There was snow on the ground outside, garlands on the fireplace, presents piled high under the tree. People hung around the common room, laughing and joking, blushing when they got caught under the mistletoe and then trying to get their unwary friends to wander under it and suffer the same embarrassment. For love of Harry and the Weasleys, the house elves in the kitchens had sent up a magnificent breakfast buffet, complete with all sorts of festive treats. It was, in fact, the perfect Christmas morning.
Or almost. There were a couple of things Harry wouldn't have minded changing. On the bright side, they were the sort of things that he could change, and very soon would. Malfoy was currently on his way to getting roasted at Wizard Chess by Ron, and as soon as the Hufflepuffs arrived, not even Malfoy could remain annoying and arrogant in the face of so people who detested him. It was just a question of numbers, really. Malfoy was not going to have a merry Christmas in the least.
On the other hand, Harry had a spectacular one planned for himself. Ginny had kept him at arm's length for the past several months, teasing him as she flirted with other guys, but today he planned to make it clear that he wasn't putting up with that anymore. Ginny belonged with him, and that was that. She recognized it, too, but like the rest of her family, she was too damn stubborn to admit what was right in front of her face. But where this trait could be annoying in her relatives, he found it rather charming in her.
He had a plan, too. Nothing elaborate, because then it could go wrong, but a simple, solid, dependable plan. Hermione had enchanted the mistletoe so that, if you stepped under it and didn't get a kiss, you turned green. The longer you waited, the greener you got. Sooner or later, Ginny would step under the mistletoe and, when she did, Harry would be ready to go to her rescue.
He kept one eye on the red-haired girl as she made her way around the room, talking and joking with the others. His main attention was focused on the chess board. The puzzling thing about it was that Ron should have been able to win long ago. Instead of trying to win, Ron seemed to be herding certain pieces of Malfoy's around the board. Perhaps Malfoy was better than they had thought or, more likely, Ron had some broader strategy that Harry, being a mediocre chess player at best, couldn't see.
The Hufflepuff's arrived. Ginny, the only Gryffindor not involved in Plan: Destroy Draco
Malfoy, as Harry privately called it, played the part of hostess, greeting them and helping them hang their cloaks. Actually, now that Harry thought of it, Ginny didn't even know about the plan. Which was just as well, since she sometimes acted like she actually had a soft spot for the bastard. He could put up with her flirting with other guys to annoy him (mostly), but that was one little game of hers that was going to stop.
Ginny's cheerful voice could be heard clearly over the general din as she greeted the newcomers. "There's breakfast on the table over there. Watch out for the mistletoe, it turns you green." Damn, she knows. Oh well.
On the other side of the room, Hermione was gesturing to him frantically. For a moment, Harry frowned, wondering why she couldn't just come over and talk to him. The he remembered Malfoy's presence and Hermione's desire to be no where near him - really, how could he have forgotten? He excused himself to Ron, who ignored him, and went to join her.
"So, have you planned how you're going to dump him, yet?" he asked as he sat next to her. That was the one part of the plan that had yet to be finalized, and Hermione had been vague at best as to any ideas she had.
His friend looked at him sadly, and Harry thought there might be something like panic in her eyes as well. "I'm so sorry, Harry, I can't."
"How can't you? Anyone can see how miserable he makes you." As though they hadn't been through this argument a dozen times before. He had thought that now, with the plan in action, she might finally ditch the bastard. It looked like there would be no such luck.
"I… he needs to break up with me. I'll explain it all then, I promise." As he had so often these past few months, Harry got a strong impression that there was something she wasn't telling him.
The breakup had been an important part of the plan. If it wasn't included, every other piece had to be guaranteed to work. "You can do your other parts, right?" There was an edge to his words that he hadn't meant to give them.
Hermione nodded, biting her lip. "Yeah. I promise, I'll do those. And I'll explain, just as soon as I can, Harry. I promise." Harry frowned at her again, then shrugged. If he didn't trust her on this, the plan would never work.
"Sure. Anything else I should know about?" He tried not to sound bitter, really he did.
"I don't think so. We'll just wait for Ron to finish beating him into the ground, then?"
She sounded so keen on the thought that Harry wondered, for what felt like the millionth time, what had possessed her to agree to go out with the slimy ferret in the first place.
"I'm going to go back and watch."
When he sat down beside Ron, it seemed as though he hadn't even gotten up. Ron was still herding Malfoy's pieces around the board. All in all, it was looking like a very boring game. As though sensing his impatience, Ron glanced up at him and offered a wry grin. "Just about done. I think Gin might have overestimated my abilities a bit, when she said I'd have it set in twenty minutes."
Ginny? What did she have to do with the game? As far as Harry knew, it had been his idea to have Ron roast Malfoy at chess as a way to kick off the festivities. He'd been happy when Ginny had sent Malfoy to start the game, but had thought Ron must have tipped her off about that part of the plan. But to hear Ron talking about it, it was like Ginny had actively planned it. Which was just silly: Ginny was smart, and a very good witch, but she was also very sweet. She would never be part of something like this plan.
Ron seemed to realize that Harry had read too much into what he'd said. "Sorry, mate. I meant, she thought I could roast the ferret in twenty minutes." He grinned. "She gives me too much credit." He made another move.
