Disclaimer: I don't own anything but the plot and some original characters.
A/N: Thanks to my beta, Aliya, for, well, betaing.
Chapter 5
Christmas morning dawned bright and early in the Weasley household. Ginny and Ron, still the youngest in the family, woke up around five thirty and continued to wake up the rest of the family, none of whom were too happy at being woken up. By five forty-five, the whole family was assembled in the living room, all still half asleep. "Would anyone like some coffee?" Molly asked as cheerfully as she could muster that early in the morning.
Everyone wanted some except, Ron, Ginny, and the twins. They were all awake and bubbling with enthusiasm. They were
always the most enthusiastic about these things, and they probably always would be not matter how old they got.
Once Molly brought the coffee out to everyone else, they were ready to begin. The twins passed out all of the presents
and everyone began opening. Ginny opened her present from Charlie first. It was a set of hair clips with tiny green
dragons on them along with a matching necklace. They were beautiful. They sparkled and shimmered in the first rays of
sunlight. "Thank you, Charlie," Ginny gasped.
"No problem. I thought you'd like them. Only the best for my favorite little sister," Charlie teased.
"I'm your only little sister, you great prat," Ginny shot back, rolling her eyes. She then picked up the
next box. It was from the twins. She shook it carefully and inspected it for any sign of danger. It looked safe, but
you never could tell with the twins.
"It's not going to bite, you know," Fred kidded.
"One can never tell with you two," Ginny countered before taking a deep breath and opened the package. She
braced herself for the worst as she lifted the lid to the box. When she saw what it was, she gasped. Inside was an
emerald green cloak with a golden G, clasp. It was gorgeous, and she had been in the need of a new cloak for a while.
"Thank you."
"You deserve it, Gin," George replied with a smile.
There were choruses of "thank you" from all around her. Some of them were directed at her, other were
directed at other members of the family. Ginny picked up the next packed and looked at the tag. It was from Bill and
Kiara. She unwrapped the box and opened it. Inside were a set of dress robes, the same shade of green as the cloak that
the twins had given her. "Thank you," she called to her brother and sister-in-law.
"You're welcome, Gin," they called back.
Ginny continued to open the rest of her presents. From her parents she got another Weasley sweater, a book full of
beauty charms, and a gold locket. The last thing they had told her wasn't from them. She hadn't understood
until she opened it. Inside was a golden locket with a picture of Draco and her when they were little inside. On the
opposite side as the picture, there was an inscription. It said, "Friends Forever, Draco Malfoy and Ginny
Weasley."
"You two gave each other one of those the last Christmas you were friends," Molly told her.
Ginny smiled sadly as tears sprung to her eyes. She remembered that day. They had promised each that they'd never
take them off. She shook her head to clear her thoughts and blinked back her tears. "Thanks for giving it
back," she whispered. She then opened a present from Ron. He had given her a box of Bertie Bott's Every Flavor
Beans and a few chocolate frogs. That was fine with her chocolate frogs were her favorite.
Once everyone had finished opening their presents, they migrated to the kitchen for breakfast. As soon Mrs. Weasley had
magically made their breakfast, everyone began eating. There wasn't much talking, as everyone still wasn't
awake yet. Occasionally someone would say something, but besides those few and far between comments, breakfast passed
in silence.
*~*~*~*
Draco also woke up early Christmas morning, despite the fact that he wasn't really going to celebrate with anyone. He would open the presents that the house elves brought to his room. Then he would go down to the dining room to have dinner with his mother later that night. It would just be the two of them. Christmas dinner for the Malfoys had just been the three of them, now two of them. He could remember when he was little that they used to have Christmas dinners with the Weasleys, but not anymore. That was a thing of the past, and, for some reason, that fact saddened him.
Shaking his head to clear his thoughts, Draco began opening the presents from his mother and other various relatives.
They all ranged from candy to books to clothes, but there were two things out of the ordinary. The first was a locket
that he knew was originally from Ginny all those years ago. The second was a Firebolt 6000, the fastest broom on the
market. It was from his "father." yeah, right. He knew his father had probably commanded his mother to get it
for him so he could beat the Gryffindor team in Quidditch. Even in Azkaban, Lucius still had control over people, and
for the second time that morning, Draco was saddened by the facts of his life.
*~*~*~*
After breakfast was finished, Molly got started making dinner. Later that night, many of Ginny's other relatives would be coming over for dinner. Ginny always enjoyed the company of her aunts, uncles, and cousins, but she had always been disappointed that there was no one her age. When she was younger, she hadn't minded because Draco was always there. Now that he wasn't an option, she didn't really have anyone to hang out with during family functions. She wouldn't have to worry about that till later, though. Now, she decided to help her mother with some of the cooking because she insisted on doing it without magic. It was going to take her forever.
When Ginny entered the kitchen, Kiara was already there, helping Molly. "Hello, Ginny dear," her mother
greeted. "What can I help you with?"
"I came to see if you needed any help cooking," Ginny replied.
