The Carol Rang Through Hogwarts
Category: Harry Potter
Genre: I don't know…general?
Pairings: Established Hermione/Blaise, circumstantial Harry/Ron, eventual Harry/Draco
Rating: PG…for mild language and 'violence' (it's in quotes because…well, read the whole thing and it will explain itself)
Summary: Harry loves Draco. Ron loves Harry. Draco's completely in the closet and the door is jammed. Sometimes, the greatest Christmas present is a wake-up call…and a little WD-40 for the stuck closet door.
Part I
A rare occurrence in the Slytherin Common room is complete silence. Especially near the holidays. But, tonight, it was quiet as a graveyard, and there was one person in the House that liked that. Taking advantage of the stillness in the green-and-silver common room, he sat on the sofa near the blazing fire. He listened contentedly as the wood crackled in the fireplace and reveled in the radiating heat rolling over him as he lay on the couch. Occasionally, his silver eyes glanced over to watch the flames dance around with no specific form or pattern. His lips curved into a satisfied smile. It was warm, quiet, and peaceful. As he looked back to the book in his hands and found his place on the page, he heard a voice behind him.
"What are you reading?" There was a pause, then the young man on the couch turned his head to face the disturbance.
"What do you want, Zabini? I'm trying to read."
"I want to know what you're reading. Didn't you hear me?"
"Not really. I'm reading a book. About…" He himself was reluctant to admit it, for if the rest of Slytherin House found out; he would be the main topic of gossip the next morning, simply because Zabini couldn't keep his mouth shut. So he changed his mind about telling him. "None of your business."
"Then can you tell me where you got it?" Zabini persisted. "Come on, Draco. You can tell me. I swear I won't tell anyone."
"Yeah, right." Draco said, rolling his eyes. Blaise always said that, and he always spilt his guts to the first person that asked. "I don't believe you. Just go away and let me read." Blaise shrugged his shoulders and left. Draco's half-smile returned to his lips as he continued to read. How would the House react if they knew that the Slytherin Prince, who hated anything and everything to do with Muggles, had picked up a Muggle book and had been caught reading it? That was why Draco didn't tell Blaise where he had got it.
XxXxXxXxXxX
It was four o'clock in the morning. The fire in the hearth lit up the red walls and gold accents of the Gryffindor common room. Curled up his favorite armchair by the fire, schoolbooks open and parchment scattered about, a young man sat finishing his homework. Unable to sleep, he had come out to the common room to finish the homework he had been given for the Christmas holidays.
He yawned and stretched his arms as he finished McGonnagle's transfiguration essay (about the dangers of becoming animagi without Ministry supervision), then turned his attention to the half-finished Potions essay about the proper way to mix and use veritaserum. As he re-read what he had written hours before, he ran his hand through his black hair. His green eyes scanned the parchment as he thought of something to add.
Two and a half hours later, the fire had gone out and the first faint rays of the sun had begun to shimmer on the lake.
"Harry, how long have you been up?" asked a voice from the direction of the boy's dorms.
"Oh, hey Ron. Since about four." Harry answered, rubbing his tired eyes.
"Doing what?" Ron asked, jumping over the banister and landing rather badly on the floor. "Ow."
"Finishing my homework. It's a pretty good idea to get it done now so we have all Christmas break to do what we want, right?"
"Yeah. Owwwwwww!" Ron moaned getting up.
"What did you hurt?" asked a female voice.
"My leg…ow." Ron answered, finally managing to get up. "How are you, Hermione?"
"I'm fine. Harry, you look tired. How much sleep did you get?"
"Hardly any." Harry answered. The three friends talked for a while, then headed down to the Great Hall for breakfast.
XxXxXxXxXxX
Draco had just gotten to the doors to the Great Hall with Blaise when the Gryffindor Trio came traipsing down the hall. Out of the corner of his eye, Draco saw his friend's eyes light up when Hermione Granger passed the two Slytherins to enter the hall.
"Hermione…wait up!" Zabini called after her. She stopped and turned. Smiling, she waited for her boyfriend to catch up. He escorted her to one of the two tables set up; more students than usual had stayed for Christmas, so a second table was needed. The Malfoy heir watched the two of them take each other's hands and sit down next to each other before closing his steely gray eyes and moving toward the other table, hoping to get away from the Christmas-y romance inspired by the mistletoe hanging all throughout the school.
As he took his seat and helped himself to some French toast, he heard the other two Gryffindors approaching.
"Come on, Harry! It's been ages since we've played chess!" Ron said as he sat down next to the black-haired boy who had taken a seat across from Draco.
"I don't feel like chess, okay, Ron. I just don't want to play," Harry said, sounding very tired. "Maybe some other time."
"What about 'having all Christmas break to do what we want?'" Ron asked.
"Yeah. What WE want…not what YOU want." Harry didn't even look at the redhead as he piled eggs and bacon onto his plate. He looked up, though, when Draco cleared his throat.
