Day Twenty-Four - Family / Found Family Dinner

The Malfoy's invite people over for Christmas Dinner in an effort to put the past behind them and so they can finally celebrate the holiday properly: surrounding by family and friends.

A/N: I don't cook Christmas dinner, and hours isn't so typical so I don't know what they'd have. I don't really mention the food much because I don't know what I'm talking about, so just picture what you would for a proper Christmas dinner in your own life, if you eat one of course. I also googled some names for this, to find out other characters, so the names aren't made up by me, they're made up by someone else.

Also apologies for this being late, I've been busy making Christmas presents and trying to get them made on time, so this had to take a back seat for a little bit. Days 26 to 30 are thankfully already written.

'But why didn't you write them in order?' You might ask. I got stuck and some of the one shots came to me a bit easier, even if they are a bit rubbish. So yeah. Sorry for the lateness and the lateness of some of the previous ones.

The Malfoy's Christmas Dinner usually involved Narcissa, Lucius and Draco enjoying a feast prepared by the House Elves. However, the enjoyment had been wearing off in recent years, and so this year they decided to do things a little differently.

Narcissa was in the process of reconciling with her sister, Andromeda, and so she had invited her and her husband over for dinner, along with their daughter, her husband, and their new baby.

Lucius was trying to become more tolerant, at least, and so he'd suggested inviting the Weasley's over. They were, after all, quite close with Narcissa's sister and her family, and so maybe it would be a good idea. They'd also invited Harry Potter and Hermione Granger, since they often spent time around the Weasley's at Christmas, and it felt like a good idea.

Draco had insisted that if he had to be subjected to that many Gryffindor's, he should at least be able to invite a few of his Slytherin friends over. His parents had agreed, and in the spirit of Christmas (and since their house and table were plenty large enough) the invitation was extended to their parents, too.

Since Draco and his friends had started getting along with the young Gryffindors recently, Narcissa hoped this would only go well and that the adults would follow their children's example, for once. She, after all, had also come across Molly Weasley a few times when she'd seen her sister, and the women were starting to get along really quite well, despite their past grievances.

Narcissa had also decided that she wanted to try and help the House Elves cook Christmas Dinner this year, since she had invited so many people over, one of which was advocating for the rights of House Elves. Upon hearing of this, Molly, Andromeda and Tonks all decided to help out as well, so they were set to arrive earlier than everyone else.

The day of the Christmas dinner, Molly, Andromeda and Tonks were the first to arrive well in advance in order to help Narcissa and the elves cook dinner.

'Thank you so much for coming to help, but you needn't have! You're invited guests, guests don't cook the dinner,' Narcissa told them all as she greeted them with a hug each.

'Oh don't be silly Cissa,' Andromeda admonished, 'of course we'd come to help you.' The other two women nodded in agreement.

'Well in that case, follow me to the kitchen! The elves will still be helping out, because I don't have much of an idea of what I'm doing, but we'll have some fun I imagine.'

They followed Narcissa into the large kitchen which was already buzzing with energy from the house elves. They were hurrying around happily, fetching ingredients and starting the meal already.

'We got's things out for you, Miss Cissy,' called what appeared to be the head house elf. They were all dressed in very clean, green pillowcases, though this one was wearing a silver one. 'All's ready for you to help cook!'

The elves were all clearly excited to have the women helping them cook dinner.

'We tried to get them to wear actually clothes,' Narcissa said quietly to the others, 'but they think they won't be allowed to be here anymore if they accept them. Me and Lucius are trying to find a way to convince them they're family, and clothes doesn't mean they'll have to leave, but for now we can at least make sure the pillowcases are clean.'

The women gathered at one of the kitchen work surfaces that the elves directed them to, which was laden with ingredients. They set to work, chatting away amongst themselves and with the house elves, and working with the elves to get a proper feast ready for all their expected guests.

Once it got closer to dinner time, the other guests started to arrive. First to arrive was Theo Nott, which Draco was relieved by. He strode over to the fireplace Theo had just Flooed into to greet his friend.

'Thank Merlin you're here before any Gryffindors turn up,' Draco greeted him. 'I don't think I fancy facing them all alone on Christmas Day.'

'Glad to be of service,' Theo shook the hand Draco held out to him and then moved out of the way of the fireplace to greet Lucius as well. All guests were arriving by Floo in the living room before they'd go through to the dining room.

