Chapter 7- Christmas at The Burrow
Draco apparated to the same spot in the barren and snow covered garden as he had on his prior visit. This time, though, he had a bit of company. He noted the cat looked like the one Hermione Granger used to hold all the time. For a moment he wondered why she would be here, but remembered that he was now at her fiancé's house. It seemed odd knowing he would be sharing Christmas with the Mudblood.
As if reading his thoughts as he knocked, Hermione answered the door with a slight scowl on his face. He didn't know whether her glare was an improvement from Bill's large figure, or worse. "Ginny, Draco's here," she said simply and refused as Draco put his hand out for her to shake.
Ginny came into the room from the kitchen, with a bowl of popcorn in her hand and a large smile upon her face. "Hi, Draco," she said, coming up and pulling him into the room. "This is Fleur, I'm sure you remember, and Tonks," Ginny introduced. Both women shook his hand as their husbands' scowls matched Hermione's.
A little girl with curly brown hair and royal blue eyes came up to Draco. "Ooooo, who are you?" Katrina said in her toddler dialect.
"My name is Draco," he introduced, offering his hand for a shake. "And who might you be?"
"I'm Kat," she said with great vigor. "Are you An Tinny's new boyfriend?"
Draco looked over at Ginny who was laugh. "No, dear, I don't have a new boyfriend," Ginny told the little girl.
"Are you helping?" Katrina asked, looking up at Draco still. Never had she seen someone with such bright hair.
Draco looked to Ginny again, unsure of what he was helping with. She just lifted up the bowl slightly in gesture, causing Draco to think they were eating it. "Sure, I'll help," he said with a small smile while being lead to the couch. He became very bewildered as Ginny took a needle with string attached and started to put the popcorn on the thin white thread. "What?"
"Stringing popcorn," Ginny said. Draco just looked confused. "It's a Muggle Christmas decoration we always make."
Draco almost made a snide comment about Muggle things, but bit it back, not wanting to make himself even more so of an enemy to everyone, especially Ginny. "So you just sew it? Sort of?"
"Yes, sort of," Ginny said with a small laugh. Katrina quickly jumped in, showing him the precise method in which he should use in stringing the popcorn after sitting on Draco's lap. Draco noticed that Charlie was keeping a very close eye on him, perhaps closer than he had the night he had picked Ginny up for their date.
"Dat's too far," Katrina corrected, making sure the needle went through the center of the popcorn.
"Honestly, Draco, haven't you ever done this?" Ginny teased in a fashion that mimicked her niece.
"No, the house elves always decorated," Draco said. "And we had strings of pearls, not strings of popcorn."
"Really?" Katrina asked, looking wide-eyed at Draco.
"Yes, and silver ornaments with glass details," said Draco in an attempt to embellish on the spectacular decorations they Malfoy mansions used to contain at Christmas, all orchestrated by his mother, "and Mum would yell at me if I'd even try and touch one of the pretty colorful ones that made music."
"Did she yell like Gram?" Katrina asked, thinking this must be something like Molly's rants.
"Worse," Draco told her. He had never heard Molly yell, and might have retracted that statement had he been given a taste of it.
"That's bad," Katrina noted. "Did you ever touch them?"
"No," said Draco. "Because I knew if I did, Santa wouldn't bring me any presents." Katrina looked down at the soon to be decoration in her lap and calculated carefully. "I wouldn't worry about popcorn decorations, though," Draco said. "Santa lets kids do that." This relaxed Katrina as she continued to string the popcorn.
Ginny smiled over at the two, starting on her own string. "Aren't you going to help us Ron?" asked Ginny as she noticed Hermione apparently attempting to calm Ron down over Draco's arrival.
"No, I'll leave it to the kids," Ron retorted. Ginny ignored the comment, though Draco took the implied statement for what it was. Instead of doing anything about it now, however, Draco banked it, like he would bank other statements until they came in as a useful tool.
The different groups returned to their activities until the front door opened. "Look who I had to drag away from his desk," Arthur said happily leading Harry in.
"Dad! Harry!" was heard from many of the occupants as the little kids went to hang themselves off of Arthur's limbs and many others went to greet Harry. Draco turned his attention back to the popcorn when he saw Ginny hug Harry and give him a small kiss on the cheek.
"Draco," Arthur said in a much warmer manner than he had on their previous meeting.
"Mr. Weasley," Draco said.
"How do you like Christmas at The Burrow so far?" Arthur asked as kids ran off to get books for him to read.
"Good, sir," Draco answered vaguely.
"Good, good," Arthur said. He had been under Molly's orders to treat Draco kindly, Malfoy or not. Besides that, though, Arthur enjoyed this holiday too much to let an old rivalry come between him and Christmas.
Ginny sat back down next to Draco. "When are Fred and George going to be here?" Ginny asked.
"They said they were closing the shop late, since people would probably be grabbing some last minute Christmas pranks," Harry explained, sitting on the arm of the couch, putting his arm around Ginny's shoulder as he looked down at Draco.
"Alright," Ginny said with a shrug. "Grab a string and help while Dad reads," she instructed Harry.
Harry did so as Arthur began the first verses to 'The Night before Christmas', exaggerating the words to make the story come alive. Draco even had to admit he enjoyed it, even if it was Muggle. The kids laughed and egged each other on in small tiffs as the story progressed, gasping when Santa entered and finding all the right times to 'oooo' and 'ahhhh'. It seemed rather routine as some of the adults did the same. "Happy Christmas to all and to all a good night!" Arthur said with zealous, in a deep 'Santa' voice.
The kids all stood up and started to cheer as Molly brought him a mug of apple cider. Arthur was taking his glasses off as there were two pops and two new red heads in the room. "Look, George, they knew to cheer for us," Fred mused.
