Dramione: Skills for life

12. Christmas is on its way

"Mooommy!" A familiar voice shouted. Hermione looked up from her Transfiguration homework to find Olivia running full speed at Hermione, Draco following her. She held out her arms and the little girl jumped into them. "Mommy! Daddy got me a...a...a-"

"Toy firebolt?" Draco supplied. She nodded affirmatively, and held up the object. Hermione's arms widened then narrowed.

"Daddy got you a broomstick without asking Mommy?" Hermione said darkly. Draco blushed and glanced down.

"Livia's perfect on it! She's a natural!" Draco defended. Olivia nodded in agreement.

"Yeah mommy! Daddy says that one day I'll play quimbit!"

"Quidditch." Draco corrected. "And Mione, calm yourself down. Its not like I leave her alone."

Hermione merely continued to frown. "Draco, Santa Clause is coming in seven days. Do we really need to purchase her more gifts?"

Draco and Olivia turned to Hermione, both pouting. She looked at them and reflected on the past two weeks with Olivia. It had been an experience, that was true. She was quite a character at three years old, and quite a chatterbox. Olivia took about a full seventy two hours to become completely comfortable around both Draco and Hermione. It was then she took to calling them Mommy and Daddy. Draco spoiled Olivia, but Hermione was guilty of that too. She preferred the maternal spoiling of love, as opposed to Draco's gifts.

"Don't worry Mione, Livia loves her new broom and she understands that it is indeed an early present." Draco said, kissing his girlfriend on the cheek. He bent down and hoisted Olivia up into his arms. "Whats for dinner tonight?"

"I got a frozen pizza." Hermione said. She had been caught up with her surgery class and didn't remember to leave anything out for dinner, so she just got a frozen pizza from the grocery store.

"A frozen pizza?" Draco wrinkled his nose.

"It's delicious." Hermione smirked. She liked getting Draco to try knew muggle foods. Wizards typically had whole and hearty meals, cooked fresh. Hermione had a lot of home cooked meals as a child, but she had her fair share of fast food or take out. Draco recently had taken too eating packaged muggle sweets, most notably Little Debbie cakes.

"What is it?" Draco inquired as they entered the kitchen. The scent knocked his nose quickly. It smelt quite good, and unlike anything he'd ever smelled before.

"Well, it's a circular bit of dough with tomato paste and mozzarella cheese." Hermione explained as she took it out of the oven. "You can put toppings on it such as pepperoni, mushrooms, sausage, and many more."

"What's on this?" He gestured to the cooling pizza.

"I took the safe route of just cheese. Personally, I like mushrooms on my pizza." Hermione flicked her wand and the pizza cut itself into large slices. She put on on a plate. Hermione cast a cooling charm on Olivia's.

"Livie? Dinner!"

Olivia bounded in and hopped up onto her booster chair. She picked up her piece and took a large bit. Her small features lit up into a mega watt smile. "Yum!"

Draco smiled at his foster daughter, before returning his attention to his own slice of pizza. It smelled heavenly and looked delectable, but looks were deceiving. Hermione narrowed her eyes. Draco quickly took a bit.

"It's wonderful!" Draco exclaimed. Hermione laughed.

"Did you expect it to be horrible?"

He blushed lightly. Olivia watched this exchange with amusement. Being three years old, she wasn't very attune to the world around her. But she did know that Draco and Hermione were like Mommy's and Daddy's were supposed to be.

That night, after Olivia was asleep, Draco and Hermione were getting ready for bed. Hermione was brushing her teeth and Draco was setting out his uniform for the next day. Hermione spat in the sink, rinsed it, and wiped her mouth.

"Mione?" Draco called. She appeared in the doorway in her night clothes. She got into the bed and pulled the comforter over her knees. A novel she was in the middle of was on the night stand beside her, the same could be said for Draco's side. Her's was a romance, his was on Quidditch.

"Draco, what are we going to do about the holiday?" Hermione ventured nervously. Draco looked up from his trunk. He had been thinking about that for a little while, but didn't broach the subject. The fact that they now essentially had a child to care for was a big factor.

"Well, we can stay here." Draco suggested. Hermione frowned.

"I kind of wanted to see my parents." She confessed. Draco nodded understandingly. He knew that they had been in Australia for the better part of the past two years. He knew that she felt very guilty about robbing them of their memories, so she tried to make it up to them every chance she got.

"We can stay here, but get permission from McGonagall to visit your parents and..." Draco hesitated. "my parents..."

Hermione's head shot up and her eyes widened. The thought of visiting Malfoy Manor and his parents was absurd. She was Hermione Granger, one third of the golden trio, one of the reasons their master was dead, and most importantly a muggle born witch. Not to mention the fact that she was tortured and mentally ruined at their feet, literally. She had forgiven Draco, because she understood him. He was forced to join the Death Eaters by his father. He was under immense pressure. But Lucius Malfoy was truly evil. Narcissa had saved Harry's life, and Hermione was grateful for that.

"Your parents?" Hermione repeated. He nodded.

"Well, my mother really. Father's...he's in Azkaban serving a fourteen month sentence. He gets out in September so you do not need to worry about him." Draco said quickly, as if hearing her fears.

Hermione was unsure. "Perhaps. Maybe your mother could come visit us...here."

Draco sighed in defeat. He understood that Hermione did not want to go back to Malfoy Manor, if he was in her position he wouldn't want to either. But he wanted to convince her that his childhood home was actually not very dark and awful. He knew that the Dark Lord and and the dark arts things were kept in the West Wing, which had since been raided and renovated. Hermione did not know that.

"I think that would be best. Draco, I just think that I need time to...adjust. I mean, it's just that...I'm a muggle born and I just feel that..." Hermione was stopped by Draco pressing his lips against her own.

"Shh. I get it. Take all the time you need." Draco whispered. Hermione smiled in content. She leaned into his arms and closed her eyes. Draco felt her drift off. He glanced down at the beautiful woman in his arms. She really was remarkable.