You Are My Christmas
"Draco?"
A growl of annoyance followed the question.
"Draco!" The tone was annoyed now.
"What do you want with me, Anita?" the blond teen scowled, wheeling around to look at the woman as she strode towards him down the garden path. She was watching him with an unreadable two-toned gaze, watching him in silence. The snow crunched under her booted feet, the wind flipping her hair. In the freezing white world that surrounded her, she looked a welcome sight…as much as Draco hated to admit.
"Potter is looking for you," the woman replied quietly.
Draco watched the older woman, gazing upon the snow that fell and landed in her wild red curls.
"What does Potter want with me, Anita?" he asked, his slate grey gaze on her.
"It almost time," she whispered to him as she approached, placing a hand on his shoulder. She reached up to pluck a piece of white snow out of his bleach blond hair, her fingers slowly going to trail down his cold cheek.
He leaned into the touch, her hand warm against his skin.
"So soon, Anita?" Draco asked her.
She nodded solemnly.
He sighed, and began to turn in the snow. He stopped, a hand grabbing his arm. "Anita…" he whispered quietly. "I have to go."
"No…not yet…" the witch whispered, her head down, eyes locked on a footprint in the snow under them.
Draco turned slightly, his gaze softening. "Anita…I have to do this," he whispered.
"No," she whimpered. "No, Draco…not so soon…"
"Anita, we've been through this," Draco whispered as he stepped through the snow again and put a hand on his cheek. She looked up into his eyes, realizing how much he had grown in the past year. Not just how much taller he'd grown, but by how his eyes had changed. They were wiser, more gentle, and even more loving than they had been before. They were matured, different, changed, yet in a good way. "I have to go."
"No, you don't…" Anita protested, her eyes locked onto his. "You don't have to leave."
"Anita, do you want Voldemort dead?" Draco asked her, the hand on her cheek beginning to card through her hair.
"Yes, but I – "
"Then I have to go," Draco told her.
"Draco," Anita began again, her voice coming out in a soft, pleading tone. She was going to continue when she was cut off, her air going short. Lips were pressed against hers, causing her to blink in shock and try to pull away.
However, arms wrapped around her, pulling against something strong, and she realized that it was Draco. He held her close, protectively, against his chest, one of his hands going up to tangle in her hair.
She wrapped her arms around his neck, letting her eyes close as he kissed her.
When he had to pull away to breathe, Draco pulled away, resting his forehead against hers as he looked into her two different colored eyes, the pale blue one reminding him of himself.
"You're good at shutting me up," Anita whispered, and Draco smiled softly.
"So I've been told," he said.
"You still don't have to go," she told him.
Draco sighed, closing his eyes. "A-ni-ta," Draco said, pronouncing her name forcefully at each syllable. "We have been through this and we've already agreed. I do have to; I have to avenge your family, avenge Shaydra, avenge Dumbledore, and all of the other witches and wizards who have died fighting for our cause…the right cause…"
At the mention of her cousin's name, Anita looked to the side, and Draco sighed softly, pulling his forehead away from hers in the cold air so he could kiss it. She tucked her head under his chin, and he held her as she hid her face into his chest.
"Anita…" he whispered. "I will come back."
"How can I be sure?" she replied quietly.
"What makes you think that I wouldn't come back, Anita?" Draco questioned. "What makes you think I wouldn't?"
"Why didn't Shaydra come back?"
Draco's gaze slipped down to the ground. Shaydra hadn't come back because his father had killed her…killed the only family that Anita had had left.
Darkened memories of the past four years flashed through their minds as they remembered their rebellion against Voldemort; they're rebellion to stay with each other, no matter what it took.
"We're a messed up pair, aren't we?" Draco asked after long minutes of silence, and she let out a saddened laugh. A wisp of curling steam fogged the air between the two of them as they began to laugh together, and Draco picked her up off of her feet, beginning to twirl her around in the snow.
