7«Christmas Break
The holiday season was here, and Hogwarts was decorated in
a variety of Christmas decorations. The
Great Hall had about a dozen fully decorated, twelve-foot trees, and holly
hanging from all the windows. Red and
green candles were displayed from the walls instead of the normal white ones,
and some were bewitched to have a green flame.
Inside
each common room was a list of students that would be spending their Christmas
break at the school. Justine looked it
over, and noticed that both Harry and Ron were to stay there, once again as she
heard. Hermione was going home for the
break, and Justine herself was undecided, though she was able to go home if she
wanted.
For
the past week, the others hadn’t said a word about Draco Malfoy to Justine,
which was lucky for her because she hated to ignore their warnings. And they were convinced it was only a matter
of time before he dumped her and wouldn’t talk to her ever again.
During
the study period, Justine went up to the library to find a book to do her
History of Magic report on. She so hated
to research information, but she needed a good grade in that class, seeing that
she found it hard to pay attention in during the class, which resulted in
poorer test grades.
To
her delight, she found Draco doing the same.
She went up to him and attempted to give him a hug, but he didn’t move
towards her. His face seemed saddened
and perhaps even mad.
“What’s
the matter?” she asked when he barely looked at her.
“Nothing.”
“Is
it me?”
“No,
I said nothing.”
Justine
frowned. “There’s something wrong, I
know it. Just tell me.”
“My
bloody father just informed me ‘not to bother coming home for Christmas break’
because he’s leaving on business. And
for whatever reason, my mother is actually going with him.” He seemed rather upset, though he had tried
before to make it a point that his father never influenced his emotions much.
“So,
you’re staying here?”
“Seems so.” He paused
and slammed the book in his hands shut.
“Even Crabbe and Goyle are going home.
I’ll be the only sixth year male in Slytherin to stay during Christmas.”
Justine
thought for a moment as she wrapped her arm around his. “I’ll stay here with you then.”
Malfoy
seemed surprised. He looked at her, one
eyebrow raised higher than the other.
“You’d do that?”
“Sure,
why not? Harry and Ron will be here too,
so its not like that I’ll be totally alone. I’ll have them to talk to at night, and I’ll
spend the days with you.”
“You
don’t have to do that. I know you were
looking forward to going home and all.”
“No, seriously. I
don’t mind staying. I was honestly
thinking about it anyway.” She looked at
her watch. “Darn, I have to go. Class in ten minutes and I need to run and
get my books. She gave him a quick kiss
on the cheek and started to hurry off.
“Justine,”
Malfoy said after her. She quickly
turned to look at him. “Thanks.” She smiled and continued on.
Draco
didn’t know what to make of it all.
Never had anyone, not even his own parents, changed their plans to do
something for him. She dropped her
chance of going home for a week, just to be with him and make him feel better.
He never felt anything other than “need” for someone before. But now it was a different sort of need. He knew that his father would call him weak,
but he knew that Justine was just not your common, everyday girl. He was beginning to think that he might
actually, seriously love her.
«««
It
seemed that the time between then and Christmas flew by. It was now Christmas Eve, and all of the
students had left for their homes. Ron
and Harry accepted the fact that Justine wasn’t going to ignore Draco, so they
went and did their own thing, mostly playing wizard chess.
Nothing
special happened during the day, but that night, Justine dragged Draco out to
the barn. “Do you know how cold it is
out here?” He asked her as he shoved his hands in his pockets.
“That’s
why you dress warmly. Besides, don’t you
think a slay ride on Christmas Eve is romantic?”
“Not
really, but whatever you say I guess.”
He smiled as she put a wide headband over his head to cover his ears,
although he was attempting to keep warm with his Slytherin colored scarf and
black gloves his mother sent him last year.
She herself was wearing one, along with her Gryffindor gloves and scarf.
A
house elf got a white horse and slay ready while Draco unfolded a blanket. They sat down and cuddled together, putting
the blanker over their legs. Draco took
the rains and they were off into the dark night.
The
crescent moon brightened the snow and flurries fell from the sky. Although it was extremely cold out, Justine
felt warm next to Malfoy. She nuzzled
her head in his chest as they went on.
They
spent almost an hour outside, which they both agreed had been enough. By the time they returned from the barn and
into the warm school, it was almost
The
two walked to the Gryffindor hallway, not far from where the entrance to the
tower was. Malfoy held Justine in his
arms and kissed her softly for a little while.
She
looked into his bluish eyes and felt tranquility. “Merry Christmas, Draco.” He kissed her again.
“Good
night,” he said as she pulled away. He
watched her until she turned the corner, and then he himself went to his own
dormitory.
Early
Christmas morning, Justine excitedly got up, put a robe and slippers on, and
hurried downstairs to where Harry and Ron were sitting by the Christmas
tree. “Merry
Christmas!” She called to them as she made her way down the stairs.
“Merry Christmas!” They both said in unison.
“Harry,
what a pretty sweater,” she commented noticing his yellow sweater with a large,
red “H” in the center.
“Mrs.
Weasly made it for me, actually.”
“He
got the opposite colors last year,” Ron said laughing. “Your stuff is here too.”
She
smiled as she saw the few things her parents sent to her. She got a pair of earrings, a sweater, and a
new picture frame with a picture of her dog.
