Disclaimer: see prologue
Guide: "Speech", Thoughts, ~letters and other written things, "Parseltongue"
AN: I was debating with myself if I should update this chapter as it is or wait until I finished part II of the chapter. As you can see, I decided for an update, especially since the last chapter mainly consisted of their homework essays.
-~-~- Altair -~-~-
-~-~-by Still waters are deep-~-~-
-~-~- Chapter 35 – Christmas preparations- Part I -~-~-
Saturday, 20th December 1997, Hogwarts Express
Harry couldn't believe how fast time had flown by. It felt like only a week had passed since his last ride on the Hogwarts Express where he wondered who his Altair partner would turn out to be. Where he and Hermione had defended Draco and his father when Ron accused them non-stop about being dark. The accused blond and Blaise entering their compartment when Ron was leaving. He could also still remember their little talk where they tried to figure out if either of the Slytherins could be their Altair partner.
And now, two and a half months later, he was once again sitting in one of the train's compartments. But unlike last time, he knew that he and Hermione had been partnered with the Draco and Blaise. The shrunken portrait of Sirius returned into his trunk, but it was now successfully activated with the help of his Altair partner. And most surrealistic of all, he'll spend the majority of the Christmas holidays with the Malfoy family instead of the Weasleys.
Harry shook his head at the image of the stoic Lucius Malfoy sitting in his pyjamas in front of a large fireplace, handling out gifts that invaded his mind.
"You're not regretting your decision to stay with me?" Draco asked as he entered Harry's compartment.
"No," Harry immediately denied. "I was just thinking about how much had changed since this year started."
"Hmm," Draco hummed in agreement as he sat down next to Harry, leaning his head back against the seat. "A year ago, I would never have even imagined that Weasley would not forcefully stop you from setting a foot into Malfoy Manor. Especially not after the scene he made when we were announced as partners."
"Trust me, even Snape wouldn't dare to stop me from completing my homework if Hermione is sitting right next to him."
"And here I thought you're coming home with me because you like me and not just because we have another ritual to complete," Draco said, hoping to hear some final reassurance that the brunet liked him as more than a friend. Harry's behaviour in the last weeks had him believe that this was the case, but Draco wanted to hear one more word of reassurance.
"If it was just about the ritual, I would be leaving for the Weasleys on Monday instead of visiting them on Boxing Day," Harry answered.
"That's good to know," Draco said, with a smile on his face, his hopes confirmed. "If you excuse me, I have a round to continue." With that the blond got up from the seat. Being assured that turning his promising ring into something more than just a promise of friendship would be the right thing to do, he closed the compartment door behind him and left Harry to his thoughts.
While Draco had finally decided on what his promising ring would stand for, Harry was still undecided about what he should do with his ring. More than once the brunet had contemplated about the meaning behind his promising ring. However, regardless of the meaning he considered, the promising ring would always be meant for Draco.
A ring of friendship? Protection? Love? Engagement?―No, certainly not engagement! Harry dismissed the unwanted thought with a shake of his head. If I just knew what Draco is turning his ring into, he thought, hating that the blond didn't want to tell him what meaning he'd decided on. That Draco could give his ring to someone else than him didn't even cross Harry's mind.
Hopefully I'll get a precise idea once I hold the ring in my hands, he hoped. At least with the Malfoys' prowess in Sexual Magic, they'll have everything I need for the ritual regardless of the meaning I choose, he thought, thinking about the different combination of stones he would need for each meaning of the promise ring.
Harry could still remember how he and Draco were sitting together in their living room in early December where they decided the Promising Ring ritual to be their next ritual and Draco raised the topic of where they would be spending the Christmas Holidays.
Flashback
Tuesday, 2nd December 1997, Room Zero
"It's decided then?" Draco asked for confirmation.
"Yes, we'll do the Promising Ring ritual," Harry affirmed. "While I don't like all aspects of the ritual, the gain certainly outweighs the embaressment."
"You'll be too busy with watching me to even think about being embarrassed," Draco answered.
"To think that my parents did this ritual," Harry groaned.