"You're beautiful, you know that?" Draco asked as he set her back on her feet, kissing the edge of her reddened, cold nose.
Anita smiled as she began to nuzzle under his chin, though he grimaced slightly and pulled away against the contact. The smile falling from her face into a frown, she pulled away herself to look up at him. "What?" she asked, and then she grinned and began to laugh as she saw him rubbing at his skin with his scarf.
"Your hair is soaked with snow, Annie," he told her with a small scowl.
She smiled sweetly at him, and knelt down in the snow, pretending to fix her boot. "And how'm I supposed to fix that?"
Draco rolled his eyes, a hand touching his own hair. He grumbled. "Mine is wet, too…"
"And now your clothes are, too."
"What…?"
Before Draco even had a chance to respond, he was smacked upside the head with a snowball, and Anita began to laugh at the scowl on his face.
"Oh, you're in for it now, woman!" Draco thundered, though his anger was all in jest as he knelt in the snow, too, and began to quickly make snowballs and throw them at her.
She laughed as she dodged, making her own when she had the chance to try and hit him. After her first lucky shot, though, she always missed, and he always hit his mark.
When Draco was sure that Anita was thoroughly soaked with snow, he stopped, laughing as he stood up triumphantly. "All right, Annie, I'll stop, you can come out, now," he said through his laughter. However, it soon subsided and was gone, and he began to look around. "Anita?"
The forest around him and the path was silent, and he began to look around, becoming more and more frightened the longer he didn't see Anita.
"Annie? Anita?" he called as he turned around, looking for her everywhere her could without actually leaving the path; he wanted to be able to make it back to the house.
"Anita!" His yells were becoming more frantic the longer she didn't answer him. He was quiet after a moment, his breath coming in panicked gasps, the air in front of him fogging with his breath.
He jumped as a twig snapped behind him and was about to spin on his heels when he saw a flash of the red color of her hair. He let out a grunt as the wind was knocked out of him and he was flat on his back in the snow, coughing slightly.
Anita sat atop him, straddling his stomach with a triumphant look on her face.
"Gotcha," she said with a grin, leaning down. She grabbed his wrists and put them above his head in the snow as she leaned down to kiss him gently.
"You scared me," he said quickly as he gasped for breath when she pulled away.
Anita laughed as he caught his breath, smiling up at her.
"I realize this," she whispered. "But I've been told I'm very good at making things up."
Draco smiled as she kissed him again, and then tried to make the contact last longer when she pulled away by following her up. She chuckled, leaning down on top of him slightly, his hands still trapped up above his head.
"You look like Christmas come early," he whispered with a smile.
"I've been told that, too," Anita said with a smile as she kissed the top of his nose and his forehead. He gave off a shiver below her, and she pulled back slightly. "What's wrong?"
"It's…really cold…" Draco whispered, his teeth beginning to shatter as he realized that his clothes were now soaked, too.
Anita nodded. "Yeah…that's kinda my fault, too," she said as she began to slowly get up off of him, looking slightly disappointed.
"What?" Draco asked as he began to get up out of the snow when his wrists were finally free.
Anita looked over her shoulder at him as she began to walk back down the path, a sly grin on her face before she took off running towards the house.
Draco laughed and began to run after her. Just as he began to catch up to her in the cold weather, the house was looming over them and she dashed inside, quickly trying to pull off her boots, leaving the door wide open behind her.
He laughed as he pulled his shoes off and caught her just past the door, and twirled her in his arms again, chuckling as she squealed and tried to get away. His steel grip didn't release her, though, and it took her a long time to stop laughing.
"Merlin's beard, Malfoy, what in the hell are you doing?!"
Draco looked up at hearing the exclamation, and his smile soon faded. Harry, Ron, Hermione, Ginny and a few Order members were gathered in the doorway to the living room, looking ready to leave. Mrs. Weasley, though, was the star of the group. She was standing a few feet away, seething as she watched their soaking clothes drip water all over the floor, the snow drifting in through the open door.
