Hey guys! Thank you for your reviews (I ALWAYS look forward to them) and I'm really really sorry for the late update! Its being a tough week with exams coming up. So anyway, I've being reading other fan fictions and I've realized how crappy mine is. I hope you guys still like my story. :P
Draco gawked at the note. No, don't be ridiculous. It was his aunt, who was very, very, very fond of him. And she didn't know where he was. She's supposed to think that Draco was with Snape or some other relative. But what if…? Draco shook his head.
"What is it?" the Nosey-Weasley asked him, noting his change of look.
"It's from… from…" Draco couldn't help stutter. What if his cover was blown? What if the death eaters knew that he had switched sides? Draco handed the note to Weaslette, still holding the box gingerly in his hand.
To Draco's surprise Weasley's broke in to a grin. There was a sudden BANG from the box Draco had being holding, startling him. The chatter around them subsided and everyone turned back to look at him. Draco was covered with confetti and glittering stars that had burst out from the box. The room burst out with laughter.
"How did you like our gift Malfoy?" The Weasley twins howled.
Malfoy gritted his teeth. Those bloody idiots had given him a heart attack. His fist clenched. He crumpled the box in his hand.
"You should've seen your face when you saw the note." Ginny said giggling uncontrollably at Malfoy's scowling face.
"Bellatrix." Mr. Weasley said amusingly looking at the note. "You should be thankful it wasn't real."
"Who's idea was it?" Ron asked though he knew whose it was. He looked extremely delighted as if he was told that he was going to play for the Chudley Cannons.
"Mine and George's. Fred came up with giving the bursting watch." Ginny said.
"It's just one galleon!' George and Fred chorused.
"Aww, look at you Draco." Even Hermione was grinning to Draco's annoyance. "You're all covered up with all these tiny cute confetti." She said as she brushed the annoying stuff away from his cheek. Draco pushed her hand away.
"Find it bloody amusing don't you?" Draco growled, throwing the blasted box aside. He should never trust the Weasleys.
"Oh lighten up."
Draco ignored it and stomped off to sulk. He heard Hermione give a little giggle, not knowing that somehow his butt was covered with confetti. The Weasleys and Harry sniggered but was shushed by Hermione.
Malfoy looked at the tree he and Hermione had decorated. He didn't think that there were any more presents for him. Except probably from Hermione. He couldn't help smiled a bit. He moved away from the rest and sat on an armchair observing the others delight from what they had got. He noticed that the Weasleys had gotten identical sweaters from someone. He wondered who's bloody idea it was but he found it extremely comical seeing these teenagers dressed up the same like little muggle kids he saw in London. Bloody gits. He was gonna get back at them for what they did. Then he saw Hermione make her way to him. She was holding his gift.
"I love it. Thank you!" she gushed sitting on the arm rest of his armchair. Draco's face brightened at the sight of her face. It was a whole lot better compared to her expression she got from Weasley's gift.
"That's good. I thought it …. I thought you'll like it." he said glancing at the little silver feathered book mark he had given her. A single feather from his owl.
"I definitely do." She said smiling and kissed his cheek. "Merry Christmas."
Draco's body felt as a wave of warmth rushed through it. He wanted badly to keep Hermione closer but they weren't in an ideal location. "Merry Christmas" Draco whispered back. They stared in to each others eyes; each mesmerized by the other's before Potter came and interrupted them.
"Uh…Malfoy. You still have two more gifts. They're over there….." he said.
"What, another of your bloody pranks?"
"No, not this time. They look legit." Harry said honestly.
"Yeah, Malfoy. Those aren't us. We don't make our pranks grow old." One of the Weasleys said.
"C'mon!" Hermione said enthusiastically, grabbing Draco's hand and dragging him to the tree, where two gifts stood. Draco looked at them suspiciously. Where had that come from? Hermione gestured him to open them, grinning. He knew that one of them was hers.
"I swear if one of this is some other bloody joke, I'll make you wish you hadn't done it." Malfoy muttered darkly.
He chose one and opened it, with the entire group watching him as if some vampire would pop out of it. Draco opened the package at last from the bloody wrapping and he stared at a book in his hands. A book. Definitely from Hermione. Draco smiled fondly.
"Do you like it?" Hermione asked.
"I love it." He said wrapping his arms around Hermione's waist and giving her a hug tenderly. There came a few 'throat-clearing's and Draco made a gap between Hermione and him.
"You don't even know what it is…." Hermione giggled.
"I don't really care since you gave it to me."
