Most of the students went home for Christmas. The majority of parents were still terrified of Voldemort, and worried every moment that their children were not in their sight. Luna went home as it was only her and her father, and she didn't want to leave him all alone. Neville stayed, as did all the Weasleys, Harry, Hermione, Draco and Dawn (obviously) and one other fifth year. A Slytherin- Blaise Zabini. There were a few older and younger students too, but none the group particularly knew, and no other fifth years.
As far as Dawn was concerned, this meant they had the run of the castle all to themselves. Ginny moved into the fifth year dorm with Hermione and Dawn, and they barely slept for the first few days, just sitting up talking and giggling all night. During the day, they played quidditch, lazed around and several times went down into Hogsmeade. Draco had taken it upon himself after their first mock quidditch game to make Dawn 'the best player Gryffindor had ever seen'. She seemed to be a bit of a natural, as Faith vouched for, and Draco staked his claim as her teacher the moment he noticed Harry watching intently as the young SunnyDale girl swooped around the pitch. Hermione did not miss this. She knew by now that Harry had a thing for Dawn. She knew that if circumstances had been different, Dawn might have returned that. But she also knew that the electricity that filled the air whenever Dawn and Draco were near was a rare thing. Draco Malfoy cared more for Dawn than anything else in the world, and Hermione was pretty sure she felt the same. If Harry got mixed up in that, all it would do was break hearts. She pulled Ron close to her – he was on a broom beside her- and he put his arms around her,
"You ok, 'Mione?" He asked. She nodded, so he just held her.
A week in to the holidays (they had nearly two weeks of holiday before Christmas, and just over a week after), at dinner, Dawn noticed that Blaise Zabini kept glancing over to the Gryffindor table. She was sitting with the other remaining Slytherins, except Draco, who had moved to the Gryffindor table (if grudgingly). She nudged Hermione,
"How come Zabini stayed?" She asked. Hermione looked over at the Slytherin girl, who quickly looked away.
"Her parents are supposed to be deatheaters, from what I've heard. They're probably on the run or something." She replied. But Draco shook his head.
"No. My father always used to moan about the Zabinis'. Said he didn't trust them. I don't reckon they'd be rushing off to Voldemort's inner circle."
"Maybe they want to prove their worth?" Dawn suggested. Draco shrugged,
"Maybe, I guess. But I don't think that's why she's here. I heard that her parents just told her to stay. She was pretty pissed off."
"Must be sh*tty to be all alone down there." Hermione said. Time was she would have scolded Ron for speaking like that, but over the years, Hermione found that scolding Ron did nothing, and hey, if you cant beat them…
Dawn nodded,
"Yeah. The Slytherin common room is cold enough as it is."
"Hey, 'scuse me." Draco said obviously looking for sympathy, "I'm all alone in my dorm down there too."
Dawn grinned,
"Well I'm sure Harry Ron and Neville wouldn't mind if you moved in with them." She said.
"YES WE WOULD." All three cried, even though they'd been deep in another conversation. Dawn, Hermione and Ginny laughed, while everyone else looked at them oddly.
"Its really ok- I'll manage." Draco said. "But maybe I might need someone to come warm it up for me sometimes." He added, slipping an arm around Dawn.
"OI!" Cried several voices from the SunnyDale group. Hysterics ensued once more, and most of them missed Harry's glare.
The next day, Dawn was up before everyone else. She just couldn't sleep and went down to the common room with a book so as not to wake anyone else. After about half an hour, when no one else had surfaced, Dawn's stomach rumbled. She checked her watch- nine o'clock. None of the boys would be up for hours, that was for sure. Dawn sighed, and wrapped her dressing gown tightly round her and headed through the portrait hole. She reached the entrance hall without seeing another person. The school seemed totally deserted. She entered the great hall, expecting it too, to be deserted. But there was one student sitting at one of the long house tables.
Blaise Zabini looked up sharply when the doors opened. She looked back down when she saw that it was just Summers: That irritatingly chirpy Gryffindor Mudblood. Blaise returned to reading her book and took another bite of her toast. Someone sat down opposite her, and she looked up slowly in disbelief. Dawn smiled widely at her.
"Hi." Dawn said.
"What the hell are you doing?" Blaise demanded.
"Sittin' down. Getting' Breakfast." Dawn replied.
"You're on the wrong table." Blaise said coldly. Dawn looked around the room.
"As far as I've seen, you an' me are the only two people awake in the whole school. I don't think sitting here is gonna cause problems." Dawn said jovially.
"You don't seem to get my meaning." Blaise said, smiling sardonically. "This is the Slytherin table. You are a Gryffindor. You're not welcome here."
"But we're the only two people in the whole hall." Dawn repeated. "There's no one to talk to on my table."
"There's no one for you to talk to here." Blaise retorted, lowering her eyes again.
"So how come you're here for vacation?" Dawn asked conversationally. Blaise groaned, rolling her eyes,
"Look, mudblood." She said. "I have no interest in talking to you."
"Really? I didn't notice." Dawn said sarcastically. The two girls just looked at each other, each trying to stare the other down. Dawn had a lot of practice, and utterly refused to crack a smile, even when she was almost choking on the laughter. Eventually, Blaise's eyes dropped, and Dawn saw a flicker of a smile, even as the Slytherin girl suppressed it.
"I'm Dawn." Dawn said, holding out her hand. Blaise looked at her again, shocked, and somewhat disbelieving- surely she wasn't serious? But Dawn just held her hand there, smiling wryly. Blaise chuckled softly, a smile breaking onto her face- she couldn't help it.
"Blaise." She said, shaking Dawn's hand as she shook her own head. "You're well strange, you know that, right?" She said. Dawn shrugged,
"It's been said. So what are you readin'?" She asked. Blaise showed her the cover, and Dawn nodded, "Cool- I read that a few weeks ago, where've you got to?"
"Oh I've read it three times already." Blaise boasted, "Don't you just break down in tears at the end?"
"God yes! I swear I actually cried the first time!" Dawn agreed, then smiled evilly, "But how come you're reading Phillip Pullman? He's a muggle."
"No he's not." Blaise said, with an equally evil smile.
"Serious!?"
"Serious. Like hell any muggle could write like that!"
"Hey!" Dawn exclaimed.
"What? I said you were a mudblood, not a muggle." Blaise said grinning. Dawn swatted her arm, and chuckled.
"Maybe she just came down early." Ron said, yawning widely.
"But she usually waits for me!" Hermione argued. They and Harry were coming down the stairs to the entrance hall, and Hermione had been loudly voicing her worries about Dawn's absence all the way down from Gryffindor tower. They entered the great hall, looking straight to the Gryffindor table. Hermione gasped, "Oh my god! She's not here!" She squeaked.
"She could be in the library." Harry suggested.
"No. Friggin'. Way." Ron exclaimed. The other two turned to see what he was gaping at. Their jaws dropped. Dawn was sitting at the Slytherin table, munching toast and chatting animatedly to Blaise Zabini. Just then, Zabini giggled loudly. None of the trio knew that was even possible.
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Harry/Draco rivally so fun to write, and thanx to DragonKatGal, I just HAD to make Blaise nice!!
Sorry that this is dragging out so much, I having some problems making it go places, but some more interesting stuff will be happening very soon, and I hope to wind this up as soon as possible.