Summary: When Ginny boarded the Hogwarts Express on the first of September, she was surprised to come face-to-face with the last person she expected to see back in school. He was still the same prat she remembered from years before, but now he has a much higher authority than ever before: he was this year's new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. Ginny wished this was all a dream, but to her dismay she was stuck with him for an entire school year!

Disclaimer: Once again I don't want to go through all the mumbo-jumbo of having to write this out, so I'm saying this now: NOT MINE!!! I keep on forgetting to add this on to this one: MAIN HP CHARACTERS AREN'T MINE, those other names you don't recognize are mine as well as the plot, and also other stuff that you don't recognize, kapish?

Setting: Ginny's in her 7th year; Draco graduated the year before

PhoenixRae's Notes: okay, Christmas took its time arriving, but finally it's here! and for your FYI's, Twyla & Janelle had been Ginny friends for such a long time and are constant visitors at the Burrow so the Weasley boys knew these two girls very well--just in case you're wondering why Bill and Charlie acts like they really know Ginny's two friends so well

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XXVI. Christmas at the Burrow

"Should we wake them?" asked a familiar male voice.

"No. Let them sleep," replied a familiar female voice.

"But we can't let Mum and Dad catch them like that," argued another familiar male voice.

"Like what, Ron?" it was Hermione who demanded it this time, "They're just sleeping on the couch with an afghan over them--they're not in any way or state of undress!" she pointed out.

"But--but...dammit, Mione! She's with Malfoy!" Ron whined.

Hermione rolled her eyes at him, "They are fully clothed!" she pointed out.

"C'mon, Ron. It's still too early. Let's make some breakfast," Janelle cajoled her best friend's brother and managed to drag him into the kitchen where the others were preparing breakfast before Mr. and Mrs. Weasley woke up.

A retreating scurrying of feet alerted the sleeping couple on the couch that their audience already left. Ginny made sure that they were indeed alone in the living room before pushing herself off Draco's chest where she just had the most peaceful sleep she could remember.

"Okay, they're gone," she said, her hands pressed against Draco's chest as she looked at the direction of the kitchen. She looked down at the man beneath her and smiled, "Jeez, Malfoy, I didn't know you could be such a good pillow," she teased.

Draco groaned and did a few neck rotations to restart the circulation from his neck down. "I'm glad you enjoyed it, Weasley, although...it wouldn't hurt if you lose a few pounds," he grinned mischievously.

"Why you..." Ginny started hitting him at his jab, "I am not that heavy!"

"Hey! Hey!" Draco raised his arms to shield himself from Ginny's attacks, but she was good and knows exactly where to hit him, and she hits him hard. "Stop it," he demanded.

"No," Ginny replied and continued hitting him.

Draco tried to grab her hands to stop her from further hurting him, but she was just too fast for him.

"Aww...look, the lovebirds are having a little spat," came Charlie's teasing voice from the stairs which automatically stopped Ginny from further hurting her guest.

She lifted her gaze and glared at her brother, "We're not lovers and he," she pointed an accusing finger at Draco, "just said that I'm fat!"

"Hey! I didn't say you're fat! I just said you could lose a few pounds, that's all," Draco argued.

"Whatever," Ginny huffed and crossed her arms over her chest.

Charlie looked bewildered and couldn't help but chuckle, "Whoa, man, I can't believe you just said that to Ginny and managed to stay alive!"

"Who managed to stay alive?" came Twyla's voice as she descended down the stairs wearing a purple turleneck.

"Your professor," replied Bill and did a double take over his shoulder when he noticed what Twyla was wearing, "What's with the turtleneck, T? I thought you hate wearing those," he frowned and carefully studied the curly blond haired girl.

Twyla's hands quickly flew up to touch the collar of her sweater, her cheekbones turning a light shade of pink Ginny's eyebrow rose up and studied her friend carefully. She could smell something fishy going on but she couldn't put her finger to it.

"Hey, what seems to be the commotion here?" asked Percy as he bounded down the stairs, stopping just behind Twyla and peered down to see what the others were looking at.

