A/N: Well I was originally planning on getting this up before Christmas, but obviously that didn't work out :/ Anyway, this is part one of Christmas at the Weasleys'. Hopefully part two will be up as soon as possible :)

Chapter Twelve

"Why on earth did I ever agree to this?" Draco ran his hand through his hair, pacing around Dudley's bedroom. He had been doing so for the last twenty minutes or so, and Dudley was past trying to get him to calm down.

"You agreed because it'll be nice to spend Christmas with friends, rather than all alone," he said patiently. Draco merely threw him a glare, not even deigning to reply to that.

Dudley sighed. It was Christmas Eve, and Draco's nerves were increasing with every passing second as it came closer to the moment when they would leave the house they'd been trapped inside for months in order to go to the Burrow for Christmas Day. Dudley was lying on his bed, reading a book and half-listening to Draco's rant.

"What are you so scared of?" he asked, "It's just Christmas Day. We open presents, eat lots of Mrs Weasley's food – which I've been assured is delicious – and generally enjoy ourselves."

"You make it sound so simple!" Draco said, clearly frustrated, "But I've never done this before! I don't even know how to behave. It's going to be awkward and awful and they're all going to think I'm a complete idiot."

Dudley rolled his eyes. There was no point even trying to argue with an irrational Draco. He was sure it would all be much easier than Draco thought to be absorbed into the Weasley Christmas, but he didn't think Draco would listen if he tried to say that. Instead, he went back to his book.

Draco continued to pace for a little while longer, and his anxiety was beginning to get to Dudley too. After all, he'd never spent Christmas with anyone other than his family before. Wizards were bound to have completely different traditions. What if he did something wrong?

He shook off that thought, which was really rather ridiculous. There was no need to worry. It was going to be bad enough trying to persuade Draco to relax without being nervous himself.

Christmas was going to be great. Or at least, he really hoped it was.

When Draco woke up on Christmas morning, it took him a few moments to remember why his stomach was churning with nerves. Then it came back to him. This was Christmas! And he was going to spend it with the Weasleys.

He got dressed, which took him a little longer than it ought to have. Would the Weasleys think he was pretentious if he turned up in something really posh? Or did people normally dress up for Christmas Day? Would it look really bad if he didn't make an effort?

Eventually he managed to compromise with a semi-formal outfit that he thought would probably suffice, and headed downstairs for breakfast. Harry and Dudley were already up, looking far too cheerful for his liking.

"Merry Christmas!" Harry said chirpily. Draco merely glared at him. Harry looked surprised, and Dudley threw Draco a warning look. Draco supposed people were expected to be eternally cheerful on Christmas Day, but he couldn't summon up the energy. He'd never been good at pretending to be happy. And he couldn't understand what about Christmas would make people genuinely happy. A day of tolerating the extended family you got to ignore for the rest of the year, pretending to like presents you didn't really want and listening to his parents harp on about all the things they expected from him over the next year had never appealed to him much.

And yet, on this day that made everyone want to be with family, he couldn't help but miss his parents. What was Christmas like in Azkaban, he wondered. And how was he supposed to pretend to enjoy a day with the happy, idyllic Weasley family when all he could think about was the fact that he missed his own, albeit rather dysfunctional, family?

He wasn't given any longer to brood over these less than cheerful thoughts, as Harry announced that he'd promised Ron they'd be over by eight, and it was five to now.

One by one, they took a pinch of Floo powder from the mantelpiece and travelled through to the Burrow, though Harry had to explain the mode of transport to Dudley first. Draco supposed he ought to feel excited about leaving the house for the first time in months, but he didn't. Travelling through a fireplace to another house didn't really feel the same as actually going outside would have.

And then he was hit by a wall of noise and smells as he arrived in the Burrow. He was immediately surrounded by people, wishing him a Merry Christmas and grinning broadly. They all seemed too caught up in their own happiness to notice his less than enthusiastic responses, and he was glad of that. Still, he couldn't help but slightly resent the cheerful banter that was tossed between the siblings, and the way Harry slotted instantly into the family. They actually seemed to be genuinely enjoying themselves, and Draco couldn't understand that. What was it about this day that was so much better than the rest of the year? And why was it that he had never been able to feel that so-called Christmas spirit when everyone else could?

His mood didn't improve as they all sat down in the living room to open presents. The idea of present-giving hadn't even occurred to him, and he hadn't bought anyone anything, which made him feel rather guilty about the small pile of presents with his name on them. To his relief, Dudley hadn't bought anything either, but he still felt awkward.

The first gift he opened contained a jumper. It was red, with a D embroidered in silver on the front. He frowned. Was that what they thought of him? That because he was on better terms with them now that he was some sort of … Gryffindor? Well he wasn't going to pretend to be something he wasn't just so that they'd accept him.

"Red's not really my colour," he said coolly, laying the jumper aside. The moment he did so, he knew he'd made a mistake. The previously noisy room fell into absolute silence.

"You can't just turn down a Weasley jumper," George said eventually, staring at him, "We always wear our jumpers on Christmas Day. It's a family tradition."

"Well perhaps you hadn't noticed, but I'm not part of your family," Draco snapped, "In fact, right now I don't have a family, and I don't see why I should pretend to be grateful that you've let me tag along to your stupid Christmas."

He stood up.

"Look, I'm sure you were trying to be nice, but I don't really want to be here. I'll just go home, and you can carry on with Christmas without me spoiling it for you."

There was silence again. Nobody seemed to be sure what to say. Part of Draco desperately wanted someone to stop him from leaving, to tell him that they actually wanted him there. But nobody did, and he was about to walk towards the fireplace when the silence was broken by the sound of knocking on the front door.

It was Ginny who got up. To his surprise, she grabbed Draco by the hand and led him gently through to the front door.

"Before you go," she said, "We got you one other present."

She opened the door. A little confused, Draco looked out. Standing on the doorstep were two women. One of them was his estranged Aunt Andromeda, who was carrying a small child with blue hair.

The other was his mother.