Chapter Thirty Six
It wasn't long before New Years came along and Harry found himself dressing in a new set of royal blue dress robes to go to the Malfoys' for their Christmas party. Arthur was still in the hospital so the invitation had been extended to include the Weasleys and of course Fleur.
Lucius and Narcissa were far too well mannered to say anything but Harry knew that the idea of having the Weasleys at their party was only slightly better than Bellatrix turning up.
Mrs Weasley had been rather concerned by what they would wear. However after lengthening the hem, Ron still fitted into his dress robes from the Yule ball last year, as did Fred and George. Lily had managed to persuade Ron to let her at least see his robes and after the frayed edges that had once been covered in lace had been hemmed, they really didn't look too bad.
Ginny's dress was shortened as Tonks and Nikka informed her tea length was both perfectly acceptable and more flattering on her.
Lily was wearing a pale blue, 'to match the boys' as she'd put it, with tiny sparkles over its skirt that flared out when she spun round, something that Danica made her do, repeatedly. Danica and Nikka were in matching, ballet length dresses with small puffed sleeves, also in pale blue.
Danica was very pleased to be wearing a dress the same as Nikka's and pranced around the hallway declaring she was a big girl now.
Severus and Sirius were also in dark blue, like Harry, although once more they looked a lot more comfortable in them than Harry, who was at least comforted by the fact he knew he looked a lot more comfortable than Ron who was pulling at his neckline every few moments.
"How are we going to get there?" Mrs Weasley asked, making sure her capped sleeves weren't crumpled, "Portkey?"
"And ruin our hair?!" Danica gasped, clearly outraged at the suggestion.
Lily grinned, "We have joint Apparition passes, and Malfoy Manor is protected so a Portkey wouldn't get us in there anyway. Please all of you read this piece of paper." she said, holding out the address for Malfoy Manor in Severus's spiked writing.
Mrs Weasley looked slightly unsure at the idea of simply being a passenger when apparating but nodded and held Severus's hand.
Harry felt the strange pulling and squishing feeling that meant they were on the move and landed neatly on his feet on the pristine cobbled driveway of Malfoy Manor.
"Bloody hell." Ron said, looking over the imposing building in front of them.
"Well they're not going to run out of room any time soon." Mrs Weasley said after a moment, "And here I was worried that having seven more of us would be a little cramped."
Lily smiled and let Danica run ahead to knock on the door.
"Good evening Petal." Danica said with a little curtsy, "How are you?"
"I is goods Missy Danica, please come through." Petal beamed, flapping her ears.
She led them through the corridor to the ballroom, decorated with falling snow that was warm to the touch and vanished as soon as it hit the polished wooden floor. The walls covered with holly and wreaths, as well as two large Christmas trees, dropping the odd pine needle which was quickly swept away.
Narcissa and Lucius glided over to greet them.
"It's so lovely to see you." Narcissa said, kissing Lily on either cheek, "And welcome to out home." she said to Mrs Weasley, shaking her hand.
"Well, thank you for having us. Your house is… very lovely." Mrs Weasley said, looking around.
"We're pleased to have you." Lucius said, "And we wish Arthur a most speedy recovery. Please let us know if there is anything we can do to help."
Mrs Weasley nodded politely and walked in to join the other guests. Harry and Hermione also wandered into the room to find their friends. Draco, Daphne, Pansy and Neville were already sitting around a table, chatting about everything and nothing.
"Hi Harry." Neville grinned, giving him a pat on the back, "How are you doing?"
Harry shrugged, "I'm OK."
"We were told that you'd gone down with the flu, you and the Weasleys." Neville told him, "McGonagall dragged Ron out of bed, told the rest of us to go back to sleep and we didn't see you again. I went to the hospital wing the next day but you weren't there."
Harry looked around, making sure they weren't going to be over heard, and filled them in on the dream and the attack on Mr Weasley.
"Wow." Neville said, sitting back, "Some flu."
"I knew that Mr Weasley had been attacked but I didn't know it was anything to do with you." Daphne said quietly, "I mean how did you see what was happening? Was it some sort of prophecy?"
"I don't think so." Harry said, "They… they think I might have been inside Voldemort's head somehow."
"How did you know Mr Weasley was attacked?" Hermione asked.
Daphne waved her hand causally, "Oh, my parents are on the board of trusties for the hospital. They'd heard me mention Ron before and thought he was a friend, so made inquiries for me. I didn't see the point in correcting them."
"How he is?" Harry asked. He hadn't had many updates from Mrs Weasley, every time he asked after him it was simply suggested that he go and visit again, something he wanted to avoid.
Daphne shrugged, "He seems to be getting better. Around Christmas they tried something called stitches, they're a muggle thing and didn't work at all. Apparently he and the little Mrs had a blazing row over it."
"Oh to have been a fly on the wall!" Pansy smirked.
"Have you heard anything from Bella?" Harry asked.
Draco shook his head, "Nope. The three kids are staying in school over Christmas and the house has been empty every time Mother has tried to get hold of her."
Harry gritted his teeth, "They're with him. I know they are."
"You might well be right." Hermione sighed, "I'm hungry, let's get something to eat." she said, running her hand over her red dress, Lily had enlarged it so she could wear it again.
Harry nodded and happily took the distraction of the large buffet table. Once or twice, when he was much younger, the ball had started with a five course banquet. Harry couldn't remember much about those early parties only he always felt very full afterwards and once he'd thrown up in Lily's napkin after eating far to much chocolate mouse. He was very grateful the Malfoys had such high quality napkins.
