Chapter 8- Nooses and Necklaces

Harry woke up early Christmas morning. There was no way he was going to mess things up this morning. He had to see Ginny right away, before Draco could. Harry hadn't been able to sleep all night, wondering what was going on between Ginny and Draco. As much as he laughed over the idea of the two dating, Harry couldn't imagine any other motive for Draco, and no matter how much he trusted Ginny not to do something that he considered to be completely inconceivable, the fear of losing Ginny overloaded his mind.

Carefully he crept through the hallway until he came into the room where Ginny was supposed to be sleeping on a cot. The only occupants, however, were Hermione and Ron (who had snuck in sometime during the night). Harry closed the door and sighed in frustration. Where could she have gone? An idea ran through his head. In urgent silence Harry made his way down the stairs to see Draco sitting on the couch reading the latest edition of Quidditch Monthly. "Where is Ginny?" Harry demanded.

"Maybe Santa took her away to help him deliver toys," said Draco as he flipped the page.

Harry strode over to the couch and ripped the magazine from Draco's hands. "I asked where is she?"

"Calm yourself, Potter, or you might just find yourself on the Naughty list," Draco said. "And Santa might have something special for you; something with red hair and a nice smile... or perhaps he's decided to give that to someone who's more worthy of it."

Harry took Draco by the front of his Pajamas, his face going pink with fury as he almost lifted Draco off his feet. Draco in turn put his hands on Harry's shoulders and tried to push away, though Harry didn't allow for it to happen. "What is going on in here?" Molly's voice came from the entrance of the kitchen, Ginny standing behind her with a look of shock. Harry let go of Draco.

"Where were you Ginny?" Harry asked ignoring Mrs. Weasley's question.

"Helping Mum in the kitchen, like I always have on Christmas morning," Ginny said. Harry felt about an inch tall as she pointed out this obvious fact. Draco continued to smirk at him, however, which was only serving as a further provocation for Harry.

"What's so funny, Malfoy?" Harry asked without thought that the two women were still watching.

As an immediate reaction, Draco pushed Harry back into the tree which shook on its already tipsy base causing Mrs. Weasley to gasp and pull out her wand to keep it from falling. "Boys!" she said loudly. Both of them turned their heads to see a very angry Molly striding towards them.

Though Molly was always much shorter than even her own boys, she showed expert skills in maintaining a situation. In this particular scenario, Molly reached up with both arms, taking Draco's right ear in one hand and Harry's left with the other. Both boys were contained as she pulled them into a room that Draco hadn't even noticed the entrance to before. As they were drug along, Harry caught a glimpse of the horrified look Ginny held for the two grown men.

Molly wasted no time in sitting them down in two of three chairs in the small room, though it could hardly be called a room at all. It had a small wooden table in the middle and only a small window that let in minimal light. "Wands," Molly said.

"What?" Draco asked as Harry willingly handed his wand over to Molly.

"Wands, Draco. I will not have outbursts like this in my home and you two will stay in here until you come to an agreement to behave like gentlemen on this Christmas," she said firmly. "And until you do, I will keep possession of your wand."

As much as Draco wanted to argue, he refrained, knowing Molly was the only descent one besides Ginny. In fact, part of him almost felt guilty for upsetting the woman who had been so kind, yet blaming Potter was much easier. Still, Draco handed his wand over, only satisfied in doing so because Harry didn't have his wand either. "Now you two boys think about what you have done, and you're not to come out until you've apologized to one another."

With that Molly left. Draco sat for a minute until he felt his time had been spent there long enough. He went for the door and pushed, but nothing happened. "The room knows when we've fulfilled our punishment," Harry said.

"So you've been here before?"

"Only once," Harry said shortly then looked out the window.

"And why was the Perfect Potter in time out before now?" Draco asked, lounging back down as he put his feet up on the spare chair.

"Fighting with Ron."

"Wow, the dream team can't always get along, can they? What was it over? How much money he owed you for everything?"

"No," Harry said incredulously at the ignorance of Draco's statement. "Real friends wouldn't worry about something like money."

Draco rolled his eyes. Potter really could be so overdramatic sometimes. It was almost like someone put a million 'you're a hero if you want to be' messages inside one person who walked around and made all the perfect feel-good comments anyone needed. "What was it then?"

"What's it to you?"