"Even if it's a scrap book of me and Harry and Ron?" Hermione asked slyly
Draco looked at her in horror. "Seriously?" he quickly flipped the pages of the book. The pages were blank.
"No silly. It's a diary. You write it and its writing disappears from it until you write your password."
"It's like…." Ginny started to say but Harry finished the rest for her.
"….Tom Riddle's diary."
"Well, it's not gonna possess anyone if you're wondering…." Hermione said hotly.
"No, of course not." Harry said quickly.
"Check the other one Malfoy." Nosey-Weasley said impatiently.
After a brief glare at her, Draco picked the other one up. Who the hell could this be from? He scanned his mind for people who could possibly send him gifts. No, it couldn't be anyone from Hogwarts. They were mad at him. And there wasn't anybody else from his family…Unless his aunt really did send something this time. A bit uneasily he opened the other package. Inside the wrapping was a fuzzy looking scarf, dazzling with emerald green and silver.
"Don't touch it, look for the note first." Mr. Weasley warned.
"Touch it….." The Weasley twins urged in unison.
Draco looked for a note. When he found one he was surprised to see the sender's name.
"Who is it?" Hermione asked.
"Probably it's Voldy himself." Ron said sarcastically and Harry and the twins snorted at the thought of it.
"It's Blaise." Draco said, a bit puzzled but pleased.
"Zabini? I thought he didn't like you like the rest" Hermione said.
"Seems not. I mean he never was with the lot who ambushed me in my dorm." Draco said shrugging, touching the scarf which was really soft.
The others took in this news. They hadn't expected Malfoy to be facing issues from his own house. To be frank they hadn't even given a thought about it.
"Well, that's it then. Why don't we have our breakfast now?" Mrs. Weasley beckoned.
Ron whooped. The Weaselys went first and that moment was too hard to miss that Malfoy took his wand out and flicked it at them. Harry was alarmed, thinking that Malfoy was going to badly hex them but to his and Hermione's amusement they watched long brown fuzzy tails spurt out from each of the Weasley kids butts. Hermione could hardly keep from bursting out. The tails twirled in their own accord. Mr and Mrs Weasley saw them and were bewildered but thankfully broke in to a smile when Harry kept a finger on his lips.
Ginny was first to notice. She stared at Fred and Georges tails as they sat across her. Then they started to guffaw when they saw Ron's and Ginny's.
"Bloody hell! Whats with your tails?" Ron asked when he looked up to see what his brothers were laughing for.
"Tails? You mean yours?" George asked. Then frowned. "Wait, what?" and when they looked around, their tails waved at them.
Malfoy was the first to burst out laughing and then Harry, Hermione, Mr. and Mrs. Weasley joined in.
"Malfoy, take it off!" Ron roared.
"Nah, its suits you."
"Bloody hell, I'm gonna….."
"Stop it Ron. You look cute." Hermione giggled. Malfoy frowned at this.
"Tit for tat, Ron." Mr. Weasley said wisely.
"Dad!" Ginny and the twins whined.
"Don't worry. It eventually shrinks and disappears." Mrs. Weasley said serving the toast.
"Eventually? How long is eventually?" Ginny asked poking her tail.
"Three or four days."
"But- But mom! We'll have our tails when we return to Hogwarts!" Ron wailed, shooting dagger at Malfoy.
Malfoy smirked. Now this was going to be fun.
Harry and Hermione couldn't help laugh all the time when the Weasleys walked by with their tails. Malfoy made a constant snide remark about them.
"You shouldn't have sent that prank gift." Hermione said sweetly to Ron as she tugged at his tail gently giggling. That didn't make it better for them.
The rest of the day the Gryffindors spent their time playing games and wizard chess. Draco just watched. It didn't feel right to join them. They seemed too….. different, It was just not right. When Hermione left to help Mrs. Weasley with her big dinner, Draco felt even more awkward. Draco kept in a corner watching them, the Weasleys tails waving at him. What a laugh he had. It was the best thing he'd ever done. But still, he wished he was somewhere else. No, he wished that these bloody idiots were somewhere else. He could have the best Christmas if they hadn't come, with Hermione for himself. Now he barely saw her. She would be goofing around with them. Or she would be discussing something top secret with Potter and Weasel, their head close together.
After a few games, one of the Weasleys bet him five galleons for a game.
"You're just wasting your money, Weasel-tail." Draco snorted.
"Hotshot, aren't you? Give it a go, ferret." Ron said.
Malfoy glared at him, and then sneered. "Alright then. But don't drown me with your tears if you suddenly go bankrupt and—"
"Shut up, Malfoy. Lets see if you have anything more than a twisted mouth." Fred said.
