Disclaimer: No, I do own any of the Harry potter characters. They all
belong to the great Lord J.K. Rowling! Bow down to her! All of you!
Okay..I'm a little crazy, I know. *giggles*
Thanks to: Menecarkawan. Thank you for being my Beta!
By the way, as for the gift that Harry get from Draco had been given before in at least a couple of stories, but I don't think it's ever been given to him as a Christmas present, so I hope it's still original enough for you. Secondly, as for gifts from Albus and other lesser characters in my opinion, I didn't include them because I just couldn't come up with anything good enough. I'm sorry if this disappoints you guys. :-( Also, The gift that Harry gives Draco won't be "The perfect gift" to you, but believe, It definitely meant a lot to Draco! I'm eating chocolate as I type this so you can tell it's going to be a happy chapter!
FIRST, I HAVE A QUESTION. I WANT TO TAKE A SURVEY OF ALL MY READERS! IN YOUR NEXT REVIEW, PLEASE WRITE IN AT THE END WHETHER YOU ARE A BOY OR A GIRL. I WANT TO KNOW IF IT REALLY IS TRUE THAT GILS READ SLASH FANFCTION MORE THAN BOYS. MUCH APPRECIATED!
Replies to reviews:
Menecarkawan: Hey! I'm glad you reviewed! Thanks a lot! I suppose if you think that I made it too obvious that Draco would win, you're probably right. I'll have to go check it out. Thanks for the review!
Bakachan17: lol. Nice try, but no. Harry didn't get a lamp, necklace, or ring. Lol. Thanks for updating your fic! And whether narcissa wins will be in part two of this chapter/ Thanks for the review!
OnlyHAUNTED: No, actually, Harry hasn't gotten a snake in this story, lol. Also, that's not the gift, but good try. :-) As for who wins, will be in part 2 of the chapter. That's a really good idea on Narcissa playing dumb, lol, but unfortunately, I'd all ready started the chapter before I got your review and so I have a different way of how she started the chess game. It's a shame, really, your idea was really cool! Thanks for the review!
Menecarkawan: Cool! I hope you enjoyed your vacation. You can send in your idea to me by email if you like instead of reviewing it so you wouldn't spoil the surprise! Lol. Thanks for the review!
Kendrall17: Thanks for the wonderful comments. It's ok that you've been busy, I'm just glad you reviewed! Thanks for the review!
Shaelynn(): It's all cool. I can't wait until you catch up with the story again! Thanks for the review!
Zeynel: I want to thank you especially! You're the one that gave me the idea for the joke! Thank you so much. Thanks for the review!
HogwartsSaiyajin: I think that meant you liked my chapter.right? Lol. Anyway, as for if Ron wins, you'll have to wait for the next chapter. Thanks for the review!
GoddessMoonLady: Thanks a lot for the compliments! Sorry, though, people didn't get a love scene like they wanted in this chapter, but I assure you, it will be in the next chapter. Don't worry. This chapter was just too long to fit everything in. I don't know why though because it doesn't really have too much happening, but oh well. Thanks for the review!
Luin-lote: Thank you for the compliment! Don't worry, I know what being busy is like. Well, I hope you like the chapter. Thanks for the review!
DeathStryke: Hmmm.true, I suppose Ron gets on my nerves too. Lol. We'll have to see who wins in part two of the chapter, unfortunately. Sorry I didn't make Narcissa evil and vindictive like you like her but it didn't go well with my story. Thanks for the review!
GoldenGirl12: Well, I think it's short compared to my other chapters, but it is pretty long to write. Thanks for the review!
MystalDragon: WoW! A new reader! YAY! You read all my chapters so quickly! Thank you so much for the compliments! You really made my day! Thanks for the review!
Okay, well, on with the chapter!
~*~Chapter 13: Stale Mate. or is it? ~*~
I had found the perfect one for Harry's Christmas gift! I wondered what he would get me for Christmas. He really didn't have to give me anything at all, actually. I would be glad just to be graced by his presence.
Well, before we all knew it, it was all ready a day before Christmas break and we were all packing up. I was only going to take two weeks worth of winter clothes but then decided that I couldn't part with ANY of my wardrobes so I brought them all along. I had to shrink ALL of my clothing and still had to bring to extra large suitcases!
Harry on the other hand, only used one without shrinking his clothing and still had space to spare! I couldn't believe it!
"Harry, how on earth can you fit all you winter clothes there!?" I asked bewilderedly.
"Simple," he answered. "By bringing ONLY two weeks worth of winter apparel rather than my WHOLE wardrobe! Honestly Draco! It's not as if the castles going to burn in flames while we're gone and destroy all of your clothes!"
I gasped. "Could that really happen!?" I exclaimed, quite frightened. Maybe I should take all of my summer and fall clothes too! What if the place did burn down!? I don't know what I would do without my clothes!
"Oh Merlin," Harry sighed, exasperatedly.
He pulled me away from my closet where I was going to take all the rest of my clothes and lead me to Hermione's Head Girl room, where we found Ron and Hermione.
"Hello," Hermione greeted us merrily as she finished packing up her things. Ron had finished much sooner than everyone else, as he didn't have much to pack. Of course, I made no comment on this all though I'm sure you all ready know why he didn't have much to pack. I had been working on controlling me mouth with its insults.
Ron gave me a glare and moaned, "Remind me again. Why I let you talk me into going to that Cabin with you for Christmas break?"
"Because," I began with a smile, "You want to beat my mother at chess, don't you?"
"Well, now that you say it, it doesn't seem quite as exciting anymore." Ron muttered, lying down on Hermione's bed with his head buried in the pillows.
"Well, just think about it," Harry replied. "You can actually beat a Malfoy at something. Break through those stuck up barriers and-"
"Hey," I interrupted with a pretend- hurt expression on my face.
"Oh, I'm sorry, Draco, but you know it's true." Harry answered back.
"No, it's not!" I exclaimed. "We can be nice and-"
"Look at it this way, Draco, "Harry interrupted, "That stuck up little prideful side of you is what first caught my eye." He gave me a sly smile and leaned up while pulling me down and engaging me in a passionate kiss.
"Oh, come on, guys! Don't do that in front of me! Get a room! A room far, far away from here! Please!" Ron yelled in protest of our public intimacy.
"Oh, Ron," Hermione said, giggling, "At least they don't mind about what others think. Unlike you. You never do that sort of romantic stuff!" Hermione said in a huff before walking out of her room to the library for some books for the Christmas break.
"Oh Great!" Ron shouted at us. "Now I'm going to have to start being all gushy with her in front of people! Why does she want me to be like you!? I'm not gay! I'm a man!"
"O, and what, just cause we're attracted to the same sex we're not men?" Harry asked, looking a little offensed. I smirked gleefully, hoping to see a fight break out between the two. I know it was wrong, but what can I say? I'd never seen the two fight before, except when they'd first found out about me and Harry dating, but that involved me, so it wasn't as thrilling.
"Aw, Harry, that's not what I meant. I-" Ron began, before getting cut off.
"Oh? Well, what DID you mean?" Harry asked, beginning to turn red right around his nose in anger.
"Come on, Draco." Ron begged. "Back me up here."
"No way, Ron. You're on your own here. You offended me too." I answered, fighting back a smirk.
Ron pleaded with his eyes before saying, "Harry, I'm sorry! Honest. I just- "
"No Ron," Harry said, looking happier. "I'm just overreacting. I'm sorry." He added with a sheepish smile.
Ron smiled back and came up to Harry saying, "Yeah, me too. You're just as much a man as me, and that's saying something." He added with a joking wink. Harry laughed.
"Oh, COME ON! You've got to be kidding! Where's the blood!? The kicking, the punching!? Where's the on-slaughting(sp?) Drama!?" I asked, exasperatedly.
Ron ignored me and said, "And I'm just as much a man as you," he said, and then hugged Harry for effect. Harry patted him on the back before in intruded, saying, "All right, all right. Break it up. Hands off my boyfriend, Weasely. He's mine."
Harry laughed and gave me a quick kiss on the lips before Ron asked, "So you get a little jealous and it's back to Weasely now?"
"Maybe. I'll have to think about it." I said with a smirk.
Ron shook his head with a smile before leaving me and Harry to go look for Hermione.
~*~
~*~
~*~
"ALL ABOARD!" called the train conductor. We were going back to Kingsley Station, where we could meet my mother and head to the cabin in whatever place she had arranged.
Harry and I walked in, me rolling my eyes, Harry walking lazily, growling all the way, Hermione running into the train excitedly, and Ron yawing and stumbling over his feet as he struggled to stay awake while he walked, dragging his suitcase along with him.
We had all had to wake up at 6:00 a.m. and neither of us, excluding Hermione, were getting on well with him. I even happened to find out that Harry is most definitely NOT a morning person!
I thought back to what happened that morning.
