WELCOME BACK! WOOT! Yes, sugar and caffeine can be mixed with good side effects.
Oh yes.
Goooood side effects
Italics are thoughts. Stuff in parentheses are said or done by other people as someone else is talking.
The Founders
"Happy Christmas!"
"Happy Christmas!"
"Merry Christmas!"
"Merry Christmas?"
Such were the sounds in the hallway outside of Draco's room as he woke up on Christmas morning. Rubbing the sleep from his eyes, he pulled on a bathrobe and opened his bedroom door, just as Blaise was about to knock. "Come on, sleepyhead! We're all meeting downstairs to open presents!" Draco didn't let Blaise pull him down the stairs. Instead he walked slowly, with the grace and dignity befitting a Malfoy.
"Happy Christmas, Draco," Remus greeted him tiredly from the couch. The full moon had been just the previous night, so Remus and Noko were still pretty tired. Sirius sat behind Remus, giving him a back massage.
"Pwesent time?" Noko asked from her seat in Remus' lap. She looked over at Remus, a nervous excitement playing over her tired face. "Can I give dem deir pwesents now?"
Remus nodded. "Go get them." Noko yipped happily and tore out of the room. "Go after her, Siri. She'll drop them if she tries to bring them in herself." Sirius chuckled and slipped out from behind Remus to chase Noko into the kitchens.
The doorbell rang. "I'll get it," Harry said, far too perky for this early in the morning, Draco decided. He returned, moments later, with James by his side, one arm slung around the younger boy's neck in a hug, and the whole Weasley crew behind him.
"Mum! Dad! What are you all doing here?" Ron leapt up to hug his parents and duck away from Fred and George simultaneously. The twins each had one arm wrapped around the other and a bag of candy in their other arm. Ron was not about to be a guinea pig.
"Well, we got a message saying you'd be spending Christmas here and it would be nice to celebrate it as a family. Seeing as how this would be Harry's first Christmas with his dad that he remembers, we decided to haul James along too!" Mrs. Weasley bustled around, giving everyone a hug, even Draco and Blaise. When she pulled away, a thick present was left in their arms or their laps.
Noko walked back in carefully, carrying a large box. She set it down by Draco very gently. "It's fwag . . . uh, fwag . . . um . . ."
"Fragile?"
"Yes, fwag . . . uh, wha you say!"
Sirius came back with a bag of oddly colored tins. He handed them to Noko one at a time, and she made sure everybody got one. "Happy Kissimas an a Mewwy Valentino!" she cried with each gift. "Open dem! But Dayco open his las!"
Harry opened his first, revealing brightly, albeit oddly, colored Christmas cookies. He picked a violet bone up and studied it. "Did you make these, Noko?"
"Yep!" Noko was beaming with pride. "I eben colors de boxies!"
The others opened their tins, revealing the bright cookies. "Every tin was hand-colored by Noko," Remus said, nibbling on one of his cookies. "Noko also helped mix the cookies, cut them out, and decorated them. I helped her with the directions and the oven, nothing more."
"Wow, Noko, great job! These are really good!" Nods and happy sounds from the people munching on their cookies agreed with what Fred had said. Noko was wriggling in her seat, a huge grin threatening to break her face in half.
"Can I open mine now?" Draco asked.
Immediately, Noko was at his side, the grin gone. "Um, yeah, you can open yours, Dayco." She scuffed a paw on the ground nervously.
Inside Draco's box was a tin of cookies and a lopsided cake. Draco lifted it out of the box. It was only about an inch tall and messily frosted with chocolate, but the white frosting words on top rendered him speechless.
HRPPY
B#($*&
DRRRO
On the side, more letters that didn't fit on the top curled around the side. O DRY
"It's apposedta say Happy Birfday Dayco, but I messed up de letters Mooie gaie me, an dey didn' all fit," Noko said apologetically, looking at her hands. "An it's a tree-layer cake too, onie the layers weren't as tall as I tought dey'd be." She looked up at Draco sadly. "I know it looks kinda funny, Daddy Dayco, but I wanned ta make you a birfday cake."
"It's beautiful," Draco whispered. "I've never had a birthday cake before. Thank you."
Ron looked at the cake and frowned. It certainly didn't look like anything special. Noko had obviously butchered it in her attempt to make it. However, something clicked in his mind when he saw Draco's reaction. The blond was tracing the hard white letters with one finger, his grey eyes blinking back what looked suspiciously like tears. In all his years of fighting Draco, Ron had never seen Draco so – emotional. The closest he ever came was that one day in the Chamber, after Ron had given George the only antidote they had. To think, a simple cake could have caused this. He never had a cake before. Suddenly, every little difference in his life and Draco's came rushing back. Simple things, like a hug each morning or a "Good luck dear!" as he flew his broom for the first time, and larger things, like the huge birthday parties where he was solely important for one day, or the knowledge that any of his brothers would be there to help him if he only asked, suddenly seemed important. Every bruise he saw on Draco's face while his father was headmaster, every cold mask put in place for protection, all this stood out to Ron now. Draco never had any love, any positive attention. For the first time in his life, Draco wasn't Malfoy, and he wasn't Ferret. He was Draco, a lost orphan who never really had a family, or anyone, for that matter, to be a good influence.
