A/n: Happy Christmas Eve Eve lovelies! This chapter took me a little longer to finish because, well I had big plans for it, and it took me a while to put them all together. I hope you love it as much as I do!

This chapter has yet to be beta'd so please ignore my over use of commas, and any mispellings or errors that currently exist. As soon as the chapter has been edited I'll post the corrected one.
Huge love to my patient and wonderful betas gidgetmalfoy and kanewolfe

As always please leave your love currency for me, it means the world to me, especially during the holidays!

I hope you all have magical holidays!

Antonin opened his eyes when the sounds of soft snores filled his ears. Looking to his left, at the curly haired witch currently laying flush against his side, her mouth hanging open. He couldn't help the smile on his face at the sight of this witch in his arms, her curls tousled behind her head covering the pillow behind her.

From the moment she had walked into his bedroom and climbed under the covers, they had been touching in some form or another. He had drifted off to sleep with her back against his stomach, her delicate breathing pulling him under, the steady rhythm comforting him in ways he had yet to experience. He had spent most of his youth, up to his incarceration, avoiding women, unable to find one that was intellectually stimulating, and thought about more than the blood status of who she was currently dating.

Now holding this beautiful, intelligent witch in his arms he was overwhelmed by the need to banish the darkness that was haunting her. Just before she had fallen asleep, she had cried, silently, and he had pulled her tighter, neither one of them acknowledging the tears she needed to shed.

With one last look at his curly haired witch, he closed his eyes, hopeful that whatever it was between the two of them, wouldn't cause tension in the morning when she woke up.

Hermione woke up to bright rays of sunlight streaming through the thick windows of the unfamiliar room she found herself in. Turning on her side she caught sight of Antonin, his large body wrapped around hers, and his arm thrown over her hip, trapping her to the bed. With careful, slow movements she made her way out from under his heavy arm and to the side of the bed. She stood for a moment, staring down at the sleeping wizard. She couldn't ignore what the sight of him shirtless was doing to her body, her heart sped up and she felt a distinctive curling in her stomach that made her want to crawl back into bed with him, but for other things besides sleep.

Shaking her head, she walked on tiptoes to the toilet, and took care of her morning ablutions. She was having trouble accepting that she had spent the night wrapped in the arms of a convicted Death Eater, and that she wished she could do it again. What was happening to her, that she not only found this man comforting but attractive. His solid presence yesterday after what happened to her flat, could be the only explanation to her growing feelings for the man.

While she stood looking back at her reflection in the mirror, she went through their time together since she had brought him from Azkaban, his sickness and need had broken her heart, and made him appear so much more human than her earlier memories had ever allowed. Recalling the argument they had shared about the clothes and books brought a small smile to her face. It had been a long time since she had been able to spare with anyone, and he was a formidable opponent, yet she knew that in giving in to her, that meant something. He certainly didn't seem like the type of man to just give in for anyone.

She still cringed at the memory of him laying in the leaf strewn front lawn of the small cottage covered in blood and falling unconscious in her arms. It was a sight she had seen throughout a lot of her younger years but seeing Antonin like that, caused her heart to clench in fear, and her belly to heat in anger at the idea of someone hurting him.

Their kiss had been both tender and earth shaking in it's brief heat, like a bolt of lightning to her core. She hadn't been kissed like that, in her entire life, it felt like pure fire and magic. It was a kiss that left her aching for more, but you were almost afraid of being burned. She had run after the kiss, scared of what it meant, and needing to run from how intensely it had affected her. But she had run right into chaos, and Antonin had been there to comfort her, to shelter her and make her feel safe when her world felt like it was falling to pieces.

Smiling she decided that no matter what happened from here forward, that Antonin deserved a chance, and the heat that existed between them also deserved a chance to be explored.

Just as she had put the toothbrush into her mouth she heard a yell from the other room, and a deep thundering noise of something hitting the wooden floors. Bolting from the bathroom, toothbrush still in her mouth, she flourished her wand from her pyjama pants. She ran into Antonin's room, to find him standing wand out.

As soon as his dark brown eyes locked on her's, he lowered his wand and rushed forward, wrapping her tightly in his warm embrace.