"Jolly good show," Fred said as the four kids turned their attention to the newest arrivals. Each one went up, shaking the twins hands only to get a magical shock through their hands. In turn, they would each laugh and then wait to do it again.
"Fred, George," Molly said. "That can't be good for the children." She gave them a look of disapproval, but the two just smiled at her.
"The kids love it, though, Mum," George mentioned.
"How could we deprive them?" Fred chimed in and then looked over to his twin. "I think Mum needs a hug."
"How right you are," George added.
"Oh no you don't," Molly said, making her way towards the kitchen, but before she could make her get away, Fred and George had her squeezed in a sandwich-like embrace as she squealed to be let go of. "NO PRESENTS! I'LL TAKE THEM ALL BACK!" At this threat, Fred and George let go, still laughing.
The two boys decided to join their younger brother and his fiancée. "What are you two doing over here?"
"Probably something Ron will blush about," Fred answered to George's question.
Ron followed suit and blushed a deep red. "We were not!"
"Ron, calm down," Hermione said. "They're just jealous because they can't get any themselves."
This shut the two up. "That was quite a low blow," Fred said, getting up to provide a drink for himself and George. Bringing back eggnog, he only caught the last bit. "What about Malfoy?" he asked with a slight hint of disgust.
"We were just thinking how odd it is that he has taken a sudden interest in Ginny," provided Ron as he glared daggers into the back of Draco's head. "She doesn't see it either."
"Well, she's grown up now isn't she?"
"Who's grown up?" Harry asked from behind them.
No one answered for a moment. Hermione finally spoke up. "No one, Harry," Hermione said. "Why don't you join us?"
Ron pulled out the chessboard as if on cue after Hermione gave him a firm kick under the table. "Yeah, Harry," Ron whimpered as he set up the board. "You're black."
They started to play, though everyone at the table could see where Harry's attention really was as Ginny started to hang the stringed popcorn with her new blonde haired friend. Hermione noticed how upset Harry was and tried to think of a good distraction. Leaning over to Ron she whispered, "Let him win."
Ron looked incredulous at the suggestion. "Let him what? Have you gone as bloody nutters as Ginny?" he hissed back. "If you want Harry to win, then you play him."
Hermione glared daggers at Ron and he gulped. "I love you," he squeaked out.
"Why?" Harry asked.
It took a moment for anyone to catch on. "We don't know," Ron said. "Ginny's always been really friendly, though. I wouldn't worry about it."
Harry scoffed. "Worried? About Malfoy and Ginny? Right. I just don't get what's gotten into her. She's been so…"
"Dismayed," Hermione said quietly.
"Is that it? Why though? I don't get it," Harry said, his eyes still on Ginny as she laughed at Draco.
"She misses you," Hermione said.
Harry's attention snapped back immediately. "I've been here, though."
"Not really," Hermione said. Ron, Fred, and George were all giving looks of great caution. "You've been here, but not like you used to be. You used to make her laugh like that," Hermione said. "And more so, you used to let her make you laugh."
Harry looked back as Ginny and Draco shared some kind of joke. "Is that eggnog for the kids too?" Harry asked Fred discreetly.
"Do you think I could watch that without some alcohol?" Fred asked, pointing to Draco and Ginny.
"Right, I think I'm feeling slightly parched," Harry said, then got up to get himself a mug of eggnog.
"Is everyone ready to open their gifts?" Molly asked as Arthur got near the tree to hand out the one gift they would open that night. Most of them would be on the foot of the kids' beds but they would receive one treasure on Christmas Eve.
Once everyone had a package, the kids started by opening theirs, then everyone else started opening at the same time. Draco followed this lead and froze as he saw what it was. "They weren't using that at the Ministry," Arthur said, clapping Draco's shoulder. "I thought you might like it."
"I do, thanks," Draco said, looking down at a medallion with a purple ribbon attached. In scripted on the medal was 'Narcissa Malfoy- Assistance to the Ministry in Healing'. Draco had never heard about that one. He continued to stare at the words as Arthur walked away to see how the others liked their gift. Never had such a simple thing invoked so much joy in Draco. As he carefully pocketed the item, Draco started to realize why the Weasleys were so happy, even with so little.
A/N: I was going to go onto the next part, but what a great note to end it on. I don't think Draco's going to change all that much, but I do think this was an important revelation for him. A look into the mind of Draco Malfoy… scarry. Harry's also starting to realize things, though, so they're still one up on each other. It should get interesting.
Please Review… the more you review… the more I think about it :D
Thanks:
Jamiebell: Geez… out of 20 reviews the last 6 were from you… lol I love yell-fests with the Trio. I love the comments Ron makes about not losing too… that parts funny, I think.
Darkangel20108: Thanks for the review… I'll do my best.
Josephine Sawyer: I think we've agreed to disagree, right? Not that I'm not keeping things in mind, but I think we have our own views of how the characters are effected in the long run. Thank you for your detailed reviews. I wish I were more through with yours, but I'm apparently not as experienced.
Paige2310: I do feel bad for Harry to some extent. I think he's confused already, and Ginny up and befriending his worst enemy doesn't help.
Eggo Waffles: I'm still a little indecisive of how this will end up, but read the above comment to know what I think about 'poor Harry'. I hope that everyone enjoys this as much as you seem to: )
Monalex Potter: I might or might not… I'm not telling if I even know that yet. I know some people hate one or the other, but that's just how this fic goes, since I'm trying to make sure not to let it be obvious.
Lady of Masbolle: I'm glad you think that. Please keep reviewing, I really appreciate it.