~*~Flashback~*~
"Harry" I'd whispered, tiredly. "Harry, wake up sweety. It's 6:00."
A small, annoyed groan erupted from Harry's throat.
"Harry," I whispered a little more urgently.
"What!?" Harry had yelled, turning to me with glaring eyes.
I'd jumped back of shock and fright as a small growl arose from Harry's throat as I still hadn't answered his question.
"WELL!?" He asked angrily.
"We have to get ready for the-"
"For the trip?" He'd cut me off. "Is that it? Is it!? Well, then the trip can bloody wait because it was okay to make me stay up last night just so you could have some sex but now it's not okay to let me sleep a little bit longer because I'm tired and my ass still aches!? Well, listen up! All right? I'm going back to sleep and if you have a problem with it, then go deal with it elsewhere!"
~*~ End Flashback~*~
After that, I had got out of bed and walked away from away, fearfully, and headed to Hermione's room to is see if maybe she could get him up. He'd told her to go away in a not-so-polite way until Hermione got too agitated to cooperate and cast a spell.
She then held a bucket full of ice-cold water and splashed it across Harry who'd jumped out of bed with a yelp. Hermione left, laughing evilly with satisfaction while I held Harry back from tackling her.
In the process of this I ended up with a black eye and a sore arm, which I easily repaired with a simple healing charm.
Harry had sleepily apologized afterward, but I had been too tired to even care.
Well, anyway, we were now finding an empty compartment for the three of four of us. When we did, (Which took no longer than 5 seconds, as the first compartment we checked was empty) we wet our suitcases down and Ron and Hermione took a seat across from Harry and myself.
Harry, who was more tired than me, immediately lied down on the bench and laid his head on my lap. I smiled sleepily and began to play with his bangs out of habit.
Ron smiled as he saw Harry do this and instantaneously did the same exact thing, using Hermione's lap as a pillow. Hermione shook her head, while rolling her eyes and turned to me. "Hey, Ron protested, as she did so.
"What?" Hermione asked.
"How come Draco plays with Harry's hair but you don't play with mine?" Ron asked in a baby voice.
"Because I don't like your hair!" Hermione snapped back. Apparently, she wasn't that much of a morning person either. Ron pouted before giving a huff and turning his face on her lap to take a nap.
Hermione laughed at him before turning to me once again and exclaiming, "It's going to be so much fun to ski! I went skiing with my parents once in my fifth year Christmas Holiday but decided to come back early to see Harry."
"Mmmm." I answered back, not quite catching what she was saying.
"I continued to play with Harry's silky bangs and let Hermione's words fade into the back of my mind. Instead, I began to wonder why Harry's hair felt so silky. I mean, if you looked at it, from the way it's so messy and wild, you would think it were dry and dirty, when in fact, it was quite the contrary.
You would never believe that it actually felt even silkier than my hair and smelt quite beautiful. My last thoughts were of why Harry smelled like such beautiful apples before I drifted off into a blissful, much needed nap.
~*~
~*~
~*~
"Draco, Ron, Harry! Hello! You guys! Wake up!" Hermione's voice plunged into my dreams, waking me up. I opened my eyes to find that the food trolley had passed by. Hermione smiled at me before saying, "Good, at least you're up. Try waking Harry up for me, would you?"
I hesitated for a moment. I wasn't sure I wanted to pick a fight with the dangerous Harry, but I figured it wasn't morning anymore, so he shouldn't be as moody he had been in the morning. While I had been dwelling in my thoughts, Hermione had whispered the word, "Food" in Ron's ear which had woken him up abruptly, causing Hermione to laugh.
I shook my head with a smile before gently shaking Harry awake and whispering, "Harry, the food trolley is here. Are you hungry?"
Harry turned over to face me and opened his eyes slowly to show off his beautiful emerald eyes. He smiled at me and replied, "'Morning love."
I smiled and leant down to give him a soft kiss. Harry and I heard the lady at the trolley gasp in shock before sighing happily at our youthful love. Harry blushed a light shade of pink and smiled before lifting himself up, into a sitting position and taking out a small sack of galleons.
He was about to pat when I decided to be the gentleman and blocked his hand and gave my money to the lady. I bought everyone a bit of everything on the trolley. Harry smiled at me and whispered "Thank you" as he kissed me, tasting like chocolate from his last chocolate frog.
~*~
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~*~
The train finally screeched to a stop and we all jumped out to with our suitcases to greet my mother. We found her standing right in front of the train stop with a wide smile on her face.
I walked up to her and was the first to give her a kiss on the cheek. She then looked at Hermione and gave her a heart warming hug before going up to Ron and doing the same.
When she came up to Harry, her smile widened even more and she gave him a kiss on both cheeks before nearly strangling him in a bear hug that one would not think possible from my mother, with her thin, fragile body.
"Oh, Harry!" She exclaimed happily. "I'm so happy for you and my son!"
"Thanks" Harry muttered, embarrassedly.
She walked us to a carriage where we all rode to the cabin and talked about everything from our school year so far.
~*~
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~*~
We finally arrived at the cabin twenty minutes later. (You wouldn't believe how quickly fancy, magical carriages can get you places.)
It was nowhere near as large as my Malfoy Manner, but it was MUCH bigger than the Burrow that Ron's family owned.
We entered the house, receiving a few "oohs" and "aaahs" from Ron, Hermione, and Harry. I, however, was very unimpressed. Harry ran childishly to a room on the second floor calling, "Draco and I call dibs on this room!" Then, he suddenly shot his head out of the doorframe of the room and added, "If that's all right with you, of course, Mrs.Malfoy. If you don't want Draco and I to share a room then-"
"No, No, dear. It's quite all right." My mother answered merrily.
Harry smiled and then headed back downstairs to us.
"So," Ron was the first to speak. "Mrs. Malfoy, I heard you're a very good chess player. I think you and I should play a round of chess as soon as possible. Don't you?"
I smiled at this. I knew what was coming next. My mother looked puzzled before asking, "Chess? You heard that I play chess well? Why, who would tell you such a thing. I don't even know HOW to play chess."
Ron showed no reaction at first, but as the realization hit me, he turned red with fury, "Draco, you liar! You told me your mother was a good chess player and-" Harry and Hermione began to laugh along with my mother and me.
"And just WHY are you all laughing!?" Ron asked, furiously.
"Oh dear," my mother answered in between giggles. "I was only joking. Draco wrote me about you wanting to play chess with me and decided to throw a little prank to see what you would do if he had really been lying."
Ron then began to turn even redder, but this time, of embarrassment. "oh" he muttered.
"Don't worry," I said. "My mother is an excellent chess player and will play you any time, anywhere. She'll beat you no matter what."
Harry snickered silently behind me.
"Well, then, let's play now." Ron said, competitively.
"Oh, don't be silly, Ron!" Hermione snapped. "We need to unpack and-"
My mother quickly waved her wand and all of our suitcases opened and the items inside were sent to our rooms.
"Well, now that that's done, you and I can play, Mr. Weasley." My mother said with amusement. With another flick of her wand, a table and chess board appeared and they each took a seat across from each other on couches in front of the crackling fireplace, setting up there pieces, my mother being white, of course.
They began to play as my mother declared, "Pawn to D3!" and the game began.
They played and played for nearly an hour before the other three of us (Hermione, Harry, and I) grew bored and decided to think of what to do for tomorrow.
We figured we'd go skiing, of course, and as Hermione was the only one who knew how, she would be then one to teach us.
"Mother," I called down from my room, several hours later.
"Not now, Draco! I need to concentrate!"
"Yead Draco," Ron added, "She's losing big time!"
"I am not!"
"Are too!"
"Am not!"
"Are-"
"Mother! I just wanted to know if you would like to come skiing with us tomorrow." I stated, agitatedly.
"Oh, yes, yes, of course." She answered uninterestedly.
"What about you, Ron?" Harry yelled afterward.
"Sure, sure, whatever." Was his only reply.
~*~
~*~
~*~
The next morning, Harry and I woke up and headed downstairs to the kitchen for some breakfast and stood rooted to our spots as we reached the living room. There, in the same couches as yesterday, were my mother and Ron, STILL playing the damn game!
"This is about your 10th round, right?" Harry asked, hesitantly.
"Of course not!" Ron answered with bloodshot eyes from lack of sleep.
"It's still our first round." My mother answered, casually.
"You've got to be kidding me." I replied.
"You're friend, here, is quite a worthy apponent. However, we are nearly done and the odds are against him, there's no way he can possibly win." My mother stated.
I smiled and turned to Harry who was doing the same. We left them to continue the game and made ourselves some breakfast. Hermione soon came down after us, saying, "You know, Ron never came to be last night and-" before stopping just as we hd and staring at Ron and my mother unbelievingly.
"You've got to be kidding me." She said aloud.
"That's what I said," I answered with a smirk.
