Chapter 2: Foolish

"Harry," Hermione yelled up the stairs, "if you don't get out of bed, we'll open the Christmas presents without you! Even if you do get out of bed and don't hurry, we're still going to open them without you!"

"Coming," Harry grumbled through sleep.

Hermione started laughing, "You are going to wear a shirt downstairs, aren't you? Remember, my parents are here!"

"Huh?" Harry looked down at his bare chest. "Oh, yeah, one sec…" He appeared a minute later wearing a white t-shirt backwards.

"Harry!" Hermione giggled.

"WHAT!"

"Never mind… Merry Christmas!" She laughed. "By the way, somehow Draco's mailed us presents."

"You didn't tell him, did you?" Harry glared as he walked down the stairs.

"No," Hermione glared back, but erupted into a huge smile. "He's very determined…his dad gave them to Mr. Weasley to give to us. At least that's what Sirius said Mr. Weasley said."

"ARE YOU TWO COMING?" Sirius shouted. "BECAUSE WE'RE GOING TO OPEN PRESENTS WHETHER YOU LIKE IT OR NOT!"

Harry and Hermione sat on the floor and watched Lupin open his present. "A leash?" he raised an eyebrow, "you can't-" Sirius gave a sharp whistle and in bounced a large Irish wolfhound puppy.

"For company," Sirius said, "but Moony…" He held up to dog dishes. "I refuse to eat off the floor…"

"I got you the same thing!" Lupin laughed and disappeared into the other room. Moments later, he returned holding a black Labrador retriever puppy. "He's already house broken."

"So what are you going to name them?" Harry asked.

Lupin looked down fondly at his puppy and said, "Romulus, since Sirius chose a dog that looks somewhat like me in my transformation…."

"Well," Sirius watched the puppy waddle over to the glass door and attempted to go out it. Sirius walked over and picked him up. "I had no idea our windows were that clean… I think he should be called Foolish. What do you think, little buddy?" The puppy gave a small yip and wriggled out of Sirius' arms. Foolish bound over to Romulus and started to play with him.

"Whew," Lupin said, "they're friends."

"Here, Harry," Hermione handed him a neatly wrapped silver and green package. "Guess who it's from."

"I wonder…. Who's in Slytherin and would send me a Christmas present?" Harry pretended to think. "Of course, it must be my grand old pal SNAPE." Harry opened it. "It's a book…" He read the title. "'Flying For Dummies'… Oh, and here's a note… 'Yes, you do need it…' And he gave me a gift certificate for Broom Ltd…. Thirty galleons… Wow!"

"Who gave that to you?" Sirius leaned over. "Oh, it's from Draco…. Thirty galleons! Well, we'll have to take you there!"

"Dear, that's lovely," Mrs. Granger looked at the necklace Hermione had gotten from Draco.

"And I got a gift certificate for fifty galleons to Flourish and Blotts! That's a lot… He really shouldn't have …" Hermione said as she read the card. "He says his dad's doing better…"

"I know," Harry said lifting another piece of paper from the wrappings. "He sent me a letter, too. Sirius, should we tell him where we are so we can contact him in the summer?"

"Depends," Sirius said, "depends on his father."

They all continued to unwrap their presents. Harry had never before received so many presents in life. He had to make two trips up to carry all the stuff up to his room.

"Merry Christmas, Draco," Narcissa said giving a flick of her wand and the blinds opened, letting in the bright sunlight.

"Uhhhnnn…" Draco rolled over. "What time is it?"

"It's ten' o'clock and your father will have a heart attack if you don't go down now," she gently pulled him up. "You are getting way to big to be picked up."

"So don't," Draco stretched and stood up.

Narcissa looked up slightly, "When did you get so tall?"

"Damn. He's not dead after all," Lucius grinned. "Merry Christmas, Draco!"

"Same to you," Draco plopped down on the new couch. "Hey! It's another rabbit!" Draco noticed a cage with a huge bow on it.

"Took you long enough to notice…" Lucius shifted a bit. "What do you want to call it?"

"Hmm…" Draco opened the cage and picked up the rabbit. "It's not as fluffy as Fluffykins and it's black… how about… Cauldron?"

"Cauldron?" Lucius choked on his tea and Narcissa nearly spit out her coffee.

"Yeah," Draco said firmly. "Cauldrons are usually black and so is he…"

"He has your gift of naming things, Lucius," Narcissa laughed. "And you're logic…"

"Is that good or bad?" Lucius looked confused.

"In his case, bad; in yours, good."

"Mum, here's your present and here's yours, Dad," Draco handed them two packages.

