I needed to get a good Christmas oneshot out of the way this week ( : please review and let me know your opinions. I don't own a thing
"Darling please sleep." Ginny bounced her wailing daughter up and down. "Please. Please sleep." She begged the infant. She glanced at the clock her father had given them and saw that while three hands were pointed to home, her husband's was still pointed at mortal peril. There had been an outbreak from Azkaban and as an auror, he had to go and try to round them up, even if it was Christmas eve.
"Mummy is Daddy home yet?" Asteria's three year brother Noah had come wobbling out of his bedroom, tiredly rubbing at his eyes. Ginny looked down at her son and shook her head sadly no. Asteria continued to cry. "Hey Asteria, quiet now." Noah walked up to his sister and placed his hand on hers. Ginny sat down on the couch and used one arm to pick Noah up and sit him beside she and Asteria. She and Noah spent ten minutes shhing and quieting the baby until she finally nodded off.
"We should go put her in her crib Mum." Noah reccomended wisely and Ginny chuckled quietly, nodding her head. She stood and walked down the immensely long hall to her daughter's room.
"Good night my beautiful beautiful girl." Ginny kissed Asteria's forehead before laying her down.
"Muuuuuum." Noah tugged on his mother's robe with a whine once they were out in the hall.
"What sweetheart?" Ginny bent down to pick Noah up, resting him on her hip.
"Where's Dad?" Noah asked with his wide brown eyes. Ginny didn't have an answer. Noah had asked this many times and most of the time, Ginny couldn't tell her son where her husband was, he constantly had to leave for his Auror duties.
"I-I don't know Noah." They were back in the parlor. "How about I make you some of my famous hot chocolate?" Ginny smiled brightly at her son and Noah bobbed his head. Ginny swung Noah onto her back with a laugh and they ran to the kitchen.
Ginny whipped out her wand from her silk robe and got a pot of milk simmering on the stove and she began to melt chocolate in another. Noah ran to the pantry and snatched down a bag of marshmallows. "These too right Mum?" Ginny nodded with a tinkling laugh.
"What else little man?" She put her hands on her hips and Noah had a look of realization. He leaped towards the refrigerator and retrieved the whipped cream. "Ah that's a boy." Ginny grinned down at him and took the white sweets from Noah. She began to shave tiny spirals off of a bar of solid chocolate when Noah let out a huge yawn. "Noah why don't you go wait out in the living room, alright sweetie?" Noah yawned once more and nodded.
He disappeared from the kitchen and Ginny smiled somewhat sadly as she resumed making the cocoa. She wondered where her husband was at that very moment and she suddenly was reminded of the day she realized she was in love with him.
"I love you." Harry Potter whispered, his hands tangled in her red locks. Ginny Weasley gazed up at him, trying to force herself to return the words he had just spoken. "Gin? This'd be a great time to say something back." Harry urged her and Ginny's hands quivered.
"I c-can't." She broke away from him. Harry took a step forward and Ginny hugged her arms around her stomach with an uneasy look.
"What do you mean you can't?" Harry seemed to think she was kidding so he had a slight smile on his lips. "You've been head over heels for me since before we ever met." Harry reached for her hands with a laugh and Ginny couldn't seem to pull them out of his grasp. "Gin come on, you know you love me." He used his strength to pull her against him and Ginny felt crushed beneath his arms.
"Harry no." She pushed against him to duck away. "I don't love you anymore."
She turned and ran down the stone hallways before she could look back, unsure of where she was headed. When someone got in her way, she raised her wand, confusion blinding her. "Boggieus B-" The person disarmed her and her wand flew several feet away. "What the bloody hell do you think you're-Malfoy? Move." Ginny glared angrily at the smirking blonde.
"Weaselette you've been running since the charms corridor. Falling out with Scarhead?" He asked her with a chuckle. Ginny raised her fist, ready to hit Draco Malfoy when he caught it easily, forcing her hand back down. "Merlin. Ginny what's wrong?" Malfoy actually placed a hand on her shoulder and Ginny didn't rip it off. "Wanna talk?" He held out his other hand and Ginny eyed it.
"Just because you tutored me in potions doesn't mean we're friends." Ginny suddenly felt tears pushing at her eyes. Was she really crying over not being in love with Harry "I'm the bloody chosen one" Potter? She pushed the salty tear out of her eye.
