Hermione
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Having found friends like Ron and Harry had a lot of advantages, like the fact that she didn't feel lonely at all anymore, that she spent all day with them, that she laughed a lot, and that she loved Hogwarts even more than before. The disadvantages, however, were that the time passed atrociously fast, she studied much less, and most of all, she found herself in completely irrational situations.
She hadn't been wrong when she thought Harry and Ron were dunces. They weren't necessarily clowns like Fred and George Weasley, but they did have a knack for getting her into places that were more dangerous than any other.
First Fluffy, then the troll in the toilet, then the fact that she'd literally set a teacher's cloak on fire.
Well, maybe she wasn't totally innocent in that and it was her idea. Still, Hermione had a different personality when she was with Harry and Ron, she thought she was stronger, braver, she had never felt more Gryffindor than when she was spending time with her two new friends. She didn't know yet if this was a good or a bad thing, but she didn't want to stop.
The more time passed, the more she slowly got used to her life at Hogwarts. She was getting her bearings and creating habits. She wrote a letter to her parents every week and always sent it as soon as possible, sometimes with a note for Danny or Mary. She helped Neville more and more by making him learn his lessons, and helped Harry and Ron with their homework without giving them too many answers.
She also got closer to the gamekeeper Hagrid that Harry had introduced her to, and she often spent afternoons at his little house on the edge of the Forbidden Forest, drinking teas that were a little too strong.
She had stopped talking to Draco Malfoy altogether, and he seemed to have realised that a friendship between them was now impossible. She didn't mention it to Ron and Harry though, not sure why. She wanted to keep their conversations private, as if to protect him from a secret they had shared.
Malfoy pretended not to know her either, which was good. She was having trouble getting a handle on him and he made her feel a little uncomfortable, especially the way he talked to Harry and Ron. He seemed to really hate them.
She had the same perspective on Professor Snape. He was the only Professor Hermione didn't like at Hogwarts, especially since he had tried to kill Harry on his broomstick during his first Quidditch match. No matter how hard she tried to turn the situation around in her head, nothing made sense. Why would a teacher want to attack a particular student for no good reason?
Driven by the desire to find out more, she, Ron and Harry soon became obsessed with discovering the identity of this Nicholas Flamel, the only clue they had to the object that Fluffy kept on the third floor. And it was then, immersed in her classes, her homework, Nicholas Flamel, Draco Malfoy, Snape, that Hermione realised that Christmas was only a few days away and that time had passed so quickly that she had not seen the autumn.
Draco
.
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"You know I'm spending Christmas at your house?" threw Theodore as he entered the compartment of the Hogwarts Express.
Draco nodded. Like every year, his mother was organising a Christmas Ball at the Manor, and had invited practically every Pureblood in the country. Draco was used to big aristocratic parties, he wasn't particularly fond of them, but if it meant that his friends were there, that was more than enough for him. Over the weeks at Hogwarts, he had really befriended Nott, and spent most of his days with him, Pansy and Blaise now.
"So do we." replied Goyle, pointing at himself and Crabbe.
Nott rolled his eyes and quickly opened his book without responding. He didn't like Crabbe and Goyle at all, and he wasn't pretending to like them in front of them either. Pansy sat down next to Draco on the seat of the moving train:
"I guess my father was invited too, then."
She and Pansy's father never corresponded by letter, and Pansy often said she preferred that, though Draco often caught her looking hopefully at the owls in the Great Hall. She hardly ever talked about her relationship with her father to the Slytherins, but Draco knew that it was very complicated and that he had never expressed any love for his daughter.
Blaise sat down on the other side of Draco and pulled a scroll from his bag.
"What are you doing?" asked Draco.
"I'm doing my homework."
"Already?! But we've only been on holiday for a day!" snapped Nott, looking up from his book.
"So what? I want to get ahead of myself so I don't have to do it during the holidays, when you're all freaking out because you have three essays left to finish! Meanwhile, I'll be enjoying a delicious slice of apple pie while watching you study." replied Blaise with a smile as he pulled out a quill.
"Are you sure that's the only reason?" asked Nott.
"Oh, and there's also the fact that I want to beat you in every subject from the start of the year." replied Blaise quietly.
"Impossible, I'm way too high up on you. You'll never be able to catch me."
"We'll see about that."
"Do you know where you are in the rankings yet?" asked Draco, surprised.
Both boys turned to him:
"Yes, it's listed in the Transfiguration room. There's a ranking of the top twenty students in the school, in the entire class and in each House."