Hermione looked at me desperately before sighing and joining us to eat breakfast. We all finished breakfast and prepared for the cold day, skiing when I suddenly realized I didn't have any skiing gear.
"Oh don't worry." Hermione had said. "They have suits you can rent."
That had truly scared me. I was going to wear something that had all ready been worn before by MUGGLES!? I decided not to comment on it and just went downstairs to warn my mother and Ron to start get ready.
None of them listened and so I had to magically dress them and brush their teeth and all the other necessities. (We were of age at the time and so we were allowed to use magic.)
Finally, after nagging and nagging and nagging, the game ended rather oddly.
My mother was in deep concentration. Somehow, Ron had managed to get the upper hand on her and if she made the wrong move, she would lose. She only had the King, a knight, and a pawn left, while Ron had his king, a bishop and a knight. They made 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16,17,18,19,20,21,22,23,23 moves before the last move was Ron's. In the last 24 moves, my mother had somehow managed to take Ron's knight with her pawn.
With his last move, a tear glistening in his eyes, he stated, "Stale Mate."
My mother's eyes nearly bugged out. "I refuse to make the 25th move! There is no way possible that this is going end in a stale mate. Someone HAS to win!
Ron yelled out, "I've never gotten stale mate with ANYONE!"
"Nor have I," my mother added, sorrowfully. She sulkily rose from her seat and headed toward the door. "We should get going now," She stated with a small sniffle.
"No. Wait, this can't be!" Ron yelled! "There has to be a move I can make! I swear there has to be a way for me to win! This can't be stale mate! I." Hermione took a hold of his hand and began to walk him out of the door as he continued to babble on like all sore losers do.
~*~
~*~
~*~
We walked all the way to the ski resort and rented a coupled of suits for all five of us. It took Hermione quite a long time to convince me to wear that infernal suit that had been used before by mere muggles, but when I finally put it on, I wished I had kept my other clothes on. The suit wasn't nearly as warm as my other clothes were.
Shivering, we walked to one of those muggle chairs that carried people high into the air and brought them to the top of the mountain. Harry and I sat together, Hermione and Ron sat together, and since my mother was alone, she got paired up with a muggle man who I could tell she found herself attracted to.
Harry and I could hear Ron still arguing about how it was impossible that he tied with someone in chess.
".I swear, something went wrong! Or no, there is still a move to make for someone to win and I just haven't spotted it yet! That's why I left the chess board out with all the pieces in their exact same spots! You'll see! I'll find a way to." Ron babbled and babbled while Hermione ignored him and looked out into the view.
When I looked farther behind them, to my mother, I could see that she was getting over the tie with Ron much better. She was talking to the muggle man and giggling while he laughed and then, the unexpected happened.
He gave her a kiss on the lips! That muggle kissed my mother! I couldn't believe it! I was sure she was going to slap him, but on the contrary, she kissed back! Harry saw this too and sighed while saying, "How romantic."
I turned around to face Harry, a shade paler than my usual self. Harry laughed and kissed me gently.
~*~
~*~
~*~
We finally arrived at the top of the mountain and Hermione had begun to instruct us on what to do. "Now you have to strap in the buckles in those two long stick things to your feet. No, Ron, not those! Those are the ones you use to push yourself forward! Do you see any straps on those! Ron-no! Wait, Ron!" Ron went skiing straight down screaming like a banshee while flailing his arms about.
He would have crashed into a large boulder, had it not been for my mother, who discreetly cast a spell to stop him when that man she had been with turned away. She smiled merrily at him as he turned his gaze back to her.
Hermione ran down to help Ron while Harry and I were left alone. "Well," Harry began, "My aunt and uncle never took me skiing so I'm not really sure how to do this, but from what I've heard, like Hermione said, you just strap your feet there and then use those two sticks and push yourself forward and then put them down in the ground to stop yourself."
I looked at him unsurely. "Why don't you give it a try, Draco? Push yourself forward." I shook my head, frightened.
"Are you scared?" Harry asked teasingly. He was trying to annoy me and I knew it, but all the same, it was working.
"No!" I exclaimed.
"Well, the give it a try." He urged eagerly.
I knew there was no way out of this so I took a deep breath and gulped before pushing myself forward.
I felt the chilling wind whip across my face and to my surprise, I was enjoying it a little. In fact, I was enjoying it a lot! I never wanted to stop. I let my speed pick up, moving faster and faster. This was better than flying! I let a smile etch across my face before I suddenly looked fearful.
I was about to go onto one of those ramp things where really good skiers do stunts in the air! I tried to break by putting the two stick things down in the snow with all my strength but I was going too fast!
Suddenly, before I knew it, I was up in the air, doing a flip! It felt completely exhilarating for that mid-second before I realized I didn't know how to land!
However, I did land, and I landed properly! I was rather good at this! I turned back to see that I had skied so far that I could no longer see Harry and when I looked forward, I was nearly at the bottom of the mountain, moving this way and that.
As soon as I reached the bottom, I went back on those chairs and reached the top of the mountain to see a gaping everybody!
"Draco!" Hermione yelled out! "You were a mazing!"
"This was NOT your first time," Ron stated unbelievingly.
My mother was busy with that muggle guy but Harry made up for her lack of compliment. He ran up to me and gave me a long-lasting kiss, parting my lips and warming my tongue up with his. "You were fantastic!" he exclaimed breathily, as we parted.
From then on, we spent the rest of the day with me teaching everyone, including Hermione, how to ski properly. I have to admit, it felt wonderful!
~*~
~*~
~*~
We got back to the cabin, freezing! My mother quickly concocted five mugs of hot cocoa with marshmallows in all of them. We sipped the scalding chocolate drinks carefully, making sure not to burn our tongues. Harry and I shared one big quilt, huddled up close together to gather all the body heat we could. While Hermione and Ron did the same, and my mother greedily kept one all to herself with a smug smile on her face.
Ron was staring at the chessboard venomously, trying to find a way to win. As he was about to start complaining about it, I cut him off. "So, mother, I saw you talking to a muggle."
"Oh yes, Draco dear." My mother answered, a dreamy look clouding her face.
"Well?" Harry asked eagerly, wanting to know about the man.
"Oh, well," my mother began. "His name is Fredrick and he is the sweetest man I have ever met. I haven't been able to feel this way ever since your father was sent to Azkaban," she said, looking at Draco. She then turned to Harry, smiling and added, "He asked me to meet him again tomorrow and I think I will."
"That's wonderful!" Both Harry and Hermione shouted at the same time. I was shocked for a moment but then congratulated my mother. She was right. She couldn't be alone forever just because my father was away. Even if the man she chose was a muggle. I must admit, though, he was quite attractive.
~*~
~*~
~*~
Later that night, while Harry was asleep, I decided to write that letter to my father.
Dear father,
It is soon going to be Christmas. We are not allowed to send you anything more than a letter, unfortunately. I want to wish you a happy Christmas. I truly hope that you will write back by Christmas Eve just to know that you care. I know that we have our differences, but you are my father and I love you.
Wishing you a Happy Christmas,
Your son,
Draco Malfoy
~*~
~*~
~*~
We spent the next week skiing and having all sorts of frivolous fun. It was more enjoyable than I'd thought it could be. Finally, however, it was Christmas Eve. We all sat together and talked happily, chocolate cocoa in hands.
None of us could wait for tomorrow morning to open our presents, but we constrained each other from opening the wonderful presents underneath the beautifully decorated Christmas tree.
I, however, was much more quiet than all the others, speaking only one or two words every few minutes when someone addressed me. Finally, Hermione asked, "is something wrong?" as I stared out at the window, hopefully.
"Er.what? Umm.oh, right! No, no. Nothing's wrong." I answered.
"Are you sure?" Harry asked, doubtingly.
I nodded my head, smiling and gave him a small kiss on his cold, red nose, making him smile. Everyone then continued with their happy conversations. In truth, I was hoping that my father would write me back, and so I waited... and waited. and waited until finally, it was so late that everyone began to head to bed.
Harry, however, stayed by my side, hugging me tight. He looked up into my eyes, sensing something was wrong, but keeping quiet, knowing I truly didn't want to talk about it.
I finally decided to go upstairs with Harry to our room. My father was not going to write back to me. I was the stupid one for actually believing for even a fraction of a second that he would actually have the decency to write back to me, even if just to say 'hello.'
I sighed defeatedly.
I would never be loved by my father again.
~*~
~*~
~*~
Harry and I made it to our room, sleepily. Harry, however, had a little more energy than me and began to give me small, tingling butterfly kisses down my neck, slowly unbuttoning my shirt.
I felt soft, gentle kisses down my chest but was just too tired to really get aroused and fell asleep before Harry could continue.
~*~
~*~
~*~
I woke up the next morning to Harry shaking me aggressively yelling, "it's Christmas, Draco! Wake up! It's Christmas!" My eyes shot open and once Harry saw that I was awake, he ran out of the room and down to the living room. I quickly followed him and found that everyone else was all ready there too.
