Author's Note: The Christmas Chapter of High Hopes and Desperate Measures (Check it out if you have not read it. This will make more sense then!) was big enough already, and I want to try my hand at a One-Shot, so here is my finished product. Enjoy the fluff!
The Snowball Fight
It was Christmas morning, and the entire Weasley family and the Order were seated in the Great Hall, opening their presents.
After unwrapping hers, Ginny was quite pleased with her bounty. Her family and friends had also received lovely gifts, but she looked at Draco with a frown on her lips.
Draco did not have any gifts under the tree. He sat quietly next to Ginny, looking around at all the unwrapped goodies. When suddenly Mrs. Weasley walked over and dropped a package in his lap.
"Ginny mentioned you might not get any gifts from your family this year, so Arthur and I decided that you should get something from our family instead." Mrs. Weasley smiled at the surprised boy.
Draco opened the neatly wrapped gift and was pleased to find a grey sweater with green stitching spelling out the letter "D".
"Aw, no fair, Malfoy gets a normal colour! Why am I always stuck with maroon?" Ron complained under his breath, but loudly enough for Ginny and Draco to hear right next to him. .
Ginny giggled, "That's a nice color for you, Draco."
"Thanks, Mrs. Weasley, Mr. Weasley. I appreciate this, more than you know." Draco said with genuine respect.
"I have a little something for you, too, Draco." Ginny pulled out a small package from the pocket of her pyjama pants.
She handed the small package over to Draco, and waited for his reaction. "It's nothing special, but I think you'll like it."
As Draco untied the ribbon, Ginny watched with a hopeful look on her face.
The ribbon and paper fell away to reveal a miniature snow globe with a small green dragon in the centre. She had sent away for it before the whole ordeal with her father had happened and it had arrived a day after she had made up with Draco.
"It's lovely, thank you, Ginny." He said as he smiled at her. He looked up for a second then looked back at her. He leaned in slowly and placed a soft kiss on her left cheek.
Ginny blushed and looked away from the boy, obviously embarrassed. She had a goofy little smile showing for the next half hour.
Draco pointed up, with a sheepish look on his face. "I… Err… Mistletoe, you know…" He cleared his throat. "Here, I got you something too." Draco pulled out a small box from his pocket and slid it over to Ginny. "I saw it in a catalogue and it reminded me of you."
Ginny opened the green velvet box to find a simple necklace with an imp charm dangling from it.
"You're such an imp; fiery and quick to temper." Draco admitted as Ginny stuck her tongue out at him.
Ginny let out another giggle, and thanked him. "Thank you, Draco, it really is nice."
Draco smiled in appreciation and the two sat there looking dumbly at each other until the twins broke the silence. "Time for a snowball fight! Everyone by the lake in fifteen minutes or we'll turn you into snowmen!"
The Weasley children, Hermione, Harry, and Draco ran up to their rooms to change into snowy weather clothes. Fleur had decided to sit out the game, but she would most definitely watch from the sidelines along with some Order members who were to be chaperoning. Remus Lupin and Andromeda Tonks were to watch the group as they frolicked in the snow. Maybe they would even join in on the fun.
Fifteen minutes later, the twins had already started building a fort, one for each, as both were to be on opposite teams.
As the rest of the gang arrived near the lake, the twins started splitting the teams. "Oi, Gin-Gin, Draco, you two are with me. You too, Ron" Fred automatically grabbed those four as his team.
George had no choice, "I guess that leaves me with you lot, Charlie, and Harry. Hermione, you as well, dear."
The groups finished the forts that the twins had started building, and started collecting snowballs behind their walls.
"Psst, Draco, over here!" Ginny whispered to her friend. "Let's stay behind this wall; we can aim for Harry and Hermione."
Draco crawled over to where Ginny was lying behind her wall. She had warmed up the spot with a warming spell, and was peering over at the other team's fort.
Without warning, Draco grabbed a pile of snow and dumped it over Ginny's head.
"Hey! No fair, you're on my team, we're supposed to get the others, not ourselves!"
Ginny stood up to brush the snow off her shoulders, but was then almost hit by a snowball thrown by a member of George's team.
Draco pulled her down, "Ginny, you're supposed to hide from the other team, not stand around in plain view! Obviously."
"Oh, I'll get you back, ferret! Just you wait." She hissed, as she returned to her task of gathering snowballs for throwing.
They continued with the random jumping up and throwing snowballs and quickly ducking to avoid the flying clumps of snow coming their way.
After a half hour, the groups disbanded with some members going off in different directions to do different things in the snow.
Ginny dragged Draco up a small hill, away from the rest of the young adults. "Where are you taking me, woman?"
"Shhh, stand right there and close your eyes. I have something special for you." She tried to convince Draco that he should stay perfectly still and that he should not peek. She had a 'surprise' for him. "Now count to ten!"
"1… 2… 3…" Draco started counting and by the time he reached "10," Ginny had a snowball flying straight for his face.
As the snow hit Draco, he yelped in surprise.
"Ha, I told you I'd get you back!" Ginny screamed as she started running away from her friend.
Draco chased Ginny around for a few minutes until he finally caught up with her. He pounced on the girl and they both fell to the ground in a tangled mess of limbs and snow.
Draco peered into her eyes and was about to say something when, suddenly, he felt his leg being pulled as he was dragged off the girl.
"Oi, ferret, get off my sister!" Ron had stumbled upon the pair at a bad time, and had obviously seen something that was extremely out of context.
Draco quickly stood up and glared at Ron. A few seconds later, he had his famous smirk on his face and a snowball thrown at Ron's head. Ron screamed, and darted after the blond haired wizard, and Harry and Hermione followed, leaving Ginny still lying in the snow.
From far, Ginny could see the four students chasing each other, throwing snow in every direction. They did not look angry with Draco, rather they looked they were having fun playing in the snow.
Bill came over to Ginny and pulled her up, brushing the snow off her shoulders and out of her hair.
"I saw that, Gin-bug." Bill confessed. He had seen her and Draco frolicking in the snow, but was not going to lecture her on her actions with the Slytherin boy. "You guys are cute, I'm glad to see you having fun. And who knew Malfoy's were capable of smiling and laughing like the rest of us common folk, eh?"
He playfully swatted at his little sister's head and then wrapped an arm around her. They walked after her friends and brother, chatting amiably about the past few months Ginny had experienced in school.
Bill was happy for his sister; she had found a true friend in Malfoy, and he was grateful that the boy would do anything for her, too. If anything, he would at least approve of the friendship between them, even if the rest of his brothers were slow on the realization.
The rest of the morning was quite magical, and the happy group spent their time playing and building snowmen together, as a family and as friends.