Rhiannon woke the next day and glanced out her window. I'm sure glad it's not going to be me who's flying around in all this snow, she thought with a shiver. She dressed warmly in thick pants and a long sleeved sweater, then walked down to the Great Hall. Draco was already awake and finishing his breakfast so he could go and start warming up out at the Quidditch pitch.

Draco finished his meal and then left with Flint and the rest of the team. He passed by Rhiannon and stopped quickly to drop a kiss onto the top of her head. She turned to Pansy who was sitting next to her and said, "I think I've nearly got Draco's Christmas gift finished."

"So are you going to tell me what it is yet?" Pansy asked her.

"No, not until it's completely finished," Rhi replied. Just then she spied her great-grandfather. "Hey Pansy, if I'm not back in time to leave for the game, save me a seat, okay? I need to talk to my grandfather."

"Yeah, sure," Pansy answered as Rhi jumped up from the Slytherin table and ran over to Dumbledore.

"Grandfather," she said when she reached him. "How are you today?"

"Ahh, Rhiannon, I'm well child. How are you?"

"Very well. I was wondering if I could talk to you about something."

"Of course you may. What can I possibly do for my favorite great-grandchild?"

Rhiannon laughed at this, because she was Dumbledore's only great-grandchild. "Well, the Yule Ball is coming up right?"

"It should be unless I confused it with something else, did you have any concerns about it Pixie?"

"No, but umm, I was wondering if I could possibly . . . . I mean, if it's okay with you . . . . . Could I sing Grandfather? Please?" she asked, looking at Dumbledore, hope filling her sparkling eyes.

Dumbledore laughed, and the sound of it warmed Rhi's heart. "Of course you may Pixie. I was going to ask you that myself." He looked at her, emotion filling his warm blue eyes. "You may look like your mother, but you have the soul of your great grandmother. There are times that I hear you speak, and I look to see if it's really her. You have her spirit, and her fire. You may sing Pixie, I would be honored to hear it at the Yule Ball."

Rhi happily wrapped her arms around Dumbledore and kissed his cheek affectionately. "Thank you so much Grandfather. I should go before I miss the start of the Quidditch game. Will you be there?"

"I can assure you that I will be," he said, smiling warmly at her.

"Okay," Rhi said. "I'll see you there." And with that, she ran off to gather her scarf and warm jacket.

Dumbledore watched her go, and tears formed in his normally calm, cool eyes. "So much like her in fact, that I fear your end may be the same as hers. Be careful Pixie."

Rhi ran out of the castle towards the Quidditch pitch wrapping her scarf around her neck, and shoving her hands into her woolen mittens. The ground was icy and she kept slipping as she ran, but finally made it to the stands and plopped down next to Pansy just in time to see Draco tear past after the snitch.

Rhi could hear Lee Jordan on the loud speaker doing his usual commentary, and Pansy shot him a dirty look when he accused Flint of playing unfairly. The game was close, always going back and forth between Hufflepuff and Slytherin for the lead.

The Hufflepuff seeker wasn't making things easy on Draco either. Draco was constantly battling to be in front and finally, one of the Slytherin beaters sent a bludger at the opposing seeker, knocking him off his broom and to the ground. Draco now had a cake walk to the snitch.

He chased it as fast as he could towards the stands where Rhi and Pansy were sitting. The snitch flew straight at Rhiannon in a straight line, and Draco followed. Just before the snitch crashed into Rhi's face, it shot straight up in the air. Draco kept going straight, and people started screaming and moving away from Rhi. Just before he smashed into her, Draco pulled up on his broom and Rhi felt the brush of Draco's Quidditch robes against her cheek.

Closer and closer Draco came to the snitch, and finally, wrapped his fingers around the tiny gold ball. Slytherin had won the game, and Rhi ran out of the stands to the ground where she jumped into Draco's arms and kissed him loudly.

"It's about time, I was getting cold, and I can't believe that you were going to smash into me if you needed to!"

Draco laughed. "I wasn't going to smash into you. I have complete control at all times," her said matter-of-factly.

"Yeah right. Now what was it that you wanted to ask me?"

"You know the Yule Ball is coming up right?"

"Yeah, what about it?"

"Would you want to go? I mean, I know it's pretty dumb and stuff, people all dressing up to dance, which most of them can't do any way, and fill their faces, but would you still want to go with me?"

"Draco Malfoy, I was wondering what was taking you so damn long to ask me that! Yes, of course I'll go. I can't wait," Rhi said excitedly.