"Oh nothing. It's just Ginny beating the crap out of Malfoy for calling her fat. Oh yeah, and Bill's just asking why your girlfriend's wearing a turleneck when we all know she hates wearing one of those," Charlie replied matter-of-factly.

"Percy's not my boyfriend!" Twyla hissed and with her face all flushed, she shoved Bill and Charlie aside and stalked into the kitchen to join the others who were making breakfast.

Percy's face turned the same shade of pink that Twyla's cheeks were sporting earlier at the mention of Twyla wearing a turleneck. He cleared his throat and continued descending down the stairs, pushing his two older brothers aside and muttered, "Stop teasing us, you guys," then followed the blushing blond into the kitchen.

Bill and Charlie exchanged a knowing look then burst out laughing. They weren't blind nor stupid. Percy's pink cheeks and Twyla's flushed face plus her wearing a turleneck could only mean one thing: she was hiding a hickey given to her by Percy!

Draco, who had his back to the brothers and Twyla the whole time, looked over his shoulder and frowned at the two laughing elder Weasley brothers.

"What's so funny?" he asked.

"Percy and Twyla did something really naughty last night and now she's hiding the evidence," Bill replied when he finally clamed down from laughing so hard.

"God, it's finally good to see that Percy's gotten over that Penny chick," Charlie added clutching the side of his stomach.

"Yep. I thought after that number she pulled on him a year ago he won't recover, but I'm glad he has and falling for Twyla?" Bill chuckled and shook his head, "I say that girl's better than Penelope!"

"Hell yeah, Bill! Twyla's more funnier than Penny. Why, she adds colour to Percy's dull life," Charlie agreed.

"Yep. Now let's go into the kitchen and torment those two some more," Bill invited and led the way to the kitchen.

"You two coming?" Charlie asked, casting the couple on the couch a questioning look.

"We'll be there," Ginny nodded and waved her brother off.

"Clearwater did a number on Percy?" questioned Draco as soon as Bill and Charlie cleared the living room.

Ginny turned her attention back to the man on the couch with her and let out a strangled sigh. Pushing herself off the couch, she grabbed the afghan and started folding it.

"Percy and Penny were engaged, then out of the blue she runs off with another guy. Some guy she met at work who instantly swept her off her feet," she placed the afghan back on the sofa's backrest, "It was a surprise to all of us when we found out, but seems like dear ol' Penny's been sneaking off with her co-worker behind Percy's back because Percy's way too obsessed with his work."

"Ouch," Draco flinched and pushed himself off the couch.

"Yea-eep," Ginny nodded, "We were all shocked at what happened, but what can we do? I mean, let's face it, Percy is a work-obsessed redhead who worshipped the ground his first boss walked on during his first year working for the Ministry," she led the way to the kitchen where everyone, excluding the twins and Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, were busy making breakfast.

Hermione and Janelle took over making pancakes while Harry and Ron were setting the table. Twyla was making the drinks while Percy grabbed the glasses. Bill and Charlie stood on the side and enjoyed watching the little show the three couple were doing in the kitchen.

"Whoa, is it always this busy in the Weasley kitchen on Christmas morning?" whispered Draco to Ginny as he watched Hermione nearly smack Harry with scooper she was using when Harry and Ron were fencing using the bread knives.

Controlling her mirth, Ginny stood with her arms crossed over her chest and watched Hermione reprimand Harry like she would one of her students. Biting her lower lip, she looked over her shoulder and smiled up at Draco, "Yea-eep. Welcome to the Weasley Family Christmas extravaganza," she let out the giggles she'd been controlling and returned her attention back to Harry and Hermione.

Janelle was helping Hermione now too by pulling Ron aside and giving him a lecture. She snatched the the knife he was holding and was using it as a pointer whilst she scolded Ginny's brother.

It took Hermione and Janelle a while to finish making pancakes (they had to keep a close eye on Harry and Ron to make sure those two weren't fooling around with the silverwares). Percy and Twyla were acting oddly around each other, avoiding one another at all cost and whenever they happen to bump in to each other, they'd both end up blushing furiously. It didn't help them much when Bill and Charlie laughed at their expense, letting the two red-faced people know that they knew what was going on. Ginny tried to scold her two older brothers but it was to no avail. Bill and Charlie loved making Percy and Twyla feel uncomfortable that there was no stopping them from tormenting the poor couple.

