Disclaimer: I own nothing but a laptop and a lot of candy


Chapter 7:

The Gift


The party had gone for hours and there were still people there when Marcus announced it was time that everyone went to sleep. "We leave for Russia in the morning and we will all need our rest." With his words everyone slowly began to file out of the large room. Aurora smiled to herself as she watched the tipsy witches and wizards holding on to each other for support as they tried to look dignified in front of their teacher.

"My my my, I never thought I would seen grown men and women acting like drunken teenagers" came a gruff voice from behind the birthday girl. She whipped around to see the one person she had been missing all night.

"Grandfather, you came!" was all she could get out before the bone crushing hug he was known for. Aurora smiled into the tall man's dark beard and giggled as he wiggled his chin to tickle her. She quickly stepped back to look her elderly grandfather in the eyes "Why weren't you here earlier? You missed dinner, dancing, cake, you missed everything!" she whined wondering why he had been missing all night.

The elderly man just smiled at his rambunctious granddaughter as she stared at him. "I would have been here sooner but I had to pick up something first and it was rather difficult to get a hold of. I do hope you're not too upset with me my dear, it would break my heart if you were sad."

"I'm not sad" she said, a smile now forming on her lips "I'm just upset we didn't get to have our dance. It's been a tradition since I was little." She looked away so he wouldn't see the smirk forming on her lips. She knew what he was going to do to make it up to her and she couldn't wait for the surprise.

"Oh well then, we'll just have to have a party of our own tomorrow night!" he said chuckling. She did this every year, even when they had their dance she always wanted a second or third and he never failed to make that party even more fun that the first. "Since we are having our own party tomorrow night then I will give you your present then." He said knowing her reaction before she could say anything. "And no, you can not convince me to give it to you now instead.

"Oh, but grandfather!" she whined knowing his presents were always the best. "Please can I see it? I'll act surprised tomorrow when you give it to me!"

"No. Now young lady if you ask me again I will take this gift and give it to someone else who does not beg" he said in a harsh tone. Aurora had always been favored by her grandfather but he hated when people begged. He said it was below someone to beg for anything from another person.

"Sorry grandfather." Aurora said softly, knowing she had gone too far. "Thank you for coming and I look forward to our party tomorrow night." With that she carefully pecked him on the cheek and went up to her room.

Aurora walked into the room she and Draco shared and plopped down on the bed causing a few of the pillows to bounce of due to the movement.

"Love, what's wrong?" Draco asked as he saw her staring blankly at the wall.

"Oh umm… nothing's wrong I'm just a bit tired I guess." She knew he could tell she was lying, he always could. She hated that he could do that, she never got away with anything when he was around; unless he was involved.

"Alright, well if you're tired then you should go to bed. I can wait until tomorrow to give you you're present." He said knowing full well this would snap her out of her daze. She snapped her head to look at him as a small smirk played on her lips. She had been waiting all night for his surprise and she had almost forgotten about it because of her grandfather, how stupid of her! "I'll take that look on your face to mean you want to wait then?" Draco quipped waiting for the lovely girl's head to explode.

"Draco if you don't give me your present right now you will not be sleeping in this bed tonight." She growled. The threat was minor since she knew she could not sleep without him anymore, but she would try if he kept this from her.

Draco smirked at the perturbed girl and walked over to sit next to her on the bed. "Ok, before I give you the gift I have to explain something about it because it could be very dangerous if you are not careful." She quickly nodded wanting to know how a gift could be dangerous. "Alright, firstly do not underestimate them, they are tricky and can bite if you aren't paying attention. Secondly you must tell them right away who is to be trusted with your secrets, if you don't they will assume everyone can be trusted and that never works out well. Finally whatever you do don't put anything flammable in it; they have a tendency to set fire to things."

Aurora was confused to say the least. At first she had thought it was some sort of pet seeing as "they bite" but putting something in it? She didn't understand what he could mean by that. She was just about to ask him when he placed a small box on her lap. He smiled widely at the shocked reaction as she took in the intricate gift.

The small black box was beautiful. Barely large enough to hold a set of keys the rich wood shone with silver inlays of two tiny dragons. When you looked directly at them it seemed as though they were still, but when you looked away you would catch out of the corner of your eye the small battle raging between the two minute dragons. However once you opened the small box both dragons crawled around to the inside to watch what you were putting in or taking out of the small box.

Carefully Aurora looked at the small dragons and smiled. On each of there backs was a small letter A or D inscribed into their design. Remembering what Draco had said about who could be trusted Aurora quietly whispered two names to the small dragons who quickly nodded there heads. Looking up to Draco Aurora couldn't help but smile, he had made this himself. She leaned in to give him a hug when a sudden pain shot through her hand.

"I told you, they bite" Draco said as he chuckled at the small dragons. They had watched carefully to see when she would look away then jumped at the change to greet there new owner. One had been watching what the two teens were doing while the other one carefully climbed from the box onto Aurora's hand and bit down hard. "Did I mention they can leave the box" Draco said only to be smacked, hard, on the arm by his counterpart.

"No you did not tell me that!" Aurora snapped as she nursed the small bite mark on her hand. Looking down at the dragons she could tell they meant no harm so she smiled softly and motioned for both of them to climb on to her hand. "Now listen up both of you. I don't mind if you climb around or set small fires" she emphasized the word small to make sure they understood "and I don't mind small nibbles but no more biting. I don't care for blood and it is quite obvious you have very sharp teeth. So play nice or I will put you two in the box." The dragons nodded sadly and crawled back onto the box, upset that their new owner was mad at them. Aurora noticed the now moping dragons and felt she had to make it up to them. She quickly reached over to her bedside table and grabbed a small piece of parchment. "Now remember, only small fires" she said as she threw the scrap of parchment onto the floor. The dragons quickly took off after it and were busy setting a small blaze within seconds.

Draco chuckled at the two playing dragons, knowing they had much more meaning than the silly symbols on their backs. Looking to Aurora he couldn't help but smile as she watched the small fire expand. She looked up to see what he was laughing at and their eyes met. Neither one knew what do to or say. It was finally here, the time when they could be together. They both quickly looked back to the dragons to avoid what was on both their minds.

What do we do next?