Draco took her hand and they began to walk back to the castle together. "So, would you want an old sock with a used bow on it for Christmas?" Draco asked her teasingly.

Rhiannon laughed at him. "I have no idea what I want. I mean, there's things that I need bu"

"Oh don't start going on about things that you need. I don't care what you need, I want to get you something that you want. Come one Immortal Beloved, think really hard. What is one thing that you would give anything to have?"

Rhi was about to respond when Kerensa walked up. "Littlest, would you mind doing a demonstration in class with me on Monday? I want to have a full out duel with you, and we'll have a spell wall up to keep it contained. The direction of this will be to show that your opponent doesn't always wait to hex you, sometimes they hit you over and over again. Will you help me with that darling?"

"Of course Mama. I also wanted to ask you something."

"You can ask me anything Littlest, you know that. What is it?"

"Well, umm, Draco has asked me to spend Christmas with him at Malfoy Manor in Wiltshire. I was wondering if I would be allowed to do so."

Kerensa thought for a moment, narrowing her vivid green eyes, she pulled gently at her bottom lip. "Well, I have to talk it over with your father, but I have no objections to it. You're responsible and I can trust you. If you wish to go to Malfoy Manor for the holidays, then I'm sure it won't be a problem."

Rhi squealed and hugged her mother tightly. "Thank you Mama! This day just keeps getting better and better!" She kissed her mother and then her and Draco walked into the castle to warm up after spending the better part of the morning in the cold. "So are you going to play a game of chess with me when we get back to the common room?" Draco asked her.

"Oh, Draco, I can't I have . . . I'm busy with . . . . Something. I can't tell you what though. I'm sorry."

"It's fine, I'll go see if Blaise and Flint want to terrorize Potter with me. I'll see you around Rhi," he said, then left her to go back to Slytherin Tower by herself.

Oh no, she thought. I made him feel bad. Maybe I should go with him, I mean, I can always finish his gift later. But, the Yule Ball isn't that far away, and I kind of want to have it done so I can work the problems out of it. What should I do?

Suddenly, divine inspiration struck, or at least, that's what Professor Trelawny would have called it.

Running up to her dorm room, Rhi scribbled a hasty note on a piece of parchment. She then kissed the parchment next to her signature, took out her wand and said "animayte!" and then folded up the letter and gave it to Aponi.

"Aponi, take this to Draco for me, and I'll have a treat for you when you get back, okay?"

The eagle owl hooted softly, took the note, and flew off out of the window that Rhi had opened, to find Draco and deliver her message.

Aponi flew through an open door and into the castle where Draco was standing with Flint, Crabbe, and Goyle. Hooting softly to get his attention, she dropped the letter into Draco's open hands, and flew back out the open door, heading for her warm perch and the treat her mistress promised her.

Draco opened the letter, and a tiny simulation of Rhiannon appeared on the open parchment. "Draco, I'm sorry about earlier, I'll make it up to you as soon as I can, I promise you that. Give Potter a cheap shot for me." The simulation then blew Draco a kiss, winked, and vanished, leaving the parchment blank.

Crabbe and Goyle stared at the parchment with dumbfounded expressions on their faces, trying to figure out how Rhiannon made herself so tiny and how she disappeared off of the parchment, when one could not apparate or disapparate in Hogwarts. The two of them scratched their heads, and took the parchment from Draco, inspecting it, and turning it over like gorillas in a zoo.

"Impressive bit of magic," Flint said. Draco just grinned.

"Well, Rhi is an impressive girl," he said.

"That she is," Flint agreed. "Well then, shall we find Potter, or maybe the mud blood is alone somewhere. You made her cry last time didn't you Draco?"

"Yeah, I did," Draco replied. "but I'm not really in the mood to make the mud blood cry," he said.

"What do you mean? You're always in the mood to make the little prat cry," Flint said.

"I know, but I have some stuff on my mind right now."

"Like what?" Flint asked.

"Like what do I get Rhi for Christmas for one thing. I want to get her something really amazing, but I don't know what it should exactly be. It's really bothering me. I've never stressed this much about buying something for someone."

"You're Draco Malfoy," Flint said. "You could give anyone a crippled hell-hound and they would love it. Pick something and give it to her. Where's the problem?"

They all laughed at that. "Yeah right, I don't think anyone would want a crippled hell-hound," Draco said, then he stopped laughing. "But I think I know what I can get her. I have to write my father, you boys carry on. I'll see you later." And with that, Draco ran back to the Slytherin common room, and up to his dormitory where he wrote to Lucius, requesting something to be sent to him from the Malfoy Vault.