"Y/n you'll be late if you don't hurry dear!"

"Almost ready mum!"

Tonight's the night I meet Draco's parents and I couldn't be more nervous. I made sure to wear my best attire tonight and look my best, I don't want to give his parents any excuse to dislike me, even if it may be a small matter like how I dress and look. Though I do hope they aren't that shallow, but then again prepare for the worst. But it's Christmas Eve tonight they can't be that cruel right? I jump at the sound of my mothers screeches from downstairs.

"Y/n!"

I grab my purse and take one last glance in the mirror before heading downstairs to where my mum is waiting for me at the bottom of the stairs.

"You look gorgeous" mum beams clapping her hands, "I'm sure you'll knock their socks off tonight sweetie."

"I really hope so mum, I do hope they are kind."

Mum tucks a strand behind my ear, "You just let me know if they give you any trouble."

"Yeah yeah" I say with a chuckle, "Well I'll leave now, and just in case I'm not back before Christmas officially starts, Happy Christmas mum."

Mum gives me a warm smile engulfing me in a cozy hug. "Now go, don't be late." she says nudging me out.

---

I apperate in front of the manor where the cold night perfectly accents the dark exterior of the home. The manor is so vast in size I'm stunned it's not considered a castle. It's very dark, cold, with several large windows. And of course, a huge iron gate at the front of it all, not very inviting. There's no buzzer or anything beside the gate, so I'm not exactly sure how I'd get in. You know what, maybe it is best if I go home, maybe they don't want me here.

As I'm getting ready to apperate back home I see the silhouette of a familiar tall white-blonde boy approaching the Iron gate. I sigh and turn back on my heels. Draco unlocks the gate before opening it, holding it open for me. He pecks my cheek as I join him, making our way down the narrow pathway to the entrance of the manor.

Draco turns to me with a small grin, "Were you going to ditch me y/n?"

I gulp and try to hide my nerves as I play it off. "Absolutely not!" I shout slapping his arm. "I just had...forgotten something back at home is all."

He hums, clearly not believing my lie.

Draco looks up ahead at the manor, "You're nervous, I get it. It's ok."

"That obvious huh?" Draco laughs. He takes his hands out of his pockets getting ready to open the door.

"Ready?"

I nod my head more than once out of sheer nervousness.

Draco opens the wide doors in unison revealing the inside of the manor. Similar to the exterior, it gives me a dark cold vibe, not very inviting. Perhaps the only inviting aspect of the cold manor is the fire that's running ablaze in the parlor.

As Draco and I walk in he closes the doors behind us halting the cold air from the outside. I soon hear the loud clacking of heels against the marble floors approach us at the entrance. Followed by another set of footsteps and what I can only imagine to be the sound of Lucius cane.

Narcissa appears before us with a warm smile on her lips. She's just as I had pictured her in my head: elegant and beautiful and of course her clothing no less elegant.

"Y/n! It's nice to finally meet you" Narcissa says, wraps me in a motherly hug.

"You as well Mrs. Malfoy" I say returning the kindness.

She gently pulls away from our hug sending me one last smile before her husband accompanies her side.

I extend out my hadn't to Lucius, "Hello Mr. Malfoy, a pleasure to meet you" I announce wanting to bite my tongue as soon as I said that. Draco's told me about his father and how much of a prick he is, but I'm obviously not going to stand here and say, 'hello prick! lovely to meet you!' he'd avada kedavra me on the spot and I did feel like living to see another Christmas, so I kept it friendly.

Lucius curls his upper lip and looks at my hand as if it were an alien or some blob of boogers. I get the message and drop my hand back down to my side.

I turn to Draco who is clearly fuming at his father and reach for his hand to comfort him.

"Hello Ms. y/l/n" Lucius hesitantly seethes, as his eyes look over my attire, clearly judging my choice of clothing. Though I have no idea why, I made sure to dress modestly.

Narcissa clears her throat to alleviate the tension. "Well dinner is just about to be served, let us make our way to the dinning room."

Narcissa leads the way Draco and I following closely behind her and Lucius following behind us. I can just feel Dracos father staring daggers at our intertwined hands, I let my hand fall out of Dracos too scared of what'll happen if I don't. He'll probably poke us with his dumb cane or something.

Draco's quick to reach for my hand once more placing it in his, "Don't let him get to you" he whispers quiet enough, so that Lucius won't hear.

Narcissa places herself at the head of the table, Lucius does the same but rather on the opposite side. Draco points his head to the direction of where I should sit as he takes his seat on the opposing side of me so we're facing each other. They only have four chairs for this big of a table? Actually come to think of it I'm not surprised, I can't imagine they get frequent visitors for dinner.

The food at the table reminds me of the feast the elves would prepare for us at the great hall back at school.

"Wow you're elves really know how to impress" I chuckle taking the cloth napkin from the table and setting it on my lap. Narcissa sends me a small smile.

Lucius however seems rather agitated with my comment. Without a word he leaves the dinning table stomping off to Merlin knows where.

"I'm sorry did I say something?" I ask tuning to Draco and his mum.

"He's surely still upset about Dobby and how he was able to get away scot-free" Draco replies throwing a dirty look at his fathers vacant chair.

"I'm sure he'll be back soon," Narcissa assures, "we'll just wait a bit longer to eat until he gets back if that's alright with you y/n"

I nod understandingly.

Draco lets out a scoff, "Typical."

We're not left waiting long, soon after Lucius leaves the table we hear the front door slam close.

Narcissa mumbles under her breath, "Oh dear." She stands up excusing herself leaving Draco and I alone at the table.

I clear my throat getting Dracos attention, "Well that was um- something" I chime.

"That's father" he sighs leaning back into his chair.

