Chapter 16- I Can't Accept This
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Yay it is Christmas…in my story anyway! I have got back on schedule with the usual chapter a week so I hope my little lapse has been forgiven. It's my birthday on the 29th (Happy Birthday to me) so next weekend might be a bit busy and the chapter may not be posted, I'll see how I go. Anyway this chapter is pretty boring in my opinion, see what you think.
Disclaimer: I do not own any of it apart from the bad bits which are from my slightly strange imagination.
'-'=thoughts
Don't forget if you want to be emailed when I put my next chapter up just send me an email or leave you address in your review (and reviews are very good!)
***
"Wake up! Wake up! Come on Harry, Ron, it's Christmas!" Hermione's excited voice woke both the boys up with a jerk.
"mmmmumfpgh." Ron mumbled turning away from Hermione and pulling the covers over his head. Harry sat up, reaching for his glasses and grinning when he saw the large pile of presents under the Christmas tree.
"Come on Ron." He said matching Hermione's voice for excitement. "There are tonnes of presents."
"Mmm…presents?!" Ron shot up and rubbed his hands together in glee. "Oh goody! Let me at them!"
They all laughed and settled around the tree handing the presents to one another.
"Harry, Merry Christmas." Hermione handed him a small package and when he unwrapped it he found a small blue, round stone.
"What is it?" he asked curiously turning it round and round in his fingers enjoying the smoothness and the way it fit perfectly into his palm.
"The stone is just one I found in a shop which I thought was nice but I have put a protection charm onto it for you so you…:" but she was cut off by Ron who had turned to face her, his eyes wide.
"Protection spell? But they are really hard to perform; only advanced wizards can do them."
Hermione looked at him strangely. "How did you know that?" she asked inquisitively
Ron instantly recognised his blunder and turned red "Oh I don't know I probably just picked it up somewhere." He said grasping for an excuse.
Hermione continued to give him a strange look but continued to Harry. "Professor Flitwick helped me a little with it and it is very strong. Always keep it with you."
"I will." Promised Harry giving her a little hug and pocketing the stone, "thankyou." He mouthed to Ron over her shoulder 'Nice one.' Ron shrugged and looked apologetic.
Next Hermione gave her present to Ron, he unwrapped it eagerly. There were two things, a little jacket with a 'P' on the front and a card.
"The jacket is for Piwidgeon." Hermione explained and Ron grinned at her.
"Brilliant!" he said "and when he gets annoying I just have to turn it around so his wings are pinned to his side and it becomes a straight jacket!" Hermione looked horrified at first but then she gave a small smile.
"You'll have to catch him first." She laughed. Ron next turned his attention to the card. The outside had the Chudley Cannon's crest on it and he opened it curiously. A blast of sound hit him and he nearly dropped it in surprise. Inside there was a photo of the 7 men on the team and each one was singing at the top of his voice:
"WE WISH RON A MERRY CHRISTMAS, WE WISH RON A MERRY CHRISTMAS, WE WISH RON A MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR!"
Ron grinned at them as they danced about with tinsel and signs saying 'Merry Christmas Ron'. On the other side of the card were all their autographs with little messages especially to him.
"Wow Hermione." Ron breathed "how did you get them to do this?"
"Ah I have my ways." Hermione said mysteriously not wanting to tell him that she had simply turned up to one of their training sessions in her shortest skirt and batted her eyelashes a few times.
"Well thanks." Said Ron giving her a one armed hug his eyes still focused on the antics of his team.
"Here you go Hermione." Harry gave her his present almost shyly and Hermione opened it to find a small box. Inside it was a silver necklace with a small wand pendant with pink stars shooting out one end. On one side of the wand it said 'Beauty And' and on the other it said 'Brains'. Hermione smiled widely and fastened it around her neck.
"Thankyou so much." She said delightedly "that is so sweet of you." She wrapped her arms tightly around his neck and gave him a soft peck on the cheek. Embarrassed but very pleased Harry pushed her gently away,
"You should see Ron's present." He said pointing to a flat rectangular present that was tucked towards the back. Ron flushed and said:
"It's nothing compared to Harry's."
"Oh don't be daft." Hermione said picking it up "How many times do I have to tell you it is the thought that counts."
Harry and Ron both seemed to find this statement amusing and Hermione soon found out why. Pulling back the wrapping she saw a photo of the three of them in their first year. It was their first meeting on the train and Hermione laughed as her 11 year old self flounced about pretentiously.
"I don't remember there being a photo taken then." she said thoughtfully.
