A/N: The prompt for this chapter was Harry/Draco and Miscommunication. I couldn't bring myself to make it slashy, so I see it as a grudging start to a friendship. ;)

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Chapter Two - A Hot Day in Hell

"What the hell are you doing, Potter?"

"I'm trying to decorate the Christmas tree."

"Well, it looks like you just pulled it out of a rubbish bin."

"Perhaps if you helped me instead of standing there like a useless lump - "

"I've been trying to help you, but you're not listening to what I'm saying! I told you, that angel goes there, not there, and that Christmas ball has to be higher, and the tree looks stupid with popcorn kernels going around it!"

Ginny rolled her eyes and caught eyes with Hermione, who looked up from her book and sighed. Harry and Malfoy had been at it all morning long - bickering for bickering's sake. They had been assigned the task of decorating the tree for Christmas, but apparently Harry was the only one doing work while Draco stood by and criticized every little thing he did. Ginny had tried to go help them, hoping to play the peacemaker, but her mother had refused, stating that this had to be a moment for Harry and Draco to bond.

"Bond? Right, that'll happen on a hot day in hell," had been the scoff from Ginny's brother Ron, and she couldn't have agreed more.

The War had ended and Malfoy was on their side now, but he and Harry still despised each other. Malfoy blamed Harry for the deaths of both his mother and father, and the only reason he had accepted Mrs. Weasley's invitation to Christmas was because he had had nowhere else to go. He seemed to be intent on making everyone else miserable, though, and Harry, rather than shy away from confrontation, only egged him on.

It was bloody annoying.

"Damn it, Malfoy!" Harry bellowed furiously, his voice echoing throughout the thin walls of the Burrow.

"Oh, this is ridiculous," said Ginny, climbing off her bed and giving Hermione a significant look. Hermione raised her eyebrows at Ron, as if demanding that he join them, but Ron just shook his head as if he didn't want to have anything to do with this. "Coward," said Hermione nastily, before following Ginny downstairs to the living room.

They found Harry and Malfoy standing opposite each other, wands drawn out, and a string of Christmas lights dangled suspiciously in the air between them. "What's going on?" Ginny asked, hands on her hips.

"Malfoy tried to strangle me," Harry spat out, eyes narrowing at the blonde.

Draco smirked. "Yeah, well, it was the only think I could think of to get you to stop talking."

"You're idiots, the both of you," Hermione admonished.

"Stupid Mudblood," Draco muttered darkly under his breath. Harry opened his mouth to jinx him, but before he could Ginny whipped out her own wand and yelled, "Expelliarmus!"

Both Harry's and Malfoy's wands flew into her outstretched hands. She handed them to Hermione, who was trying not to smile.

Dumbstruck, Harry's cheeks grew red with anger and Malfoy's eyes radiated pure hatred. At the same time, they both demanded their wands back. As they started towards her, Ginny raised her wand again.

"Gin?" said Harry, not believing his eyes.

"Look," she sighed, "I know you don't like this stupid arrangement my mum came up with. Neither do the rest of us, because the whole morning we've had to put up with your arguing, your foul insults, and your yelling. You're worse than Ron and Hermione!" Ginny heard a tut of indignation from behind her, but pressed onward. "Honestly, you'd think the two of you were five years old. I don't want to hear it," she added, as Harry opened his mouth to protest. "If this tree isn't decorated within an hour, you'll both meet the fate of my Bat-Bogey Hex."

Malfoy flinched.

Ginny left the room, followed by Hermione. "How'd it go?" Ron inquired, a tone of amusement clear in his voice as he flipped the pages of a Cannons magazine.

"Fine," said Ginny, throwing herself onto her bed once more and picking up her own abandoned magazine.

"Well, thank you, Ginny dear, because they were getting rather argumentative," said Mrs. Weasley, strolling into the bedroom and hanging lights from the ceiling.

--

Back in the living room, Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy gaped at each other in shock.

"Your girlfriend's mad, Potter," Malfoy said, his voice filled with a mixture of disgust and awe.

Harry felt a little surge of pride for Ginny. "Yeah," he chuckled, "she is. Care to hand me that red ornament?"