentally' dropped them."

"Comforting."

They walked for a full minute down what must've been the world's longest drive, in silence. Hermione shot off an email requesting special dispensation for her security detail. It was confirmed moments later, so Hermione stuffed the phone in her pocket and buttoned her coat against the cold. They could only just see the manor in the distance. Eventually, Malfoy said,

"I know we don't like each other and I plan to return to loathing you after the holiday, but this is a very important time for Blaise. I have a strong suspicion he plans to ask Dean to marry him on Christmas and I don't want to make that any more difficult simply because we're …" He grimaced. "Less than amicable."

Hermione raised her eyebrows, surprised.

"They haven't been together even a year."

"But they're happy." Malfoy shrugged and admitted, "I wish I would've asked Tori to marry me sooner so we could have been married longer. You never know how limited your time with someone may be, and Blaise is deeply in love."

"Fine then, I can be cordial."

Draco scoffed, "I wouldn't go that far."

"I'll have you know I am an excellent houseguest."

"I look forward to you proving as much. Everyone else is here and settled."

"Oh." Hermione sighed, a heavy could of breath forming in front of her. "I apologize for being so late. There is not enough time anymore. I do hate I have to spend so much time away from my friends. A four-day holiday without politics? Heavenly."

"If you ignore the government often enough, every day is a holiday without politics."

"Ignoring the government is a matter of privilege."

"Yes."

"Oh, good, we're back to this." Hermione huffed, ""Right, then. I know you sent the guest list to my office, but I did not look at it. Who all is coming to Christmas?"

"From your lot? Dean Thomas, clearly. Weasley and his wife and kids. Harry and Ginny Potter and their sons. From my side of things, Blaise is the reason we're combining things at all. Bastien is here with Padma, then Theo and Tracey are here with the twins. Though they're in the teenage phase where family events are considered torture. And, of course, my son."

"I've never met your son."

"You'll love him. Everyone does."

Draco smiled and glanced down at the ground for a moment. Hermione had never seen that look on his face before. He looked … soft. Draco Malfoy was a lot of things, but never soft. He said,

"Scorpius got that from his mum. He is far more like his mother than he is me. Malfoy on the outside, Tori on the inside."

"Best keep him out of government, then," teased Hermione.

Draco threw his head back and laughed. He conceded,

"I forgot you were funny."

"Almost a compliment?" Hermione hummed low in her throat. "Already shaping up to be an odd holiday. Though I know you only stopped the cars to make me walk."

"Yes." Draco cleared his throat and insisted, "I don't like you."

"Well-established."

"But I like your ex-husband even less, and I wanted to have this time to warn you his wife showed up this afternoon rather pregnant."

Oh. Oh.

"I didn't know whether you knew."

"I didn't." Hermione pretended not to care. "It's their third, I am rather used to it now."

"Given that I have been on the business end of your fist, not in a fun way, I imagine your friends tend to procrastinate giving you news you may find upsetting."

"I'm not upset."

As they approached the front steps of Malfoy Manor, Draco insisted, "You're lying."

"Alright." Hermione stopped walking. She waited for Draco to turn toward her before admitting, "Look, after the divorce Ronald wound up with a nice woman, they got married, they have kids, they're happy. There aren't loads of men lining up to shag MPs, certainly not someone who was a mechanical engineer in the army and a barrister. Men tend to be rather intimidated, but they never admit it so instead they insist I'm a shrew. I am happy Ron is happy, but I hate seeing it. Knowing that the one man who has ever loved me couldn't stay in for the long haul is something I've accepted, but I don't enjoy it being thrown in my face."

"You're not a shrew. You're one of the most recognizable politicians in the country and you can assemble an automatic weapon while blindfolded. I don't even like you and I can admit you're a badass."

Hermione followed him up the front steps and watched as her bags were handed to a butler. Draco continued,

"Your problem is that you are too much of a badass for most men to handle. Never settle for someone who would ask you to quiet parts of who you are." He paused for a moment then added, "I've had innumerable adjectives for you over the years but quiet has never been one of them."

They walked further into the manor in semi-amicable silence. Hermione felt her nose begin to run at the rapid change in temperature. She pulled off one glove and wiped the underside of her nose with the side of her hand. The foyer of Malfoy Manor was amazing. There was old money and new money, but the Malfoys had ancient money. There was a distinct presence about this place that was both impressive and off-putting. Outsiders were meant to stay out, and the house didn't need to say anything to make it known someone was unwanted. As head of Labour, Hermione was the epitome of unwanted.