"Fine, who's playing?"
"I am." Ron said with a smirk. Malfoy raised his eyebrow. He had heard that Weasley was pretty good at chess…..
Meanwhile Hermione was having a hard time in the kitchen. Usually helping with the cooking wasn't a big deal but finding yourself alone with Mrs. Weasley and being bombarded with question about your new boyfriend wasn't very easy.
Hermione had to explain a bit too many times on how her relationship happened with Malfoy. And she saw that Mrs. Weasley was giving that look she had given in her fourth year when she had run across the rubbish of an article by Rita Skeeter about Hermione, Harry and Viktor. When Ginny came, she wasn't helping either.
"I find it extremely fishy, honey. It's hard trusting a Malfoy. From what I had heard from Arthur and Ron…."
"He's not like that. He's just insecure and deep down he's much gentler."
Ginny snorted.
"I can't think how Dumbledore can keep a calm head about this. That boy is definitely up to something."
"I trust him, so trust me. Besides Professor Dumbledore has an excellent judge for character."
"I hope you be careful whatever you're doing, dear. Why can't you just find someone else?"
"He's the one….. and Draco would never hurt me." Hermione couldn't feel surprised at her confidence.
"You're never gonna know till it's too late." Ginny chimed in.
"Well that and the other things too, dear. I hope you don't try anything…."
"Oh." Hermione said blushing realizing what Mrs. Wesley meant. That morning flashed in her mind, their heated kissing and his hands on her skin. It was intoxicating. "Don't worry. I'm always careful."
"I know dear." Mrs. Weasley said fondly. "You know I always had hoped that you and Ron would end up together. And now Harry and Ginny are close, it seemed to have being the perfect way to, you know, get close together."
"It doesn't always turn out the way we want…"
"Yes, that's a pity. I mean I know Ron still adores you but he's just too blind. He still wrapped up with that Lavender girl. I never liked her. Has no common sense. Not smart like you are." Mrs. Weasley confessed.
The conversation was making Hermione uncomfortable. She hadn't frankly given a thought about how Ron had felt when she had hooked up with Draco. She knew that Ron wasn't happy about it, but was it because Draco was a Malfoy, as she had thought? Or was it because…. He still had feelings for her? At first she had thought it was a great way to get back at him. But then it started not to matter because she was so engulfed with Draco's presence. And when they had patched up their friendship, Hermione had being delighted. They had gone back to their friendly terms and nature but she hadn't actually concerned on how he felt with his girlfriend or if he was over Hermione or anything. The first time anything related to that had come up yesterday when Draco had brought it up in their heated argument.
"And you didn't? Didn't bother to think how much she was miserable because of you, did you? Of course not. You were busy with that slut of a Brown, while I saw what you did to her."
Hermione knew that had hit the core. She had seen Ron go all red as his fists shook. He had glanced guiltily at her. Hermione bit her lips. She needed to talk to him. She needed to see how he felt. Underneath all those emotions he showed, Hermione knew there was something more. Tomorrow. She was going to talk with him tomorrow.
After doing the last bits of making the table, Hermione went back to the living room followed by Ginny followed by her tail. She saw an extremely pissed off Malfoy and a grinning bunch of Weasleys by a board of wizard chess.
"What are you all grinning about?" Ginny asked curiously.
"Had a bet with Malfoy. And I won."
"Am I right, if I say that you bet him on a game of chess?"
Ron grinned as he showed a bunch of galleons.
"Good job, Ron." Hermione smirked. "Draco, you should've known better than to bet on a chess game with him."
Draco snorted. He hated how Hermione looked as if the Weasley was so wonderful. "He's just got lucky. I was too distracted with their tails waving around." He sneered.
"Then you shouldn't have put one." Ginny snapped.
Draco glared at her. He got up. He couldn't stand to be in the same place as these loads of morons were. He felt humiliated by losing the chess game. He wouldn't have made it a big issue if Hermione hadn't congratulated the weasel. And he had spied her hand land on the weasels shoulder. No one noticed him tense.
"I'm going to bed." Malfoy said.
"Don't be silly. You haven't eaten." Hermione said automatically. "Alright Ron, how about a game with me?"
"I'm not hungry." Malfoy grunted as he trudged towards the stairs.
"C'mon Malfoy. Mrs. Weasley's Christmas dinners aren't stuff you want to miss." Harry said to Malfoy's surprise. He didn't expect Potter to speak up.
"I've being missing it all this time, it won't hurt another."
"Draco—" Hermione started to say.
