An owl knocked on the window with its beak and I opened it.
The letters were all for Min and I hoped that there was also a letter from Malfoy's parents.
Min read the letters silently and when she had finished she asked me to go to my room as she wanted to talk to Malfoy alone.
I went reluctantly because I wanted to know what his parents wrote too, after all.
I closed my door and sat right behind it, so I could hear every word they said.
"Mr Malfoy", Min began.
"Do you feel well enough to have this conversation?"
There was no reply but Min continued, so I assumed he had agreed.
"How much of yesterday can they remember?"
"Do you want me to tell you what I had for breakfast?" Malfoy sounded annoyed.
"Mr Malfoy this is not a situation for jokes.
Tell me why you're still here at Hogwarts at all when you should have left already and then explain to me what happened last night from 5 pm onwards."
I could almost hear him rolling his eyes.
"I just didn't leave.
I hid in my room and just stayed here, simple as that.
Last night I went to the prefects bathroom to take a bath.
I cut myself on a piece of broken glass and the next thing I know I woke up here."
Yes of course, he cut himself by mistake.
Hopefully she won't believe him.
"Cut yourself on a piece of glass?
Just like that?
Where did that piece of glass come from?"
"What are you asking me that for?
Some student left it there or the bloody caretaker didn't clean properly."
"Now don't sass me here Mr Malfoy.
But if you're going to stick with this story, then I'm going to have to accept it as it is.
That I believe you doesn't mean that."
Min paused for a moment and then continued speaking.
Now she hopefully got to the letter.
"I sent your parents an owl.
It said what happened yesterday and I advised them tto pick you up and take you to St. Mungo's."
"You wrote to my parents without my permission?", interrupted Malfoy gruffly.
"You were not in a position to give your consent.
Besides, you really shouldn't be so upset, you're not fit again yet.
As I said, I wrote to your parents, the reply just arrived.
They won't be coming to get you but think you'll be very well looked after here and have placed you under my care."
They didn't want to pick him up?
If I were that badly injured, Grandpa would apparate here immediately, even though he detested apparating more and more as he got older.
"I'm of age", Malfoy almost shouted, thus not stopping himself from getting so upset.
"I don't have to be under anyone's care, I can decide for myself."
"Not while you're in my school!"
Now Min was getting pissed too and I knew the glint in her eyes when she was pissed and was glad it wasn't at me this time.
Malfoy snorted loudly.
"You will stay here where I can look after you until you are fully recovered.
Madame Pomfrey has been informed and will hopefully take over soon.
Until then, you will stay and there will be no discussion about it."
"I'm not staying in this filthy flat, especially with the filthy mudblood here."
With that he meant me and I knew Min would not like it at all that he had called me that.
"Repeat that one more time and I will take it under my personal care that you'll be expelled from this school and never find a job in the whole of country."
Her voice was strong and loud but she didn't shout.
I was getting scared even behind the door and hoped that Malfoy felt at least a little bit the same way.
I heard Min push the chair back.
I jumped up and sprinted to my desk.
I was pretending to read when there was a knock on the door.
Min came in and looked at me sceptically as if she couldn't believe I was actually sitting at my desk and not eavesdropping.
She just knew me pretty well.
"Mr Malfoy will stay here until Madame Pomfrey gets here, then she'll take over.
And I should actually be in the office", she began and it was clear to me where this was going.
"Yes I'll take him over until then, I didn't have anything else planned anyway", I tried to joke but Min just looked at me.
"I'm sorry we can't have Christmas this year."
I had actually forgotten that for a moment.
"A present from your grandfather arrived the last days, it's in my bedroom on the bed."
I nodded.
"Yours is already under the tree," I added, smiling at her.
She nodded and held out her hand with the music box I'd got for Malfoy last night.
"You should put that away safely again. Don't want anything to happen to it."
I accepted the box and Min left my room.
I sighed.
This really was the second worst Christmas ever.
I had just volunteered to babysit Malfoy and I was sure he was even less thrilled about it than I was.
I heard the front door open a second time and jumped up.
Min had left two minutes ago and she never forgot anything.
I hurried into the living room only to find the sofa empty.