A child came running from a room on the left and barreled right into Draco's legs. He scooped up the boy Hermione presumed was his son and spun him around in a quick circle before putting him back on the floor. Draco asked him,

"Is everyone ready?!"

"Yes!"

"Perfect." Draco turned toward Hermione and said, "Granger, this is my son, Scorpius. Scorp, this is MP Granger, Leader of the Opposition. She is a very important member of government."

Hermione offered her hand, and Scorpius accepted it politely. She said,

"Good to meet you. You may call me Hermione."

"It is an honour to meet you, MP Hermione."

"Delighted to meet you as well." Hermione looked at Draco then back to his son. "Am I the last to arrive?"

"Yes! Dinner will be served after the game, but I saved you hot cocoa."

"Thank you."

Hermione was rather touched that he'd been considerate of an inordinately tardy guest. Hermione glanced over at Draco, who said,

"Don't look at me, he got the politeness from his mother."

"That makes sense to me."

"Scorpius, who did Tracey decide is the other pair to play in tonight's game?"

Hermione watched as Draco's son smiled and his cheeks turned bright red. He looks so much like Draco had when they first met that Hermione half-expected him to pull out a tub of gel and slick back his hair. He clasped his hands behind his back, and said,

"Auntie Tracy told me I'm not allowed to say."

Draco frowned, and a tiny eleven appeared in between his eyebrows.

"That makes me suspicious. What is she planning?"

Scorpius shook his head, signaling he wouldn't say anything more.

"Please follow me to the dining area where dinner awaits!"

"Sounds fun!" Hermione asked, "What is for dinner?"

Scorpius rattled off the entire menu from memory, but Draco seemed hesitant. He didn't know what Tracey Nott had planned for the evening's entertainment, but seemed to know it involved him. Hermione stopped right outside the door to the dining room and pulled a mint from her purse. She tossed it into her mouth, then turned to Draco to ask,

"Do I look like a badass?"

Hermione didn't know why she asked. Draco Malfoy had never expressed any true desire to help her. But if Ron was in there and Lavender was pregnant with their third child … She wanted to at least appear as though it didn't bother her. Draco stepped back and surveyed her quickly from tip to toe. He nodded.

"Give me your coat."

Hermione shrugged off her coat and handed it to him. Draco took it, handed it off to a butler, then began to survey her again. He said,

"You always look like a badass. What is it you're truly concerned with?"

"All my friends have kids, or at least spouses. I am the only person here without either."

"Blaise and Dean—"

"Will leave this holiday engaged, if your intuition is correct. And, if I'm being honest, I think you're right. Zabini wouldn't have asked us to be here if it was just another Christmas holiday. So I will leave your house in three days' time as the only person living my life entirely alone."

Draco sighed.

"I don't have a spouse to give you, but I do have a child."

"I'm not following."

Draco ignored her and asked his son, "Scorp, will you take Hermione's hand, introduce her to our guests, then show her to her seat?"

"I can do that!"

"Be sure to tell them how wonderful and cool you think she is."

Scorpius nodded and offered his hand to Hermione once again. She accepted and allowed Scorpius to lead her through the doors and into the dining room. What a beautiful room it was. The floor-to-ceiling windows on the far wall offered a brilliant view of the manor's snow-topped gardens. Hermione immediately spotted Ron and Lavender at the far end of the dining table; her chest tightened up a bit. Hermione smiled cordially at her ex-husband, hoping it wasn't as awkward as it could have been. She squeezed Scorpius's hand just a bit and felt Draco step into the room behind her.

"Everybody!" shouted Scorpius. "My friend just arrived! Her name is Hermione Granger and she's an MP. Which is different from a PM, but I think Hermione would make a good PM, too!"

She heard Draco groan behind her.

"Bloody hell, you haven't been here five minutes and my son's advocating for a socialist government."

Hermione turned around to whisper, "We have to recruit them young."

Draco replied, "I don't care if it's Christmas, I will murder you in the name of capitalism."

"Hermione," asked Scorpius, "do you know everyone?"

She looked around the room to confirm she did. Ron and Lavender and their kids, Rose and Hugo. Padma and her husband, Bastien Queensbury. Theo and Tracey Nott were people she'd run into occasionally at parties not dissimilar to this. Tracey and Theo were in matching jumpers that read, I'm wearing this to embarrass my kids. Their twins, Scarlett and Sebastien, were sat at the same end of the table as Ron and his family. Harry, Ginny, Al, and Jay were at the end closest to Hermione. Ginny leapt up from her chair and pulled Hermione into a hug.

"It's so good to see you."

"Good to see you too, Gin."

