Chapter 16
Try as she might, the next morning, Jane was unable to hide the upset she felt. The idea of going to her mothers had not been to show her what she could achieve without her but to build bridges. After all that had gone on, she had realised she had needed what remained of the Greenwood clan. She was sure her father would have wanted his girls to stick together.
But best lain plans and all that.
And so that was how she came to find herself sitting at the breakfast table with Lucius, sipping her tea, but not even attempting the bacon sandwich she had so craved just a few minutes earlier...
"What is it?" he asked at last, reaching across the table to put his hand on her arm. Jerked out her thoughts, Jane gave him a brave attempt at a smile.
"Just got a lot on my mind is all."
"What it is? Talk to me, old friend."
Looking at him she shook her head. She had been about to say it was nothing for him to worry about when the lump she had tried to swallow down came up her throat once more.
She had no idea when she had turned in to such an insufferable cry baby.
Her father would not stand for her acting in such a way. She was a Greenwood and she had to remember that.
"I went to see my mother. The meeting was not satisfactory is all." She said as she blinked. "Do not give me sympathy for I do not think I could take it."
"Of course not," Lucius nodded as he held her arm and stroked it gently with his thumb in a rather soothing fashion – so soothing she did not pull away away.
"She has such a closed mind. I meant to give her all my news and to make her proud. But she would not hear me," she explained.
"That was cruel, Jane."
"She said my father would be ashamed of me. I know it to be a lie but it still stung."
"You are a bright young woman who has made something of herself by her own hard work. And you raise the tone of this household by being part of it. By being head of it really," he said as he gave her a soft smile.
"I said no sympathy."
Lucius drew back as he saw her tears dry up. She had got composed he was glad to see. "What else did she say?"
"Perhaps topically, she made some innuendos I did not care for. I will not have her speak slanderously of this house. Nor would I have her speak ill of you and Draco."
"I can imagine," he sighed.
"It is of no matter," She said as she got up, Max scuttling to stand by her from his position lying in the winter sun. "We are still going to have a wonderful Christmas. I am not going to let her get in the way of that."
"Good. I'll be home early enough for us to have supper together tonight. We can kick things off together in style. I'll get some wine up from the cellar, for you alone," He smiled at her putting up his hands, making it clear he wouldn't touch a drop. "Now I have to go and do some work."
And that night that was just what they did – they toasted in the season with all the joy of two people who did not have the weight of the world on their shoulders. They laughed as if they were able to see in to the future and saw nothing but lush green fields and sweet smelling sunny days.
XXX
As the Yule Ball got closer, Draco begun to feel a little better about the entire thing. After the whole Hermione situation he had felt as if there was no way in the world he could even begin to consider that he was going to have a good night. Yet, even though they were going as friends and she had not been his first choice, a night with Luna did not seem such a bad thing.
He hoped she was going to be more comical than insightful while they were there, but he would still be proud to have her on his arm.
"Got dates?" he asked Harry and Ron as he sat down at the Gryffindor table.
The two of them nodded, but he noticed neither of them seemed overly enthusiastic about them.
"The Patil twins."
Draco knew neither of the girls well enough to pass judgement on whether the lads would have a good time with them or not, but their faces said to him that they were about as close them as he was to Luna.
"So is that all of us with a date now?" he asked as he looked up and down the table. Had they all actually managed to do it?
Girls had seemed like such a challenge when he had first heard about the Ball.
"Yep – even Neville has one," said harry as he gave a sly smile at Ron.
"It is not a date – they are just friends," Ron had only one word in response to the quizzical look Draco gave to him. "He is taking Ginny."
Draco sniggered at Ron. If he had a sister he was sure he would feel much the same - especially if it was a younger one.
But that was obviously not going to stop Harry enjoying the situation. Potter had lightened up from the days since the first task and it was a relief to all his friends.
The last thing he had needed was for them all to be at one another's throats.
"I am going down to the owlery," he said as he got back up. He had not even intended to go into the Great Hall until he had seen his friends inside.
He was yet to get a reply from Lupin which he was very eager to receive indeed. He had not told Harry he had even written though. He did not know why, but he just got the feeling that he would not approve.