Every fiber of her being told her not to do it, screaming at her DON'T DO IT! But Ginny knew that if she told Hermione, her brother's girlfriend would never understand. So taking a big breath, she took his hand and Draco guided her smoothly to the Head's dorm. "Harry just told me he loved me." Ginny admitted as they sat down on the sectional couch.
"And this is a problem." Draco said, Ginny nodding. "Because you don't love him back." Ginny nodded once more, her hair falling into her face as she flopped back into the couch.
"I don't know! I don't know what love is!" She exclaimed and Draco nodded.
"I think I do. Do you get short of breath when he walks in the room?" Ginny shook her head slowly no. "Does your heart beat ten times faster whenever your eyes meet?" Ginny shrugged. "Do you fantasize about him every day?" Draco had reached for her hand again. "When your lips meet, does the whole, world, stand still..." Ginny was unsure what she should do. So instead of listening to every voice of reason (all of which sounded very much like every member of her family), she let herself kiss Draco Malfoy. And the whole world stood still.
Ginny looked down and jumped, realizing she had been holding open a cabinet to get the very tacky and holiday themed red mugs for ten minutes. The mug had little lights decorating the outside, with Father Christmas and his reindeer depicted as well. She poured two mugs of hot chocolate, sprayed the tops with whipped cream, and sprinkled them with chocolate shavings. And for a finishing touch, a light dusting of chocolate sprinkles.
She picked them up and began to walk towards the living room, where her son was snoring over the side of a couch, his blonde hair falling in his face. Ginny smiled and set down the piping hot chocolate on the table and picked her son up into her arms. She brought him down to his bedroom and tucked him beneath his blankets. "Goodnight Noah." Ginny kissed her son's head before walking through the pool of moonlight on his floor back into the hall.
"Night Mum." Noah yawned before burying his head beneath the blankets.
Draco's dragon patronus came flying into the hall and spoke with his tired voice: "Barriers being broken on manor. Get kids safe". They had worked tirelessly to secure every fire place and entrance but somehow, her family was in danger. Ginny ran to her children's bedrooms and scooped Noah out of bed.
"Mum what's going on?" Noah yawned against his mother's chest and she quieted him and told him that they had to be quiet to be safe. "Okay Mum." He mimed zipping his lips shut.
Ginny looked on either sides of the hall and picked up Asteria too. Asteria opened her mouth to cry and Ginny had to put a silencing spell on her daughter. Noah could walk on his own so Ginny could carry Asteria. Ginny murmured a spell, and the bookshelf against Asteria's wall slid away to reveal a secret passageway. Once they were inside it, Ginny put the bookshelf back and sealed the passageway. She illuminated her wand and they crept along the stone hall.
"Okay sit down right here." Ginny instructed Noah and they sat down cross legged against the wall. Asteria had stopped trying to cry and was now just staring wide eyed up at her mother. A bang! went off and the entire house shook, small debris falling out of the walls.
"Mum!" Noah clung to Ginny's side and Ginny nodded, wrapping her arm around him and using her wand to create a screen, she was looking at each room in her house. As a picture of Draco and his partner battling one witch and three wizards in their living room, she swept her wand across the screen so it disappeared.
"Mum is Dad okay?" Noah pulled on Ginny's blanket-like robe over her pajamas. "What's going on??" Ginny put her finger to her lips and gestured to the wall, the sound of footsteps were easily discerned. Noah understood and crawled into her lap, wrapping his arms around Asteria. Ginny cradled them both and tried to keep her mind from wandering to thoughts about her husband.
The hallway was far from being warm and Ginny quickly unwound the lavish robe from her body, using it to cover her son and daughter. Even as worried as he was, Noah managed to fall into a slightly fitful sleep. Asteria was fast asleep and Ginny glanced down at them before making the screen reappear.
It showed her beautiful living room torn to shreds, the tree on the ground, ornaments shattered across the floor, her children's gifts stomped on and some even burned. She flashed to another screen and it displayed one wizard pinned down by Draco's partner, disapparating beneath his grasp. Draco roared in anger as the dark haired woman he had been dueling vanished like smoke. The last two were disappearing as well.
Ginny felt helpless, she wanted to help her husband but she couldn't do anything. She closed the screen and like she had expected, the dragon came into the hall and murmured: "Safe." before literally going up in smoke.
Standing up, Ginny brought her sleeping children back to their bedrooms, removing Asteria's silencing spell before closing the door with a click.