"There wasn't." Ron replied, "This is a phosieve. It is a mixture of a photo and a pensieve. I put all my memories of the three of us together into it and it plays them back." Now Hermione got the joke! The present was so sweet that she could feel tears springing up in her eyes. "Whoah, what's wrong?" asked Ron worriedly.
"It's just…just…so touching that you would do this for me." She sniffed throwing herself on top of him and making him fall backwards. Ron chuckled and patted her back gently before yelling to Harry.
"Get her off me, I can feel my ribs cracking!" Harry grabbed her around the waist and yanked her off Ron and they all fell about laughing. Harry and Ron exchanged their presents last. Ron gave Harry a dragon hide pouch for his wand that Charlie had sent over specially from Romania and Harry gave Ron a Nimbus 2000.
"I would have given you a Firebolt," He explained as Ron looked in astonishment at the broom. "but I knew you were going to have a hard enough time accepting this as it is."
Ron looked as if he was going to object to such a rich present but Harry butted in before he had a chance to say a word. "Don't object because if you don't accept it I'll just keep giving it back and if you destroy it then I'll buy another one and waste my money, alright?" Ron just nodded dumbfounded. Hermione smiled:
"Let's open our other presents after breakfast, I'm starving just let me put all of these in my dormitory and I'll be down in a sec."
***
In her room Hermione put her presents carefully in her trunk and searched for the dress she had bought especially for Christmas day. Finding it she slipped the short red wool dress over her head. It was more revealing then the sort of thing she would usually wear but she wanted to be different on such a special day. She was just about to leave when something caught her eye. On her bed was a small grey box, she approached it cautiously as experience in the wizarding world had taught her to be so when around unidentified packages. When nothing untoward happened she picked it up, there was no tag attached to it so, curiously, she lifted the lid. Peering inside she saw a back velvet cushion and sitting on it was a thin silver anklet with an exquisitely fashioned dragon hanging from it. Hermione gasped softly and lifted it out feeling its coldness and the suppleness of the chain. She admired it silently for a few moments but just as she went to fasten it around her slender ankle she realised who must have sent it and all of a sudden she thrust it back into the box, slamming the lid shut. 'Oh no.' she thought to herself. She was loathe to part with such a stunning piece of jewellery, it made her heart quicken just to see it, but she couldn't keep it. Hermione searched for a piece of parchment and quill and scribbled a quick note and fastened it to the box. Then she leant out of her window and whistled shrilly. This was a trick she had learnt in her fifth year. Her whistle carried over to the owlery and one of the birds would come flying over straight away. When a great brown barn owl appeared she fastened the package to it's leg and watched it fly away, sadly. Just as she closed the window Ron came barrelling into the room and grabbed her hand.
"I thought you said you were starving." He accused pulling her out of the room, "Harry and I are famished waiting for you, we thought you'd gotten lost!"
Hermione's heart lightened and she cheerfully allowed herself to be escorted by the two boys down to breakfast, pushing the little grey box to the back of her mind.
***
"I hate Christmas!" Draco snarled pulling back the curtains around his bed viciously and yanking on his slippers.
"The food's good though." Crabbe commented beginning to drool.
"You're pathetic. That's all you ever think about, slob." Draco snarled glancing disdainfully at his presents. He gave a flick his wand and they all unwrapped displaying the usual amount of shiny, expensive objects. With a cursory glance to see if there was anything there he actually wanted he turned, pushing his way in front of Crabbe and Goyle and marching into the bathroom. Coming out of his dormitory to go down to breakfast he encountered Pansy who pressed herself up against him and tried to give him a kiss. Draco pushed her away slightly harder then he had intended to and she stumbled back.
"Draccy." She whined "I looked through my presents but I couldn't find yours. Are you going to give it to me now?"
"I didn't get you a present." Draco snapped trying to walk past her. But Pansy got in his way and whispered to him.
"The dark lord said I had to stop poisoning Harry and that we are going with your plan, but I don't like it."
"Yes and making the mudblood fall in love with me is a barrel of laughs." Said Draco sarcastically. "You are so selfish, Pansy. I'm doing what I have to so Voldemort will leave me alone, when I have fulfilled my part of the bargain there will be no more rubbish with the golden trio. And I will not work with you on whatever sick and twisted plan he has in store for them, alright?!"
A change suddenly came over Pansy. The pout disappeared and her eyes became as hard as steel, "Do you really think he will let you go? Are you really that stupid Draco? He has you, now and forever just like the rest of us. So don't think you are more superior then me you're just being blind to the fact that you are bound to him and will keep doing dark deeds for him until you die. Always thinking this is the last time, this is the last one but it will never end."
Draco made as if to strike her and the moment ended. Pansy's face went white and she flinched waiting for him to hit her. But he slowly lowered his hand turned back up the ay he had came.
