Draco sat on the left side, at the end of the long black table. He rested his head on his hand, looking at the large pile of opened letters his father had placed in front of him.

Well, he had tried to stay out of trouble. It wasn't his fault his teachers had all ran to his parents every time he opened his mouth.

He leafed through the pile. Professor McGonagall, Quirrell, McGonagall, Flitwick, Flitwick, McGonagall, and even a Professor Snape! He rested his chin down ignoring the rest of the pile.

Apparently, his father wasn't pleased with his notifications and Draco's lousy attempt at weekly updates. And he didn't seem keen to listen to Draco's attempts to defend himself.

His mom had tried to defend him saying he was young, and it was a lot of work, or the teachers were very strict, but Lucius was very upset. He had been a prefect, than a head boy, and had very good marks and expected the same from Draco.

It was Christmas, and Draco was home for Christmas, but he was starting to regret his decision to return home. His dad just wouldn't leave him alone.

First he freaked out at him for not continuing the updates, then he flipped about all of the notes he got, then he flipped about his marks, and then he flipped about how he wasn't doing homework THAT VERY MOMENT!

Draco has only been home for a few days, and he was so done, he couldn't wait for the holidays to be over.

Now, his dad was having company coming over so they were rushing around getting everything ready, so Draco was alone in the dining room, where the loud silence still hung over him.

His father was still so upset with him and decided today was a good day to read out the notes and then get mad at him over it, before remembering they were having company. Draco, childish perhaps, had decided to sit there and refuse to help at all to show how angry he was. His parents completely ignored his childish attempt to upset them, and were hurrying around completely ignoring him.

Draco stared at the pile until the edges began to blur. He suddenly snapped jumping up and pushing the table with all his might. With a loud crack, the large table crashed against the floor, with the notes flying around in the air. All sounds of commotion around the house silenced.

"Draco?" Narcissa called a tinge or fear in her voice.

Draco stared at the fallen table. He desperately tried to think of a way to fix what he just did.

His mom came in cautiously looking at him, then to the fallen table and back to him. "Draco." Draco raised his eyebrows but didn't reply. Narcissa fixed it with her wand quickly.

"What's wrong?" She asked. Draco glared at her. What's wrong? Is she joking? Isn't it pretty obvious what is wrong?

Lucius walked in. "What was that?" "Nothing." Narcissa replied giving him "a look". He didn't hesitate to leave and continue preparing.

Narcissa sat down across from Draco. Draco ignored her. "Draco..."

"Please just go." Draco snapped, not in the mood to hear this.

With a flash of hurt across her face, she rose quickly. "You can help then." She snapped.

"No." Draco snapped back, his eyes blazing. Narcissa turned and left without a word.

Draco sat back, looking at his wand. He couldn't even use it: it was so useless.

He COULD use it, he just wasn't supposed to. Since he was in a wizarding home, if he did magic right now, no one would ever know. But he's not supposed to perform any magic away from school until his seventeenth birthday.

Lucius came into the room. He quickly used his wand to make the letters disappear. He glanced at Draco. "If your not doing anything, can you get out so we can get ready? We're having visitors." He snapped. Draco sat there staring at him unmoved. "Draco, can you please!" He snapped louder that time. Draco turned and slowly headed upstairs.

He couldn't wait for holidays to be over. This wasn't a vacation! Next year, he promised himself I'm staying at Hogwarts over the break

He remembered how he had joked about Harry having to stay because no one at home was missing him. Now he was at home wishing no one had asked for him to return over the break.

He walked toward the staircase when he paused hearing his parents voices murmuring "...if Arthur Weasley wasn't so determined to search our house. Won't drop the whole working for the dark lord thing. We need to move everything that might be suspicious and place it into the chamber under the stairs. Just as a precaution Narcissa!"

"They won't search the house Lucius, not with your status. No one listens to those blood-traitors anyways."

"Narcissa, I just want to be certain... And anyways times are changing. What if- it's a very small possibility- but if he did return? We'd be one of the first they'd search and you know it. Especially with that Potter boy at Hogwarts..."

Draco walked away at this point. He didn't want to hear any more about Harry.

He could hear Macnair and Karkaroff's rising voices from downstairs. He knew he had less than two minutes before they called him downstairs. He could hear his parents greeting them.

Draco knew his parents met them before since they were all death eaters, the dark lord followers. Each of them had gone to certain extents to avoid imprisonment, and although it was an unspoken agreement between them not to speak of there narrow escape, sometimes Draco would hear his father insulting Karkaroff's bravery and loyalty since he betrayed other death eaters for his freedom.

"Draco? Can you Please come downstairs?" Draco heard his Mom ask impatiently.

Draco sighed taking a glance in the mirror. He tried to make a fake smile but it looked horribly unconvincing, more like a tired grimace.

He walked down to the sitting room where Lucius was sitting with the guests. "Ah, and he's my son Draco, home for christmas." Lucius introduced him. The men smiled friendly at him, but he just stared straight ahead at the photograph above the fire mantle. The men glanced at each other uneasily.

Narcissa cleared her throat. "Hi." Draco said shifting his eyes to the men. Lucius and Narcissa gave each other a look over the visitor's heads. Draco sat down.

The conversation continued, and the men attempted a couple of times to invite him into the conversation, but Draco kept his answers short and simple. Finally, he thought he sat there for long enough; he excused himself and returned to his room.

On the way upstairs he heard Macnair ask, "Is something wrong with him?"

"He's a little out of it today. He's tired." He heard his parent's quick reply. Draco rolled him eyes in disgust and shut his door, blocking out there conversation.

Draco suddenly imagined what was going on at Hogwarts. The feasts in the main hall, all decorated, running around the empty halls, with no one nagging you, and all school work forgotten. Next year, I'm staying at Hogwarts Draco promised himself.

He could only imagine how mad his parents were going to be with him when the guests leave. He was so fustrated with them too.

Well, this was going to be a lousy Christmas.