I hate laptops and like nine pages of this chapter was written on one. My dad let me take his on our road trip (a 24 hour car ride to Ohio) so I could finish this chapter. In fact, I finished this in mid-Kentucky.So, happy Christmas.

Disclaimer: It's one o'clock in the morning. I'll think of something clever to say in twelve hours or so.

Ginny hugged her Dad and the other redhead, whom Draco assumed to be one of her older brothers. She smiled warmly as the girl shook her hand enthusiastically. It was only then that Draco remembered who else was there: Moody. He felt a shiver go down his spine and forced down painful ferrety mermories. So far, no one had addressed the fact that Draco was still there, trailing only a step or two away from Ginny. But Mad-Eye was following his every move with his magic eye; even if he couldn't see through the patch he knew very well Moody could. Ron, too, was now beginning to look suspicious.

Ginny greeted Mad-Eye warmly and he grunted a hello, but Draco could still feel the roving blue eye upon him.

Finally, Ron could take no more. "What are just standing there for?"

Everyone who had not previously seen Draco snapped their attention to him. Even the great lumbering dog stopped his playing to stare at him.

"Go on Malfoy." Harry said coolly.

The use of his name seemed to bring them into focus. Moody, who had apparently been trying to place him, had his wand out and aimed in less than a second. The older Weasley son had never met him, but had apparently heard enough from his younger siblings to put a hand to his wand, even if he did have the restraint not to draw it. Lupin and Mr. Weasley looked at him with alarm. The dog let out a low, menacing growl.

For a moment he faltered between making a snarky comment or telling the truth, and had just decided to tell Potter some rather uncomfortable places he could store his broomstick, when Ginny interrupted.

"He's coming home with us." She said, somewhere between commanding and hopeful.

Lupin was the first to say anything. "Moody, for goodness sakes, put that wand down. The muggles!"

It was true; they had already left the platform and were surrounded by muggles who were giving them strange looks. They didn't need any other reason for the people to get suspicious.

"Ginny, what are you talking about?" Ron asked, utterly bewildered and not just a little angry.

"He needed a place to stay." She said shortly. "So he's coming home with us."

"Absolutely not." Moody barked, not lowering his wand. "Completely against operating procedure."

"Moody." Mr. Weasley said.

"This is exactly the kind of trick we should have expected." Moody said.

"Perhaps," Lupin said, "it would be better if we did this somewhere else."

"Why don't we go ahead and portkey to the checkpoint." The Hermione said reasonable. Lupin and Mr. Weasley all nodded their agreement.

"And let them ambush us? Use your heads!" Moody snapped.

Ginny hesitated. She had had that exact thought more times than she could count. What if Draco was just using her to spy on the Order. Well it wasn't like she really had a choice, besides she knew Draco hated his father. There was no doubting it. His whole face darkened even at the mention of Lucius and no one, not even the famous Draco Malfoy could be that good of an actor. "No," She said, "there's no ambush."

"But he's a Malfoy!" Ron cried, outraged.

"Yes, we've already established that. Now why don't you go be good boy and let mummy and daddy talk for a while?" Ginny's other brother (who she'd quietly named as Charlie) snapped as Ron reminded them for the fifteenth time that Draco was in fact a Malfoy.

"Don't you condescend to me." Ron ordered.

"Then don't act like a prat." Charlie bit back.

It had taken them nearly a quarter of an hour to convince Moody (plus Ron, Harry, and Charlie for that matter) to use the portkey. The argument would have, no doubt, lived longer if a ticket-taker hadn't come and distastefully asked them to move along. They now had another twenty minutes of arguing under they belts and were, as far as Draco could see, no closer to a conclusion.

He had long ago settled against a large tree, dead and hard for the winter, and closed his eyes, tuning out the argument. And no one had bothered him. They hadn't even consulted him at all. Ginny could figure it out. In the meanwhile, he could sleep.

"Listen." Ginny said harshly, rounding on her father. Draco had heard her use that voice before. It was the voice she used at the end of every argument. "I can't say why just yet, but I promise as soon as we're home I can explain things better to you and Mum. Until then, you'll just have to trust me. If you can't do that, well then I guess there's really no other solution than to just leave me here because I am not going anywhere without Draco."

He felt irrationally nettled at the use of his first name and opened his eyes to glare at her, but their attention had long drifted away for him.

Right, because it's not like this argument is actually about me or anything.

He couldn't explain his annoyance, after all she had used his name several times before and it had never bothered him. For a moment he tired to decide whether she had slipped into using his first name because that was how she thought of him now, as Draco, or if she was just caught in the moment. She was, he settled on, just using it for dramatic affect.

