This one-shot was written for rowan-greenleaf for The DG Forum's Secret Santa – 2015. The prompt was "Firewhiskey, snowball fight". Merry Christmas, rowan!

Of Snowballs and Firewhiskey

It was snowing. White flakes were everywhere: in Draco's hair, leaving wet patches on his clothes, lingering on the tip of his nose. There was no escaping the horrid stuff. A thick layer had already formed on the ground, and it was not likely to stop any time soon. Not that Ginny seemed to care. She skipped ahead with unsteady steps, bottle of Firewhiskey in hand. He could hear her singing—very loudly and off-key, might he add—the stupid song that all the old bods had been singing back at the pub. Something about a wizard and a talking pig.

"Those are my lucky shoes, Mr Pig!" Ginny sang, raising her arms and sloshing some of her drink. "I won't surrender them to—urp—" she slipped and stumbled a few steps to the side, spilling even more alcohol. "Oops."

Draco sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Weasley!" He closed the distance between them and grabbed her arm to steady her. "Come on, it's time for you to go home."

"No, no, no, no!" Ginny wriggled free. "I don't wanna go home! I'm gonna sing and dance and drink and—"

"And what?" Draco demanded, getting right up in her space. "You're drunk, it's freezing, and you'll just end up hurting yourself if you keep wandering around like this. Now stop being such a brat and let me take you home."

"Excuse me, Malfoy, but you are not the boss of me." She raised her chin. "Besides, I haven't had that much to drink."

"Tell that to your breath," Draco muttered. "You reek of booze."

Her already flushed cheeks went even redder, but Draco didn't wait for her response. He scooped her up into his arms and began carrying her bridal-style towards the Disapparation point. Ginny was so stunned that the bottle of Firewhiskey slipped from her grasp, spilling the last of the drink onto the snow.

"Hey!" she cried, once she regained use of her limbs, and twisted against his hold to break free. "Let me go!"

Draco ignored her.

"Malfoy!"

"It's for your own good, Weasley," he said, keeping his gaze fixed ahead.

Ginny puffed her cheeks out in irritation. Suddenly, she made a lunging motion towards him and something soft and wet touched his cheek. Draco let out a yelp of disgust.

"The hell? Did you just lick me?" he demanded.

Ginny cackled and slipped free of his slackened hold. She made a running dash to escape, though her inebriated state made it difficult for her to maintain her balance. There was a lot of wobbling and zigzagging. It did not take Draco long to catch up to her.

"Weasley!" He reached for her arm.

"Sod off, Malfoy!" Ginny retorted, swiping at his hand to fend him off.

He growled in frustration and made another grab for her. It was like trying to catch a slippery fish with his hands. "Damn it, just stay still!"

"No! I can do what I want!"

"For the love of—" Draco bit off a curse and took a deep breath, visibly trying to calm down. "Gods, you're impossible."

Ginny stared at him owlishly. "I never told you to follow me."

"Don't I know it," he muttered.

He'd been asking himself for the past ten minutes why he was still following this girl. Sure, they played for the same Quidditch team, but they had never been friends. She was loud and annoying, and her manners were deplorable. It was by chance that they had even ended up at the same pub. There had been no reason for them to interact. There was certainly no reason for him to be babysitting her now. It wasn't like he was expecting to get anything in return. Unfortunately, he couldn't seem to walk away from her either.

Draco frowned at the redhead. Her hair was a mess and her mascara was smudged. A suspicious stain on her dress suggested she had spilt alcohol on herself at some point. No one in their right mind would find her attractive. Still, for some reason the sight of her stumbling out of the pub alone had awakened some rusty, underused part of his conscience. So here he was, and there she was being a pain in the arse, as usual.

Gods, this was why he hated listening to his conscience.

Draco sighed and placed his palm against his forehead. "Look, Weasley, it's late, I'm tired. I don't want to waste the rest of my night dealing with you. So maybe you could take a break from being the annoying bint that you are and try to cooperate so we can both get some sleep? "

She pointed her finger at him. "Ahhhh," she said, dragging out the vowel and going a bit cross-eyed. "I see what you're trying to do. You want to have sex with me."

His expression remained unimpressed. "No, I really don't."

"Do too!"

"Trust me," he said flatly, "that's the last thing on my mind."

