Back to Christmas
Chapter 14
The rest of November flew by and Christmas was soon approaching. Draco was dreading Christmas break. He didn’t want to go back to the Manor and live with Lucius for two weeks. He wanted to stay at Hogwarts and celebrate Christmas with his godfather.
Draco, Potter, Weasley, and Granger still hadn’t made any progress on finding out who Nicholas Flamel was even after countless hours in the library searching. Draco was sure he had heard the name before, but he couldn’t remember where. The group had been looking through books from the library, but they all led to dead ends. Draco was close to asking Severus who he was, but he knew that would only get him in more trouble.
Draco sat with the rest of the Gryffindors in the Great Hall for dinner. It had become more uncommon for Draco to have no appetite during meals. There were still days where he didn’t eat enough, but he always managed to eat something.
Owls started to flood the hall halfway through dinner, dropping off mail to students as they ate. A letter dropped in front of Draco as he played with the food on his plate. His breath slowed as he read who the letter was from.
“I’m going to head back up to the dorms real quick. I’ll meet you in Transfiguration.” Draco told the group. His appetite suddenly vanished.
Draco got up from his seat and was about to start walking away when someone called his name.
“Hey Draco, are you going to finish this?” Weasley asked.
“No, you can have it.” Draco said. Weasley smiled and said, “Thanks mate”
Draco quickly walked out of the Great Hall and walked back up to their dorm. Once he was sitting on his bed he held the envelope in his hands. Lucius’s handwriting was staring up at him. Draco took a deep breath and opened the letter.
Draco,
You will be staying at Hogwarts this Christmas break. You mother and I have important meetings to attend and will not have time to host you back. I’ll talk to Severus, and he will bring you back to the manor for one day, but other than that you’ll have to stay at Hogwarts. Remember what I told you.
-L. Malfoy
Draco felt lighter knowing he doesn’t have to spend all that time with his father. Sure he still had to see him once over break, but he could handle one day.
❀ ❀ ❀
Christmas Eve, 1991
Draco and the others had still only found dead ends on their search for information about Nicholas Flamel. Granger had left a couple days before and left Draco, Potter, and Weasley to continue to look for anything they could find. Of course the boys had been taking advantage of their break from classes, and Draco had been the only one in the library since she had left.
The three boys had been in the common room one afternoon talking, laughing, and playing wizards chess.
“How are you two so good at this?” Potter complained as his king was destroyed for the tenth time that day.
“Practice makes perfect Potter,” Draco said as he lined up his pieces for another round. “Ready for another round, Weasley?” he asked.
“Only if you’re ready to lose again Draco,” Weasley said as he set up his pieces.
Draco was concentrating hard as they moved pieces on the board. He had come close to beating Weasley all afternoon but somehow the red haired boy always seemed to pull out a win.
With each piece Draco moved he could feel a win coming. A smile appeared on his face when he made his final move and said, “Checkmate”
A shocked look took over Weasley’s face as Draco’s Queen destroyed his King. “Well played Draco,” Weasley said with a sigh.
The group of boys put away the chessboard and headed down to the Great Hall for dinner. The Hall was practically empty for the holiday break. There were only a handful of kids at each table.
The group walked down the row and found a seat near the middle of the Gryffindor table. The table was full of baked goods, ham, rolls, and other foods fit for the holiday.
They filled their plates with the delicious food and started to eat. Weasley stuffed his face with as much food as possible. Draco filled his plate with more food than he usually did. ‘I can eat today. I’ll need to be strong for when I see father anyways,’ he told himself.
It felt good to finally eat as much as he wanted. It was one of the few times that year that he was enjoying life. Where he forgot about all the pain in his life and was truly happy.
Once they were all full they all headed back up to the common room to play a round of exploding snap. It got later and later and by the time it was 10 o’clock they headed up to bed. Draco and the others got into their beds and went to sleep.
❀ ❀ ❀
When Draco woke up the next morning, Weasley wasn’t in the room, but Potter was still sound asleep. He got out of bed and walked over to Potter's bed and gently shook him awake.
“Potter, wake up. It’s Christmas,” Draco told him.
Potter slowly got up and walked with Draco out of the dorm. They saw Weasley already down stairs by the tree full of presents.
“Happy Christmas Harry. Happy Christmas Draco,” Weasley said to them.
“Happy Christmas Ron.” “Happy Christmas Weasley,” Draco and Potter said at the same time.
“What are you wearing?” Potter asked Weasley.
Weasley looked down at the red sweater he was wearing and then back up at the two boys and said, “My mom sent it. I think you both have one as well.”
“I’ve got presents?” Potter said surprised and the two boys hurried down the stairs.
Under the tree there were 3 piles of presents. Two piles similar in size and another that was over double the size of the others put together.
They all sat in a circle and opened their presents. They each got a sweater from Mrs. Weasley that had their initial on it.
Most of Draco’s presents were from his father and mother. He wasn’t surprised that they sent this many. He had always gotten a lot of presents for holidays and birthdays. He knew this was another way for his father to show his status and he would jump on the opportunity. Draco was grateful for the stuff, but it was all meaningless to him. There was a lot of new school supplies and books for him to read which he knew he would enjoy.