"You know you're not making nice, and I'd rather not sit here all day just because of you," Draco said lazily.

"I was dating Ginny behind his back," Harry said as he looked out the window. "I thought he'd be mad about it either way, so I was waiting to tell him."

"But of course who better for Weasley's baby sister than his best friend right?"

"Why not?" Harry asked. "I liked her, she liked me."

"Did it ever get past 'liking'?" Draco asked. Harry just looked down. He never had been able to answer that, though he knew the response so well. "God, Potter, no wonder she's trying to move on."

"What do you mean?" Harry asked, looking at Draco with a deadly glance.

"Isn't it obvious? Ginny's trying to forget you like she had to at Hogwarts. She's hoping that you'll suddenly see the light, but she's not holding her breath because look where that got her last time: in a chamber with the Dark Lor--"

"Shut it!" Harry said firmly, his facing tingeing with pink again.

Draco paused for a minute or two before speaking again. "Don't worry about Ginny. She'll be happy in the end of it all. That's one thing I'm sure about," said Draco.

There was something in Malfoy's tone that didn't settle well in Harry's mind. It wasn't so much the words as it was the attitude behind it. He was so sure, so certain, and Harry found himself jealous that he hadn't had that confidence when there was still time. He was looking at the table, thinking about this when Draco stood up. "I'm sorry, Potter. I'm sorry that you didn't see the best thing when you held it in the palm of your hand. I'm sorry you've lost," Draco said. The door started to unlock slightly.

Draco smirked. "What a nice glitch," he said. "Your turn, Potter."

Harry felt like cursing Draco, hexing him into the next galaxy... but he didn't have his wand. He didn't feel like he even had the ability to remember a good enough jinx to make Draco take back what he had said. Instead, Harry took a few deep and calm breaths. "I'm sorry," Harry swallowed and glared at Malfoy, "that you can't manage to find someone who loves you so instead you go looking for affection from someone who only pities you."

Draco and Harry stared each other down as the door opened the rest of the way. Draco walked out first, a smirk on his face as he took his place back on the couch, Quidditch Monthly in hand.

"Ginny, can we go outside for a bit?" Harry asked, walking into the kitchen. She wasn't looking as happy as she had been the night before. It was apparent Ginny had been talking to her mother about the incident.

"Sure," Ginny said with a sigh. "Just let me grab my cloak." Ginny washed her hands of flour, leaving the pancakes to stir themselves. Following Harry out, she folded her arms, making Harry's plan of holding her hand quite impossible. "What did you need?" she asked Harry when they were nearing the garden. This was too much a repeat of the last time Harry had tried to kiss her for Ginny's taste. In fact, the only difference was Harry's earlier outburst with Draco.

"I wanted to see how things were going for you," Harry said quietly, unable once again to express the things he wanted to.

"Well, let's think, shall we?" Ginny said staring at Harry in the likeness of her mother. Harry's eyes widened at the thought. "I asked you to be nice to a guest of mine on Christmas, but it must have been an impossible task to just keep your mouth shut because now Mum's upset and worried about how things are going to be when we open presents with the children and making her feel bad for having been kind for reasons you obviously can't comprehend!"

"Come on, Ginny, what was I supposed to think? I don't trust him."

"Well, thank you Captain Obvious." Ginny sat on a bench and took a deep breath. "Maybe I shouldn't have invited him," she said to herself quietly.

"Maybe," Harry said before thinking.

Ginny just looked over at him with mournful eyes. "No one would have let you spend Christmas alone. Not after we knew you."

Harry looked down at his feet. She was right.

"The worst part, Harry, is that if it were anyone else you wouldn't care. You wouldn't worry, and you wouldn't mind."

"That's not true... Ginny, I want to date again."

"Until when? Until Draco isn't a factor anymore?" Ginny questioned sadly.

Harry looked incredulous. "That's not how I mean it."

"Yes it is, Harry," Ginny's eyes started to water, though she held back her tears. "You know I'll always be here for you, but you've never let me be a real part of your life."

"I will. Please just let me--" Harry tried to reach out and grab Ginny's hand, but she pulled it away the second his fingers touched hers.

"I need to go help Mum before everyone else wakes up." With that statement, Ginny stood and started walking back to The Burrow, leaving Harry at a loss for words and understanding.

