On Christmas morning, Draco quietly snuck into Harry's bedroom. He pounced on Harry's bed, "WAKE UP! WAKE UP!" He yelled. Harry used to this kind of wake up being followed up by a beating. When he heard the words, he immediately curled in on himself and started crying. Draco didn't notice his friends reaction at first he was too excited about the day ahead. He suddenly noticed Harry hadn't joined in and glanced at his friend. He saw that he had scared Harry and promptly stopped jumping on the bed, he sat down and pulled Harry into a hug while whispering apologies.
Once Harry had stopped crying and finally sat up, Draco turned to him and said, "Come on, let's go downstairs, I am sure everyone is waiting for us, it is already 8 am."
Harry, for his part, had no idea what Draco meant, he had never celebrated Christmas before. He didn't expect to celebrate it this year either. When they reached the bottom of the staircase, Draco dragged him into the family sitting room.
Harry peered around and saw a spectacular 6-foot tall pine tree, decorated with delicate green and silver trinkets and fairies hovered above the branches giving off the illusion of lights. A crystal star adorned the top of the tree, every bit of light that hit it reflected around the room. Under the tree was a pile of presents bigger than Harry had ever seen, even bigger than Dudley's piles. Harry stood transfixed, staring at the sight before him. He didn't move, even after Draco had sat down in front of the presents. Lucius and Severus shared a look which led Severus to walk over to Harry.
"Ry... Arry... Harry?" Harry heard his name being said and slowly pulled his eyes away from the sight in front of him. He saw Severus standing in front of him and locked eyes with him.
"Harry, are you okay?" Severus questioned wearily, "Are you going to sit with Draco and open your presents?"
"I have just never seen anything so beautiful," Harry explained with wide innocent eyes before he realised what else Severus had just said. "Wait. Did you say my presents? Sir, I never have any presents."
Once again, the adults in the room shared a look. However, this time Draco also noticed the strangeness of that statement. He looked over at his friend who was wearing a confused look on his face. He stood, about to walk to his friend when he saw his father walk past him, and straight to Harry.
Lucius gathered Harry into his arms, gave him a quick squeeze and then pulled back enough to be able to look at the young man in his eyes. "Harry," he said, "this year you have got presents. Actually, if I have anything to say about it, you will have presents every year from now on."
"Hear! Hear!" Severus agreed, and a ghost of a smile graced his lips.
Harry wasn't so sure he should believe the men. Adults usually lie. "They haven't lied to me yet, maybe I could try to trust them. For now..." he thought. He looked to his friend, he needed to see what Draco thought. The blond stared back at him, kindness, worry and acceptance shone in his eyes. Then he turned to Lucius and saw the same concern and compassion with a glimmer of protectiveness, in his eyes. Finally, Harry braved a look at Severus, and the fierceness of the stare astounded him, he could hardly decipher the range of emotions that were being shown to him. There was understanding, concern, and admiration at the forefront with other emotions warring in the background.
Harry was so moved that these people, who he had known for only a few months (Lucius even less) had taken him into their lives. They seemed to want him around them, he couldn't believe it. He didn't notice when Lucius manoeuvred him to a spot on the soft fur rug.
He was jolted out of his state when Draco dropped a gift on his lap. It was heavy, and when he looked down, he noticed it was beautifully wrapped, in an emerald green sparkly paper with a silver bow tied on top. Carefully he looked at the tag, it was a present from Lucius. He opened it to find a book on Dark Arts and how to defend against them. Draco had been opening his own gift in the meantime, also one from Lucius and a book. It was a book on Occlumency.
Draco then grabbed each of them one of the presents from Severus and passed Harry his. He ripped open his gift from his Godfather and found a Hungarian Horntail carved out of crystal, it had silver eyes and claws. He looked over to Harry and saw a stunning crystal snake with emerald eyes. In unison, the boys looked at Severus, jumped up and ran over to him. They hugged him tightly while loudly voicing their thanks.
Draco then passed Harry his gift from him. Harry looked like he had been slapped and tried to run out of the room. He was stopped by Severus who asked, "Harry, what's wrong now?"
Harry mumbled an answer that no one could hear. "Please speak up Little Snake," Severus coaxed.
"I didn't buy any of you guys presents! I had no idea that's what you were meant to do!" Harry cried out distraught.
The other three finally realised their mistake, in all their planning, they forgot Harry. They had each chosen a time where they would distract Harry so they could go shopping. But they hadn't thought that Harry might want to get them gifts as well.
Draco stepped forward to explain. Once he had and offered to take Harry shopping the next day, they both sat back down on the carpet, and Harry finally opened his present from Draco. It was a book with green velvet on the cover, he looked inside and found it blank. Confused, he looked at Draco who smiled softly and said, "It is a communication book, I have another one. If we are ever separated, and you need to talk to me, just write in this, and I will get in instantly."
Harry was awed, "thank you, Draco! I love it."
They continued in this for a while, each having multiple gifts from Severus and Lucius. Harry had never felt so cared for before, it was then he started to trust these men. Soon enough, they were finished with the day, and all sat down to a Christmas dinner. Its starter was smoked salmon with horseradish Creme Fraiche and beetroot. Next was the turkey, served with port and cranberry sauce. With a side of chunky roast potatoes, honey-roasted carrots, and Christmas spiced red cabbage. For dessert, they had a royal cherry trifle in crystal glasses.
Later that night, Harry lay in bed and thought about the Malfoys and Severus. They had come into his life and made it so much better. That night Harry fell asleep with a smile on his face and didn't wake up with a nightmare once.
