Work Text:
“Well, that seemed to go well,” Hermione commented as they returned to their apartment. “I hope they can keep all those gifts hidden from the children until Christmas day.”
“You forget that wizards can use concealing charms. I’m confident they will be properly surprised and overjoyed when they open everything. Now then,” Draco almost purred as he pulled Hermione close and placed a long kiss on her lips, “tell me what I can do now to make you just as overjoyed. What’s the next thing you wish to do on your list of Christmas memories, hmm?”
He pulled her hand up to his lips and gentle kissed each knuckle as she tried to reply. He loved it when he could affect her like this, and it took a moment before she opened her mouth.
“Gingerbread houses,” she managed to finally get out.
Draco frowned a bit as he spoke. “Gingerbread houses? Really? Okay.”
“Why? Is there something wrong with that?”
“No, it’s just – I’ve only ever seen the elaborate ones the House Elves always made us. I tried one year to make one myself and Father had been furious with me. He said it was beneath me and I shouldn’t sully my hands with such menial work before dragging me off to practice carols with my diction coach.”
Hermione looked shocked. “Carols? Really? I never would have guessed that.”
“Oh, it’s quite common for Pureblood families to make strategic appearances singing at places like St. Mungo’s and the Ministry this time of year, really any place they feel might be swayed to like them better by it. Younger voices tended to be most enjoyed and Father took full advantage of mine.”
“Sometimes I forget how horrid your upbringing really was.”
Draco shrugged. “It’s not like I knew anything different. None of us did. Sometimes different families would join their children into one group effort. Pansy, Theo, Blaize, Marcus, Daphne and Astoria, Crabbe and Goyle – all of us really – just thought it was how Christmas was celebrated everywhere until we came to Hogwarts. But enough about me,” he added, trying to change the subject away from something he feared might upset her, “tell me more about how we are building gingerbread houses.”
“Well, first we need to bake some dough and select some candies…”
*****
It hadn’t taken long for Hermione to get everything baked. Draco wondered if the witch in her haste to get things started had bewitched everything to cook faster but knew better than to ask. She had then dragged him off to a Muggle Sweet’s Shop to gather some ‘decorating supplies’. Draco hardly recognized most of the sweets, and it was weird to see such mundane sweeties. He had insisted on going to Honeydukes after they left to pick up a few things he was a bit more familiar with.
Now Hermione was whipping up some royal icing – one batch that was a bit thicker she swore could hold things together like glue, while the other was more for decorating.
Draco began dry fitting his pieces together when Crookshanks jumped up onto the table, knocking the pieces to the floor and nearly breaking the roof.
“I swear, if you try to knock down my gingerbread house one more time, I will put snow on your face while you sleep.”
The cat hissed at him before running over and threading its way between Hermione’s legs.
“What is it now, Crookshanks? Did Draco say something mean to you again, sweetie?”
“Mraaww,” came the reply.
“I see.”
“Oi, so you’re going to take his word over mine again?” he teased.
“Maybe,” she chuckled as she brought over four piping bags of icing. “The ones with the bigger tips have the thicker stuff in them, and the ones with the smaller tips can be used for drawing. I typically doodle on a piece of wax paper and wait for it to dry so I can peel it off and glue it to my house. Watch!”
In no time at all Hermione had some heart shaped drawings down, as well as what looked like some icicles. He watched half fascinated before remembering he was also supposed to be making something.
Wanting to hold off on the details until he was more used to the medium he was trying to use, Draco decided to ‘glue’ all four walls and the roof together first. This proved a bit trickier than he had been expecting.
“Merlin’s beard, witch, how on earth do you get these bloody pieces to not fall over?”
Hermione looked up and began giggling at him.
“Here, try focusing on just one corner at a time. Glue the roof together, and one side piece to each of the ones that are left. Like this.”
She reached over to grab the two pieces he had in his hands and attempted to stick them together, but succeeded more at getting it all over Draco’s hand.
“Oops!” she exclaimed, “here, let me help you clean that up.”
But Draco suddenly had other plans.
“Oi, mind where you’re icing!” he laughed as he took the smaller tipped icing bag and put a dot of it on the tip of her nose.
“Oh, so that’s how you want to play then?” she countered with a smirk as she hurled some Smarties towards his house.
Crookshanks must have sensed what was coming, as Draco noticed him take off for the bedroom.
Taking a few exploding bon-bons, he lobbed them over towards the roof of her own house, causing the icing holding them together to slip, but not actually cause any damage to the pieces themselves.
He went to let out a victorious roar as Hermione expertly launched some Jelly Babies at him, nailing one in his open mouth. Without thinking, he reached for the pink coconut ice he had planned to sprinkle over his house’s roof and dusted her hair with it instead.
The table was soon being showered with sweets. Saltwater taffy, licorice wands and wheels, toffees, butterscotch, and of course a smattering of Bertie Botts Ever Flavor Beans went flying everywhere until both Draco and Hermione fell out of their chairs with laughter.
“S-s-sorry,” he tried to get out once he was calmed down enough to attempt breathing again, “I guess things escalated rather quickly. I didn’t ruin this for you, did I?”
He reached out for her hand and was grateful when she placed hers into his.
“No, you didn’t. In fact, I think you just made it better.” She leaned across the table and gave him a kiss. “Just so long as you help clean this mess up and we have another go at this, yeah?”
Draco smiled and drew his wand to help set things back to right. Yet again he was reminded about how wrong his father had been when raising him, and now he was definitely going to be looking forward to next year’s gingerbread house building session.