The nightmare before Christmas

Disclaimer: I'm REALLY not the owner.

Authors note: I'm so pathetically slow at these :S I had a reason this time! The computer's been down for weeks, seeing a friend of mine moved into the computer room, so I really haven't been able to get NEAR it! But here it is folks, and were getting toward the end too! Hold on… I might even get the next chapter done… SOON!

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Avoiding them was impossible, and Ron was a nervous wreck.  

He'd dodged Aunts, second cousins; Nieces, nephews twelve times removed all morning, and was exhausted by it. Loud noises made him jump and every eye seemed to be on him


The Malfoy family was beyond creepy. It was beyond vile. Ron felt physically sick as his stomach performed triple somersaults every time a cold eyed relative glanced in his direction.

They seemed to all be off the same block of ice. There was no telling who was related on what side, Narcissa or Lucius. They all seemed to be the same… Ron amused himself for a second with the thought of them all being inbreeders.

However, his momentary amusement fast fell away as a tall, very annoyed looking girl strode over.
Draco was clearly, aside a toddler and two infants, the youngest relative, and quite luckily, had been overlooked mostly by his peers. Late teenagers and young adults desperately fought for attention among their nebulously debonair elders, and had not time for the likes of him

This girl must've been in her late teens, and rather obviously was a Malfoy from her pale grey eyes and silver blonde hair. She carried herself as if she was the queen of the world, and her eyes had a cruel arrogance to them. Ron began to tremble to his boots. He didn't even know her name…

"Draco." She greeted in a snippy tone that matched her expression. "I hear you go to Hogwarts now…" It was, aside from the harsh edge, the tone of casual conversation. He relaxed slightly. He could bluff his way through this… with luck.

"Yeah, a few years now. A little out of touch, are you?" He hoped Draco's cold, casual insults were a family thing…

She didn't seem phased. "Hmmm, I expected you to go to Durmstrang, you Da being in with the headmaster and all…" She leant against the mantle, watching him with a calculating look. There was something strange about her voice, a curiosity beyond the casual, like there was something about him that puzzled her
Ron luckily remembered a conversation he'd overheard Draco having with his cronies on that very subject. And of course his relating conversation about shoving him off glaciers. He smirked in remembrance. "No, my mother didn't want me far away from home, and father was already a school governor…"
"MY father would never send ME to a school run by a muggle lover." She said, a slight light coming to her eyes. In a leap of intuition, he figured that this irritable looking relative and Draco often argued about their fathers. That was what this seemed to be leading to anyway. He screwed himself up, running over everything the little slime ball Draco did when you had a go at his Dad, and tried to imitate it.

"My father has more faith in me then to think the teachings of a muggle loving wizard in his dotage would have any effect on me!" There. Take that. But to his chagrin, she grinned even more

"Your father takes leaps of faith… You're young and impressionable…"
"How DARE you suggest that I would dishonor my family! The great Salazar Slytherin knew what he was talking about, and I happen to be in his house where the old ways are NOT forgotten! And the dark lord himself studied there…."

"But not under Albus Dumbledore, of whom the dark lord is AFEARED of! And definitely not in the same year as his downfall… Harry Potter"

Ron screwed up his face trying to make the look of total contempt Draco got any time anyone mentioned Harry's name.
"Potter!" He spat "It's always about Potter! Well neither I, nor my friends go down on bended knee to that little…."

"Draco…" It was the first time (and last, he figured) he'd been glad to hear Lucius Malfoy's cold voice. This argument was straining, seeing he didn't believe a word of it, and he knew nothing of this relative and no one won an argument from the defensive. "Lunch is being prepared. Would you escort your second cousin to the sunroom?" It wasn't much of a question, but then again, Mr. Malfoy only seemed to know how to make demands.

