Chapter 25: The Holidays
Draco felt warm and content as he watched his owl, Silk, fly off into the night. She was a beauty adorned with black feathers that felt like silk. But the wondrous sight of his owl flying off into the backdrop of the universe wasn't what was warming the frozen heart of Draco Malfoy. It was what she carried.
Scorpius had asked to borrow his owl so he could send the Potter brat his Christmas gift. Draco had purposely grumbled and belly-ached about it before he gave in. It wouldn't be wise to seem too eager to let his son see his happiness. Yes, his happiness to destroy Harry Potter's secret plot! He'd waited weeks for this moment! The moment that Scorpius sent off his Christmas gift. The Potter brat would be non the wiser. Draco chuckled.
Yes, even better, Harry Bloody Potter would get what he deserved!
Finally!
MERRYCHRISTMAS&HAPPYNEWYEARS! MERRYCHRISTMAS&HAPPYNEWYEARS!
Tap tap tap! Tap tap tap! Tap tap tap!
Albus ran from his bed quickly to let in the large black owl. A gush of cold air accompanied the bird as she landed gracefully on his bedpost.
"Hey, pretty bird!" Albus greeted quietly as he reached out to stroke the shiny black feathers. The owl allowed the invasion before nipping his arm gently. She was carrying two awful packages after all. "Okay, okay!" Both packages were beautifully wrapped in midnight blue paper with silver ribbons. One was smaller and square while the other was medium sized and deep.
Albus beamed. Scorpius had gotten him two gifts! Albus felt slightly giddy about the idea, and slightly sad he'd only sent the blond boy just one.
He retrieved both packages from the owl before letting her back out into the crisp winter. Albus shivered as he closed his window and hopped back under his warm comforter. He was nervous suddenly. What if what he sent Scorpius wasn't as awesome as what he was receiving? But the hesitation lasted only a moment before the beautiful paper was shredded and the boxes popped open! Inside the smaller gift was an odd looking silver band. A necklace of sort? Odd. Albus looked over at the medium sized box. Inside lay a black and sapphire scarf that dazzled. Albus laughed to himself. Scorpius picked out gifts like Louis!
Albus pulled out the scarf first, loving the soft texture. As he flung it around his neck, something small and heavy fell to the floor. "Huh?" Albus flopped after the object and after a struggle with the mess from under his bed, he returned with a tiny silver snitch charm. It's wings buzzed as he held on to it.
"Whoa!" Where did Scorp find this? Even though Albus wasn't into quidditch, he did love snitches! His dad had given him one from his first game ever.
For fear of losing the awesome but tiny snitch, Albus slipped it onto the silver necklace. "Wonder if this will fit? It looks small." Albus shrugged and pulled it around his neck. It took an effort and it was tight! But he finally got the necklace on. It felt weird. He'd never worn a necklace before (Louis had failed many attempts). It was cold, then it flared hot for a few moments before taking on a warm glow. Albus smiled when he felt the snitch's wings tickle his neck.
Albus looked across the room at the snoring Teddy. Out cold. Nothing work that boy up. "TEDDY!" Albus jumped up and whispered, "LET'S GET UP AND RAID THE TREE!"
MERRYCHRISTMAS&HAPPYNEWYEARS! MERRYCHRISTMAS&HAPPYNEWYEARS!
Severus crept down the hall of his private quarters toward his living room. The night before Louis and him had shared Apple Cranberry cider and listened to muggle Christmas music into the night. Louis had requested to stay up longer than him. Severus hadn't found the Gryffindor in his room so assumed he'd still be where he left him.
"Ah. Correct." There was Louis, asleep on a pile of couch pillows and a throw blanket in front of the hearth. He looked like an angel with his eyes closed and eyelashes fanned out on pale white cheeks. His silvery blond hair splayed out added to the look. Severus smiled. How odd to find himself not alone on Christmas, even if it was a Gryffindor.
The boy still refused to talk about the incident. Severus assumed he was hiding something. What Severus found odd was the boy's reaction yesterday. He had decided that he'd sacrifice his joy in life and accompany the boy to the Weasley's Holiday get-together. (Molly still annoyed him with the invitations every year). The young boy hadn't been home to see his family, and he knew Louis' mom was worried by the increasing amount of owls the boy received. Yet, when he brought up the topic, the boy took upon the feral nature of an animal in a trap. He was scared and angry at something. But what?
...or who?
