25th of December 1988.

Christmas in the Malfoy manner wasn't as big of an occasion like the party the night before hand. While Draco and Heidi were in bed rather early themselves, Narcissa and Lucius Malfoy weren't asleep till the early hours of Christmas morning. So instead of the whole family opening presents together, it was usually just Heidi and Draco ripping through their Christmas gifts, with eyes gleaming and smiles wide. Christmas was the one day a year that Heidi and Draco were allowed to just be kids. Were all the expectations and pressures of being Pure-blooded children were lifted, if only for a few scares moments.

Heidi and Draco were raised as pure-bloods. So they tried, really tried, not to do anything Narcissa and Lucius didn't approve of. Such things included, slouching, running, falling, speaking out of term, slurping, snorting, making faces, being rude, swearing, burping, farting, coughing, sneezing, throwing up, crying, wearing revealing clothing, wearing Muggle clothes, speaking to Muggles, writing with pens, reading Muggle books or supporting Muggleborns. Another thing they weren't very fond of was jumping on the bed. Let alone running down a corridor, throwing open a door and launching oneself at a sleeping form, then jumping on said sleeping form whilst they were still in bed. However, on Christmas day this tended to be over looked.

"Heidi! Come on get up! PRESENTS!" Draco whined as he tugged on his older cousin's shoulder in a vain attempt to wake her. It was almost impossible to wake Heidi if she wanted to sleep in. Draco had always thought that it was because her head was so thick from reading all her books, though he would never say it to her face. Heidi could be rather mean sometimes.

After what felt like hours to Draco (that was only two or so minutes in reality) Heidi pushed her arm upwards and forced her little cousin off of the bed. With a grunt Draco pulled himself back up from the ground and on to the bed once more, only to find Heidi hiding under the covers, almost certainly asleep again.

"Heidi," Draco whinged as he plopped down on the beds edge. "Please get up. The elves made cookies and I want some but they've got orders from mother not to give me any till you're up. And Dobby keeps on banging his head against the wall. It's rather annoying. Go tell him to stop."

If Draco hadn't been straining his ears he would have missed the ever so light sigh Heidi breathed from under her green bed covers. For reasons unknown to Draco, Heidi had a soft spot for the elves, and he had purposely added the bit about Dobby, her favourite elf. So with a smirk of triumph Draco stood up with an air of superiority surrounding him.

"Get changed out of those awful clothes," having finally poked her head out form her little cravers of warmth, Draco got an eye full of his cousins overly large grey sweat shirt and loose baggy pants, something that his mother had begrudgingly given Heidi after complaint after complaint about her night gown. "And be down stairs in ten minutes or you won't get my present," with that he closed his cousins bedroom door just missing the pillow she had chucked at it.

Heidi, having been woken up a few hours earlier to what she had wanted, slowly crawled from her nice warm bed and over to her walk in closet. Unlike her aunt, who had a whole room dedicated to dresses, Heidi was more than content for the small, by her family's standards, closet. With a little wiggle Heidi pulled her shirt over her head and folded it neatly before pulling on a simple dark blue dress.

Over twenty minutes had passed by the time Heidi was satisfied, although she had cleaned her room up a little bit as much to give the house-elves a rest as to annoy her cousin.

"Finally!" Draco had scolded, throwing a glossy green present at her. "Open it already, you've kept me waiting long enough. DOBBY!"

With a little pop Dobby, a house elf, appeared in the main lounge area, a stack of Christmas tree cookies on a silver tray in one hand. Sneering at the elf, Draco grabbed a handful and scarfed them down. When he looked up at his cousin again, he saw a look of disapproval on her face.

"What?" he asked, but it came out more of a 'Wah?" for having his mouth full of cookies.

"Why must you always be so mean to him? Thank you Dobby and Merry Christmas to you," Heidi said as she laid down her cousins gift and grabbed a cookie.

"Dobby wishes you a merry Christmas to the young miss as well," the house-elf said before dropping the plate in front of the Christmas tree and banging his head on the brick wall. "BAD DOBBY! Dobby should have greeted the little Miss as soon as he saw her! Let alone the young master! BAD DOBBY! BAD!"