"Draco, hurry! We want to open our presents!" everyone urged. I took a seat and saw that Hermione was going to be the first to open her presents. Hermione opened Ron's first, which was a heart locket with a picture of both of them in it. "Oh my god, Ron! Thank you so much!" She had squealed delightedly, giving him a hug and then a kiss.
She then opened Narcissa's gift, which was a beautiful apparel, made of the richest material money could buy. It was a beautifully decorated in shades of dark and light violets along with shades of dark and light pinks. The heat-preserving winter dress flowed beautifully through Hermione's fingers, as she held it up, admiring it.
"Oh, thank you!" Hermione had exclaimed to my mother ecstatically.
"Oh, it was nothing, really. I just saw it and simply had to get it for you." She answered modestly.
Next, she went to grab for the present from me, but looked a little confused and hurt to see there was no present addressed from me.
"Oh," she'd said, trying to hide her sorrow, "Well, that's all right. I'll open Harry's." Ron was glaring daggers at me. However, just as she'd reached for Harry's present, and owl came swooping down the chimney, and into the room. It went straight for Hermione.
Hermione looked confused. "For me?" she asked, more to herself than anyone else. It was a beautiful snowy white owl that resembled Hedwig, but had bright, violet eyes and golden tips at his feathers. Hermione took the letter from the owl's ankle as it landed on her shoulder and read aloud, "To: Hermione, From: Draco, 'I hope you like him. Happy Christmas!'"
She looked up at me completely speechless before jumping on top of me and exclaiming, "Oh my goodness, Draco! Thank you so much!" I hugged her back, smiling widely, despite myself. "I'm going to name him Tucker!"
Ron then gave me an apologetic smile before looking away in embarrassment.
She smiled at me once again before getting Harry's present. She opened it to find a beautiful Owl stand that came with a golden cage that looked simply dazzling and had violet jewels lining the cage all over.
Hermione gaped at it.
"I got it 'cause I all ready knew Draco was getting you and owl and the jewels matched his eyes and the gold matched his feather tips." Harry mumbled, embarrassedly, thinking Hermione didn't like it.
"Oh, Harry! It's beautiful! Thanks you so much!" she shouted, giving him a kiss on the cheek. He blushed noticeably before my mother announced that she wanted to open her presents.
She opened the one closest next to her, which was from Hermione. When she saw it, she gasped in glee. "You said you were going to warm up to muggles, so I thought you would like it. It plays music if you wind it underneath." Hermione stated sheepishly.
It was an adorable snow globe with white snowflakes falling down a beautiful woman, (who resembled my mother quite curiously) ice-skating alone, with a snowman to the right of her and a bench covered in snow next to a bird on a frozen bird bath and a beautiful Christmas tree with beautiful ornaments in the center.
When my mother turned it over to wind it, the music played was my mother's favorite Christmas song of all time. The melody played accordingly to the song. The notes high and beautiful. (A/N: I tell you the name of the song but I don't know what it's called. It goes like this: "On the first day of Christmas, my true love gave to me, a portraige in a pair tree. On the second day of Christmas.. You know how it goes, right? All right, well, sorry for the interruption.)
My mother smiled happily with watery eyes and gave Hermione a long hug. "Thank you so much." She said in a whisper, trying to keep from crying.
'Oh man,' I had thought to myself. 'Hermione's present was WAY better than mine.'
She then went to open the present from Ron. It was a perfume, not quite as good as 'Nectar' which I had gotten her, but there was something more. It was a hand knitted sweater with the anicials N.M. knitted into it. "My mother thought you would like it," Ron murmured, turning as red as a tomato.
"Oh, it's wonderful!" She exclaimed, giving him a hug. "She knitted this herself! It means so much to me!"
'Darn!' I thought again. 'He got her a better present than me too!'
She then went to open Harry's. It was a beautiful silk nightgown. A light shade of violet, so light, you would think it were white. All though it was plain, lacking designs and what not, you could tell it was made of highly expensive silk and clung to the skin beautifully. It was entirely beautiful.
"Oh, Harry! You dog! You really want to see me wearing this, don't you!" my mother exclaimed, playfully. Harry turned even more red than Ron ever had and blushed so much he excused himself to the bathroom.
"Oh, Harry dear. It was a joke. It's lovely." My mother said as he walked away. All Harry showed in response was a nod of his head, and we only saw the back of his head. I laughed to myself as my mother worded, "Sorry" to herself.
"Oh mother, he's just very shy, that's all." I said, reassuringly. She shrugged it off and then went on to my present. I was entirely embarrassed, knowing she wouldn't really like mine as much as the others because it was merely expensive and not made with love.
She saw the perfume and gasped so loud everyone jumped up. "What is it?" Harry asked, jumping out of the bathroom and rushing to us, still blushing from the last incident.
"Draco, dear! I wanted to buy this before and it was completely sold out! Oh thank you! I was running out and I swear I don't know what I'd do without my nectar perfume!" She exclaimed.
Well, lucky for me she still had her shallow side. She smiled at me and gave me a kiss on the cheek and then one to Harry before he could move and said, "The nightgown was lovely."
Harry nodded his head, mutely.
"I want to open my presents next!" Ron declared. He rushed to get the present from Hermione. He opened it to find a book. "A book? How lovely." He said, trying to hide the fact that he didn't like it.
"Don't be such an idiot, Ron. You're my boyfriend, of course I didn't get you just a book." She handed him a box and he quickly opened it to find the most embarrassing thing ever. It was a pair of boxers with hearts and kisses all over. "There," Hermione stated, trying to hold back her laughter. "See? Because you're my boyfriend, you get an extra gift."
Suddenly, everyone(except Ron) broke out laughing. He stuffed the boxers underneath the book and decidedly went on to the next gift.
This one was from my mother. It was a set of fine made clothing. Ron smiled and choked out a "Thank you."
My mother smiled at him.
He then opened my present.
"OH MY BLOODY GOD!" he yelled out! His new shooting star 3000 broom was sleek and beautiful. "Harry, I'm sorry, but Draco is my new best friend!"
"We'll see about that when you get to my gift," Harry muttered under his breath as I chuckled evilly.
He then opened Harry's gift and jumped about and yelled, "I take it back! Harry, buddy, you're still my best mate! Yeah! Signed Chudley Cannon Gear! With their actually autographs on them! That means they've toughed these very robes! Yeah!" it took a while for him to calm down for me to get my chance to open my gifts.
I got a diary from Ron ("I think you have some issues you need to let out"- said Ron) and a book from Hermione, of course, and then an entire ski gear from my mother ("You skit so well, I thought you'd love it!"- said my mother) and then I came to Harry's gift.
It was a golden bracelet with the words, "I love you" imprinted into it.
I turned to Harry smiling. It was beautiful, but it was even more beautiful when Harry added, "Professor Dumbledore gave it to me. My father had given it to my mother. I.I thought you'd like it as well."
My eyes turned wide and round as a saucer! I couldn't believe he was giving me something so valuable to him! I jumped on top of him and gave him the most passionate kiss anyone could ever imagine, not even caring that everyone was looking. When we parted, he smiled, blushing as he was before at everyone's stares.
"ahem" Harry cleared his throat!
"Oh, don't do that! You sound like Umbridge!" Ron groaned.
Harry and everyone else laughed.
Harry then opened his gift. He received a diary from Ron too. ("I figure if your boyfriend needs it, you're going to need it too"- Ron said) He got a book from Hermione too and then opened my mother's present. It was the Malfoy crest in a necklace.
"You're part of the family now." She said, smiling. Harry kissed her on the cheek, while hugging her tightly.
And then, as he saw there were no more presents left, her turned to me. "Are you going to have phoenix fly in through the window since you can't get me an owl due to the fact that I all ready have one?" he asked playfully.
"As I matter a fact," I stated. "..no."
He raised one eyebrow quizzically.
"I have to take you somewhere to show you your present. Go get dressed and I can take you." I stated.
He got up and headed to the room to get dressed, soon followed by me, with everyone else looking around bewildered.
To be continued..
A/N: You guys, the title I gave this chapter will be explained in part 2 of this chapter. I had to make this chapter into two parts because lets face it, this is WAY too long all ready as it is. The second part of this chapter is going to be nowhere near as long as this chapter, but it should prove to be interesting, as you will find out the gift Draco gives Harry and you'll find out why the title is Stale Mate.or is it? There is more to the chess game than we think. The game has yet to be won. Anyway, I really hope I didn't disappoint you guys with this chapter. I've been sick with a terrible cold all week so I'm not sure if I was at my best when I wrote this. At least I got this to you guys on time, right? I really hope you like it! The next chapter will probably be half of this chapter because this chapter was over twice as long as my usual chapters. Anyway, PLEASE R&R! Oh, and btw, none of you were right on the gift Draco gave Harry. *Giggles* It must be super original. Care to take another guess? Oh, and the love scene will be in the next chapter for New Years Eve! Hooray!