I had been sitting at my desk for a minute, just ONE minute, and Malfoy had already left.
He couldn't have gone far, especially in his state.
Sure enough, when I opened the front door, he was standing not five metres away from me with one hand on the wall.
"She said you're not fit enough yet.
Couldn't hear didn't you?
Now you see for yourself that it wasn't such a good idea. You should have stayed inside."
"Wise advice Harper but I didn't ask for it."
I crossed my arms in front of my chest and Malfoy tried to move further away from me.
"You won't make it to the dungeons in three years at this rate.
You really need to rest some more, the blood loss was really bad.
Stay here for a while and I'll persuade Professor McGonnagal to let you sleep at your place tonight."
I wasn't looking for conflict because I was also still a bit exhausted from the blood donation and besides, the less I got upset the less Malfoy would and that would speed up his recovery.
Then I would be rid of him faster.
He didn't answer me and tried to walk on slowly.
I gave up my place in the doorway and took three big steps towards Malfoy.
I looked him in the eye and then took another three big steps and stopped.
"You do stand up to challenges Malfoy.
Here's one, if you can make it to me without holding onto the wall again, I'll leave you in peace and you can go wherever you want."
He raised his eyebrows.
"And if you don't, then you'll come back in with me and rest."
He snorted and tried to dislodge his hand from the wall.
He fell right back against it and sighed.
"You won Harper but don't flatter yourself."
I stifled a triumphant grin and just walked past him and held the door open for him.
It took him ages to sit back on the sofa and I wondered how he had managed to get out so quickly in the first place.
When he was finally sitting, he was quite out of breath and I got him another glass of water from the kitchen.
I sat down in the armchair next to him with a book and began to read.
"Are you going to sit here all the time?" he said annoyed.
"I can't leave you alone for a minute, you're running away.
I can't trust you to stay here, so I'll just sit here."
He snorted, but said nothing in reply.
There was silence between us for some time until Malfoy interrupted the silence.
"Are you going to offer me something to read as well or should I die of boredom here?"
Embarrassed, I put my book to the side.
I hadn't even thought about offering him anything.
"Yes of course, sorry.
What do you like to read?", I asked, sure that he wouldn't care, he just wanted anything.
I couldn't imagine Malfoy volunteering to read literature in his spare time.
"Anything by purebloods except those disgusting romances," he replied to my surprise, although that sounded absolutely like him.
I went into my room for a moment and put a small stack of books on the table in front of him.
"I'm sure you'll find something that suits your needs", I added.
It wasn't all pureblood books by any means. I had also added books by other witches and wizards and even No-Maj books.
I had simply fetched my read pile of books of the last weeks.
What he didn't know couldn't bother him.
And so I snuggled back into my chair and grabbed my book.
Malfoy went through the books and stopped at a fantasy novel see.
I hadn't pegged him that way.
I had to stifle my grin, because the book was written by a No-Maj but I wouldn't tell Malfoy until he had read it.
So we sat there for a few hours, in silence, both engrossed in their books, until at some point my stomach growled.
I went into the kitchen and called one of the house elves who happily brought us lunch.
"Thank you", I said quietly and the house elf disappeared with a plop.
He had brought me two portions of salad with chicken and jacket potatoes with herb curd.
I walked back into the living room with the two full plates and put them both on the table.
"You should eat something, the better you eat the quicker you'll be back on your feet."
I filled our glasses with water again and then began to eat.
Malfoy looked at the plate sceptically for a few minutes but eventually ate.
He poked at the lettuce and afterwards there were only the tomatoes on his plate.
"Don't you want these or did you save the best for last?", I asked him when I saw his plate.
"I don't care about those disgusting things.
I wouldn't eat them even if my life depended on it."
"Good thing your life doesn't depend on it", I said laughing as I grabbed the leftover tomatoes from his plate with my fingers.
I licked the tomato juice off my fingers and Malfoy looked at me in disgust.
"You have manners like a mountain troll Harper.
You don't eat off other people's plates and certainly not with your fingers.
Who raised you?"
The last was more of a statement than a question but I answered it anyway.
"Mountain trolls.
Actually I always eat with my fingers you know, I just pull myself together here at Hogwarts.