Fred and George soon joined the foray as soon as they entered the kitchen. Like Bill and Charlie, the twins quickly picked-up on what was going on between Percy and Twyla. They helped their two older brothers for a while until they noticed Hermione and Janelle scolding Harry and Ron every two seconds.

"Oy, Harry!" George called, "I say kiss the girl already so she'll shut up!" he advised.

"Yeah!" Fred agreed, "And that goes for you too, Ron!"

Ron and Harry exchanged confused looks then turned and frowned at the twins.

"What?" they asked in unison.

Fred and George rolled their eyes and got up from their seats. George walked towards Hermione and Fred headed towards Janelle. Both girls looked alarmed at what the twins had in mind and started backing away, but the kitchen counter blocked their escape.

"It's just like this, dufus," George's hand snaked out and grabbed Hermione by the wrist, tugging her towards him before dipping her and his mouth sought hers for a very dramatic execution of a kiss.

"Or you could do this," Fred's arms wrapped around Janelle's waist, pulling the surprised blond closer to him and clamped one hand at the back of her neck, holding her still as he inclined his head closer and closer until their lips touched.

The kitchen erupted in loud applause and laughter as they watched the stunned faces of Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Janelle after the twins were done with their demonstration. Both Hermione and Janelle started hitting the twins in outrage at their audacity to use them as guinea pigs to prove their points! Neither Fred nor George minded being used as punching bags by the girls; the look of murderous jealous outrage on Harry and Ron's face was enough to make up for the bruises the girls were inflicting on them.

Ginny could only roll her eyes skyward and cover her face with her hands, shaking her head in disbelief as the laughter around her increased.

Draco, who sat down beside her, joined in on the laughter as well. Seeing the look of horror cover the face of Hermione I'm-cool-calm-and-collected Granger was priceless! He had to give kudos to the twins for that.

Mr. and Mrs. Weasley were roused by the ruckus their children and guests were making downstairs. It was very unusual for them to hear such loud volumes of laughter on a usually subdued Christmas morning, but their curiosity was soon answered when they entered the kitchen. Their twin sons were being beaten up by Hermione and Janelle. Harry and Ron were doing their best to restrain the girls from turning Fred and George to black and blue. Twyla, who was the only girl wearing a turleneck sweater compared to the other three girls in the kitchen, was slowly turning red from Bill's teasing while Charlie was being given a noogie by...

"Percy!" Mrs. Weasley exclaimed in horror as she watched her third son show a very unusual behaviour.

Percy and Charlie quickly sprung apart at the sound of their mother's alarmed voice.

"He started it!" Percy quickly took on the defensive and pointed an accusing finger at Charlie.

"What did I do?" he looked innocently at his mother then grinned mischievously when he looked back at Percy.

Percy was about to lunge at his brother again, but Arthur Weasley intervened this time.

"That's enough, boys. Let's all eat breakfast now," he announced then to Percy he added, "Nice head-locking move, Perce."

Unfortunately for him, Mrs. Weasley heard him and swatted him on the shoulder which made Mr. Weasley hastily add, "But you shouldn't do it again," and winked at his son when his wife wasn't looking.

Breakfast was a bit delayed being served that morning. Everyone was eating while Hermione and Janelle kept on cooking more pancakes. Mrs. Weasley suggested that Hermione use magic to make her job go faster, but Hermione she refused. She said it was more fun to cook and serve breakfast herself at the same time.

"It's more homey that way," she smiled while putting two more pancakes on Ron's plate.

"Yeah. She needs to practice for when Harry marries her," George chuckled.

The whole table (Mr. Weasley had to conjure up two more tables to accommodate them all) burst into gales of laughter at George's remark. Janelle, who stood nearest to him, gave George a swift swat on the head.

"Stop teasing Mione," she scolded.

