Unofficial Portkey Archive

Chapter 3

The Christmas holidays passed rather slowly for Draco. He and his mother were still not speaking except for when she had tersely informed him that they were still visiting his father and aunt and that he was not to mention the incident. Draco had stayed in his room the whole time, having the house elves bring him all of his meals. It was a little dull, but it was better than interacting with his mother. She had been in a nasty mood ever since he'd gotten back from Hogwarts, and he was beginning to wish he'd never come home.
At that moment, there was a knock at the door. "Come in," Draco commanded, figuring it was a house elf.
It wasn't, it was his mother. "There are people coming over tonight for dinner. You will be at the dinner, and you will socialize. Do you understand me?" Narcissa barked. She could resemble Lucius when she wanted to in the intimidating department.
Draco nodded. Then Narcissa left, and he sighed heavily. He was in for a night of people telling him how much he'd grown and what a wonderful Death Eater he would make. Not only would it be irritating, it would be long and boring. He'd learned from years past that it was best to try and avoid these kinds of things, but he knew he wouldn't be able to get out of this particular one. At least he would be able to get out of his room without having to worry about his mother yelling at him. She'd never do that in front of all of her friends.
Draco walked over to his closet and took out one of his best dress robes. He set them on his bed for that night. Then he laid down on his bed to take a short nap.

*~*~*~*

Ginny was trudging up the stairs to the attic for the third day in a row to do research for her History of Magic project. She had found plenty of interesting things about her family, but not much that she could use for her project. Plus, there were still tons of boxes left for her to look in.
Ginny walked over to a stack of boxes she hadn't looked in yet and read their labels. One said Christmas decorations and another was labeled baby clothes. She looked at the next one and had to do a double take. She looked closer, but it said what she'd thought it had said. It was labeled Malfoys. Why the Weasleys would have a box with the Malfoys' name on it was beyond Ginny. She knew she shouldn't but her curiosity got the better of her and she opened the box. Inside there were three thick, leather bound photo albums.
Ginny picked one of them up and started flipping through it. In the first half there were pictures from her mum and dad's wedding. There were some of just the two of them, those she'd seen before, but the ones of the whole wedding party she'd never seen. She looked closely at the man who appeared to be the Best Man. He looked vaguely familiar, but she couldn't place him.
The rest of the album was filled with pictures of a man in a tux and a woman in a wedding dress that she didn't recognize. They appeared to be the Best Man and Maid of Honor from her parents' wedding. They both had white-blonde hair and a superior look. She turned the page and gasped. In the next picture, the man was smirking. She would know that look anywhere. It was a younger version of Lucius Malfoy, and the woman with him must be Narcissa Malfoy.
Why do we have pictures from the Malfoys' wedding? Ginny asked herself. Her question was soon answered when she saw a picture of the wedding party. Her mother and father were the Best Man and Maid of Honor respectively. She was shocked. Since when had her parents and the Malfoys been friends? All she'd ever heard was bad things about them. She just didn't get it.
Ginny soon finished the first album and picked up the second. She opened it and stared, gobsmacked at the first picture it was her when she was younger, but she wasn't alone. A mini Draco Malfoy was standing next to her, smiling and waving at the camera.
As she flipped through the rest of the album, she was surprised to find they were all of her and Draco. Either they were waving at the camera or playing, or in some, even holding hands. That's when the dam broke in her head and millions of memories spilled into her brain. She could remember tons of times when the Malfoys had come over. She was always happy as long as Draco came. He was her best friend. Then she remembered one day when their parents were yelling at each other. Draco never came back after that. Why didn't she remember that before? Why all of the sudden, did she have these memories? It didn't make sense.
Ginny closed the album and ran downstairs. "Mum! Dad!" she yelled. There was no answer. "Mum! Dad!" Still no answer. "MUM! DAD!"
"What is it dear?" her mother called from outside.
Ginny rushed outside to where her mother was tending the garden. "What is it, Ginbug?" she asked, using Ginny's childhood nickname.
"Why didn't you tell me?" she demanded, close to tears, she couldn't believe that her parents had lied to her for all those years.
"Tell you what, Ginny?" her mother inquired, clearly confused.
"Why didn't you tell me you were friends with the Malfoys? Why didn't you tell me they were at your wedding, in your wedding party eve? Why didn't you tell me I used to be best friends with Draco Malfoy?" Ginny yelled, getting more shrill and closer to hysteria with each question.
"Now, Ginny dear, calm down. Come inside for a little tea, and I'll explain everything," Molly soothed, trying to avoid a major scene.
Ginny followed her mother inside, silently fuming still. As soon as they were sitting at the table, Ginny whispered, dangerously calm, "Explain."
"Now, Ginny, it's really not that big of a deal," Molly began.
"Yes it is," Ginny protested. "It's a huge deal. You've been lying to me my whole life."
"Maybe your father should be here for this," Molly suggested slowly, not wanting Ginny to blow up at her. She'd dreaded this moment ever since the fight with the Malfoys. She had hoped it would never come. That's why she'd been against the memory charm business in the first place.
"Fine," Ginny said, resigned, and Molly sighed in relief.
"I'll be back soon" her mother called before stepping into the fireplace. Then she was gone.