"Solnyshko, Merlin I thought something had happened to you," he whispered into her curls.

Hermione tried to pull back from him, her toothbrush crushed between her cheek and his chest, but his hold wouldn't relinquish. She started murmuring in aggravated tones, trying to get his attention.

Antonin let her go, looking down, "Sorry."

"I'm sorry, I didn't want to wake you, but I needed to use the loo," she explained, pulling the toothbrush from her mouth, her words mumbled as she tried to keep the foam in her mouth. "I'll be right back."

Antonin nodded, chuckling lightly at his overreaction when his witch had just gone to the loo. He knew she brought out a side of him that he had never experienced, but his heart had dropped when he had opened his eyes and not found his witch nestled against him.

Hermione returned to the bedroom, sans toothbrush, smiling, "You're a silly wizard."

"At least you're safe." Antonin smiled back at her, before reaching his hand towards her. When she accepted his hand, he pulled her against him again, this time with less crushing. He kissed the top of her beautiful curls before he whispered, "Good morning Solnyshko."

Hermione smiled, inhaling his scent that made her heart race, "Good morning, what does that one mean?" She loved the feel of his arms wrapped around her, a closeness she couldn't recall ever feeling.

"Roughly translated it means small sun," Antonin explained, still holding her tight. "You remind me of the sun, bright and beautiful, terrifying and powerful, but incredibly necessary and most of all light just seems to seep from your very soul and warms everyone around you."

Hermione had never been one to swoon, but at that very moment she understood the concept. She thanked Merlin his arms were still wrapped around her tightly. Never before in her life had she heard such romantic words said to her from any man. "Thank you," she murmured in a low voice, unable to think of anything else to say to such a declaration.

Antonin let go of her after a few minutes, "What would you like to do today?"

"I need to make a list of the things I need from my flat. Harry or Hannah might drop by, but I need to owl Hannah a list of items to pick up from the market. Then maybe we can look at your charm?" Hermione said, a fixed smile on her face.

"Whatever you wish Solnyshko." Antonin said, murmuring the last word, delighting in the blush that graced her beautiful cheeks.

Around lunch time, they heard a knock on the door, and with his wand raised, Antonin opened the door, to reveal a wind bitten blonde witch, sporting an armful of bags.

"Oh Mrs. Potter, let me help you." Antonin said, stowing his wand away as he kicked the door closed.

"Thank you Mr. Dolohov, please call me Hannah," Hannah said, smiling at the wizard and handing over the bags of groceries.

Hermione stood and once the Antonin deposited the bags on the table began to unpack them, "Thank you so much Hannah."

"Of course, your list was rather small so when you and Mr. Dolohov need more, please just owl again, with a longer list." Hannah said fixing Hermione with a look that the brunette knew meant business.

"If I'm to call you Hannah then please call me Antonin," he said, helping Hermione with the bags.

Hannah looked at him carefully, her sharp eyes noticing the familiarity the two had in their close proximity. "Of course, Hermione can you come upstairs I have a few things from your flat," Hannah said, communicating with her eyes that Hermione was to agree immediately.

"Oh of course. I'll be right back," Hermione said, and lead the way up to her room.

Hannah took one look around before she sat down and stared at her best friend carefully, "So spill, what has happened between you and Antonin. Before his hospital visit, you two were so formal with each other, now you're positively comfortable, and dare I say maybe even more."

Hermione blushed, but smiled, her beautiful Hufflepuff friend missed nothing, especially when it came to her friends and family, and they felt like family. "Well, after I brought him home from St. Mungo's, he….well he and I….well we kissed."

Hannah's eyes widened, as she shouted "You what?!"

"Shhhh, keep your voice down."

"Sorry."

"Hannah, it was seriously the best kiss I've ever experienced in my whole life, like lightning." Hermione said, unable to keep her voice from sounding dreamy. "I can't explain why, but I feel so comfortable around him, maybe it's the Death Eater thing, but I know that he'd do anything to protect me."