Severus frowned. The thought of anyone attempting to bring harm to the boy sleeping in his living room disturbed him to the core. He casually dropped his conversation yesterday, but he had every intention of uncovering who Louis feared.
And punish them to an inch of their life.
Anyone who harmed him deserved to die.
Yes, poison and torture.
Severus blinked and looked around the room slightly disoriented. He smirked once his thoughts had cleared. The boy's hormones were running strong today. He felt overly protective again. Severus found it amusing how the different levels of hormones affected him. Louis had even allowed him to draw some samples of blood for potion experiments. So far, the possibilities were astounding. He had already had marvelous breakthroughs on male fertility potions (a few lucky male rats were expecting in his laboratory). The market was in high demand for a better process for male pregnancies. The dark magic rituals were so complicated and required so much of the expectant. So much so that the expectant didn't usually live through the pregnancy. Male pregnancies carried high fatalities rates. To create a potion that would do all the work besides the act was genius.
"Severus?" A blurry eyed angel whispered from the pile of pillows. Severus smiled to himself.
"Yes?" He crouched down and helped the young boy up. Silvery blond hair curled all over. The small evergreen tree in the corner shimmered with dazzling faery lights. Silver seem to reflect and shine all over for Severus.
"Happy Christmas."
"Happy Christmas, Louis." The Potion Master would do anything for this child. Sacrifice all his happiness if he had to. Starting with watching his living room being covered in shredded wrapping paper from the mountain of presents Severus had procured. Louis seemed to enjoy fashion. Severus had invested his time into researching the latest fashions for the young wizard. Severus would give him unlimited access to anything his heart desired.
MERRYCHRISTMAS&HAPPYNEWYEARS! MERRYCHRISTMAS&HAPPYNEWYEARS!
Scorpius awoke at an early early hour and was completely refreshed. His excitement was comparable to a bouncy ball in a tiny square room! He couldn't wait to see what Albus had gotten him! Better yet, he couldn't wait to fire call Al later to see if he liked his present!
The blond boy looked across his room toward his small Christmas pine in the middle of his room. (He had complained a few years earlier that walking across the Mansion to the sitting room's Christmas tree was too much of a hassle first thing in the morning, so his mother gave him his own. He was still expected to make an appearance in the sitting room after he'd finished playing with his new belongings before Christmas Lunch.) There beneath his Slytherin decorated tree (his father refused to purchase anything in the lion's colors), was a generous pile of presents. He could pretty much smell which one was from Louis as it was filled to the brim with specialized shampoos and lotions and Oo! a set of fragrant nail polishes! Scorpius bypassed the gifts from his parents and relatives until he came upon two oddly wrapped presents.
Oddly wasn't the best description of the wrapping. It was down right horrid! Albus had to have used at least three rolls of tape! Why didn't he find some giant box or something? They were easy to wrap neatly. Oh, at least his effort was heartfelt.
Scorpius ripped the packages open. "Wow!" Scorpius beheld the giant basket in front of him! It was filled with many of his favorite books! There was at least fifteen titles, all ones that Scorpius had "hinted" at the last month. He had hoped that Albus would pick up one of the hints, but obviously he'd picked up all of them! Scorpius beamed and almost forgot to open the smaller, dreadful looking gift before he dug into one of his favorite stories. Inside was a pretty silver necklace.
Weird. That's so unlike an Albus gift. Scorpius frowned and wondered if Louis had shopped with Albus for this. He shrugged and tried on the necklace without a second thought. It glowed warm around his necklace after he did up it's latch.
Scorpius jumped up and walked to his full length mirror. It was quite pretty. Just a simple silver choker. He smiled as he inspected it from the mirror one last time before he took it off-
Scorpius frowned.
The latch was gone!
He felt all around the choker; no latch!
Was it charmed or something? Scorpius frowned and reached for a higher collar shirt before his Christmas morning appearance in the sitting room. No way was he going to explain to his father that he'd put on a magical item that he had no knowledge of. That was just... plain stupid! He'd wait and ask Albus about it later during his fire call.
MERRYCHRISTMAS&HAPPYNEWYEARS! MERRYCHRISTMAS&HAPPYNEWYEARS!
Draco tried to remain calm as Christmas day progressed. He couldn't tell if Scorpius was wearing the necklace or not. He couldn't mention it, and he didn't know if he needed to expect a visit from Harry Potter soon or not. So, he was at a lost at to how he should act or what he should do.
So he decided on being stubborn and annoyed which caused Astoria to be stubborn and annoyed. Scorpius seemed indifferent and lost in thought. Lunch went by quietly past thank yous for gifts exchanged.
