Chapter 17
Things had continued on their normal routine at Hogwarts as the Christmas holiday approached. Gryffindor was winning every Quidditch match and was being closely followed by Slytherin. The students were studying less and focusing on Hogsmeade trips more. Everyone seemed to be going home for the holidays. Everyone except Harry. Ron walked into the boy's dormitory and found Harry sitting on his bed with all of his things as they were the day before. Ron was puzzled and walked over to him. "Why aren't you packed yet?"
Harry looked up in surprise. "What do you mean? What exactly should I be packed for?" He said it so casually that Ron's insides twisted.
"Aren't you coming to the burrow Mate?" Ron said pretending not to remember their fight.
Harry didn't look at Ron and sighed heavily. "No…I just figured I'd stay and focus on my studying. I've fallen behind in Transfiguration."
"Have you gone mad? Studying! Look Harry….I'm sorry about what I said a while back. I didn't mean it. To be honest, the burrow would never be the same without you. I didn't actually enjoy the holidays until you became a part of our family really. Besides, my mum will kill me if I don't bring you for her to fawn all over! What I'm trying to say is….I won't have any fun without my best mate. Now what do you say?" Ron said in shock with himself for being so honest.
Harry smiled and shook Ron's hand. "Wouldn't want to ruin your holiday now would I? Help me pack will you?" Ron handed Harry a pile of clothes as they packed up his trunk.
Meanwhile in the girl's dormitory, Hermione was helping Ginny pack. "Ginny I want you to know that I'm here for you anytime you need me. Whenever you are ready to discuss what happened." Hermione said as she placed her hand on Ginny's shoulder.
Ginny smiled. "I know Hermione. Maybe we'll talk over the holiday. You're coming for Christmas right?"
"Oh of course! My parents will be skiing again and I'm just not up for it this year. I'd rather just relax." Hermione said as she handed Ginny the last pile of clothes.
"I know what you mean. I haven't had one trip to Hogsmeade this term since I've been studying so much. I think I'll sleep the whole way home." Ginny said yawning as she elevated her trunk which followed her and Hermione out of the portrait hole. Ginny walked with the trio down to Hogwarts Express and piled in. They found an empty compartment and flung themselves down on the seats. Ron had immediately fallen asleep when the train started its journey. He began to snore loudly and when the train took a sharp turn his head landed in Hermione's lap startling her.
Hermione attempted to lift his head but Ron was dead weight. "Oh my. He's not what you'd call a light sleeper is he? I guess I can prop my book on his nose if necessary."
Ginny and Harry laughed as they saw Hermione take a book from her bag and rest it on Ron's chin. Ginny had no intention of reading as she had a lot of sleep to catch up on so she propped her arm against the window and lay her head on it. Harry looked over and smiled. "You can rest your head on my shoulder if you like but my lap's off limits." Harry said while pointing at Ron and Hermione.
Ginny laughed along with him and Hermione. "Alright….But don't get any ideas. You're the one that dumped me remember? I simply refuse to open that can of worms again."
Harry smiled at her again and nodded. "Don't worry, I know better. I'm just lucky that I'm still welcome at the burrow after all that." He said as he put an arm around Ginny and she shifted to lie on her side.
"You know what's funny about that Harry? If given the chance, I think they'd choose you over me. My mum still asks what I did wrong to make you break up with me." Ginny said sarcastically.
Hermione sat up and laughed causing Ron to stir. "Ginny! That can't be true…Well with the twin's maybe. But not the rest of your family. They know that Harry's too complicated for words."
Ginny turned her gaze on Hermione completely ignoring Harry's presence now to continue the teasing. "I know and that's what I said. I told them that Harry has this tremendous battle to win and he doesn't want some silly girl getting in the way of his eternal glory. I've explained that he's gone mental but my mum still adores him. Maybe she's gone mental too."
Harry sat up and yelled causing Ron to fall on the floor in surprise. "Why are you girls talking about me like I'm not here? I'm not the one who's gone mental, you have!" Ginny and Hermione began laughing hysterically.
Ginny stroked Harry's shoulder and wiped away a tear as Ron half asleep, repositioned his head on Hermione's lap as if it was the natural thing to do. "Oh Harry, we were just picking on you. I'm sorry! You just make it so easy. Don't be mad." Ginny said as she snuggled close to him.
