Hallelujah - A Christmas Story

A/N: Happy reading!Slight OOC head, maybe?

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All conversation stopped as Hermione and Lucius walked through the door.

Hermione looked around the room, breathing in deeply as she stared at her extended family. Harry slowly stood from his chair as Ron stepped forward, the two wizards looking at Hermione with surprise and then looking at Lucius with anger. Ron went to grab his wand but Harry stopped him by grabbing his arm. When Ron looked at Harry, the green eyed wizard shook his head.

“Let’s hear an explanation before we hex him,” Harry growled out, clearly not happy at the decision to ask questions first, hex later. Relief rushed over Hermione and she released the breath she had been holding with a sigh. Lucius held her hand tighter and started to draw comforting circles on her skin, hoping that everything would go well.
“Well, as you can see, Lucius and I are . . . talking again.”

“He told you he didn’t love you anymore, Hermione! I had to hold your hand as you cried all night long!” Ron cried out, trying to move forward. Harry’s hand tightened on his arm at the movement, squeezing Ron as hard as he dared. Ron turned to Harry with narrowed eyes. “You can’t really mean to stop me. I want him out of this house!”

“Last I checked, Mr. Weasley, this was not your house to banish people from as you saw fit,” Lucius’ voice rang clear through the room, very matter of fact and without a hint of anger. He knew what he had done to Hermione was unforgivable and he marveled at the fact that Hermione had managed to forgive him herself.

Ron began to holler for Arthur and the patriarch of the Weasley family stood, passing off Lily to his wife.

“Ronald, I think we should hear what Lucius has to say before we turn him and Hermione out into the cold, for surely she will follow his lead,” Arthur said, clasping Ron on the shoulder. “Sit down son.”

“But, but Dad. You can’t mean that . . . I mean he . . . Dad!” Arthur closed his eyes for a brief second, then opened them and looked around the room, taking everyone in.
“It’s Christmas, Ronald. Sit down and let him explain.” Mumbling things under his breath, Ron sat down next to his wife, little Selena coming over to climb into his lap.
“Story time!” She happily clapped her hands and everyone laughed, a smile returning to Ron’s face as he looked at his youngest child.

“Yes, indeed little one,” Lucius smiled at the young girl and she giggled, continuing to clap her hands. Hermione rolled her eyes, wondering if there was any female, regardless of age, who did not fall privy to the Malfoy charm. “As you all know, after Draco passed on, I became a . . . shadow of my former self,” Ron snorted at that, Luna hitting him in the arm and telling him to be quiet. “Thank you, Mrs. Weasley.”

And so Lucius began to tell his story. He told about those first few months, when he had given up hope and how he failed to see that Hermione was still very much present in his life. He told of how he thought everyone had left him, how Hermione could never understand his pain as she had never lost a child. He told them of the nights he spent awake, just staring at her, realizing that he did not deserve her. He told them how he had allowed an infection to crawl inside him, to poison his mind and heart against her. He did the one thing he had never wanted to do: he pushed her away from him. He took to drink after Draco’s death and it just furthered the wedge between them. Hermione could not abide to see him drunk, and anything to push her further from him was a tool at his disposal. Soon, everything about her became like a dagger in his heart and he could no longer look at her, smell her, be around her, because all it did was remind him that he was unworthy. Narcissa had left him, Draco had left him, and even Severus Snape had left him. It stood to reason that Hermione would, indeed, one day leave him.

And so he chose to force her to leave, instead of allowing her to make the decision on her own.

He told them how much it broke his heart to tell her he did not love her. How much it hurt to see the tears run down her cheeks as he lied and said that he could never love someone like her. He told them about that first night by himself, how if he had been a weaker wizard, he probably would have ended it there. It was too late to bring her back, what was done was done, and there was no reason to even think that she would ever take him back.

He told them the following year had been hell. He had been drunk for almost the entire year and then suddenly it was Christmas again. He had to visit Draco’s grave and when it got there, a simple bouquet of holly and ivy were resting against his tombstone. He picked the bouquet up and held it to his chest, catching the faint smell of her on the simple plants. She had visited his son’s grave. It gave him hope for the future.

He had gone back to the Manor that night and emptied out his wine cellar. He had gotten rid of centuries old wine, so that the temptation would never be there again. Granted, he had moved everything to his vault at Gringotts because some of the bottles held sentimental value, (Ron scoffed at this, earning another sharp jab from his wife, who had tears glistening in her eyes) but he was a changed wizard. He needed Hermione to see that.

For the next year he worked tirelessly at changing himself. He started to eat better, began his exercise routine again, and started to read muggle books on how to overcome alcoholism. He started to regain an interest in his business again, even going so far as to go out with business associates. Hermione had seen his picture in the Prophet and assumed he had started dating again, having gotten her out of his system, and gasped when she realized all those pictures were just business meetings and he was really going out for her, so that he could be worthy of her if she ever returned.