'Besides, had to get out sooner rather than later, it's miserable spending Christmas with my git of a father,' Theo continued after greeting Lucius.

'Well, you're welcome to stay on after dinner and over Christmas if you like,' Lucius suggested. He knew Theo's father and could only imagine the kind of miserable day Theo would have at home.

'Thank you, Lucius. I might just take you up on that.'

The three took seats in the living room as they waited for more guests to arrive. A few minutes later Blaise Zabini arrived, quickly moving out of the way of the Floo and moving to greet Lucius, Theo and Draco with a handshake.

'Thanks for the invite. A Christmas dinner at Malfoy Manor with Weasley's? This sounds like it could be disastrous and I wouldn't miss it,' Blaise said.

'It's not going to be disastrous, Blaise,' Lucius rolled his eyes.

'Of course not, but if it were, I'd want to witness it first hand,' Blaise winked at Draco and Theo who also rolled their eyes. They only expected a little animosity between some of the adults at most, since all the younger ones had started getting along better recently. It would be the Slytherin parents that decided to turn up and the Weasleys who could be the biggest problem.

Just as they were all about to sit down again, the Floo roared into life once more and began to produce multiple Weasley's, plus Harry Potter and Hermione Granger.

'Lucius! Good to see you,' Arthur greeted the man once he spotted him. His smile was looking a little strained, but he'd promised his wife he would make a good effort to put the past behind them.

'Arthur, a pleasure to have you here,' Lucius greeted with an equally strained smile. He had also made some promises to his wife.

Once the initial tension wore off, everyone else started to greet each other with introductions between the Slytherins present and Bill, Charlie and Fleur.

'It eez a pleasure to meet you all,' Fleur greeted from beside Bill who was shaking hands with Draco.

'We've met you before you know,' Blaise stated with a smirk. Draco quickly elbowed his friend before he could stir the cauldron anymore.

'Yes, well, we 'aven't met officially,' Fleur backtracked a little. She did indeed recognise the three young Slytherins but thought it was polite to introduce herself properly.

'Blaise is only messing with you, he likes to cause trouble,' Theo reassured her as he shook hands with Harry in greeting.

'Our kind of bloke,' Fred and George chorused from amongst the group of red heads.

'Draco, would you like to show our guests through to the dining room?' Lucius asked his son. 'I'll wait here for the rest of the arrivals.'

'Of course, father,' Draco said. 'Follow me, everyone,' he gestured through the door which he then walked through. Blaise and Theo were already on their way, having visited the manor before, the rest following.

Draco guided them into the dining room that was laden with crockery and cutlery ready for dinner.

'Seats are assigned, but feel free to swap,' Draco went to his set place in the middle of the table. 'I was tasked with assigning seats, I tried to put all us younger ones together, but like I said, feel free to swap seats.'

The Weasley's, Harry and Hermione searched the table for their seats. Hermione found that Draco had indeed placed everyone by age, except for baby Teddy who had a place between his parents.

'Where's the kitchen, Draco?' Asked Hermione once she had located her seat. 'I'd love to see if your mum and the others need any help.'

'Just through there,' Drag pointed to a door behind the head of the table, 'but I wouldn't bother, if I were you.'

'Oh don't be silly,' Hermione rolled her eyes at him. 'Anyone else coming?'

'I will,' Ginny piped up from beside her.

'Me too,' Fleur announced.

None of the boys were bothered and were already taking their seats at the table. The three young women walked through the door indicated by Draco and came across Narcissa, Molly, Andromeda and Tonks all hurrying around the kitchen, surrounded by house elves who were chattering away excitedly.

'Hi Molly,' Hermione said when she caught the woman's eye. 'Can we help at all?'

'Hello dears!' Molly came over to give all three of them a rushed hug each before she hurried back to what she was doing. 'Absolutely not! So nice of you to offer but we have everything under control.'

'Are you sure?' Ginny asked sceptically.

'Of course I am, dear.'

'We have plenty of help already, and you are all guests!' Narcissa strode over to them to greet them each with a quick hug. 'If these three hadn't insisted they'd be out there with you all. Now shoo, we'll have dinner ready soon, just make yourselves at home and relax!'

Hermione, Ginny and Fleur were shooed from the kitchen by Narcissa before the woman went back to work.

