After dinner, they all went their separate ways.
Mister and Misses Granger head to bed as they were extremely tired since Australia was ten hours ahead of them.
Narcissa to her bedroom to do...well, no one exactly knew what she was doing.
And Hermione and Draco back to their room to just sit, read, and enjoy each other company
They had had quite the dramatic week, first with Narcissa...then finding Hermione's parents...then bringing them back to the Manor for Christmas and letting their parents meet each other.
They desperately needed a break.
"Hey...how about when Christmas is over we go to that place in Switzerland?" Draco suggests
"Really? There will be a lot of muggles. No magic." She tells him
"You want to go. You seemed to really love it and I wanna see what's so special about it. I mean...there's no magic so it can't be all that great." He smirks
"There may not be our kind of magic but I do think it feels kind of magical when you're gliding down the mountain. As long as you don't fall it feels very freeing. The resort we went to when I was a kid was one of the most popular in Switzerland. It wasn't the one in the advertisement. " She smiles
"I'll figure everything out. What's the place called?" Draco asks. He could have to have Harry help him plan this trip. It was Unfortunate, but he didn't want Hermione to have to worry about planning it.
"It's called St.Moritz. It has some beginner-friendly trails I think would be okay for you. I haven't been in a long time though so it may have been updated." Hermione explains
They continued laying on their bed, reading and talking about their upcoming trip to St.Moritz that Draco would force Harry to help him plan.
Hermione told Draco about the large, beautiful mountains they would be skiing down and explained what a ski lift was
"Wait wait wait...Ski lift? It's a big wire that pulls you through the air? Seems dangerous. We should just apparate. That seems much safer. " He asks, he had put down his book and was now listening intently to Hermione talk about the resort.
"No no no, it's very safe. There's a bar to keep you in place on some and some are fully closed so you can't fall out. Plus we wouldn't have any good spots to apparate because It's not covered well enough and we could apparate to a cliff and accidentally fall off. We will definitely be taking the lift. " She explains
"What do you mean cliffs? Why would we be in danger of falling off of them?
"Draco, we'll be skiing down a mountain. An actual mountain. They have cliffs and unexpected drops. We'll have to be careful and apparating is not something that would necessarily be safe in this instance." Hermione explains
He just didn't get it. He was looking at her like she had three heads. They were in danger of falling off a cliff? What kind of sport was this?
"Before we go it would probably be best to have you watch a rerun of one of the past Winter Olympics so you can see what skiing is like." Hermione says excitedly
"First we have to get through Christmas."
After that comment, they both stayed silent and eventually fell asleep
\\~//
Draco was the first of the pair to wake up the next morning. Instead of waking Hermione up, he just laid next to her and watched her sleep for about an hour before his stomach started growling.
"Hermione...wake up. I'm hungry."
"Then go get some food." She says, her eyes still closed
"My arm is under you, I didn't wanna disturb you by moving, but I'm sure you're also hungry...and it's 11 o'clock."
He knew she would get up if she realized how late it was.
"You're lying. It is not eleven..." she says, removing her arm
He then reaches over to his bedside table and grabs his watch, showing it to her
11.34
"Come on! We need to make sure my parents aren't dead...and you're right. I am hungry." She says, jumping out of bed and running toward the wardrobe to get dressed. Narcissa wouldn't allow her to have breakfast in her night clothes.
"I was thinking we could go have lunch with my parents." Hermione suggests as she's pulling out one of her jumpers
"I was thinking more along the lines of I go have lunch with your parents and you go have lunch with my mother." Draco plants, he just wanted to talk to her parents a bit more, get to know them, and then ask for their daughter's hand in marriage
"Draco...your mother hates me. It would be fine if I wasn't afraid that she would kill me." She sighs, walking over to him and placing her hands on his shoulders
"I talked to her. She won't kill you. She knows she needs to learn to love you if she wants to keep me. So please, have lunch with her. I promise she won't do anything. You can have your wand at the ready if it would make you feel better. Please?" He begs. He just really wanted some alone time with her parents...but she needed to be civil with his mother too, so it was a win-win.
"Fine. But we're going to a place with lots of people." Hermione grumbles, causing Draco to smile and get dressed for lunch with Hermione's parents, grabbing to coat that contained Hermione's engagement ring so he could show her parents
They walk down the stairs together to tell the three parents about their lunch plans
"Hermione and I figured we should all get to know each other a bit better, so we were wondering if I could have lunch with you two and Hermione could have lunch with my mother." Draco explains when they see them all sitting in the living room sipping tea quietly
"That sounds lovely! We'll get ready at once...where will we be going?" Monica asks Draco
"I was hoping you would choose. I don't know of many muggle restaurants."
"Sounds lovely!"
Narcissa stands up and walks close to Hermione and asks about their lunch plans
"Uh...I was hoping we could go to the Leaky Cauldron...or a muggle café." Hermione
"Let's go to this...muggle café of yours. Less prying eyes." She says awkwardly
"Sounds wonderful."
This was going to be incredibly awkward
\\~//
Narcissa and Hermione sat in the muggle café that she and Draco visited just a few days ago
"So. Tell me about yourself...Hermione. I am going to try to make this work."
Hermione goes on to tell Narcissa about herself and vice versa...they were being quite civil with each other, trying to become a true mother-in-law and daughter-in-law
"When can I expect a wedding?" Narcissa asks suddenly, causing Hermione to choke on her food a bit
"Um...not till the end of this term. We're nowhere ready for any of that. I doubt we'll be engaged for a long while too. Although we should start planning the wedding soon if we want it to be ready by the end of term." She explains quickly and awkwardly
"Well, at least that gives us some time. And I assume I can expect a grandchild next year also?" Narcissa says, a shadow of a smile on her face
"I assume so. As we are expected to."
\\~//
"So Draco...tell us more about yourself!" Wendell asks
Draco goes on and they do the same as Hermione and Narcissa had done, talking about themselves and their lives over the past few years
"If I may...I have a serious question for you both...as you know, Hermione and I are expected to be married at the end of this term. And although we aren't quite to that point of loving each other. I believe we will be there by the time we are married. So, as per tradition, I'm asking you if I could marry her." Draco asks them kindly, pulling out the ring box
"Oh my...Draco that's very kind of you to ask us even though you don't really have a choice in the matter. It's very thoughtful. We would love to have you in the family. May we see the ring?" Monica asks
Draco smiles and pulls open the box, showing a shining diamond oval ring
"Welcome to the family, Draco. I quite appreciate you asking for her hand. Not that you truly have much of a choice. It still means a lot. We'll be very excited for your wedding." Wendell says, patting Draco on the back
\\~//
Sorry I'm getting this out so late.
I'll try to get a chapter out by tomorrow.
Shelby xx
2023 Shelby here!
I changed a lot in this, mainly just all the Disneyland stuff again to skiing, but that's the only important thing. I've never been skiing at St.Moritz, I went to Zermatt but I'm 80% sure that wasn't open for skiing in the 80's and 90's