Summary: Seasonal JK Rowling/Charles Dickens crossover. Draco encounters the Ghost of Christmas Present...
Disclaimer: These characters belong to JK Rowling. The plot belongs to Charles Dickens, but he's less likely to sue... See if you can spot which lines are directly stolen from "A Christmas Carol".
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MALFOY'S CHRISTMAS CAROL - Part 2
The common room clock had struck one again.
Waking from a troubled sleep, Draco was sure of this, however strange it might seem for the clock to strike one o'clock twice in the same night. What had Festrus Malfoy said? There would be three Spirits - where was the second? Draco sat up and pulled back the curtains all round his bed, looking round the dormitory, but he could see no ghost. He lay there, puzzled, for five minutes before he became aware of a warm orange light streaming under the dormitory door, and he got out of bed to investigate.
When he unlocked the door, it was clear that this glow was coming from the empty common room, and Draco walked warily down the passageway, half-afraid of what he might find. When he reached the common room door, however, he stood for a moment with his mouth open in astonishment.
The rather dark, gloomy Slytherin common room had been transformed. Holly, ivy and mistletoe hung from every wall, picture frame, mantelpiece and surface. A huge fire was blazing in the fireplace, and heaped up on the floor in front of it was a mountain of food - turkeys, geese, game, poultry, sausages, mince pies, plum puddings, apples, oranges and much more. A giant of a man sat behind this pile, a giant who reminded Draco of Hagrid, the Hogwarts gamekeeper. He wore a green robe bordered with white fur, had a holly wreath on his head, and was holding a huge glowing torch, which he held up to shed its light on Draco.
"Come in!" exclaimed the ghost.
"Who are you?" Draco asked, walking forwards with some trepidation, but reassured by this ghost's jolly appearance.
"I am the Ghost of Christmas Present."
"Do you - do you want to show me anything?" Draco asked.
"Touch my robe!"
Draco did as he was told, and held it tightly.
Holly, mistletoe, turkeys, geese, all vanished instantly. So did the room, the fire, the hour of night, and they stood in a room Draco had never seen before. From the stone walls, the red upholstery of the furniture, and the people in the room, he knew where he must be though - the Gryffindor common room at Hogwarts; and he couldn't help noticing that it looked cosier than the Slytherin equivalent. Winter sunshine was streaming through the tower windows. They had obviously gone back in time a couple of days, before all the Gryffindors except Harry had gone home for Christmas.
The gigantic spirit who stood beside him motioned Draco to look at two people who were near the fire, and Draco recognised them both. Harry Potter was fixing a swag of holly above the fireplace, and Hermione Granger was arranging Christmas cards along the mantelpiece. Draco found himself unable to look at Harry without remembering that scene he had witnessed at Harry's relatives' house.
"Hope Ron doesn't take too long wrapping up his presents," Harry was saying to Hermione. "I want to ask him if he thinks his mum will like the cookery book I've bought her - 'Spells for Seafood', it's called, I hope she hasn't got it already - "
"She'll love it," Hermione assured him, stepping back to look at her card arrangement carefully and looking satisfied with it. "What have you got for Ron? I've bought him the new International Quidditch Yearbook, I hope he likes it, it's got a review of the World Cup in it - "
"Whatever you get him, he'll like," said Harry, giving her a rather meaning look. Draco was interested to notice Hermione colouring slightly. "I've got him a Chudley Cannons scarf. What time does your train leave tomorrow?"
"Eleven o'clock from Hogsmeade station," Hermione replied, looking sympathetically at Harry. "It's a shame you're not coming with us Harry - I think Dumbledore's mean to have said you have to stay here for safety. You know I'd have kept you company, only Mum and Dad said they wanted me home for Christmas for a change. And Ron's mum wanted him home because Bill and Charlie are coming and she wants to get the whole family together for once, so neither of us can stay this year."
"I know - honestly, it's OK," Harry assured her, but Draco could tell he was not really looking forward to spending Christmas alone. "I'll be fine - I'll catch up on my reading, and practice my flying, and eat too many sweets, and hang out at Hagrid's. It'll be quite peaceful."