I don't need everyone to see directly who I was raised by.
But you, with your trained eye, recognised it immediately", I teased him but I couldn't tell from his face whether he had understood that it was just a joke.
I let the now empty plates fly into the sink.
I had finished reading my book and as I got up to get a new one I remembered that my Christmas present was still on Min's bed.
Malfoy eyed me over the edge of his book as I sat in the chair with the present on my lap and carefully untied the bow.
I removed the paper and placed it neatly folded at my side.
I hated it when wrapping paper was torn, so I always did this very carefully.
I now had a white box in front of me with a letter on it.
I recognised Grandpa's handwriting and smiled.
I really missed him and the more I looked forward to receiving his letter.
There wasn't much new in it, he just wished me a Merry Christmas and apologised that he couldn't be there.
He had added a picture of the Nifffler babies that were born last week and I had to laugh and was glad that I wasn't there at Christmas.
The little ones were enormously cute but at least twice as exhausting.
"Did your lover Longbottom write you?" asked Malfoy smugly.
I had momentarily forgotten he was there.
"I don't see how that's any of your business?"
"Why so snarky Harper? It was a perfectly normal question."
I snorted and rolled my eyes.
I had the photo and letter safely tucked back into the envelope and set it to the side.
"If you want to know for sure, no it's not from Neville. Satisfied?"
Malfoy smiled mischievously and I hated that smile.
"Don't grin so stupidly Malfoy, it makes you ugly", I echoed his words from a few months ago.
"That's assuming I was beautiful before," he countered and his smile widened.
Dear Merlin I hated him.
I needed that counter when he said that to me and he dismissed it like it was nothing.
As if that comment had only strengthened his arrogance.
I had to have a good retort or I might as well admit defeat.
"For a flubberworm yes, otherwise rather no."
That had to hit home, flubberworms were anything but pretty and I was sure Malfoy felt the same way.
"Not bad Harper", he said appreciatively, raising his eyebrow.
"If you practise a bit more you'll soon have me feeling insulted."
I didn't want to respond to that and I didn't, I just rolled my eyes once again and turned to my gift that was still lingering on my lap.
Slowly I opened the box and inside was a brand new, black matte pair of skates with shiny silver blades.
It looked insanely classy and I knew it wasn't Grandpa who had selected it but my aunt.
Grandpa didn't have that much style. If he had had to decide, I probably would have got neon green skates.
I took one of the shoes out of the box and tried it on.
They fit quite well, despite the cosy socks, and I was already looking forward to finally trying them out.
"What are those things?" came a snide remark from the sofa.
"Dragon eggs", I replied sarcastically and paid him no further attention.
"You're so funny Harper."
Malfoy sounded rather annoyed.
"Longbottom certainly doesn't love you for a sense of humour."
"And Astoria certainly doesn't love you for a subtlety", I retorted.
"They're skates, it's obvious, what else would it be?"
I was really, really annoyed.
Malfoy couldn't give me a moment of peace in which to admire my gift but had to make a stupid comment as he just was.
Although I had really thought that his first question was meant rhetorically.
I looked up from my gift and gazed into questioning eyes.
"You can skate across the ice with it. It's a no-maj sport but it's really fun."
"No-Maj?" asked Malfoy, and slowly I felt myself really being taken for a ride by him.
"Muggles.
My goodness and there they always say Hogwarts is the best school for witchcraft and wizardry and yet their students are so uneducated."
"Are you calling me stupid Harper?" Malfoy's voice grew louder and more determined.
"No, I'm just calling you ignorant. You can't help being stupid, but you can help being ignorant."
I wanted to smile triumphantly at him but I stifled it.
"So it's a Muggle sport" he quickly switched back to the topic at hand.
I nodded.
"And you just skate across the ice doing it?"
I nodded again.
"That's not a sport, any toddler can do it.
And besides, that's probably the most ridiculous thing I've heard in a long time."
He shook his head and his hair bobbed to the same beat.
"Then you should listen to yourself more often when you speak.
Then you'll know what your fellow man has to deal with all the time."
I had gently put the skates back in the box, placed the letter on top and closed the box.
