We arrived late at night to the Leaky Cauldron, and in our exhaustion took a room upstairs. Lugging our bags tiredly up, we finally swung the door open, and flung ourselves into two chairs stationed at each end of the dusty bedroom.
I looked around room 11. There was little in here. There were two armchairs, one in which I was residing, a window, a fireplace and... a bed. One bed.
I looked over at Draco. He had begun to unpack our things. I looked back over at the bed. I wasn't comfortable sharing with him, despite his confession of love. I figured that he would probably be chivalrous, give me the bed, but as I sank into the comfy armchair I realised that I would rather stay here, and let him have it. So, slowly, I allowed myself to drift off to sleep, hoping that Draco would just take the bed and spare the awkwardness.
I awoke at some point in the night sweating. My dreams had been haunted by a man with snake-like features, and two slits for nostrils. The man kept flashing between the monster and a boy, both staggering forward, holding me in their arms. They fell to their knees outside an old decrepit building. And then my back began to ache.
It ached now as I eased my self up out of the chair. It was still dark outside. My watch said it was three in the morning. I looked over the the semi-luminescent room, lit by a half moon. My eyes fell on Draco, whose perfect body was slumped on the bed, rising and falling steadily. I gathered a few of my clothes quietly, namely my pajamas and underwear, and sought out the bathroom. After a calming shower, I returned to the room and looked reluctantly back at my armchair. The thing seemed to project the nightmare now, threatening to bring it back upon me. And then I looked longingly at the bed. I was sure Draco wouldn't mind...
I crawled in on the other side of the bed, careful not to rouse him from his slumber. Then, I slipped under the covers and turned to face the other side, so we were back to back. Feeling the warmth radiating from Draco, I began to feel my eyelids droop again...
The morning came slowly to me. At first, I felt the muted light of a sun hidden by clouds hit my eyelids. Soon after, I became aware of legs tangled in mine, and arms wrapped around me. It took me a while to feel the eyes on me too. I blinked awake.
"Merry Christmas," came Draco's croaky voice.
"Merry Christmas," I replied, knowing that while all I had known before was the excitement of Christmas morning because of the presents, the way Draco was holding me was far better than anything I could have ever wished for.
We remained in bed for another few seconds, a stillness hanging in the air. I looked admiringly at the perfection of the blonde boy whose arms I was wrapped up in. Draco's smooth complexion, bone structure and symmetry were very impressive, but nothing could possibly hope to define him better than his beautiful eyes. They gazed at me with the most dazzling emotion I had ever experienced. I thought of my own green-hazel eyes, and how mediocre they must have seemed in comparison. I wondered if I was capable of looking at anyone with that much passion. Despite the amount I felt in my heart, It was unlikely I would ever be able to show it to Draco the way he did me.
"Well, come on then!" he said.
"Come on, what?" I asked, confused.
"Aren't we going to go out? It's snowing outside!"
"It's what?" I asked, the childhood excitement of both snow and Christmas on the same day practically overwhelming me.
Draco was already out of bed and pulling on his clothes. I watched him inadvertently as he peeled off his shirt, revealing his prefect muscles.
"Like what you see?" he teased.
"Shut up," I replied, grabbing my clothes and diving into the bathroom to ready myself. When I came out, sufficiently wrapped up, Draco grabbed my hand and we streaked out of the door, soon in Diagon Alley.
The sight was amazing. Amidst the snow were vendors selling all kinds of things. Huge singing Christmas tress sat in rows on my left, and chestnuts were being roasted by a miniature dragon to my right.
But Draco pulled my past all of it, all of the children with gifts of money come to buy themselves a Christmas presents, past the town entirely until we were in a completely different place altogether. An empty plot of land, filled with crisp, untouched snow. I gasped.
"What is this pl-" I began, before something hit me violently in the back of the neck. It stung with cold. Well then, if he wanted a snowball fight, I would give him one.
I whipped around, fresh snow crushed and ready in my hands when splat, I was hit again with a snowball, this one square in the face. Draco roared with laughter, until he began to choke on snow. That was my handiwork.
In the space of ten minutes a fully fledged battle had come into being. I stumbled blindly through snow, throwing this way and that, getting hit more then my missiles hit my target. We both laughed insanely, like children. Suddenly, Draco was in front of me, a whopper of a snowball in his hand. I backed away, tripping over myself and falling back into the snow. Draco fell on top of me, his masterpiece of a weapon dashed into the ground. We both laughed hysterically again.
The rest of the morning was spent in the snow, and when we bored, we stepped into one of the pubs and ordered two butterbeers. I chugged mine down, grateful for the warmth it lent my body.
"So," I began, "your parents." We hadn't even spoken about last night yet.
"Yeah, I'm sorry about them." He said, shifting away from me uncomfortably.
"No, don't worry about it. It's just, it makes sense now."
"What does?" asked Draco.
"You do. Why you're such a jerk to Harry," I said, hoping that Draco wouldn't pick up the fact I called him by his first name.
"What do you mean?"
"Well, you're jealous of him. He doesn't have parents, so he can't disappoint them. That's what you're so terrified of." I said. Draco said nothing for a small while, and then nodded.
"I- I suppose you could be right," Draco said.
"But Draco, you don't have to worry about your parents," I began.
"But I do," he protested. "You haven't seen my dad when he's disappointed."
"Draco, you might be jealous of Potter, but your dad is jealous of you." I said. Now he looked genuinely confused. "He's terrified that you're going to turn out better than him that he pulls you down, when in actual fact he's proud of you. That's why you pull others down. To be like him, to feel better about yourself, and to gain his approval. But you don't need to. You just need to stand up to him."
"I- I can't" said Draco finally.
"Well, maybe not now, but someday. Just something to think about," I added, and then went back to slurping up the remains of my drink.