Rain
By: Who Else? Me
Chapter Eighteen:
Christmas Surprises
Dorothy yawned the next morning, stretching her long, pale arms. She smiled and looked out her window as she remembered what the day was. Christmas! She stood up and walked over to the window. All of the ground was powdery white and the snow glistened slightly as the sun began to rise over the horizon. She could see smoke puffing out of the small chimney on Hagrid's hut and it blew dark grey in to the few remaining white clouds.
She walked lightly down the dormitory steps and saw that Harry, Ron, and Hermione were all in the process of opening their presents. Crookshanks and Coal both pawed at the wrapping paper and ribbons suspiciously as the three threw them to the side. The floor was almost completely covered with paper and ornaments and gifts.
"Happy Christmas, Hermione, Ron, Harry," she said, as she proceeded down the stairs.
"Happy Christmas, Dorothy," the others said in chorus.
"Woah! You have a lot of presents," exclaimed Ron picking up one of them and shaking it.
"It's an apology," explained Dorothy, "from my dad. He must have felt bad because he made me stay at Hogwarts for the holidays. He must've felt bad, or something." She game to the bottom of the staircase and looked at a few of her presents. She picked up a large one and red the card. 'Sorry for the inconvenience. Hubert C. Agel.' Dorothy scoffed at the card but opened it. Some new dress robes. All different colors. She set them aside and Ron looked at them.
"They look expensive," he said, picking one up out of the box. Dorothy shrugged and moved onto another. One of those annoyingly stupid Sneak-o-scopes. She set that on tope of her robes and continued to open the rest of her packages.
Book covers. Wand repair kit. Nimbus 20002. Different colored ink. Phoenix feather quills. Make-up?! ("What do I need make-up for?!") Cat care supplies, for Coal. Series of different books such as 'Identifying Magical Creatures', '1001 Useful Charms and Jinxes', 'Divining for the New Generation', and other odd titles. And loads of candy. Each gift seemed small and useless to Dorothy and her anger at her father for making her stay at school.
Just when she though she was finished with her presents she saw one left. A small one, not nearly the size of her hand, rapped in white paper with a little red bow and a pink card atop it. She picked it up and just stared warmly at the way it was wrapped. She pulled the card off and sat against the wall, so no one else could see it, and read: 'Not nearly as beautiful as you. Love, Draco.' She smiled at the little package and removed the bow, gently. She began to remove the delicate white paper and looked at the little red, ring box beneath it. She opened it and looked in awe at the beautiful thing inside. Hermione crawled over and looked in the box. She gasped when she saw the ring. It was a gold band with an intricate design carved all around it and where the design came to meet in the front, there was a diamond with a small ruby on one side and an equally small emerald on the other.
"Wow!" said Hermione, looking at the ring in all its beauty. "Who gave you that?"
"Er—" Dorothy paused and slipped the ring on her finger. "A secret admirer."
After they were all done unwrapping presents, they left for breakfast in the Great Hall. Draco was sitting almost alone at the Slytherin table. When he saw Dorothy walk in he sat up straight and looked at her hands for a sign of his present. There, the ring he'd sent was sparkling on her ring finger...on her left hand. He smiled but made it turn into a trademark smirk so he didn't look suspicious. He too was wearing her gift. Around his neck was what looked like a simple gold chain but when you looked close enough there were words made out in the chain links. 'Always and forever.' He fingered it lightly as he watched Dorothy eat and talk with Potter, Weasley, and Granger. His mind flashed as he remembered his second part of his present. The most difficult part.
When breakfast was finished, Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Dorothy left the Great Hall. Just as they left through the double doors, though, Draco tapped Harry on the shoulder. The Gryffindor boy looked at the Slytherin and stopped.
"What do you want, Malfoy?" Ron asked, coldly.
"I want..." Draco seemed to be having trouble with his words but when he saw Dorothy standing behind Hermione, he swallowed his pride...for her. "I want to talk to Potter."
"What for?" Harry asked, looking dubious.
"I want..." he paused again, "...a truce."
Harry, Ron, and Hermione all stood still, shocked looks upon their faces but Dorothy smiled. Ron seemed to want to laugh at this but held it in.
"A-a truce?" Harry asked, looking even more skeptical than before. "Are you serious, Malfoy?"
"Yes, Harry Potter," the Slytherin managed. "I'm serious! I just don't so something like this as a joke! I'm tired of all of this stupid rivalry!"
"When you say serious," interjected Ron, "you mean..."
"I'm serious, damn it!!" Draco looked annoyed and he clenched his fists. "This is NOT a joke, Weasley!! I'm trying to be nice and you think I'm joking!?"
"Okay, okay," said Harry. "Say I believe you're serious, how do I know I can trust you?"
"You don't you just have to," the Slytherin boy said, and stomped off. Dorothy smiled after him, running her finger over the ring lovingly.
When Harry, Ron, and Hermione had all gone back into the Gryffindor common room, Dorothy said she was going to get something she needed out of the library and hurried off down the stairs. Halfway to the first floor, she ran into the person she was looking for, Draco Malfoy.
"I did it for you," he grumbled, looking a little embarrassed. She smiled and wrapped her arms around him, listening to his heart beat through his shirt.
"Thank you. I'll never forget this Christmas, ever."
A/N: Yes! Yes! I really wanted there to be a chapter in here that had Harry and Draco making a truce. There'll be more on that later in the story. BTW, this is the longest fan fiction I've ever written. Congrats 'Rain!'...but it's far from over! Read on and review please.
WEM