His favorite thing his parents sent him was a new potions set. It had a lot of new ingredients he didn’t have and the supplies were nicer.
One gift that Draco got that meant a lot to him was the one from his godfather. It was a new set of shading pencils and watercolor paints. Severus always knew what the perfect gift was for Draco.
A note was attached to the gift asking Draco to stop by his study after dinner.
Potter had an odd looking gift and when he unwrapped it a cloak was inside.
“Put it on,” Weasley told him.
Potter wrapped the cloak around his body and all but his head disappeared.
“Woah” Weasley said, “That’s an invisibility cloak,”
“It was my father apparently,” Potter said with a grin on his face.
They spent the rest of the morning and afternoon as the days before. Talking, Laughing and playing games. The Weasley Twins even came down and joined them for a round of exploding snap.
Soon it was dinner time and they all headed down to the Great Hall. When they entered there was only one big table in the middle of the hall for every student to sit at. Trees lined the walls and the table was full of food.
They all filled their plates high and ate as much as they could. The Weasley’s told stories of past Christmases and they all laughed at the Twins acted out each one.
Dinner ended faster than they all would’ve liked and they all got ready to head back up to the common room.
When Draco got to the dorms he walked over to his trunk and pulled out three sketches. He walked over to Weasley and Potter and handed them each a sketch and said, “Merry Christmas”
The sketch he gave to Potter was of him on his broom reaching out for the golden snitch. Weasley’s sketch was of him sitting on his bed in their dorm room.
“Wow Draco, these are amazing!” Weasley said as he stared at the sketches.
“I didn’t know you liked to draw,” Potter said.
“Yeah I like to do it whenever I can. It’s one of my hobbies,” Draco said with a smile, “I’m going to head out for a bit so don’t wait up.”
Draco left the Gryffindor common room and walked down to Severus’s study. When he got there he knocked on the door and Severus answered.
Draco followed his godfather to sit in front of the fireplace as they had done many times before.
“Would you like some tea?” Severus asked and poured a cup when Draco nodded his head.
“How has your Christmas been this year?” Severus asked.
“Good. Better than others. How’s yours?” Draco asked as he took a sip of tea.
Severus gave Draco a small smile and said, “It’s nice to have someone to spend it with this year.”
Draco grabbed the sketch he had put off to the side and looked down at it. He handed the sketch to his godfather and said, “Merry Christmas Sev”
Severus looked down at the sketch and gave his godson an amused look. The sketch was of Draco and Severus wearing Santa Hats.
“Your artistic talent amazes me every time I see one of your pieces,” Severus told him.
Draco smiled and knew that was Sev’s way of telling Draco he was proud of him. It was one of the things he loved most about him. Sev saw the things that were important to Draco and made them important to him too.
They spent the rest of their time talking about Draco’s art and classes and other things that were brought up.
By the time Draco was ready to head back up to his dorm it was past curfew, so Severus sent him out with a note excusing him for being out late.
Draco said his goodbye and left to go up to the common room. When he got to his dorm Weasley was in bed, but Potter was nowhere to be seen. Then Potter came rushing into the dorm and shook Weasley awake.
“Ron, come on. You guys have to come see this.” Potter said quickly.
Potter ushered them all under his invisibility cloak and led them out of the dorm.
“Where are we going?” Draco asked as they walked quickly through the corridors.
“You’ll see. We’re almost there.” Potter told him and led them to an abandoned classroom. When they walked inside Potter took the cloak off of them and ran over to a mirror standing in the middle of the room.
“Look. Can’t you see it? It’s my parents.” Potter said as he looked into the mirror.
Weasley walked up to the mirror as Potter moved out of his way.
“Don’t you see them?” Potter asked.
“I’m head boy. And I’m holding the house cup.” Weasley said as his eyes grew wide at the site in front of him, “I’m Quidditch captain and won the quidditch cup!”
Weasley looked over at Potter and asked, “Do you think this mirror predicts the future?”
A saddened look came over Potter’s face as he said, “How can it? My parents are dead.”
Potter looked over at Draco and said, “Draco what do you see?”
Draco walked over to the mirror and looked at his reflection. The image changed to Draco in a house with Severus with his parents nowhere around. He looked happy and could tell that the image was supposed to represent him living with Severus instead of his parents. Draco looked up at the inscription on the mirror and read ERISED STRA EHRU OYT UBE CAFRU OYT ON WOHSI.
It took him a second, but he figured out what it said. I show not your face but your heart's desire. The mirror shows whatever the person who looks into it desires the most.
“It doesn’t show the future. It shows what we desire the most,” Draco told them. There was tension in the air once they realized what they saw was their deepest desire.
Draco didn’t want to be in that room any longer. He looked at the two other boys and said “I’m going to head back up to the dorms.”
Draco started to walk out the door when Potter called out to him, “What if you get caught?”
“I have a note. I’ll be fine,” Draco said and walked out of the classroom and back up to their dorm.