I put it down in my room, curled up in the armchair again and turned back to my new book.
What followed this discussion was silence.
We were fortunately silent again because I really didn't have the nerve to argue further with him.
I was much happier just reading in peace.
The front door opening interrupted the silence.
Min was back from her office and didn't look particularly cheerful.
She had probably spent half the day trying to find a solution to the Malfoy problem and from the look of her she hadn't found a satisfactory one.
She gestured for me to follow her outside and put a muffliato over the door so Malfoy couldn't hear us.
This couldn't be good.
"I can't reach Madame Pomfrey.
She's in a cottage in the Alps and it's completely snowed in.
The owls can't get through. The post office has written to tell me that it will certainly be another week before any letters arrive there again", she began, and my gut feeling was confirmed.
"St Mungo's is very full over the holidays and he wouldn't be able to stay there for long.
His best solution would be...".
She didn't finish the sentence but I knew what she wanted to say.
"...would be here," I finished.
She nodded.
"He could stay with us until he is fit enough and then go back to his rooms.
I would guess this night and by noon tomorrow he should be fit", she explained and I thought of the promise I had made to Malfoy.
I would try to convince Min that he could go to his rooms today.
"I think he would get better faster if he was in a familiar environment and not constantly being nagged by me."
Min looked at me sceptically.
"I mean I would rather get better at my house than anywhere else."
Min wanted to say something.
"I know what you're going to say, that he's your responsibility and you can't leave him alone.
But he's an adult, you can't keep him here, he'll run away anyway as soon as one of us looks away for a minute. Let him get better where he wants."
Min's look was still sceptical but she could tell I wasn't going to give up until I got what I wanted.
And I already had an idea how to get it.
"Remember the emergency Button I had in my teddybear when I was a kid?"
When I couldn't control my emotions, I had pressed his ear and Grandma knew something was wrong with me and could help me that way, no matter when or where.
"I could make Malfoy a button like that too. Then you'd know when he was in trouble and you wouldn't have to feel guilty."
I looked at her expectantly.
I thought it was a great idea.
I would have my peace of mind from Malfoy, I would keep my promise and Min wouldn't violate her duties.
Everything perfect, I was very proud of this idea.
"You've really put some thought into this", Min admitted to me and I nodded, because I had.
"It sounds reasonable and it really is probably better for Mr Malfoy to be in familiar surroundings.
I can still check on him every now and then, after all."
I smiled. She had agreed and it had been easier than I had thought.
I was pleased with myself.
We went back inside and reported to Malfoy what we had just discussed.
At the mention of the emergency button he rolled his eyes and said he wasn't a baby anymore but Min didn't give him a choice because the other option was for him to stay the night and he wanted that even less.
"The button is in the book.
If you tap the cover three times, it will activate and let me know", Min explained to Malfoy, pushing the book into his hand.
The latter took it reluctantly and then walked out of the door.
He was already much steadier on his feet than he had been this morning but the walk would still take him some time.
He had, however, refused to be accompanied by one of us. Which did not surprise us.
Min had gone after him as an animagus to see if everything was all right and I couldn't help thinking that she was much more worried about him than about me.
She had never mothered me like that, or insisted on accompanying me anywhere. She was always cool and kept a certain distance.
Yes, she had hugged me a few times recently, but that was really all. She tried hard, I knew that, but the fact that it was so easy for her to care about someone stung me.
Malfoy was just a student, not even a nice one, and I was her goddaughter.
Yes, okay, I could be quite a handful sometimes, but not like Malfoy.
I threw myself on my bed and stared at the ceiling. I was pretty tired and I must have fallen right asleep because when I woke up I was still lying in the middle of the bed, on top of the blanket instead of under it.
The reason I woke up was a deafening squeak and I had to cover my ears when I went to investigate it.
It was the opposite of the emergency button that made the noise and I ran into Min's bedroom only to find it empty.
Shit, she must have gone for a night walk and forgotten the button. She could be anywhere in the castle, it would be impossible to find her.
So I had no choice but to run to the dungeon rooms myself as fast as I could, because if Malfoy, who had been so opposed to that button, had actually used it, then he really had a problem.