Harry tightened his grip around her acknowledging her apology. "Alright but, you don't need to talk about me getting any ideas. I know who you've got your eye on now so I've taken on the brother role so that I can protect you."
Ron sat up quickly causing Hermione's book to fall to the floor. "What? Who's she got her eye on?"
Ginny sighed. "No one Ron. Go back to sleep….In Hermione's lap." She and Hermione giggled.
Ron began to lie back down and then realized what she said. "Wait a second. How did I? Sorry Hermione, I didn't even realize." Ron said as he laid his head against the window.
Hermione poked him in the shoulder with her book. "It's alright Ron really. If you're comfortable, I'm comfortable. Besides, your chin was making the perfect prop for my book."
Ron blushed and then looked over at Harry and Ginny. "Well I guess if it's helping you read it would be alright. Just poke me if I snore." Ron said as he slowly laid his head back with a grin.
Hermione began to blush as well as they stared at each other for a quick moment. Hermione returned her focus to her book and Ron drifted back off to sleep still maintaining his grin but now snoring. Harry and Ginny looked at each other acknowledging the subtle but exciting break through between Ron and Hermione. Ginny soon after fell asleep against Harry's shoulder.
About an hour later, Draco was walking by their compartment on his way to the bathroom. He glanced to the right and saw Ron drooling slightly and Hermione reading. He glanced to the left and saw Ginny resting her head on Harry's shoulder as he looked out the window. He noticed Harry was softly stroking her shoulder with his hand and resting his chin on her head.
Draco didn't become enraged, just confused. He wanted to go in but was actually able to restrain himself. For some reason he wasn't jealous of Harry. He knew they had briefly dated the year before and had obviously remained friends. He was definitely going to ask Ginny about it but now wasn't the time. Draco felt someone staring at him and looked to his right again noticing Hermione staring at him with a concerned look.
Not knowing what to do he simply nodded and winked at her causing Hermione to smile and nod back. Draco turned and continued his walk to the bathroom wondering why he was always getting caught by Granger at the wrong times.
As the train pulled into the station Ron awoke and rubbed the small amount of drool from the side of his mouth. "Oh…Sorry." He said to Hermione noticing a small amount of drool on her pants.
Hermione laughed quietly. "It's alright Ron. You always drool over me."
Ron smiled and didn't deny it. Ginny and Harry were beside themselves with the sudden change in them both. The four of them were met by Mr. And Mrs. Weasley and headed back for the burrow.
During breakfast the next morning, Mrs. Weasley wanted to know who wanted to go to Diagon Alley. Everyone wanted to go except for Ginny. "Ginny dear, you skipped the trip during the summer as well. Why don't you want to go?" Mrs. Weasley said as she stroked Ginny's hair.
Ginny took a deep breath. "Oh I'm just lazy mum. I'll go this time. I can sleep when we get back." She said trying to distract her brother's who all seemed to look at her at that moment.
Mrs. Weasley beamed. "Wonderful. Everyone be ready to leave in an hour or so? Hermione is going to meet us at your shop boys." The twins groaned in agreement.
When they apparated to Diagon Alley, Ginny felt as if it was the quickest trip of her life. How did they get there so soon? She was desperately hoping that they would stay on the opposite side of the street and avoid the entrance to Knock Turn Alley but to her disappointment, they were headed right for it. Mr. and Mrs. Weasley were leading the large group chatting about Christmas plans while Ginny followed closely behind them. Fred, George, and Ron were directly behind her commenting on the new signage in front of Gambol and Japes Wizarding joke shop.
Fred pointed at the purple sparkling lights that were flashing "Sale of the Season" and "Everything at all time low prices". Fred laughed. "Look George! They'll do anything to try and show us up. Too bad it won't work. Our products are just better."
George scoffed. "Yeah. You'd think they would just invent some new exploding wands that cause your hands to turn pink or something." Fred looked at George quickly and removed a piece of parchment and quill and jotted something down.
Fred smiled. "Good one. That's exactly what we'll do."
Ron laughed as he looked into every shop they passed. As they walked closer to the entrance of Knock Turn Alley, Ginny's strides became shorter and slower. Ron tried to nudge her along. "Let's go Gin. Fred and George need to open their shop."