'Told you,' Draco said smugly, leaning against the back of his chair as they approached their seats once again.

'Oh shut up,' Hermione snapped while the others laughed.

Back in the living room the fire roared to life once again, this time admitting Pansy Parkinson and her parents.

'Lucius,' greeted Mr Parkinson happily as he shook Lucius' hand. 'Thank you for the invite.'

'You're more than welcome, Percival. It's always great to have you both. Amaryllis,' Lucius said as he shook hands with Mrs Parkinson. 'And Pansy, I believe you know a few of our other guests here today.'

'Yes, Lucius,' Pansy agreed as she shook his hand. 'It seems bizarre to have Christmas Dinner at Malfoy Manor with a bunch of Gryffindors, and even more so that I'm actually looking forward to it. Unlike my brother.'

'Yes, Phineas was not so excited about the idea. He's decided to stay home,' Percival said with an eye roll. Their son hadn't come around to the idea as well as they had.

'Well I'm sure he will in time. If we can, anyone can,' Lucius assured them. 'Now, everyone else who's here is already in the dining room, if you'd like to join them. You know where you're going, and I do have to wait for the rest of our guests or I would show you through.'

'Of course, Lucius, don't worry about it for a moment,' Amaryllis waved him off as she strode off through the doors and towards the dining room.

Percival and Pansy followed her through just as the fireplace roared again, admitting the Greengrass's, Florian, Adorabella, Daphne and Astoria.

'Welcome,' Lucius greeted them all with a hand shake. 'So glad you could make it.'

'Thank you for the invite,' Astoria said happily.

'She's very excited at the prospect of a meal with Gryffindors,' Florian told Lucius quietly as he chuckled.

'Aren't we all?' Adorabella sidled up to them. 'Shall we make our way through to the dining room?'

'Of course, you know the way,' Lucius gestured to the living room doors. 'I would show you through but I'm just waiting on the last of the guests. The Parkinson's have just gone through as well.'

'Wonderful,' Adorabella said as she gestured for her daughters to follow her. The family left for the dining room and left Lucius behind.

The Parkinson's had now made their way into the dining room with everyone else where they were introduced to those they didn't know. Pansy made sure to introduce all her new Gryffindor friends before she introduced herself to Arthur Weasley, Bill and Fleur, and Charlie. She then reintroduced herself properly to Percy, Fred and George.

By the time they were all acquainted the Greengrass's had arrived in the dining room and introductions began again. As everyone else took their seats, Amaryllis and Adorabella began making their way to the kitchen door.

'We'll just see if Narcissa and the others need any help,' Amaryllis told them.

'I wouldn't bother, Mrs Parkinson, Mrs Greengrass,' Hermione spoke up, 'we already asked if they wanted any help and were shooed from the kitchen.'

The women paused on their way to the kitchen briefly before turning on their heels and striding up to the long dining table instead.

'Never mind that, then,' Adorabella said. 'I suppose we'll sit down with you all.'

Pansy had seated herself next to Theo towards the end of the table, where Daphne was sat next to Hermione. Astoria and Ginny were sat next to each other, since they were the two youngest, and the rest of the boys sat themselves closer towards the middle of the table. Blaise found himself wedged between Fred and George who were keen to work with him to cause a little bit of chaos if they could.

Around the middle of the table were Percy, Charlie, Bill and Fleur, who were a kind of bridge between the age gap of the eldest and youngest. Spaces amongst them were left for Tonks, Remus, and baby Teddy

In the living room, Lucius was just beginning to wonder if there was anything wrong that was holding up their remaining guests when the fireplace roared to life once again. Out stepped Ted Tonks, followed by his son in law Remus and his grandson Teddy.

'Hello Lucius,' Remus greeted with an awkward handshake as he held baby Teddy with his other arm. 'Sorry we're so late, someone was having a bit of an issue.' He gestured to Teddy with a nod of his head.

'Not to worry, dinner isn't out just yet,' Lucius assured them.

'Thank you very much for the invite. I'm Ted Tonks,' Ted introduced himself and shook Lucius' hand.

'It's good to have you, it's long overdue. I'm Lucius.'

They stood in silence for a moment before Lucius came to his senses.

'I'll show you through to the dining room. Everyone else is already in there.'

They followed Lucius along to the dining room where they were met with everyone else. The two men were introduced to those they didn't know before they went to greet those they did. They stopped with Harry as he stood from his seat at the table to take Teddy off his father for a few minutes.

