Author's Notes: Biggest Chapter, so far! Almost 2000 words!
Sorry if any of this Chapter seems a little off, I don't know much about Christmas or its customs because I don't celebrate it.
Check out the One-Shot in my profile, The Snowball Fight to read about the group's fun in the snow.
Chapter 14 - Time for Some Holiday Cheer
The weeks passed slowly, with Harry, Ron and Hermione constantly researching in the library. They had found a few books, some in the restricted section, which would help with the planning of a breach of Voldemort's lair to find and destroy the last Horcruxes. Nagini would be easy to capture, but Hufflepuff's Cup was a completely different story.
While the trio researched, Ginny and Draco were back to their routine of study time and visits to the kitchens. They worked well together, and even managed to finish some work that was not due until after the Christmas Holiday.
When the Holiday arrived, many students went home for the celebrations, except for the Weasley children, Hermione and Harry. The Weasleys would be joining them there, except for Percy, along with the rest of the Order, because it would be safer for everyone to be together at the castle. Draco Malfoy also stayed in school for Christmas; he could not spend it with his mother as she was in hiding with Severus Snape and his father was a dangerous escaped convict.
Draco planned to spend the Holiday on his own, while Ginny was off with her family and friends. However, a day before Christmas Eve, when all the Order members had arrived at Hogwarts, Ginny and her mother approached Draco outside the Great Hall on the way in for dinner.
"Err, excuse me, Mr. Malfoy, may I have a word with you?" Ginny's mother was a bit uncomfortable with what she was about to propose, but was doing it for her daughter.
Draco nodded, and waited for Mrs. Weasley's question.
"Ginny's told me that you are to be here for Christmas, and that you will be alone for the meal and celebrations."
"That's right, ma'am" He said in agreement.
"Well… Ginny was. No, we were wondering. That is, would you care to join us all in the Great Hall tomorrow night, for Christmas dinner? It's certainly no time for a young boy to be all alone."
"Gosh, thank you Mrs. Weasley. If it's all right with you lot, I would like to. I'd love to."
Draco immediately scolded himself, 'Did I just say gosh? What in the world has gotten into me?'
"Oh Draco this will be great, I promise! We even got Ron and Harry to agree to leave you alone throughout the meal, isn't that wonderful?" Ginny was excited to be able to spend her second favourite holiday, after Halloween of course, with her close friend.
They walked into the Great Hall in silence, Mrs. Weasley going to sit next to her eldest son, Bill, and Ginny seating herself next to Hermione. She motioned for Draco to sit next to her; it was not a problem because the students who left for the Holiday had left that morning.
The next day was Christmas Eve. The castle was decorated beautifully with green wreaths sparkling with red ribbons and mistletoe discreetly placed around the hallways. There was a huge fir tree in the Great Hall, dressed in silver, gold, red and blue tinsel along with floating candles placed in a pattern around it. On the top, there was a silver replica of the school crest, a symbol of the school's solidarity.
As the remaining students and order members walked into the Hall for their Christmas feast, everyone noticed the beautiful tree and the presents underneath it. They knew that the presents were to be opened the next morning, but the children all wondered what they had received and from whom.
Arthur Weasley had been rescued from the place he was being held captive. That place just so happened to be Malfoy Manor and he had been found a week after the emergency meeting had taken place, the first week of December.
There had been an Auror-led raid on the Manor, to search for the escaped Lucius. What they found instead had been a poorly watched dungeon, where Arthur had been chained to the wall. He had suffered many Cruciatus curses, but was still alive. The Aurors took out the three Death Eater guards, and sent them to Azkaban. They sent Mr. Weasley to St. Mungo's Hospital, where he received care for his injuries. He was then released a few days before Christmas. He had come straight to Hogwarts and was going to stay there with his family until school was to start again.
Arthur sat at the head of the table, as he was a guest of honour after having been kidnapped and missing for over a month. His family sat on either side of the table after him. Molly sat on his right, with Bill and Fleur next to her, and Draco and Ginny after her. It was better for Draco to be next to Fleur, because they were already acquainted from the Tri-Wizard Tournament and she was a proper young woman who would be polite to him, no matter what. Charlie and Ron sat on Mr. Weasley's other side, with Hermione and Harry after Ron. The twins were separated, for safety reasons, one on either side of the table after Ginny and after Harry.
After the Weasleys, the remaining professors and Order members seated themselves in no particular order, with the Headmistress sitting at the other head of the table
The meal went by nicely, with only one minor altercation involving the twins and Draco. Even though they had been separated, they still managed to cause some mischief.
Fred had thrown a napkin at George, on which he had secretly written a note. The note said that George, who was sitting next to Ginny and was closest to Draco, should slip a 'special something' into Draco's meal when he wasn't looking.