Harry had an idea of Sirius as a hero – and he was that, he knew it was. But years of being raised by Severus and Lucius had shown him that men invariably had two sides and things were never as simple as they seemed.
Harry should be allowed to keep his idol for a while though, thought Draco. Every one needed that from time to time.
"Ok, can you check if Pig is back?" asked Ron clearly having no intention of going out in the cold. "I wrote to mum about sending up some dress robes."
"Will do," Draco nodded before he set off on his way.
Hogwarts was obviously in itself magic, as many of the ancient homes of Draco's kind were. But there was something doubly magical about it at Christmas he thought to himself, smiling at the crunch of the freshly fallen snow. Hogwarts was the safest place in the world, defended as it was. One day soon it would have to be a fortress as well as a castle.
But that day had not yet come.
As soon as Hercules saw him, he flew to Draco.
"Merry Christmas," he greeted his animal as he landed on his shoulder, a letter tied to him. An affectionate nip on the ear that was slightly to hard to be heartfelt, spoke volumes about the birds feelings about the latest mission he had been sent on.
"To lazy to bring it up to the castle, hey Herc?" asked Draco as he untied it. "Just like everyone else in my life, you're just a massive snob aren't you? Lupin's pad not quite up to Manors standards?"
The look that the bird gave him said it all. "Apparently not."
Once he had made sure his owl had food and water and was comfortable in the owlery, Draco sat down on one of the side ledges to read the letter he had received from his old professor.
Even though he had been writing letters since he had been quite young, writing to Lupin had been weird. Whenever he wrote, it was to an intimate friend or a family member – he was not so well practised in the formal kinds though the way things were going, he was going to have to get used to it.
Dear Draco,
May I first wish you a very merry Christmas and thank you so much for your condolences for last year. As much as I truly did enjoy teaching you all, I have settled in to my new job now and am getting on quite well.
I am very glad that you felt you were able to write to me on about Sirius. I think it speaks highly of you – a true Ravenclaw who does his research no matter what he might find.
Sirius is one of my best friends and from here on in he always will be. However, he has a rash side to his personality and I do not think it would do to discount is years in Azkaban. By no means am I saying he is the mad man everyone already said he is. I think it was quite clear from that evening that he is very much sane.
But he was young when he went into jail and he was reckless then. How far he has had a chance to grow up and mature I am not quite sure and I have not spent enough time with him to be able to make an informed judgement.
You are a true friend to Harry. Stay close to him.
Once more, I wish you a very merry Christmas and a safe new year.
Remus Lupin.
"A letter?"
Draco jumped out of his skin. "Bloody hell Hermione."
"You sound like Ron." She read his face. "What is it?"
If there was someone in the world he could confide the letter in then it was her. "Read it," he sighed as he passed over the letter and walked over to the window to look out over the forbidden forest while she did.
"I think you were right to write to him. But I don't know what Harry is going to say about it," she said as she came to his side and stood by him.
"Nothing," said the blonde lad as she have his letter back to him.
"You are not going to tell him," Hermione questioned, only a little surprised.
"I do not think it would do him a lot of good for him to question Sirius yet."
"And it is for you?" she said.
Hermione understood what he was saying but she knew him well enough to know when he was holding back on her – something she thought he did a little too much, though she understood why he had done recently.
She was glad the two of them were getting over there embarrassment though.
"It is kind of second nature to me now. After my father, and uncle and everything else –" he sighed as he shook his head. "When he came to see me that night – he said I was nothing like my mother and my father, so you see I already was questioning him."
She nodded as she tried to understand.
"Hermione, he is my cousin and I reckon when I get to know him a bit better I am going to love him dearly," Draco told his friend with a wry smile. "But his response to the competition was far too – enthusiastic. I just didn't like it," Draco admitted to her.
"I think you're sensible and this was the right thing to do," She nodded as she put her hand on his arm. "Our little secret, hey?"
"For now."
XXX
It felt so very odd to wake up on Christmas morning at Hogwarts. He had stayed there when he had been in his second year but he did not think he was ever going to get used to it. Christmas was for home – and for family.
"Merry Christmas," he said as he went down to the common room his pyjamas.