"You don't know if the ritual for different sex pairings is identical to ours," Draco commented. "Besides, opposed to mine, your parents aren't well-known Sexual Magic experts. Speaking about my parents, they invited you to spend Christmas with us."
"They invited me to celebrate Christmas with them?" Harry asked, disbelievingly.
"Yes," Draco answered in a calm voice. "Since we're doing the ritual on the day of the winter solstice, we either have to stay the whole holidays at Hogwarts to perform it in our Ritual Magic room, or we use the Ritual Magic room in my home. And both my parents and I would love to spend Christmas together with you and to get to know you better," Draco explained.
"Think about it. If we perform the ritual at my home, then we're both free to spend the holidays with our families," Draco advertised. "Besides, it's not like you have to celebrate Christmas with my family if you don't want to. You could stay at Malfoy Manor till Monday so that we can perform the ritual and then you could Floo over to the Weasleys to spend Christmas with them and then come back to Malfoy Manor for our New Year's Eve party," the blond added.
"Don't worry, I would never stop you from celebrating Christmas with your family," Harry answered. "So I'll definitely come home with you. Let me just clarify with Mrs Weasley if they want me to celebrate with them and if they have room for one more and then I'll tell you how long I'll stay."
"I would love if you could spend the whole holidays with me," Draco wanted to say but instead he just offered, "Of course, the want you to spend Christmas with them. And if they are out of beds, you could always Floo back to the Manor for the night. My parents wouldn't mind. We all know how important the Weasleys are for you."
End Flashback
In the end, I'm only spending Boxing Day and the two following days with the Weasleys, Harry thought. And while he would have liked to spend Christmas Day with the Weasleys, Harry's desire to see Draco's face when he unwrapped the promising ring was too great. And he couldn't deny that he was interested to see how the elder Malfoys celebrated Christmas.
Besides, all of Ron's brothers would be there for Christmas Day, so he would have to Floo back to the Malfoys for the night, which just didn't seem right. With Bill, Fleur and Charlie leaving on Boxing Day, Harry could stay the night at the Burrow together with Hermione who would also only stay the same three days as Harry with the Weasleys.
Harry's thoughts were interrupted when the Trolley witch arrived at his compartment, followed by Ron and Hermione who came back from their Prefect round.
~-~-~-~-~-~-Altair-a life changing event-~-~-~-~-~-~-
It was three hours later when the train arrived at King's Cross Station. Following Hermione, Ron and Ginny out of the compartment, he went with them to where the Weasley were waiting.
"It's nice to see you all," Mrs Weasley greeted them. "I hope you had a good journey."
"We did. Thank you, Mrs Weasley," Hermione answered for the group.
"The two of you are Flooing over at ten on Boxing Day?" Mr Weasley asked Harry and Hermione for confirmation.
"Yes," Harry answered. "The Malfoys already agreed to let me use their Floo."
"And I'll Floo over from the Leaky Cauldron," Hermione added. Noticing the time she hastily added, "If you excuse me, I have a train to catch. See you on Monday for a late lunch." Harry, Ron and Ginny nodded their heads in agreement as they waved her off.
"And don't forget to visit our shop," George and Fred reminded Harry.
"Will do," Harry assured them, before he also took his leave and began his search for the Malfoys.
Fortunately for him, Lucius Malfoy was easily to spot in this sea of people with his tall frame and unique hair colour.
"Mr and Mrs Malfoy," Harry greeted Draco's parents.
"Good afternoon, Mr Potter," Narcissa returned warmly while her husband only nodded with his head. "Draco informed us that you two need to visit Gringotts to acquire your promising rings," she stated.
"That's correct," Harry confirmed.
"If you allow me to take your belongings with me to the Manor, my husband will accompany you and Draco to Diagon Alley," she suggested.
Not wanting to drag his trunk with him, Harry agreed to the suggestion and followed Lucius Malfoy through the barrier from where they took a taxi to the Leaky Cauldron and made their way into the Wizarding bank.
After waiting in line for about five minutes, it was finally their turn. "Mr Potter and I wish to go to our respective family vaults," Lucius informed the goblin.
"Of course. If you'll wait for just a moment, I'll get someone to accompany you."