"It's nice of you to offer, dear, but as I was just telling Kiara, I'm quite fine on my own," Molly
told her daughter. "It was nice of you to offer anyway. Why don't you and Kiara go see if you can find any
more information for your History project?"
"Alright. What do you say, Kiara?" Ginny asked.
"Sure," Kiara agreed. So they both made their ways to the attic, Ginny leading the way. "So, what do you
have to do for this project?"
As they walked up to the attic, Ginny filled her sister-in-law in on the project. "That's how I found the
pictures of Draco and the Malfoys," Ginny explained.
"Sounds like an interesting project," Kiara commented.
"It would be if I could find anything about our family," Ginny muttered. Pretty soon she was just going to
have to own up to the fact that her family was simply boring.
"I'm sure we'll find something, let's go," Kiara urged, opening the door to the attic.
"I'm just glad we don't have to give these reports in front of the whole school. I can just imagine
Malfoy's reaction to this. He would have even more to tease Ron and I about," Ginny said. "Not only are
we good for nothing, Muggle-loving, trash, we're also boring."
"Oh, come on, Ginny. What are you worrying about anyway? You don't have to do it in front of the whole
school," Kiara reminded her.
"And thank the Lord for that," Ginny shot back. "He's such an annoying, arrogant, hypocritical git.
Why do I even like him? He's never been anything but mean to me. What is my problem? So he's gorgeous, so what?
There are tons of gorgeous guys at school. Why do I have to have taken a liking to him out of all the others? Just
becau-"
"Ginny!" Kiara cut off her ranting.
"Oh, sorry. Was that all out loud?" Ginny asked slowly.
"Yes," Kiara answered with a smile. "Having a little dilemma, are we?"
"No," Ginny denied. Kiara snorted in obvious disbelief. "Fine, maybe I do."
"Well, if you ask me," Kiara began insightfully.
"I didn't," Ginny mumbled, but her sister-in-law ignored her.
"If you ask me, you're only starting to like him because you're realizing he can't be all that bad.
You're beginning to think that if you were friends when you were little, you could be friends again. Or maybe even
more than friends," Kiara told Ginny.
"I'm sorry, I was under the impression that you were a curse breaker, not a shrink," Ginny replied
casually.
"How funny. You're so witty. You have to admit that I'm right though,"
Kiara coaxed.
"Maybe," Ginny agreed begrudgingly.
"Hey, Gin, you shouldn't stress about this that much. It will all turn out fine," Kiara advised.
"For all you know, Draco could be sitting in his house, having the same problems as you."
"Yeah, right," Ginny scoffed. "First of all, that would never happen, and second of all, he doesn't
live in a house, he lives in a Manor."
Kiara rolled her eyes before turning to search some more of the boxes that were stacked up all over the attic.
*~*~*~*
Draco and Narcissa sat down to dinner in the Manor's spacious dining room. They looked rather out of place, just the two of them. When the house elves began bringing out the food, there was probably enough food to feed two hundred people, rather than two. The two Malfoys saw nothing wrong with that. It was how it was every year, after all.
As the two began to eat, Narcissa tried to engage her son in conversation, but nothing did much good. He would respond
in all of her questions with shot, uninterested answers. After what felt like her hundredth feeble attempt at
conversation Narcissa fell silent with a look of defeat on her face. She had begun to feel slightly guilty about her
welcome, or rather lack of, for her son when he'd first arrived. It had made her think and realize that she'd
begun turning into her husband. When Draco had been younger, she had always been his refuge after his father yelled or
punished him. He had always gone to her. Now he was ignoring her, and it hurt her, if only a little.
Draco caught the look of disappointment on his mother's face, and considered starting a conversation with her. His
first reaction was to just let her be. What had she ever done for him? Then he remembered all of the times that she had
supported him. She had even talked Lucius out of banning him from seeing Ginny when they were still friends. He guessed
he at least owed her a little. She was his mother, after all.
"So, Mum, how have you been, living alone in the Manor?" he asked conversationally.
Narcissa looked up in surprise. Was he really starting a conversation with her? "It gets lonely sometimes, but I
survive," she replied with a smile. "So what do you think of Pansy Parkinson? She's sweet, isn't
she?"
"Yeah, she's great," Draco answered with a fake smile. Inwardly, he was wincing. He knew this would come
up eventually, but he had been dreading it.
"So you could see yourself with her for the rest of your life?" Narcissa questioned.
Draco panicked, but did his best to hide this fact from his mother. "I wouldn't exactly say that," he
began slowly. "I think I'm a little young to be thinking about who I want to be with for the rest of my life,
don't you think so?"
"When I was your age, I was engaged to your father," his mother countered smoothly.
"Yeah, and look where that got you," Draco muttered to himself.
"What did you say?" Narcissa snapped.
"Nothing," Draco said in response. He knew his mother knew that he had said something disrespectful, but she
let it slide.
"Draco, you need to start thinking about your future, and Pansy's a nice pureblood witch who's willing to
be your wife. I think you two should start hanging out more," Narcissa suggested. "You always used to get
along so well."
