Disclaimer: They're not mine. You knew that.

My Angel is a Dragon, My Devil is a Snake

-Catspook

Chapter 11: A Christmas Interlude

Blaise watched, pleased, as Draco stepped off the train, waved to Millicent, then practically ran to his father, hugging him tightly. Blaise had always felt a twisted sort of sense of gratitude towards his roommate; at the first welcoming feast, Draco had spent half the meal announcing to the general assembly how much he hated muggle-borns. While some students had hidden resentful expressions, many had loudly agreed with him. In this manner, Blaise had been able to learn, not only a lot about the history of prejudice in the magical world, but also that revealing himself to be the bastard son of a muggle prostitute would not be prudent. This had likely saved him a great deal of discomfort.

After seeing how much blood seemed to matter in the serpent's den, Blaise had decided that the best way to avoid trouble would be to blend into the background and give no one reason to probe into his history. This tactic had been reinforced when had come to know the few other muggle-borns in Slytherin, who had bonded together to hide their shared secret. But trying so hard to avoid notice had become quite tiresome over the course of those three and a half years; Blaise knew that he was born to be in the spotlight. Blaise's ambition was to be an international rock star, an ambition that had not changed in the least when he had discovered that he was a wizard.

Even so, Hogwarts had been a Godsend; the education, although it did not directly teach muggle subjects, was infinitely superior to the education he could have gotten in his old neighborhood, one of the poorest, most dangerous in London. And Blaise had been introduced to a whole new world in which he found both inspiration and a potential audience; there was an enormous vacuum in wizarding music that Blaise fully intended to fill.

But Blaise was once again leaving to luxury of Hogwarts for his mum's dilapidated flat. All his wizard friends wondered why he did not stay at Hogwarts for Christmas, and Harry had repeatedly offered to have Blaise over at the house he shared with his godfather, but Blaise was not going to miss singing in Father DiMartino's choir on Christmas Eve for anything. So after kissing Harry goodbye, Blaise walked to the baggage car and hummed the password that made his trunk shrink to the size of a breadbox and shoved it into his satchel. He took the tram as far as necessary, then walked the rest of the way to conserve his meager savings.

Despite the cold and the depressing surroundings, he was joyously humming Christmas carols. Blaise found it difficult to be unhappy for long. He could feel sad, even heartbroken, if the occasion called for it, but it was in Blaise's nature to be amused and entertained by the peculiarities of life.

Blaise jogged up the broken steps of his building, stumbled through the front door, hopped up the side stairs to the third floor, and knocked on the door to the flat. Most people would have probably tried the knob then entered, but Blaise had learned at a young age that there was just know way of telling what he might walk in on; neither his mum not her live-in boyfriend had any qualms about engaging in certain... activities anywhere in the three room flat.

"'O th'ell is it?" Blaise's Mum's boyfriend, Sid, growled form the other side of the door.

"Blaise. I'm comin' in."

"Like *'ell* you are!" Sid, the blood vessels in his face and eyes broken in the classic drunk style, yanked open the door. Blaise immediately noticed a woman who was not his mother naked on the couch, but he kept his attention on Sid; Blaise had quickly learned that Sid could be quite violent. "Yer mum's dead, brat. Don't you come back 'ere!"

Blaise's jaw dropped. "Dead? When? How?"

"How yeh think? Drank 'erself to death. Th'flat's *mine* now. Get outta 'ere, or you'll be seein' yer mum sooner an' yeh think." He slammed to door in Blaise's face. Dead? His mum was dead? Yes, he had told her more than once that her drinking was bound to kill her, but he did not expect it to happen this soon. What was he to do?

Mulling over his problem, Blaise turned to the streets, but he was not traveling in any specific direction. He couldn't go to muggle children services; there'd be questions about where he had been going to school, and whomever's custody he ended up in would find out that he was a wizard; they might even forbid him to return to Hogwarts. And for those reasons, Blaise also could not run to Father DiMartino as he would normally do in a crisis; the priest was bound to alert children's services. Had Blaise been any other boy in this situation, that would have been the right thing, but Father DiMartino did not know Blaise was a wizard, nor could Blaise tell him.

That left the wizarding world. Blaise knew that the house Harry shared with his Godfather was in London, but it was also unplottable, meaning he would never be able to find it on his own. He could go to Dumbledore, but Blaise did not have any wizard money on him for the Knight bus. That left Diagon Alley; surely the ministry could help him? Of course, whether they would was another matter entirely, but there wasn't much choice, was there? Sighing heavily, he made his way back towards the tram.