"Yes father." He said. At least he knew the girl's relation to him.
"Uncle." The girl greeted, although she had hinted she though Lucius sub standard, her manner was all high respect.
"Ramona." He greeted in return "Your father informed me you've graduated from Kinkentleigh. Congratulations." He said it in an almost amused way. Ramona grimaced theatrically.
"A bit late… but my father's always distracted. Thank you, Uncle."
"if we'd have known we would have sent you a graduating gift…"
Ramona's eyes lit up "You still can uncle…" She said cheekily. Lucius smiled thinly.
"Ah yes, nothing like Knockturn alley in Canada, is there? Perhaps, if your father decides to stay a few days, we may take you shopping to choose yourself something."
She beamed dazzlingly, and Ron noted, without her usual sneer, she was quite pretty. He quickly turned that thought away remember that also, in this body, she was his cousin. Albeit second.

"I'll make sure he decides to. Come on Draco, I'm hungry, and your house elf makes stupendous Christmas dinners…"
Lucius' eyes darkened and Ron repressed a smile. Ramona noticed Lucius' look.
"What happened to you elf, uncle? You look as if he were freed or…" His face grew darker "oh… I'll get Draco to tell me…"

Lucius straightened slightly. "Yes…" He sounded distant "just make sure you two don't break too much of the furniture on the way to the sunroom while discussing it." He swept away.
"We won't!" She called after him, before rounding delightedly on Draco "You LOST your house elf? What did you do, forget and hand him your washing?"
He kept an eye on where Lucius was heading, having no idea where the sun room was as he replied.
"No. The horrid little wretch betrayed us and snitched an idea father had in my second year to rid the school of mudbloods and muggle lovers to Harry Potter and Harry tricked us into freeing Dobby."  He rambled still following Lucius. She giggled wickedly.
"So a twelve year old outsmarted your Dad?"
Ron nodded, taking the left turn. "Yeah, we planted the dark lord's school diary which he enchanted to have a memory of him on one of Potter's friends, and she wrote in it all year. It would have been good if the stupid little geek hadn't figured it all out and saved the day, AS usual."
Ramona was watching him with narrowed eyes
"…Then Potter stuffed the diary into his sock and gave it to my father, who just discarded the sock and threatened Potter for his cheek. Dobby caught it and was freed…"  Ah, light ahead, the sunroom…
"Are you alright Draco?" She asked, stopping him by grabbing his shoulder, the looked at her, startled.
"I'm fine. Why?"
"By now we're usually screaming at each other and throwing spells. And you seemed strange when I asked about Hogwarts… Like you thought I didn't know… What's up? It's like, a ongoing joke"

Of course! The family met every year… Obviously at different relations houses. She would have been teasing him about Hogwarts for years…
"I- I just thought I'd take a different approach this year." He said lamely and she looked at him disbelievingly. He continued on.
"You know throw you off…" He managed a laugh, a very weak laugh "And it worked alright! Look at your face! You really believed me!" She pursed her lips and punched him in the shoulder
"little idiot." She said but with slight humour.
Ron didn't have time to reply. He'd just entered the sunroom and his jaw dropped. It was like a dinner from a Christmas card. And the smell reminded him of a present Bill had sent once, wrapped in paper that had all this different Christmas food printed on it, and had given off the mingled scents of each.

There were mountains of pudding and turkey and crackers and pies, of peas of gravy and roast vegetables. The decorations were costly, yet muted, and a warming spell made the room pleasant. Not even the Hogwarts Christmas dinner had been like this. There were exotic things lurking amongst the roast potatoes and trifles. Crayfish and prawns, cheese platters and caviar, strange fruits and desserts that made your mouth water with one look

"Brrr… it's chilly in here" Ramona said, rubbing her arms. "You think you could have used a better warming spell."
"it'll warm up with the people." He said, not feeling any cold at all. Then he remembered his sable cloak. "You can have my cloak if you're chilly."
"She looked at him as if he'd just pronounced he'd renounce his wizarding ways and go live as a hermit in the Amazon.
"no… no thank you." She seemed totally thrown.
He shrugged and wandered around, looking for a free place. There was one at the head of the table. Lucius sat on the very end, with Narcissa on his left and a space on his right. It didn't take any genius to figure out where his place was.
"I'd better join my parents." He excused, leaving the startled second cousin behind.

Till next time folks… Draco chances a much lesser dinner with the Weaslys… O.O