"And Nott is first?"
"No, second." the concerned one replied with a frown. "Zabini is fourth, behind a Ravenclaw whose name I forget."
"Nathan Conley." replied Pansy absentmindedly, who had his face hidden behind a magazine.
"How do you know that?" asked Blaise.
"Because he has a face that's hard to forget." she said with a twinkle in her eye and a smirk.
"Did you only remember his name because he's handsome?" asked Nott with a laugh.
"Yes, do you have a problem with that, Natti?"
The person concerned stopped laughing immediately.
"So, Nott is second, that Nathan what's-his-name is third, and Blaise is fourth?" asked Draco. "Me, where am I?"
"Tenth, I think. You're one of the first in Potions." replied Blaise.
"Who's first in Potions?"
They all looked at each other, waiting for someone to answer. Nott did so after long silences of waiting:
"Granger."
"Granger?"
"Yeah... She's the only Gryffindor on the list."
There was a long, awkward silence. Draco knew Granger was smart, he'd understood that since he'd first met her. The way she spoke and the fact that she was always reading a book showed it, but he never thought she could be first in the whole school. The thought made him angry, he suddenly wanted to get on with his homework too in the hope of overtaking her.
"Where am I?" asked Crabbe, not noticing the sudden change in atmosphere.
"You're far away, Crabbe. Far too far." retorted Nott in an annoyed breath.
Draco
.
.
As they saw the trees of the countryside fade into the city of London, Draco took off his black cloak and put it in his suitcase. The train stopped and Draco led the way, followed by Blaise, Pansy, Nott, Crabbe and Goyle. He looked for the nearest exit door and stepped down onto the platform.
He scanned the crowd for his mother with his eyes and saw Granger getting off the train alone. She was wearing a long brown coat, a purple bonnet and oversized white gloves that were obviously badly knitted. Just the sight of her annoyed Draco, he still hadn't digested her abrupt change of 'side'. Her shaggy hair was sticking out of the cap and cascading over her shoulders. Didn't she ever comb her hair?
He suddenly saw his mother and all thoughts of Granger evaporated. Narcissa was smiling broadly. When he reached her, he saw that she was hesitant to hug him, but since she never did, she just kissed his forehead and ruffled his hair a little:
"Draco! There you are. Did you have a good trip?"
"Hello Mrs. Malfoy." said Pansy.
She came up behind Draco, followed by Theodore and Blaise.
"Oh you're just in time, I've offered your parents to pick you up along with Draco. Would you care to join us for tea at the Manor?"
"With pleasure." replied Pansy with a polite smile.
Draco looked discreetly over Narcissa's shoulder and she caught his glance. She frowned sadly:
"Oh... I'm sorry, Draco, he couldn't make it, Ministry business, you understand..."
"No, no." interrupted Draco. "I... Okay, I don't mind."
He ignored the look on his friends' faces, he didn't want them to know that he placed so much importance on his father picking him up at the station. He had other things to do. Instead, he focused on the prospect of spending the evening with his friends at home and stuffed his suitcase into Dobby's arms to head home.
Hermione
.
.
His parents were waiting behind platform 9 ¾, standing back and looking nervously between the two panels. When they saw Hermione in the distance, they grinned widely and threw themselves at her:
"Mimi!"
They hugged for a long time, Hermione felt an uncontrollable joy explode inside her at seeing her parents.
"Oh, I've missed you so much!"
"You too, Mimi, we're so glad to see you."
She hugged her father again and they walked to the car in the station car park. Her father insisted on carrying her trunk for a long time while Hermione's mother kept tucking a crazy lock of hair behind her ear, her eyes shining:
"You've grown so much."
"Mum, I left four months ago..."
"You've grown up anyway, you're not the little girl we dropped off on that platform in September anymore."
"Anyway, I've got lots to tell you!"
They found the little red car in the car park and Hermione sat in the back. Despite being tired from the journey, she began to tell them about Hogwarts, and told them everything that had happened that she hadn't already put in her letters. Her parents listened intently all the way, then at home, then during dinner (leftover pork fillet and potatoes), then until the clock struck midnight.
"That sounds fantastic!" her father said after asking her about the Charms class. "And you're first in the school? How is that possible?"
"I don't know, I think I work a lot and read concepts that aren't on the syllabus yet, so I always have things to say on my scrolls." she explained.
"We're so proud of you." said her mother as she put the dinner plates in the kitchen sink. "You seem to be really enjoying yourself at Hogwarts."
