Unofficial Portkey Archive

Chapter 4~ Christmas

By the time Ginny made it home from King's Cross, she was exhausted and wanted nothing more than to go to bed. But her mother had made a large dinner, because not only was she home for Christmas this year, but her older brother Bill and Charlie were as well. Not only that, but it was the twins last Christmas living at home. Their new shop was booming, and they were moving into their own flat after the New Year.

So Ginny sat at the kitchen table, listening to her parents chatter with her brothers while she ate slowly, half asleep. She sat up straight when she heard the words "Christmas dinner" come from one of her brothers.

"What about Christmas diner?" She asked suddenly. Charlie smiled at her.

"I was just asking mum if any other special guests were coming for Christmas, and why Ron and his friends didn't come home."

"And I was saying that we are having two very special guests. Narcissa and Draco are coming over in the morning and are staying for the day. Narcissa usually throws a Christmas party, but this year she decided she'd rather have a quiet Christmas, so I invited her." Molly said smiling brightly. Ginny groaned.

"Now why didn't Rom come home for Christmas?" Bill asked.

"He didn't want to dear. He figured out that Narcissa and Draco were coming, and he decided to stay at school, and Harry and Hermione didn't feel comfortable leaving him alone during Christmas while they were at his home with his family. Though I suspect it has something to do with Draco being here, like it is with Ron." Molly said sadly.

"It's okay mum. If you want Fred and I can go kidnap them and make them come." George said, a mischievous gleam appearing in his eyes.

"No, that's okay dear. Besides, I wouldn't want you to get them or yourselves in trouble. The lot of you have had enough of that already."

"Awe. Spoil all our fun." George and Fred said at the same time. Molly just shook her head and turned her attention on her older sons.

"If any of you so much as harm a hair on Draco's head while he is here, you will regret it." Molly said sternly.

"Yes ma'am." They all said giving the impression of young boys scared of their mother's wrath. Ginny giggled at this, but stifled her giggles when her mother looked at her.

"And you are to be friendly. And no calling one another by your surnames, I find that absolutely ridiculous.

"Yes mum, I will be." Ginny said solemnly. Molly smiled and turned to her dinner, missing her husband's look of exasperation. Ginny smiled. It was going to be a very interesting Christmas.

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Draco and Narcissa were sitting at a very long table in the dinning room of Malfoy Manor, eating quietly. Everything was very…different with Lucius in Azkaban.

"What are we doing for Christmas?" Draco asked.

"We're going to the Weasley's." Narcissa said smiling.

"That was a given. But are we going to visit Father?" Draco asked hopefully.

"I don't know dear. I don't think so. Do you really want to go see him?" Narcissa asked hoping her son would say no.

"Well…sort of. He is my father. We should at least stop in to say Happy Christmas." Narcissa looked into her son's hopeful eyes.

"Okay. But it will have to be Christmas Eve. We won't have time Christmas Day. We are going to Molly's around 10:30 in the morning."

"That's fine mum. I jus…" Whatever Draco was going to say was cut of by a loud banging at the door. Narcissa looked as if she were about to cry when several ministry when walked into the room. Narcissa stood up to deal with the sudden intrusion.

"Can I help you?"

"Hopefully ma'am. My name is Agent Herald Grands. I'm here to search for Dark Artifacts, that the Ministry has reason to believe may be found in your home." Agent Grands produced two pieces of parchment, one was a search warrant and the other was a list of different things. "These are the artifacts we wish to find, but anything else we come across we are entitled to keep. Anything found will be used against your husband-Lucius Thaddeus Malfoy. Do you have any questions before we begin our search?"

"No. Just…just get it over with." Narcissa said. Agent Grands led the other men past Narcissa, and towards the dungeons of the Manor. When they were out of sight Narcissa sank to the floor, put her head in her hands and began to weep.

Draco got up from his seat and moved towards his mother hugging her tightly. "It'll be okay mum. We don't have to go visit him. I don't know what I was thinking." Draco said, suddenly very angry at his father for being the cause of his mother's stress and embarrassment.

"Oh Draco. I love you so much." She said holding her son close to her. Draco didn't quite understand why his mother wanted him to marry the littlest Weasley, but he had an idea. If he married a Weasley, people would be less likely to think he was like his father. His mother would be spared some of the humiliation her husband's dark deeds had caused her, and they would be part of a loving family; something that Narcissa was never really able to give him. Draco decided he would have to have a little talk with Ginny. It was time to get over their differences. Not for them, but for his mother; the only person who really ever showed him any love growing up, the person who he loved more than anything in the world. He would do it for her, because she deserved to have some happiness in her life.