*~*~*~*

Ten minutes later, Molly, Arthur, Ginny, and Ron were all sitting at the kitchen table. Fred and George were at their shop in Diagon Alley dealing with last minutes Christmas shoppers.
"What did you want to tell us?" Ron asked curiously. He hadn't been informed why his parents wanted to talk to him.
"Well, do you remember all of the time when you were little when you two were always playing together?" Molly started tentatively.
"Yeah," Ron replied slowly, wondering what was going on.
"Well, you weren't really playing with each other," Arthur cut in bluntly. "You two almost never played together. Ron was always playing with the twins," Molly told them. "Ginny had a friend that came over frequently. That person was really who you remember being Ron." he was avoiding the point.
"Who was it?" Ron inquired. He wondered what his parents were so nervous about.
"Draco Malfoy," Molly answered.
"WHAT?!?!" Ron roared. Then quieter he said, "Why aren't you surprised by this, Gin?"
"I already knew. I found pictures of him and me together. That's why they're telling us," Ginny answered emotionlessly.
"How come I don't remember this?" Ron demanded.
"Because we had a falling out with the Malfoys, and we put a memory obscuring charm on you," his father replied.
"You were friends with the MALFOYS?" Ron asked incredulously.
Yes we were best friends ever since we went to Hogwarts," Molly answered.
"What did you fight about?" Ginny asked, re-entering the conversation.
"It was silly really, but Fred and George played on too many tricks on them. They got mad, and Lucius started threatening them. That made us angry so we just decided to not be friends any longer," Molly informed us.
"That's kind of dumb," Ginny pointed out.
"Yes it was," Molly agreed. "But since then we've found that we're just too different. Lucius was never a Death Eater when we were friends."
"Really?" Ron asked, surprised. He'd always thought that Lucius had always been a Death Eater.
"Well, now that you know the truth, we might as well take off the memory charm," Arthur told them.
"Mine's already gone. I can remember everything. It happened when I saw the first picture of Draco and I," Ginny said.
Arthur nodded as if he had guessed that. Then he cast a reversal spell on Ron. As Ron's spell was being taken off, Ginny snuck up the stairs to her room to think.