"Oh. Hey, Malfoy," Ron sneered at the blonde.
"Hey, yourself, Weasel."
"Merry Christmas, Draco," Harry tried hopefully; it was well known around the school that if you caught Draco in a good mood on Christmas, you'd be set for life.
"Humbug," Draco spat. "Christmas is stupid."
"No, it's not!" Harry argued.
"Don't try to convince him, Harry. Slytherins don't listen to Gryffindors, even though we're right."
"Blaise listens to Hermione, and he's a Slytherin," the Boy-who-Lived pointed out.
"Can't argue with that logic," Draco added sarcastically, giving the Chosen one a pointed glare. Ron saw this, and came close to hitting him.
"Come on, Harry, let's go," Ron said, tugging on Harry's sleeve as he stood up. "He's not worth our time, anyway."
"No, Ron. I'm staying here and eating." And Harry Potter proceeded to do just that.
"Why are you staying, Potter?" Draco asked after Weasley had left. "Don't you have something else to be doing?"
"Not really. Besides, I like Christmas, and the Great Hall is looking particularly Christmas-y this morning."
"Of course it is, you prat. It's Christmas Eve." Draco rolled his eyes. "And I don't particularly care."
"Fine. Be that way!" Harry said, sounding very hurt. "I guess I won't get you anything."
"Why would you get me anything, anyway?" Draco asked, incredulous.
"Well, one, my best friend is dating your best friend, and two, I thought it might lighten you up a bit with the 'house unity' concept."
"You are such an idiot, Potter. House Unity is something the stupid Sorting Hat made up to get us all to get along! It's stupid." That said, Draco stood and stormed off. Harry stared after him as he left, and had just gone back to his eggs when two familiar forms appeared before him.
"Why don't you just tell him how you feel?" asked Hermione.
"I don't want to. What if he rejects me?"
"It's a double-edged sword, mate," Blaise said, sitting in Draco's vacated seat.
"How's that?" Harry asked, looking up and meeting Zabini's blue-green eyes.
"You ask Draco out, you reject Ron. You don't ask Draco out, and you spend the rest of your life thinking, 'what if?' See?"
"Yeah. The last thing I want to do, though, is choose between them. I love Draco, but I don't want to break Ron's heart…especially not on Christmas Eve."
"Uh-huh. That's pretty much exactly what you're gonna have to do." Blaise said. Hermione agreed by nodding her head.
"We've got to find a way to let Ron down gently, but still get Draco's attention," Hermione mused, sitting next to her boyfriend. "But how?" They sat in silence until the Hall started to empty, then they got up and walked together to the seventh floor.
They paused in the middle of the hallway and walked past a section of the wall three times, thinking about a way to solve Harry's problem.
'We need a way to let me choose between Ron and Draco' Harry thought, while Hermione and Blaise stood back and waited. When the door to the Room of Requirement appeared, they walked in.
All over the place were books about breaking up and getting the one you like to notice you.
"Well, let's get started." On Zabini's suggestion, the three of them scattered to go through the books.
XxXxXxXxXxX
Draco walked through the halls aimlessly, wondering what was with everybody and 'Christmas'. He honestly didn't get it. His silver eyes looked up when it appeared he had come to a dead end. He scowled at the portrait covering the entrance to the Slytherin common room. Muttering the password (dark water) he made his way to the couch and went to pick up his book when he saw someone already sitting on the couch.
"Hello, Draco. How has your morning been?" Pansy asked.
"How do you think?" the blonde huffed, collapsing onto the sofa next to her.
"Not good. What happened?"
"Potter and Christmas. That's what happened."
"Oh, don't worry about that. Come on, relax. We can hate Christmas together!" Pansy said cheerily, even though Pansy Parkinson and Christmas got along like peanut butter and jelly.
"I hate Christmas people," Draco muttered, getting up and heading to his dormitory. After a while, a thought came to him. 'You know what you can do to get back at those Christmas people you hate so much? Since Dumbledore's the worst of the lot, sneak into his office tonight and vandalize it. That's gonna be a Christmas present he'll never forget!'. Draco couldn't agree more. Smiling and laughing, he went back to the common room, where Pansy was still on the couch reading the latest issue of Witch Weekly. Hearing his laughter, she looked up from an article about blue robes.
"What's got you so happy?" she asked skeptically.
"The voices aren't real, but they have some great ideas!" he answered.
"This can't be good. Tell me everything," the pug-faced girl demanded sadistically. So he told her what he had thought of.
"I'll come with you…to make sure you don't screw up or get caught," Pansy said when he'd finished explaining.
"No. I'm going alone. I hate Christmas, and I'm the one who's gonna trash this God-forsaken holiday for everyone."
Well, you all know what to do, and remember the challenge. We'll see you at the next chapter.