"Happy Christmas, you lot," McGonagall said in her extremely monotone voice, her eyes serious as she looked out over the students.
Some of them seemed to finally pay attention as if they'd been off in their own little world. The lesson had been ended early, if one could call five minutes early, and now they were just watching their professor stand at the front of the class with a hat that resembled the one thatt Santa Claus wore. Red and white, oddly ominous in the old woman's hands. Still they were all paying attention as she shook it a bit and looked them over.
"We are doing secret Santa this year," she said clearly, the class groaned and she glared at them which caused them to go silent. "It's part of your grade. You are to pick a name from the hat, you're to buy the individual a gift of your choosing. It must not be offensive or otherwise demeaning..."
McGonagall looked over to the Slytherins, who looked at each other and just shrugged their shoulders noncommittally.
"No matter who you get. There will be no switching or trading the name you get. They are charmed so don't try it."
The Slytherins sneered, but said nothing. All of them, merely huddled together without really moving but seeming to band together. As if by will alone they would all choose each other's names and they wouldn't have to worry about getting something for someone unworthy of their time. Professor McGonagall didn't seem at all deterred by them, instead she started walking around the room holding out the hat. Allowing student after student to pick a name out of a hat, coming to Hermione and holding out the hat.
"Well, hurry up, Miss Granger. Others are waiting," she urged Hermione.
The brunette furrowed her brow and reached into the hat, pulling out the small piece of parchment and taking care in opening it so no one else would see the name on it. Draco Malfoy was scrawled across the parchment and the sight of the name made her face flush with embarrassment and premature annoyance. What could she possibly get Draco Malfoy that he wouldn't insult or throw away? Probably do both at the same time and in front of her face. That thought alone made Hermione huff, but she folded the piece of parchment and placed it in her book before anyone could see it.
Ron had been peering over her shoulder after scoffing at the name he had pulled out of the hat. "I've got Marietta Edgecombe. What do you get for a traitor?"
"Ronald," Hermione said sternly. "It's Christmas, you have to be nice."
"Well, then that leaves out me asking you to make her a scarf doesn't it?" Ron smirked only to almost fall out of his seat as Hermione smacked him. "Bloody hell, woman! Calm down! I was only kidding."
Harry couldn't help but laugh as he picked up his bag and threw it over his shoulder. The name he'd picked was still folded up in his hand as he pulled the strap of his bag a little tighter and walked out of the classroom. Hermione made her way after him followed shortly by Ron, who had crumbled up his piece of parchment and stuffed it into his pocket. The three of them entered the corridor and headed toward Gryffindor tower at a leisurely pace.
"So who'd you get, Harry?" Ron asked as he moved up next to him.
"I don't know yet, I haven't looked."
"Well, give it here."
Ron snatched the piece of parchment from Harry before he could bother to hide it and unfolded it slowly. The name scrawled across the piece of parchment was Parvati Patil and Ron groaned before giving it back to Harry.
"Of course, you would get an easy one. At least you don't hate her," Ron mumbled.
"You don't hate Marietta, you can't really blame her. Umbridge is scary," Hermione said gently and just kept walking hoping to avoid the subject of her Secret Santa coming up.
"I can blame her, she got us in real trouble," Ron said with a firm nod.
"Hermione's right, she was scared," Harry said with a shrug as he took the parchment and stuffed it into his pocket.
"Umbridge wasn't that scary."
"Ron, you were as scared of her as the rest of us," Hermione pointed out.
"It doesn't matter now, she's gone. And I still don't like Marietta. Harry gets the easy one. So who did you get, Hermione?"
"I'm not telling you, Ron."
"What? Why not?"
"It's called Secret Santa for a reason. No one is supposed to know who has who. But, of course, you can't keep your mouth shut. Looks like you and Marietta have something in common."