Draco hoped his dreadful mimicking of the Potter brat's gift wrapping didn't give himself away.
MERRYCHRISTMAS&HAPPYNEWYEARS! MERRYCHRISTMAS&HAPPYNEWYEARS!
Harry Potter woke up on Christmas with an odd feeling.
"Is everything okay, Darling?" Ginny asked from her dressing table. His odd feeling must've been showing on his face. Harry shrugged as he rubbed his eyes and yawned.
"I had some weird dream about Draco." Harry admitted. Ginny giggled as she brushed her hair. "I think he's up to something. Why else would I dream about him? My awareness for mischief is tingling." This statement brought tears to Ginny's eyes as she out right laughed at her husband.
"Harry", Ginny said after she calmed down, "you always have dreams about Malfoy. And you always think he's up to something! If you weren't so busy working all the time, I swear you'd be stalking him again!"
Harry frowned. "I've never stalked him before."
"Yes, you did. What do you think you were doing your sixth year of Hogwarts?" Ginny asked. Harry blushed and shrugged and grumbled. "Darling, you'll always have Malfoy as your arch nemesis, but you have to bottle it up while our children are friends with Scorpius. Just keep your 'he's up to something' research on the DL."
"I'll try." Harry said with a sigh. "But I still think he's up to something."
"I know." Ginny smiled. "Merry Christmas, Silly." Harry beamed at his wife and reached out to pull her into his arms. They embraced for a moment.
"Merry Christmas, Gin."
MERRYCHRISTMAS&HAPPYNEWYEARS! MERRYCHRISTMAS&HAPPYNEWYEARS!
"Teddy?" Victorie asked quietly. The living room was slowly filling up with cousins and siblings and parental figures. Teddy himself had found a cozy spot near the left side of the couch. Victorie sank into the spot next to him, taking note of his sudden tension. "Can we talk?"
"I'm not in the mood." Teddy replied as he made to get up. Victorie placed her hand on his arm which momentarily stopped him.
"You haven't spoken to me in forever, Teddy! I have no idea why!" It was a harsh whisper full of unshed tears. Teddy jerked his arm free and frowned.
"It's you. You've been different." Teddy answered.
"Different? I don't understand what's so different about me."
"Your aura is different in an unpleasant way." Victorie looked confused and upset. "I asked Dominique about it. She says it means you've done something that goes against my nature. She said it would have to be something bad."
"That's ridiculous." Victorie glared toward her sister. Dominique noticed and gave a daring look in return before returning to chatting with James and Fred. "I've not done anything bad. You're just being paranoid."
"Paranoid?" Teddy practically hissed, his hair turning a bright red. "Do not think I haven't noticed the absence of your brother! He can barely be in the same room as me without trembling! And you know what I think?" Victorie shook her head. "I think you did something to him! I think you are jealous that we're friends and that you threatened him!"
"My own brother?!" Victorie's aura flared, cold ice surrounded Teddy. "How can you say something so cruel?"
"At least I'm not a liar." Teddy removed himself from the conversation and settled beside Albus and Rose.
MERRYCHRISTMAS&HAPPYNEWYEARS! MERRYCHRISTMAS&HAPPYNEWYEARS!
"Hey, um... Albus?" Scorpius whispered as he tried to get comfortable in the dark food cupboard in the Weasley's kitchen. The blond boy found the particular jar of pickled beans that was protruding in his calf and scooted it with his foot.
"Yeah?" Albus was battling with some baskets full of onions, garlic, and tomatoes from over head.
"I can't see a thing!"
"I'm sorry!" Rosie whined as she tried to pull back her bushy hair. "It's the humidity!" Scorpius snorted. Albus laughed. And a few well placed swats from Rosie shut them up. "Now why are we in a cupboard on New Years?" Rosie asked. She was standing with her arms crossed and eyebrows furrowed.
"We think something bad happened, but have no idea what." Albus said.
"Too vague. I'm getting nauseous from the garlic, please get to the point." Scorpius requested. Rosie nodded in agreement.
"We both got matching necklaces at Christmas and put them on, but we never bought them for each other. Someone else had to have put them in our pile of gifts."
"And... it's the mystery of their origins that you're curious about?"
"No, we can't get them off. The latches disappeared." Scorpius replied. "We figured out we had an issue on Christmas when I asked Al how to take mine off. He hadn't even noticed his was stuck on him!" There was a pointed look from the blond and an answering blush from the brunette. Rosie looked thoughtful as she receded into her head for a moment. "Oh, and they were wrapped exactly like the gifts we did get each other."