"Let him go if he wants to." Ron mumbled as he commanded his knight on the board.
Malfoy felt angry that Weasley had interrupted Hermione. He scowled.
"Look, stay awhile, Draco. It's Christmas." Hermione said gently with a smile.
"No, thanks."
"Is this because you lost a bloody game?" Hermione asked annoyed.
Draco hated the way she was looking at him. "No, it's because I never wanted to be here." Saying that he went upstairs. Draco banged his door of his room shut. He didn't understand why he felt so frustrated all of a sudden. He clutched his hair. He needed to calm down. His insides felt as if they were boiling. Merlin, he hated Weasley. He knew that that incompetent fool was trying to get Hermione. And Hermione was almost falling. Draco wasn't dumb not to notice the way they looked at each other. And they would keep laughing at some inside joke about some teaspoon or some head boy badge. Weasley definitely enjoyed that confused look on Draco's face.
And then Hermione, she seemed to have changed since they came. She seemed to bask in their presence more. Well, of course. Why would she want to stay with him? She barely knew him. Only a few months, while she knew them for years. Draco went in to the bathroom and took a shower. He let the warm water wash his irritation. He came out of the bathroom with a towel wrapped around his waist when Hermione came in to the room.
"Draco, c'mon. Dinners read—Oh." She flushed. "Sorry. Why don't you get ready and come on down?"
"You go on." Draco said blushing. "I'm not hungry."
"Draco, you have to try get along with them, whether you like it or not."
"Well, it's bloody hard if you hadn't noticed! And they're the ones who start it."
"Draco, I don't care who starts it—"
"Well of course you don't. You keep taking the Weasley's side."
"I'm not taking anybody's s—"
"Then you know it's them who started that bloody bursting watch, almost giving me a heart attack. And Weasley who's being making moves at you in front of me."
"Draco, you're being ridiculous."
"Am I? Everything I say or do seems ridiculous suddenly to you ever since yesterday. Are you really sure that you don't want Weasley?"
Hermione stared at him. He stared back at her.
"I don't. Do you want me to want him?" her voice was icy. He knew that he had made her very angry.
Draco shook his head turning away. "Look, I need to get dressed."
"Draco, you know you don't -"
"Just leave me alone, Granger."
"Fine… Fine then, Malfoy."
Draco then realized- as Hermione left closing the door- that he had called her 'Granger' instead of 'Hermione'. And she had done the same.
Hermione hadn't slept well. She woke up with dark rings around her eyes. She stretched and made her way to the bathroom. Her pillow had a hint of wet spots where her tears had fallen. She was worried. About Malfoy. She knew that he had a lot to cope, trying to figure out what lay in front of him in the future and to worry about his parents.
Hermione had managed to enjoy the Christmas dinner a bit without Malfoy. But everybody had noticed that she wasn't her bubbly self. Ron cursed Malfoy for upsetting Hermione. Harry managed to assure Hermione that it'll turn out fine hopefully. But nobody meant those. They all wanted her to distance herself from him. Hermione sighed.
After getting dressed she glimpsed a red head passing her doorway.
"Ron!" Hermione called out.
"Yeah?" He grinned poking his head in.
"I- I think we need to talk."
Draco woke up. When he checked the time he realized that he had overslept. He had a hard time sleeping yesterday night as he listened to the laughter downstairs. Draco quickly got dressed. Then did he remember the conversation he had with Hermione last night. He knew that he had hurt her. He was treating her like crap. He knew that he owed an apology. It wouldn't be a surprise if she didn't forgive him.
Draco made his way to Hermione's room. "Hermione, I –"
He was cut off from the sight that greeted him. Weasley was with Hermione.
And they were attached at the lips.
Draco's whole body tensed. He must be dreaming. He convinced himself but it looked too real. His throat went dry as he watched the Weasley's arms snake around Hermione, as she stroked his red hair. The kiss was passionate and it was piercing in to Draco's chest. He wanted to wrench Weasley off from Hermione but he couldn't because Hermione was holding on to him. She wanted it. She enjoyed it.
"I don't. Do you want me to want him?"
It was like someone had punched him really hard in the guts. Draco spun on his heels and went back to his room as tears gushed out of his eyes.
He knew when he wasn't wanted. And he knew that it was too much to hope that a goody-goody girl like Granger could love a bully, a death eater like Malfoy.
I don't know why but I almost cried at the last part. It hurt me too, thinking if that happened to me.
ANYWAY, putting my little emotional issue aside, What do you think? Comments? Suggestions?
Please Review! Means everything to me.