*~*~*~*

Draco trudged down the stairs to the dining room at six o'clock that night. It was time for the party to begin, and many of the guests would be arriving soon. When he reached the spacious dining room, with its crystal chandeliers and its long, wood table, he was relieved that his mother wasn't down there. Most likely she was waiting in the foyer for guests to arrive by Floo.
Just as Draco was thinking this, the doorbell rang. This was an odd occurrence in their house. "Draco, could you be a dear and get that for me?" his mother's melodic voice rang from the foyer.
"Yes, mother," Draco called back before sauntering over to the door.
Upon opening it, he wished he hadn't. Standing on the other side were Thomas, Violet, and Pansy Parkinson. That was one thing that his mother hadn't mentioned was that Pansy would be there, but he assured his mother thought it didn't need to be said. Pansy and her family had come to every party the Malfoys had hosted for as long as he could remember, and every time, he and Pansy were pushed together. He had a suspicion that their parents were hoping they'd get married. If that's what they were waiting for, then they had a bloody long time to wait because there was not a snowball's chance in Hell that he was marrying Pansy. The only reason he tolerated her was because he felt he had to.
"Draco, who is at the door?" his mother asked, entering the room. "Oh, hello Thomas, Violet, and Pansy dear, how are you?"
"Wonderful. Thank you, Mrs. Malfoy," Pansy replied politely.
"Why don't you and Draco head into the dining room. I'm sure the food will be served shortly, and then we'll head into the ballroom for some dancing," Narcissa suggested.
"That would be lovely," Pansy said before pulling Draco into he dinning room.
"You know what's coming up next year, don't you, Draco?" Pansy purred.
"Not really, no. I mean I'm sure many things are coming up but-" Draco began.
"Don't get smart with me," Pansy snapped, cutting him off. "It's our graduation from Hogwarts, and you know what that means, don't you?"
"No more school?" Draco suggested weakly, avoiding the real answer.
"You know what I'm talking about. Graduation from wizarding school is traditionally when purebloods propose to their girlfriends," Pansy reminded him.
"Oh, yeah, I forgot," Draco lied, not so smoothly. He knew what Pansy was hinting at, and he didn't like it. Pretty soon he'd have his mother badgering him about it too. That was all he needed right now, for people to pressure him into an engagement.
Just then he heard someone call his name from across the room. He was relieved to see that it was Blaise Zabini, one of his roommates. Draco took this as a chance to escape from Pansy, and rushed towards Blaise. "What's up, Blaise?" Draco asked cheerfully.
"It looked like you needed a break from Pansy," Blaise commented. "I thought I'd help you out."
"Thanks, Blaise," he said gratefully. "I owe you one."
"Yes you do," Blaise agreed. "What was she talking to you about, anyway? You looked pretty horrified."
"She was talking about the pureblood tradition that takes place on graduation," Draco answered.
"She's hinting at marriage already?" Blaise exclaimed in surprise.
Draco nodded grimly. "You don't really like her, do you?"
"No. She's annoyed me nearly my entire life. When we were really little we got along, but when I was around six she began to annoy me," Draco replied.
"You didn't play with her very often when you were younger, did you?" Blaise inquired.
"I played with her all the time. We were pretty much inseparable," Draco told his housemate.
"Were all three of you friends then?" Blaise asked, trying to figure out the situation.
"All three of who?" Draco asked, confused.
"You, Pansy, and Ginny," Blaise clarified. "You were always talking about Ginny when we were little, and then one day you just stopped."
"What are you talking about? Ginny who?" Draco demanded.
"Ginny Weasley," Blaise replied slowly, his words thick with confusion.
"I've never played with Ginny Weasley!" Draco exclaimed indignantly despite the slight nagging from his brain that he was wrong. "Why would I play with trash like her? My family hates the Weasleys."
"You're right," Blaise said quickly, ending Draco's rant. "I don't know what I was thinking."
Draco wanted to agree with Blaise, but there was a voice in the back of his head that told him that Blaise had been telling the truth. It was almost like recalling some part of his memory that was behind a brick wall or something. It was there, but it couldn't be accessed, and that scared Draco. He resolved to research any spells that could block parts of your memory. He would get down to the bottom of this no matter what it took.

*~*~*~*

Later that night, after he was sure that everyone had gone home and there was no men waiting for his mother, Draco decided that it was time to start his spell research. He snuck into his father's library as quietly as he could. There were other libraries in the house, but his father's was the most extensive and the best for doing research. He wasn't quite sure where to start, but after thinking about it, decided to look in the charms section. There were all kinds of books containing various charms and hexes, such as Charms For All Situations, Volumes I, II, and III, Simple Spells For the Young Wizard, and Helpful Hexes: A Guide For Death Eaters.
Draco snorted at the last title. They sure were secretive, those Death Eaters. He was about to keep looking for a book when he picked up the Helpful Hexes book. It might be useful. Once he had finished looking through the charms section, he had ten books to take back up to his room. He was hoping he would find something useful in at least one of them, but if worst came to worst he could always ask his mother. There was no way to tell if she would answer him truthfully, but it wouldn't hurt to ask.
At the moment, however, Draco was too tired to look through the books. He quickly stripped off his robes and got ready for bed. Then he climbed into bed and drifted off to sleep.