"Oy! You're just jealous 'coz Mione got kissed by George," Fred teased, "My kissing technique ain't good enough for you? Want George to give you a demo too?" he feigned looking crestfallen because his kiss wasn't good enough as far as Janelle was concerned.

"Why you..." Janelle quickly whipped the fork she had on her serving plate and threatened Fred with it.

George quickly sprung to his feet and grabbed Janelle by the upper arms, stopping her from rearranging Fred's face with the fork.

"Now, now, Jan, no need to do that. If you want a kiss from me, all you gotta do is ask," George said matter-of-factly and to Janelle's--and everyone else's--surprise, he turned Janelle around to face him and planted a loud wet one on her mouth. Pulling away from the dumbstruck blond, George plastered a proud smile on his face and wrapped his arm around Janelle's shoulders, facing Ron he beamed, "That's one point each for Fred and myself, Ronnikins. You better make your move son, brother," he winked before moving away from Janelle and resumed his breakfast.

Ron would've lunged at George from across the table if it hadn't been for Harry and Bill holding him back down.

"Relax, Ron, you'll soon get to kiss the girl," Bill assured his temperamental younger brother.

"Yeah, as soon as you got up the courage to actually kiss a girl," added Charlie teasingly.

Ron's face was beet red by the time his brothers were done teasing him. He kept his head down and toyed around with his pancakes and tried his best to ignore the jabbering he was receiving from the others.

Meanwhile, Ginny watched as the rest of her family indulged in their usual torment-the-other-brother game with a smile plastered on her face. She happen to glance at Draco who had been watching her whole family interact with one another. He looked quite stunned at what he was seeing. Poor guy, she thought when she saw longing in Draco's gray eyes as he watched her brothers and friends make fun of one another.

"Having fun, Professor?" she asked her seatmate.

Draco turned his gaze away from her family and looked at her, a smile curving the corners of his lips. "Of course I am. Thank you for inviting me over for Christmas."

Ginny returned his smile. "If I remember correctly, I didn't invite you over, I demanded that you be here for Christmas," she corrected him.

"Regardless," he shrugged, "I could've argued with you on not going."

"Are you sure you would've won?" she raised a query eyebrow at him.

Draco chuckled, "Perhaps. At least I tried. Would you have let me not come?"

"Perhaps," Ginny chuckled.

From the other end of the long table, Molly Weasley watched her only daughter talk to the young blond man seated beside her. They looked very good together, if she do say so herself. They spoke of unspoken attraction, those two, and yet they were too stubborn to succumb to their mutual attraction. Would they be able to forget that she was a Weasley and he was a Malfoy? Over the course of the last few days, Draco Malfoy managed to worm his way into the Weasley family and became a part of it without standing out amongst the others, so why can't they forget about the past and concentrate on their future...together?

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It was customary in the Weasley household for the giver of the gifts to hand out his or her present to the rest of the family. Since Draco was the newcomer, he had had first dibs on handing out his gifts. Ginny couldn't believe that he actually bought everyone in the house a present; she thought he was just kidding last night when they talked.

For Mrs. Weasley he got her a George Foreman grill (it was a well-known Muggle cooking equipment that Hermione told him Molly Weasley would enjoy--after she mastered how to use it first).

He gave Mr. Weasley a muggle AM/FM radio alarm clock and spent a few minutes explaining to the elder Weasley the thing worked (he asked Hermione to explain how the instrument worked when he purchased it so he wouldn't look like a complete idiot for giving something he doesn't know how to use!).

Bill received an expensive pair of dragonhide gloves and boots. "I hope the boots fit you, if not, you can always return it and get a pair that is your size," Draco told him when Bill started trying them on.

"Thanks, mate!" Bill said cheerily as he put on the gloves which fit his hands perfectly and the boots which was neither too small nor too big; it was just the right size.

For Charlie Draco decided to get him a flame-resistant jacket since he worked closely with dragons.

"Wouldn't want you to be burned into crisps one of these days," Draco remarked teasingly.

Charlie chuckled and shook his hand. "Thanks, man! I definitely will be needing this when we start training this new crossbreed dragon."