Ginny lowered her voice to say, "Ron hadn't told anyone yet. Bit of a dick move on his part, but I think he just didn't know how to do it without ruining your holiday. I'm sorry—"

"It won't." Hermione said, "I'm spending it here, the bar was low to begin with."

Ginny laughed as she returned to her seat. Hermione noted that the side of the dining table closest to the door was entirely vacant except for four chairs. In front of each chair was a dry erase board, a marker, and a hand towel. Two of those chairs were occupied by Blaise and Dean, down toward Ron's end. The other two were empty. Hermione's heart sank, because whatever this game was … She'd been tricked into playing. However, there was a steaming cup of cocoa with a mountain of marshmallows waiting for her on a reindeer-shaped coaster. Scorpius led her over to the chair furthest away from Ron and pulled it out for her. Hermione sat down and said,

"Thank you, friend."

"You're welcome, best friend."

Scorpius grinned before running around the table to take his seat next to Albus. Hermione turned around to see Draco frowning at the one available chair. He knew what Hermione and everyone else knew: the two of them had been set up from the beginning.

"Where am I to sit?"

"There." Tracey Nott pointed at the seat next to Hermione. "You sit there."

"No." Draco shook his head and insisted, "I'm not playing. This is a game for couples and I am not playing."

"You are playing," said Bastien. "We've all played the past couple years, and the questions haven't changed enough to make it fun to repeat. Besides, you and Granger need to hate each other less."

Hermione frowned and asked, "What is happening?"

Theo said, "As is tradition, our newest couple must subject themselves to one round of matrimonial mayhem each. As everyone here has played before—"

Draco said, "Weasley and his wife haven't played."

"Correct," replied Tracey, "but we all agreed this would be much more fun."

"Apologies. Matrimonial mayhem?" asked Hermione. "Malfoy and I are many things, but we are certainly not a couple."

"You could sound a bit less offended by the prospect," replied Draco. "But I agree."

Dean piped in, "Make it an easy win for me and Blaise, then?"

"An easy win?" scoffed Draco. "If Hermione and I have one thing in common—"

"It's competitive spirit," she confirmed. "Alright, Malfoy, let's play."

Draco pulled out the chair next to Hermione and plopped in. He leaned back, grabbed the marker and spun it between his fingers. He turned to Hermione and said,

"We're going to lose."

"Of course we're going to lose." Hermione lowered her voice to say, "If what you said earlier was true, that Zabini hopes to propose to Dean, we must lose. How embarrassing would it be to lose a game of chemistry to two people who don't like each other?"

"We certainly have chemistry," replied Draco. "It is only that we're both negatively charged."

Hermione nodded. That was a fair assessment. Tracey pulled out a piece of paper and crafted a scoresheet. She said,

"Theo and I are moderating, myself for Draco and Hermione and Theo for Blaise and Dean. Here are the rules. We will ask one team member a question about the other. You each write your answer to the question on the board, and if you both write the same answer you receive a point. The couple with the most points at the end wins. We will do two rounds of five questions. First up to guess will be Draco and Blaise, which means Hermione and Dean will be first to write down their proper answers. Are you all ready?"

Hermione sipped from her mug of hot cocoa and nodded. Draco did the same, as Blaise and Dean confirmed audibly,

"Yes."

"First up, then," said Tracey, "we keep it simple. What is your partner's favourite film?"

Hermione didn't need to think much on that one. She wrote Roman Holiday on her board. Was it prosaic? Yes. Did it make her feel enchanted and believe in the magic of love? Absolutely. She watched Draco scribble something onto his board and was certain it was incorrect. There was no way for him to know the answer. A few moments later Theo said,

"Blaise and Dean, please reveal your answers."

Both men turned their boards around to reveal Fellowship of the Ring. Dean grinned as he saw Blaise had the correct answer. Blaise said,

"For our third date we were meant to spend an afternoon in a park, going about the things you should do on a third date to get to know each other. It began to storm and I didn't want to ruin my shoes. Dean offered to take me back to his flat where we could watch a film. We watched all three films in a row as it thundered outside, with one break between films two and three for me to make dinner."

Dean blushed.

"I write children's books. I love the books and those films are fantastic. Turns out, Blaise quite enjoys them, as well."

"I was surprised that Dean let me watch with Italian subtitles; it was very kind. As it stands, we disagree on which film is the best of the three. I found it to be Return of the King, while Dean is quite insistent Fellowship of the Ring is the best."

"You didn't take a break during that date for something else?" teased Harry.

Dean replied, "Blaise was very into the films. Not much could break his concentration though not for lack of trying."

"I did manage to make a decent dinner in your infuriatingly tiny kitchen," said Blaise.