Which she had achieved.

After a long pause, Lupin sighed heavily and looked at Mr. Weasley. "It's your house Arthur, the decision is yours."

He took a long look at his daughter, who stood, somewhat flushed but proud, with her chin held high.

"Fine." He looked at Draco, not looking particularly pleased with his own decision. "We'll take him back to the house and see what Dumbledore has to say. After Ginny and I have a long talk."

Ginny threw her arms happily around her father.

And then there was quite a bit of bustle collecting all their things they had set down. Harry had been sitting on his trunk with the dog beside him. Hermione had let Crookshanks out to stretch and was now calling up to him where he lounging on a branch just out of her reaches. Ron, red faced and mumbling went to go help her. Moody watched them, magic eye scrutinizing every motion. He was mumbling as much as Ron, only much louder and, Draco suspected with the intention of being heard.

"Well," The pink haired girl who seemed to be called Tonks (Tonks?) said, "What now?"

The portkey had taken them to a small, snowy hill on the other side of which Draco could just barely make out the lights of a village. Other than that, it was completely deserted.

"Now," Lupin answered. "We walk."

The trek to the village wasn't long, and wouldn't have been bad if it hadn't snowed so recently. He was in excellent shape from Seeking; he had walked more than twice this distance (no more than two miles) more times than he could count while he was training. As it was, the fresh fallen flakes were large and wet, and Italian leather and snow didn't mix very well. He had, not anticipating an icy jaunt, worn his lightest cloak, and the cold was indomitable and no matter of rubbing his hands together or shoving them deep into his pockets would help. Ginny was by no matter making it easier. She was in such high spirits that she kept stopping and twirling in the snow, kicking up the little crystals, running ahead of the group. Only when Mad-Eye yelled at her to stay with the group (she had gotten well up ahead) did she stop.

She grinned at him when he caught up. "Poor Malfoy." She said playfully. "Too much work? Need to stop and have a little lie down?"

"A tempting offer, but we've entirely not enough privacy. I've done some crazy things, but in the snow with your father watching?"

She didn't even rise to the jab.

"What's gone and made you so darn cheerful?" He grunted.

"Snow." She answered, sneaking in another twirl. "I love snow."

"It's just frozen water, Weasley."

"No, it's magical." She said and even as she spoke snowflakes started falling anew. She stopped and stuck out her tongue, hoping to catch some.

"I'm not getting in that."

"Oh really, Malfoy. For goodness sakes. It's perfectly safe." Hermione said, clearly annoyed.

"I'm. Not. Getting. In. That." He said, saying each word slowly and purposefully.

Hermione let out a frustrated sigh and looked entreatingly at Professor Lupin, obviously tired of being rational.

He sighed heavily. "Muggles do it all the time, Draco."

"They also spend their days sitting watching a box but you don't bloody well expect me to do that too!" He snapped.

"If you're referring to television," Mister Weasley began excitedly, making sure to pronounce the word correctly. "It's really quite interesting-"

Charlie put a restraining hand on his father's shoulder. "Maybe now's not the time, Dad."

He looked devastated. "Well, no I suppose not." But he still looked hopefully back up at him, as though he expected that at any moment Draco would intercede and tell him how he couldn't possible wait to hear something so amazing. When he did no such thing, Mr. Weasley lowered his voice conspiringly and whispered, "Later."

"Well," Ron said irritably. "I say if he won't come we just shove him in the boot."

Draco looked mortified. The glaring metal monstrosity was, as far as he was concerned, a general affront to nature. It was old, slightly rusty around the tires and the paint was chipped in places.

Then Ginny began laughing so absurdly loudly that a few people passing on the street turned to see what was happening. She doubled over, clutching her stomach and no matter how much he liked her laugh he didn't like it at his expense. And that certainly seemed like what was happening here.

"What?" He snapped.

"You- Poor ickle, Drackie, you're afraid of the car aren't you?" She said with wicked glee.

He puffed up a bit. "I'm not afraid. There is a very thick line between fear and common sense."

"The great Draco Malfoy! Afraid of cars! What would the other Slytherins say about this?"

"Probably, 'spot on, good chap, I wouldn't get in that muggle death trap either.'" He said.

Only she couldn't be persuaded to stop laughing. No matter what he said, she only laughed more widely. "I'm not afraid." He snapped again, but she was gasping for breath so loudly he doubted she even heard.

Angrily he stormed up to the thing, threw open the door- was it supposed to creak like that? - and got inside. He looked smugly up at her and was pleased to note she had stopped laughing. Quickly, she got in beside him. It wasn't until he she was settled neatly beside him and he began to notice the faint smell of old shoes and musty pine did he realized how easily she manipulated him. Why, he'd fallen for the oldest trick in the book!