Harry laughed at his best mates expense before Hermione smiled over to Ron and broke away from the boys as she was going to leave them to go to the library. Her Charms essay required more references than her required book for the course had. The boys didn't push the issue by running after her, but Ron looked after her and quirked his brow before looking back to Harry.
"Who do you think she got? I bet she has me and that's why she's not saying anything."
"Sure, Ron. Not at all because you're not the best secret keeper out there."
"I'm good at keeping secrets! But it's not like this is life altering or anything!"
Draco and his gang hadn't bothered to open their parchments in class, in fact they had all waited to gather in the Slytherin common room. Crabbe and Goyle taking up an entire sofa with just the two of them and Draco took up most of another as he lay across it. Pansy was sitting on the end with her head in his lap, stroking his hair gently as he looked over to Crabbe and Goyle. She was looking absolutely happy with herself because she had the Prince of Slytherin resting in her lap, making her the envy of every girl that passed them by. But he didn't seem to care all that much because his attention wasn't on Pansy but rather on waiting on Crabbe and Goyle to spill the beans on who they pulled out of the hat.
"Greengrass," grumbled Crabbe as he tossed the paper over his shoulder.
"Well, at least she won't be hard to buy for. Something sparkly, Daphne is easily distracted by things that sparkle," Pansy said snidely, stroking Draco's hair slowly as the two boys across from her snickered.
"I got you, Pansy," Goyle mumbled as he turned the piece of parchment around so she could read her name off of it.
"Just give me the galleons, Goyle. I'll buy it myself, no reason to waste what little brain power you have on that," she said with a smirk causing Draco to snicker.
"And who have you got then, Pansy?" Draco asked as he turned his gray eyes on her.
Pansy shifted as she removed the piece of parchment from her breast pocket and unfolded it slowly. It didn't take long for a look of disgust to move over her features, her eyes rolling as she held it out for Draco. The boy cocked his head back and laughed at Pansy's dismay causing her to become all the more infuriated by the name scrawled out across the parchment.
"You've got Weasle-bee. I'm sure giving him a pair of my used robes would be the highest quality gift he has ever gotten, probably worth more than his house," Draco laughed, the others joined along with him.
"And who do you have, Draco?" Pansy inquired as she slid her fingers through his hair slowly.
The blond boy sighed softly, reaching into the pocket of his trousers and pulling out the folded piece of parchment. He opened it and the soft snickers he'd be releasing were silenced almost immediately. Pansy looked down at her beau and just reached to snatch the parchment from his hand without his permission. She almost dropped his head out of her lap from sitting at the edge of the seat and laughing so loud.
"Granger? You got the mudblood? I thought getting Weasley was bad, but you have the mudblood," Pansy teased and laughed, but Draco hardly thought it was funny.
Even as Crabbe and Goyle laughed at their friends expense they quieted as soon as he threw them a death glare. The two boys swallowing thickly before Draco sat up and stole the piece of parchment from Pansy's hands. Crumbling it up and tossing it into the roaring fire within the hearth, finding some pleasure in watching it burn.
"What do you get a useless piece of shite anyway?" Draco said with a tone of disgust.
"I suggest you get her a personality or some good breeding," Pansy said with a snicker, Goyle laughing with her.
"No amount of proper breeding would fix that mudblood. I should get her on the wrong end of a Killing Curse for Christmas. At least then she'd be put out of her misery."
"And mine," Pansy said with another laugh.
Draco laughed at that, though his mind was boggled by what exactly to get Hermione Granger for Christmas. Something that wouldn't cost him the grade he worked his ass off for in McGonagall's class because surely that old bat wouldn't find it funny for him to give her a vial of mud. Though he could hear the others laughing he knew that it wasn't really a laughing matter because his father would not be happy to hear that he was going to have to buy a mudblood something for Christmas.
His father would hear about this and surely he would be able to get that old hag to reassign him a name. Or just give him the grade he so rightly deserved because last he checked buying mudbloods gifts was not a required skill set to be good at transfiguration.