"My kitchen is a normal size, you're only used to industrial sized appliances."

Tracey interrupted.

"Draco and Hermione, please reveal your answers."

Hermione flipped her board around the same time as Draco. He'd written … Roman Holiday? Hermione asked,

"How the bloody hell did you know that?"

"You mentioned it in an interview for The Sunday Times."

Hermione asked, "You read my interviews?"

"No, I read The Sunday Times."

Hermione rolled her eyes. Bloody prat. She used a cloth to clear her board and waited for Tracey to ask the next question.

"What is your partner's favourite colour?"

Hermione scribbled periwinkle on her board, knowing Draco would never guess correctly. For his part, he didn't even take a moment before he wrote down a colour. That misplaced confidence was just like him. He said,

"Terribly easy start, isn't it?"

"Alright, then," said Tracey, "you and Hermione go first, then. It's time to reveal!"

Hermione turned her board around just as Malfoy revealed his answer. Hermione's jaw dropped when she realized he'd written periwinkle. Everyone seemed to be in the same suspended state of disbelief. Hermione glanced at all the faces around the table and saw everyone begin to realize this wouldn't be quite the walloping they expected. Malfoy shrugged and said,

"You wore a dress this colour to the dance we had that one year at school. I remember because your hair looked decent for once and I didn't recognize you. Clearly, periwinkle blue."

Hermione frowned.

"Fine. Give us another."

Tracey blew out a slow breath and shook her head. Theo said,

"Let's let Blaise and Dean reveal their answers before you and Draco find a way to stab each other with eraseable markers, yeah?"

Blaise and Dean spun their boards around to reveal: Purple. Dean nodded and conceded,

"That was a fairly easy one. I've got, what, eight purple jumpers in your dresser drawers?"

"Most likely. Agreed, that was fairly simple."

Hermione sipped from her cocoa and shot a knowing glance toward Padma, who gave her a subtle nod. It was permission to give this game a real go. Padma sort of ran everyone's lives in the background, and the slight hum of whispered conversation around the table was enough cover for the unspoken conversation happening between the two of them.

"This is going to be fun." Tracey groaned as she asked the next question. "What was the name of your partner's first pet?"

Hermione wrote Crookshanks on her board then looked over to see Draco shaking his head. He muttered,

"That stupid fucking cat."

Theo insisted, "Blaise and Dean, you reveal first. I have a feeling your competitors have some opinions likely to end in fisticuffs."

Both men turned their boards around to reveal … Nothing? Dean nudged Blaise with his shoulder and confirmed,

"I've never had a pet. My mum was dealing with so many kids, a pet would've been too much of an inconvenience and far too inordinate an expense. I'm just not a pet person."

Hermione and Draco turned their boards around without instruction. Malfoy had written "Crookshanks," but made the two Os into eyes; drawn a nose, whiskers, and mouth with fangs coming out of it. Hermione rolled her eyes. Draco said,

"D'you know how many times that demon cat bit me? Once, it managed to sneak into our dormitory and coughed a hairball on my bed. Crabbe and Goyles' beds were right there, but it knew my bed and it hated me."

Hermione confirmed, "He did hate you."

"If I'd died, he would've used my grave as a litter box."

"That is true." Hermione grinned and said, "He was a loyal cat."

Ron finally said his first words of the evening: "I don't agree with Malfoy on practically anything, but your cat was evil, Hermione."

"See?" insisted Draco. "If Weasley and I agree, then it is guaranteed to be factual information."

"Or," replied Hermione, "my cat simply knew when the both of you were being complete gits."

Tracey added a tally to their total then asked the next question.

"What would your partner say is your …" Tracey chuckled and shook her head. "Draco, what would Hermione say is your best physical attribute?"

That gave Draco pause. He frowned and turned to look at her. She shrugged.

"I've never given it much thought."

He teased, "But I have so many fantastic physical attributes. How could you pick just one?"

"Why would I notice your physical attributes when you have such a sparkling, delightful personality?"

Draco leaned his head back on the sofa as he laughed. His eyes squeezed shut and crinkled at the corners. Hermione looked at him and supposed she had to pick something. He was a beautiful man. That's part of what was so irritating about him. How could someone so pretty be such an arse? Oh! That's it. That's it. Hermione scribbled Bum down on her board as Draco finally composed himself enough to write something down. Tracey said,

"I am so excited to see these answers, Draco and Hermione you go first."

They flipped their boards around and—

"No!" Hermione groaned. "How the bloody hell did you—"

"It's my best feature." Draco shook his head. "Never thought you'd be looking, though."