Ginny stopped dead in her tracks right in front of the entrance. She couldn't move and was barely breathing. That was where it happened, where her innocence was stolen, where she almost died. She could feel the air leading towards the entrance as chilly and moist. It was dark even in the afternoon and was just reaping evil. Something other than what happened there was alarming her but also drawing her to it. She was terrified of what could be down there but was frightfully curious.
Fred and George walked around her continuing on to their shop. "Meet you guys inside."
Ron put his hand on Ginny's shoulder and noticed she was crying. "Ginny? What's wrong?"
Ginny wiped her eyes and sighed heavily. "Oh nothing. I got something stuck in my eye." Giving the entrance one more look, she headed towards her brother's joke shop with Ron trailing behind suspiciously. He wondered what could possibly make her cry in the middle of the day. He also became angry as this was one of the many things she would probably keep secret from him.
They entered the shop that already had lines of people outside. Fred and George were nothing but successful and had more money than they knew how to handle. Ginny squeezed in and walked down the least crowded aisle to try and spot Hermione. She felt someone walk up from behind and place their hands over her eyes. She smiled as she immediately knew it was Draco by his touch.
She turned around and wrapped her arms around his neck. "What are you doing here?"
Draco became a bit alarmed by her affection and looked around. He slowly removed her arms and before he could even speak a word, George and Fred were almost on top of him.
Fred was as red as a tomato. "What in hell do you think you're doing Malfoy?"
George had his fists clenched but turned his attention to Ginny. "Do you want to explain what you're doing hugging him?"
Ginny's stomach dropped to the floor. What was she thinking? The truth was, she hadn't thought about it. She was just so excited to see Draco that she lost control and forgot where she was. Ginny was desperate for words as she knew Fred and George would pounce on Draco at any moment. Suddenly she heard a familiar voice from behind.
Hermione pushed the twins away from Draco. "I'm assuming no one has told you how Draco saved Ginny from being badly burned in potions?"
Fred and George looked at each other puzzled. Mr. and Mrs. Weasley walked up with Ron and Harry. Hermione sighed and continued. "For your information, Ginny and Draco were assigned as partners in potions. Neville was being Neville and turned his potion into some terrible substance that exploded and shot Ginny's way. Draco saw that she was about to be burned and threw himself over her subjecting himself to tremendous pain. Since then, they have been friends and that's that."
Fred and George waved there hands gesturing for more and looked as if they were waiting for the punch line. Mr. Weasley smiled with a shocked expression. Mrs. Weasley's eyes filled with tears and she pulled Draco into a bear hug. "To think you saved our baby from getting burned! No one told us! How can we ever thank you?"
Mrs. Weasley let him go as Draco was very pale. "It was nothing really. Ginny's already thanked me."
The sound of Draco Malfoy saying their little sister's name made the twin's jump back animatedly. Mrs. Weasley managed to smack them both in the back of their heads. She smiled and shrugged. "Well…I wonder why this is the first I'm hearing of this. Surely you would have written me Ron."
Ron shrugged with a look of disgust. "I guess it slipped my mind." Hermione rolled her eyes at that comment knowing perfectly well that he spent quite a lot of time thinking about that specific event. Ron spoke again noticing Hermione's expression. "Look, he saved her and now they're friends. Big deal. Can we go now?"
Mrs. Weasley threw her shoulders back and addressed Draco politely. "How are you spending your Christmas?"
Draco turned down his eyebrows in confusion. "I uh will be spending it at the manor."
"You'll be having a proper Christmas dinner party then?" Mrs. Weasley said ignoring Ginny's eyes of bewilderment.
"Not exactly no. It's going to be nice and quiet at the manor this year. My mum will be in Paris you see and I'm looking forward to relaxing alone-"
"Rubbish! I won't hear of it. You will attend our gathering as Ginny's guest tomorrow, say 1:00?" Mrs. Weasley said as she looked at Mr. Weasley who nodded in agreement.
Draco looked at Ginny who simply shrugged in amazement. Fred and George were beside themselves as Ron looked green. Harry and Hermione were both smiling widely.
Draco breathed in deeply and bowed slightly. "Mrs. Weasley, I would be honored. See you all tomorrow. Bye Ginny." He turned quickly heading for the exit. He shook his head when he walked out realizing that almost the entire Weasley family knew of his friendship with Ginny.