He didn't say anything as Moody, Tonks and Lupin entered the car. It seemed that the group could do nothing without discord. There had been a fifteen-minute debate on riding arrangements. They had originally planned to only rent one automobile, an extremely tight fit. But with the addition of Draco and his luggage there was absolutely no possible ways of fitting all eleven bodies and all the trunks in one car. So, another had been rented. This led to the question of seating. Moody insisted that he ride with Harry, who in turn insisted that he not be separated from Ron, Hermione, and the big shaggy dog. Mr. Weasley didn't want to be separated from his children, but no one but Ginny would agree to ride with Draco. Moody also asserted, not very delicately, that at least two guards should stay with "the Malfoy spawn", as he had taken to affectionately calling him. Finally, Mad-eye decided that he was the only one capable of keeping Draco's evil ploys at bay and immediately change positions, insisting that he stay with Draco. Lupin and Tonks hovered over the whole scene, staying close at each other's side and not saying much. Finally, after much deliberation, it was decided that Charlie, Mr. Weasley, Ron, Harry, Hermione, and the dog (quite curious, that they'd made as much fuss about where the dog should be placed as they had anyone else), should ride in the first car, and the others would follow in the second.

"Nice work, Weasley." He whispered in her ear once the adults had settled in the front seat. "I almost believed that I wasn't manipulated into that. We may make a Slytherin out of you yet."

She smirked. "You act marvelously for someone who didn't know they were being manipulated."

He was about to retort, when the great, ambling car, lurched into motion. Moody (to everyone's dismay) was driving. Draco, quite against his will, let out a small cry. Ginny laughed and grabbed his hand. For a moment he stared, shocked, but she wasn't facing him. Instead she was looking gleefully at the scenery passing by through his window. He didn't even think she realized what she had done. It was something she would have done to one of her brothers, to Harry. Comfort, he reminded himself, was her nature.

He considered letting go, but the ride was bumpy and uncomfortable and though he wouldn't admit it, he was shaking. This was at least fifty times worse than riding a broom. At least, on a broom, he could trust his own skill, but now he was forced to rely on Moody and it was a helpless, scary feeling. And her touch, her thumb absently stroking his hand, was much more comforting than it should have been.

"Don't worry." She whispered, "It's always scary the first time."

He didn't even bother to abject to her allegation "You've done this before?" He shouldn't have been surprised, after all, look who her father was.

She nodded. "We used to have one enchanted to fly."

He mentally slapped himself; how could he have forgotten that? He was the one who had gotten it taken away! Well, his father had gotten it taken away; he had just mocked Ron endlessly for it. How convenient that she hadn't mentioned that.

"It must have been brilliant." He said softly, and she looked up at him in shock. That, coming from him, was almost an apology. She smiled brightly, and then, seeming to realize that she had his hand in her grasp, she dropped it suddenly.

"I just figured that you wanted to hold my hand." He said innocently when she looked at him. "Who was I to deny you that pleasure?"

She slapped him, softly, on the shoulder.

Tonks turned around, grinning. "Careful, wouldn't want Mad-Eye to think your evil plots unraveling. At least not until he stops driving."

Ginny laughed.

The pink haired girl slapped her forehead. "And here I am carrying on like you remember me. Of course you don't! I'm Tonks." She extended a hand for Draco to shake, which he did, hesitantly.

"I'm your cousin." She declared happily. "On your mum's side of course. No wonder you don't recognize me. Not much of a family resemblance, I'd say. What do you think, Remus darling?"

Draco thought he saw Remus stiffen, but Lupin tweaked her nose and grinned. "Not now." He said.

She grinned back at him and then, quite literally before Draco's eyes, she began to change. Her hair grew longer and hung straight and black, her cheekbones shifted noticeably higher on her face. She blinked several times and upon opening them the last time, Draco saw they had change from blue to the trademark gray Malfoy eyes. She did indeed now look like she could have been related to him.

Tonks wrinkled her nose. "Whaddaya think?" She asked Lupin, "Wanna come home to this every night?"

He laughed. "Please change back."

"You don't like it then? You said you'd love me no matter what." She said, batting her eyelashes.

This time Lupin did cringe. "Nymp-"

"If you call me Nymphadora, so help me I'll call of this wedding right now. How many times do I have to tell you-" She snapped, changing, much more quickly, back into her (relatively) normal self.

"About as many times as I have to tell you I don't want everyone to know about us yet." Remus interrupted calmly.

"Oh, Remus, we'll be married in a few months anyways. It's not like everyone won't find out then."