Draco, however, had been discreetly watching his plate and cup, in fear of the twins' reputation for fiddling with other people's things. He had seen, out of the corner of his eye, tiny yellow specks sprinkled in his pumpkin juice by the redheaded twin seated next to Ginny.
He quickly exchanged his cup for Fleur's, and, not a second later, Fleur had taken a sip from it. Suddenly, a big yellow canary sat in her place, and the entire Hall resounded in laughter.
When Fleur had changed back into her normal self, she merely glared at the twins and promised that she would get them back someday. Molly and Arthur were angry with them, and Bill had gone up to each one and smacked them upside the head as punishment for embarrassing his wife.
Since the twins had been blamed right away, they could not admit that they had been attempting a prank on Draco. That would only get them into more trouble, because they had also sworn to their mother and sister to leave the Slytherin boy alone during their stay at Hogwarts.
The rest of the meal went by without any more high-jinx. The twins, for having had their plans foiled, congratulated Draco for a job well done.
Due to all the Holiday cheer, Ginny had forgotten to be angry with her twin brothers for trying to embarrass Draco, and she had disregarded the fact that Draco had ended up embarrassing Fleur instead.
It was truly a magical night, and the cheery atmosphere stuck through to the morning, when it was time to open their presents.
The children were the first to arrive at breakfast, most of them not even out of their pyjamas. Next were the staff members and order members, followed by the Headmistress. While the adults sat at the tables, the students and Weasley children sat around the tree going through the many gifts set out for them.
The adults had already given their gifts privately, and were watching the children get excited over theirs.
Ginny had received some new products from the twins, a dragon fang necklace from Charlie, a French book of poetry from Fleur and Bill, and Quidditch Through the Ages from Ron and Harry. Hermione gave Ginny a copy of a full set of Transfiguration notes with a note wishing her luck studying for the NEWTS, even though they were still another year away for her.
The rest of them received nice gifts, as well.
Draco, however, did not have any gifts under the tree. He sat quietly next to Ginny, looking around at all the unwrapped goodies. When suddenly Mrs. Weasley walked over and dropped a package in his lap.
"Ginny mentioned you might not get any gifts from your family this year, so Arthur and I decided that you should get something from our family instead." Mrs. Weasley smiled at the surprised boy.
Draco opened the neatly wrapped gift and was pleased to find a grey sweater with green stitching spelling out the letter "D".
"Aw, no fair, Malfoy gets a normal colour! Why am I always stuck with maroon?" Ron complained under his breath, but loudly enough for Ginny and Draco to hear right next to him. .
Ginny giggled, "That's a nice colour for you, Draco."
"Thanks, Mrs. Weasley, Mr. Weasley. I appreciate this. More than you know." Draco said with genuine respect.
"I have a little something for you, too, Draco." Ginny pulled out a small package from the pocket of her pyjama pants.
She handed the small package over to Draco, and waited for his reaction. "It's nothing special, but I think you'll like it."
As Draco untied the ribbon, Ginny watched with a hopeful look on her face.
The ribbon and paper fell away to reveal a miniature snow globe with a small green dragon in the centre. She had sent away for it before the whole ordeal with her father had happened and it had arrived a day after she had made up with Draco.
"It's lovely, thank you, Ginny." He said, smiling at her. His eyes darted up for a second then looked back at her. He leaned in slowly and placed a soft kiss on her left cheek.
Ginny blushed and looked away from the boy, obviously embarrassed. She had a goofy little smile plastered on her face for the next half hour.
He pointed up and shrugged. "I… Err… Mistletoe, you know… Here, I got you something too." Draco pulled out a small box from his pocket and slid it over to Ginny. "I saw it in a catalogue and it reminded me of you."
Ginny opened the green velvet box to find a simple necklace with an imp charm dangling from it.
"You're such an imp; fiery and quick to temper." Draco admitted as Ginny stuck her tongue out at him.
Ginny chuckled, and thanked him. "Thank you, Draco, it really is nice."
Draco smiled in appreciation and the two sat there looking dumbly at each other until the twins broke the silence. "Time for a snowball fight! Everyone by the lake in fifteen minutes or we'll turn you into snowmen!"
The Weasley children, Fleur, Hermione, Harry, and Draco ran up to their rooms to change into snowy weather clothes.
They all had a wonderful Christmas, and the days to follow were magically fun, as well. Draco got along with everyone, mostly because he was ignored by the trio, and joked around with the twins. Bill and Charlie were tolerant of him only because they could see that he kept their little sister smiling more than usual.
School starting up again was a bit of a let down, only because the magical feeling of companionship that Ginny had felt with everyone there was to disappear with the separation of houses once more. She would always look back fondly on the Christmas of her sixth year at Hogwarts.