AN: Thank you to all of my reviewers. I hope that you enjoy this chapter- it's not as exciting as some of the others, but it is necessary.
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Chilly nights quickly turned into blustery snowstorms, and Ginny was frequently kept up to all hours of the night wondering if her friend in the cave was safe. Just as often, though, she reminded herself that he did have a wand and was competent enough to use it. Several times she had resolved to check up on Draco and bring him supplies, but it quickly crumbled as she forced herself to remember that if she did, she would put him and herself in danger.
While Ginny's concern for Draco tormented her, an entirely different feeling tormented Draco Malfoy- rage. He was furious that she had come in the first place, that she had pitied him! Imagine a Weasley pitying a Malfoy and offering charity. And he had been too weak to refuse as he ought to have. He should have disappeared after she first set foot in his cave, but like a pathetic little dog begging for table scraps he had stuck around accepting all that she offered. Then she had come and played little games with him; she had tricked him into thinking that he needed companionship, that he wasn't strong enough to handle it alone. And she had the audacity to flirt with him, and worse, to make him think he had liked it! As if he would ever have accepted it without a spell. She had cursed him, and he had fallen for it. Worst of all, just when she had convinced him that he needed her and she wanted him, she left. The little hussy up and left him to starvation and cold. He was furious and vowed that if ever he saw her again he would show her just who the more powerful wizard was. He would show her the true strength of a Malfoy.
That was how Draco justified staying in the cave instead of leaving. He could hardly exact revenge from a cozy little cottage on the continent, so he braved the cold and the hunger, only using his wand near the village and very scarcely so as not to draw attention to his existence. He existed in a crazed state near death with naught but vengeance in his mind all day. At night, though, thoughts of vengeance were gone, and he dreamt of lavish dinner parties with a mysterious redheaded guest, but he never remembered the dreams when he awoke.
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The Christmas holiday sprung upon Ginny with little warning. She had been so absorbed in school and forgetting about a certain blonde that time had flown by, and the next thing she knew, she was on the Hogwarts Express on her way into London for a holiday at Grimmauld Place.
Ginny had been looking forward to the holiday and familiar faces for weeks now. She needed the comfort and companionship that her brothers had always offered her. Usually it came from Ron, who though he had an unorthodox way of showing it, was really very close to his only sister, but she knew better than to expect them to pop back from their mission for a bit of holiday cheer.
What a surprise it was for her, then, when she had finally detached her mother from herself at the platform long enough to get to 12 Grimmauld Place and find her favorite brother waiting anxiously in the front hall.
"Ron!" Ginny shouted as she launched herself at her brother, all of her belongings unceremoniously dumped on the floor. "You came back!" Ginny latched herself onto her brother squeezing tightly as if he might disappear if she left go. Unbidden tears sprang to her eyes and she clutched him. "I missed you! You came back for me!"
Mrs. Weasley gave her two youngest children a sad smile as she gathered Ginny's things and made her way up the stairs to deposit them in her room.
Finally Ron was able to pry Ginny away long enough to get a good look at her. "Gin? Why are you crying? You never cry," he asked concerned.
"I'm not…" she said wiping her face and looking surprised to see dampness on her fingers, but she shrugged it off. "I just… I missed you. School has been awful."
Moments later Hermione stepped out of the library and caught sight of Ginny. "Ginny! It's so great to see you! How is your sixth year? Learn anything new?"
Ginny let out a small laugh that finally let out her pent up sadness and relief at seeing her friends again to find that they had not changed at all. "Yeah, I've learned a little," Ginny conceded, and Hermione nodded with a smile.
Ron suggested that they go into the kitchen to get a snack and see Harry who was anxious to see her. When they entered, Ginny saw Harry at the table with a solemn expression speaking in hushed tones with Remus Lupin, but as soon as he caught a glimpse of her, he was out of his seat and across the room giving her a big hug.
"It's great to see you, Ginny," he said finally, and Ginny just smiled in response. The boy used to make her weak at the knees, but at the moment all she felt was companionship. When did that happen? she wondered. When did I get over Harry? Those thoughts were removed when he took her by the hand and led her to the table where she found immense piles of sweets- her mother knew her daughter very well.
"So how has school been?" Harry asked, his mouth full of candies.
"Just school. Nothing exciting happens without you lot around." Liar, she thought to herself. Plenty happened, but you can't talk about it, can you?