Hermione looked unconvinced, but her attention was distracted from Harry by the entrance of a sobbing Dennis Creevey, who had just climbed into the room looking very distressed.
"What happened to you?" Harry asked Dennis.
"M - Malfoy," Dennis sobbed, manfully trying to choke back his tears. "M-me and C-Colin were having a last flying practice before we go home, and Malfoy hexed us. The - the twigs on my broom are all bent, and Colin hurt his ankle. He's gone to the hospital wing. Malfoy laughed at us - " Dennis wiped his eyes on his sleeve, and showed them a large bruise on his arm. "That's where I f-fell off."
Draco looked guiltily at Dennis's unhappy face, as Harry and Hermione exchanged angry glances.
"That Malfoy!" Hermione said crossly. "He's nothing but a bully. You should report him to one of the teachers, Dennis."
"Oh no," Dennis said quickly. "If I did that, he might do something worse to me. And I'm scared of Crabbe and Goyle - they might beat me up."
"We'll sort him out for you," Harry said grimly.
Draco cast a quick glance sideways at the unsmiling face of the Ghost of Christmas Present. He was starting to wish he had left the Creeveys alone that day. It had seemed like an easy laugh at the time, but...
"Not now, we won't," Hermione said. "You don't want to get into trouble now and have all the teachers cross with you for the whole of Christmas, Harry. But next term - next term we'll teach Mister Malfoy to pick on people smaller than him." Draco did not like the expression of determination she wore, and he couldn't help remembering the time, in their third year, when she had smacked him in the face.
He was feeling so uncomfortable at watching this scene, that he was quite glad when the ghost motioned to him to hold on to its robe again. The Gryffindor common room vanished at that instant, and instead Draco found that they were standing in the streets of Hogsmeade on a snowy morning. It was cold, and the clouds were grey, but the people who hurried past them - without noticing them at all - were happy and cheerful.
"Happy Christmas!" Draco heard one shopkeeper call to another. He saw Madam Rosmerta opening the shutters of The Three Broomsticks, calling a laughing warning to two small boys who were pretending to aim snowballs at her. Children were playing, people on street corners were gossiping and exchanging Christmas greetings, and Draco could smell Christmas dinners cooking in the houses they passed.
As he followed the spirit through the streets, Draco noticed the ghost waving his torch towards certain people. Two boys who were quarrelling stopped quarrelling immediately when the spirit's torch was waved towards them, and went off together amiably. Through an open door Draco saw a harrassed witch struggling to light her kitchen fire, waving her wand unsuccessfully and muttering to herself. One wave of the spirit's torch, and a wonderful fire suddenly roared up in her fireplace, much to her astonishment. Draco could not help smiling at the expression on her face.
"Touch my robe!" the spirit said again. There was a flicker, and Hogsmeade was gone. They were standing in the yard of a rather crooked stone house. There was no snow here - they were obviously further south than Hogsmeade. Chickens pecked around Draco's feet. He could hear yells and shouts nearby, and a moment later three red-headed boys pelted round the corner of the house in pursuit of a fourth. Draco recognised them all.
"Is this Weasley's house?" he asked the gigantic ghost standing beside him. The ghost nodded.
Draco looked at the jumble of things in the yard, noticing the general shabbiness, which did not surprise him. Meanwhile, Fred, George and Ron had caught Percy, who had completely lost his dignity and whose glasses had been knocked sideways. George and Ron were now holding his arms while Fred tried to force him to put on a lumpy jersey.
"Come on, Perce, it's Christmas, you've got to wear a Weasley jumper at Christmas!"
As Percy struggled and his brothers laughed helplessly, Ginny Weasley appeared at the back door, looking happy. "Dinner's ready," she announced. Her brothers released Percy and made a dive for the door. Percy, muttering, followed them, and Draco and the ghost brought up the rear. The ghost waved his torch across the Weasleys' doorway as they entered.
The Weasleys' kitchen seemed small and very full of people, but Draco could not help sensing the warmth which filled the room, and noticing how cheerful everyone looked. Mr. Weasley was carving a turkey, and steam was pouring up from the pan where a pudding was boiling. There was a great clattering of chairs as the whole family sat down. Draco counted six brothers - he thought he vaguely recognised the eldest two, perhaps he'd seen them at the Triwizard Tournament - and Ginny. Mrs. Weasley was beaming as she sat at the foot of the table and began dishing up vegetables.