*~*~*~*

The next morning, Ginny woke up with puffy, red eyes and tear stains on her face. The memories from the night before came back to her. After she'd gone up to her room she had turned on some music and laid down on her bed. After simply staring at the ceiling for a few minutes, her mind had drifted to the new information she'd acquired. Tears had sprung to her eyes as she thought of her parents lying to her all those years. The tears had soon leaked out of her eyes, and before she could stop it, she had cried herself to sleep.
Ginny had hoped she would feel better about it in the morning, but it seemed that it wasn't that way. She still was mad at her parents. She also wasn't sure what she should do with her new-found knowledge. Should she tell Malfoy? Would he even believe her? Did he already know? The answer to that one she was almost sure of. If he knew, he would have used to for teasing her or blackmail, wouldn't he? Maybe not. She didn't know, her mind was a jumbled mess, fiction and reality mixing and overlapping in her head. She almost couldn't tell the difference between the memories the spell had given her, and the real ones. It was all so confusing.
Sighing, Ginny decided she ought to go downstairs for breakfast. If she didn't go down soon, her parents would come looking for her. If she wasn't ready for them, they might think there was something wrong with her. Then they would pester her all day about it.
She went into the upstairs bathroom and washed her face. Once the tear stains were gone, she didn't look as if she had been crying. Her eyes were still puffy, however, so it made her look more tired than usual.
Shrugging, Ginny stepped out of the bathroom. She flattened her hair quickly and than made her way down the stairs to the kitchen. Her mother, father, and Ron were already there. Her father and Ron were eating, and her mother was using her magic to make more food. "Good morning, Ginny," Molly greeted cheerfully.
"Morning," Ron said through a mouthful of food.
"Morning, Ginbug," her father added.
"Good morning," she replied.
"You look tired, Ginny. Are you alright?" Molly asked in concern.
"I'm fine, Mum," she answered, inwardly rolling her eyes at the predictability o f it all. Her parents were acting as if last night hadn't happened, as if they hadn't revealed that their worst enemies hadn't always been their worst enemies. "So, what is there for breakfast?"
"Waffles and scrambled eggs," Molly announced.
"Yum, my favorite," Ginny commented, slightly suspicious. She had a feeling it was to try to make up for the lies she'd lived with for more than half of her life. When she thought about it like that, it wasn't much compensation, but it was enough for the moment. It was because at that moment, she realized that her parents had only done what they thought had been right. They were only trying to protect her. She couldn't imagine trying to tell a five year old that she couldn't play with her best friend anymore.
"How many waffles do you want, Ginny?" Ron practically yelled, snapping Ginny out of her thoughts. Her mother had evidently asked her more than once before Ron had taken it into his own hands.
"Sorry. I'll have two to start with," she answered with a sheepish smile. Her mother smiled back and set a plate in front of Ginny.

*~*~*~*~*

The same morning, in another part of Britain, Draco woke up also. He knew that his mother wouldn't be up yet, she always slept late after partying into the early morning. He called a house elf to bring him breakfast in his room, and decided to get started on his research.
Draco sat on his bed and opened the first book. It was about one thousand pages long and had rather tiny print. This might take awhile he thought with a sigh before immersing himself in the research.

*~*~*~*

After all the Weasleys had finished their breakfast, Fred and George had come downstairs while Ginny was finishing hers, they made the decision to stay in for the day. They made it an unofficial game-playing-by-the-fire day while they waited for the other members of the family to arrive. Bill was arriving with his wife, Marina, sometime that afternoon and Charlie would be arriving later that evening. Percy wasn't coming home for Christmas this year. As much as it pained her whole family to admit, Percy had joined the Death Eaters. After the former Minister of Magic, Cornelius Fudge died and was replaced by Nehemiah Schoepson; Percy had gone to the Dark Side.
Ginny had always been afraid something similar to this would happen. The new Minister of Magic had kept her brother for his personal assistant, and Percy worshiped the ground his boss walked on. This in itself wasn't a bad thing. It was a pretty good thing, actually, considering how well off Percy was money-wise, but there was one slight flaw in the situation. Nehemiah Schoepson was a known supporter of Voldemort, but none of the Aurors could ever prove it. He wasn't into Dark Arts at all, and he didn't have the Dark Mark. What could they do? Nothing, and that's why her brother was currently a Death Eater.
When the Weasleys found out about it, Ginny had been afraid that her mother might have died of shock, but her parents had handled it better than she'd thought. They had simply gone on with their lives as normally as they could. Ginny had a feeling that her family was merely in denial, but if that's what kept the rest of the Weasleys together, so be it. Coming to terms with the situation would only cause hurt, and that's what they were trying to avoid.