"I wasn't … I don't …" Hermione felt her cheeks turning red. She glanced over to see Ron and Harry were also very curious as to why she'd chosen Draco's backside as his best feature. She huffed, "He wears very tight trousers!"

"Because I have a fantastic bum!" Draco insisted, "That was the correct answer."

"I did consider saying your hair. It always looks quite soft and shiny."

"Sleekeazy's shine spray. I have their whole suite of products and they work like magic. They make anti-frizz conditioner that might even work for you."

"You believe so?"

"Can't hurt to try."

Theo looked at the other two boards and said, "Blaise and Dean each wrote down … Abs?"

"Of course," said Blaise. "He's got fantastic abs."

Dean confirmed, "I do. No notes from me. Easy question."

Tracey marked down yet another tally. She said,

"Sounds like Draco and Hermione know each other better than we all realized. They're keeping pace so far as we're tied three to three. Question four, then. What would your partner say is their hidden talent?"

"What would she say is her hidden talent, or what is her hidden talent?" asked Draco. "Those are two different things."

Tracey confirmed, "What would she say is her hidden talent."

"Okay. Because her actual hidden talent is she's fantastic at Scrabble. We had tournaments at school and I'd always take second place because she kicked my well-toned arse. What Hermione will actually say her hidden talent is …"

Hermione wrote down knitting. She still enjoyed it, and had more than one project half-finished back at her house. Malfoy wrote down his answer, Blaise and Dean finished, and they all looked expectantly up at their moderators. Theo said,

"Blaise and Dean, you first."

They flipped the boards around to reveal, yet again, a correct answer. Blaise had written Chess and Dean had also written chess. He nodded toward Hermione's ex-husband.

"Ron taught me to play when I was twelve. I quite enjoy it."

Blaise added, "I am quite awful at chess, so I prefer to watch him play other people. It's quite funny, because they know he is an athlete and he writes books for young children, so he mustn't be decent at something so intellectual as chess. I like when he proves them wrong."

"You're both adorable." Tracey turned toward Draco and Hermione to say, "Your turn."

Hermione didn't need to look at Draco's board to know he'd written knitting. The looks on everyone else's faces were answer enough. Draco huffed,

"Right, we've known each other twenty-five years. Hermione used to knit these tiny sweaters for dogs and cats, which she'd give away to anyone who asked. We all knew she was a bloody socialist at age twelve, don't believe any of us are shocked she's managed to take it all the way to the top of government. She likes to knit, she's always liked to knit, and if we manage to eradicate the Labour party from government then Granger will have a delightful knitting career to fall back on."

Hermione glared at him.

"I was not a socialist at twelve."

"You carried Angela Davis books in your rucksack."

"I …" Hermione frowned then conceded, "Yes, but—"

"We know each other." Malfoy insisted, "You don't have to like someone to know things about them."

"True," replied Theo. "But you do have to like someone to remember those sorts of things about them."

Hermione looked at Draco, who looked back at her. There was a shared sense of truth to that statement. She didn't hate him. Contrary to his political leanings, Malfoy didn't hate her either. If he did, she wouldn't be invited to Malfoy Manor. If she truly hated him, she never would've agreed to let her security leave. Draco replied,

"The cat thing doesn't count. Crookshanks ruined more pairs of my trousers than I could possibly forget. Let's get on with it."

"Well, the last one is the toughest question." Tracey asked, "What is your partner's phone lockscreen?"

Dean laughed and Blaise shook his head as they wrote down their answers. Hermione felt Draco's gaze on the side of her face as she wrote her answer. He asked,

"What could it possibly be?"

Hermione didn't respond. She glanced at Draco in her peripheral line of sight, and he appeared quite perplexed as he attempted to work out the answer. Theo appeared to notice Draco was struggling, so he offered,

"Blaise and Dean, why don't you go first as you seem quite confident."

They flipped the boards around to reveal, once again, identical answers. Dean's family. Blaise said,

"He has seven sisters, his mum, and myself. I visited in July and Dean squished all eight of us together into two rows and took a photograph specifically so he could make it his lockscreen."

Dean confirmed, "It took a bit of ingenuity, too. I had to get it at just the proper height so the time wouldn't be blocking their faces but also not so low on the screen they'd be level with the buttons at the bottom." He shrugged and said, "It makes me happy to see all of you every time I touch my phone."

"What of you, then, Hermione?" asked Tracey. "Draco seems to be stumped."

"I am." Draco turned his board around to reveal the word Library? He'd even added the question mark to connote it was a guess. He shrugged. "I figured, what's the thing Hermione loves most in the world? Libraries."