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Christmas came way too fast for Ginny. It was Christmas Eve and the house had reached a state of complete chaos. The large tree that had been stuffed into the living room was decorated with a cornucopia of things. Everything from miniature brooms to Father Christmases in a wizard hat could be found on the Weasley's Christmas tree.

The food for Christmas dinner was beginning to be cooked. Pies were cooling on the table, and a large dead turkey was on the counter waiting to be cooked. Ginny's mouth watered thinking about how delicious it was going to taste.

It was getting late in the evening and Ginny was lying in her bed reading a book.

"Who is it?" Ginny asked, closing the book she was reading.

"It's me. Can I come in?" Ginny recognized the voice of that of her father.

"Yup. Come in." Ginny said sitting up, and resting against her headboard. Ginny's father came in and conjured up a chair.

"I want to talk to you about something very important." Arthur said seriously.

"What about dad?" Ginny asked curiously. Her mother usually had all the `serious' conversations with her.

"About tomorrow. Look, we both know that your mother has this crazy idea that you and Malfoy Jr. will fall madly in love. You and also know that the chances of that are quite slim, considering that our families haven't gotten along for generations. But Molly and Narcissa were friends, considering Narcissa and Molly weren't members of the feuding families when they were in school.

"But Narcissa was a Black. I thought that…."

"Well, yes, but your mum and Narcissa didn't care much that they were supposed to hate each other. But what I came here was I wanted to ask something of you. It is going to sound very odd; in fact I can't even believe I'm going to say this." Arthur said, suddenly looking very tired.

"What dad?"

"I want you to try your best to get along with the Malfoy boy. Molly got an owl from Narcissa the other day. Their house was raided again, no thanks to that no good husband of hers. She was very distraught, and it is very important you make sure she and her son have a good Christmas. I fear that the future isn't going to be very bright for them. Ginny, the ministry found things. Very dark and unnatural things hidden in some dungeon, that Narcissa didn't even know about. They want to take the Manor away from her. Their argument is that if she didn't know about that dungeon, then there could be even worse things hidden that she doesn't know about. They could lose their home Ginny. I talked to Agent Grands, he led the search. He told me they were waiting until after the New Year to make a decision. He also told me that he thinks he has enough evidence to give Lucius the ultimate punishment." Ginny's eyes grew wide.

"But I thought that the Dementors left our side and joined He Who Must not be Named."

"They did. But they can still give him the death penalty." Ginny thought she was going to cry. It wasn't fair that Narcissa and Draco should have to deal with this, especially since it was Christmas. Arthur noticed how sad his daughter had gotten.

"Don't cry Ginny. There's nothing we can do about it. Lucius is a very selfish man, and because of it his family is going to suffer. But you can offer friendship to Draco and to Narcissa…well let's not talk about how you could help her right now. I still say you're too young to even be thinking about getting married."

"I love you dad." Ginny said giving her father a hug. She had never really thought on how lucky she was until now. Compared to Draco, she really did have everything a person could need.

"I love you too Gin. Now come on, time for bed. Tomorrow is going to be a long day." Arthur said. He gave Ginny a kiss and left his daughter alone in her room, absorbed in her thoughts.

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Christmas morning found Draco watching as his mother shrunk down a large pile of gifts, to make for easier traveling. Narcissa smiled at her son, the excitement of Christmas, causing her to momentarily forget all the problems she would be facing in the next few days.

"That's everything, let's get going." She said, putting the shrunken presents into a pocket of her green and gold Christmas robes. Draco quietly took the jar of floo powder off the mantel and held it out to his mother. Narcissa took a hand full, stepped into the immaculately clean fireplace and shouted "The Burrow." Draco grumbled about how much he hated traveling by floo powder, before following suit.

He closed his eyes tight as he felt the familiar and unwanted sensation of traveling by floo. When he felt his feet land firmly on the ground, he opened his eyes only to be welcomed with the sight of his mother hugging Ginny.

He stepped out of the fireplace and brushed himself off. "Happy Christmas Draco." Molly said walking over and engulfing him into a hug.

"Let go of him before you squeeze him to death Molly." Arthur said walking over behind his wife. Molly pulled away and smiled at Draco before turning to face Narcissa, who was emptying her pockets of all the gifts. Arthur and Draco looked at each other warily.

"Welcome to the Burrow." Arthur said sticking out his hand for Draco to shake. Draco smiled slightly and shook Arthur's hand. When Arthur stepped away, Draco looked around and took in his surroundings. The room was small, but cozy and he suspected that without the large Christmas tree, the room looked a lot larger. He noticed that they also had a similar grand father clock as to the one sitting in the grand foyer back at Malfoy Manor. Unlike his though, the hand for patriarch of the Weasley clan was not pointing towards `incarcerated.' Draco sighed and moved farther into the room, towards were Ginny was standing; talking with who he suspected was one of her older brothers.