*~*~*~*

A few hours later, Draco was still searching through his books when he came across what he thought was what he was looking for, the Mind-Altering Spell. It was a spell used to change or erase parts of a person's memory. That had to be what his parents had used if they had used anything, which he wasn't entirely sure about. What did Zabini know anyway? Well, this would have been the spell, and it said there were only two ways to reverse it. One, the original caster of the spell could remove it or two, if something visual, like a picture, triggered the lost memories and allowed them to surface.
I wonder if we have any pictures anywhere, Draco thought. If he could just prove Blaise's theory wrong or right, he would be happy.
Draco called in a house elf and commanded it to bring him some of the old photo albums from when he was little. The scared little creature ran off as quickly as possible to get the albums. Draco found an inexplicable joy at intimidating the house elves. It gave him a feeling of deep satisfaction that he couldn't explain, but he supposed that that was why his father was a Death Eater. He got the same joy, but from his fellow humans rather than house elves.
The little house elf returned soon with three thick albums hovering in front of it. "Here are your albums," the house elf squeaked before disappearing from the room.
Draco walked over to where the house elf had set the books and began to look through them. The first one just had pictures of him as a baby. Nothing all that exciting besides the act that he was a very cute baby. The next album contained pictures of him when he was a toddler. He had had no idea that his parents had taken that many pictures of him. There were thousands of them.
Draco picked up the last and largest album. The first few pages were merely pictures of him playing around the Manor. The next page, however, showed him playing somewhere that he didn't recognize. He couldn't recall ever seeing the place before. Then, when he turned the page, all of the memories flooded back. There, on the page, was a picture of him and a young, red-headed girl, Ginny Weasley. In fact, unbeknownst of him, it was one of the same pictures that Ginny found.
Draco was too shocked to move as he examined his new memories. "The Weasleys weren't always our enemies?" he asked himself in surprise. He couldn't believe that his parents had lied to him his whole life. Actually, he could. His parents and he weren't that close, but he couldn't' believe that the Weasleys would lie to their daughter. Then again, his father had probably blackmailed them into it or something.
Draco shook his head to clear it. What did it matter if his parents had lied to him or the Weasleys had lied to Ginny? He lied to his parents all the time, he had to know that they'd return the favor once in awhile. I wonder if Ginny knew. What? No I don't, he berated himself. I don't care about that chit. Wait, had he just called her by her first name? He had. He couldn't believe it. I find out that we used to be friends and then all of the sudden, I start using her first name. Disgusting, he thought self-loathing. I must be going soft.

*~*~*~*

Later that day, the Weasleys sat by the fire, drinking hot chocolate, when there was a knock at the door. "I'll get it," offered Ginny cheerfully. She was always her happiest when she was surrounded by people that she loved.
When Ginny opened the door, she was pleasantly surprised to see her brother Bill standing there with his wife, Kiara Bell Weasley. "Hi, Ginny," Bill greeted her, giving her a big hug. "We didn't want to surprise you by merely Apparating into the living room.
"I'm so glad you're here, Bill. You too, Kiara," Ginny said welcomingly. The last time Ginny had seen Kiara was at their wedding, and they had hit it off pretty well. She was looking forward to getting to know her better.
"Ginny, who's at the door?" her mother called from the other room.
"It's Bill and Kiara," Ginny called back then she led her brother and his wife into the living room where the rest of the family enveloped them with hugs and greetings.
"How have you two been?" Molly asked.
"Great. Actually, I think Kiara has an announcement to make," Bill said with an encouraging smile directed at his wife. Kiara, as Ginny had gathered, was a little shy around people she didn't know very well.
"I'm pregnant," Kiara announced shyly, waiting for a reaction.
"That's great! Congratulations!" Ginny exclaimed. She was going to be an aunt.
"You mean I'm going to be a grandmother?" Molly asked slowly.
"That's right, Mum," Bill answered apprehensively. He wasn't sure it that was a good thing or not.
"I'm going to be a grandmother," she repeated. "I've always wanted to be a grandmother! Congratulations!"
Kiara smiled as the rest of the family gave their congratulations. Ginny could tell that she was relieved that the Weasleys were happy. She could also tell that Kiara herself was ecstatic about it.
"Is Charlie coming?" Bill asked curiously.
"Yes, he'll be here later," Arthur answered.
"We were just having some hot chocolate, would either of you like anything?" Molly inquired.
"Some hot chocolate would be great," Bill replied. "What about you, Kiara?"
"I'll have some hot chocolate too, please," Kiara said shyly. Molly gave her a warm smile before going to get their drinks from the kitchen.