"Not an awful guess." Hermione flipped her board around. "It's my parents in Australia."

"Really?" Draco raised his eyebrows in surprise. "I thought you weren't speaking to them."

"We mended things a bit. The distance helps."

"Finally, a wrong answer from the couple who isn't a couple." Tracey shook her head in faux exasperation. "At the end of round one the score is four to five, Blaise and Dean with an edge over The Opposition."

"Very funny," replied Hermione.

"That's why I'm the host. Now, I'll direct the questions to Hermione and Dean while Draco and Blaise write down the correct answer. Is everyone prepared for round two?"

Scorpius raised his hand. Tracey nodded to him and asked,

"Yes?"

"May we have a cocoa break? I need more marshmallows."

Tracey, like anyone else would in the face of that adorable child, caved.

"Two minute cocoa break granted."

"Thank you!"

There was a lot of movement around the table as nearly everyone stood up to stretch their legs and refill their mugs. Hermione leaned over to Draco and said,

"Now that we are down a point, is it awful that I want to win?"

"No." Draco replied, "Watching everyone's faces, I think they believed we would crash and burn. I want to prove them wrong."

"Agreed."

"You know the basics about me, yeah?"

"I don't know your lockscreen."

"Oh!" Draco pulled out his phone and touched the front to reveal a photograph of his late wife holding his son. Scorpius must've been about four in the picture. "It's my favourite photo of the two of them. Astoria looks so happy, this was probably a month or so before she first took ill."

"She was beautiful."

"Inside and out. How she settled for me I never quite understood, but I did make her happy. For as short a time as we had together, at any rate. What is five years when you're so young? I got married at twenty-eight so I hoped for fifty years together and got a tenth of that. Now Scorpius has to grow up without a mother and I've spent the past … Nearly four years now? Fending off questions from my mother, the press, and everyone else about when I plan to remarry."

"How awful of them to expect that of you."

"Scorpius seems to be the only person who doesn't."

"You've spoken about it?"

"I had to. It's our family, and if he felt like he needed a mum he would've asked that of me. If he felt like he wanted another dad, he would've asked that of me. Every year we have a conversation about it, what we want our family to look like. Each year he tells me he just wants me to be happy. I try to be, but it's hard."

"I understand." Hermione revealed, "Shortly after Ron left me, Viktor and I went out again. It felt more like I was reaching for something in the past than trying to find something to work for the future."

"Exactly."

"Also, your nephew keeps staring at me."

Hermione didn't chance a glance back at Sebastien Nott. Didn't stop Draco, though. He looked over his shoulder and Hermione cringed. She facetiously said,

"I want to thank you for the very subtle way you did that just now."

"He's quite into the Labour movement, which I forgot until we walked in here. You're his version of Father Christmas."

"I did bring gifts."

"If you autograph something for him, he'll probably get it framed."

"Oh!" Hermione blushed. "I get so much shit from Tories I forget that sometimes there are people who appreciate what I do. What we do."

"Don't be modest; you're the leader of the party. Without you, they've got some arsehole nobody really cares about. You? You're Hermione Granger. Badass army mechanic, barrister, woman of the people. People fear you even though you can barely see above the podium."

Hermione laughed.

"All they can really see is my hair."

Then it was Draco's turn to laugh. He sat back in his chair and admitted,

"I don't remember you making me laugh before."

"My husband left me, my dating prospects are nothing, a decent portion of the country would place a gun to my head and pull the trigger if given the opportunity …" Hermione shrugged. "My life is ridiculous. Now that my parents are talking to me again, I've learned to live with reality and laughing at it is the best way to live."

"Please," Draco said as everyone began to file back into their chairs. "You're not the self-effacing sort, Granger. Your life is ridiculous because you chose to make it ridiculous. You love it, the only thing I bet you miss is sex."

"Wouldn't you?"

"Of course. I miss it myself, but as you said, it's not worth reaching for the past."

Tracey's voice sounded over the commotion, "Are we ready to begin round two?!"

Blaise and Dean nodded. Draco looked at Hermione and raised a single eyebrow. She said,

"Yes."

"Right then." Draco slammed his hand on the table and said, "Granger and I intend to win, so let's begin."

Tracey revealed, "The first question is the same. What is your partner's favourite film?"

Hermione wrote Moulin Rouge on her board, knowing full well it was the correct answer. Draco shook his head as if he knew she knew. This was the first time they finished nearly as quickly as Blaise and Dean. Theo gestured for his team to reveal their answers. Blaise and Dean had each written down Romeo + Juliet. Blaise shrugged,

"The original is set in Italy and Mercutio is," he pantomimed a chef's kiss, "mwah! Meraviglioso."