Draco felt the need to roll his eyes, but refrained. Instead, he replied off-handedly, "Sure." he wasn't
going to risk telling her that he'd never liked Pansy and that he had no intention of marrying her.
The rest of their Christmas dinner passed in silence. Then both family members went their separate ways. Narcissa went
to her husband's study, and Draco went to his room.
*~*~*~*
By mid-afternoon, the Burrow was beginning to fill up with Weasley family members. All of Ginny's aunts, uncles, and cousins were all over the place. She had no grandparents left, they had all died during Voldemort's last reign of terror. She didn't exactly miss them, she'd never met them, but sometimes she wished they'd lived. She especially wished that at big family gatherings like this one.
Ginny had quite a large family, her mother was one of ten and her father was one of three. That was eleven aunts and
uncle related to her by blood. All of them were married except two, her mom's sister and her dad's brother.
Ginny couldn't even count all of the cousins which was why she was always disappointed that there was no one near
her age. There were a few cousins Ron's age, but they were all boys and hung out with Ron. They never anything, but
play Muggle games, one of them had a Muggle father, and talk about Quidditch.
Looking around at the chaos that ensued in her house, Ginny sighed. She knew she should play the good hostess and greet
all of her family members, but suddenly she didn't feel like it. Instead, she went up to her room for a little
while. No one would notice she was gone anyway.
As Ginny lay on her bed, she thought about her family. Had her aunts and uncles known about Draco? Had her cousins? Had
they all been lying to her too? Was it really considered lying since she'd never asked directly? They had to have
known, the Malfoys were at her parents' wedding. Why was she even thinking about this? All it ever did was confuse
her even more, and she never got any answers. She knew that she should go back downstairs, but suddenly she didn't
want to see any of them. All of the sudden that whole situation with the Malfoys bothered her more than it had
previously. She had no idea why.
*~*~*~*
Meanwhile, downstairs, Charlie was looking for his little sister. He couldn't find her.
"Hey, Mum," he called to his mother. "Where's Gin?"
"I'm not sure. I haven't seen her in awhile," his mother replied.
Charlie looked around the living room and didn't see her. He looked in the kitchen, he didn't find her there
either. She was nowhere to be seen. Had she gone upstairs? He didn't know why she would, but decided to check
anyway. He went up the stairs and found Ginny in her room. She had her head buried in her pillow, and her body was
shaking slightly. He had a feeling she was crying.
Charlie walked over to her bed and sat down lightly. "Are you alright?" he asked in concern.
Ginny sat up quickly and looked at her brother. "I'm fine," she replied, wiping away her tears.
"Why were you crying?" Charlie inquired gently.
"Did you know?" she questioned, suddenly feeling the need to know.
"Know what?" Charlie wanted to know.
"Know that Mum and Dad used to be friends with the Malfoys," Ginny clarified.
"Yeah, I did," Charlie admitted. "But I had direct orders from Mum and Dad that you weren't supposed
to know."
"Did everyone know except Ron and me?" Ginny asked.
"Yeah," Charlie told her. Ginny's face fell. "How'd you find out?"
"I found a picture of Draco and me," Ginny replied.
Charlie nodded in understanding. "Is that why you were crying?" he asked curiously.
"I don't know. I think it finally caught up to me fully that everyone else had known, and I had been left in
the dark," Ginny said with a shrug. "I'm fine now."
"Good. Why don't we go downstairs now," he suggested.
"Alright," Ginny agreed. Then they headed downstairs.
*~*~*~*
The rest of the night passed pretty uneventfully. They ate dinner and opened presents. When they were done, the adults sat around talking. Then everyone went home. When all of the relatives were out the door, the Burrow residents breathed a sigh of relief. As much as they all loved Christmas, they were glad when it was all over.
After everyone had left, Ginny headed back up to her bedroom. She felt much better than she had before. Charlie had
made sure she was all right a few times during the party. As she lay down on her bed, she heard someone enter.
"Who is it?"
"It's Kiara," she replied.
Ginny sat up. "Hi, Kiara. What's up?" Ginny greeted.
"Charlie said you were sort of bummed out earlier. Is everything alright?" Kiara wanted to know.
"Yeah, I'm fine. I think I'm just a little overtired so I'm a little more prone to getting
upset," Ginny told her.
"Alright. I just thought I'd make sure you were okay," Kiara explained with a smile. "Well, it's
getting late so I think I'll be heading up to bed."
"I think I'm going to go to bed too. Good night, Kiara," Ginny agreed.
"Night, Gin," Kiara said as she made her way to Bill's old room where she and Bill were staying.
Once Kiara was gone, Ginny got into her pajamas and climbed into bed. She turned off the light. She was asleep within
minutes.
A/N: I am SOOOOO sorry it took so long to update. My beta and I had some misunderstandings, and I've just been really busy. I'm sorry. The next chapter will hopefully be up very soon. I just sent it to my beta so it should be sent back soon. Please review and tell me what you thought of this chapter. Sorry once again.
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