'Seems he's excited to see his godfather,' Remus commented as Teddy cooed in Harry's arms.

Just then, the kitchen door opened and a stream of elves came through with plates of food. They quickly guided everything onto the table before hurrying away again. Next to come out of the door were Narcissa, Molly, Andromeda and Tonks, all looking rather exhausted but thrilled with themselves.

'Welcome, everyone,' Narcissa greeted the room. 'Thank you all so much for coming today. I'll let everyone get seated and acquainted and then we can start helping ourselves to food.'

She took her seat towards the head of the table next to Lucius while the other three introduced themselves to the other adults, and then to their children before they greeted the ones they already knew.

'I'll take this one,' Tonks told Harry as she prised Teddy from his arms. 'I know you love him but you've yet to deal with him at meal times. He can be a real handful.'

Harry laughed as he gave Teddy a little shake of his hand and let him get carried to further down the table.

'Well you have plenty of help if you need it today,' Narcissa told her niece.

'Thank you, but you'll regret that later,' Tonks laughed as she settled Teddy in his high chair between her and Remus.

Once everyone was sat down they began helping themselves to food. It felt like one of the feasts at Hogwarts with a lot of people gathered at the one table and all the food laid out so neatly. Even the adults were feeling reminiscent of their school days feasts.

'This is fantastic, darling,' Lucius told his wife. The others at their end of the table agreed. The kids, on the other hand, were too busy talking amongst themselves to agree.

'You should visit the shop sometime,' Fred was telling Blaise, 'I'm sure there's something in there you would find useful in your attempts to cause trouble.'

'Well my thing is more telling people different things to cause confusion and rile people up,' Blaise told them.

'A noble cause,' George told him, 'but I still think you'd find something useful in the shop.'

'I probably would,' Blaise agreed. 'I'll have to stop by sometime.'

'Just what we need, another one like the twins,' Ginny laughed from further down the table as she watched her brothers corrupt someone else.

'What's it like having so many brothers?' Astoria asked, intrigued.

'A nightmare,' Ginny rolled her eyes. 'Then again, you learn a lot, and it's difficult for anyone to see you as the one who did something wrong, especially with brothers like Fred and George, cause everyone usually assumes it wasn't you.'

Pansy and Daphne, meanwhile, were discussing the latest witches beauty products they'd come across, and were trying to rope Hermione into their conversation, but were struggling as said girl was currently engaged in a conversation with Theo about their favourite books.

'Despite the many fictional books I've read, magical and muggle, Hogwarts, A History will always be one of my favourites. I love re reading it. It just takes me back to the castle when I miss it a little too much during the summer holidays,' Hermione was saying.

Draco, Ron and Harry were busy discussing Quidditch and arguing over who has the best team in the league. Bill, Charlie and Percy were discussing what's new in their respective jobs.

'Got some new baby dragons this year, they're absolutely adorable,' Charlie said.

'Only you could find dragons adorable,' Bill said in bemusement.

'Not true,' cut in Percy. 'Hagrid would also say that.'

Fleur was cooing over baby Teddy who was opposite her at the table.

''e is just gorgeous,' she was saying to Tonks.

'You say that now. We're lucky he hasn't thrown a tantrum yet. I think there's just so many people here it's keeping him entertained, thankfully.'

'Yes, hopefully it'll keep him content and quiet at least until we leave,' Remus agreed from beside his wife.

'To be honest, I wasn't sure any of you would come,' Lucius was saying to the Parkinson and Greengrass adults. 'Blaise's mother never really comes here, so we expected that, and we all know what Theodore Nott Sr is like.'

They all nodded in agreement.

'I just didn't expect you all to be so willing to come today,' Lucius finished.

'Well you know we were never as opinionated on such things like you were, Lucius,' Florian told him.

'We were hesitant at first,' Percival said.

'But Pansy sounded so fond of the new friends she'd made in Gryffindor. She convinced us to open our minds a little more and be more receptive,' Amaryllis continued.

'Well, regardless, thank you for coming,' Narcissa said.

'It has been wonderful to meet you all,' Andromeda piped up from opposite her sister. 'I'm glad me and Cissy are finally putting the past behind us.'

As the meal went on, everyone seemed quite content, carrying on their own individual conversations and swapping stories. Molly and Arthur had the other adults in stitches telling them about Fred and George's pranks when they were younger.