O~O~O~O~O

After getting off the train, Draco, who loved to be outside, had readily agreed to walk to Diagon Alley with is father and floo home from there. But by the time they arrived at the Leaky Cauldron it was time for dinner, so Lucius suggested that they eat at Draco favorite restaurant. Draco, of course, thought it was a marvelous idea, and they spent a very pleasant meal talking about all manner of things, from quidditch to Lucius' new 'system'.

Draco was at first appalled that his father would stoop to buying a *muggle* device (it reminded him of Arthur Weasley, ugh!). But eventually, Draco came to realize how much the 'system' helped his father, and he decided it was "acceptable". And the more Draco thought about it, the more he had to fight the little part of himself that thought the whole concept was fascinating and wanted to run home and fiddle with his father's new toy.

By the time they finished dinner, the weather had turned bad, and they hurried along the street to the public floo station protected by a shielding charm Lucius had cast over them both of. Draco jumped as he heard a door slam, and a loud, "Dammit!" shouted in a familiar voice.

"Blaise?"

"What? Oh, hullo, Draco, Mr. Malfoy." Blaise's normally irrepressibly cheerful voice seemed dull and flat to Draco, and were those tears in his eyes?

"Is something the matter?"

"N- wait. I hate to ask, but I don't suppose you have any floo powder I can borrow? I can pay you back after the holidays."

Draco narrowed his eyes. "What do you need floo powder for? I thought your mother was a muggle?"

"She is- was," Blaise grimaced, as if he had revealed more than he meant to. "I'm afraid I'm in a bit of trouble, and I need to get to Hogsmede."

"Did something happen to your mother, boy?" Lucius asked, surprised to find himself concerned for his son's muggle-born roommate.

"Ah," Blaise paused, clearly considering how much to reveal about his situation, "I'm afraid so. I need to contact Professor Dumbledore about it."

"He won't help you," Lucius replied darkly, "He cares very little for the members of Slytherin house."

Blaise frowned, "There's a certain amount of bias there, yes, but he's improved this year. Besides, there's no one else I can speak to about this."

"What about Professor Snape?" Draco suggested, "He can help."

"Yes, I suppose he could. In either case, it's back to Hogwarts for me," Blaise smiled, though his smile rang false.

Lucius never would have believed it a year ago, but he felt a twinge of concern for the boy. It didn't take a Ravenclaw to deduce that he was in a great deal of trouble, and likely had been orphaned. Impulsively, Lucius declared, "You're coming back to the Manor with us."

"What?" Blaise squawked, wide-eyed; Draco seemed equally surprised.

"At this hour, it would be dangerous for you to walk from Hogsmede to Hogwarts alone, even if the weather were cooperating. If it is as severe up north, you could freeze before reaching the castle gates. From the Manor we can contact Professor Snape and you can floo to Hogwarts directly."

"I…"

"Do not argue. Despite what some may think, I'm not going to leave a boy to die in the streets alone."

"We're not going to hurt you," Draco snapped, apparently interpreting Blaise's reluctance as fear. "We're not Death Eaters."

"Of course not. Thank you," Blaise replied sincerely.

"Come along, then," Lucius prodded, gesturing for the boys to proceed to the floo station.

Even if Lucius had not already known Blaise was muggle-born, he would have easily deduced it from his inexperience with floo powder. Blaise spoke the instructions clearly enough, but when Lucius arrived in the Manor's fireplace, the boy was gripping the mantle looking quite green. Draco was smirking faintly, though he rubbed his roommate's back to quell the boy's motion sickness.

"Sorry," he gasped, "Not sure I'll ever get used to that. Just give me a minute and I'll be able to call Hogwarts and get out of your hair."

Draco's eyes widened and he raised a hand to his usually immaculate hair. "My hair?"

Blaise nearly laughed, "Muggle expression, sorry. I mean that I will be out of your way soon."

"Oh," Draco replied, looking somewhat perturbed. Lucius fought a smirk; as much as he did not like to see anyone upset his son, he did believe that Draco did worry a bit too much about his hair. He had always liked to play with hair as a baby and even a toddler; Narcissa had never appreciated that fact.

c~c~c~c~c

"You will look so pretty in this, little Draco, just like a diamond prince," Narcissa cooed, holding up a set of expensive, silver dress robes tailored to fit the small thirteen-month-old. Lucius watched from the doorway, immeasurably happy to see his wife taking an interest in their child at last.

But Draco was less than thrilled. "No!"

"What do you mean 'no'?" she sounded genuinely bewildered. "Don't you want to look pretty like Mummy?"

"Mummy!" Draco happily declared, tugging on one of the stylish blond tendrils that hung to the side of Narcissa's heavily made up face.

