Disclaimer: I own nothing you recognize.

Note: Sorry it's been so long and I should have another chapter by the end of the week. In this chapter is Christmas and the return of Moony and Padfoot. Bear with me, I'm working on my happy writing, its harder than the sad stuff. Also I apologize for the needless bits, I just wanted to be sure that everyone got an idea of the full chaos and craziness of a Weasley Christmas when everyone's around.


Chapter 9: Butterflies and Snowballs

Christmas Eve came sooner than anyone had expected, and the house was absolutely bursting when Fred and George joined everyone on the 22nd with Katie Bell and Angelina Johnson, who they introduced as their girlfriends. Draco had been put in Percy's room, but he was moved to Fred and George's room so that Fleur, Katie and Angelina could sleep in Percy's room, and Hermione joined Ginny in hers. The rearranging was something completely foreign to Draco, who had never slept in the same room as anyone except for the time in the Hospital Wing, and had certainly never needed to shift around rooms. He was the butt of many jokes and pranks, however, and after a day during which he could hardly move without turning into a canary, or sporting a black eye, or having his ears Vanished, Mrs. Weasley took pity on him and set up a cot in Narcissa's room until the twins left again.

On Christmas Eve, they were joined for dinner by Professors McGonagall, Dumbledore and Snape, as well as Hagrid, Andromeda, Ted and Nymphadora Tonks, Mad-Eye Moody and Kingsley Shacklebolt, though Sirius and Remus were mysteriously absent. After much hand-wringing on the part of Mrs. Weasley, the idea of a sit down dinner was forgotten and everyone was simply handed a plate and told to sit where they could. Ginny and Narcissa both summoned the strength to dress up and come downstairs, and Draco and Bill comically wrapped both of them up like burritos in thick quilts. She found herself sandwiched on the couch between Draco and Bill, and Narcissa sat beside Draco, and on her other side, Andromeda was eagerly catching up with her sister. Ted and Arthur were leaning on the counter and discussing muggle telephones, a favourite subject of Arthurs. Tonks was, somewhat ominously, huddled with Fred and George, and Hermione sat at Ginny's feet with Katie and Angelina lounging on the floor around her. The children graciously conceded chairs to the professors, except Snape who sat on a table beside Bill. Mad-Eye was talking to Charlie, who looked slightly panicked, until Kingsley rescued him by drawing both into a discussion about dragon breeding. Hagrid was sitting on the floor with Harry, and Ron was trying to squeeze in beside Hermione, which Ginny noticed with a grin.

Finally, when everyone had eaten, Molly instructed Harry, Ron and Draco to clean up while they began Christmas carols. Ginny ended up going to bed quite happily - it turned out that Draco sung just about as well as Ron and Hagrid, so the three of them did a lovely rendition of Celestina Warbeck's "Cauldron full of Hot, Strong Love", much to the amusement of everyone except Molly, and it made her happy that Narcissa and Andromeda had reconciled.

On Christmas Day, she woke up extremely early. Shortly, there was a veritable stampede for the stairs as Harry, Ron, Draco, Ginny, Bill, Charlie and Hermione made a run for it, but Fred and George beat them all by Apparating to the landing and then sprinting madly down the rest of the way yelling "It's CHRISTMAS!"

Christmas morning was always mad at the Burrow, and this was no exception. Fred and George were going a little jig in front of the tree - the first to get down always got the first presents, and Ron and Harry made a mad dash for the seats by the tree, only to get ousted by Bill and Charlie, who took them for themselves. Hermione and Ginny curled up by the fire, and Draco somehow snagged a chair nearby. Soon, Molly assisted Narcissa down to a chair, and both adult Weasleys sat down. This, to everyone's amusement, left Fred and George chairless.

They chucked Draco out of his chair and Fred yanked Angelina out of hers, only to replace her on his lap, which she didn't seem to mind. Everyone had found a seat, though all of the younger people were on the floor, namely the Dream Team, Ginny and Draco.

Molly passed around hot chocolate, and then they got down to the business of opening presents. Both Draco and Narcissa were shocked to have gotten gifts, but as Draco had done a good job of owl-ordering gifts for everyone else, it wasn't terribly shocking.

Everyone, including the Malfoys, got Weasley jumpers, and the jokes started right away at Draco's neon green sweater with a D on it and all the rest of the sweaters."

"Oi Malfoy," said Harry, "Didn't know you planned to impersonate a traffic light." This joke fell over slightly when only Hermione laughed, but after and explanation everyone high-fived Harry.

