Day 4:

Draco sighed as he walked away from his class. He knew that he needed to go to his next class in an hour, but today was not his day. Crabbe was sick and therefore very crabby, no pun intended. He'd been asking for help getting fluids and a houself to do his every whim. Draco had rolled his eyes and finally agreed to help him between classes. Theodore would take over that task later tonight, but until then, Draco was feeling annoyed by his friend. He needed to be there for him, but when he started feeling like that meant he could pester Draco about his secret santa, Draco'd had enough. He didn't have to send Harry's gift today. That was already set in motion. He'd sent out an owl order earlier in the day.

Draco decided that instead of heading to his dorms to be pestered by Crabbe, sick or not, he'd rather wander the halls. He still held books from his last class, but they weren't too horribly heavy at the very least. A young boy walked up to him and smiled at him. "Hello?" Draco said, looking at the boy with malice. He couldn't understand why this young boy had stopped him.

"Draco Malfoy?"

"You should know who I am if you stopped me kid." Draco said, rolling his eyes.

"Uh… yeah." The kid blushed furiously and bit his lip. "I-uh, I have a message from your secret santa."

"Oh?" Draco crossed his arms and looked at the kid, actually looking interested. "Well, tell me then."

"I am one of four students they got to let you know a tiny bit about them." Draco noted the not assigning of a gender and he wondered if that was on purpose or just coincidental. He just rolled his eyes and motioned for the student to continue. He just stuttered as he spoke. "Y-your gifter is dark. In mind and soul. They thought you should know that. Apparently it was important for you to know that." The kid took one last look at Draco and then walked away. Dark? He'd not been expecting that. Dark as in a death eater? Or dark as in skin? The kid had said 4 students would tell him clues and the first one was about the person being dark. He was interested in hearing the other clues.

Harry found himself feeling weightless. The holiday seasons were amazing. He needed to find himself in this little experiment. In fact, with how close he was getting to being out of school, he had decided he needed to let Draco know his feelings throughout this, because good or bad, he had to know what the blonde would think of the fact that he liked him. Not that he thought Draco would ever like him back. In fact, he was certain that the blonde still hated him. He still sent him glaring eyes. He still joked about him with his friends. He was still the Draco Malfoy that Harry knew. However it was also the Draco Malfoy he fell in love with. The strong, independant boy who knew himself and knew what he wanted in life. He had his friends and his family. Harry often found himself wishing he had all that Draco did. He had his friends, sure, but a family… that was what the future was for. If he could be honest with his feelings for Draco by the end of this Holiday season, even if rejected, it would set the pace for him to be honest with all future potentials so that someday he would have the family he wanted and deserved.

What he wanted to say to Draco right now was that he knew how it was to have dark desires. He wanted him to know that darkness lies in the most honest of souls. If Draco wanted to know more about him, he'd also have to find out about his dark past. And about why he was who he was. He didn't need to know about the abuse or the feelings of guilt. He also didn't have to let him know about how happy he was that he was the one who would have to kill Voldemort. As scared as he was, being willing to face death, and knowing he had to kill Voldemort was also slightly a thrill. He wanted to kill the man who had ruined both his life and the life of others.

Harry just hoped that when this 12 days was done, he wouldn't find himself the target of Malfoy and his followers once more. Because even if Malfoy hated him, he hoped that Malfoy wouldn't think it ok to tell others about the gifts Harry was giving him. No matter how this turned out, he hoped that at the very least they could put their past behind them and start fresh. Maybe not even as friends, but not as enemies. Because in all honesty, Harry didn't want to kill Malfoy in the war to come. He just wanted his peace in this. And if nothing else, perhaps Malfoy would see him in a different light.

Draco had gone back to his dorms and felt Crabbe's forehead. He did have a fever. He promised he'd make sure the teacher's didn't do anything against Crabbe for missing class. No missing points. But he should have known that as he made his way to his next class, he would be stopped by another student. He shook his head. "So, what is my gifter's secret this time?"

The girl looked at him and smiled. "Your gifter is light. A person who others can respect. Your gifter wants to see the light in your eyes, because no matter how dark you may be, there is a light in everyone and they said they've seen yours shine and they want it in their life."

Draco felt his cheeks go red and he shook his head. "I am NOT some light sissy! Go away!" The girl's smile faded and she started to look scared. She had opened her mouth to say something but Draco shook his head. "GO. NOW!" The girl squeaked and ran off. Draco was fuming, but glad no one else had heard them talking back and forth and overheard that someone thought he had light in him. In fact, he was very glad Crabbe and Goyle weren't around, because to them, all he was is dark, just like his father. He didn't dare mention to his closest friends or family how he didn't want to join Voldemort's side like a loyal dog. Like his family. He couldn't be the person they wanted him to be. But he couldn't let others say that either. He couldn't let others see that in his eyes. And whoever the person was who saw through his steely gaze. Whoever saw him as more than just a Death Eater, like everyone assumed him to be, just like his father.