"Huh. So that means that the culprit had to have access to the owls." Rosie stated.
"Only myself and my parents have access at my house, but I seriously doubt either of them would pull a prank." Scorpius said. Albus nodded.
"Well, this house is running rampant. Maybe it was James and Fred?"
"Maybe, but what's the punchline of this joke? I mean, not being to take off a choker is not really funny." Scorpius said.
"You're right. There might be more to this than a simple prank. I have to research usages for charmed jewelry to try to figure out the enchantments being used. After I find that we can remove the chokers." Rosie said. Albus and Scorpius perked up at the statement. "But I'd keep the chokers hidden if possible. What if this isn't a positive prank? Both of your fathers have a lot of people with grudges against them. We can not rule out that there could be foul play. We don't want the culprits to know you're wearing them."
"My father always harps on about that to me." Scorpius admitted. "I didn't even consider it because it said it was from Al. My father would lecture me into my grave if he ever found out... gosh... I really dislike high collared shirts..." Albus laughed and reached out to ruffle the blond's hair. The blond dodged the attempt and ended up with a mouthful of Rosie's hair.
MERRYCHRISTMAS&HAPPYNEWYEARS! MERRYCHRISTMAS&HAPPYNEWYEARS!
"Shhhhh!" Albus shushed Scorpius as they attempted to quietly walk up the crooked staircase of the Burrow. They were shuffling under the invisibility cloak and their destination was James and Fred's room. The time was a little after 2:00 a.m. Everyone had spent a merry time playing with fireworks all night and playing exploding snaps. Now everyone was passed out from the merriment. Meaning, the typical house pranksters would be out colder than normal. Meaning, Albus and Scorpius had a glorious moment to return the favors.
"You, shhhhh!" Scorpius bit back as they continued their shuffling. They had to take a moment to finish elbowing each other and stifling their laughter. After their sad attempt to shush each other, they finally found themselves in the older boys' room.
James was sprawled out over his covers in a pair of Chudley Cannons pajamas. Fred had burrowed under his blankets completely and appeared as a giant lump in the middle of his bed. There was a horrendous amount of snoring.
Albus tossed Scorpius a tiny tube with a grin...
MERRYCHRISTMAS&HAPPYNEWYEARS! MERRYCHRISTMAS&HAPPYNEWYEARS!
Fred woke up to something different... something very different... like 'why is it hard to breathe in here?' different... Fred attempted to sit up only to be imprisoned under his blanket!
"James?! What did you do!?" Fred called as he rooted around in his bed. For whatever reason his blanket was sealed tight to the bed beneath him. He could hear James rustling around before he belted out with laughter.
"Dude! What happened to you?" James asked as he got up from his bed. James paused and looked down at his socks. They felt off.
"Some assistance over here, if you don't mind!" Fred called, surrendering to being trapped beneath his blankets.
"Merlin! My socks! They've been glued to by ankles!" James tried pulling the garments off, but pulling at them only aggravated the skin where his socks clung.
"Haha, that's funny!"
"Shut up, Fred." James looked around the room coming across a tiny tube near the door labeled Amazing Super, Super Glue! "Someone is going down for this." James vowed as he watched Fred attempt to roll around under his glued down covers. "Why don't you just pull the sheets from the mattress?"... Thus resulted in the strange appearance of a large pile of bedding at the breakfast table.
A/N: Happy Belated Christmas and New Years! (Fox has gotten his first two teeth in! He's so cute with his toothy smile!) He's now 8 months old! I'm already planning a dragon themed birthday party!
Thank you to the following: D.E.W.P, Lizzy0308, ZoloxLuffy, HPfan29, TigerInTheMoonlight, marblesmay, and J.J Iris for the adds, favs, and/or reviews! I hope everyone had wonderful Hols! To the guest review inquring about my interest in a time jump, I had an interesting side story come up in my mind that I could've used in a time jump but it can wait til later. As for everyone else's thoughts on Louis, Snape, Teddy, Albus, Scorpius, and Victorie. You shall see in the future. :) But I wouldn't mind your thoughts about these mysterious chokers. What do you think Draco is up to? Also, this past week I sat through a Harry Potter marathon (why did I do that? I love sleep!), and noticed that Harry refers to Draco as Draco in the first movie during the Forbidden Forest detention. I just found it interesting.