Xoxo Spideria oxoX
Thanks to: Menecarkawan. Thank you for being my Beta!
By the way, as for the gift that Harry get from Draco had been given before in at least a couple of stories, but I don't think it's ever been given to him as a Christmas present, so I hope it's still original enough for you. Secondly, as for gifts from Albus and other lesser characters in my opinion, I didn't include them because I just couldn't come up with anything good enough. I'm sorry if this disappoints you guys. :-( Also, The gift that Harry gives Draco won't be "The perfect gift" to you, but believe, It definitely meant a lot to Draco! I'm eating chocolate as I type this so you can tell it's going to be a happy chapter!
FIRST, I HAVE A QUESTION. I WANT TO TAKE A SURVEY OF ALL MY READERS! IN YOUR NEXT REVIEW, PLEASE WRITE IN AT THE END WHETHER YOU ARE A BOY OR A GIRL. I WANT TO KNOW IF IT REALLY IS TRUE THAT GILS READ SLASH FANFCTION MORE THAN BOYS. MUCH APPRECIATED!
Replies to reviews:
Menecarkawan: Hey! I'm glad you reviewed! Thanks a lot! I suppose if you think that I made it too obvious that Draco would win, you're probably right. I'll have to go check it out. Thanks for the review!
Bakachan17: lol. Nice try, but no. Harry didn't get a lamp, necklace, or ring. Lol. Thanks for updating your fic! And whether narcissa wins will be in part two of this chapter/ Thanks for the review!
OnlyHAUNTED: No, actually, Harry hasn't gotten a snake in this story, lol. Also, that's not the gift, but good try. :-) As for who wins, will be in part 2 of the chapter. That's a really good idea on Narcissa playing dumb, lol, but unfortunately, I'd all ready started the chapter before I got your review and so I have a different way of how she started the chess game. It's a shame, really, your idea was really cool! Thanks for the review!
Menecarkawan: Cool! I hope you enjoyed your vacation. You can send in your idea to me by email if you like instead of reviewing it so you wouldn't spoil the surprise! Lol. Thanks for the review!
Kendrall17: Thanks for the wonderful comments. It's ok that you've been busy, I'm just glad you reviewed! Thanks for the review!
Shaelynn(): It's all cool. I can't wait until you catch up with the story again! Thanks for the review!
Zeynel: I want to thank you especially! You're the one that gave me the idea for the joke! Thank you so much. Thanks for the review!
HogwartsSaiyajin: I think that meant you liked my chapter.right? Lol. Anyway, as for if Ron wins, you'll have to wait for the next chapter. Thanks for the review!
GoddessMoonLady: Thanks a lot for the compliments! Sorry, though, people didn't get a love scene like they wanted in this chapter, but I assure you, it will be in the next chapter. Don't worry. This chapter was just too long to fit everything in. I don't know why though because it doesn't really have too much happening, but oh well. Thanks for the review!
Luin-lote: Thank you for the compliment! Don't worry, I know what being busy is like. Well, I hope you like the chapter. Thanks for the review!
DeathStryke: Hmmm.true, I suppose Ron gets on my nerves too. Lol. We'll have to see who wins in part two of the chapter, unfortunately. Sorry I didn't make Narcissa evil and vindictive like you like her but it didn't go well with my story. Thanks for the review!
GoldenGirl12: Well, I think it's short compared to my other chapters, but it is pretty long to write. Thanks for the review!
MystalDragon: WoW! A new reader! YAY! You read all my chapters so quickly! Thank you so much for the compliments! You really made my day! Thanks for the review!
Okay, well, on with the chapter!
~*~Chapter 13: Stale Mate. or is it? ~*~
I had found the perfect one for Harry's Christmas gift! I wondered what he would get me for Christmas. He really didn't have to give me anything at all, actually. I would be glad just to be graced by his presence.
Well, before we all knew it, it was all ready a day before Christmas break and we were all packing up. I was only going to take two weeks worth of winter clothes but then decided that I couldn't part with ANY of my wardrobes so I brought them all along. I had to shrink ALL of my clothing and still had to bring to extra large suitcases!
Harry on the other hand, only used one without shrinking his clothing and still had space to spare! I couldn't believe it!
"Harry, how on earth can you fit all you winter clothes there!?" I asked bewilderedly.
"Simple," he answered. "By bringing ONLY two weeks worth of winter apparel rather than my WHOLE wardrobe! Honestly Draco! It's not as if the castles going to burn in flames while we're gone and destroy all of your clothes!"
I gasped. "Could that really happen!?" I exclaimed, quite frightened. Maybe I should take all of my summer and fall clothes too! What if the place did burn down!? I don't know what I would do without my clothes!
"Oh Merlin," Harry sighed, exasperatedly.
He pulled me away from my closet where I was going to take all the rest of my clothes and lead me to Hermione's Head Girl room, where we found Ron and Hermione.
"Hello," Hermione greeted us merrily as she finished packing up her things. Ron had finished much sooner than everyone else, as he didn't have much to pack. Of course, I made no comment on this all though I'm sure you all ready know why he didn't have much to pack. I had been working on controlling me mouth with its insults.
Ron gave me a glare and moaned, "Remind me again. Why I let you talk me into going to that Cabin with you for Christmas break?"
"Because," I began with a smile, "You want to beat my mother at chess, don't you?"
"Well, now that you say it, it doesn't seem quite as exciting anymore." Ron muttered, lying down on Hermione's bed with his head buried in the pillows.
"Well, just think about it," Harry replied. "You can actually beat a Malfoy at something. Break through those stuck up barriers and-"
"Hey," I interrupted with a pretend- hurt expression on my face.
"Oh, I'm sorry, Draco, but you know it's true." Harry answered back.
"No, it's not!" I exclaimed. "We can be nice and-"
"Look at it this way, Draco, "Harry interrupted, "That stuck up little prideful side of you is what first caught my eye." He gave me a sly smile and leaned up while pulling me down and engaging me in a passionate kiss.
"Oh, come on, guys! Don't do that in front of me! Get a room! A room far, far away from here! Please!" Ron yelled in protest of our public intimacy.
"Oh, Ron," Hermione said, giggling, "At least they don't mind about what others think. Unlike you. You never do that sort of romantic stuff!" Hermione said in a huff before walking out of her room to the library for some books for the Christmas break.
"Oh Great!" Ron shouted at us. "Now I'm going to have to start being all gushy with her in front of people! Why does she want me to be like you!? I'm not gay! I'm a man!"
"O, and what, just cause we're attracted to the same sex we're not men?" Harry asked, looking a little offensed. I smirked gleefully, hoping to see a fight break out between the two. I know it was wrong, but what can I say? I'd never seen the two fight before, except when they'd first found out about me and Harry dating, but that involved me, so it wasn't as thrilling.
"Aw, Harry, that's not what I meant. I-" Ron began, before getting cut off.
"Oh? Well, what DID you mean?" Harry asked, beginning to turn red right around his nose in anger.
"Come on, Draco." Ron begged. "Back me up here."
"No way, Ron. You're on your own here. You offended me too." I answered, fighting back a smirk.
Ron pleaded with his eyes before saying, "Harry, I'm sorry! Honest. I just- "
"No Ron," Harry said, looking happier. "I'm just overreacting. I'm sorry." He added with a sheepish smile.
Ron smiled back and came up to Harry saying, "Yeah, me too. You're just as much a man as me, and that's saying something." He added with a joking wink. Harry laughed.
"Oh, COME ON! You've got to be kidding! Where's the blood!? The kicking, the punching!? Where's the on-slaughting(sp?) Drama!?" I asked, exasperatedly.
Ron ignored me and said, "And I'm just as much a man as you," he said, and then hugged Harry for effect. Harry patted him on the back before in intruded, saying, "All right, all right. Break it up. Hands off my boyfriend, Weasely. He's mine."
Harry laughed and gave me a quick kiss on the lips before Ron asked, "So you get a little jealous and it's back to Weasely now?"
"Maybe. I'll have to think about it." I said with a smirk.
Ron shook his head with a smile before leaving me and Harry to go look for Hermione.
~*~
~*~
~*~
"ALL ABOARD!" called the train conductor. We were going back to Kingsley Station, where we could meet my mother and head to the cabin in whatever place she had arranged.
Harry and I walked in, me rolling my eyes, Harry walking lazily, growling all the way, Hermione running into the train excitedly, and Ron yawing and stumbling over his feet as he struggled to stay awake while he walked, dragging his suitcase along with him.
We had all had to wake up at 6:00 a.m. and neither of us, excluding Hermione, were getting on well with him. I even happened to find out that Harry is most definitely NOT a morning person!
I thought back to what happened that morning.
~*~Flashback~*~
"Harry" I'd whispered, tiredly. "Harry, wake up sweety. It's 6:00."