"Don't you touch that!" she screeched. "Bad boy! Very bad boy!"

"Narcissa!" Lucius had snapped. "Leave us! I'll dress him."

c~c~c~c~c

Lucius shook his head, wondering once again how he could ever had married that woman. Draco was really quite lucky that he had inherited little more than the hair obsession from her. Lucius was shaken out of his thoughts when he heard a long whistle. "Nice ballroom. You could hold a rock concert in here."

"Rocks give concerts?" Draco asked without thinking.

Blaise laughed. "No. Rock, short for rock and roll, is a kind of muggle music. What I play at dinner is often rock."

"Oh. That's a silly name."

"It is, a bit, now that I think about it. I think I've recovered now if, ah, you could show me…"

"You have never made a fire call before, have you, boy?"

"Ah. No," Blaise flushed faintly.

Lucius smiled, "Worry not. Kneel next to me and place your head in the fire when I tell you." Blaise nodded and kneeled, while Draco looked on with interest.

"Hogwarts!," Lucius declared, tossing another handful of powder into the fireplace. Dumbledore's ancient head quickly appeared in the flames.

"Ah, Lucius, what a nice surprise!"

Lucius frowned at him, "I must speak with Severus. One of his students has a situation that needs to be addressed."

"Draco?"

"No, not Draco. Blaise Valini."

"Ah, Blaise! Surely I can help, as Headmaster?"

Lucius scowled further, but before he could offer a scathing reply, he felt a light touch on his arm. "It's all right, Mr. Malfoy," Blaise said softly.

Growling slightly, Lucius capitulated. "Very well, but I will be observing." Dumbledore smiled.

"What is the matter, Blaise?"

Blaise shifted slightly, "I... uh... have a domestic situation that's rather... out of hand. I'm afraid I'm going to have to spend the Christmas holidays at Hogwarts, and after that… I'm not quite sure." Dumbledore actually look concerned.

"By all means, my boy, I'll open the floo so you may travel through. Shall I expect you as well, Lucius?" Lucius glanced at Draco then Valini. He felt something of an obligation to the boy now, but as always Draco had to come first.

"It's all right," Blaise said again, smiling shyly, "I can handle this, but thank you, Mr. Malfoy, and you too, Draco."

"I'll see you at school, Blaise," Draco responded uncertainly, sharing a glance with Lucius; Lucius realized his boy wasn't used to being sincerely thanked. Neither of them were, really.

"Very well," Lucius said, "Though you can expect my intervention should something go awry."

Dumbledore smiled and nodded. Blaise shared another shy smile, "Goodbye then. Happy Christmas!" And he was gone.

Lucius stood and turned to Draco. Neither spoke for a moment, then Lucius place a hand on Draco shoulder and said, "You're looking rather pale, son, you must be tired."

Draco rolled his eyes.

O~O~O~O~O

c~c~c~c~c

Six-year-old Lucius did not get a wink of sleep the day before his father's Yule party. But unlike other little boys at Christmas time, his sleeplessness was not due to joy or excitement; it was due to terror. Every year at the party, Abraxas would become intoxicated, and after all the guests had gone home, he would come to Lucius' room and... Lucius could feel himself trembling when a shadow fell across the bottom of the door, his father had decided to start the celebrating a day early this year...

c~c~c~c~c

Lucius awoke with a start. Nightmares like that one, while they no longer came every night, served to remind Lucius how ill he really was. If his son could not serve to cure him, no muggle toy, no matter how distracting, could truly do so either.

Lucius ordered the end to the cooling charm on the stuffed dragon and stretched out under the tousled covers. Lucius had always hated Yule as a child, but he had loved it ever since Draco was born. Draco loved getting gifts, and was always pleased with his father on Yule. Last year's separation had been difficult on both of them, but there would have been a lot of questions if Draco had not gone to the Yule ball; it was a Hogwarts tradition.

Draco had never said as much, but Lucius suspected that he had had a dreadful time. Pansy Parkinson could be a horrible nuisance, and Lucius found himself worrying that Crouch had 'celebrated' Yule the same way Abraxas had. Lucius vowed to make this year's Yule extra special.

"Wake up, precious," Lucius said softly, shaking Draco gently. The boy just mumbled and turned over. Lucius grinned; he did not really want to wake Draco but he had plans for the day. "It's Yule, son. Don't you want your presents?"

Draco sat bolt upright. "Presents?"

Lucius grinned. "Yes. I'll be waiting in the fifth floor sitting room in fifteen minutes." Lucius left, giving time for Draco to dress and tend to his hair.