For Percy he agreed with Hermione and opted to be more humorous. He gave him a book called The Complete Idiot's Guide to Teen Dating.

"Yeah! Now you won't be such a dork when it comes to asking Twyla out!" guffawed Fred and quickly ducked out of sight when Percy threw a the box that Draco used to put the book in.

As for the twins, he decided to give them a gift that would be beneficial to the two of them. Since the one who loved doing pranks on people was Fred, Draco gave him a book on various harmless hexes that are sure to get a good laugh from everyone whilst George received a book on counter-curses for the hexes in Fred's book.

Ron got a signed poster and quaffle from the entire Chudley Cannons team.

"Wicked!" he exclaimed as soon as he opened his present, "Thanks, Malfoy! These aren't bad."

"No problem, Weasley," Draco nodded and reached for the next gift under the tree. It was for Harry. "Here," he handed him the nicely wrapped gift. He met Hermione's gaze from across the room and noted her raised brow. He remembered complaining to her that he couldn't find a decent gift for Harry, but of course he lied.

Harry unwrapped his gift and took out an expensive looking blue sweater with the words I LOVE BRUNETTES embroidered on the front in bold, cursive lettering.

Draco laughed when both Harry and Hermione turned a bright shade of red. It was only when the rest of the people in the living room looked at Harry and Hermione's faces did they get the meaning behind Draco's gift.

Hermione received a basket full of books wrapped in see-through plastic wrapper. She frowned at Draco as soon as he handed the gifts to her.

"Open it and check out one of the books," he urged.

Hermione did what she was told and unwrapped her gift. Snatching a small pocketbook from the pile he got her, she blushed again at the photo of the couple on the cover. It was a muggle pocketbook that she enjoyed reading every now and then. On the cover of the book was a picture of a half-naked man wrapped only in white bed sheet while a similarly half-naked woman was beside him striking a seductive pose. She flipped the front cover and nearly chocked when she read what Malfoy wrote on the first page: I bet you wanna do these with Potter.

"Draco Malfoy!" she screamed and threw the gold ribbon he used to tie the see-through plastic wrapper together.

Draco laughed and winked at her, "I'm sure you're going to enjoy reading those books," he teased.

Janelle was a tough person to select a gift for since he hardly knows her, but with Hermione's help he managed to find a somewhat unique present for her. He got her a rare wizards chess with players from two popular Quidditch teams as pawns.

Janelle nearly blew their eardrums off with her squeal of delight upon opening her present. She was always the reserved kind amongst the three of them (her, Twyla, and Ginny), but this time all her reserve vanished and she flung herself at her Defense Against the Dark Arts professor and gave him the biggest hug ever. She even planted a chaste kiss on his cheek before she pulled away.

"Thank you soooo much! Do you know how long I've been searching for this kind of wizards chess? I've been wanting it since it came out last summer!" her eyes were alight with glee as she hugged the chessboard close to her chest, "Thanks, Professor!"

"Wow...jeez, Ron, if you want Janelle to hug and kiss you like she did Malfoy, get her a wizards chessboard with Quidditch players for pawns," George teased, jabbing his youngest brother on the side.

"Shut up, George!" Janelle and Ron yelled at the annoying twin in unison.

George merely chuckled and returned to reading the book he just got from Draco.

For Twyla's gift, Draco was a little apprehensive. He wasn't really the kind of person who would romantically tease someone to the person they liked, but he was under Hermione's influence so with her help he got Twyla's gift. It was a heart-shaped crystal frame with a picture of Percy inside that Hermione took from Ginny.

"Draco Malfoy, this is sooooo underhandedly subtle and evil!" Twyla nearly strangled him to death while her face was turning to yet another blotchy red colour, but the look in her eyes told Draco she appreciated his gift.

As for Ginny's gift, Draco was a bit anxious to give it to her. It actually took him a while before he could decide what gift to give her when out of the blue inspiration struck him. He handed Ginny a small, velvet package with a small card on top that read: May this always remain close to your heart.