"It's so nice to have everyone here," she said. "I can't remember the last time you were all home for Christmas."
"Shame Harry couldn't come," Ron murmured, next to her. Ginny, on his other side, blushed, and Draco remembered that she had always had a bit of a crush on Potter.
"Yes, but I'm sure Professor Dumbledore knows best," said Mrs. Weasley. "I hope he got his presents all right."
"Thanks for the sweater, Mum," said one of the two oldest brothers. "It'll be just the thing for keeping warm when I'm on dragon-watch at night. It can get pretty chilly there, you know."
Other members of the family chimed in with comments about gifts they had received, and Draco, as he listened, realised that most of the gifts seemed to have been home-made. He supposed that this was probably necessary if there was not much money to spend on presents. Lack of money did not seem to be depressing anyone's spirits, however, and there was a lot of laughter and chatter around the table, even from Percy. The loudest uproar came when the crackers were pulled, and found to contain certain unusual objects which Mrs. Weasley accused Fred and George of having put there. Draco had always seen the twins as hated members of a rival Quidditch team, but he couldn't stop himself laughing out loud as Fred and George protested their innocence to their mother while Ron and Ginny extinguished a small fire which had broken out in Ginny's cracker.
The Ghost of Christmas Present touched Draco's arm, and he looked up, rather disappointed to be leaving this happy scene just as the Weasleys were discussing their plans to play games and open more presents off the tree. But he took hold of the spirit's robe obediently, and with another flicker the Weasleys' kitchen disappeared and they were standing in a much more spacious, but gloomier room, a complete contrast to the jollity of the Weasleys' house.
Draco shivered as he recognised his Great-Aunt Asphasia's bedroom. She was a haughty witch of ninety, with a hooked nose and an imperious manner. Draco had always dreaded being taken to visit her by his mother. She must be the ailing relative his mother was visiting this Christmas, because there was Great-Aunt Asphasia sitting bolt-upright in bed, the usual disdainful look on her face, and there was his own mother sitting next to the bed, reading aloud to her aunt, a long-suffering look on her face. There was no trace of Christmas decoration in the room.
"You do not read clearly enough, Narcissa," Great-Aunt Asphasia said severely. Even though he knew she could not see him, Draco quailed at her cold stare. "Very few people do. It has taken me years to get Robinson to read aloud properly. I cannot understand why she insisted on abandoning me for a week -she claimed she felt obliged to spend Christmas with her sister. Most inconsiderate."
"Yes, Aunt Asphasia."
"And what is Lucius doing while you are here?"
Draco thought he detected a flash of resentment on his mother's face. "He had meetings with - important friends - over Christmas."
"And Draco?"
"He's staying at school for the holidays, Aunt Asphasia."
"Well, I hope he attends to his books - although, with that fool Dumbledore in charge, I will be surprised if he has learned anything there," Great-Aunt Asphasia sniffed. Draco gave her a hard indignant stare. Learned nothing, indeed - he sometimes thought it amused the Hogwarts staff to set three-feet long essays, which no one except Hermione Granger seemed to enjoy doing.
"I'm sure Draco works very hard at school," Narcissa said, and Draco felt a rush of gratitude towards her.
"His father has great hopes for him, I know," Great-Aunt Asphasia said, and Draco felt a sudden chill as he saw the look in her glittering black eyes. "The destiny of the Malfoys must be fulfilled."
Draco shivered. He had a very good idea of the plans she and his father had for his future, and he had never felt less like fulfilling their hopes. Great-Aunt Asphasia leaned closer to Narcissa, who looked uneasy as the old woman whispered, "You know what Lucius hopes to do with the boy - "
At this interesting, but uncomfortable moment, the Ghost of Christmas Present bent to murmur in Draco's ear. "The time is drawing near."
On Great-Aunt Asphasia's wall, a gilded clock began to strike midnight, and as Draco lifted his eyes to the clock, he realised that the room, his mother, the old woman and the gigantic ghost had all vanished, and that he was in a dark place, where a hooded figure was advancing slowly towards him.