A small, annoyed groan erupted from Harry's throat.
"Harry," I whispered a little more urgently.
"What!?" Harry had yelled, turning to me with glaring eyes.
I'd jumped back of shock and fright as a small growl arose from Harry's throat as I still hadn't answered his question.
"WELL!?" He asked angrily.
"We have to get ready for the-"
"For the trip?" He'd cut me off. "Is that it? Is it!? Well, then the trip can bloody wait because it was okay to make me stay up last night just so you could have some sex but now it's not okay to let me sleep a little bit longer because I'm tired and my ass still aches!? Well, listen up! All right? I'm going back to sleep and if you have a problem with it, then go deal with it elsewhere!"
~*~ End Flashback~*~
After that, I had got out of bed and walked away from away, fearfully, and headed to Hermione's room to is see if maybe she could get him up. He'd told her to go away in a not-so-polite way until Hermione got too agitated to cooperate and cast a spell.
She then held a bucket full of ice-cold water and splashed it across Harry who'd jumped out of bed with a yelp. Hermione left, laughing evilly with satisfaction while I held Harry back from tackling her.
In the process of this I ended up with a black eye and a sore arm, which I easily repaired with a simple healing charm.
Harry had sleepily apologized afterward, but I had been too tired to even care.
Well, anyway, we were now finding an empty compartment for the three of four of us. When we did, (Which took no longer than 5 seconds, as the first compartment we checked was empty) we wet our suitcases down and Ron and Hermione took a seat across from Harry and myself.
Harry, who was more tired than me, immediately lied down on the bench and laid his head on my lap. I smiled sleepily and began to play with his bangs out of habit.
Ron smiled as he saw Harry do this and instantaneously did the same exact thing, using Hermione's lap as a pillow. Hermione shook her head, while rolling her eyes and turned to me. "Hey, Ron protested, as she did so.
"What?" Hermione asked.
"How come Draco plays with Harry's hair but you don't play with mine?" Ron asked in a baby voice.
"Because I don't like your hair!" Hermione snapped back. Apparently, she wasn't that much of a morning person either. Ron pouted before giving a huff and turning his face on her lap to take a nap.
Hermione laughed at him before turning to me once again and exclaiming, "It's going to be so much fun to ski! I went skiing with my parents once in my fifth year Christmas Holiday but decided to come back early to see Harry."
"Mmmm." I answered back, not quite catching what she was saying.
"I continued to play with Harry's silky bangs and let Hermione's words fade into the back of my mind. Instead, I began to wonder why Harry's hair felt so silky. I mean, if you looked at it, from the way it's so messy and wild, you would think it were dry and dirty, when in fact, it was quite the contrary.
You would never believe that it actually felt even silkier than my hair and smelt quite beautiful. My last thoughts were of why Harry smelled like such beautiful apples before I drifted off into a blissful, much needed nap.
~*~
~*~
~*~
"Draco, Ron, Harry! Hello! You guys! Wake up!" Hermione's voice plunged into my dreams, waking me up. I opened my eyes to find that the food trolley had passed by. Hermione smiled at me before saying, "Good, at least you're up. Try waking Harry up for me, would you?"
I hesitated for a moment. I wasn't sure I wanted to pick a fight with the dangerous Harry, but I figured it wasn't morning anymore, so he shouldn't be as moody he had been in the morning. While I had been dwelling in my thoughts, Hermione had whispered the word, "Food" in Ron's ear which had woken him up abruptly, causing Hermione to laugh.
I shook my head with a smile before gently shaking Harry awake and whispering, "Harry, the food trolley is here. Are you hungry?"
Harry turned over to face me and opened his eyes slowly to show off his beautiful emerald eyes. He smiled at me and replied, "'Morning love."
I smiled and leant down to give him a soft kiss. Harry and I heard the lady at the trolley gasp in shock before sighing happily at our youthful love. Harry blushed a light shade of pink and smiled before lifting himself up, into a sitting position and taking out a small sack of galleons.
He was about to pat when I decided to be the gentleman and blocked his hand and gave my money to the lady. I bought everyone a bit of everything on the trolley. Harry smiled at me and whispered "Thank you" as he kissed me, tasting like chocolate from his last chocolate frog.
~*~
~*~
~*~
The train finally screeched to a stop and we all jumped out to with our suitcases to greet my mother. We found her standing right in front of the train stop with a wide smile on her face.
I walked up to her and was the first to give her a kiss on the cheek. She then looked at Hermione and gave her a heart warming hug before going up to Ron and doing the same.
When she came up to Harry, her smile widened even more and she gave him a kiss on both cheeks before nearly strangling him in a bear hug that one would not think possible from my mother, with her thin, fragile body.
"Oh, Harry!" She exclaimed happily. "I'm so happy for you and my son!"
"Thanks" Harry muttered, embarrassedly.
She walked us to a carriage where we all rode to the cabin and talked about everything from our school year so far.
~*~
~*~
~*~
We finally arrived at the cabin twenty minutes later. (You wouldn't believe how quickly fancy, magical carriages can get you places.)
It was nowhere near as large as my Malfoy Manner, but it was MUCH bigger than the Burrow that Ron's family owned.
We entered the house, receiving a few "oohs" and "aaahs" from Ron, Hermione, and Harry. I, however, was very unimpressed. Harry ran childishly to a room on the second floor calling, "Draco and I call dibs on this room!" Then, he suddenly shot his head out of the doorframe of the room and added, "If that's all right with you, of course, Mrs.Malfoy. If you don't want Draco and I to share a room then-"
"No, No, dear. It's quite all right." My mother answered merrily.
Harry smiled and then headed back downstairs to us.
"So," Ron was the first to speak. "Mrs. Malfoy, I heard you're a very good chess player. I think you and I should play a round of chess as soon as possible. Don't you?"
I smiled at this. I knew what was coming next. My mother looked puzzled before asking, "Chess? You heard that I play chess well? Why, who would tell you such a thing. I don't even know HOW to play chess."
Ron showed no reaction at first, but as the realization hit me, he turned red with fury, "Draco, you liar! You told me your mother was a good chess player and-" Harry and Hermione began to laugh along with my mother and me.
"And just WHY are you all laughing!?" Ron asked, furiously.
"Oh dear," my mother answered in between giggles. "I was only joking. Draco wrote me about you wanting to play chess with me and decided to throw a little prank to see what you would do if he had really been lying."
Ron then began to turn even redder, but this time, of embarrassment. "oh" he muttered.
"Don't worry," I said. "My mother is an excellent chess player and will play you any time, anywhere. She'll beat you no matter what."
Harry snickered silently behind me.
"Well, then, let's play now." Ron said, competitively.
"Oh, don't be silly, Ron!" Hermione snapped. "We need to unpack and-"
My mother quickly waved her wand and all of our suitcases opened and the items inside were sent to our rooms.
"Well, now that that's done, you and I can play, Mr. Weasley." My mother said with amusement. With another flick of her wand, a table and chess board appeared and they each took a seat across from each other on couches in front of the crackling fireplace, setting up there pieces, my mother being white, of course.
They began to play as my mother declared, "Pawn to D3!" and the game began.
They played and played for nearly an hour before the other three of us (Hermione, Harry, and I) grew bored and decided to think of what to do for tomorrow.
We figured we'd go skiing, of course, and as Hermione was the only one who knew how, she would be then one to teach us.
"Mother," I called down from my room, several hours later.
"Not now, Draco! I need to concentrate!"
"Yead Draco," Ron added, "She's losing big time!"
"I am not!"
"Are too!"
"Am not!"
"Are-"
"Mother! I just wanted to know if you would like to come skiing with us tomorrow." I stated, agitatedly.
"Oh, yes, yes, of course." She answered uninterestedly.
"What about you, Ron?" Harry yelled afterward.
"Sure, sure, whatever." Was his only reply.
~*~
~*~
~*~
The next morning, Harry and I woke up and headed downstairs to the kitchen for some breakfast and stood rooted to our spots as we reached the living room. There, in the same couches as yesterday, were my mother and Ron, STILL playing the damn game!
"This is about your 10th round, right?" Harry asked, hesitantly.
"Of course not!" Ron answered with bloodshot eyes from lack of sleep.
"It's still our first round." My mother answered, casually.
"You've got to be kidding me." I replied.
"You're friend, here, is quite a worthy apponent. However, we are nearly done and the odds are against him, there's no way he can possibly win." My mother stated.
I smiled and turned to Harry who was doing the same. We left them to continue the game and made ourselves some breakfast. Hermione soon came down after us, saying, "You know, Ron never came to be last night and-" before stopping just as we hd and staring at Ron and my mother unbelievingly.
"You've got to be kidding me." She said aloud.
"That's what I said," I answered with a smirk.
Hermione looked at me desperately before sighing and joining us to eat breakfast. We all finished breakfast and prepared for the cold day, skiing when I suddenly realized I didn't have any skiing gear.