Ginny leaned forward, peering up at him from under her lashes. "Then why do you wanna get me into bed so much?"

Draco closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Weasley—"

Something cold and hard smacked him in the face. He blinked, touching his face to feel freezing droplets trailing down his cheek. Ginny giggled and half-stumbled, half-ran in the other direction. That damned little she-devil had thrown a snowball at him.

"Can't catch me now, Malfoy!" Ginny sing-songed.

He opened his mouth to retort, only to get hit with a second snowball. It shattered against him, spraying him once more with icy droplets. Draco scowled and spat out a mouthful of snow.

"That's it!" he growled, reaching down to form his own ammunition. "You're in for it now, Weasley!"

What followed was an onslaught of snowballs and petty insults. They chased each other round and round the street: Draco like some avenging angel, while Ginny giggled and shrieked, doing her best to evade him. She was a bit hindered by her drunken state, but what she lacked in coordination she made up for in fighting spirit. She certainly wasn't afraid to fight dirty (there was some hair pulling). Eventually, Draco had enough of her games and grabbed her around the middle, knocking her to the ground with the force of his body.

"Got you," he said with a wicked grin, keeping her pinned down.

Ginny stared up at him with big eyes. Her cheeks were pink and there was snow speckled in her hair. Draco had to admit that he was a bit unnerved. He had never seen her so docile. Normally, she was such a monster of a woman: a hissing cat that raised her hackles at every little thing, always ready to fight back. Now, she just lay underneath him, chest rising and falling rapidly, and her lips parted to form a small O. It was the kind of expression that invited further proximity. It was not at all what he wanted to see.

"Okay," he said, moving to detach himself from her, "well, it seems like you're ready to give up, so—"

"Wait."

Draco froze. "What?" he asked with some trepidation.

Gods, she wasn't going to try kiss him, was she? Drunk girls were not his type. Drunk Weasley girls with obnoxious attitudes were even less.

Ginny pouted. "I'm cold."

"I'm not surprised. You're wearing a thin dress in winter."

And had a snowball fight with him. Honestly, didn't she have any brains?

Ginny just smiled and pulled him back down to her, snuggling against him as if he were a human blanket. "You're warm."

Draco's eyes widened. "Woah, woah, wait a minute—"

Icy hands snuck under his coat and shirt, shocking his bare skin with the sudden cold. Draco cursed and hurriedly tried to pull her hands away.

"Damn it, Weasley! Don't go putting your freezing little hands on me!"

"But you're warm," Ginny argued, as if that made everything alright.

"I don't care!" Draco hauled her up to her feet with him. "No touching allowed. You got that? No touching, so keep those nasty cold hands of yours away from me."

She pouted again. "Meanie."

Draco rolled his eyes and continued marching her down the street. It seemed she had switched from being a belligerent drunk to an over-affectionate, whiney drunk. Just lovely.

"I'm taking you home," he said in a stern voice. "No more arguments."

"But—"

"No!" He spun her around so that she was facing him, his hands still gripping her shoulders. "Weasley, you're a complete nutcase and annoying as heck, but you are my team mate and I guess that means something to me." He scowled and narrowed his eyes. "So shut up and let me do this, because I'm not leaving until I've got you home safe."

Pink spread across her cheeks. Draco didn't wait for her response and dragged her to the Disapparation point. He demanded her address, and for once she actually cooperated and gave it to him. A few seconds later they were outside her flat. He helped her unlock the door and then stepped back, preparing to leave.

"Well, I'll see you at practice then," he said curtly.

Ginny held out her hand. "Wait."

He sighed and glanced up at the sky. "What now?"

She chewed on her bottom lip and twisted the fabric of her dress round her fingers. "Um, well, I just wanted to say that, um, I'm sorry for being such a cow earlier, and um—" she shrugged and met his eyes with a smile "—thanks, I guess. You're a lot nicer than I thought."

Draco averted his gaze. "Yeah, whatever," he muttered, stuffing his hands in his pockets. "Just don't make a habit of this. I won't always be around to help you out, you know."

Her smile widened a fraction. "Sure thing. Oh, and Malfoy?"

"Mm?"

"Merry Christmas."

His expression softened. "Merry Christmas, Weasley."

He raised his wand and turned, vanishing on the spot. Draco would never admit it to anyone, but it was a long time before the smile left his face.