A/N: I don't even want to think about how long it's been since I updated this - real life has been depressingly busy :( Thank you so much to the couple of people who reviewed recently - you're probably the only reason I remembered this story still existed. Hope this makes up for it :)

Chapter Eleven

The next month was one of the strangest of Draco's life. The Weasleys, unable to do things by halves, went from utterly despising him to treating him like some long-lost brother. Not that they were all won over immediately, or that it was suddenly very easy. Ron in particular seemed to find it difficult to forget the seven years that they had spent despising one another, and Draco couldn't blame him. He felt the same way. Cruel words and snide remarks had been their only form of communication for their entire time at school, and that wasn't an easy habit to break. They were trying, though.

Granger – or Hermione, as he should call her now – treated him a bit like one of her projects, which was sometimes frustrating. It was nice to have someone so outraged on his behalf at the way he'd been treated, and he appreciated the way she was campaigning to have his sentence under house arrest shortened, but he would have liked her to stop looking at him like some poor, mistreated puppy.

George, strangely, seemed to be the quickest to accept him as a friend rather than an enemy. He wasn't sure exactly what had prompted this complete change of heart, and he didn't want to ask for fear of ruining it. All he knew was that he always seemed to be an accomplice in, rather than the victim of, George's pranks. George seemed to respect him in some strange way, and that confused Draco a little. He wasn't used to respect. People had feared him, despised him, pitied him, looked down on him, envied him and occasionally even cared about him, but no one had ever respected him. And the Weasley twins had never been known for having a lot of respect for anyone, except perhaps a select few.

The Weasleys began to spend a lot more time at the house, dropping in whenever they weren't busy to hang out with Draco or Dudley, or Harry if he was around. They were all very loud, and the house seemed constantly to resound with laughter and noisy conversations and debates, which was a little overwhelming after so much solitude and silence. Draco liked it, though. He didn't often participate, but even sitting on the sidelines, soaking in the cheerful atmosphere, was enough to make his heart feel lighter than it had in a very long time.

But of course, it couldn't stay like that. The Weasleys, being Weasleys, were unwilling to simply leave things as they were. As Christmas approached, conversations turned to more dangerous topics.

"How are you spending Christmas, Dudley?" Draco heard George ask one day. Dudley shrugged.

"My parents are in Majorca," he said, "Doubt they'll come back for Christmas. So I guess I'll just hang out here for the day."

George looked absolutely horrified.

"You can't stay in this big, empty house at Christmas!" he exclaimed, "Even Harry's not being that anti-social. He's coming to ours, like he does most years. You should come too!"

At this point, Dudley glanced at Draco a little uncomfortably.

"I reckon me and Draco will just stay here," he said, "I personally fancy a peaceful Christmas this year."

The look of horror on George's face deepened.

"Christmas isn't allowed to be peaceful," he said insistently, "Clearly you've never celebrated Christmas properly if you don't know that. You're coming to ours, and that's final. Draco can come too, obviously."

"No, I can't," Draco said quietly. George opened his mouth to argue, but Draco pressed forwards: "I mean I actually can't. I'm under house arrest, remember? I'm not allowed to leave Harry's house."

George felt silent.

"Oh yeah," he muttered, a little awkwardly, "Sorry, Draco. I'd forgotten."

"It's fine," Draco said, doing his best to sound nonchalant, "I'm not that bothered about Christmas, anyway. Don't go ruining your day by staying here with me, Dudley. You should go to the Weasleys'. I don't mind."

"Nah," Dudley brushed his offer aside, equally nonchalantly, "I'm not a big fan of Christmas either."

George just stared at them, mouth hanging open in surprise. Then, without another word, he turned and strode from the room. Draco and Dudley exchanged a look.

"What was that about?" Draco wondered.

"Beats me," Dudley replied, "I don't think it means we're going to be left to our nice peaceful Christmas, though."

"You don't have to stay here with me," Draco said, "I genuinely don't mind. Christmas really isn't my thing."

"It's not mine either," Dudley replied, "I wasn't just saying that. I've never seen Christmas as that big a deal."

"Really?" Having seen the fuss so many people his age made over Christmas, Draco was surprised to find someone who felt the same way as him. "How come?"

"Well it's just another day really, isn't it? I always used to get excited in the build up to Christmas. It felt like something really important was coming, which would somehow fill up the big gap inside me. But then it would arrive, and my parents would have bought me lots and lots of stuff, but it was just stuff. There was nothing special or wonderful about any of it, and I'd be left still feeling like something was missing. Not that I really realised that at the time, obviously. I just threw a big tantrum and told my parents the presents weren't good enough or there weren't enough of them, and pretended that was the reason I still wasn't happy. So yeah … I guess I'm a bit disillusioned when it comes to Christmas."

Draco just stared at him. He wasn't sure what to say.

"Yeah, me too," he settled for eventually. It didn't go any way towards expressing the way it felt to hear someone else describe the very same feelings he'd been ignoring for years, but Dudley seemed to understand. They exchanged a look that spoke more than words ever could have, that said neither of them were alone in this, and they'd keep each other company in their sad, lonely Christmases.

George, however, had other ideas. Three days before Christmas, he turned up at the house, a proud grin on his face.

"You're both coming over for Christmas," he announced, looking very pleased with himself. When Dudley and Draco didn't immediately start jumping around with joy, he sighed.

"Aren't you pleased?" he asked, "I've sorted it all. I had to write about a million different letters to the Ministry to get a one-day exception to your sentence, Draco, and even then they weren't too pleased about it. Dad's had to sign a million different forms saying that he's responsible for making sure you stay in our house the whole day. And then once Harry gave his support too they couldn't really say no, because no one can say no to Harry nowadays. So anyway, you're coming to the Burrow for Christmas! Isn't that great?"

The look of enthusiasm on George's face was impossible to refuse, and Dudley and Draco smiled and enthused accordingly. But Draco knew Dudley's smiles were as fake as his own, and he couldn't help but wish George had just left them to their boring Christmas.

It wasn't that he wasn't grateful. He didn't think anyone had ever gone to that much effort for him before, and he'd never expected a Weasley of all people to put so much effort into trying to give him a nice Christmas. But the idea of having to pretend to be happy for an entire day was exhausting just to think about.

Ah well. There was nothing he could do about it. Christmas at the Weasleys' it was.

Next chapter: Christmas with the Weasleys! I'm feeling very Christmassy now we're into December :)