"Oh Dobby no, no please stop!" Heidi ferreted as Draco sneered behind his hand. "Shut up," Heidi muttered as she pried Dobby away from the wall. "Dobby no it's okay. Dobby please don't cry, oh Dobby no," Heidi spoke in a panicked voice as she petted the back of his head and made slight cooing sounds. "Dobby please calm yourself. You are in a right state of distress."

After a few more seconds of blubbering, Dobby calmed down enough to rush into the kitchens. From her spot in the lounge Heidi could faintly hear him hitting his head and muttering about his own incompetence, and she so wished that she was allowed in the kitchens. It broke Heidi's heart more than she was willing to admit to see the little elf so upheaved. Well, at least to her cousin, who'd see it as a weakness and never allow her to live it down.

"I don't know why you bother yourself with that stupid elf," Draco muttered as he finished of the cookies Dobby had bought in.

"I pity him," was Heidi's only reply, too scared to speak of her own love for the little elf for fear of her aunt and uncle finding out. "Now Draco, what did you get me?"

The conversation quickly became light and merry between the two cousins. Draco worshipped the very ground Heidi walked on too much to hold much against her for too long, and in turn Heidi loved Draco. Sure sometimes she wanted to strangle him to death for being an insufferable git, but at the end of the day they were family, and Heidi had been raised loyal to her family.

"Open it and see."

Smiling at her cousin in fondness, Heidi undid the beautifully wrapped present with delicate fingers, sure that there was no way Draco had wrapped it himself. Underneath the green gloss paper there was a box, a small box at that. It was not a plan box either. It was as hard as marble but somehow still soft as a feather. As light as one as well. While not as black as the void of space it was definitely as dark as the night sky; a rich blue. With swift fingers Heidi open it and gasped.

Lying on soft white felt was a beautiful golden necklace. The necklace was something that Heidi wasn't sure she'd be allowed to wear often; it was certainly expensive and finely made, something her aunt would approve of greatly. But her aunt would not approve of the charm it carried. Heidi had a lot of necklaces. She was, after all, from three wealthy pure-blood families. But they all were simple and elegant, apart from a few of her ancestors ones which were rather heavy and over lavished. This one was a simple gold chain with a fob watch pendent. It was so simple and un-feminine. Exactly what her aunt would be angry about.

Heidi loved fob watches. She simple adored them much to her aunt's distress. Her aunt had allowed her a few, all well-made and with an ancient history to them. None new, none made for her. But this one was. It was of a normal sizing with five dragon heads delicately engraved on to the untarnished gold. A hydra. Many people might think that someone as happy-go-lucky as Heidi would detest being named after such a vile creature. Heidi did not.

"Oh Draco, I love it," Heidi whispered, tears pooling in her eyes.

"Here, I'll put it on you. Turn around."

Pulling her hair to one side, Heidi allowed her clumsy cousin to latched the necklace around her. It nested on the very crook of her chest, too short to read the time properly.

"If you pull the chain, it's charmed to lengthen. So you'll always be able to read it."

With a tiny smile Heidi grasped the fob watched and gently pulled on it. With a press of the button Heidi looked at the time. 12:47. Her aunt and uncle would be awake soon.

"Thank you Draco," Heidi breathed as she flung herself at her little cousin. In a rare occurrence, Draco returned the hug with just as much warmth.

"Good morning children," came the bell like voice of Narcissa Malfoy as she walked into the lounge room, flanked by three elves, each carrying a plate of pancakes.

"Good morning mother," Draco said, pulling away from his cousin.

"Good morning aunty," Heidi said as a sad smile graced her face. Draco would never allow his parents to know how much he loved his cousin.

Eyeing the strange necklace around her niece's neck, Narcissa kneeled down on the floor and handed out the pancakes to her young ones.

The three ate in almost complete silence. A rare perfect moment in an un-perfect family.

( So yes, Draco loves his cousin, his cousin loves him. There souldn't be to many more chapters before I ship Heidi off to Hogwarts. But I got a question, who should she meet on the train?

Also feed an Author. It doesn't even have to be me (Although I'd love if it was!) I've been reading some brilliant stories recently and have noticed that some of the best have very few reviews. If you fav or follow a story, just add a little "Hey man, this is cool. Good work!" It brightens every day.

Ravenclaw: 4

Hufflepuff: 3

Slytherin: 1

Gryffindor:1)