its all about blood - angelrider93

Chapter 18 - A Malfoy Christmas (morning)

Hermione woke on Christmas morning to the feel of something heavy across her feet. Glancing down she saw a royal purple stocking, decorated with silver Christmas themes and her name embroidered in silver thread, stuffed full of items, laying across the foot of her bed. Giggling with glee she pulled the heavy stocking towards her and began to go through the items. Hermione knew that the house elves were the ones to deliver the stocking, but she was aware and thankful towards Lucius and Narcissa for having thought of it and informing the house elves of this muggle tradition. Diving into the depths of the stocking Hermione pulled out a plethora of Honeydukes candies and chocolates, a couple of new quills and a gift voucher for Flourish and Blotts book store. After putting all her goodies away, Hermione moved to the bathroom and enjoyed a relaxing shower before changing into some jeans and a body hugging long sleeve top. After slipping her shoes onto her feet she left her room and made her way down to the dining room where it was decided over dinner last night, that they would have breakfast first before moving into the sitting room to exchange and open gifts.

Upon entering the dining room Hermione saw that Lucius, Narcissa and Snape were already sitting at the table.

"Merry Christmas, Lucius, Narcissa, Professor" she greeted as she took her seat and helped herself to a couple of croissants and jam.

"Merry Christmas Hermione" Lucius and Narcissa smiled.

"Merry Christmas Miss Granger" Snape greeted with a nod.

"Thankyou for the stocking it was wonderful" Hermione addressed Lucius and Narcissa.

"Your welcome Hermione, it's a wonderful tradition, one that Lucius and I have decided to keep" Narcissa answered with a smile.

"Draco and Blaise haven't made an appearance yet?" Hermione asked curiously.

"No, knowing those two, they were up till all hours of the night talking" Lucius replied.

"Why doesn't that surprise me in the slightest" Hermione commented with a smile.

"Why doesn't what surprise you Mia?" Draco asked as he and Blaise entered the room, both sleepy eyed.

"The fact that you and Blaise were up till the wee hours talking" Hermione answered as Draco plopped into a seat next to her and Blaise slumped into the seat next to Snape.

"Your not surprised?" Blaise asked as he poured himself a coffee.

"Nope, Harry and Ron do the exact same thing, as do Ginny and I" Hermione replied as she took a sip of her coffee.

"What was with the stockings at the end of our beds this morning mum?" Draco asked as he began to eat his bacon and eggs.

"It's a muggle tradition that Hermione told me about yesterday while we were baking the cookies. I thought that it was a nice idea to start off the morning, it fitted in with the changes that we've made to our family Christmas, since that we are now going to be sitting around the tree for the present opening instead of having all the gifts delivered to the end of your beds" Narcissa answered her son.

"I think it's a great idea, it was a nice surprise to wake up to" Draco grinned.

"I'm glad, because its one muggle tradition that we are going to keep and make one of ours" Narcissa smiled happily.

After breakfast was finished, the three adults and three teenagers, adjourned to the sitting room and gathered around the glittering Christmas tree. Lucius and Narcissa took one of the love seats, while Blaise and Snape took the two chairs. Draco flopped down onto the second love seat and waited for Hermione to sit beside him. Hermione surprised everyone however, by plonking herself down on the floor between Draco's feet and leaning back on the love seat, nestled comfortably between his strong legs. For her part, Hermione ignored the surprised looks directed in her direction and smiled inwardly. During her contemplation the night before, over the meaning of Draco's kiss under the mistletoe, she had come to the startling conclusion that she had feelings for the blonde Slytherin that ran deeper than the mere friendship that she had first believed that she was only interested in. Running over and over the kiss while she lay awake in bed the night before, Hermione had decided and hoped that perhaps Draco shared those feelings. Being too shy to come out and ask him straight out, she had decided to do a few subtle moves and watch his reaction to them to see if her instincts were correct. Placing herself between his feet and nestling between his legs was the first of those moves and she hoped that her gamble would pay off and that if Draco did indeed harbor feelings for her that went beyond the friendship that they now shared, that he would take these moves as a sign that she would be interested in something more. Holding herself just slightly tense she awaited his reaction to her position. She relaxed when she felt his hand tentatively move towards her head, then begin to gently play with her hair. Leaning her head against his inner leg, she slowly and discreetly moved her hand to curl around his ankle and began to stroke the skin above his sock with her thumb.