"Yeah, she does," Malfoy agreed, taking one of Ron's pawns.
For a wonder, Ron didn't take the bait. "Whatever, Ferret. Hey, Gin, I'm done."
"Get dropped on your head when you were younger, Weasel-King?" Malfoy demanded. "The game's nowhere near done."
Ginny's arrival was a wonderful thing. She was radiant today, even though her latest dark blue Weasley jumper was a bit too big. Harry thought she looked adorable. She put a hand on Ron's shoulder as she surveyed the board, bright eyes taking note of each piece. He'd forgotten she was an avid chess player, just like all her brothers, even if Ron almost always beat her. But then, Ron almost always beat everyone.
"Close enough," she agreed.
Her brother offered her a half-hearted glare. "If you want it done better, do it yourself next time."
Ginny's laugh was light and musical. "I'm sorry, Ron. I forgot I was asking the impossible. I couldn't have done half so well."
The praise seemed to soothe Ron's ruffled feathers. "Too right," he muttered.
"What the hell are you two talking about? We're not done yet," Malfoy snapped.
She smiled at him, and his anger seemed to disappear. That sort of thing was really going to have to stop. "I just said it was close enough, not that it was done, idiot," she told him kindly, as though forgiving him for being stupid.
Instead of getting annoyed, Malfoy grinned back at her. "Sorry, babe, wasn't listening. What was that?"
Only Ron's fierce glare kept Harry from throwing himself at the bastard and trying to beat the pulp out of him. The slimy ferret would get what was coming to him soon, anyway.
Ginny's smirk was out of place on her sweet face. "I think we've had enough of this game…"
"Oh sure, quit," Malfoy interjected. "Everyone will…"
"…and it's time to show the playing field," Ginny continued, ignoring him completely. She pulled out her wand and tapped the board.
The pieces changed. For a second, Harry wondered why she would bother changing the pieces from black and white to red and green. Then he got a better look at the piece closest to him.
Ron's chess set was made of faceless stone pieces, dressed in the finery of an age that had believed in knights and chivalry and dragons. Even faceless, the kings had been imposing figures. The white king was neither white nor faceless, now. Still tall compared to the others, the figure now wore the red robes of the Gryffindor quidditch team, which clashed with its tiny mop of bright orange hair. It was, Harry realized, Ron himself.
In the back of his mind, Harry found himself wondering how Ron could stand to have a chess piece of himself after what they had gone through their first year. True, Ron was a much better player now, and unlikely to lose the piece, but at the same time, there was something about it that made Harry want to grit his teeth.
That was in the back of his mind, though. Forefront was astonishment at the other figures revealed. Stuck near the center of the board was the black queen, it's black robes replaced by Slytherin green below Hermione's bushy brown hair. White knight Lavender and rook Pavarti had her pinned there, and if the piece was moved, bishop Seamus could take her out.
At the far end of the board was Malfoy as the black king, looking rather villainous flanked by bishop Snape and rooks Crabbe and Goyle, all in green robes. The pieces were so perfect they had captured the looks of greedy befuddlement that Crabbe and Goyle normally wore, and the greasy tint of Snape's hair.
And in one corner, looking nearly as beautiful as a chess piece as she did in real life, was the white queen Ginny, whose hair somehow didn't clash at all with her red robes. Intrigued, Harry searched the board for himself, only to discover that his own piece, a white bishop, had already been captured and tossed to the side, along with the bishop Zabini and a white pawn version of Terry Boot.
Wondering what the others thought of this, Harry glanced around the table. Ron's eyes were dark and unreadable, as though he himself wasn't sure what to think of this newly revealed game. Ginny's eyes were hard and bright as she looked down on something that Harry couldn't see. Malfoy seemed to be trying to hide his interest.
"That does change things a bit, doesn't it?" he mused.
Ginny offered him a grin that was, to Harry's mind, too much like the stupid ferret's own stupid smirk. "Yeah. Ron?" Her brother grunted. Queen Ginny was moved from her obscure corner to capture Queen Hermione. Ginny was now staring at Malfoy intently. "Well?"
The git rolled hit eyes. "Take her, she's yours. I don't have any use for her."
"And?" Ginny prompted. She looked a bit unwell, to Harry's eyes, but she didn't seem about to let that interfere with her moment of victory.
With a scowl, Malfoy looked back at the board. A second later his eyes widened comically. Ginny leaned down, right in his face, and grinned at him. "Checkmate." The git stared her in the eye, and once more Harry had to stop himself from hitting the bastard. Let her gloat, he told himself sternly.
"You know," Malfoy said after a moment, "you look splendid in Slytherin colors, babe."
Too late, Harry realized what the git meant. At some point in the last few minutes, Ginny had passed under the enchanted mistletoe, and what he had thought was sickness spreading on her face was the magical green that was supposed to be his cue to kiss her.
The slimy ferret leaned forward and kissed Ginny.
As he dived forward to beat the holy hell out of the stupid bastard, Harry thought he heard Ginny's voice in the background, as though from a great distance.
"Looks like we won, Ron."
Almost done...