He told them that he planned to come to her shop on Christmas with her favorite bouquet of Scottish wildflowers, but had been caught up in a business deal at the last minute. He had been rushing to her store when she ran into him, and all off his plans had been disrupted as he stared at her on the ground, his heart flooding with emotions as she brushed herself off.

He turned to Hermione then and smiled, grasping her hand. “Hermione can tell you what happened next, but I am going to tell you what happens now.” He smiled as he put his other hand in his pocket, drawing out a black, satin covered box. “It seems you forgot to put this on today. Happy Christmas, Hermione.”

Hermione took the box from him with a strange look on her face, gasping when she opened the box. Sitting on a cream colored pillow was her ring, the ring he had gotten her years ago. She reached out a hand to touch it then stopped, looking back at Lucius with her head cocked to the side.

“How did you get this?”

Lucius smiled, taking the box from her and pulling the ring out. “I stole it, of course. What good is a piece of jewelry stuffed back in a sock drawer? Things as glorious as this are meant to be shown.”

“That’s why you wanted to go to my house before we came over,” Hermione gasped, her eyes welling as she looked at the simple ring in his fingers.

He noded held the ring out to her and when she didn’t take it, he sank to his knee, the women in the room gasping. “I’ve asked you once before, but I should ask you every single day for the rest of my life. You have shown me things that I never thought possible. Taught me to love and laugh openly, and not be ashamed at the joy in life. You also stand up to my temper, and don’t back down from me. It is a truly marvelous person indeed who does not fear me, Hermione Granger, and I want that awe inspiring courage to be by my side throughout my remaining years. Marry me, Hermione. Give me my dreams, and I’ll make you happy beyond your wildest fantasies.”

Hermione felt the tears spill down her cheeks and she couldn’t speak, so she just nodded her head. Lucius smiled, still grasping her hand tightly.

“What was that, Hermione? I could not hear you.”

“Oh bugger you, Lucius. Yes!” She cried out, laughing and crying as Lucius slipped the ring around her finger. A cheer went up as they kissed, but one little boy had tears running down his face. He ran forward and broke up the kiss, wrapping himself around Hermione’s legs.

“You aren’t going to stop wearing my locket now that you have your ring back, are you?”

Hermione smiled down at the redhead, patting his hair absentmindedly. “Oh, Lysander.”

“So this is Lysander,” the boy turned at his name, eyes wide and throat gulping as Lucius stood over him. Hermione giggled silently as Lucius tried to intimidate the boy, before leaning down amd smiling. “I see you’ve kept my girl happy all these years, Lysander. For that, you deserve a special Christmas present.” Lucius pulled a long, thin package out of his cloak and then tapped it with his wand, the package becoming full size before the surprised boy’s eyes. Luna groaned as she recognized what it was, Ron jumping up, his voice shaking with anger.

“What do you think this is, giving my boy his first broom? That’s my job, Malfoy!”
“A broom? Thank you, thank you!” Lysander ripped the packaging off and grabbed his toy broom, pumping it into the air.

“Relax, Mr. Weasley. It is not a real broom. It’s merely a toy. I would never take away a father’s right,” Lucius said almost chidingly, everyone laughing as Ron’s face reddened.

For the rest of the night, everyone ate and celebrated, Lysander racing around on the broom outside with Harry and Ron’s supervision. Hermione laughed from the window, then turned and saw Lucius standing by himself, watching Luna and Ginny fussing over Lily and Selena. He turned to her as she laid her hand on his arm, smiling brightly at him.

“Sickle for your thoughts,” his face softened as he stared at her, and then looked back to the two mothers with their children. “You know, I always wanted to be a mother.”

Lucius turned back to her and smiled. “Well then, I think we can arrange that.”

Hermione laughed, low and throaty. “I think we need some practice first. I want to get it right, you know.”

Lucius narrowed his eyes at her, growling low enough that only she could hear. “Are you saying that I am not proficient at what I do?”

Hermione laughed, drawing his face down to hers. “Oh you are more then satisfactory, Lucius Malfoy.” She kissed him then, wrapping her arms tightly around them.

“Ew! What are they doing, mummy?” Artemis said, scowling at the couple in the corner.

“Something you’re not allowed to do until after you’re married,” Ron shouted as he came in from outside, shaking the snow off his cloak. Lucius and Hermione broke apart, smiles on their faces.

“Is it snowing again?” Hermione looked out the window, turning her back to Lucius. He wrapped his arms around her from behind as they watched the snow fall, pulling her in close and leaning down to whisper in her ear.

“Happy Christmas, Hermione.”

“Merry Yule, Lucius.”

The two laughed at their own private joke, the others in the room shaking their heads at the Death Eater and the Muggle-born.


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A/N: My final went well, I hope. I hope to have the Epilogue up by tonight, but that may not happen. Maybe tomorrow, who knows. I hope you have enjoyed "Hallelujah"! The song will show up in the Epilogue.

Have a Merry (Happy) Christmas, Winter Solstice, Yule, Chanakkah (I can't spell it), Kwanzaa, and anything else I may have missed! I won't be back until the 26th and I will read your reviews then. So please review and Have a Happy New Year!!