All his friends from his year were there as were all the students from the year above him. The scattering of third years who were going to the ball were there as well.
"And to you too," said Luna from where she sat among a small pile of presents.
"You excited for tonight?" he asked as he went to sit by her side.
"Oh yes – daddy says we must take a photo so we can send him one."
"Of course."
"Happy Christmas," Michael nodded as he caught his eyes across the room and Draco exchanged greeting with his class mates, including Mandy and Terry who seemed to be as happy together as they had been on the Hogwarts Express.
"Has your Father sent you any gifts?" asked Luna to him sensitively.
"You know me and father are not on the best of terms," he sighed heavy heartedly.
He did not like lying to her but it was not as if he had a lot of choice. As it was, he was going to see his father the next night for an hour.
Thank god for Severus and his rooms. He did not think he would know what he would do without them.
"Well, I am sorry about that. But here..."
Luna slipped him an envelope.
He was a little surprised and as he opened it he was touched. Had been so wrapped up in himself and he had not given a thought to getting her anything.
It was a typically Luna-ish Christmas card, with hippogriffs in a sunny meadow, but was obviously handmade as well. She had put time and effort into it.
Upon opening the card, he found it simply read,
To my friend Draco,
Wishing you a very merry Christmas and a lucky news year,
Mind the Nargles,
Luna.
"It is so lovely – thank you," he said to her, in a heartfelt manner before he scratched his head in annoyance at his own stupidity. "Listen, Luna – I am a right thoughtless git sometimes."
"What, my meal ticket to the Yule Ball?" she smirked.
"Well when you put it like that."
XXX
Thrown together for the night, Draco and Luna spent most of the day in one another's company as well. Though he had been unnerved by her at first he was feeling more comfortable with her the longer he spent with her.
Briefly he saw the Gryffindors but it was not long until Hermione went off to get ready for the ball and Ron and Harry soon went after her.
Luna too went up to get ready about four and even though he knew he was going to see him the next day and that night even, he went to see Severus quickly.
"Merry Christmas," Draco greeted his uncle as he went in to the dungeons.
"I wondered if I was going to get a visit today," said the head of Slytherin with a welcoming smile.
"As I have done every Christmas day I am here," Draco nodded.
"What, you mean all two of them?"
"Indeed."
"Good morning so far?"
"I was just in the lab," Severus explained.
"Even on Christmas day," asked Draco with a quizzical eye brow.
"Potions does not wait for time, man or beast," The potions master explained. "You must be looking forward to seeing your father and Jane tomorrow. If I know you, more than you are looking forward to tonight."
"You know I do not think it is going to be that bad. I am going with a friend, I am going to see all my other friends there and then I am going to see my family tomorrow. You know what? The next forty eight hours are looking pretty good actually."
XXX
If there was one thing Draco was sure he was not going to do that night it was he was not going to lose his date. As soon as he saw Luna descend from the girls dorms in her orange dress robes, he was sure of that.
Just because she was bright did not mean she was not beautiful though because even if he did not feel that way for her, he could still appreciate that she was pretty.
"You look lovely tonight." He said as he offered her his arm.
"So do you." She said as he took in his black robes, lined with hems of silver.
"Well, this is certainly a novel way to spend Christmas night," she said as the two of them made their way down to the great hall.
"It is going to be one of the better ones," he promised her.
When they got down to the entrance of the school, they joined the growing crowds heading towards the venue of the social event of the year.
As he looked around he saw Harry and Ron with the twins, who were wearing contrasting pink and orange dresses. Harry looked very swave as a champion of Hogwarts should. As for Ron, he looked... interesting.
But it was when he looked up the stairs; it was then that his eye was really caught.
It was Hermione. And if he had thought that Luna was beautiful when she came down the stairs, then he did not know the word that he was to use for her...
Oh god she was so lovely... and she was pretty and...
"The two of you would have made a fine couple," Luna sighed as she rubbed his arm. He gave her an appreciative smile.
"Well, I do not think the two of us are so bad ourselves," He said as he took his eyes off of the girl he would have loved to gone to the ball with.