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End of Part 2. Want to read the end? Head for Part 3! :)
Disclaimer: These characters belong to JK Rowling. The plot belongs to Charles Dickens, but he's less likely to sue... See if you can spot which lines are directly stolen from "A Christmas Carol".
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MALFOY'S CHRISTMAS CAROL - Part 2
The common room clock had struck one again.
Waking from a troubled sleep, Draco was sure of this, however strange it might seem for the clock to strike one o'clock twice in the same night. What had Festrus Malfoy said? There would be three Spirits - where was the second? Draco sat up and pulled back the curtains all round his bed, looking round the dormitory, but he could see no ghost. He lay there, puzzled, for five minutes before he became aware of a warm orange light streaming under the dormitory door, and he got out of bed to investigate.
When he unlocked the door, it was clear that this glow was coming from the empty common room, and Draco walked warily down the passageway, half-afraid of what he might find. When he reached the common room door, however, he stood for a moment with his mouth open in astonishment.
The rather dark, gloomy Slytherin common room had been transformed. Holly, ivy and mistletoe hung from every wall, picture frame, mantelpiece and surface. A huge fire was blazing in the fireplace, and heaped up on the floor in front of it was a mountain of food - turkeys, geese, game, poultry, sausages, mince pies, plum puddings, apples, oranges and much more. A giant of a man sat behind this pile, a giant who reminded Draco of Hagrid, the Hogwarts gamekeeper. He wore a green robe bordered with white fur, had a holly wreath on his head, and was holding a huge glowing torch, which he held up to shed its light on Draco.
"Come in!" exclaimed the ghost.
"Who are you?" Draco asked, walking forwards with some trepidation, but reassured by this ghost's jolly appearance.
"I am the Ghost of Christmas Present."
"Do you - do you want to show me anything?" Draco asked.
"Touch my robe!"
Draco did as he was told, and held it tightly.
Holly, mistletoe, turkeys, geese, all vanished instantly. So did the room, the fire, the hour of night, and they stood in a room Draco had never seen before. From the stone walls, the red upholstery of the furniture, and the people in the room, he knew where he must be though - the Gryffindor common room at Hogwarts; and he couldn't help noticing that it looked cosier than the Slytherin equivalent. Winter sunshine was streaming through the tower windows. They had obviously gone back in time a couple of days, before all the Gryffindors except Harry had gone home for Christmas.
The gigantic spirit who stood beside him motioned Draco to look at two people who were near the fire, and Draco recognised them both. Harry Potter was fixing a swag of holly above the fireplace, and Hermione Granger was arranging Christmas cards along the mantelpiece. Draco found himself unable to look at Harry without remembering that scene he had witnessed at Harry's relatives' house.
"Hope Ron doesn't take too long wrapping up his presents," Harry was saying to Hermione. "I want to ask him if he thinks his mum will like the cookery book I've bought her - 'Spells for Seafood', it's called, I hope she hasn't got it already - "
"She'll love it," Hermione assured him, stepping back to look at her card arrangement carefully and looking satisfied with it. "What have you got for Ron? I've bought him the new International Quidditch Yearbook, I hope he likes it, it's got a review of the World Cup in it - "
"Whatever you get him, he'll like," said Harry, giving her a rather meaning look. Draco was interested to notice Hermione colouring slightly. "I've got him a Chudley Cannons scarf. What time does your train leave tomorrow?"
"Eleven o'clock from Hogsmeade station," Hermione replied, looking sympathetically at Harry. "It's a shame you're not coming with us Harry - I think Dumbledore's mean to have said you have to stay here for safety. You know I'd have kept you company, only Mum and Dad said they wanted me home for Christmas for a change. And Ron's mum wanted him home because Bill and Charlie are coming and she wants to get the whole family together for once, so neither of us can stay this year."
"I know - honestly, it's OK," Harry assured her, but Draco could tell he was not really looking forward to spending Christmas alone. "I'll be fine - I'll catch up on my reading, and practice my flying, and eat too many sweets, and hang out at Hagrid's. It'll be quite peaceful."
Hermione looked unconvinced, but her attention was distracted from Harry by the entrance of a sobbing Dennis Creevey, who had just climbed into the room looking very distressed.