"Good afternoon, Messieurs Malfoy," a goblin greeted a minute later. "Mister Potter, my colleague will see to you shortly," he addressed to Harry.
"That won't be necessary. We both will just take Draco's and Mr Potters' promising ring from the vaults," Lucius intervened. Harry nodded in agreement.
"If you're sure?" the goblin asked, mustering all three wizards sceptically like he wanted to find out who could want to steal from whom.
"Of course," was Lucius haughty reply. Harry just hummed his agreement.
With a shake of his head and a mumble that Harry was sure meant something like "Crazy, foolish wizards are just waiting to be robbed," the goblin indicated them to enter the cart.
Their first stop was the Malfoy vault. The one out of the several Malfoy vaults that was used for storing heirlooms as Draco informed him. Harry decided to wait inside the cart while the Malfoys entered the vault for about two minutes to retrieve Draco's promising ring.
"Potter family vault," the goblin stated when they reached their next stop.
After Harry followed the goblin out of the cart, he asked, "Do you know where in the vault I can find my promising ring?"
"It is the wizards' task to keep track of where they place the possessions in their vault," was the goblins unfriendly and unhelpful answer.
Fortunately, both Draco and Lucius had overheard Harry's question and were able to help him out. "Mr Potter, you can use an altered version of the Point me spell. Just say 'Point Harry James Potter's promising ring.'"
"Thank you."
Once the vault's door closed behind him, Harry repeated the spell Lucius told him and followed his wand towards a cupboard which was full of jewellery chests, where his wand pointed to a small, red box on one of the upper shelves.
When Harry picked up the box, he noticed that an envelope lied underneath it. Curious, he opened the envelope and looked inside.
~Dear Harry,
I hope that you like the promising ring I picked out for you. Your father wanted your ring to have a stag as the central piece. However, I thought that you deserve something that wasn't a simple copy of your father's promising ring. So while this ring may be simple, it is at least your own individual ring.
Love,
Your mum, Lily
P.S.: While I didn't want your ring to be a copy of mine or your father's, I still couldn't resist to give yours the same inscription my ring holds.~
By the time he finished reading the letter, Harry had tears in his eyes. Even without looking at the promising ring, Harry knew that he would love it. Whipping the tears away, Harry put the letter back into the enveloped and placed it inside his jacket pocket.
Tenderly, the brunet opened the simple, red jewellery box. Inside lay a silver ring with a diamond-shaped central piece that held an oval emerald in the middle and three small light blue stones in each corner. The letters H and P were engraved in flourished letters to the left and right of the central piece, surrounding it.
Beautiful, was all Harry could think. The ring's design was just right to be worn by either a male or female without looking too simple.
Gingerly, Harry took the ring out of the box to get a better look at the inscription.
~Today, tomorrow, always~
Yes, I certainly love this inscription, Harry thought, a radiant smile on his face as he put the ring back into the box. It will be perfect for either a ring of friendship or love.
"Have you found your ring?" he heard Draco call from outside the vault.
"Yes. I'll be out in a moment," Harry called back, closing the ring box and also placed it in his jacket pocket.
~-~-~-~-~-~-Altair-a life changing event-~-~-~-~-~-~-
It was already past eleven in the evening when Harry lay in his comfy four-poster bed in the guest bedroom directly across from Draco's own room in Malfoy Manor. He knew that he should soon go to sleep to be fit for tomorrow's Promising Ring ritual. However, the brunet couldn't help himself but to re-read his mother's letter for the sixth time and stare at his promising ring.
Today, tomorrow, always, Harry repeated the inscription in his head. "Your friend: Today, tomorrow, always," Harry said out loud to try it out. It sounds right, he thought. Nevertheless, he also tried the alternative. "Love you: Today, tomorrow, always...
"Argh!" he cried out in frustration. Why have both versions to sound just right in my ears?!
He had less than a day to decide on the meaning of his promising ring and against his hope, the ring didn't help him one bit in his decision process.
'Just ask yourself some questions and compare what the answer would be for Draco and Hermione,' Harry suddenly remembered Neville's advise from weeks ago and did just that and asked himself which of the two versions he would use for Hermione. While he loved his friend like a sister, he would still never consider to give her a ring of (brotherly) love.