He shook his head. Nobody else would know or have to know. The student who saw the look in his eyes was not going to remember so the next morning. She'd forget today if it was the last thing he did. He'd make sure that things would be set straight. If that was all he had to do, he would.

Draco sighed. His goal was going to happen, whether the person cared or not.

Harry found himself with a headache. Hermione frowned. "Are you sure you can't come to the next class? I mean, it's not a good time to be slacking. Everyone during the holidays wants to be lazy. The teachers are suspicious. And more students are losing house points. I mean, it makes sense. No one should be slacking. I don't care what time of year it is. Can't you just come to class and rest later?"

"It's not about a headache Hermione. I need to complete my Secret Santa gift for today. This is hard for me. Sharing myself with someone. I don't need you guys around for that. In fact, I need this time alone. I'll go to potions later, alright?"

Hermione huffed, but nodded. "Fine. But don't get caught. I won't lie for you, but knowing Ron, he will."

Harry nodded and hugged his friend. "Thanks Mione."

She smiled and hugged him tight. "Whoever has you as their gifter is lucky Harry. I knew that you would take this as seriously as you could. Don't have regrets Harry."

Harry smiled slightly and nodded. "I won't."

Because no matter if Draco rejected him, even if he made Harry's life hell, Harry would just find his way to move past. He had 2 more students to get to do his work. And two to take the memories of the 30 minutes it took for them to know his secret and his crush and erase them. Not just him, but Draco would also appreciate it.

Hermione made her way out and Harry watched as she left. He grabbed his invisibility cloak and slipped out.

Draco was walking back to his dorms for the night when he had two students come up to him. The one, a hufflepuff girl tilted her head. "Your gifter likes snakes, and not just the Slytherin type. As much as you are their goal, they wanted you to know that they have a fascination with snakes of all types. And they know you do as well."

Draco frowned and decided that his gifter might not know him as well as he'd previously hoped. In fact, he was kind of hoping for a better secret. A lot of people liked snakes. It was a good attraction. The Slytherin boy who was standing next to the hufflepuff girl took her hand in his. "The last secret you get for today is that your gifter will be revealing themselves to you at the end of this. They want you to know that while they are nervous, they want to be open about themselves for once in their life. And also… they'll be taking our memories of this secret revealing from us as soon as we've told you. The first two who came to you will also not remember that they did so."

Draco raised an eye. Well, that was slightly unexpected. Someone who thought like them and was evil enough to make the last clue an obvious risk. He shrugged. "Alright, well, at least tell the person that I appreciate the clues and look forward to meeting someone who apparently is more like me than I thought."

Harry grinned from beneath the invisibility cloak and sighed softly. He then walked back to the classroom where the students would meet him. They weren't being coerced. They weren't under imperius. However they did want the glory of doing something for Harry Potter, which he allowed, so long as they knew they wouldn't remember this in the end. He grinned to himself. As much as he hated using people, it was apparently in everyone's best interest in this case. The student's walked back to the room where Harry nodded to them in appreciation before casting a memory-modification charm and walking out.

Harry made his way back up to his dormitories and sighed. Draco's face was a mix of confusion and happiness. He wanted to know the person Harry was becoming. He wanted to know Harry and he didn't even know it. Harry shook his head. That's when he noticed the 4 presents on his bed. They were different sizes and wrapped in very different wrapping papers. Harry raised a brow and walked over. Neville was sitting on his bed reading. "Some packages came for you while you were gone."

"Thanks Neville." Harry said and walked over. The note attached was written by some shopkeeper.

'Dear Mr. Potter,

Your gifts today were given by your gifter to show you that they know you. The green one, that matches your eyes, is for you, to be opened on Christmas. The red with green bow is for Miss Granger, who would recognize the colors for Christmas as a muggle holiday. Hopefully she appreciates it as well. The red one is for your closest red-headed friend, who you have been hand-in-hand friends with since day 1 at Hogwarts, that is the person that this is for. And the last, the smallest is for the youngest Weasley.

Your gifter hopes you like the gifts as they know how much your friends mean to you.'

Harry smiled upon reading that and stuck the gifts under his bed to give his friends later. He felt the green wrapper on his own and wondered what could be inside, but he would respect their wishes. To be honest, the idea of the person gifting his friends was more a gift to him than whatever could be in this box. And maybe that was the point.

Draco lay his head back against his pillow that night and wondered how Harry had liked the gifts. He couldn't bring himself to write the note personally, because he was scared he might say something in the note that revealed himself. He almost called Ginny Weaslette in the note and was glad he had not, as he would have revealed himself. He shook his head. How could he make himself give Harry what he wanted when he knew nothing could ever come to be between them? Too much thought. Too little time before the 12th day.