Blood Bound

Chapter 32 - Christmas (Hermione)

A/N

I'm not even going to bother apologizing for the late updates anymore I feel like you all already know that I'm hardly reliable when it comes to this story. This chapter is probably my least favourite of the entire work so far and will be for the rest of it honestly. I just couldn't get myself into it at all while I was writing, hence why it took me so long. Maybe one day I'll re-write it but for now lets just consider it a filler to tie up some loose ends and I apologize in advance if I robbed you of some good scenes.

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With no parents or extended family to stay with over the winter break, Hermione found herself at Grimmauld with Harry. The two of them had spent most of the break trying to clean up the old house. It was time consuming and laborious thanks to them having to check everything for traps and curses; which she was glad for most days. The hard work meant she didn't have a lot of free time to think about how much she missed Draco, though she still often caught herself absently fiddling with her necklace.

Christmas eve had the burrow livelier than Hermione had ever seen it before. George was sitting on the worn carpet with a babbling red-haired Teddy, Percy and Charlie were debating the semantics of dragon ownership, Bill was on the couch rubbing the swollen feet of a heavily pregnant Fleur, Andromeda was discussing muggle cassette tapes with Arthur, and Harry, Ron, and Ginny were out in the yard having a snowball fight on their brooms. Hermione watched contentedly from the window in the kitchen as she helped Molly prepare dinner.

The sudden pop of apparition broke her reverie, and she refocused on the three flying shapes in the sky in time to see the three of them descend onto the snow-covered ground. The dark-haired figure of Harry broke away from the other two to greet a slightly lighter-haired figure that Hermione knew to belong to Theo.

The two figures embraced briefly before they turned to rejoin the other two and head back towards the house. Hermione wondered, as she watched the four of them walk towards her, their faces in sight now, if Harry had told the rest of the Weasley's about his new relationship.

Her question was answered for her by the excited exclamation from Molly as the woman rushed to embrace Theo in a bone crushing hug. It was adorable, watching the usually unshakeable wizard soften under the attention of the Weasley matriarch.

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Just as the commotion from Theo's arrival had died down, there was an alert in the floo -something which only happened if the Burrow's wards didn't include whoever was on the other end. Surprisingly, Ginny was the first person up and out of her seat. While everyone else -Hermione included- wore matching expressions of guarded curiosity, the youngest Weasley had gone pale as a sheet, and her eyes kept darting around the room apprehensively whilst she unlocked the floo with a flick of her wand.

There was a stunned silence throughout the entire room when Blaise Zabini stepped out looking uncharacteristically nervous. Even Hermione found herself shocked; not that they were together -she'd been suspicious once or twice since that first party-, but because Ginny had invited him to Christmas at the burrow. She hadn't even been serious enough about anyone to bother hinting she was seeing someone since Harry.

As soon as she thought his name, Hermione's head snapped in the direction of her green-eyed best friend in worry. She shouldn't have been concerned though, as he was cuddled up beside Theo, smiling knowingly while his Slytherin seemed to be having an entire conversation through eye contact with the newly-arrived snake.

"Well" Ron was interestingly enough the first one to break the tense silence. "Since the Lion's den is already becoming a snake pit, I might as well get this over with." He left the entire group hanging on that statement, as he stuck his head in the floo and seemed to argue with whoever was on the other end. There was a long moment where everyone watched his headless body gesture wildly before he pulled back and stood, flashing a cheeky smile in Harry's direction as Pansy Parkinson stepped out of the floo and laced her fingers through his.

Hermione's jaw actually dropped open at that.

"Hello Mr. and Mrs. Weasley. Everyone." Pansy nodded in greeting around the room. She was holding what Hermione recognized as a very expensive looking bottle of firewhiskey which she presented to Arthur moments before Molly pulled her into a trademark smothering hug alongside Blaise.

At that moment George broke into hysterical laughter, obviously unable to contain his reaction to the bizarre scene any longer. Everyone else soon followed him, the absurdity of four Slytherins -if Andromeda counted- attending a traditional Weasley Gryffindor Christmas dinner finally getting the better of them.

"So, is this a new trend?" Charlie managed through wheezing laughs, "All the lions are shagging snakes now?" His language earned him a cuff over the ear from Molly whilst Hermione attempted to hide the strangled half-choking noise she'd involuntarily made in reaction to his question. Nobody else seemed to notice, too preoccupied with the hilarity of the situation presented to them.

It was bittersweet for her, to look at her three best friends blissfully wrapped up with their Slytherin counterparts looking happy and unburdened. It ached somewhere in her chest when she saw the content smiles on all their faces as they swapped stories of who got together when and how.

She wondered what Draco was doing right now, did he miss her as much as she missed him?

Discussion!

I know, I know. Please don't hate me too much, maybe when I'm finished Blood Bound entirely I'll do a few mini-chapters about Harry/Theo, Blaise/Ginny, and Ron/Pansy's relationship developments.