Ginny quickly slipped past the two to shut the door, and Draco and Anita stood frozen as they watched them.
"Uhm…hi?" Anita said, waving slightly.
Mrs. Weasley threw her hands up into the air as she scowled, turning on her heel to go something to clean it. Magic wasn't such a good idea to use up here, so they were using generators to power the heaters and the electricity. Voldemort had learned how to track magic…so they'd retreated to the frozen north, and refrained from using magic at all costs.
"Well done," Ron said to the two of them, and Anita's head hung slightly at the scolding tone. "We'd just gotten her to smile in this frozen wasteland."
"Well, excuse us," Draco growled, looking down at Anita. Her head was down, the scolding having done its job. He glared up at Harry, who suddenly looked apologetic as his eyes fell on Anita.
"Well done," he spat back as he put an arm around Anita's waist as he pulled her with him towards the stairs and up to the second floor.
She leaned on his shoulder as they went towards their room, and when they got there, he opened the door and brought her in.
"I'm sorry," she whispered finally, though her words seemed to be delayed.
"It wasn't your fault, Anita," Draco told her quietly as he began to pull her clothes off of her and down to her bra, and then began to do the same until he was down to his bare chest. He grabbed a warm blanket and wrapped it around her, then wrapped his arms around her bare skin.
"What're you doing?" she whispered quietly, though the question was seconds was voiced after it usually would have been asked.
"Body heat, Annie," he explained as he held her, keeping the blanket around her back.
"Oh," she whispered, leaning her head against his shoulder. "I'm sorry…"
"There's nothing for you to be sorry about, Annie," Draco whispered to her as he held her.
Mentally, he sighed. Yelling at her and scolding her now was one of the worse things that they could have done to her. Since Blaise and Dharma's death at the hands of the Death Eaters a few months ago, she got depressed easily. He had yelled at her enough right after it had happened, telling her that she should have been there to save them…been there to at least prevent their deaths, when really she was being tortured at the other end of the battlefield…but he hadn't known that at the time. He thought that she'd done nothing to stop it.
"It's all right, it wasn't your fault," he whispered as he held her.
"Please don't go…" she whispered as her shivering began to slowly subside against him.
"I'll have to, Annie…you'll be here with Gin and McGonagall and the Weasle twins…you'll be fine here."
Her depression was the only thing holding her back from going with them…but he couldn't have her there in the middle of a battle getting depressed…he'd go into protective mode and lose sight of their goal momentarily and ruin all of the perfect planning they'd been working on for the past year.
"But I want to stay with you…" Anita whispered.
Draco sighed. "You can't, Annie…not this time," he told her gently.
He blinked as he was suddenly being moved, Anita pulling him over to the bed.
"Then…" she whispered as she pushed him back onto the bed, moving on top of him, "can I at least tell you goodbye and wish you luck?"
XxXxX
Draco sighed as he stood silently from the bed, crossing over to the closet to pull out a set of black robes. He pulled out some of her robes, setting them on his pillow. He crossed to the desk then and pulled out a quill and parchment, writing her a quick note. He set it atop the robes on his pillow, sitting on the edge of the bed afterwards.
He watched her sleep under the sheets, and pulled a heavy blanket over her when he saw her shiver from the cold.
He leaned to kiss her cheek, carding his fingers through her wild curls. "I love you, Annie," he whispered. "Goodbye."
He smiled as he watched her move closer to him and he kissed her forehead. "Sleep well, Anita…my Christmas."
XxXxX
Anita sat up as she realized her warmth was gone. She began to look around, calling quietly, "Draco?"
She didn't see him in the dimly lit room, and reached over to turn on the lamp.
She blinked at the sudden light, her eyes catching the white parchment on the pillow beside her.
Anita picked up the parchment. It had her name on it. She opened it and began to scan the writing with her softened two-toned gaze.
