Chapter 13

Cnorth

Credit: whitv

Beta: Winthrops Slayer

Disclaimer: All HP characters belong to JKR.

A/N: Sorry for the long time between chapters 11 and 12, my computer broke down, and then I had to wait for Winthrops Slayer to finish betaing it between papers. I promise they will be coming much faster now, barring unforeseen circumstances. Votes for who should win the karaoke contest will now be accepted.

Christmas was quickly approaching, and Draco Malfoy, for the first time in his life, was at a complete and total loss. Usually he just gave people money for Christmas, but he didn't feel that would be enough for Hollie. He wanted to get her something special, but it also couldn't be too expensive, since he couldn't spend family money due to the Malfoy "hatred" of muggleborns.

'Think, Drake. Who could help you if you don't have but 15 galleons to spend on a present for a girl…' Suddenly it clicked. He had been teasing the Weasleys about their lack of money for the majority of his life, and now that he was in the same situation, he was about to go ask one for help. Distaste filled him as he mentally gave up. If he wanted this to work out with Hollie, he was going to have to give up his battle against the Gryffindorks.

About an hour later, he finally managed to corner a Weasley. One of the twins, he couldn't tell which one. As if he knew their names anyway.

"Whaddya want, Malfoy?" Fred asked, and Draco realized this had to be the one that was after Chelli, that slightly dangerous girl that had punched him the other day.

"What makes you think I want something, Weasley?" he asked, before thinking that it was probably the fact that he had just shoved the boy into a side alley of Hogsmeade, and kept him from leaving.

"Gee, I don't bloody well know. Could be that ya shoved me in here!" the twin yelled, drawing his wand. Draco sighed, leaning over slowly and putting his wand on the ground.

"I just need to talk to you, is all," he said quietly, not quite believing it was the second time in a week that he had asked for help, and both times had been because of Hollie.

"Well get it over with. I have better things to do than listen to you prattle on." Fred snapped, short tempered due to Chelli's inconsistent reactions to his feelings. He really couldn't tell how she felt, and sometimes he felt like HE was the girl in this situation.

"Every time I try to play nice, it just blows up in my bloody face! Soddin' gryffindors…those two deserve each other, they'll spend all their time snarking at each other." Malfoy mumbled, tired of being snapped at whenever he was trying to make up for his past actions. Fred didn't overhear his quiet remark, instead just standing there waiting for the Slytherin to say something. If he was going to take up his time, he might as well do it with talking rather than just by standing there.

"Ok, Weasley. Here's the thing: you want that Chelli girl to go out with you, right? And I'll be damned if Hollie will resist me much longer…so I say we team up. I help you find the perfect present, and you help me stick to a budget." Fred, once more showing his likeness to Chelli, broke into raucous laughter, doubling over as his ribs started hurting from it.

"Bloody hell! Just listen to me for five bleedin' minutes before you start laughing! Merlin, if you two weren't meant for each other, then I've never met two people who were!" Attempting to be nice was harder than it looked, Draco had decided, and he was starting to regret his decision. While he didn't want to give up, Hollie might actually be a little out of his league. While some girls were high maintenance in money, she was apparently high maintenance in friendship and devotion.

He really did want this to work out though. Despite his reputation as being, well, somewhat evil, he wasn't really that bad of a guy. Even his father wasn't. Lucius Malfoy had been a spy for the Order of the Phoenix, but had to put on the image of the ultimate bad guy, since it was Snape's job to distract Voldemort's attention from Malfoy's disloyalty. Recently, however, Lucius had left Voldemort's service after the Dark Lord wanted to have Draco kill Dumbledore. Now he was being hunted down by the Dark Lord, but thankfully, Malfoy Manor was old enough that the wards made it unplottable. Someone else had managed to kill Dumbledore, though. No one was really sure who, because the figure had been cloaked and rather than using the killing curse, had poisoned the headmaster by drugging his morning tea. While many people, including Potter, had suspected Snape, Draco knew that the Potions Professor hadn't committed the crime. The man's loyalties lay strictly with Dumbledore, and with Lucius no longer being privy to the Dark Lord's thoughts, Snape would have been too busy trying to move up in the ranks of the Death Eaters and gathering information to plot to kill his own boss. If he even could have…Draco doubted it. He knew with certainty that there was no way he could have done it had his father asked it of him, and he wasn't even that fond of the old codger.

"Listen Weasley…Fred, right? I'm serious. I can't do this by myself…girls are too bloody complicated. Now just help me," he half demanded, half pleaded with the older boy. Seeing precisely what lengths Malfoy was willing to go to in order to work this out made Fred agree, and he nodded finally, accepting the proposition.

"Alright then, let's go shopping. But if my brothers see this, I can't say they won't curse you thinking you have me under the Imperius. Because if it weren't for the girls, there is no way in hell that this would be happening." He swallowed, unable to figure out why he was doing this. The two hurried off into the crowded streets of Hogsmeade, Fred staying physically as far away from Malfoy as possible. They may be working together, but that didn't require that they be anywhere near each other, at least in Fred's opinion.