Chapter 18
"Happy Christmas!" Draco shivers and looks around the room. It's lit with a thousand different colours, there's a small Christmas tree, there's about twelve gifts under the tree and soft Christmas music playing in the back. Everyone is drinking hot chocolate with tiny marshmallows in it and wearing the ugliest Christmas sweaters he's ever seen. He'd bargained for his life about those two hours ago. "Do I have to wear one of those too?" Harry had insisted and resized one of his options so it would fit Draco. It was warm and soft, but that's all there was to it. He hasn't worn anything this ugly in... ever. "But That's the entire point!" Harry had said to convince him, with the brightest smile ever on his face. So, obviously, Draco had given in. "Time for presents!" Ron yells. Hermione chuckles and picks up a little gift, which she gives to Draco. "We'd like to start with you this year." Draco frowns. "I thought we were doing the drawing system? Didn't we just spent twenty minutes pasting stickers on those gifts?" Harry chuckles and hums. "Yes, but we have one extra gift for you." Draco frowns. "Okay, but this one has a sticker on it?" Ron rolls his eyes. "The other gift is the last gift of tonight, now open it or I'm asking my money back." Draco smirks and shakes his head. He opens the small box and gasps. "What is this-." Harry shakes his head and smiles fondly at him. "It's a muggle picture book, we had it made for you." He frowns and runs his fingers over the soft cover. 'Draco Malfoy, through our eyes.' Was embroided on it in silver letters. The cover was dark Green... his house colours. "Open it." Hermione excitedly says. He opens the book and snorts. "Oh god." These were pictures of him during his Hogwarts years. Though he never knew the photos were taken. He was just himself in them. Which results in some very weird faces. It was a nice idea, proving him that they saw him just like that. Though there were some arrogant faces in that book too. Of course, he was still himself. Draco snorts at a picture of himself when he's around thirteen, cocky face, smug smile. So typical. "Thank you, this is... interesting." Harry chuckles while Hermione laughs. "You're welcome." Ron smirks. "You better cherish it forever." Draco hums. "Wouldn't dare throw it away, imagine you actually trying to spell me or something." He jokes, bringing the snail incident back in all of their minds. "Oh that was disgusting." Ron says with an instant gag. Harry chuckles. "It really was." Hermione says. "Who wants to grab the first one?" Harry raises his hand and grabs a piece of paper from the bowl. "Pink flower." Hermione looks through the presents and takes the one with the pink flower sticker. "This is my gift for Hermione." Draco says. Hermione opens the gift and gasps. "Draco-." He smiles while Harry and Ron try to see what it is. It looks like a book. "Is this actually the original history of magic volume one?" He nods. "We have a spare copy in the library at home, I don't think anyone has ever read it." She hugs the book tightly before hugging him. "Thank you!" Ron is the next to pick a piece of paper, which ends up being Hermiones gift for Harry. "New quidditch gloves? Hermione this is great!" He hugs her happily and puts them to the side while she takes a piece of paper. Ron got three tickets to see a wild animal show in Australia from Hermione, Harry got a new broomstick from Draco and a book on quidditch tactics from Ron. Ron got the newest game of exploding snap from Harry and a shirt that said 'Draco is my bestie' from Draco himself. They'd laughed with it for five minutes straight before the actual gift was given. A three-hundred galleons coupon for the largest wizard game store in the world. Hermione got a 'keep your books clean' set and some more books. Draco got a few scented candles from Harry, to calm him down when he was alone during storms, the best gift if you asked Draco, and some books about quidditch games he liked.
After fifteen minutes the last gift gets handed to Draco. It's wrapped in newspapers and feels light. "Another one for me?" They all look at each other and hum. "Open it." Harry says with a cute smile. He carefully opens the package and freezes when he sees what's inside. A big silver D is staring up at him, while dark green, soft fabric is surrounding it. "Mum made one for you." Ron says. Hermione looks at Harry, to check if Draco's okay since he hasn't said anything yet. "I couldn't..." Draco softly says while keeping his hands on the paper. If he didn't touch it, he wouldn't ruin it, Molly might want to take it back and then it'd still be clean. "Why not?" Hermione asks confused. "It's not right." Ron sighs and looks at Draco's hands, they're shaking slightly. "She wanted you to have it, she kept asking about you and came up with this idea herself. We never forced her, never even mentioned presents for you. She handed it to us and said we had to make sure you got it." Draco swallows his tears and nods. Gently touching the fabric and breathing in deeply. He got a famous Molly Weasley sweater himself... "Are you sure?" They all nod excitedly and throw away the paper. "It's a good excuse to get out of that 'so horrible' sweater you're wearing." Harry says, while Ron and Hermione prepare dessert in the kitchen. "Why would she do that?" He softly asks, struggling to keep his tears at bay. "Because, Molly Weasley, is the kindest lady I've ever known. She's the closest thing I have to a mom, to a home... It's her heart, opening up for you. She accepts you, she doesn't blame you for whatever it is you blame yourself for. You're welcome in the family, because that's how the Weasleys are." Draco shivers. "But my father..." Harry shakes his head and rubs Draco's arm. "Has nothing to do with this, you're not your father. When will you see that?" Draco nods and looks at Harry with sparkly eyes. He takes off the ugly sweater and changes into Molly's comfy one. "Wow." He softly says. Harry's smile grows when he sees how genuinely happy Draco is. "It's spelled to adjust to the temperature. So you're never cold or hot." Draco plays with the sleeves and smiles brightly, for the first time ever. "I love it. It's so soft." Harry's heart skips a beat at that word and he squeezes Draco's wrist. This seemed like the perfect time to tell him he loved him, officially. "Dessert is ready!" Ron excitedly says. Harry jumps up and scratches his head. "Ready?" Draco looks up with a gorgeous smile, making Harry's heart melt. He'd expected a smug smirk or a joking comment, not a real smile. "Yep." He gets up and walks into the kitchen, all of them wearing their trademark Molly Weasley Sweater. It was amazing, it was great. The best Christmas Draco's ever had. For sure.