*~*~*~*

Draco still sat in his bed, shocked by his new memories. He wasn't sure if he should confront his mother about it or not. If he did, she would probably just get mad and deny it no matter what he said. He didn't want to make her any angrier than she already was.
Speaking of Narcissa, at that moment, there was a knock at Draco's bedroom door. "Come in," he called.
"His mother appeared in the doorway. It looked as if she had finally gotten out of bed. "Can I help you?" Draco asked indifferently.
His mother didn't reply. She was frozen, staring at something to his right. Draco looked around for what she was staring at, but all he saw were the photo album. "Where did you get those?" Narcissa demanded.
"A house elf," Draco replied with a shrug.
"Have you looked at them?" she asked, trying not to give away her panic.
"Yes, and I know I used to be best friends with Ginny Weasley. I remember everything," Draco informed her, deathly calm.
Narcissa swore under her breath. "Lucius is not going to be very happy," she said solemnly.
"He doesn't have to know" Draco offered. As much as he didn't like his mother, he didn't want her to get hurt, and that would be what happened if his father found out.
"I guess you want to know about why we did this," Narcissa began. Draco nodded in agreement. "Well, we used to be friends with the Weasleys, but then we had a falling out." Then she continued to tell him about the fight and his childhood. When she had finished her tale, Draco didn't say anything at first.
"That's a dumb reason to end a friendship," he pointed out after a few minutes.
"Well, what would you have done? Those twins were brats. Besides, they're just Muggle-loving trash, and we would have ended the friendship eventually anyway," Narcissa snapped. She knew that it was a dumb reason to end a friendship, and she regretted it all of the time. She didn't need her son pointing it out too.
"No need to get shirty with me," Draco replied with his trademark smirk.
"Don't get sassy with me," Narcissa reprimanded.
Draco merely raised an eyebrow in amusement and gave a snort of laughter and disbelief. His mother had never, in his entire life, reprimanded him for talking back. He did it all the time to her, and she never said anything. Now, Lucius is a different story. If he ever back-talked to Lucius, he would get a slap in the face. His father didn't hurt him often, but, then again, he didn't disobey the rules very often either. That could be the explanation.
"As you know, we're going to visit your father and aunt in Azkaban on Christmas Eve," she announced, changing the subject. "Which is tomorrow, and I want you to be on your best behavior. You are not to mention any of you recent... findings. Got it?"
"Yes, ma'am," he replied sarcastically with a mock salute.
Narcissa regarded him coldly before turning on her heel to leave, leaving Draco with his thoughts.

*~*~*~*

Ginny and the rest of the Weasleys were just sitting down to dinner when Charlie Apparated into the living room. As soon as Ginny heard the pop, she stood up as fast as she could and ran into the living room. She rushed to her brother and gave him a big hug. "Charlie!" she shrieked in delight as he picked her up and spun her around.
"Hey, Ginny. How have you been?" her brother asked.
"Pretty good," she answered with a smile. Charlie had always been her favorite brother because he was the only one who always treated her as an equal, rather than the little tag-along sister. "How have you been?"
"Great! One of the dragons' eggs hatched so we're mainly caring for her," Charlie answered. He worked with dragons in Romania, and Ginny had always been fascinated with his job.
Ginny then led her brother in to the dining room where the rest of the family was sitting. There came a chorus of greetings from the rest of the family as his sister pulled Charlie into the seat next to her. He smiled at her once they were seated. Charlie had always felt closer to Ginny than the rest of his siblings.
"Is Harry coming this year?" Charlie asked curiously scanning the table.
"No," Ron replied, somewhat bitterly. "He's staying with Hermione and her family this year."
"You weren't invited?" Charlie inquired, surprised.
"Oh, I was invited, but I figured I'd just be the third wheel. Harry and Hermione are dating now," Ron explained at his brother's confused look.
"Really? I always thought you and Hermione would end up together," Charlie commented, oblivious to the fact that Ron had felt the same way, and was crushed when it didn't.
"They fight too much. One of them would be dead within the first month," Ginny teased. She knew her brother had a huge crush on Hermione and was going to rub it in all she could. "And if it happened to be Ron that killed Hermione, Ron would end up killing himself because of the grief."
Her brothers laughed at her joke, all except Ron, who turned bright red in anger and embarrassment. "Don't tease your brother," her mother chastised her lightly. She was smiling too.
"I don't fancy Hermione," Ron protested through gritted teeth.
"Of course not," Fred agreed unconvincingly.
"I don't," Ron insisted, his voice raising in desperation.
"I totally agree with you," George joined in.
"I don't!" Ron said, his voice raising even more.
"Who said you didn't?" Fred asked innocently.
"Mum!" Ron yelled in absolute desperation.
"Boys, stop teasing your brother," Molly reprimanded.
"You're such a baby sometimes," George scoffed.
"George," Molly said warningly.
"Sorry, Mum," he apologized. "You know I was only kidding."
"Yes, but still. Christmas is supposed to be a happy time," Molly reminded her son.
The family resumed their conversations once the drama with Ron was resolved. They finished their dinners without any more conflicts. The Weasleys then sat near the fireplace, talking, until it was time for bed.