"Allow me to translate," said Bastien, "that is Italian for, 'Black and flamboyantly gay.'"

"Si."

"It appears we have a Baz Luhrmann party between the two of you." Tracey gestured toward Draco and Hermione as they turned around their matching boards. "Moulin Rouge for Malfoy."

"It's everything," replied Draco. "Hermione, what adjectives would you use to describe me?"

Without much thought, Hermione replied, "Loud, pale, extravagant, shiny, annoying—"

"Hence, Moulin Rouge." Draco grinned. "I do love that movie. It's about the love of love. I haven't been to see the stage production yet, but I hope to."

Hermione tried to conceal her grin. He would enjoy his Christmas present. Then again, she wouldn't have gotten him anything unless she was certain he'd like it. Draco Malfoy was not the sort of man to waste money on.

"Next question, does your partner have any—Oh." Tracey shook her head at the proffered question and said, "We will move to another question. What is the best way your partner has ever surprised you?"

Draco giggled as he wrote down his answer. Hermione mumbled, "Git," recalling that awful meeting. This one seemed to give Blaise and Dean some pause. Draco and Hermione finished a full thirty seconds before their counterparts. Hermione could feel Draco trying not to laugh next to her. She rolled her eyes as Tracey told them to reveal their answers. Hermione had written, Jumping out of a cake. Draco had written … Arriving at a meeting inside a giant cake.

Ginny chimed in, "That deserves an explanation."

"It was two years ago," said Hermione. "Labour and Tories were negotiating over wage minimums and we wanted input from certain high-level financiers. We had representatives from Barclays, BlackRock, Lloyds, HSBC, and Compass Group. As Malfoy, here, owns one of the largest companies in the country, he was invited to this set of negotiations. As we took our seats, a giant cake was wheeled through the doors. It was littered with fondant versions of the Malfoy Holdings logo. Not only did Malfoy jump out of the bloody cake, he sat through three hours of negotiations covered in frosting."

Draco dissolved into a fit of laughter.

"It w-was hilarious. God, you sh-should've seen their f-f-f … faces."

"They were serious negotiations!"

"It was not serious, if you were serious you would've brought in the unions. It was a meeting about finances and the impact of a minimum wage hike of unprecedented proportions. They were all going to tell you no, and I knew I would have to sit through three hours of that meeting to get to the rejection. I wanted to be certain you all knew exactly how serious I felt that meeting was."

Hermione grit her teeth.

"The Opposition didn't get to select the meeting attendees."

"Well I ensured all attendees were well-fed."

"You are a twit."

"You are a bureaucrat who has forgotten how to have a good time."

Hermione glared at him as Blaise and Dean revealed their answers. Everyone turned to look and …

"Oh."

Theo seemed surprised, so Hermione glanced over to see Blaise and Dean had written two separate moments. Dean insisted,

"The best surprise was my birthday. You'd knitted a sweater for me, and I thought that was the sweetest thing. You learned to knit."

"I thought it was the trip to Modena!" Blaise hummed softly to himself. "That was meaningful to me."

"But the sweater meant more. It took time and skill."

"Well," said Tracey, "a bobble from Team Bean means The Opposition have tied things up at six a side with three questions to go."

Dean asked, "Team Bean?"

"Blaise and Dean," said Padma, "together, Team Bean."

"Do you truly call us that?"

"All the time," said Bastien. "Does anyone not call them Bean?"

Everyone around the table shook their heads to indicate that, when Blaise and Dean were not present, they were referred to as the collective: Bean. Dean frowned a bit, trying to determine whether he liked it while Blaise thought it was adorable. Tracey ignored him and launched into the next question.

"I feel this could be rather awkward for both of you, but I'm so looking forward to these answers. Who is your partner's celebrity crush?"

Too easy. Hermione shook her head as she wrote Viktor Krum on her board. Draco was consistent on this point. Even as Viktor announced his retirement, that managed to make him even more desirable. (Perhaps because he was no longer murdering his own knees. Even when Hermione saw him last, he'd hardly been able to walk up stairs without wincing.) Blaise and Dean didn't have any trouble with this answer. Tracey noted they were all finished, so she turned to Draco and Hermione first.

"What have you two got?"

They revealed their answers and Hermione leaned forward to confirm Draco had written Viktor Krum. She sighed.

"Only Draco would have no shame about admitting a crush on my ex-boyfriend."

"He's only the best footballer of the past fifteen years and he's hot." Draco shrugged and offered, "When you finally get 'round to writing a biography, I fully expect a chapter devoted to him. You can title it S-Krum-tious."