And he made a real effort to keep his eyes off of her throughout the night. The two of them might not be there to be nominated romance of the century but he felt as if he owed it to Luna to show her some affection. The two of them were seated for the meal on the table with the rest of the Ravenclaw forth years where they had quite a laugh. He had been so focused on the tournament and Harry that he had not had a lot of time for anyone else that year but over the course of the night, it was reaffirmed to Draco why he had been put in a house with the people that he had. Because for the most part they were funny, sensitive people who had enough intelligence and common sense to have a decent set of morals about them too.
To think he had dreaded the night.
The dinner was delicious, the pudding was scrumptious and the butterbeer was as warm as it ever was over in Hogsmeade.
And it was then that it was time for the dancing.
This was where a life in the Slytherin social circle would have done him good.
If his mother had survived he was in no doubt that he would have been brought up knowing how to dance from a very early age. Society who have been a huge part of his life.
As it was, he had grown up rather isolated looking back. The only time he had been social with the other Slytherin kids was when he had gone to sleepovers. As such, dancing was not his forte.
However watching Harry try to dance had convinced him that while maybe he would not be a hell of a lot better, he could not be a hell of a lot worse.
While Harry tried to hop about the dance floor with the poor Patil girl, Hermione seemed to glide around the room in Viktor's arms and it hurt how comfortable she seemed to be in them.
"We'll show them all how it is done."Luna squeezed his hand gently and smiled at him.
And so they did. By the end of the night Draco did not think that she was a bad dancer – but she was an interesting one.
More than once he felt people looking at the two of them – in fact, he was sure more than once they were laughed at. But she was so individual, so unique that he took her hand proudly and laughed as he spun her around.
They were friends, and he was pretty sure by the end of the night that they were always going to be.
"I am going to go and get the pair of us some drinks," he told Luna as she spun around, pretty much happy to dance alone if it meant she could dance.
"Thank you Draco – that would be lovely."
It was not until after he had got off of the dance floor that Draco even knew how hot he had got when he had been dancing. It was good to cut loose and have some fun though.
As he arrived at the drinks table, he noted a vision in blue just out of the corner of his eye.
He had smiled at Hermione when the two had locked eyes, an occurrence which had happened more than once as the two of them had had dinner and danced with their respective houses and partners. He had tried to avoid her eyes. It just hadn't always worked.
But he was yet to talk to her.
She walked towards him.
"Having as good time?" she questioned.
"A wonderful one actually. Yourself?"
She nodded. "Yeah –it has been pretty good."
Silence. But it was not awkward – just, at least partly, regretful.
"You look lovely – I mean, more than that. Next time something like this happens – will you go with me?"
"Asking already?"
"I won't miss my chance if I do it now will I?" he asked with cheeky grin and she nodded.
"I'd love too."
"Next time then."
"Next time."
XXX
The day had been so very pleasant. Christmas day was one of the very few days in the year when Jane felt truly comfortable just relaxing with Lucius.
As close as they were she did not think she would ever lose the feeling she was a servant there completely.
But she had had a nice long lazy morning in the sun room, with Max before the two of them and Lucius had gone for a walk in the nice thick white snow until Christmas dinner which they had at three o'clock.
It had been with a full warm stomach that the two of them had settled into living room. By the time that darkness had fallen she was quite contented. "Oh I am going to sleep well," sighed Jane contently as she stroked a sleeping Max who had very much enjoyed his first Christmas.
"You may well need it, my dear," Lucius nodded as he sat at his desk writing letters.
"What do you mean? Is there going to be another meeting?" she asked almost instantly warmed.
"No – well, yes, there is going to be one, but what I meant to say is that you are going to have to be ready to host a dinner party. The Malfoys are going back into society."
She was shocked – after all, these years he was striking back out into the world, one which she had thought he hated now. And what's more he wanted to do it with her on his arm.
"And you wish me to act as hostess for the evening?"
"There is no one else I would allow to sit at my side."
She bite her lip. "Is that going to create quite the right impression?" Jane questioned.
"I do not think I care what impression it makes. You know I do not care what others think of me."
"Well then you should, but if that is the way you want to play it." she sighed.
"It is."
Please review!
Author note: I have now finished university and am hoping to have more time to write. As such, I am moving on with FS once more. I am so sorry for the delay. Hopefully this was the last one!