*~*~*~*

Ginny was lying on her bed later that night, writing in her diary by candlelight, when there was a knock on the door. "Come in," Ginny called softly.
The door opened, revealing a sad looking Kiara, carrying a pillow. "Bill and I had a fight. Can I sleep in here?" she asked timidly.
"Of course you can. What was your fight about?" Ginny inquired in concern. "Well, it's sort of an ongoing fight, I want to move back to England, but he doesn't," Kiara explained, tears leaking out of the corners of her eyes. "I love Bill, and I want to make him happy, but I want our baby to live near all of its relatives. Instead of all the way in Egypt so Bill can keep the same job. Gringotts has even offered him an ongoing job offer if he ever changes his mind."
"Have you told Bill why you want to move back. Have you told him you want to do what's best for the baby?" Ginny asked gently.
Kiara shook her head miserably. "I want to, but I'm afraid he'll think I'm dumb," she admitted sheepishly.
"Don't be silly. Bill won't think any less of you if you told him your reasons. He'd probably think they were good reasons, and then you wouldn't have to fight about it anymore," Ginny told her confidently.
"Are you sure?" she asked uncertainly.
"Positive," Ginny assured.
"Thanks, Ginny," Kiara replied gratefully.
"Marina," Ginny began uncertainly.
"Yeah?" Kiara answered.
"Can I ask your advice about something?" she asked.
"Sure, anything," Kiara replied willingly.
"Well, there's this guy I go to school with. His name is Draco Malfoy and-"
"Ah, you're having boy troubles," Kiara interrupted.
"Sort of," Ginny replied. "Anyway, we've been enemies forever. Our families are sworn enemies too. They have been for a long time, or at least that's what I've been told. Then, the other day I found my parents' wedding pictures and some pictures of me when I was little. A lot of the pictures were of me and Draco, and his parents were in my parents' wedding pictures. I asked my mum about them and she told me that my parents and the Malfoys used to be best friends, and Draco used to be my best friend. It came as a total surprise to me. Now I don't know what to do. Should I tell him about it? Should I go along with life as usual? Should I try to renew our friendship? I am so confused."
"Uh, this is an interesting situation. To be totally honest, I don't know what you should do. My best advice is to do what you think is right," Kiara advised.
"I don't know what I think is right," Ginny protested.
"Well, do you think he knows?" Kiara asked, trying a new approach.
"I don't think so. If he did, he would probably lord it over me that he knows something I don't," Ginny answered.
"Okay. Do you think he would be open to your friendship if you told him what you found out?" Kiara questioned.
"Probably not, but I'm not sure. He's kind of unpredictable sometimes. Like the other day, he kept glaring at me, and he didn't insult me once," Ginny told her sister-in-law.
"Maybe he fancies you," Kiara said seriously.
Ginny laughed. "I seriously doubt it," she replied.
"Okay, so maybe not, but I still think the best advice I can give you is to follow you heart," Kiara advised once again, before deciding that they should probably get to bed, and turned off the light.

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