Ginny slowly opened the box and her breath got caught in her throat when she saw what was in it. It was a gold chained necklace with a dragonfly pendant, on its wings it bore her birthstone (alexandrite) that sparkled and changed colours from red to green.

Everybody around them was in awe at Draco's present to the only female Weasley offspring. Ginny carefully took the necklace from its bed and held it up for everybody else to see, the alexandrite stone changing colours at the lights hit it.

"That's a wicked gift, Ginny!" cooed Janelle as she stared at the intricately carved dragonfly pendant bearing the stones on its wings.

"Thanks," Ginny smiled and turned to look at the bearer of the gift. "It's beautiful. Thank you."

Draco returned her warm smile and inclined his head, "You're welcome."

"Well," Mrs. Weasley clapped her hands, breaking the warm moment between Draco and Ginny. "Now that Draco has given us his gifts, I think it's high time we give him our presents," she smiled at the group gathered around the living room.

Draco looked shocked at the news. "What?" he stared in wide-eyed disbelief at the elder woman sitting on the armchair near him.

"Now, now, Draco, don't tell me you didn't think you won't be getting any presents now, do you?" Mr. Weasley asked him teasingly.

"But...but I wasn't expecting any gifts from you guys," he admitted.

"Well, you're a part of this family this Christmas so it's only natural that we buy presents for you too," Mrs. Weasley said matter-of-factly then with the use of her wand she levitated her gift to Draco from under the Christmas tree. "Now, open this one first. It's not much, but I hope you like it."

Draco took the present wrapped in a red dragon skin-like wrapper. He knew the wrapper was bewitched to make it feel like dragon's skin, but what he didn't expect that it was a coiled-up dragon breathing live fire that nearly singed his eyebrows when he tried to open it!

"Fred! George!" Mrs. Weasley her prankster sons a stern glare, she knew they were the ones responsible for that trick. "I'm sorry, dear, seems like my sons decided to play a trick on you," she apologized to Draco on behalf of the twins.

"It's alright, Mrs. Weasley," Draco smiled and carefully unwrapped the gift. Inside was a black woolen sweater with a silver D embroidered on the upper left side. He knew it was handmade and turned to give the woman who gave him something that she made with her very own hands a warm smile, "It's beautiful. T-thank you."

Mrs. Weasley blushed and leaned over to gave him an affectionate pat on the cheek, "I'm glad you liked it."

Mr. Weasley cleared his throat and levitated his gift from under the tree. It was small compared to his wife's gift, and Draco could only guess what it was Arthur Weasley got him for Christmas.

He cleared his throat before speaking, "I don't know just of how much use this is to you, but I heard it's very helpful to some people," he said.

Draco unwrapped his second present and grinned when he saw a muggle wristwatch inside. It had black, leather straps, semi-oval-shaped face with gold sidings; and the numbers looked like it was glowing.

"Thank you, Mr. Weasley," Draco lifted his head and smiled at the man.

"Glad you liked it, boy," Mr. Weasley said proudly.

Next was Bill's gift which he carefully selected before he came back home for the holidays. It was a single earring with a black serpent dangling from it.

"I heard you were such a bad boy back in school from what Ron and Harry talked about, so I figured you might want to continue on with the tradition with this earring," he explained, "I heard chicks digs the earring," he chuckled and gave him a knowing wink.

Draco laughed and thanked Bill for his gift.

Next was Charlie's gift. It was a letter opener designed as a dagger with a gold dragon handle. "You never know when you'll need to use one for self-defense," Charlie winked when Draco gave him a confused look about the dagger-slash-letter opener.

Percy's gift to him came as a surprise. With a smug smile on the middle Weasley son, Draco unwrapped his gift and nearly laughed at his present. It was a book on successful relationships.

"I think you will also need this, Weasley," Draco remarked as he examined the summary at the back cover of the book.

"Not when I have this book you gave me to read," Percy replied back.

"Touché," Draco nodded and proceeded to opening the next gift handed to him. This time it was from the twins, and he was more than apprehensive to open it up just in case something explode in his face.