Thank you Neville, Harry thought towards his friend. He finally decided that his promising ring would become a ring of love.
What if he doesn't accept it? the brunet worried, now that his decision was made. Stop worrying, Harry, he reprimanded himself. Draco will accept the ring, I'm sure, he reassured himself, thinking back about the night where they tried out the double penetration toy but initially completely forget about it as they caressed each other. We would never have touched each other like that if he didn't reciprocated my feelings to some extent.
I better go to sleep now, Harry decided, forcefully stopping himself from thinking more about Draco's talented mouth and hands and put the promising ring back into its box and laid back down to sleep.
After unsuccessfully trying to fall asleep for the last forty minutes, Harry tried to determine the reason for his discomfort.
It can't be the bed. It is as comfortable as it can get. Maybe I've become too used to sleeping nude? he wondered. It can't be helped, he thought as he got out of bed to get off his pyjamas. And just to be sure, Harry fluffed up the pillow once more before he lay down again.
I give up, Harry thought after another half an hour of turning around from one side to the other. Getting out of bed, Harry redressed in his pyjamas and then walked out into the hallway. They had a ritual to perform tomorrow and he really didn't want to fall asleep during it. And the only other reason why he couldn't sleep that he came up with was that Draco wasn't there with him.
He stopped in front of Draco's door, hesitating.I can't believe that I've become so used to his presence that I can't sleep without him next to me anymore. Is Draco even still awake? he wondered before he decided that he didn't care and softly knocked on the door.
"Come in, Harry," he heard Draco call out, laying aside the book he'd been reading.
"How did you know that it was me?" Harry asked.
"Because I can't sleep, so you wouldn't be able to sleep either," was Draco's answer, like it was the most obvious thing in world.
"You shouldn't judge others by your own standards," Harry replied as he walked towards the bed.
"But I'm right, aren't I?" Draco asked and opened the covers, inviting the other to join him in the bed.
Harry didn't answer. He just crawled under the covers and snuggled up into the blond's bare chest, humming in comfort. "You're naked?" he asked when he couldn't feel any pyjama pants.
"I first assumed that the pyjamas were the reason for not being able to sleep," Draco simply stated.
"Me too." Harry mumbled, getting comfortable.
"Merlin," Harry suddenly cursed. He couldn't believe that the soft pyjamas were getting on his nerves, just because they weren't as smooth as Draco's skin. Distancing himself from Draco, he unbuttoned his pyjama shirt and threw it on the floor before he then kicked off his pyjama bottoms, which landed next to the shirt. "I can't believe that I can't sleep with pyjama's any longer."
Draco just laughed. "Poor Harry. What are you going to do when you're sleeping over at the Weasleys?"
"Taking you with me as my personal pillow," Harry said, giving the blond a quick kiss on his cheek. With finally having decided that his promising ring would mean more than just friendship, he felt like he needed to finally express his feelings to the other. And as he still was not courageous enough to voice his feelings out loud, a chaste, quick kiss seemed like the best thing to do instead.
Draco smiled at Harry's comment as the brunet again got comfortable on his chest, wishing Draco a good night.
"Good night, Harry," Draco returned, kissing the top of Harry's head. "You really make a good blanket substitution."
This made Harry smile too. While neither was able to just say "I love you," they both had no problems to understand what the really wanted to say with "pillow" and "blanket."
Thus, with a smile, a mutual understanding of each other's feelings and an assurance that their meaning of the promising ring would be welcomed by the other, they finally fell asleep as the clock in the faraway church struck two.
~-~-~-~-~-~-Altair-a life changing event-~-~-~-~-~-~-
Promising rings: I'll update a sketch of both Harry's and Draco's promising ring on my DeviantArt page (same user name) during the next days/weeks. (At the latest with the next chapter.)
~-~-~-~-~-~-Altair-a life changing event-~-~-~-~-~-~-
Next: The next part of the holidays, including the Promising Ring ritual and Christmas shopping. Update probably on the 21st December to go along with the date in the story.