"I'm sure you've been stirring up plenty of trouble, anyway, though, haven't you? You're not as sweet and innocent as Mum wants to think. Take after Fred and George, you do," Ron noted with a touch of pride in his voice.
Ginny smiled serenely at Ron and replied, "A bit. Nothing to write home about, though," because I can't, she added miserably and silently.
Ginny was spared the rest of the "welcome home, how was school" questions by the entrance of her mother who shooed them all out to cook supper, but Ginny decided to stay behind and help.
After a few minutes of silently preparing ingredients for her mother, Ginny was jarred back to reality by a question.
"Who is he?"
"Who is who, Mum?"
"The boy that you are thinking about." How does she know all of this? Mothers have a sixth sense that allows them to know everything that goes on in their child's mind. It's just not fair.
"I'm sure I don't know what you are talking about."
"Come now, Ginny, you can tell me," her mother prodded gently.
"I don't really want to talk about it, Mum."
"Ah, but there is someone, isn't there?"
Ginny sighed. "Not in the way you are thinking. Besides, I thought you liked Harry, and wanted us to get married and have lots of babies."
Mrs. Weasley reddened a bit. "Well, that would be nice, I suppose, but I don't think that is what you want anymore."
How does she know these things!
"Okay, Mum, here are the potatoes," Ginny replied changing the subject. Mrs. Weasley gave her a knowing look, but dropped the topic.
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A few days before Christmas the Weasleys, Harry and Hermione made a trip to Diagon Alley to finish up their holiday shopping. After much convincing, Ginny finally escaped from the others long enough to buy their gifts, and on her way back to The Leaky Caldron to meet them thirty minutes later, she stopped to admire a small snowglobe in a shop window.
The sign read, "Included with the globe is a simple to charm for you to customize the objects within the globe." Ginny frowned at the display of empty snowglobes for a moment before entering the shop and purchasing one.
When everyone had reassembled, the group made their way back to Grimmauld Place laden with packages. Ginny immediately dashed to her room where she quickly and sloppily wrapped her other gifts, then sat staring at the small, empty snowglobe, the directions in her hand.
She struggled mentally over what to do with it. Why did you buy it if you don't even know what you are going to do with it? she thought angrily to herself. Because you do know, you just don't want to admit it. Ginny frowned. I can't send it to him. First of all, Pig would never be able to find him, and second how would it look for an owl to be delivering packages to the middle of the woods? It would look like someone was sending a package to Hogwarts. No one would notice that it didn't go all the way. But I can't risk blowing his cover. Besides, he's probably moved by now… I'm sure he has enough common sense not to stay in the same place for too long. It saddened her to think that he had left the cave, but it would not surprise her. What if I never see him again? What if he didn't realize why I left? Maybe he is mad at me. And he is all alone on Christmas. It's not right. A small package won't hurt anything. She had made up her mind. Draco would indeed be receiving a Christmas gift.
She spent a good long while trying to decide what to charm inside of the globe. She thought about putting a little weasel figure and a ferret figure, but wondered if he even knew that people called him that, and if he would be offended instead of amused. Finally, at dinner the night before Christmas Eve, she had a stroke of inspiration and abruptly left the table to strange looks from the people around her.
Christmas had always been quite a production in the Weasley household, and it always began on Christmas Eve. This year, Mrs. Weasley had managed to get all of her children into one house, and all the boys plus the Order members made for a very chaotic day full of holiday cheer and festivities. After an enormous dinner, Ginny found Ron on her way up to bed.
"Ron, could I borrow Pig tonight? I want to send a gift."
Ron eyed her suspiciously for a moment and said, "Yeah, I guess. Who is he? Do I need to beat him up?"
Ginny rolled her eyes and tried to suppress a smile. He had always looked out for her, and though it was really sweet, it was also entirely unnecessary. "No, Ron. It is nothing for you to worry about. Not a boyfriend."
Ron brightened a bit. "Alright then." Then he pulled her into a hug, kissed her on the head and said, "Goodnight, Ginny. See you in the morning- Christmas!"
Ginny smiled and said goodnight, before dashing down to the kitchen where Pig was zooming circles around and irritated looking Mrs. Weasley. "Dear? Will you get rid of this menace before I hurt something."
"Yeah, Mum." She collected Pig and made her way back up to her room, hoping that Hermione was still talking to Harry and Ron in the library. She was. Ginny fastened the small parcel to Pig's outstretched leg, and said, "I know it doesn't say who it is addressed to, but please try and find him. Draco Malfoy," she said. Ginny could have sworn that the little owl gave her a stern look before swooping out the window.