"You're not worth it, none of you are worth it." he growled stomping back up to his room there he saw something that made his temper even worse. Sitting primly on his bed was a small grey box with a little note attached to it, it read:
I can't accept this.
***
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So there we are I hope you didn't find it too bad but if you did I apologise, next chapter will be Draco confronting Hermione and Ron about what he saw…should be fun. Anyway onto my thankyous:
Keresha: Yes, it was a quick update for me! I don't know if it keeps getting better but I do my best =) I will definitely try and keep up the good work but I don't really think I have been doing any good work yet to keep up! I am so glad I earned a review and sometimes I am too lazy as well! Sometimes it is hard to find good D/Hr fics and then sometimes you find little gems check my favourites lists for some really good ones. Yes, sleep is good…thankyou for reviewing!
Dobbie-luvs-sweeties: No need to thank me but you are very welcome anyway. Ha ha well I'm sorry but you'll just have to wait 'it's top secret business of the ministry of Star123 until such time as she wishes to release it' (woah I've been reading GoF way too much!) It doesn't matter how many pouts you give me! Anyway thankyou very much for reviewing and saying my chapter was great!
Mirei nochi: Everything is so right?! Okay thankyou! Thankyou also for saying it is great and you are now on my update list so either you already have the email or it is waiting for you!
Hollie: Thankyou for saying you totally love my story that is so nice of you to say. I have written more as soon as I possibly could as requested by you! Thankyou again and I hoped you enjoyed this chapter!
Glory: it is so fantastic that you love it. I have really no idea how many chapters it will be so I guess as long as it needs to be! Thankyou and I will keep writing.
Aki: Oh I do so love cliffhangers but I didn't mean to drive you insane…sorry about that! I think it is lovely that my story inspired you to be right, though I'm sure you have been right before, maybe the number of times you have been shot with a tranquiliser dart has done something to your memory. I'm sure your friend has given you a compliment before too. I think it is really nice that you two have been best friends for 14 years. My best friend and I have been best buds for 10 years and most people find that pretty incredible. Well done to the both of you. Thankyou for reviewing my story so…ah…interestingly!
Kuri: I have updated fairly soon so you can wake Aki up now! I don't know about it being incredibly well written but it was really nice of you to say it is all the same, and as for Draco being in character snorts hardly! I am trying but he is too nice sigh never mind. Remarkable talent? Okay now how am I going to fit my big head through the door?! Thankyou very much to the both of you (hang on, I'm getting a certain sense of déjà vu, haven't I said this already?!) Never mind I'll just say it again! You guys rock!
Arwen: Hello old friend! I'm glad you liked the bit with Ron and Hermione, I did too. You know I really don't like Harry all that much so I think he should be a back ground character and stop being given all this fame! I'm glad you are still lost for words about Draco but he isn't really anything all that special, but as for the Draco we are going to write…well that is a different matter. He'll blow people away! Thankyou for reviewing and for your offer!
The Great Duckie: You are very special! You review my story so nicely that of course I was going to reply to you. I would be just plain mean if I didn't! Sorry but you are going to have to wait for another chapter to see what Draco is going to do! Thankyou for reviewing!
Slytherin Angel: How can you be the Slytherin Angel and have darling Harry? LOL! Well I think it is nice that you like people out of your own house! I will hurry, ma'am! Thankyou for reviewing.
Dracocrazy: You need to thank me! I'm supposed to thankyou for taking the time to review! I feel for you having to go back to school. I am still at school but I have term holidays in a couple of weeks, yay! It is so nice to think that you want to read the story to the end and it doesn't matter if you don't have the time to review just to know you are still reading it and enjoying it is enough! Thankyou again!
Gaille: Hello! Isn't school work the worst?! I am practically snowed under but I enjoy
this more so…! I'm glad you still love it and you think that it is getting
along pretty well. There is no need to apologise for the short review, that you
took the time to review at all is what's important to me!
Stephanie: Absolutely wonderful? Wow thankyou! I've never had anyone say that
they liked a chapter so much they can't make any comments,
I think that is a fairly high compliment! It is so nice of you to say that I am
doing great, it really means a lot to me! There is no need to apologise for not
reviewing, I hope you enjoyed your vacation. Thankyou
again!
Vixen: There is no need to apologise it is cool that you are back now. I am so jealous you were in the UK, I have to wait until next year 'til I can go there again. Did you have a good time? I'm glad to know that you think the story has come along well. Thankyou for reviewing!
Thankyou to everyone I love reviews they make me think that my story isn't that bad!
Enjoy life everybody!
Jess/star123