I reach for a small branch of grapes to bring to my plate while we wait, I haven't ate since breakfast.

"Don't!"

I jump out of my seat, instantly dropping the grapes back into the pile.

"Sorry, it's just if father returns he'll know we started dinner without him and well-" he trails off turning away from me.

"It's fine. I'll wait." I announce, shrugging off my freight.

I've never heard so much fear in Dracos voice before, nonetheless over a grape. In fact I've never heard him yell up until right now.

"Draco-"

Narcissa walks back into the dinning room stopping our conversation, "Well it looks like your father has business to attend to." she says trying to hide her smile. "It'll just be us tonight!"

She reaches for the salmon laying it on her plate, I look up at Draco to see if it's ok to eat now and see that he too is serving himself. He looks up at me noticing how I have yet to serve myself and sends me a look confirming that it's ok to eat now.

The whole atmosphere at the dinner table changed as soon as Lucius left. It became much more happier and brighter, no one was scared to speak their mind, especially Narcissa.

Over the course of dinner Narcissa asked many inquires about Draco and I. She asked how we met, when we knew that we liked each other , if things were currently still good and many other questions about us. I answered her questions with great enthusiasm and was hoping Draco would do the same. I would even wait a couple seconds before answering her questions hoping Draco would chime in and he did eventually, just not so much.

"Thank you so much for dinner Ms. Malfoy it was lovely" I announce placing my napkin back on the table on top of my plate.

"Of course dear, glad it was to your liking" she smiles.

Shortly after we're all done eating the elves infiltrate the dinning room collecting our dishes. Neither mum or dad had house elves, they claim house elves aren't necessary, though they are very cute.

"We'll take dessert in the parlor" Narcissa says to the elves. They nod obediently before scurrying away with the plates.

As the three os us make our way over to the parlor Draco excuses himself. Narcissa and I take a seat across from each other in the parlor bedside the warm fire.

"Where's Draco?" she asks.

"I assume the loo."

I look around the parlor and realize they don't have any Christmas decorations I wonder if they even celebrate it, how odd. But I do know for a fact that at some point they did, Draco would tell me about Christmases when he was younger. He'd always tell his childhood stories back at school when we'd stay up all night talking in his dorm.

"The loo?" I nod. "Well it seems like we have a minute alone then, follow me into the kitchen please." Narcissa whisks off to the kitchen as I follow closely behind her.

We walk into the of course, huge kitchen that's filled with large stainless steel appliances and elves who're cleaning up the dishes dinner. "A moment please" Narcissa announces to the elves.

Narcissa walks over to the corner of the kitchen and opens up a dark oak cabinet above the counter. She pulls out a small black box with a petite silver bow on it. She closes the cabinet and walks back to me with a small smile as she examines the box, fluffing up the bow.

"Here, a small gift" she says cheekily, handing me the sleek box.

I look up at her surprised, she really went out of her way to get me something, "Mrs. Malfoy, you really shouldn't have."

"Nonsense" she announces, "You make my son very happy, something I'm not used to seeing and for that I'm utterly grateful, this is just a small token of my appreciation."

I give her one last smile before unboxing the gift. It's a sterling sliver pendant with an emerald in the center outlined with diamonds. "This is lovely, it's so gorgeous" I beam "Thank you so much."

"Of course, here let me help you."

I hand the necklace to Narcissa so that she can place it around my neck. And shift the pendent so that it pokes out over my clothes.

"Thank you for making my son so happy." She says wrapping me in a hug.

—

We head back out into the parlor where Draco's waiting for us alongside the fire.

"Where'd you two go off to?" he questions, with a curious expression.

"Nowhere" I respond taking a seat next to him leaning in for a kiss.

We have dessert all together in the living room by the fire. Narcissa brings up a few of Dracos funny childhood moments and even threatens to bring out the old photo album. But Draco stops her claiming that I should get going now.

"I suppose you're right Draco, y/n probably wants to get back home now." Narcissa announces placing her dessert down, "You're welcomed back anytime."

"Thank you" I say kindly.

"I'll walk you out" Draco murmurs, placing his hand on my lower back.

Once we're out of the parlor I lean into Draco and give him a kiss on the cheek. "You know, I really wanted to see those baby photos of you."

He lets out a small laugh, "Trust me, you're not missing out on anything."

"Yeah yeah fine" I say playfully as we approach the gate.

"I'll see you tomorrow?" Draco questions as he engulfs me in an embrace.

"Sure, but not till later" I respond looking up at him as I lean against his chest. Draco lowers his head down and kisses me before letting me go.

Draco think the night is over, that's funny. I place his hand on my arm and hold it down with my hand, apperating us both away from the manor.

"Y/n! What're you doing?"

I reach for his hand intertwining it with mine. "I didn't want to leave you just yet" I grin.

Draco looks around and sees that I've apperated us to a neighborhood where each house is decorated with Christmas lights and decorations.

"This decorum is subpar- we must be in a muggle neighborhood" he scoffs.

"Yes, we are in a muggle neighborhood" I chuckle, as we begin to walk down the sidewalk. "Mum used to bring me here when I was younger."

"Ah, I see."

"You can spend the whole night quietly critiquing their decorum while I bask in the jolly ambiance."

"You knew I would spend the night critiquing their decorations, that's why you brought me here, isn't it?" Draco says in a tone of shock.

"No Draco" I chuckle. "I just wanted to show you one of my favorite places."

We walk down the empty neighborhood and observe each houses decorum. I point out the great things about each house while Draco points out what they could've done better. Eventually, he stops his critiques, rather we just walk down the sidewalk in silence basking in the jolly atmosphere as we walk hand in hand.

🥺😠