"Oh don't worry." Hermione had said. "They have suits you can rent."
That had truly scared me. I was going to wear something that had all ready been worn before by MUGGLES!? I decided not to comment on it and just went downstairs to warn my mother and Ron to start get ready.
None of them listened and so I had to magically dress them and brush their teeth and all the other necessities. (We were of age at the time and so we were allowed to use magic.)
Finally, after nagging and nagging and nagging, the game ended rather oddly.
My mother was in deep concentration. Somehow, Ron had managed to get the upper hand on her and if she made the wrong move, she would lose. She only had the King, a knight, and a pawn left, while Ron had his king, a bishop and a knight. They made 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16,17,18,19,20,21,22,23,23 moves before the last move was Ron's. In the last 24 moves, my mother had somehow managed to take Ron's knight with her pawn.
With his last move, a tear glistening in his eyes, he stated, "Stale Mate."
My mother's eyes nearly bugged out. "I refuse to make the 25th move! There is no way possible that this is going end in a stale mate. Someone HAS to win!
Ron yelled out, "I've never gotten stale mate with ANYONE!"
"Nor have I," my mother added, sorrowfully. She sulkily rose from her seat and headed toward the door. "We should get going now," She stated with a small sniffle.
"No. Wait, this can't be!" Ron yelled! "There has to be a move I can make! I swear there has to be a way for me to win! This can't be stale mate! I." Hermione took a hold of his hand and began to walk him out of the door as he continued to babble on like all sore losers do.
~*~
~*~
~*~
We walked all the way to the ski resort and rented a coupled of suits for all five of us. It took Hermione quite a long time to convince me to wear that infernal suit that had been used before by mere muggles, but when I finally put it on, I wished I had kept my other clothes on. The suit wasn't nearly as warm as my other clothes were.
Shivering, we walked to one of those muggle chairs that carried people high into the air and brought them to the top of the mountain. Harry and I sat together, Hermione and Ron sat together, and since my mother was alone, she got paired up with a muggle man who I could tell she found herself attracted to.
Harry and I could hear Ron still arguing about how it was impossible that he tied with someone in chess.
".I swear, something went wrong! Or no, there is still a move to make for someone to win and I just haven't spotted it yet! That's why I left the chess board out with all the pieces in their exact same spots! You'll see! I'll find a way to." Ron babbled and babbled while Hermione ignored him and looked out into the view.
When I looked farther behind them, to my mother, I could see that she was getting over the tie with Ron much better. She was talking to the muggle man and giggling while he laughed and then, the unexpected happened.
He gave her a kiss on the lips! That muggle kissed my mother! I couldn't believe it! I was sure she was going to slap him, but on the contrary, she kissed back! Harry saw this too and sighed while saying, "How romantic."
I turned around to face Harry, a shade paler than my usual self. Harry laughed and kissed me gently.
~*~
~*~
~*~
We finally arrived at the top of the mountain and Hermione had begun to instruct us on what to do. "Now you have to strap in the buckles in those two long stick things to your feet. No, Ron, not those! Those are the ones you use to push yourself forward! Do you see any straps on those! Ron-no! Wait, Ron!" Ron went skiing straight down screaming like a banshee while flailing his arms about.
He would have crashed into a large boulder, had it not been for my mother, who discreetly cast a spell to stop him when that man she had been with turned away. She smiled merrily at him as he turned his gaze back to her.
Hermione ran down to help Ron while Harry and I were left alone. "Well," Harry began, "My aunt and uncle never took me skiing so I'm not really sure how to do this, but from what I've heard, like Hermione said, you just strap your feet there and then use those two sticks and push yourself forward and then put them down in the ground to stop yourself."
I looked at him unsurely. "Why don't you give it a try, Draco? Push yourself forward." I shook my head, frightened.
"Are you scared?" Harry asked teasingly. He was trying to annoy me and I knew it, but all the same, it was working.
"No!" I exclaimed.
"Well, the give it a try." He urged eagerly.
I knew there was no way out of this so I took a deep breath and gulped before pushing myself forward.
I felt the chilling wind whip across my face and to my surprise, I was enjoying it a little. In fact, I was enjoying it a lot! I never wanted to stop. I let my speed pick up, moving faster and faster. This was better than flying! I let a smile etch across my face before I suddenly looked fearful.
I was about to go onto one of those ramp things where really good skiers do stunts in the air! I tried to break by putting the two stick things down in the snow with all my strength but I was going too fast!
Suddenly, before I knew it, I was up in the air, doing a flip! It felt completely exhilarating for that mid-second before I realized I didn't know how to land!
However, I did land, and I landed properly! I was rather good at this! I turned back to see that I had skied so far that I could no longer see Harry and when I looked forward, I was nearly at the bottom of the mountain, moving this way and that.
As soon as I reached the bottom, I went back on those chairs and reached the top of the mountain to see a gaping everybody!
"Draco!" Hermione yelled out! "You were a mazing!"
"This was NOT your first time," Ron stated unbelievingly.
My mother was busy with that muggle guy but Harry made up for her lack of compliment. He ran up to me and gave me a long-lasting kiss, parting my lips and warming my tongue up with his. "You were fantastic!" he exclaimed breathily, as we parted.
From then on, we spent the rest of the day with me teaching everyone, including Hermione, how to ski properly. I have to admit, it felt wonderful!
~*~
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~*~
We got back to the cabin, freezing! My mother quickly concocted five mugs of hot cocoa with marshmallows in all of them. We sipped the scalding chocolate drinks carefully, making sure not to burn our tongues. Harry and I shared one big quilt, huddled up close together to gather all the body heat we could. While Hermione and Ron did the same, and my mother greedily kept one all to herself with a smug smile on her face.
Ron was staring at the chessboard venomously, trying to find a way to win. As he was about to start complaining about it, I cut him off. "So, mother, I saw you talking to a muggle."
"Oh yes, Draco dear." My mother answered, a dreamy look clouding her face.
"Well?" Harry asked eagerly, wanting to know about the man.
"Oh, well," my mother began. "His name is Fredrick and he is the sweetest man I have ever met. I haven't been able to feel this way ever since your father was sent to Azkaban," she said, looking at Draco. She then turned to Harry, smiling and added, "He asked me to meet him again tomorrow and I think I will."
"That's wonderful!" Both Harry and Hermione shouted at the same time. I was shocked for a moment but then congratulated my mother. She was right. She couldn't be alone forever just because my father was away. Even if the man she chose was a muggle. I must admit, though, he was quite attractive.
~*~
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~*~
Later that night, while Harry was asleep, I decided to write that letter to my father.
Dear father,
It is soon going to be Christmas. We are not allowed to send you anything more than a letter, unfortunately. I want to wish you a happy Christmas. I truly hope that you will write back by Christmas Eve just to know that you care. I know that we have our differences, but you are my father and I love you.
Wishing you a Happy Christmas,
Your son,
Draco Malfoy
~*~
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We spent the next week skiing and having all sorts of frivolous fun. It was more enjoyable than I'd thought it could be. Finally, however, it was Christmas Eve. We all sat together and talked happily, chocolate cocoa in hands.
None of us could wait for tomorrow morning to open our presents, but we constrained each other from opening the wonderful presents underneath the beautifully decorated Christmas tree.
I, however, was much more quiet than all the others, speaking only one or two words every few minutes when someone addressed me. Finally, Hermione asked, "is something wrong?" as I stared out at the window, hopefully.
"Er.what? Umm.oh, right! No, no. Nothing's wrong." I answered.
"Are you sure?" Harry asked, doubtingly.
I nodded my head, smiling and gave him a small kiss on his cold, red nose, making him smile. Everyone then continued with their happy conversations. In truth, I was hoping that my father would write me back, and so I waited... and waited. and waited until finally, it was so late that everyone began to head to bed.
Harry, however, stayed by my side, hugging me tight. He looked up into my eyes, sensing something was wrong, but keeping quiet, knowing I truly didn't want to talk about it.
I finally decided to go upstairs with Harry to our room. My father was not going to write back to me. I was the stupid one for actually believing for even a fraction of a second that he would actually have the decency to write back to me, even if just to say 'hello.'
I sighed defeatedly.
I would never be loved by my father again.
~*~
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~*~
Harry and I made it to our room, sleepily. Harry, however, had a little more energy than me and began to give me small, tingling butterfly kisses down my neck, slowly unbuttoning my shirt.
I felt soft, gentle kisses down my chest but was just too tired to really get aroused and fell asleep before Harry could continue.
~*~
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I woke up the next morning to Harry shaking me aggressively yelling, "it's Christmas, Draco! Wake up! It's Christmas!" My eyes shot open and once Harry saw that I was awake, he ran out of the room and down to the living room. I quickly followed him and found that everyone else was all ready there too.
