Written By: xxPyRaxx

Disclaimer: Claimed in the Second chapter.

"Don't Marry Me"

Verse 6:

-I would like to see my sons or daughters
Laughing, as happy as they could be.-
They will get everything they want.

If you don't like what you see than,
Baby, Don't marry me.

Chapter Six

~.~

They will Get Everything They Want

Christmas has arrived, very much to Cassiopeia's delight. The morning sun had just made an appearance over the horizon when Cassi's eyes opened with an excited smile upon her young childish face. As she sat up, Cassi pushed her sheet and bedspread off of her body and swung her legs over to the edge of the mattress. She wore her favourite nightshirt. It was a soft green with flutter sleeves (accompanied with butterfly and floral print) and ruffled hem on the bottom. A picture of Tinkerbell was on the front and the back was the same pattern as on the sleeves. With ease, Cassi gracefully landed upon the cold wooden floor of her bedroom but the coolness of the wood didn't calm the excitement pumping through her veins. It was Christmas after all. With joy that only a child her age could muster on this day, she hurried out of her bedroom and down the hall to her mother's.

Magnolia was sleeping peacefully underneath the covers that represented a cocoon, with her body curled into a foetal position. She had gone the sleep late in the previous night due to the fact that she had to lay out the presents under the tree and make sure that everything was set for the next morning. The curtains, that hung from the windows on each side of the bed, were drawn closed to prevent the morning sun from waking her. Of course, she shouldn't be worried about the sun's rays awaking her but her very own flesh and blood. It wasn't long before Cassi slowly opened the creaking door and peaked inside before she entered and closed the door behind her with a soft click. Cassi found her mother's form hiding under the covers, asleep. Cassi decided that it was Christmas and everyone should be up to open the awaiting presents downstairs. With a quick run towards the bed, she jumped and landed like a cat upon the bed. The jolt from her landing caused Magnolia to wake up and sit straight up in the bed. Before she could really wake up, Cassi began talking.

"Wake up! Wake up! Wake up! It's Christmas! C'mon, let's open presents!"

"Cassi. Cassi stop" Maggie intervened "Please, what are you doing?"

"It's Christmas Momma, let's go open presents now".

"Not right now Cassi".

"Why not?"

"Because it's too early. Come" Maggie tiredly gestured for her daughter to join her under the warm covers, which Cassi did, "You see the numbers on the clock? Right now it shows a six and two zeros. If you can't go back to sleep like Momma, than stay quiet and don't wake me up until the clock shows a seven, a four and a five. Okay?"

"Okay Momma" Cassi responded as she snuggled underneath the covers and turned over so her back was facing her mother but turned her neck so she looked at her mother's face, "Good night. I mean, good morning".

Maggie barely gave her daughter a small smile before she was asleep again.

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~

Unlike her mother, Cassiopeia couldn't go back to sleep. She didn't even have to try to close her eyes, Christmas adrenaline was still pumping through her system. Deciding that she couldn't lay still anymore, she turned over to face her sleeping mother she gave her a kiss on her cheek and whispered, "Sleep tight, Momma" before she crawled out of bed and left the room.

The house was quiet whenever she was the only one awake. Sometimes, it was an eerie quiet; like what you could feel on a stormy night and sometimes it was a peaceful quiet like this morning. From six to seven-forty five was a long time to be waiting for someone to wake up so, to pass the time Cassi went back into her bedroom to grab a book before she went downstairs to the living room.

Upon reaching the doorway of the decorated living room, Cassi's eyes widened at the sight of all the presents under the tree. Cassi couldn't help but curl her fingers tighter around the book she was hold in excitement. What a wonderful holiday, Christmas was. She couldn't wait any longer, she had to read the names on the tags to see how much she got. She dropped her book at her feet and hurried over to the large piles of presents.

She was so excited about the presents that she didn't hear the roar of the fireplace when someone used the Floo Network. Only when the sound of the visitor's voice spoke from behind her, did she realize that she wasn't alone.

"Cassi? What are you doing?"

The little girl jumped in surprise at the sound of the voice and turned around to the man who stood in way of the fireplace.

"Draco. Momma's still sleeping upstairs. I-I just wanted to count how many presents Santa brought me".

"Is that so?" Draco questioned.

"I mean, I wanted to count them because I was curious".

"Santa might look at this as a naughty act".

Cassi quickly stood up from where she was squatting in front of the presents and turned around to face Draco, "I didn't mean to be naughty. Oh Draco, please don't tell Santa" she begged.

"It's okay, I won't tell him. Why is your mother still sleeping?

"She said that it was too early to be up".

"Too early? Doesn't she know that it's Christmas?" Draco played along with Cassi's childish excitement of the holiday.

Cassi nodded, "I know, but she doesn't think so".

"Why don't you go wake her up so these presents don't have to wait to be opened any longer?"

"What if Momma gets angry because I woke her up too early. I'm not supposed to wake her up until the clock has a seven, a four and a five".

"Alright" Draco agreed with a nod than gestured to the book that she left on the floor before he bent down to pick it up, "What's this doing on the floor?"

"I dropped it when I saw all the presents. I was gonna read it after I counted how many presents I got from Santa".