The owl is judging me, she thought miserably. I have probably just done something really stupid. I'm sure he hates me anyway. Ginny has half a mind to call the owl back, but knew that it was too late and by tomorrow morning Draco would wake up to a Christmas present, wherever he was.
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Of course, Draco was still moodily sitting in his cave by a small fire. To add to his poor spirits, tomorrow was bloody Christmas day. When he was very young, he really enjoyed Christmas, but a single day when he was seven ruined the whole experience and since then he had dreaded it.
Seven-year old Draco Malfoy was in Flourish and Blotts in Diagon Alley while his mum finished up a bit of holiday shopping. He had spent the morning going door to door and pointing out all of the presents he wanted, then she dropped him off and went back to purchase every singe item. It wasn't much of a surprise, but he was excited for all of the new things nonetheless.
As he sat staring aimlessly ahead, a Christmas book caught his eye with the picture of some hairy green monster. He had thought it strange to put a monster on the cover of a Christmas book, so he picked it up. "How the Grinch Stole Christmas," he read aloud noting that it was a muggle book.
Draco sunk into a deep armchair in a dark corner and devoured the book. He loved everything about it. The Whos were wonderful and the Grinch was redeemed! It was a wonderful book, he decided.
He was broken from his reverie as he received a hard crack on the head. He looked up to see the stormy eyes of his father looking down at him.
"What is the matter with you boy? Do you know what that piece of filth is?"
"Where is mother?" Draco asked.
"She sent me to get you. She has been invited to tea with some very important women. It is lucky I came anyway. No doubt she would have been too soft on you in punishment for this," he brandished his cane at the book Draco was still clutching and sent it skidding across the floor before grabbing his son roughly by the arm and dragging him out of the shop.
That afternoon he received the worst punishment yet and learned his lesson about muggle related things. While it had nothing to do with Christmas itself, Draco had never been able to think of the holiday without remembering the incident.
Now, sitting in his cave lording over the forest and nearby Hogsmeade, he felt like the Grinch, and the villagers were the Whos. He wanted to go down their and steal away all of their cheer, because never in his entire miserable existence had he been so wretchedly unhappy.
It was in this mood that the small owl found Draco hours later. It dropped to the ground in front of him and waited expectantly, if not patiently, for him to remove his parcel. Draco just stared at it for a few minutes before it started hooting and hopping up and down. He gave a frustrated sigh and removed the package with a little more force than necessary, and the owl flew away indignantly.
Draco rolled the small brown package over in his hands, staring uncomprehendingly at it. How dare she do this to me, he thought. Hasn't she done enough already without mocking me by sending false Christmas gifts. I hate her. I hate the little redheaded bint. I don't even want her stupid gift. With that, he threw the unopened package against the wall and heard it shatter.
Before he realized what he was doing, he was on his hands and knees trying to pick up the broken pieces of his gift. He wasn't even sure what it was, but it seemed his heart was threatening to burst out of his chest with sorrow at what he had done. He had destroyed her gift. He hadn't even looked at it, and he had destroyed it. He crawled around in the dim light getting bits of shattered glass in his hands and knees looking for any piece that would tell him what it had once been. And then he found it.
He carefully picked up the base of the snowglobe and carried it over to the fire so that he could inspect it. What he saw made him gasp with an overwhelming emotion that he never known before. Attached to the golden base of the globe was a scene from an elegant dinner party. The two figures were a stately looking tall blonde in elegant robes and a small redheaded figure dressed in a flowing green gown. The two were dancing and looked entirely blissful.
Draco wanted to be that man. He wanted to be in a ballroom surrounded by nice things and fine food holding the gorgeous redhead in the green gown. Instead he was slowly freezing to death alone in a cave. To make matters worse, he had just received the best Christmas gift of his life, and in a blind fit of rage had destroyed it.
Malfoys are not supposed to feel emotion, and for that reason they certainly do not cry, but as he sat in solitude wishing desperately undo everything his eyes became wet and glossy, and a single tear inched its way down his cheek. No one would ever know, not even Draco himself had noticed, because he was too caught up in his own grief as he delicately cradled the small figure close to him.
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AN: Well this chapter wasn't much for those romance seekers, but it is setting up some important things. It was supposed to go up earlier this afternoon, but I fell asleep while writing and woke up four hours later. Anyway, please review!