"Hi Draco." Ginny said smiling at him. She motioned for him to join her. He slowly walked over to her and the older Weasley. "Draco this is my brother Charlie."

"You work with dragons, right?" Draco asked shaking his hand. Charlie smiled at the young blond boy standing in front of him.

"That's right. Ginny here wants to too, or wanted to anyway. She almost gave mum a heart attack. She was maybe….six at the time. I'll never forget. I was telling her all about what I was going to be doing for work. She said that she wanted to work with dragons too. I laughed, but now what is it you plan on doing Gin?" Ginny blushed and started talking.

"Well, I got the idea off something Hermione was telling me about. When muggles go to work, if they have little kids who haven't started school yet, they bring them to a day-care. So I want to open up my own day-care, but for magical children, so that witches can have both a family and a job. I want both and this way when it comes time for me to settle down, I will never have to worry about finding someone to watch them."

"Brilliant idea sis, don't you think so?" Charlie asked Draco.

"Oh, yes. Sounds like…well you'll enjoy it. I'd hate to have to spend so much time locked up with a bunch of screaming the little brats." Draco said honestly.

"How do you know if you don't like kids? You're an only child."

"Ah, but I have at least a dozen young cousins and such who are the most annoying little devils you could ever hope not to meet." Ginny smiled and shook her head.

"So I take it you won't be too happy with giving Ginny here a large family?" Charlie asked mischievously.

"Charlie!" Ginny gasped. "That is so inappropriate I…you have been here to long. Fred and George are starting to rub off on you." Ginny said blushing so bad she now matched her hair. Charlie laughed heartily. Seeing his sister and her little boyfriend, (as he had taken to calling Draco, simply to annoy Ginny) both bright red was very amusing, and so much fun. They had walked right into a trap, and neither had even noticed. But before he could defend himself, Molly was calling for everyone to sit around the tree. It was time to open gifts.

Ginny sat on the floor, Draco sat to her right. Fred sat on her other side, and George sat to his right. Molly and Narcissa were standing by the tree, debating where to start. Arthur, Bill, and Charlie were sitting on the couch, which was off to Ginny's left, partly hidden by the enormous tree. Molly started the gift giving by handing a brightly colored, bulky parcel and to Draco. Ginny and her brother all started laughing. They new what was underneath the wrapping. Ginny couldn't for the life of her picture Draco Malfoy wearing a Weasley Sweater.

Draco opened the package slowly, revealing a new jumper. It was silver in color, and had a large green D embroidered on the front. Draco was taken very aback. It looked similar to the ones he had seen Ginny and her brothers wearing often. Draco looked up from his gift to see that everyone was looking at him. He stuttered a thank you to Molly, and was about to place the hand made sweater to the side when Ginny decided to speak up.

"Aren't you going to put it on? Its Weasley tradition you know, and since my mom seems to think you now qualify as part of our family, it is only right." She said smirking at him. Draco stared at her in disbelief before discarding his robe, and pulling his new jumper over his head. Draco felt absolutely ridiculous, until he noticed that all the Weasley children were being handed similar looking packages.

The twins' jumpers were identical, except that George's had a G on it, and Fred's had an F. Both were a deep wine red that clashed horribly with their bright red hair. Ginny's was purple with a large silver G.

However the oldest Weasley boy's jumpers were slightly different, neither of theirs had initials embroidered on them. Instead their first names were written in curvy script at the top right of the sweater, above small pockets. Charlie's sweater was Blue with wine red imprinting, and the other one, who Draco figured was Bill had a Green sweater, like Draco's except his name was written in a bright red.

Draco watched as the adults all opened one gift each. Narcissa got a long green and silver scarf from Molly, which was also hand- made Draco noted. Narcissa gave Molly and Arthur a large bowl that looked like a pensive, but wasn't.

"You look into and say a name of one of your children. It will show whatever they are doing at the moment, and if it is something personal, such as err…using the toilets, it will show gray smoke that will only lift when they are…decent. Oh. And someday when you have grandchildren it can be updated to work for them instead." Molly and Arthur laughed.

"Thanks Narcissa. This will be most usefully."

"Let's spy on Ron." Ginny suggested. Molly and Narcissa laughed.

"Maybe later dear." Molly said, handing her another gift. "This one is from Draco." Draco watched Ginny intensely. He really hoped she would like what he had gotten for her.

The gift was small, and wrapped in silver wrapping paper. Little golden snitches with wings of holly were printed on it, and were fluttering. Ginny smiled.

"Cute wrapping paper."