Lucius walked to the sitting room quickly, wanting to make sure everything was perfect. He had chosen to put the 'present' tree in the fifth floor study because of the view the huge windows afforded of the snow-covered lands below. They had other trees of course, in the ballroom and small ones in all the 'public' rooms of the Manor in case Draco decided to invite any friends over. Narcissa would usually throw an extravagant Yule party, but she was gone and Lucius wanted to devote this entire day to just the two of them.

The mound of Draco's presents under the tree was considerable. Some may have said that the abundance of gifts was meaningless and materialistic, but Lucius had taken great care in selecting them; he knew Draco would appreciate it.

Draco ran into the room ten minutes after Lucius had left him, holding a small box wrapped in silver paper. "Merry Yule, Father," he grinned, pushing the box into Lucius' hands. "Aren't you going to open it?"

Lucius smiled, "After you're done with yours. I'll enjoy savoring the anticipation."

Draco looked at him like he had lost his mind. "You're sure?"

"Yes. Go on, these are all for you."

Draco hesitated only a moment more. He tore into the packages with as much exuberance as a five-year-old. "Father, thank you!... How did you know I wanted one of these!... Oh, look at what Millicent gave me!... A firebolt! Father, I love you!..." Lucius felt infinitely happy watching Draco having such a wonderful time. It was only after he had gone through the entire pile that Draco's enthusiasm waned a bit. "You didn't get any presents, Father."

Lucius grinned, "I have the only one that matters."

"Right! Open it now!"

"All right, all right..." Lucius took great care not to rip the paper; he was teasing Draco by taking so long and they both knew it. Finally, he placed the paper next to his chair and opened the box. He pulled out a stunningly beautiful pocket watch. "Thank you, my dragon."

"Open it," Draco urged.

Of course, Lucius complied. "Oh, precious..." imprinted on the inside of the watch's cover was a magical etching of the two of them. They were hugging each other and waving to him.

"I love you, son."

Draco climbed to his feet and hugged Lucius. "I love you too. Merry Yule, Father."

O~O~O~O~O

That evening, they enjoyed an extravagant feast in the dining room. Lucius was cheered by a feeling of wonderful decadence by looking down the long table filled with food knowing it was intended only for him and the one person he cared about in the world. And they had the most magnificent time. They talked about everything, spending hours just enjoying each other's company. For Lucius, it was as if the outside world did not exist. He and Draco had erected an invisible wall around themselves that even Abraxas could not penetrate.

But they both jumped when a Hogwarts owl swooped into the dining room, dropping a package and a card in front of Lucius' plate then flying away. Cautiously, Lucius lifted the card and read the envelope. How odd, it was from Blaise Valini. Lucius opened the green muggle envelope that was sealed with silver wax. The card was also muggle, bearing an unmoving picture of a holly wreath with red berries and silver and gold accents. Inside it bore a simple "Merry Christmas", but when Lucius opened it, a separate letter fell out. Handing the card to Draco, Lucius unfolded the parchment.

Dear Draco and Mr. Malfoy,

Thank you again for taking care of me. I feel flattered to have been included in the select group of individuals who can say that literally owe their lives to the Malfoys. And your house really is impressive, but of course you knew that.

I don't know how you celebrate the holidays; my guess is that it involves a lot of presents. So here's one from me to you. I hope you like it; it's hard to shop for people who not only have everything, but also all the places where it's sold. So Happy Christmas, Merry Yule, Happy New Year, Merry Solstice, and for good measure, Happy Hanukkah too. I trust I'll see you at the beginning of next term.

~Blaise Valini~

Ps: I'm staying at Hogwarts in case you want to send a reply.

Lucius read the letter aloud to Draco. He smiled, "Let's open it!"

Lucius grinned indulgently and tore off the simple green paper. Inside the box were two smaller boxes, both covered in embroidered cloth decorated with glittering dragons and flowers. Lucius let Draco pick one (the green) and kept the other (black) for himself. They opened the boxes together, confused at what they found. Each box contained a pair of enameled balls.

Draco took one out curiously, examining it. "Do you suppose they're gobstones?"

"No, these are definitely muggle." And if Lucius' 'system' had taught him anything, it was that whenever you did not understand anything muggle, read the instructions. "According to this, these are 'health balls'. We are supposed to handle them like this," and he rolled the balls over each other in one hand.

"Oh, they ring!" Draco shook the ball he was holding vigorously, and a clear but low ringing sound emanated from it. "Cool. What are they supposed to do?"

"'Restore harmony and bring about a calmness of spirit," Lucius read off the directions.

"We could both probably use that," Draco replied, shaking the ball once more to produce the ringing.

Lucius' smile was bittersweet. "Yes, precious, we could."

* End Chapter 11 *