"Draco, hurry! We want to open our presents!" everyone urged. I took a seat and saw that Hermione was going to be the first to open her presents. Hermione opened Ron's first, which was a heart locket with a picture of both of them in it. "Oh my god, Ron! Thank you so much!" She had squealed delightedly, giving him a hug and then a kiss.
She then opened Narcissa's gift, which was a beautiful apparel, made of the richest material money could buy. It was a beautifully decorated in shades of dark and light violets along with shades of dark and light pinks. The heat-preserving winter dress flowed beautifully through Hermione's fingers, as she held it up, admiring it.
"Oh, thank you!" Hermione had exclaimed to my mother ecstatically.
"Oh, it was nothing, really. I just saw it and simply had to get it for you." She answered modestly.
Next, she went to grab for the present from me, but looked a little confused and hurt to see there was no present addressed from me.
"Oh," she'd said, trying to hide her sorrow, "Well, that's all right. I'll open Harry's." Ron was glaring daggers at me. However, just as she'd reached for Harry's present, and owl came swooping down the chimney, and into the room. It went straight for Hermione.
Hermione looked confused. "For me?" she asked, more to herself than anyone else. It was a beautiful snowy white owl that resembled Hedwig, but had bright, violet eyes and golden tips at his feathers. Hermione took the letter from the owl's ankle as it landed on her shoulder and read aloud, "To: Hermione, From: Draco, 'I hope you like him. Happy Christmas!'"
She looked up at me completely speechless before jumping on top of me and exclaiming, "Oh my goodness, Draco! Thank you so much!" I hugged her back, smiling widely, despite myself. "I'm going to name him Tucker!"
Ron then gave me an apologetic smile before looking away in embarrassment.
She smiled at me once again before getting Harry's present. She opened it to find a beautiful Owl stand that came with a golden cage that looked simply dazzling and had violet jewels lining the cage all over.
Hermione gaped at it.
"I got it 'cause I all ready knew Draco was getting you and owl and the jewels matched his eyes and the gold matched his feather tips." Harry mumbled, embarrassedly, thinking Hermione didn't like it.
"Oh, Harry! It's beautiful! Thanks you so much!" she shouted, giving him a kiss on the cheek. He blushed noticeably before my mother announced that she wanted to open her presents.
She opened the one closest next to her, which was from Hermione. When she saw it, she gasped in glee. "You said you were going to warm up to muggles, so I thought you would like it. It plays music if you wind it underneath." Hermione stated sheepishly.
It was an adorable snow globe with white snowflakes falling down a beautiful woman, (who resembled my mother quite curiously) ice-skating alone, with a snowman to the right of her and a bench covered in snow next to a bird on a frozen bird bath and a beautiful Christmas tree with beautiful ornaments in the center.
When my mother turned it over to wind it, the music played was my mother's favorite Christmas song of all time. The melody played accordingly to the song. The notes high and beautiful. (A/N: I tell you the name of the song but I don't know what it's called. It goes like this: "On the first day of Christmas, my true love gave to me, a portraige in a pair tree. On the second day of Christmas.. You know how it goes, right? All right, well, sorry for the interruption.)
My mother smiled happily with watery eyes and gave Hermione a long hug. "Thank you so much." She said in a whisper, trying to keep from crying.
'Oh man,' I had thought to myself. 'Hermione's present was WAY better than mine.'
She then went to open the present from Ron. It was a perfume, not quite as good as 'Nectar' which I had gotten her, but there was something more. It was a hand knitted sweater with the anicials N.M. knitted into it. "My mother thought you would like it," Ron murmured, turning as red as a tomato.
"Oh, it's wonderful!" She exclaimed, giving him a hug. "She knitted this herself! It means so much to me!"
'Darn!' I thought again. 'He got her a better present than me too!'
She then went to open Harry's. It was a beautiful silk nightgown. A light shade of violet, so light, you would think it were white. All though it was plain, lacking designs and what not, you could tell it was made of highly expensive silk and clung to the skin beautifully. It was entirely beautiful.
"Oh, Harry! You dog! You really want to see me wearing this, don't you!" my mother exclaimed, playfully. Harry turned even more red than Ron ever had and blushed so much he excused himself to the bathroom.
"Oh, Harry dear. It was a joke. It's lovely." My mother said as he walked away. All Harry showed in response was a nod of his head, and we only saw the back of his head. I laughed to myself as my mother worded, "Sorry" to herself.
"Oh mother, he's just very shy, that's all." I said, reassuringly. She shrugged it off and then went on to my present. I was entirely embarrassed, knowing she wouldn't really like mine as much as the others because it was merely expensive and not made with love.
She saw the perfume and gasped so loud everyone jumped up. "What is it?" Harry asked, jumping out of the bathroom and rushing to us, still blushing from the last incident.
"Draco, dear! I wanted to buy this before and it was completely sold out! Oh thank you! I was running out and I swear I don't know what I'd do without my nectar perfume!" She exclaimed.
Well, lucky for me she still had her shallow side. She smiled at me and gave me a kiss on the cheek and then one to Harry before he could move and said, "The nightgown was lovely."
Harry nodded his head, mutely.
"I want to open my presents next!" Ron declared. He rushed to get the present from Hermione. He opened it to find a book. "A book? How lovely." He said, trying to hide the fact that he didn't like it.
"Don't be such an idiot, Ron. You're my boyfriend, of course I didn't get you just a book." She handed him a box and he quickly opened it to find the most embarrassing thing ever. It was a pair of boxers with hearts and kisses all over. "There," Hermione stated, trying to hold back her laughter. "See? Because you're my boyfriend, you get an extra gift."
Suddenly, everyone(except Ron) broke out laughing. He stuffed the boxers underneath the book and decidedly went on to the next gift.
This one was from my mother. It was a set of fine made clothing. Ron smiled and choked out a "Thank you."
My mother smiled at him.
He then opened my present.
"OH MY BLOODY GOD!" he yelled out! His new shooting star 3000 broom was sleek and beautiful. "Harry, I'm sorry, but Draco is my new best friend!"
"We'll see about that when you get to my gift," Harry muttered under his breath as I chuckled evilly.
He then opened Harry's gift and jumped about and yelled, "I take it back! Harry, buddy, you're still my best mate! Yeah! Signed Chudley Cannon Gear! With their actually autographs on them! That means they've toughed these very robes! Yeah!" it took a while for him to calm down for me to get my chance to open my gifts.
I got a diary from Ron ("I think you have some issues you need to let out"- said Ron) and a book from Hermione, of course, and then an entire ski gear from my mother ("You skit so well, I thought you'd love it!"- said my mother) and then I came to Harry's gift.
It was a golden bracelet with the words, "I love you" imprinted into it.
I turned to Harry smiling. It was beautiful, but it was even more beautiful when Harry added, "Professor Dumbledore gave it to me. My father had given it to my mother. I.I thought you'd like it as well."
My eyes turned wide and round as a saucer! I couldn't believe he was giving me something so valuable to him! I jumped on top of him and gave him the most passionate kiss anyone could ever imagine, not even caring that everyone was looking. When we parted, he smiled, blushing as he was before at everyone's stares.
"ahem" Harry cleared his throat!
"Oh, don't do that! You sound like Umbridge!" Ron groaned.
Harry and everyone else laughed.
Harry then opened his gift. He received a diary from Ron too. ("I figure if your boyfriend needs it, you're going to need it too"- Ron said) He got a book from Hermione too and then opened my mother's present. It was the Malfoy crest in a necklace.
"You're part of the family now." She said, smiling. Harry kissed her on the cheek, while hugging her tightly.
And then, as he saw there were no more presents left, her turned to me. "Are you going to have phoenix fly in through the window since you can't get me an owl due to the fact that I all ready have one?" he asked playfully.
"As I matter a fact," I stated. "..no."
He raised one eyebrow quizzically.
"I have to take you somewhere to show you your present. Go get dressed and I can take you." I stated.
He got up and headed to the room to get dressed, soon followed by me, with everyone else looking around bewildered.
To be continued..
A/N: You guys, the title I gave this chapter will be explained in part 2 of this chapter. I had to make this chapter into two parts because lets face it, this is WAY too long all ready as it is. The second part of this chapter is going to be nowhere near as long as this chapter, but it should prove to be interesting, as you will find out the gift Draco gives Harry and you'll find out why the title is Stale Mate.or is it? There is more to the chess game than we think. The game has yet to be won. Anyway, I really hope I didn't disappoint you guys with this chapter. I've been sick with a terrible cold all week so I'm not sure if I was at my best when I wrote this. At least I got this to you guys on time, right? I really hope you like it! The next chapter will probably be half of this chapter because this chapter was over twice as long as my usual chapters. Anyway, PLEASE R&R! Oh, and btw, none of you were right on the gift Draco gave Harry. *Giggles* It must be super original. Care to take another guess? Oh, and the love scene will be in the next chapter for New Years Eve! Hooray!
Xoxo Spideria oxoX