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“Explain to me again why we are in Anaheim, California. It’s ridiculously hot here.”
“You said you wanted to take a Christmas vacation, I’m giving you a Christmas vacation.”
“Christmas is supposed to be cold and snowy, or at least not hot and sweaty. Unless we’re in bed.” He wiggled his eyebrows suggestively.
She stifled a giggle and rolled her eyes. “Try to have some fun, I promise this next part will be fun.”
“Unless it requires us to be naked, I’m not certain we have the same definition of fun.”
Hermione stopped walking then and turned to face him. She grabbed a fistful of his shirt. The action nearly caused him to step on her, thankfully he had quick reflexes, and he was able to stop with her and snake his arms around her waist.
He tipped his head down, a smirk upon his lips, and tried to kiss her.
She turned her head away at the last second so his kiss landed upon her hair.
He sputtered a moment as her curly hair tried to invade his mouth.
Laughing, she said, “Serves you right for trying to distract me.”
He moved his right hand to cup her face, his left still wrapped around her waist. When his thumb brushed her lips, it took all her effort to resist wetting her lips and swiping his thumb with her tongue. Damn this man and his ability to make her melt.
She placed her palms flat on his chest and watched the knowing smirk grace his lips. Hermione made a move as if to lean into him, giving him what he wanted, and then pushed him back. Hoping for a moment that he would land on his butt, but years of Quidditch had taught him fast reflexes and balance, and he was able to stay standing.
“Marcus, you are going with me to this Christmas surprise whether you like it or not.”
“Are you taking me to Disneyland? You know that I’ve always wanted to visit the House of Mouse.” His tone was sarcastic and jesting.
“Oh love, you know if we were visiting the House of Mouse we would have gone to Tokyo, it’s so much more fun.”
Marcus gave her the side-eye that said, you know I don’t speak Japanese , making her laugh heartily.
“I promise you’ll love it.” When his questioning look didn’t abate, she added, “Don’t look at me like that. Have I ever let you down?”
He took her hand, and they continued to walk in silence. He wasn’t sure what she was planning, but he knew she was right, she had never let him down. She was the cleverest witch, after all. He surmised that anything she had planned would be worth it.
About fifteen minutes, later she stopped walking and turned to face Marcus. “Do you remember when I told you about the muggle traditions of Christmas and their beliefs about Santa?”
“Of course, it’s crazy to think that Santa chooses a sleigh and eight “tiny” reindeer instead of floo powder.”
Hermione closed her eyes for a brief moment trying not to remind him, once again, that it’s a muggle belief and muggles do not have floo powder.
“Are you saying that your Christmas surprise has to do with this Santa and his reindeer?”
“Yes,” she smiled, “that’s exactly what I’m saying.
Despite his skepticism, he trusted her, and let her lead him around the side of the next block. He was certainly not disappointed. Before him, there was a large arena, roughly the size of a quidditch pitch, filled with falling snow, reindeer, Santa entertaining children, and even families building snowmen. He never would have imagined that muggles would have the ability to create snow in weather that should not be able to sustain snow, but here it was in front of him. He had never seen a reindeer up close, and the animals were far larger than he expected.
“We are going to have the full muggle experience!” Hermione’s voice nearly shrieked with excitement. “We’re going to ride in a sleigh, feed the reindeer, chat with Santa, everything!”
Marcus loved her excitement. It was one of the first things he fell in love with; her excitement spanned into every inch of life, from learning to nature, to spending time with people, and more. When she gets excited it is hard to turn her down. The last thing he wanted to do was quash her excitement or her zeal for life.
Watching Hermione almost bounce with excitement, he could almost imagine how she was as a child and wondered how she would be with their children. The thought startled him, they were still only dating. He hadn’t thought long term yet, and he wasn’t sure she had either. And yet here he was wondering how she would pass on her excitement to her children. Perhaps, it was something he should give more consideration to.
Without even looking at him, Hermione grabbed his hand and pulled him off to their left. Her curls bounced around her head, and she practically ran towards the reindeer. “Look, their antlers are still covered in felt. Did you know that the reindeer that still have antlers right now are likely females? Males typically shed their antlers in November, while the females keep theirs throughout the winter until around Beltane.”
“Ah, there’s my bookworm.” His love for her was evident in his tone, there was no teasing here. Hermione was fascinated with petting the reindeer in front of her and talking to it gently, he was sure that if she could, one would be going home with them. “Come this way, I see where we can get some vegetables to feed them.”
There was a stand about ten yards from the reindeer pen that had various fruits and vegetables that people could feed to the reindeer. Hermione went straight for the apples and the carrots.
“Did you know that reindeer are complete herbivores and need a well-balanced diet of grasses, wild berries when they can find them, and lichens in the forests? Here in America, they’re called reindeer if they’re domesticated, but in the wild, they’re called caribou. Getting foods like carrots and apples are a special treat for them, and if my reading is correct, one of their favourite treats.”
Marcus watched as she stuffed apples and carrots into her pockets. Raising a brow at her, he leaned in close to her ear and whispered, “did you spell your pockets?”
“Shh, you can’t say that word around the muggles.”
He snickered, “You can’t say muggles around the muggles. Hermione, love, you’ve explained the whole theory of the magic of Christmas many times to me, I’m sure that if I were to start spouting off about magic right now, no one would bat an eye.”
Hermione chewed her lip for a moment, “You’re probably right, but let’s not test that theory.”
With her pockets stuffed full of apples and carrots, she made her way back towards the reindeer with Marcus watching her walk. Damn, he loved this woman.
She held out a chunk of carrot in her palm and giggled as the reindeer didn’t just nibble it from her hand, she grabbed the whole thing and didn’t even seem to chew.
He wondered if the reindeer even actually tasted the carrot.
Marcus watched as the reindeer gathered around her. One poked their head through the gap in the fence and nosed her pocket. Marcus moved to stand behind her and slid his hands into her pockets. As he suspected, she had spelled her pockets. There were far more apples and carrots in there than normal pockets could hold. He took hold of a few pieces and held them out to the reindeer at her sides. The reindeer took them eagerly, continuing to nose Hermione as she softly talked to them.
“Hermione, love, let’s leave the reindeer be for just a moment.” He turned her in his arms, locking her between him and the fence. He could feel the reindeer still nosing her pockets and tried hard not to laugh. The snow from the machines surrounding the pen rained light flakes all around them. They caught in her hair, making even the warm temps feel magical.
“Are you going to feed the reindeer too?” She went to reach into her pocket, but he grabbed her hand, stopping her.
He kept holding her hands in his, he took a deep breath before saying, “Hermione Granger, I am in love with you and all your quirks, will you marry me?”
Hermione was stunned, she loved him, she knew she loved him but did she love him enough to marry him?
“I know that you love to think everything through, but on this one, you need to trust what you feel. I know I love you, I love your exuberance, your bookworm tendencies, I want to know how you’ll be with our children, and how many things you will teach them to be excited about. Do me the honour of spending the rest of your life with me and helping me to enjoy life as much as you do.”
She didn’t say a word, she pulled her hands from his, causing him to worry for a moment that she would say no. She reached up and wrapped her arms around his neck. Standing up on her tiptoes, she kissed him, long and hard. When she pulled back, her smile was prevalent. “I would be honoured to spend the rest of my life with you.”