"What happened to you?" Harry asked Dennis.
"M - Malfoy," Dennis sobbed, manfully trying to choke back his tears. "M-me and C-Colin were having a last flying practice before we go home, and Malfoy hexed us. The - the twigs on my broom are all bent, and Colin hurt his ankle. He's gone to the hospital wing. Malfoy laughed at us - " Dennis wiped his eyes on his sleeve, and showed them a large bruise on his arm. "That's where I f-fell off."
Draco looked guiltily at Dennis's unhappy face, as Harry and Hermione exchanged angry glances.
"That Malfoy!" Hermione said crossly. "He's nothing but a bully. You should report him to one of the teachers, Dennis."
"Oh no," Dennis said quickly. "If I did that, he might do something worse to me. And I'm scared of Crabbe and Goyle - they might beat me up."
"We'll sort him out for you," Harry said grimly.
Draco cast a quick glance sideways at the unsmiling face of the Ghost of Christmas Present. He was starting to wish he had left the Creeveys alone that day. It had seemed like an easy laugh at the time, but...
"Not now, we won't," Hermione said. "You don't want to get into trouble now and have all the teachers cross with you for the whole of Christmas, Harry. But next term - next term we'll teach Mister Malfoy to pick on people smaller than him." Draco did not like the expression of determination she wore, and he couldn't help remembering the time, in their third year, when she had smacked him in the face.
He was feeling so uncomfortable at watching this scene, that he was quite glad when the ghost motioned to him to hold on to its robe again. The Gryffindor common room vanished at that instant, and instead Draco found that they were standing in the streets of Hogsmeade on a snowy morning. It was cold, and the clouds were grey, but the people who hurried past them - without noticing them at all - were happy and cheerful.
"Happy Christmas!" Draco heard one shopkeeper call to another. He saw Madam Rosmerta opening the shutters of The Three Broomsticks, calling a laughing warning to two small boys who were pretending to aim snowballs at her. Children were playing, people on street corners were gossiping and exchanging Christmas greetings, and Draco could smell Christmas dinners cooking in the houses they passed.
As he followed the spirit through the streets, Draco noticed the ghost waving his torch towards certain people. Two boys who were quarrelling stopped quarrelling immediately when the spirit's torch was waved towards them, and went off together amiably. Through an open door Draco saw a harrassed witch struggling to light her kitchen fire, waving her wand unsuccessfully and muttering to herself. One wave of the spirit's torch, and a wonderful fire suddenly roared up in her fireplace, much to her astonishment. Draco could not help smiling at the expression on her face.
"Touch my robe!" the spirit said again. There was a flicker, and Hogsmeade was gone. They were standing in the yard of a rather crooked stone house. There was no snow here - they were obviously further south than Hogsmeade. Chickens pecked around Draco's feet. He could hear yells and shouts nearby, and a moment later three red-headed boys pelted round the corner of the house in pursuit of a fourth. Draco recognised them all.
"Is this Weasley's house?" he asked the gigantic ghost standing beside him. The ghost nodded.
Draco looked at the jumble of things in the yard, noticing the general shabbiness, which did not surprise him. Meanwhile, Fred, George and Ron had caught Percy, who had completely lost his dignity and whose glasses had been knocked sideways. George and Ron were now holding his arms while Fred tried to force him to put on a lumpy jersey.
"Come on, Perce, it's Christmas, you've got to wear a Weasley jumper at Christmas!"
As Percy struggled and his brothers laughed helplessly, Ginny Weasley appeared at the back door, looking happy. "Dinner's ready," she announced. Her brothers released Percy and made a dive for the door. Percy, muttering, followed them, and Draco and the ghost brought up the rear. The ghost waved his torch across the Weasleys' doorway as they entered.
The Weasleys' kitchen seemed small and very full of people, but Draco could not help sensing the warmth which filled the room, and noticing how cheerful everyone looked. Mr. Weasley was carving a turkey, and steam was pouring up from the pan where a pudding was boiling. There was a great clattering of chairs as the whole family sat down. Draco counted six brothers - he thought he vaguely recognised the eldest two, perhaps he'd seen them at the Triwizard Tournament - and Ginny. Mrs. Weasley was beaming as she sat at the foot of the table and began dishing up vegetables.