"Hey Gin. How did you know to have my favorite drink ready and waiting at home?" He looked more exhausted and beat up than she had seen him in months, holding her son's cold mug in the hallway. Ginny wanted nothing more than to make him give up being an auror, but she knew how much his work meant to him.
"I guess I just know you." She smiled weakly, summoning some Pepper-Up potion for her freezing husband, some antibiotic cream, a few of her homemade potions, and several bandages as they walked into the parlor, which they rarely ever used.
"Ouch!" Draco hissed as she applied the cream to his wound. Ginny continued running it over the now forming scar, pulling out her wand to trace over it, making the skin heal.
"Don't scowl." Ginny told him and Draco's eyes narrowed. "Drink this Love." She tipped some Pepper-Up Potion into a goblet and handed it to Draco. "Accio Draco's night robe." She flicked her wand lazily in the direction of their bedroom and a black robe came whizzing towards them. Draco caught it and pulled his arms through the sleeves as steam poured from his ears, the robes covering his more minor cuts while Ginny placed bandages over the foot long one across his chest.
"Did you catch them?" Ginny asked quietly when she was finished and Draco looked up. This always happened and Draco almost always would smile cockily and say "Of course." But there was no laughter in his eyes tonight.
"No." He replied stiffly.
"It's okay Draco. The rest of the team is still out there looking." She tried to reassure him but this was different. "Talk to me." She coaxed him as she closed his robe and Draco closed his eyes. "What happened."
"It was Cassiopeia. Bellatrix's daughter. I let her slip through my fingers." Ginny could hardly hear him for he spoke so softly. Before she could open her mouth to ask why, Draco continued. "When I saw her, she looks just like Bellatrix and Rodolphus. I-it just felt like I was back cowering beneath them. I just froze and she was gone." Ginny rarely saw Draco this vulnerable and when she did, she could only listen.
"I felt like such a coward. I felt like I wasn't protecting anybody anymore, fighting my cousin in my own home. I want her finished." He said shakily and Ginny reached for his rough hand. "And I want to be the one to do it." His eyes flashed a stony gray and Ginny feared him in just that moment. "You are protecting someone. Three people at least." She kissed him softly."Draco! What are you doing?" She laughed, kicking her feet lightly as he walked from the room with his wife in his arms. They went back to the living room and Draco sat down on the couch with his feet up, Ginny lying down on top of him.
"Do you feel better?" She asked and he nodded, kissing her.
"It's Christmas Gin. I'm lucky and thankful for everything I have."
Ginny ran her finger across the small part of the scar she could see and sighed. Draco had many scars, some could not be seen anymore but they both knew he was marked for life. They were marks from previous duels, battles, and even some from Death Eaters from when he was a teenager.
"I think we belong together." Ginny said softly as she stood up to observe the destroyed living room.
"How do you figure that?" He inquired with a laugh and Ginny pulled out her wand.
"Well. The other women at work, they talk about their Healer, Quidditch Player, Law enforcement husbands. And to be honest. I get so bored. But when you tell me the stories of what you do, I'm so...interested. And I fear for your life but I know...I hope you're okay. That's gotta be crazy."
They both worked alongside each other to restore their family room. Draco rewrapped each gift while Ginny levitated the fourteen foot tree into place, sending the ornaments flying back into place. "Reparo." She whispered, pointing her wand at the shattered pieces of the star and handed it to Draco. "Your job Draco." He smiled and pointed his wand at his feet so he rose up to be eye level with the Christmas tree.
"So my crazy, beautiful, incredible wife, belongs with me. Of course." Draco said finally, wrapping his arms around Ginny and she laughed. "And I need you."
"Why is that?" Ginny shifted more comfortably in his.
"Well you make the best damn hot chocolate in the world of course." Draco laughed and Ginny snorted. "Merry Christmas Darling." He reached into his pocket and held out a long black velvet box.
"Draco..." Ginny began. "You didn't have to get me anything..." She opened it up and the diamond necklace glowed it was so beautiful. "Oh my..." She trailed off and took it out of the box. "I love it. Thank you!" She breathed and Draco closed it around her neck.
As the fire cast flickering shadows and crackled quietly, the two realized that they were lucky. And even if their lives weren't normal, what with dark wizards constantly out to kill her husband, and Noah knowing exactly what to do in a moment of emergency before he could properly hold a crayon, and Ginny knowing more defensive spells and healing remedies than half of the half-wits that were training to become aurors.
So what if their Christmas wasn't normal? It was theirs.