'You might laugh, but you try dealing with those two when you have five other children to deal with as well,' Molly laughed herself.

Once they'd calmed down, Narcissa noted that everyone seemed to have finished with their meals now. She stood to address the table.

'I just want to thank you all for coming today. We do have a few things available for desserts in a few minutes, but while everyone lets their main meal go down, I just wanted to say a few words.' Everyone at the table was now giving Narcissa their full attention.

'We have all, for so long, been far too ignorant. We've made certain assumptions and decisions following those assumptions that has lead to so much animosity between Gryffindors and Slytherins for generations. Lucius and myself were probably the worst at this. After finally getting over myself and reconnecting with my sister, Andromeda, over the summer holidays, I realised how silly all of it was. It really just boiled down to old animosity between the two houses that has continued until very recently.'

'I was glad hear Draco and his friends in Slytherin were finally starting to ignore the things they'd been told by their parents and were beginning to make friends with Gryffindors. It's allowed us adults to do the same, and I think this is the start of unity between Gryffindors and Slytherins. So I'm grateful for all of you today for attending and taking the next step towards that. It's about time we put the past behind us and throw out the old traditions.'

'If everyone could please join me in raising a glass,' she lifted her glass of wine as everyone else lifted their drinks up too, 'to Gryffindors and Slytherins finally becoming friends during this holiday season. Merry Christmas!'

'Merry Christmas,' everyone chorused around the table, clinking their glasses together.

Narcissa placed her glass back onto the table and left to go into the kitchen. A moment later she returned followed by the house elves who cleared away all the food and empty plates before bringing out multiple desserts for the table.

'Dig in everyone,' Narcissa told them once the desserts were all set out in front of them. There were mince pies and multiple Christmas puddings, and even a couple of Yule logs.

Everyone helped themselves to dessert. The younger ones were disappointed to find the Christmas pudding at their end of the table didn't have alcohol on it.

Blaise was also disappointed, but for a different reason.

'Don't get me wrong, it's nice everyone's getting along and to have a fun Christmas dinner for a change, but I was really hoping for something disastrous to happen.'

'Why are you so into drama?' Theo asked with a sigh.

'That's what happens when you grow up with my mother,' Blaise simply shrugged.

'You should definitely come to our store. Something disastrous happens at least once a week when someone messes with something they shouldn't,' Fred told him from his left.

'We should be annoyed about them ruining our stock, but it usually turns out to be a good demonstration and we end up with people buying a load of whatever it was,' George explained.

The conversations started to die down as everyone became too full from the Christmas dinner and dessert to bother continuing with such things. The table fell into a comfortable silence for a short while before a few conversations picked up again, until baby Teddy began snoring loudly in his high chair.

'We had better get this one home for his nap,' Tonks stated as she gently lifted him out of the high chair.

'Thank you so much for having us all,' Remus said as he said his goodbyes to the Malfoy's.

Everyone else seemed to decide this was as good a time as any to make a move.

'Yes, I suppose we all better be going and let you relax for the rest of the day,' Adorabella told Narcissa kindly as she gave her a hug.

Everyone started to get up from the table and gathered together to say goodbyes on the way back to the living room and the fireplace for Flooing home.

'Please, it was a pleasure,' Narcissa and Lucius found themselves repeated as everyone thanked them for having them over and hosting such a lovely dinner.

'Perhaps we ought to make this a new tradition,' Andromeda said, who was the last one to leave.

'Perhaps we should,' Narcissa agreed simply. She gave her sister a hug before sending her off home through the Floo. 'Well, I think that was a success!'

'Much to Blaise's disappointment,' Theo chuckled. He and Draco had taken seats on one side of the room.

'Are you staying with us for a few days then, Theo dear?' Narcissa asked him kindly.

'If you don't mind.'

'Of course not, you're always welcome here.' She gave him a kind smile. 'Right. I'm going to go and help the house elves clean up.'

'I'll join you,' Lucius said to all of their surprise. He followed his wife out of the room, leaving Draco and Theo behind.

'Well, that's something I never expected to see,' Theo said simply.

'Neither was a bunch of Gryffindors at our dining room table, but apparently the world's gone crazy,' Draco shrugged.

'A good thing, too, I think,' Theo responded vaguely.

'We'll see.'