Hermione conceded, "That's not a bad idea."

"Team Bean!" Theo asked, "Who is Blaise Zabini's celebrity crush?"

They turned their boards around and everyone burst into laughter. Dean didn't bother looking at his boyfriend's board, knowing he had the proper answer. He said,

"Blaise Zabini's celebrity crush is Blaise Zabini."

Blaise leaned over to press a quick kiss to Dean's cheek.

"You know me well."

Theo said, "The score remains tied now at seven-seven with two questions remaining. Are you ready for the next?"

Each of the players nodded. Theo read off the next question.

"What is your partner's middle name?"

This could have been tricky if Hermione hadn't kept up with Malfoy all these years. Their paths never fully diverged, so she knew secondhand about the struggle he'd gone through with his father. She wrote Black on the board. Theo went to Blaise and Dean first. Alessio was Blaise's second name, not much of a challenge for Dean. Hermione and Draco showed their answers and Draco seemed surprised she'd gotten it correct.

"How did you know that?"

"I don't recall." Hermione shrugged. "I remember it being a particularly taxing time for you and it was a brave precedent to set given how rigid your family traditions are."

Draco had an odd look on his face then. Hermione couldn't quite place it … Not quite surprise, more like he was seeing something in her for the first time. She faded a bit underneath that look, so she turned to Tracey and asked,

"Final question?"

"Final question." Tracey said, "What would your partner say he is most passionate about?"

Hermione teased, "Is it your hair?"

Draco confirmed, "A close second."

Hermione wrote down Family. Draco was a great father. She'd never tell him that to his face, but it was glaringly obvious that he loved his son far more than his father ever loved him. Scorpius had so many people around him at Christmas, a family that wasn't traditional but never left Scorpius searching for people who care about him. Draco did not hesitate with his answer either.

"Alright," said Theo, "I think we are fairly confident in Team Bean, so why don't we begin there?"

Blaise and Dean turned their boards around to reveal Food and Cooking. Dean conceded,

"I feel like these questions were fairly easy for us, excepting the one."

"That brings us to The Opposition!" Theo said, "Please show us your answers."

Draco had also written My Family. Hermione nodded, then realized rather belatedly the match had ended in a draw. She looked over at Draco with wide eyes as she said,

"We didn't lose!"

"I suppose we make a better team than we realized."

He was leaning down into Hermione's space, and she glanced down at his lips. She whispered,

"Your face is very close to mine."

"Yes," he whispered back, "it is. I could kiss you in congratulations, but I won't because you're a sad socialist."

"That's good, because I'd never kiss such a cocky capitalist." Hermione glanced quickly over at Ron, who was glaring at the back of Malfoy's head. "Though I will admit it's tempting because I think my ex-husband's head would explode."

Draco leaned just a bit closer and confirmed, "That is tempting. But I think snogging is reserved for a true win, yeah?"

"Agreed."

They separated and Hermione fell into a familiar routine of small talk around her friends. It was almost nice. Almost. There was a lot of shuffling around. Strange looks cast at the two of them over the next hour or so as the full dinner was served. Hermione made conversation with each of the adults except Lavender. It was best if they pretended the other didn't exist. Once things had died down, Draco half-shouted to everyone at the table.

"MP Granger hasn't been to her room yet, so I'll show her the way. Save me a chocolate biscuit!"

Malfoy Manor was a series of winding staircases, long hallways, and doors that groaned when opened. They walked in silence for a bit until Draco stopped outside a door toward the end of a long hallway. It was away from most of the other guestrooms. He said,

"This is the blue guestroom. It is a bit far from everyone else, but it is the closest room we have to the library. I figure you'll want to spend much of your time there away from your ex-husband."

"Thank you." Hermione admitted, "I find that quite considerate."

"You're welcome." Draco opened the door and said, "Tomorrow after lunch we plan to go skating on the pond. Scorpius would be delighted for your to join us. I'm certain Sebastien would enjoy it even more." He paused before admitting, "We're a team now, it seems, the coupling of the uncoupled. So I would appreciate my teammate joining me on the ice."

Hermione considered it. She looked up into those grey eyes and saw a sincerity that hadn't been present two hours earlier. Hermione said,

"Lavender most likely won't be joining us as she's pregnant."

"Correct."

"Then it seems like the best place to be." Hermione grinned. She offered her hand and said, "Teammates?"

Draco shook her hand with a wry smile.

"Teammates."

Draco turned around to walk down the hall and Hermione watched until he was out of sight. She nodded to herself and confirmed,

"He has a fantastic bum."