Molly went to wake up some of her children as Ginny poured batter for the first batch of pancakes. Draco entered the kitchen after he had seen Harry go up the stairs. Draco knew he didn't have very long, so got straight to the point. "Ginny, I wanted to give you something before everyone else came down the stairs."

Ginny turned around. She still wore an expression of slight contempt. "Draco, don't come in here just to provoke Harry."

"Forget Harry," Draco said with bitterness.

"I will not!" Ginny stated quickly. "Whether you like it or not, Harry has been my friend much longer than you have, and I'm not going to stop my loyalty towards him just because you've always found yourself on his list of distasteful company."

"I wasn't the one who started things. He grabbed me first!" Draco moved right up next to Ginny and matched her glare.

"And what did you do? I didn't see you try to calm him."

"You can't calm a mad man."

"Don't you insult him!" Ginny said loudly as she turned, wand in hand.

Draco stepped back, unsure of if she would actually do anything. He remembered a bat boogy hex all to well for comfort. "I'm sorry," he said. "I can't just sit here and take it from him."

"Why not? What would be so bad about letting him think what he wants and taking the higher road?"

Draco thought about this for a moment as Ginny turned back to cooking. "Look, none of this is the point. I just wanted to bring you something. I didn't think you'd want to open it in front of everyone, it might look bad," Draco said as he held out a neatly wrapped box.

Ginny looked over at it. "What is it?"

"Why don't you open it and find out?" Draco asked as he rolled his eyes in mock frustration.

Ginny cautiously unwrapped the gift and opened the box. Inside was a small white gold chain on which hung a 'y' formation of several small diamonds. Ginny looked up at Draco with her jaw hanging open slightly. "I-I... I can't accept this," Ginny said.

"Why not?" Draco's brows furrowed.

"I mean... wow, Draco, I just," Ginny was at a complete loss for words, unable to find a complete sentence in her vocabulary. "This must have cost--"

"Don't worry about that," Draco said with a small smile. "It was Mums, but it's just been sitting in the manor. Seemed a bit of a waste."

"Thank you," Ginny said sincerely looking at Draco. She turned to flip the pancakes. When she turned back around, Draco was closer than he had been before.

"And just so you know," Draco whispered, "money wouldn't be any object when it came to you." Ginny froze as Draco pushed a stray strand of hair behind her ear.

Draco started to lean in, but stopped when he heard someone enter the kitchen. "Honestly, you would think--" Hermione trailed off seeing Ginny and Draco so close and in a very interesting stance. Ginny's face went red as she turned to tend to the pancakes.

Draco stepped back, looking down at his Pajamas. "I think I'm going to go change." He walked out the door, past Hermione, who still looked in a state of shock.

"What...the bloody hell... happened there?" Hermione finally got out slowly as Ginny put the first batch of pancakes on a plate and started pouring the second.

"I don't know," Ginny whispered.

"Did he kiss you?!" Hermione matched Ginny's level of volume, though her tone was much more incredulous.

"I... I think he was about to."

"You think? Ginny this is going too far."

"Why?" Ginny asked looking at Hermione. "Why couldn't it go farther with Draco?" Ginny already knew part of that answer, but wondered if she was wrong.

"Maybe Ron was right... maybe you have gone off the deep end."

"Hermione, nothing happened," Ginny said, looking over at her friend. "Please don't tell anyone, nothing happened."

Hermione looked skeptical for a moment then let out a deep breath. "If nothing happened, then there's nothing to tell. Just please, please, keep it that way," Hermione said. With that she grabbed a dishtowel and exited as Molly came in to help a frazzled Ginny.

A/N: Things are heating up in here :) This is getting quite fun to write, and I hope you all enjoy reading it just as much.

Please review if you're reading this. I would really appreciate it.

Thank you:

Drewsie: Harry's getting it... and getting it hard. Don't worry about him, though, things will always turn out right. And yes, Ginny is very nice to have invited Draco.

Hermione30: LOL I love Ron Hermione moments too! I do prefer HG as well, and agree about a good DG... I hope you think this is a good triangle version, as I'm trying to make it not so obvious about who she'll end with (if anyone). Thanks for your review!

Jamiebell: I know there isn't really a review for last chapter, but you told me what you thought anyway. Thanks for your constant support :D

Harrysanemokid: Thank you so much for the compliment! I like a good DG, but most of them miss out on some very intriguing things. I hope I've covered all bases and thanks again for your review.