"Well, perhaps I can assist you in reading it. I haven't read this book in quiet a long time. Since I was your age".

"You've read The Tale of Beedle the Bard?" she asked with amazement.

Draco nodded, "Of course. My own mother used to read it to me when I was about Teddy's age".

"Will you do the different voices like Momma?"

"Is there any other way to read a story?" he asked, playing along once again.

Cassi giggled before she took his offered hand and they sat on the couch across the room from the decorated tree.

"Cassi? Where are you slippers?" he asked when he noticed her bare feet.

"Up in my room" she answered.

"Go put your slippers on please" he requested of her.

"Okay" she responded and hurried up the stairs to put on the soft green ballet flat slippers with matching floral and butterfly print on the bow at the beginning of the the toe. The slippers matched her nightshirt perfectly. When she returned, Draco was still sitting on the couch with the book on his lap.

"Much better" he praised as she came to sit back down beside him. With her feet tucked to side, she leaned her body against Draco's, who swung an arm around her to keep her close before he laid the blanket; that stayed on the couch, around her.

"Here we go" he announced as he pulled the cover open and than began to read to her.

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~

Nearly two hours later, the faint creaking of the stars on the staircase caught the hearing of the two early risers in the living room.

At the sound of the stairs, Cassi's attention left the intense plot line of the short story that was being read.

"Momma!" she cried out with excitement as she quickly untangled herself from the blanket to jump off the couch and run out of the room, which Draco wasn't ready for since he accidentally dropped the book that he held in his hands to the floor when her knee knocked his wrist. As Cassi ran out of the room, Draco bent down to pick up the book from his childhood with a small chuckle on his lips.

Christmas has always been an exciting holiday, for any child; Wizard or Muggle. But Draco never remembered being as excited as Cassi. Perhaps it was because he always knew that he was going to receive everything he asks for so there weren't any surprises for him to open. Since he's been going out with Magnolia, he learned that surprises were a must on Christmas; despite the fact that everyday was a surprise with her. He could never make a steady plan when something involved her because something would always happen, like being, being harassed by newspaper reporters, being called in for an extra hand at Saint Mungo's or her accidentally pasting pasta sauce on his freshly pressed dress shirt. Magnolia was always brought surprises with her, wherever she went. And he was certain that today wouldn't be very different.

After Draco placed the book on the couch, the spot where Cassi once occupied, he joined the young girl in the hallway. Magnolia was just coming down the last few steps when he arrived. She didn't look very awake; with her hair in a messy ponytail, her eyes hardly open and a yawn escaping from her lips. She wore a flannel pyjama set with green, blue and white coloured Christmas tree balls on a red background printed on them. The flannel shirt was opened and left unbuttoned to reveal a green camisole tank top underneath.

"Hi, Momma" Cassi greeted happily.

"Morning" Maggie yawned at her happily.

"Can we open presents now?" Cassi asked with glee.

"Let your mother wake up first" Draco chuckled at the child's antics.

"But she is up" the girl argued gently.

"Why don't you and Cassi go into the living room and I'll bring you your morning cup of tea?" Draco suggested kindly.

"That would be lovely" Maggie replied before she gave him a kiss on the lips, "Thank you".

"No problem. Go sit and I'll be right in".

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~

By the time Draco returned to the living room with Maggie's tea steaming in a mug, the pile of presents that were once in one large pile, was now three separate piles. Each pile was a different theme, the receiver's name. Maggie sat in Draco's previous occupied spot on the couch with the blanket opened and laid across her lap and Cassi sat near her large pile of presents on the floor.

"Now, can we open presents. I wanted to open them when the clock had a six and two zeros but I had to wait sooo long-"

" Yes, Cassi. You've waited long enough. You can open them now" Maggie giggled.

"Yay!" Cassiopeia vocally celebrated with a wide smile and than dove into her pile. It take long for her to rip the wrapping paper off and gawking at what Santa brought her. She received numerous colouring books with crayons, markers and pencil crayons, books, dolls to play with, a Potions kit, a fake wand, chocolate frogs, and Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans. Both Maggie and Draco watched her in silence as Cassi opened those gifts and Maggie sipped on her tea. As Cassi ripped opened more and more beautifully wrapped presents, Draco couldn't help but wonder why she received so many. Sure, he purchased quite a few for her himself but Maggie seemed like she bought out the whole Wizarding World. Draco shifted his gaze over to the right to look at her. He didn't think that she noticed that he was watching her; Maggie was too focused on watching her daughter open the rest of the presents, that she desired to have in her young life, with an affectionate smile.

"Maggie" Draco called softly to gather her attention but not to distract Cassi.

At the sound of her name being called, she turned her gaze towards Draco; her smile still intact on her angelic face.

When Draco got her full attention, he continued, "Why did you buy so many gifts for Cassi?"

Maggie's smile vanished into a frown at his question and she moved her gaze away from her beloved's silver eyed gaze.

With a patience that Draco seemed to have learned from being around her for so long, he waited for her to answer. It wasn't long before his patience paid off.

"You know how my childhood was. Harry and I never really got gifts from anyone, until we came to the Wizarding World. I-I would like to see my sons or daughters; laughing, as happy as they could be. They will get everything they want. If you don't like what you see; than baby, don't marry me".

To Be Continued…