He filled his plate with little sandwiches and pasta salad which was quickly stolen by Danica so he made up another plate. He sat back down and looked over the dance floor. Fleur and Bill were wrapped in each others arms, much to Mrs Weasley's annoyance.
The music finished and the band announced there would be a short fifteen minute break in order for the band to have something eat and drink.
Nikka unwrapped herself from Sirius and came over to find Harry.
"Can I have a quick word?" she asked, "I don't mean to interrupt anything."
Harry looked to his friends for a moment, "I think I'm free. They'll be terribly bored without me but they'll survive." he smirked.
Nikka laughed as Pansy, Neville, Daphne, Draco and Hermione all pulled their tongues out at him at the same time. Nikka lead him out of the room and into the cool nights air, Tonks clearly trying to keep Sirius busy while they left by showing his paintings she'd never seen any interest in before.
Harry let Nikka lead him along the path strung with fairy lights until they reached a bench and she sat down. Harry waited while she picked at her nails for a moment.
"Nikka, is everything OK?" Harry asked, suddenly worried about Sirius.
"Yes." Nikka smiled, "Yes I'm fine, well as fine as any of us can be at the moment."
Harry nodded, "OK?"
Several more minutes passed in silence.
"Nikka? It's kinda cold out here." Harry said softly.
Nikka laughed, "It is a bit isn't it? Harry, I wanted to ask you for a favour."
Harry nodded, "Yeah of course. Is this about the Order? No one will tell me anything and I really want to know what's going on. Do you agree with Dumbledore, I mean if it's about me-"
Nikka raised her hand to stop him, "Sorry sweetie but no, this isn't about the Order. Actually this is about me and Sirius."
"Did you guys break up again?" Harry asked, a sinking pit in his stomach. He didn't think he could deal with the two of them being so miserable again, not with everything else going on, however selfish that might be.
Nikka laughed, "Oh my gods Harry stop!" she laughed, wiping her eyes, "Well you made this less terrifying anyway, so thank you for that. No me and Sirius have not broken up, actually… actually just the opposite."
She took a deep breath and jumped up, "Give me just a minute."
Harry watched in confusion as she darted off further down the path, returning a few minutes later with a small black bag. She opened it and pulled out a blue velvet box, handing it to Harry. He took it and opened it to reveal a white gold band with five small black diamonds set in it.
"This is beautiful." Harry said, running his fingers over it.
"You think he'll like it?" Nikka asked, chewing the corner of her lip.
"Who?" Harry asked, handing it back to her.
Nikka rolled her eyes and smiled, "Boys can be so dense. It's for Sirius."
Harry cottoned on, "You're going to ask him to marry you?"
Nikka grinned and nodded, "I thought the time was right and I said that I would when the time was right so..."
"When are you going to ask? Please say I'll be here!" Harry asked, trying not to beg to much; he just wanted to be there to see his godfather say yes.
"I was hoping so." Nikka nodded, "I… I was going to do it at Christmas but it would have been inappropriate with everything that was going on. So, I thought it's OK, Arthur will be out of hospital soon and I'll ask then..."
"But it's nearly the end of the holidays and he's still in the hospital." Harry sighed. There was still a part of him that blamed himself for the attack on Mr Weasley and this was added guilt, although there was no way Nikka could of known that.
"Yes, so I was thinking I could get you to ask him for me when you get off the train, at the end of term?" Nikka asked, "With some, very cheesy note saying something like 'make Nikka my godmother?' Well?"
Harry nodded, trying his best not to shout out loud that he was so happy this was happening. It was not only going to be brilliant for Sirius, but he loved Nikka and it was going to give himself to look forward to at the end of the year, something to distract him from Umbridge and her reign of terror.
"So, you think he's going to like it?" Nikka asked.
"Well if he doesn't, I'll happily take it." Harry grinned.
Nikka jabbed him playfully in the ribs, "Ha ha."
"He's going to love it." Harry assured her, and gave her a big hug, "And I would be honoured, to have you as my godmother."
Nikka smiled and hugged him back, "Thanks Harry, that means a lot."
"How did you get it here?" Harry asked.
Nikka shrugged, "I sent it here a few days back, when it was clear that Arthur wasn't coming out of the hospital in time. Narcissa hid it for me, and told me where so I could ask you. Then I got Tonks to keep Sirius busy so I could get you away from it all to ask you in secret. And thank you for saying yes."
Harry smiled and nodded, "Always. I'm thankful to be a part of it."
"Well, we're family now." Nikka grinned.
Harry smirked, "We've been family for a while."
Nikka gave him another hug, "You OK Harry? You seem… down, lately."
Harry sighed, "It's just been tough. I don't know where it goes from here, the ministry is pretending that Voldemort isn't even alive any more still, and it's been months."
Nikka patted his hand, "Well, I was too young to remember the last war, but my parents do and they said it was like this last time. No one honestly believed that Voldemort was that much of a threat, the ministry pretended everything was fine until there was a mass killing, huge attack and that was it. It was enough to push it over the edge and the ministry couldn't pretend any more, so it was out. We beat him last time, we'll do it again. And at least currently he isn't as supported as last time."
Harry nodded, "Thanks."
"Any time. We'll be OK Harry, I promise. One day at a time." Nikka smiled.
"One day at a time." Harry agreed, "And you and Sirius are getting married!"
"Yes we are!" Nikka grinned, clapping her hands together in excitement, "Come on, lets head in before we freeze to death."
Harry laughed and nodded, heading back into the house, he felt much happier than he had in a long time.