"But until then." He said, "I'd feel much safer if you didn't go around telling everyone you meet about-"

"That's enough!" Moody barked suddenly, and the two stopped arguing.

The two's engagement was, of course, already common knowledge to all Order members, and Ginny doubted Lupin would have had such a problem with Tonks talking about it if she weren't talking to the Draco Malfoy. He was adorably overprotective of the younger girl.

"Stupid lovers quarrels. This is exactly why members of a team shouldn't get involved. If you two don't shove it, I'll take you off assignment until you're too old and gray to want to do anything with each other." Mad-Eye growled.

"Which isn't too far away of dear old Lupin here! Why look at him, gray hair already." Tonks said.

At first Ginny had been shocked to see Tonks saying things like that so casually. She was almost continually bringing up the very things that had made Lupin so uncomfortable with their relationship: his age, the fact that they worked so closely together, and most importantly his lycanthropy. But the more Tonks joked, the better Remus seemed to take it. It was almost as though they thought belittling the problem would make it go away. Then, Ginny realized that Tonks wasn't belittling it, she was doing the opposite. She was showing Lupin that these things were already a part of her life; she was accepting them and treating them like she would anything else.

Lupin didn't say anything, but Ginny saw him take the girl's hand. And again, Ginny felt that pang in her chest. It was the same one she got when she saw Ron and Hermione making up after a fight, the same one she got when she saw Hannah slide her hand into Seamus's.

Ginny Weasley, when did you become such a hopeless romantic? She asked herself, almost smiling.

Draco she noticed, was still sitting straight up, looking alertly out of the windows. She grinned. "Feeling okay, Malfoy?" She asked cheerily.

"Just peachy. Explain to me again why we had to ride in these infernal muggle contraptions."

"Because," Moody snapped irritably, turning around to face him. His magical eye was rolled back in his head, no doubt still watching the road but it was still not assuring. Draco shuddered and could see Lupin eyeing the wheel warily. "The younger ones can't apparate and portkeys are easily traceably. Not that it matters much now. We might as well just have handed Voldermort the coordinates of-"

Ginny could feel Draco growing angry beside her and was about to interject when Lupin did it for her. "Alastor." He said warningly.

Not happily, the man fell silent and turned back towards the road.

Ginny smiled to herself as she heard Draco exhale loudly. She paused to watch the scenery go by and when she looked back at him he had turned his head and looked a bit bleary eyed.

"Are you alright?" She asked, this time seriously.

"I feel like I just had five firewhiskeys on an empty stomach." He answered with a slight groan.

"Oh no, I should have warned you. It's motion sickness, from the speed of the car."

He looked vaguely annoyed.

"Try looking out the window." He did as he was instructed.

He looked away almost immediately. "Not a good plan." He said, putting a hand on his stomach.

Lupin had turned around, looking concerned. "Are you alright?"

Draco moaned and glared. He was the only person Ginny could imagine looking simultaneously superior and nauseous.

"Lie down." The former professor ordered. "You'll feel better."

Ginny didn't bother to point out that you weren't supposed to get out of sight of the window, but seeing as the window wasn't helping much she didn't bother. And if Draco Malfoy puked in the car, she could guess who was stuck cleaning it up.

Draco's nausea only slightly hindered his enjoyment at Ginny's alarmed shake as he laid his head down in her lap. She looked down at him, startled, but didn't say anything. He rolled his head a little and could fell her stiffen even further. He had lain in this exact position with Pansy more times then he cared to remember, and it had never been something he would have classified as comfortable. She had bony legs and always insisted upon playing with the hair just behind his ear as if he were a dog. He probably would have been much more comfortable with his feet resting in Ginny's lap and his head on the seat, but the discomfort his proximity was causing her was much more enjoyable.

Lupin had been right; lying down had helped ease his stomach. And Ginny's legs weren't nearly as bony as Pansy's. Now, he was feeling well enough to really enjoy the situation. He moaned pathetically and fidgeted a bit more. Hesitantly, she put a hand on his head and began gently moving her fingers through his hair. Her touch wasn't like Pansy's; it was gentler and much more comforting. He closed his eyes and basked in her touch. He was seventeen after all and lying in the lap of a pretty girl. He had decided he was going to make this Christmas enjoyable no matter what it took and if he had his way (and he normally did) then Ginny Weasley was going to have a lot to do with that.

Ok, Solana, I can hear the angryhordes crying, like seven chapters ago you promised us Christmas and there's still no Christmas.

So to prevent mass chaos and mobsI can honestly say that by next chapter they will be at the weasley's house. Really this time.

Happy Christams guys, and if you really want to make me happy give me lots of review or my army of armadillos and I might have to cry.