"Don't worry, Malfoy, we promise you it won't singe your eyebrows--or your hairline," assured Fred.

"Yeah. We already had that fun with Mum's gift to ya," chuckled George.

Draco then carefully unwrapped the twins' joint gift and raised an eyebrow when he saw that it was another book. Man, these Weasley boys sure love to read a lot, he thought and turned it around to look at the cover. Draco's breath got caught in his throat when he saw a picture of a young Ginny on the cover smiling up at him, then on the far background he saw the twins waving their fisted hands at him and boring a look of pure outrage. He read the title and burst out laughing.

"Rules on Dating My Little Sister by Fred and George Weasley," he read out loud, he lifted his gaze and met the grinning twins' eyes, "Like I'll be needing this," he snorted.

"Oh, that's just in case you decide to ask my sister out," Fred said calmly.

"Yeah, right," Draco shook his head and set the gift aside. He grabbed the next one on the pile and read the tag on whose it from. It was from Ron. He felt the gift first through the wrapping and nearly let out an exasperated sigh when he figured it was yet another book. Looking at the youngest Weasley son, he arched an eyebrow and said, "You guys sure love to read, don't ya?"

Ron was grinning like the Cheshire cat as he urged Draco to unwrap his gift, which he eventually did. He was right, of course. It was another book.

"Break Her Heart and You Wish You Weren't Born by Miz Lovelorn," he read the title and the author of the book. He raised an eyebrow and gave Ron a comical look, "Oh puh-lease, Weasley! It's not like I'm going to break Ginny's heart!"

"That's just a warning, Malfoy, just in case you decided to pursue my sister and do a wild number on her--like the wild numbers you did on your numerous ex-girlfriends," Ron reminded.

"Yeah, yeah, what-ever, Weasley," Draco set the book aside and picked up the next one on the pile. It was from Harry. Based on the shape of the gift he could just assume it was yet another book warning him of the consequences he would face if ever he decided to date Ginny. "If this is another book, Potter, I swear I'll scream!" he admitted, his gray eyes turning into tiny slits as he glared at Harry.

Harry merely chuckled and told him to open it. He didn't say if it was a book or not, he just let Draco find out from himself.

"Holy crap!" Draco exclaimed when he extracted a unique looking frame. It was a half lion, half snake picture frame, both the animals' facing each other and in it was a picture of him and Ginny playing Quidditch a month ago. He looked up and frowned at Harry, "How'd you get his picture?" he asked curiously.

"Simple. I asked Colin to snap a picture of you and Ginny--separately of course--but then he hit a jackpot and snapped a picture of the two of you playing Quidditch," he explained with a big grin plastered on his face.

"What?" the entire Weasley boys were surprised and Percy, who was near Draco, snatched the frame and looked at the picture of a laughing Ginny circling around Malfoy while perched on their broomsticks. She was throwing the quaffle up in the air as she circled him.

"Who won the game?" he asked after Bill snatched the picture frame from him.

"Who else?" Draco was almost embarrassed to reply.

"Ginny kicked your arse?!" Ron was incredulous then he burst out laughing, "Malfoy's arse got kicked by a girl!" he screamed and burst out laughing.

Ginny rolled her eyes and reached over Harry and Hermione to smack Ron to shut him up. "Stop laughing, Ron. It's not like you can do any better if you and Janelle go head-to-head in Quidditch," she smirked.

Next on the list was Hermione's gift. Draco knew without bothering to open it that it was another book, but unlike this others, this was less thicker and more wider. He quickly unwrapped it and guffawed as he read the title out loud, "The Amazing Bouncing Ferret Boy by Mione Ranger," and on the front cover was a picture of a ferret bouncing down a flight of stairs similar to that of the Hogwarts staircases.

Ginny snatched the book from Draco and read and re-read the author's name before it finally clicked in. She raised a pair of smiling brown eyes and squealed in delight.

"Mione, you got your first children's book published!" she jumped at her friend and gave her a hug, "Congratulations!"

Hermione laughed and hugged Ginny back, "Thanks. And Malfoy got first dibs on the first printed copy," she looked away from Ginny and met Draco's gaze, "I even signed it for you so they will know it's an original copy."