"Well, at least she got your name right," said George mournfully, "I always get the wrong one. Doesn't she know my name is Forge yet?"

"Honestly, mother," said Fred, "You've mixed us up again. It's Gred and Forge," he said, pointing at each of them.

Charlie and Bill stuffed Ron into his maroon sweater, and Draco laughed. "You look smashing in maroon, Weasley," he said.

Charlie high-fived him as Ron scowled. "At least Mum knows I'll remember my name."

Ginny opened hers, and was delighted. It was a deep, rich purple. She pulled it on happily, and then George noticed the G in silver thread. "Hey, Mum, now you're mixing us up with Ginny!"

Arthur got few jokes, and Charlie had gotten Molly a lovely sweater from Romania, so they moved onto the other presents after mocking Harry and Hermione for the fact that their names were fully written on their sweaters.

Ginny got a lovely pair of dragon-hide gloves lined with fur from Charlie, an entire book series from Hermione, about a hundred pairs of socks from Ron and Harry, all of which were garish and horrible but at the same time perfectly amazing, a bag of tricks from Fred and George as well as a pile of Chocolate Frogs, a charmed necklace from Bill, and a delicate glass lioness from Narcissa. Luna had sent a book about Crumple-Horned Snorkacks, and Colin had sent a lovely photo album including a picture of her and Draco in the Hospital Wing, and her parents had gotten her a new set of dress robes which she adored. Then Draco hesitantly handed her his gift. She opened it hesitantly and gasped.

"Draco, I love it!" she exclaimed happily. A folded piece of parchment bearing the word "Family" sat on top, and then underneath sat a beautiful silver butterfly which sparkled all the colours of the rainbow. On its' gossamer wings was written in twirling script "hope". She lifted it out and if fluttered carefully and then took off, flying around her face and alighting on her nose.

Hermione whistled. "That's impressive magic! How on earth did you do that?"

He grinned. "I didn't. I had it custom made though, and I had to be pretty damn specific," he waved off scoldings from Molly and Narcissa, "But it came out perfect."

"I'm surprised that it was made so fast, though," replied Hermione thoughtfully, "You'd think it would take an awfully long time."

Draco shook his head a bit bashfully. "I ordered it at the beginning of December, the day I got out of the Hospital Wing."

Thankfully, Ron and the other Weasleys missed this little exchange and were too busy exclaiming over the little butterfly to notice, but Hermione's eyes widened. "You've been sending the notes?"

"Well I couldn't visit or say anything incriminating, but I had to do something."

Their attention was distracted by Narcissa's cry of delight. Hermione and Ginny had, together, had another diary rush-ordered for her. It was a deep green leather embossed with a silver flower, and the accompanying quill was silver as well, but beautifully feminine.

"Ginevra, Hermione, I love this!" she cried, enfolding Ginny and Hermione in a tight hug from her chair.

Other highlights of the morning were a muggle computer for Arthur from the Malfoys and Draco's gift for Ron and Harry - a book on Defense Against the Dark Arts ripped straight from his father's study. The boys were ecstatic, as was Hermione with her book - Healing Dark Curses.

Around lunch time, Andromeda and Ted popped back in and gave their presents to Draco and Narcissa, had a cup of tea, and headed out again. As soon as the last plates were cleared, the Weasley boys rushed outside for their annual snowball war. Ginny and Narcissa bundled up and sat together on the porch chatting, though Ginny was wistfully eyeing the snow.

Draco dearly wanted to join in. He couldn't really be nasty to the Weasleys or Harry any longer, but he wanted to show them a good fight in something at least. Nonetheless he was afraid of ruining the tenuous peace that he shared with them, so he remained indoors.

The teams divided evenly: Harry, Bill, Charlie, and Arthur against Fred, George, Ron, Katie and Angelina. Hermione, Fleur and Molly came to sit with Ginny and Narcissa, as did Draco, but all of the students shot longing gazes at the snowball fight. As Harry's team began to flounder, Hermione and Ginny instructed Draco to begin making snowballs and charmed them to launch themselves at the twins' team. They looked around wildly, and spotted Draco furiously pounding snowballs into shape.

"Aha!" they shouted together.

"Traitor!" yelled Fred, laughing, "We let you into our home and this is how you repay us?"

"Good on you, Draco," yelled Charlie, "Only do them a little faster and we might win!"

The twins charged. Despite the snow attack, they managed to drag Draco off and wash his face off with snow. They caught Hermione next, and soon the new competitors were rescued and fighting valiantly for their team.