Anita, I'm sorry that I can't stay with you. I know you wanted to come with me, but you're better off there…safe. It helps me to know that you're safe and sound where you are, to know that I don't have to worry about you getting killed. I don't have to think of the possibility of coming back to find you dead…I don't have to worry about that. This time, I swear to you that I will kill Voldemort for you and avenge your family, Shaydra, Dharma and Blaise. Then, I'll come back to you...and we will be free. We'll be free, Anita, finally. Stay all right until I get back, okay? Don't do anything stupid. I love you. Draco P.S. I left you robes. They're green. I know you don't like green robes, but you're so beautiful in them. You make it look like my Christmas has come early when you do. I love you, Anita.
All I have to worry about is missing you.
I love you, Anita. I know it doesn't always seem like it, but I do. I love you and miss you very much already.
Anita sighed heavily as she read the note, looking over at the dark green robes he'd left for her, and with a grimace got out of the warm bed and began to pull them on.
She looked in the mirror after she'd gotten dressed and groaned.
"I look like a freaking Christmas tree," she moaned out, but sighed. Draco loved this color on her…she never knew. She smiled slightly as she began to look around for Draco, quickly going downstairs.
When she got there, Mrs. Weasley was mopping in the hallway. The woman looked up as Anita came down the stairs, and smiled sweetly at her.
"Good morning, Anita," Mrs. Weasley said cheerfully.
"Morning," Anita returned with a nod of recognition, looking around. "Where's Draco?"
"He left yesterday, Annie," Mrs. Weasley told her. "You've slept quite a while. I'm sure you're hungry."
"Yeah," Anita said with a soft sigh before she went towards the kitchen.
"Those robes look lovely on you, Annie," Mrs. Weasley called after her.
Ginny was standing at the electric stove, cooking breakfast. She turned as she heard someone walk in, and smiled.
"Morning, Annie," Ginny said, and the woman smiled in acknowledgement.
"What's for breakfast?" she asked as she took up a stool at the counter.
"Eggs and sausage," the Weasley girl replied, and smiled. "Oh, Annie, there's a package for you on the counter; Draco left it for you last night."
Anita looked over towards the package that Ginny pointed at and immediately picked it up.
To My Christmas, it read in Draco's handwriting. Anita began to rip the paper off of it as Ginny turned to watch her from the stove, peering on in curiosity.
Anita finally made it to the box and pulled it open, reaching in and feeling around through the tissue paper. She pulled out something long and thin, pulling the tissue paper off of it.
Tears began to well in her eyes as she saw what it was.
It was a picture of herself, Draco, Dharma, Shaydra and Blaise at the Halloween Ball, the day before Shaydra had died. They all looked so happy in their costumes, with smiles on all of their faces. They were laughing and pushing each other in jest, though Blaise never released Shaydra and Draco never released Anita throughout all the motions of the picture.
"Oh, Draco…" she whispered, gazing on through the picture.
You are my Christmas, Annie, it read in silver lettering near the bottom. The rest of your present will come back to you with me.
Anita smiled as she read it, and hugged the picture frame to her.
"All right, then," Anita said as she sat back slightly, "looks like I'll just have to wait for you."
She knew that she would only be waiting until that night for him to return, if he did, victorious or no…
But then again, it wouldn't matter.
Anita would have him, the love of her life, and she wouldn't care for victory in the least.
Fin.
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or the characters in it, they belong to J. K. Rowling. I do, however, own Anita and Shaydra and Narya owns Dharma. Pennilyn Novus, Narya and myself own the main story line of this, as it originates from our own roleplay named Three Death Eaters and a Werewolf.
This was written for a fluffiness fanfiction contest on the Third Floor Corridor. I'm pretty sure it's not the kind of fluffiness they were looking for, but it's there...and I hope the judges like it. If you would like to join, please go to thirdcorridor./index.cgi and when you join, say that I, kimberlyrian, was the person who referred you there.
Thanks for reading, and please leave a review on your way out.