Draco opened the book and there it was, on the very first page signed using gold, sparkling ink, was a note to him. Treat her well, Ferret Boy, or you'll have to answer to me.

"Thanks, Granger," he muttered and closed the book.

Janelle's gift to him was a gray robe made with pure silk and an overlapping G and D embroidered on the upper left side. It looked very expensive and he liked the material. Twyla's gift was yet another book, but unlike the ones he received from the other three Weasley brothers, Twyla's gift was more along the lines of what Percy gave him. The book was called 200 Ways on Wooing the Girl of Your Dreams.

"Like she needs some wooing," Draco chuckled and looked up to give Twyla a wink, "I think this ought to be given to Percy, don't you think so?" he teased.

Twyla turned a bright shade of red and glared at her teacher. Draco laughed and thanked her for the gift. God knows he will have enough book to read when he was bored out of his mind at Hogwarts.

Ginny was the last one to present him her gift. It was wrapped in silver and gold sparkly wrapper with a red ribbon tied around it. It was a big box so Draco knew instantly it wasn't a book or a picture frame. She carefully handled her gift to him as she passed it over.

"It's the best I could find," she admitted as she watched with great anticipation as he slowly unwrapped his last present.

Everyone held their breaths when Draco tore the wrapper away and revealed crystal dragon figurine encased in a glass case. It was the most beautiful piece of figurine he has seen.

Draco was speechless. He lifted his gaze from the crystal figurine slowly and met Ginny's from across the room.

"Thanks, Ginger."

Ginny returned his smile, love seen through her eyes. "You're welcome, Blondie."

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A/N: phew! this is a very damn long chapter! but I hope you guys liked it. as for the gifts, well I'd like to thank Blu Misterie, tigereyes320, moo, Jade Stellar, MelissaAdams, hasapi, and Cassandra Sisenta or Krey-Zey for all their wonderful ideas that I managed to use in this chappie. thank you guys!

A/N2: okay, normally I would respond to my lovely reviewers one by one, but seeing as this is a very long chapter and I'm not really feeling that well (I think I woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning), I'll just answer all the questions at one shot here and thank you all for reviewing.

A/N3: okay, I'll be posting the questions asked in italics and beside it in bold are my response, aight? sorry guys, can't reply to you one by one, but I'm going to answer all your questions (or even commetns) as best as I can...

Who made the stairs creak? can't you guys guess? hehehehe :::wink, wink::: there's a certain someone sporting a turtleneck sweater...

They heard the sound from upstairs. So. is it possible that someone had the same snogging ideas (H/Hr - in which case they would know something fishy is going on). Or that he/she came downstairs, saw them, then went up and then made the sound?? well to answer this question...hmm...I think I'll have to explain HOW it creaked, but you can already guess WHO made it creak, right???

Ginny gets him in the end right.? what do you think? hehehe, of course she's going to get him...and she's going to get him good!!! bwahahahahaha

Poor Draco, thinking he isn't good enough for Ginny. Dumb boy.they are gonna get together permanently, aren't they?? AREN'T THEY? he IS good enough for Ginny, but sometimes you know how some people think...and of course they're going to get together! (this is kinda like the same as the above question, hehehehe)

why do all the guys ALWAYS think they are not worthy enough? i mean why dont they ask us if we think they are worthy? let us decide instead of going ahead and 'try to find someone worthy' god i hate it when guys do that! draco's gonna do that isn't her? huh? some people jump into conclusions (like our Draco here), but sometimes the conclusions they jump in to aren't the right ones. as for the last question...well, we'll just have to wait and see what Draco actually do

i think u sorta have draco's character wrong.he's suppose to be the "bad boy" and ginny is suppose to be the "good girl". Draco is STILL a bad boy, but around Ginny he's all putty *lol*

and out of curiousity, where did you get the name Twyla? I got this name from my cousin's classmate-slash-housemate and liked it instantly. and when I was thinking of names for Ginny's friends that name just came to me and it got stuck