"Oh, thank you, it's lovely," Narcissa said as she lifted out a thin, silver bracelet. "Is this what you've been saving up for?"

"Yeah, for yours and Dad's…" Draco blushed slightly.

"Wow!" Lucius said opening his present. "I haven't had Fizzing Whizbees for ages!"

"What did you get-CANDY!" Narcissa yelped. "If you recall, Lucius, the last time you had Fizzing Whizbees, you had a hangover."

"That's because…well," Lucius looked at Draco, "son, I really wish I didn't have to give you this lecture on Christmas Day, but… alcohol and high quantities of sugar do not mix. Do you understand? I suspect Binns has already given that lecture on it in school…"

"Yeah… he did…Did Binns tell you not to feed small house pets under the influence of alcohol?" Draco asked.

"Yup-it's because he was coming home from a pub (of course, he was still alive) slightly tipsy and he was viciously attacked by a Kneazle… or was it a Puffskein?" Lucius attempted to explain.

"A Puffskein?" Draco sniggered.

"They can become very vicious when provoked!" Lucius warned, as Narcissa mirrored Draco's smirk.

"What are they going to do, lick you to death?"

"Well, may-no! You see, Draco, if they're feeling suicidal, rumor has it, that a Puffskein will throw itself down your throat…"

"A PUFFSKEIN? A SUICIDAL PUFFSKEIN? Are we even talking about the same species?" Draco sniggered.

Draco's mother tossed Lucius and Draco a package. Draco reached out quickly, but Lucius was faster. "HA!" Lucius said as he snatched the package from Draco. They opened the package and held up it contents.

"The classic Weasley sweater!" Draco announced as he held up a green sweater with a grey "D" on it. Lucius held up a plain, navy sweater.

"They're very pretty," Narcissa observed. "Put them on!"

"And warm…" Draco said in a muffled voice. "OW!" he yelped as Lucius yanked the sweater down over Draco's head.

"Big-headed boy…" Lucius muttered.

"Thanks…mum… It's…great…" Ron said as he pulled out yet another maroon sweater. "Did you seriously knit sweaters for the Malfoys? Lucius Malfoy?" The Weasleys were all gathered around the tree, opening presents.

"Well, he did save your life a few weeks ago…" Mrs. Weasley smiled fondly in Ron's direction.

"Malfoy, did you say?" Nana looked up sharply from the box she was unwrapping. "Your son is associating with the MALFOYS? AND Harry Potter? Forgive me, Molly, but I'm starting to see Percy's reasoning. Ronald is starting to associate with dangerous people. I declare, if you wanted an intelligent boy up to his nostrils in the Dark Arts, it's Lucius Malfoy. Uses all his talents the wrong way. Molly, I thought much better of you. Raising your children to associate with these-these-these HOOLIGANS!"

"Mother," Arthur contradicted, "Although you didn't know about his son, I can say that, unfortunately, Lucius does use some of his talents for-"

"His own benefits!"

"Well, Draco is a well-mannered boy," Molly said, trying to soothe Arthur's mother. "Very polite when I saw him at the hospital…"

"Most likely in shock!" Nana snorted. "After what happened to his father, obviously some deal went wrong and Lucius' so-called friends turned against him…"

"Actually, Mother," Arthur said meekly, "Ron and his friends somehow found their way into a Death Eater gathering and Lucius spent most of the time trying to get them out alive. Without him, your grandson may not have been here this morning." Mrs. Weasley covered her face in horror at the very thought of Ron's death.

"No doubt he was simply covering for his own son," Nana retorted rather forcefully.

"Oh, honestly," Charlie chimed in. "Draco Malfoy spent most of the time fending for himself! Why? Because, Lucius Malfoy was protecting Ron!"

"He did…" Ron added quietly. "I could've been killed a few times."

"Oh… I see…" Nana said softly, embarrassed. "Well, Bill, Charlie, here are your presents."

"Here, give these to Malfoy," George handed Ron a bag a few hours after the Christmas disaster at the Weasley's. "Well, Malfoy Junior, that is… He really doesn't sound that bad…anymore."

"Kind of insane actually," Fred added. "We think he'll have fun with these."

"WOAH." Ron's eyes bugged out slightly. "That's a lot of stuff from your joke shop. Are you sure you want to give him all that?"

"Yeah, give it to him… And say…" George paused for dramatic effect. "Say that Fred and George say Merry Christmas-"

"-And no matter what," Fred added.

"You'll always be a slime ball in our hearts," Fred and George said simultaneously as they placed their hands over their hearts.