"And you, how are you doing?"
They'd been avoiding her questions since she'd entered the car, babbling a few words about the practice before returning to Hogwarts with more questions.
"Not much, you're the one experiencing all the fun!" her father replied with a smile. "Everything is exactly as it was here. Danny and Mary are at London College, they seem to be enjoying themselves there, although you must have already read about it in their letters... What else..."
"Mrs. Porter is having a baby," Hermione's mother called out from the open kitchen. "And Danny's parents have accepted our invitation to Christmas dinner, so there will be nine of us in all."
"Oh, great! Is Grandma coming too?"
"Yes, she's coming for New Year's Eve and Christmas Eve."
Hermione drank her herbal tea as she listened to her parents tell her the latest news from the neighbourhood. When her father had finished telling the news of the practice's patients, Hermione's mum returned with cinnamon gingerbread men biscuits.
"Did you get all our letters?" her mother suddenly asked.
"Yes, of course I did. And the ones from Danny and Mary that you forwarded with them."
Hermione drank some of her herbal tea again before realizing something:
"How did you do it, anyway?"
"That's just what we find odd. The first few letters we got from you, we couldn't answer them because... Hogwarts doesn't have 'post office'" her father explained, mimicking the inverted commas with his fingers. "We were frustrated that we couldn't talk to you back, so we wrote a letter anyway, thinking that maybe we could get it to Hogwarts some other way... and..."
"An owl appeared on the window sill." Hermione's mother continued. "As if it knew we'd written you something! It was waiting nicely, so I hung up the letter and your birthday parcel and it knew where to go."
Hermione laughed with her parents as she imagined the scene of the owl on the living room window. Everything had changed so much for her, and yet everything was perfectly normal here. She had almost expected the world of London to be as turned upside down as her own, but no.
Coming back home was good for morale, but she had to admit that she already missed Hogwarts a little.
Draco
.
.
Pansy, Blaise and Theodore stayed at the Manor until dinner, which they all had together at the large dining room table. They spent the evening talking about Hogwarts and eating far more than they needed to. Narcissa listened passively, and occasionally told an anecdote about her time at school. Lucius didn't come home all evening.
When the plates were finally cleared and the four Slytherins were almost asleep in their chairs, Narcissa gently sent them home and Draco went to bed in the bed he had left four months ago.
Everything was exactly as it had been. No one had entered his room, presumably, except Dobby to clean up. The house elf had put Draco's trunk on his bed, and he started to get ready for bed. Exhausted from his long day, he entered his huge bed with a sigh of pleasure and fell asleep as soon as his head touched the pillow.
He had a very strange dream. At first it started well, he was at Hogwarts in greenhouses that resembled those in Herbology class but also those at Pansy's. He was laughing with Blaise, it was warm in the greenhouse, until the dream changed and the picture became a little fuzzier. Blaise's smile faded and suddenly Lucius came into the greenhouse.
It was just the two of them, and his father had a stern, closed face that did not bode well. Draco wanted to leave, but the plants in the greenhouse had suddenly awakened and huge stalks encircled his waist and torso to hold him in place as Lucius reached for him and held out his hand, but it wasn't his hand, it was a white hand with long fingers that was going to reach out and...
"Arrrghh!"
Draco struggled with his blanket in the dark for a moment until he realised the hand was gone, and he was in his bed, in his room, at the Manor. He lay down again and tried to calm the pounding of his heart in his chest. He mopped his forehead, he was covered in sweat. The dream had felt so real, he felt as if he was still in that greenhouse... and that hand...
"Mr. Malfoy?" squeaked a small voice.
Draco gasped again. At the end of his bed, he could see the tips of Dobby's two long ears over his blanket.
"Dobby?" he called in a dry voice.
"I thought you might want some water, Mr. Malfoy."
Dobby approached, skirting the side of Draco's bed. He handed him a large glass of water, and Draco sat up against his pillows to drink it in one gulp.
"What time is it?"
"3am, sir."
"Did I wake my parents?"
He didn't know if he'd yelled loud enough for his parents, who were sleeping in the other wing of the Manor, to hear. Fortunately, the little elf nodded "no":
"It's okay to have nightmares sometimes, Mr. Malfoy. Dobby has them too, sometimes."
Draco looked at the elf strangely. He had never seen Dobby sleep.
"Dobby will go away." the house elf continued as he took the glass of water back. "To let you rest..."
"No, Dobby..." said Draco in a small voice.