Fleur winked at Ginny, and then began to charm the snow into balls. Ginny gave her a grateful smile and began flinging them again.

Soon, Harry's team having soundly won thanks to their extra help, everyone collapsed in the snow and declared themselves ready for some hot chocolate. As they trooped inside, a great black dog came careening through the snow, spraying it everywhere and barking joyfully. Draco shrunk back - he'd never been a fan of dogs.

The dog skidded to a halt at Harry's feet and began licking his face. "Hey, Snuffles," he said with a laugh, pushing the dog off.

"Bloody hell!" yelled Draco loudly as Sirius transformed and Remus appeared with a wry smile on his face. Both men laughed and clapped him on the back. "Good to see you, cousin," said Sirius in mock seriousness.

Draco wasn't at all sure how to reply at the sudden appearance of his cousin (who he had thought was a dead murderer) and his former Defense teacher who was certainly a werewolf. He was, thankfully, saved the necessity when Ginny came out again and threw herself at Siruis.

"Hey, Red," he said, tousling her hair playfully, "How're you doing?"

"Where have you been, Sirius?" she asked, pouting, "I've been sick for months and you haven't come to visit."

Sirius looked honestly shocked, as did Lupin. "For months? Bloody hell, Moony and I've been away since August, trying to get in with the werewolves, Gin. We had no idea or we would've come. What was wrong?"

A shadow crossed Ginny's face, and Draco decided it was best to step in. "Why don't we talk about it inside?"

She gratefully took the out and led the two men inside. Molly offered them tea as well, and Sirius pulled out a series of shrunken parcels. He chucked them to each recipient, unshrinking them as he did so. Draco watched, fascinated, as Harry, Ron, Hermione and Ginny each got presents.

Harry and Ron both opened the latest broomsticks, the Firebolt X, and Harry also received an enormous bucket full of Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans.

"I was trying to see if I could actually get you every flavour, so I made the sales girl dig through until she found me five of each. I'm not entirely sure you can lift it though, so better use a spell."

They all laughed, and Hermione opened hers next. It was a book on advanced glamour charms.

"Um, thanks, Sirius," said Hermione, somewhat confused.

"Harry told me about how you hated hair potions, so I found this book instead. Most people can't master the charms, but I have faith that you can. Then you'll never have to worry about hair potions again."

Once again, everyone laughed. It seemed to Draco that most of Sirius' gifts were expensive, thoughtful and funny. He was anxious to see what Ginny opened.

She pulled the parcel onto her lap. First, she opened a gigantic box of Honeydukes filled with all of her favourite chocolates, and she popped one into her mouth right away. Then she turned her attention to the smaller package. Inside, was a pair of tiny dreamcatcher earrings made with spun gold.

"Hey Red," said Sirius, no trace of a grin on his face, "Their spelled to give you good dreams and trap bad ones. Apparently they don't work for really bad ones, but they do work alright."

Ginny's eyes filled with tears. "Thank you, Sirius, I can't tell you how much this means to me."

"I didn't know about you being sick, but you had mentioned to me that you were still having nightmares at the beginning of last summer, so I hunted these down. You deserve nothing but the best dreams."

Draco was touched by the care that the man had shown, and impressed by his gift. He was even happier when Ginny pulled her butterfly out. It hung, still, on the chain around her neck, looking for all the world like nothing more than a pretty pendant, but when she let it loose, it began to glow gently in the evening light and fluttered around her head.

Remus whistled. "Who got you that?"

"Draco did," she replied with a soft smile. His insides melted, and once again he felt butterflies.

There was no further comment, but later that evening, when Sirius passed him on his way to the table, he shook Draco's hand warmly. "Welcome to the family, son," he said, and Draco could only nod.

He went to bed feeling stuffed, exhausted, and completely happy. Even his mother confessed that it had been the best Christmas of her life. He changed into the pajamas that Mrs. Weasley had procured for him and brushed his teeth. Once he was sure that Ginny would be asleep, he crept down the stairs with his folded parchment.

As he poked his head around the door quietly, he saw Ginny sitting cross-legged in her bed. Above her, the glowing gossamer butterfly fluttered peacefully, and in her ears, the dreamcatchers sparkled faintly. She was radiant and peaceful, all at the same time, and for the first time, she looked healthy and vital. Draco felt his heart swell as he looked at her. He was now used to the pangs in his heart that he felt when he was around her (and suddenly around his mother as well), but this one felt a little like a heart attack. He began to panic, but it subsided to a manageable swelling after a second.