"It's so nice to have everyone here," she said. "I can't remember the last time you were all home for Christmas."
"Shame Harry couldn't come," Ron murmured, next to her. Ginny, on his other side, blushed, and Draco remembered that she had always had a bit of a crush on Potter.
"Yes, but I'm sure Professor Dumbledore knows best," said Mrs. Weasley. "I hope he got his presents all right."
"Thanks for the sweater, Mum," said one of the two oldest brothers. "It'll be just the thing for keeping warm when I'm on dragon-watch at night. It can get pretty chilly there, you know."
Other members of the family chimed in with comments about gifts they had received, and Draco, as he listened, realised that most of the gifts seemed to have been home-made. He supposed that this was probably necessary if there was not much money to spend on presents. Lack of money did not seem to be depressing anyone's spirits, however, and there was a lot of laughter and chatter around the table, even from Percy. The loudest uproar came when the crackers were pulled, and found to contain certain unusual objects which Mrs. Weasley accused Fred and George of having put there. Draco had always seen the twins as hated members of a rival Quidditch team, but he couldn't stop himself laughing out loud as Fred and George protested their innocence to their mother while Ron and Ginny extinguished a small fire which had broken out in Ginny's cracker.
The Ghost of Christmas Present touched Draco's arm, and he looked up, rather disappointed to be leaving this happy scene just as the Weasleys were discussing their plans to play games and open more presents off the tree. But he took hold of the spirit's robe obediently, and with another flicker the Weasleys' kitchen disappeared and they were standing in a much more spacious, but gloomier room, a complete contrast to the jollity of the Weasleys' house.
Draco shivered as he recognised his Great-Aunt Asphasia's bedroom. She was a haughty witch of ninety, with a hooked nose and an imperious manner. Draco had always dreaded being taken to visit her by his mother. She must be the ailing relative his mother was visiting this Christmas, because there was Great-Aunt Asphasia sitting bolt-upright in bed, the usual disdainful look on her face, and there was his own mother sitting next to the bed, reading aloud to her aunt, a long-suffering look on her face. There was no trace of Christmas decoration in the room.
"You do not read clearly enough, Narcissa," Great-Aunt Asphasia said severely. Even though he knew she could not see him, Draco quailed at her cold stare. "Very few people do. It has taken me years to get Robinson to read aloud properly. I cannot understand why she insisted on abandoning me for a week -she claimed she felt obliged to spend Christmas with her sister. Most inconsiderate."
"Yes, Aunt Asphasia."
"And what is Lucius doing while you are here?"
Draco thought he detected a flash of resentment on his mother's face. "He had meetings with - important friends - over Christmas."
"And Draco?"
"He's staying at school for the holidays, Aunt Asphasia."
"Well, I hope he attends to his books - although, with that fool Dumbledore in charge, I will be surprised if he has learned anything there," Great-Aunt Asphasia sniffed. Draco gave her a hard indignant stare. Learned nothing, indeed - he sometimes thought it amused the Hogwarts staff to set three-feet long essays, which no one except Hermione Granger seemed to enjoy doing.
"I'm sure Draco works very hard at school," Narcissa said, and Draco felt a rush of gratitude towards her.
"His father has great hopes for him, I know," Great-Aunt Asphasia said, and Draco felt a sudden chill as he saw the look in her glittering black eyes. "The destiny of the Malfoys must be fulfilled."
Draco shivered. He had a very good idea of the plans she and his father had for his future, and he had never felt less like fulfilling their hopes. Great-Aunt Asphasia leaned closer to Narcissa, who looked uneasy as the old woman whispered, "You know what Lucius hopes to do with the boy - "
At this interesting, but uncomfortable moment, the Ghost of Christmas Present bent to murmur in Draco's ear. "The time is drawing near."
On Great-Aunt Asphasia's wall, a gilded clock began to strike midnight, and as Draco lifted his eyes to the clock, he realised that the room, his mother, the old woman and the gigantic ghost had all vanished, and that he was in a dark place, where a hooded figure was advancing slowly towards him.
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End of Part 2. Want to read the end? Head for Part 3! :)