He was so ashamed to ask a house elf to stay in his room after having a nightmare, he could already imagine the mocking smiles of Pansy or Blaise if they heard that. So he said nothing, and just looked at the elf with pleading eyes. They looked at each other for a long time, and Dobby's ears drooped more and more as he stared at Draco.
"Dobby absolutely must knit. Would Mr. Malfoy want Dobby to do it in his room?" he asked after a long moment.
Draco nodded silently. Dobby put the glass of water on the bedside table and sat down in one of the armchairs in his room, which was so huge compared to the little elf that his ears barely reached the top of the seat, and his feet didn't touch the edge. He took out two thick needles to knit a sort of tablecloth of all colours.
Draco watched the house elf for a long time, which had the effect of soothing him and he fell asleep a second time, lulled by the sound of Dobby's needles clicking.
Draco
.
.
Draco was sitting on the floor in one of the drawing rooms of the Manor, leaning against the low table on which he had laid out several scrolls and textbooks to draw the Astronomy sky map due for the new term. Narcissa was sitting in an armchair next to him, carefully reading the Daily Prophet and turning the pages from time to time.
But Draco wasn't thinking about the position of the planets or the colour of Pluto on his map, he was over the moon. He was thinking about Hogwarts, about classes, about Blaise, about his Comet 260 in the shed, about Potter, Weasley and Granger.
"Mother?" he asked.
"Hmm?" she replied without taking her eyes off the text.
"Do you know any Granger family?"
"Granger... Hm, no, doesn't ring a bell... Is this for your homework?"
"No, no... Just, a girl at Hogwarts, I was wondering if you knew her parents."
"There are no Grangers in the twenty-eight pureblood holy families, if that's your question. I've never heard of the name."
"Ah... Okay."
Narcissa put her journal back on the coffee table where Draco was sitting and sighed:
"There's absolutely nothing interesting in today's edition."
She looked at the living room door, suddenly a little worried:
"Your father will be back soon. He got home late last night because of a meeting... He should be back soon. We should start planning tomorrow's Christmas party. Dobby!"
The house elf ran down the stairs as he heard his mistress calling him and Draco took his scrolls to finish his homework in his room.
Hermione
.
.
"Merry Christmas Mimi!" her father exclaimed as he entered Hermione's room to open the curtains wide and let the light in.
"Hrmf..."
"Come on down, breakfast is served!"
Hermione painfully opened one eye and saw her father leave the room. She rolled over in bed, let out another early morning grunt and stretched. When she came downstairs, the table was indeed covered with food, and both her parents were already sitting. They were wearing Christmas jumpers with deer and sleighs on them.
"Come and eat, there's plenty!"
They started to eat lunch and Hermione's grandmother joined them half an hour later. Her grandmother was small and had short, white hair that showed off her smiling face. Hermione loved her grandmother, she loved visiting her house in Edinburgh and the fact that she had come to London for Christmas made her happy.
The whole family opened their stockings hanging on the fireplace in the living room, in which Hermione found honey sweets, a pen, tea bags and a candy cane. Her father received a hat with deer horns which he put on immediately and kept for the rest of the day.
After Christmas breakfast Hermione's parents suggested to go for a walk, so the four of them went out to visit Hampstead Heath Park which had been frosted over overnight. The streets were quiet but beautifully decorated with dimmed street lights.
It was a fantastic Christmas day.
In the late afternoon Danny's family arrived. There were Danny's parents, a short, round-faced woman and a rather tall, very discreet man. They sat at the extended Granger table, followed by their two sons, Danny and Thomas, and their daughter, Leonie. She was 7 years old, particularly small and had big blue eyes.
They thanked Hermione's parents a good twenty times for the invitation before starting to eat. They had been cooking all afternoon so that the table was bursting with dishes: turkey stuffed with fruit, fried potatoes, spinach, roasted parsnips, cranberry sauce, pigs and blankets...
The guests asked her about her school, and Hermione managed to put together a story she had been thinking about on the Hogwarts Express, taking elements of Hogwarts and lies to tell about her experience at her new school in France.
When Hermione couldn't eat any more, the desserts arrived: pudding, mince pies and cinnamon biscuits.
Hermione and Danny's family discussed so many different topics that it was hard to keep up with the conversation, so Hermione spent the evening talking with Danny and Thomas. It was so refreshing to talk to people she knew so well. Danny told her about his college news, his new teachers, and some friends he had made.
"I'm all about me! You tell us, did you make any friends there?" asked Danny.
"Yes, Harry and Ron, they're very funny. I think you'd love them."