Hannah smiled, happy to see her friend smiling. She and Harry had spent so much time trying to figure out how to get Hermione to the point where she could experience love the way they did, because she just seemed so lonely. Regardless that the man happened to be a previous Death Eater, because he was forced into it, if he could bring that smile to Hermione's face, Hannah wasn't going to judge. "Well I'm happy as long as you're happy."

Hermione hugged her friend, "Thank you, I don't know what we are or anything, so please don't tell anyone."

"I won't, not even Harry, he might go all older brother on him." Hannah said winking.

As the two witches made their way back down the stairs giggling madly ten minutes later, Antonin looked up from the charms book he was reading on the couch.

"Well Antonin, please don't hesitate to add anything to Hermione's list that you want as well." Hannah said as she put her coat back on, preparing to leave.

"Thanks again Hannah, we'll see you soon." Hermione said, hugging her friend one last time, before Hannah left.

"No, the spell was originally created in latin if you want to alter the charm, you need to do it in latin," Hermione said, shaking her head in disbelief at the stubborn wizard before her. They had cooked dinner together, and Hermione found her cooking lessons to be both pleasant and a tad teasing as they kept bumping into one another.

After dinner they had laid out all his charm books, and his leather notebook opened to his notes on area of effect spells, and a scroll where he had transcribed his notes into English for Hermione to look over.

Antonin groaned, "I have never created a spell in anything but Russian, my spells are more effective in my native tongue." He eyed the witch carefully, both delighting in the argument and annoyed that she was trying to tell him how to create spells.

"But you're not creating a spell, you're altering it." Hermione protested, folding her arms across her chest.

"Stubborn witch, how about I try it in Russian and you continue to look up the translations in latin?" Antonin said, smirking, he knew she was frustrated at the lack of books before them, and she had been making lists of latin root words trying to find the correct combination of words to create the spell he had in mind.

"Fine!" She exclaimed, picking up her quill and continuing to jot down latin roots.

With a chuckle, Antonin went over to the sofa, and with a quick wave of his wand extinguished every light except the one above the table helping his witch see. With careful movements he began to mumble under his breath focusing his magical energy on his goal, visualizing the outcome.

In his younger years when developing spells it would take minutes if not hours of continued reiteration of the same phrase with the visualization of the outcome before a spell would even begin to show up. The minutes wore on, when he heard a loud sigh from his witch, and her brown eyes locked on his in the darkening cottage. With one last murmur of the spell he was dazed by the burst of light from the tip of his wand.

With a cry of excitement he asked, "Hermione can you see any light from the tip of my wand?"

"No," she said simply, her voice showing her aggravation.

"Well this room is suddenly flooded with light, the spell worked." Antonin stated simply moving in a small circle shining light into every corner of the large room.

Hermione stood from her chair, curiosity taking over, "You mean it worked?"

"Yes, if you can't see the light then it truly is only for personal use, it's an area of effect lumos that only the caster can see. In a darkened room the only one with light would be the caster!" Antonin exclaimed, excitement taking over as his witch walked closer her eyes wide as though she might suddenly step into the brightness coming from his wand.

"Teach me," Hermione said simply when she finally came to stand beside him.

"Give me a few minutes to perfect the magical signature, otherwise it would be meaningless to you," Antonin said, ending the spell with a simple knox, which pleased him.

After ten minutes of him constantly retrying the spell always with great success, and even finding that he could visualize the strength of the lumos to desired brightness, he felt ready to share it with her.

"Ok," he said finally, turning to stare at her, her beautiful eyes locked on his, excitement clearly showing in their depths. "Say lichnyy Solnyshko."

"But that's the word you called me earlier, isn't it?" Hermione asked, her eyebrow raised.

"Yes, I created a spell that means "personal small sun", and I thought of you as I created it."

Hermione's heart raced, and her breath caught in her throat. When she remembered to breathe, she took a deep breath and standing on her tip toes leaned up to kiss him.

With his arms wrapped around her, he pulled her in close, the overwhelming need to feel her and bring her closer, leading him. With one hand in her curls he deepened their kiss, tentatively running his tongue over her lower lip.

When they finally broke apart, Hermione breathlessly murmured, "Thank you Antonin."

To be continued...

Solnyshko - small sun (think "you're my sunshine")