"The guy at the store chose it out." Draco mumbled. Ginny just smiled and ripped at the paper to reveal a small black velvet box. Ginny's eyebrows furrowed in confusion, and she lifted the top gently. Inside laid a charm necklace. The center piece was a large `G.' to either side was two charms. On its right, were a tiny snitch and cauldron; to its left was a wand which had a tiny star seemingly coming out of it, and a unicorn. The whole thing was made of silver, which Ginny could only guess was pure.

"Draco it's beautiful." Ginny said removing it from its encasement gently. Her hands were shaking lightly as she tried to put it on. Draco, seeing she couldn't seem to get it took it from her and clasped it.

"So you like it then?" he asked nervously.

"Oh yes. It's the most beautiful thing I've ever received." Ginny said. She looked at him for a moment, before giving him a quick hug.

"I'm glad you like it." He said smiling. Ginny turned around quickly.

"Mum where is the thing that I got for him?"

"Right her sweetie." She said handing Ginny a large box.

"Ginny handed it to Draco, who looked surprised that he was getting something else. He started tearing at the paper, very curious as to what was inside.

Ginny watched him opening her gift, praying he would like it. She had saved up for months to be able to buy it for him. She had to talk to his mother first, and was very surprised to discover that he didn't already have one.

"A pensive!" Draco exclaimed when he got the box open. "Oh wow. Thanks Gin."

"I had some help from your mum. I'm glad you like it." Draco and Ginny smiled at each other for second, before Molly called their attention back to finish opening the presents.

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The rest of the day seemed to move very quickly. Dinner had been delicious and everyone was full to the bursting by the time it was over. Everyone was lounging around the living room. The twins were in a corner talking with each other; no doubt they had come up with a new idea for their shop.

Bill and Charlie were playing a game of wizard chess, on the new set that Narcissa had given Bill. (Charlie had gotten a new pair of gloves, and a shirt that both had several protection spells on them. Molly had almost cried her thanks to Narcissa, saying she would feel much better knowing that her son was a little safer.) Ginny's mother and father were talking quietly with Narcissa, who was sipping on a glass of wine and looking a little distressed.

Ginny and Draco were sitting on the couch. They were both going through books, trying to find a name for Ginny's new pet owl. Her brother, Harry and Hermione had pitched in and bought her her very own owl, and had sent it with a letter telling her it was hers and needed a good name. It was a spotted Boreal Owl. Draco suddenly sat up.

"How about Hermes?"

"No, that's over used. I want something original."

"Okay. Hmm." Draco said turning his attention back to the book.

"How about Amala, it means bird, and beloved." Draco said trying again.

"I like that, Amala." Ginny turned to her new owl that was on the arm of the couch. "How does the name Amala suit you?" She asked. The bird hooted happily, accepting the name. Ginny smiled and turned to Draco. "Looks like she has a name."

"Yay." He said dryly. Ginny just shook her head at him still smiling.

"Draco it's time to go." Narcissa said walking over to where Draco and Ginny were sitting. Draco sighed and sat up. He gathered all of his things, and Narcissa shrunk them. He carefully placed everything in his pocket before turning to Ginny.

"I guess I'll see you later then. Owl me with whenever you want to meet up again." Draco said, remembering they were supposed to have a date over vacation. He figured that would be the perfect time to talk to her about possibly having a relationship. It was time to get into gear. He had his mother to think about, and was still sticking with his decision to make this thing work, for her at least.

"That sounds good." Ginny said, standing up as well. The looked at each other awkwardly for a moment, before Ginny leaned forward and gave Draco a quick hug. Molly and Narcissa smiled. "Happy Christmas Draco." She said before turning to say good bye to Narcissa.

Molly gave Draco a brief hug as well. Draco wryly thought that if she hugged him again, he may just need to have all his bones re-grown. The women just didn't know her own strength.

Narcissa embraced Ginny in a warm hug, holding her close for a minute. How she hoped this amazing young women would someday be her daughter in law. Narcissa sighed sadly and pulled away. "Happy Christmas Ginny, I hope you enjoyed today. I know I did."

"Today was wonderful. Thank you for everything."

"Oh it was my pleasure. It isn't often I have a young women to shop for. I had fun."

"I can tell. You bought me a whole new wardrobe, which I love by the way." Ginny really did love it. She had never felt so spoiled in her life. She was really looking forward to seeing everyone's reaction back at school, Especially Ron's.

Narcissa and Draco said goodbye to the guys, and headed to the fire place. Draco stepped in first, shooting "Malfoy Manor" he flooed home. Narcissa smiled at Molly, and thanked her for having Draco and herself before following suit.

Ginny sighed and plunked onto the couch. She petted Amala, surprisingly sad that Draco and Narcissa had left.

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