"Harry and Ron? But I thought it was an all-girls school?" asked Danny, frowning.
Hermione felt her mother's gaze shift to her for a moment as she heard Danny's reflection.
"Erm... Yes, it is, but Harry and Ron are in the boys' institute next door and we met during breaks... It's only the classes and dormitories that are girls only."
Hermione was fascinated by his ability to make up a lie as he went along. Danny nodded as he ate his pudding:
"Ah! I see. Still friends with the boys, you!"
"Yes, you know me!"
When the time came for presents, Hermione was surprisingly very spoiled. Danny's parents gave her an investigative board game, Danny a pretty pale pink bracelet, Thomas a jigsaw puzzle that represented a bird. She thanked them warmly many times and watched Danny's mother unwrap her scarf before her mother called out:
"Open ours!"
Hermione picked through the pile of presents to find the ones with her name written on them. First she unwrapped her father's, a white jumper she had spotted in a London shop with him, and a pretty brown quill pen for writing. Her grandmother had taken her an encyclopaedia of medicinal plants, the pages of which were thick with hand drawings of flowers, and a herbarium for collecting them. But the best gift of the evening was probably the one from her mother.
A huge blanket knitted in patchwork of all colours, handmade by her mother who loved to knit. It was huge, and contained a dozen small pastel coloured squares, and the best part was that it had her mum's scent.
"It's so you can sleep in it in France." she said with a wink. "So you won't forget me, when you're there."
Hermione rushed into his arms and hugged him:
"I'll never forget you, Mum."
Draco
.
.
It was a horrible Christmas Day.
Draco spent most of his time avoiding the rooms where his mother was so as not to hear her yelling orders at Dobby who had to prepare the Manor for Christmas dinner. The house elf was running around setting plates, hanging the last of the decorations, cleaning the floors, and especially preparing the huge meal that was to be served during the reception. Even from his room, Draco could hear his mother's shrill cries. At five o'clock, he heard a faint knock on his door:
"Mr. Malfoy." announced Dobby in a slightly broken voice as he entered Draco's room. "The reception is about to begin. Your mother advises you to wear this outfit, and come as soon as possible."
Dobby set the outfit down on the chair. It was a black suit with a white tie, you would have thought he was going to a funeral and not a Christmas dinner. He put it on and went downstairs to the main room, which had been decorated for the occasion: green and white garlands lit up the room, the huge dining table was in the centre of the room, finely decorated with embroidery and moving decorations all along the table.
Dobby had outdone himself, but Narcissa was still shouting several death threats at the elf from the kitchen. Draco went inside and found his mother leaning over the elf, who was making a pudding despite the yelling:
"Hurry up! It's too dry! Did you follow the recipe I gave you, or are you really good at nothing? What's the point of having an elf if we're going to have such a sloppy job?"
"Excuse me mistress." squeaked Dobby as he took out the cake and placed it on the table. "Dobby is going to put his fingers in the oven to punish himself for his sloppy work."
"Very well, and you'll do it twice, and quietly," Narcissa replied sharply before turning to her son. Her voice became calm again. "Are you ready, Draco?"
The latter nodded, although he had no desire to attend a Christmas party. The first guests arrived, welcomed by Narcissa. Draco didn't recognize anyone. He had the impression that all of his parents' guests had the same look on their faces, that is, wrinkled noses and beady eyes, as if they were judging every little detail of the decoration, which they probably were. He shook hands with what seemed like a hundred people before he finally recognized someone, his Potions teacher, Severus Snape.
"Ah, Severus!" exclaimed Narcissa as she saw him coming. "Come in, come in... Draco tells me Potions classes are going well? They're his favourite!"
"I'm glad to hear it." said Snape with a semblance of a smile.
Suddenly, Lucius entered the living room. It was the first time Draco had seen his father since he had returned from his holiday. He had a big smile on his face and was wearing the same suit as Draco. He hurriedly greeted each guest with a handshake, exchanging a few sentences before coming to Narcissa's side to greet Snape.
"Good evening Severus, how are you?" his father asked in a honeyed voice. "I hope Draco isn't giving you too much trouble since school started?"
"No, quite the opposite. He's a very good student, especially good at Potions. The best in his class."
Narcissa smiled proudly and clasped her hand on Draco's shoulder in pride. Then Snape went to join one of the groups that had formed in the hall. All the guests already present were boring as hell. Narcissa insisted on introducing her son to all of them, and Draco thought he would explode if he had to exchange small talk with even one more person.