He twitched his wand and the paper drifted across her floor to her bedside table. To his surprise, she caught if deftly and opened it. A smile caught on her face as she read the word that he had carefully chosen. Perfect.

"Draco?" she whispered.

He crept around the corner. "Yeah?"

"Will you come sit with me?"

He obliged her, and she leaned her head on his shoulder. "Did you have a good Christmas?"

Draco laughed softly. His previous Christmases had begun with books about Dark Arts or torture, or a new broomstick and the promise of pain if he did not beat Harry Potter. Then, they would be joined by Bellatrix and Rodolphus, who were both completely insane, and after a silent and solemn dinner, the ball would commence, and he would spend the evening speaking with other Death Eater families. After the close of the ball, the women and children would all go home and the men would go drink and torture Muggles. Draco and Narcissa would wait at home in fear until the inevitable came. Lucius would arrive home in a drunken rage and beat them both until Draco fled, bleeding, and left his mother. "I can honestly say that this has been my best Christmas ever. How was yours?"

"Good. I love my butterfly."

"I'm glad."

"Draco?"

"Yeah?"

"Are we friends?"

The question made him sad, but he answered anyways. "Yeah, Gin, we're friends. Best friends, I think."

"Who are your other friends? Crabbe? Goyle?"

"You mean the overgrown rock formations that cling to me because of who my father is? Not a chance. I don't have very many friends."

"You must have one, though," she insisted.

He frowned. "Well, if I could pick my friends, I'd be friends with Blaise Zabini and Daphne Greengrass. They're both non-Dark Slytherins, and I usually wish I was sitting with them instead of with my own friends. I also like Teddy Nott, but he's not in a much better situation then I am."

"What about Pansy Parkinson?"

Draco made an extremely rude noise and shook his head. "I'm too much of a gentleman to describe her the way I want to, but I hung around her because a, she is impossible to get rid of, and b, because she was important to my role as a future Death Eater."

Ginny giggled and snuggled against him. Draco suddenly realized what he had failed to notice when she was weak and thin. Ginny was very definitely a girl, and a very pretty one at that. Her fiery hair curled on his chest as she leaned against him, and the curve of her body fit perfectly with his. As she looked up at him, he noticed that her perfectly curved, pink lips looked incredibly soft.

Shit! Draco, what the hell are you doing, thinking about her like this. Didn't you listen? You're friends. Friends, you idiot! And, keep in mind how much her brothers will murder you if you so much as touch her. And she's sick. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck!

Ginny was cuddled comfortably against Draco in her bed when he suddenly looked down at her in a way that made her blush. She suddenly became aware of the fact that he was a boy, in her bed, and a very attractive one at that. Then she looked into his eyes and was lost in the silver depths.

In her mind, she heard Hermione's voice. Um, Ginny, why are you staring at Draco Malfoy like you're in love with him? I mean sure, he's good looking, but he's Draco Malfoy!

She shushed her friend's annoying voice (Ginny's conscience always either sounded like Hermione or her mum, both of whom had very identifiable voices and liked to lecture). Then she noticed that Draco was still staring at her, eyes wide and lips slightly apart. So she did what came naturally. She raised a hand to his cheek and brushed it softly, taking in his soft shiver and the way his cheek heated under her touch. Then she lifted herself slightly, just slightly, so that their lips met in the gentlest way possible.

He sat stunned for half a second and then lowered his face to hers and kissed her back. She felt as if all of the relationships she'd ever had - with Michael, with Dean, even with Harry, and even with Tom - had all been wiped away. This was the first kiss she hadn't had, complete with fireworks and butterflies. As she thought that, Fred and George had the bright idea to let off a whole box of their fireworks, and Ginny's lips curved into a grin. Draco pulled away.

"What's so funny?" he asked, slightly worried that it might be him

"I was just thinking--"

"I hope it was something like 'damn, Draco Malfoy is an excellent kisser'," he interrupted playfully and she swatted at him.

"I was thinking that that's how a kiss is supposed to be - with butterflies and fireworks, and then they lit the fireworks and it was really true, literally and figuratively."

He smiled euphorically and kissed her again.


Note: See? I finally gave you some D/G love. Thanks to all my reviewers and to all of the people who've added this as a favourite story. Please keep reading and reviewing. I'm still in exams, but I have another chapter written and mostly polished, so you should get it by the end of the week. Next chapter: on the train to Hogwarts, a promise and a meeting with the Silver Trio of Slytherin ;)