Ron looked at the present he had for Harry and muttered a quick enchantment to change the name to Draco. "Happy birthday, Draco," he said, handing the package to him. Draco looked at him suspiciously, but opened it to reveal a beautiful antique chess set. Ron smiled as he watched Draco examine the set with awe, tracing the carvings on the board with reverence. This must be his first birthday present.
"Thank you, Ron."
Ron. Not Weasel, not a sneered Gryffindor, but Ron. Ron's grin widened. "No problem. I saw that set and just had to get it, but didn't know who to give it to. You're smart enough to make a good chess player, I'm sure of it."
Later, Ron pulled Harry aside and apologized for the lack of a gift, explaining that he had given it to Draco, and if Harry didn't mind, could he get him a gift later? Harry laughed.
"Ron, I've been trying to get you and Draco to be closer for months! That's gift enough!"
"But I feel really bad! Oh, here, why don't you take Draco's present?" Harry opened the small bag that Ron had originally meant for Draco. It held an assortment of candy. "Be careful of wrapped but unlabeled candy. That stuff's all Weasley Wizards Wheezes that Fred and George gave me."
Harry laughed. "Thanks Ron. Happy Christmas."
Christmas dinner was a smorgasbord of delicious foods. Mrs. Weasley and Remus had outdone themselves, each trying to cook something better than the other. As a result, the huge Malfoy banquet table was groaning under the weight of everything piled on it. Not that anyone minded, of course.
Bill and Charlie had dropped in around noon, expertly sidestepping the twins who were eager to try out their new candies, and greeted everyone else warmly. Now they were seated on either side of Fred and George, a barrier between the pranksters.
After dinner was underway, Draco cleared his throat. "I'd like to give one last present today, if you don't mind." He stood and walked over to Remus with a packet of papers. "After much thought on the subject, I've decided to present you with the deeds to Malfoy Manor." Remus was speechless as Draco handed him the documents. "Under one condition. I want you to make it a refuge house. Anyone who lost their family or home due to the war must be welcomed here. The Weasleys can be the first."
Remus rifled through the papers, noting that they were all in order. "Draco, this house is worth millions! You can't just give it away!"
"I don't want it to be mine," Draco said simply. "I'll live here, but I don't want to keep it. I know that you'll be a good influence on it. Besides, your house is too small for yourself, Sirius, the Potters, the Weasleys, the two younger Votrians, Blaise, Noko, and me."
Remus shook his head. "When I first met you, I thought you were just like your father; a stubborn, obnoxious, annoying prat. I'm thrilled to see I was wrong. No matter what anyone says about you, Draco Malfoy, you have a heart of gold."
"Welcome to the Black Sheep Club!" Sirius cried, throwing his arms open. "Remus is a werewolf, Percy is a busybody, Arthur likes muggles, Charlie likes dragons, ("Nothing wrong with that!" "Yeah, if you're talking to Hagrid!") Bill looks too punkish for his mum's taste, Fred and George are serious pranksters, Ron's straight, (Ron blushed) Hermione's a goody-goody who breaks the rules, Lucan's a calm Slytherin, Seneca's a smart American, ("Hey!") Molly's a mum, Lily's dead, no offense meant, ("None taken") James is an ex-Marauder-turned-headmaster, Harry's the Boy-Who-Lived, Noko's a wolf-child, Blaise is just weird, (There was general laughter at that) Ginny's a female Weasley child, and then there's me, who's normal, but who hangs out with all of you!"
Remus kicked Sirius under the table. James flung an olive at him. Noko dumped a bowl of mashed potatoes in Ron's lap and a food fight began.
When all was said and done, everyone agreed on one thing.
There had never been a better Christmas.
Do you have any idea how hard it is to write Christmas when it's not Christmas? It's hard.
The food fight just popped in.
Does anyone read this? If so, when you review, just say YES somewhere in all capital letters.
DUMBLEDORE
Caribbean – No Votes
Ants – 3 Votes
Amusement Park – 1 Vote
I hope you all liked your birthday presents!
This is getting harder to write, actually. To Do It Again, the sequel, is starting to take shape in my mind, which means I'll be thinking about that, and not this, and everything's going to get mixed together. . .
Oh, wait, one last present! A teaser for To Do It Again!
This is subject to change, but probably won't.
She hadn't thought she would ever miss his Weasley red hair, but she did. Weasley red was not merely the color of Ron's hair. It was a symbol of freedom. Freedom to be yourself. Freedom to be normal. Freedom to walk through the streets without fear.
Ron's hair was black.
They were not free.
~Crawler