After dozens of the same questions ("How is Hogwarts?" "Do you like Slytherin?" "What is Harry Potter like?" "Have you spoken to him yet?" "What's he like?"), Draco decided to stand by the front door and wait for his friends to arrive.
Pansy arrived first, followed by her father. He was wearing an oversized grey suit, and Draco thought to himself that he'd never actually seen him in any other outfit than that. He still had that slightly vicious look on his face, and not a hint of a smile as he approached the Manor.
Pansy, on the other hand, was beautiful. She'd done her hair up in a sophisticated, braided bun and was wearing a long black dress. Her makeup was as successful as her outfit: a long black line over her eyes, and a matte black lipstick that echoed her hair and dress.
"Good evening." Draco greeted Pansy's father.
He gave him a subdued nod and entered the Manor, where Lucius greeted him with grand gestures.
"You look very handsome." said Pansy, standing in the doorway, detailing Draco's suit with her dark eyes.
"So do you. Merry Christmas, Pansy."
He gave her a little kiss on the cheek and they entered the ballroom. There were so many guests now that they had to weave in and out of people to get around. After greeting countless more purebloods, some of whom were looking at Pansy a little too long for Draco, Blaise and Theodore finally arrived.
Nott arrived accompanied by his father, a very small man compared to his son who was already towering over him. He had an evil smile on his deeply marked face, and the only resemblance he had to Theodore was that he had the same almond-shaped blue eyes.
Blaise, on the other hand, was accompanied by his mother, a tall, beautiful black woman, who made half the eyes in the room turn towards her. She stepped into the crowd, which let her pass like a mermaid, and Blaise slipped away quietly, taking advantage of his mother's dramatic entrance and joining the group already formed by Draco, Pansy and Nott.
When Narcissa's back was turned and she was so busy with her guests that she didn't realise her son was missing, Draco offered to fill some plates and go up to his room. They took what they could from the buffet, and quietly exited the reception room to sneak into Draco's room.
"Quick, before Crabbe or Goyle see us !" Theodore muttered as they climbed the stairs.
At last they reached the boy's room. Another of the many rules of the Malfoy household was that Draco was not allowed to invite a girl alone into his room with him, unless they were engaged. Draco had always been careful to keep this rule with Pansy so as not to incur the wrath of her father, but fortunately there were several of them that night. Pansy pulled off her high heels as soon as she entered the room, sighing in pain.
All of Draco's gifts were laid out on the bed, covering it completely, even spilling out onto the floor where green and white packages lay all along.
Draco pushed them to one side of his room to put their victuals on the bed and help themselves to whatever they wanted. Pansy lay down on her back, Blaise was eating a huge slice of apple pie on the armchair and Nott was sitting on the floor opening a cracker.
"What a boring reception, just like every year." Draco lamented as he sat on the edge of the bed.
"Last year it was at my house. Just before the mysterious death of Valerian, my latest father-in-law." Blaise said bitterly.
"By the way, didn't your mother come with someone this year?" asked Pansy, trying to aim frosted nuts into her mouth as she tossed them.
"No, but I have no doubt she'll be coming home with someone tonight, after she finds someone here." he grumbled. "Hey, Dray, can I sleep here tonight?"
"Sure. You can all sleep here, we have enough rooms for that."
"Aren't you going to open your presents?" asked Pansy.
Draco contemplated the pile of presents beside his bed and shrugged vaguely:
"None of them are shaped like brooms."
She rolled her eyes and got off the bed to open them for him.
"Oh, a journal!" she said, opening the first one. "Leather and all that. It's nice. From... Bertie Higgs."
"Never heard of her. Take it if you like." said Draco.
Pansy kept the journal beside her and began opening the other gifts. By the end, Draco was surrounded by a mountain of new items: a gold telescope, books, potion kits of all kinds, feathers of all colours with color-changing inks, a complete Quidditch ball kit, clothes, several boxes of Bertie Bott's jelly beans, a pack of explodive snap cards, a miniature broom model, and boxes of Chocolate Frogs by the dozen.
He gave several books to Nott who loved to read and the model broom to Blaise because he already had two. Then they discussed what each of them had received while eating Chocolate Frogs and having fun imitating the purebloods a few floors below them. Pansy was so good at imitating old ladies gossiping that Draco howled with laughter all evening.
He had to admit that his friends had made Christmas Eve a little more enjoyable. He felt much more at home in the festive atmosphere of his room with chocolates than under the hundreds of decorations in the living room with his parents.