This was the first picture she had that was taken with magic. Her large black dog kept wagging its tail and
making barking gestures.
From
Harry she got a secret journal. He told
her that whatever she’d write in it would seep into the paper, and only she’d
be able to read it. Ron’s gift was a
variety of different candies, and Hermione gave her a fabulous looking quill
with a pretty ink jar.
However,
she didn’t get anything from Draco. She
knew that he probably never would’ve done something for her anyway, but she had
hoped that he might have thought of her.
“Well,
lets go have some breakfast, shall we?” She suggested,
quickly getting Ron’s attention.
They
each dressed and exited the Fat Lady’s portrait. Upon getting towards the Great Hall, Draco
Malfoy was walking towards them, wearing what seemed like a new green
turtleneck sweater, khaki pants, and shiny black shoes. He gave a smirking smile when he saw Justine
in her red shirt and short black skirt with her school cloak draped around her
shoulders for extra warmth.
Justine
walked ahead of her friends and outstretched her arms for a hug. He too put his arms around her and kissed her
cheek lightly, seeing that he was in the presence of Potter and Weasly.
“What’s
the matter, Weasly?
A bit jealous?” He sarcastically smirked.
“I
don’t like where your hand is,” Ron spit back.
Draco’s left hand was actually inching its way down Justine’s hip as she
stood close to him.
“Please,
don’t argue,” she asked the three of them.
She walked the rest of the way to the Great Hall with Draco, but decided
to spend breakfast with Ron and Harry.
She already figured that Malfoy made Ron’s morning, seeing that Ron kept
an eye out for the Slytherin sixth year.
“Look,
just ignore him Ron. He wants you to be
agitated.” Harry tried to tell him.
“Well,
it worked,” Ron said cutting his three-stacked pancakes.
Justine
dedicated most of the afternoon to spend with Ron and Harry, while Malfoy
wondered around the school, or went for a broom ride on his Nimbus 2001.
It
was a wonderful day, and she hated to leave Harry and Ron after they had such a
great time. But, she promised Malfoy
that she’d spend the remainder of the day with him.
She
stood up to leave the Gryffindor table in the Great Hall when Harry pointed out
that Malfoy was waiting for her by the doors.
She
wished them both a Merry Christmas and hustled over to Malfoy who leaned
against the doorframe with his arms crossed.
“Ready?” He asked as put his arm out to her.
“Quite,”
she replied with a large smile. Malfoy
started leading her down the hallway when she suddenly remembered
something. “Draco, I need to go back to
my dormitory. It won’t take long.”
He
shrugged and they went the other direction towards
Justine
ignored him and said, “Wormtails.” The lady nodded her head in approval and the
door was revealed behind her. Draco
waited impatiently outside.
Justine
ran two stairs at a time until she was on the right floor. She practically skidded on one of the floor
rugs as she went towards her nightstand.
She opened the top drawer and put what she was looking for in her cloak
pocket. Careful not to break it, she
walked down the stairs with her hand clutched to the pocket side.
Malfoy
gave a smile of relief when she returned.
“ ‘Bout time,” he said. “I was waiting to get an earful from Weasly when he found me standing here.”
He
once again started leading her down to the dungeons. They walked down the darker and colder
staircase, as Justine was trying to figure out where they were going. Eventually, they stopped at a large
stonewall.
“Draco,
what’re you doing?” she asked
“Patience,
girl,” he told her. He looked at the
wall and said, “Frog tongue.” The wall
started to slide to the side, revealing a large room beyond the wall.
He
pulled her inside before the entrance shut again. “This is the Slytherin Common Room.” He told
her as they walked down the few steps.
Justine
looked around in awe. The room darker
than the Gryffindor common room, having stonewalls,
dark leather furniture, and dim green lamps hanging from the ceiling. There was a large stone fireplace with a
roaring fire inside it against the one of the walls.
She
looked at him a bit confused. “I’m not
supposed to be here.”
“Don’t
worry. It’s time for dinner so everyone’s
already gone up to the Great Hall. I’ve
already planned the whole thing out, so there’s no need to worry. I have another place to go to if someone
happens to come back early.”
“But what about our dinner?” She asked, feeling a tad hungry
now that the subject of food was involved.
“I
told you I’ve planned it already. Don’t
you trust me at all?” He joked. He led
her up a few more steps and into a separate room that was open to the main
room. There was a large square table in
the center, with two set places for a meal.
Justine’s
eyes widened with excitement. “You did
all of this?” She asked as she went closer and saw the filled plates and
goblets. There were two candles between
the two places, which were at the ends of two sides of the table, and a single
red rose sat in a crystal vase between the candles.
“I
had to ask Snape for special permission to eat here instead of the Great
Hall. Then I found the house elf that
was to prepare my meal and I told him to make two, instead of one.” He smiled as he pulled a seat out for her to
sit down on.
She
sat down and watched as he did the same.
“Go on, before it gets cold,” he told her as he picked up the silver
fork and knife. They ate mostly in
silence, enjoying the others company and no disturbances.
“Its nice to eat alone for a change,” she told him.
“Of course. This way
we don’t need to hear the chit chatter of the little
first years that had to stay here for vacation,” he sneered.
When
the meal was over, Malfoy told Justine to leave the dishes and that someone
would pick it up eventually. He walked
ahead of her to the first room they had been in and plopped himself down on one
of the large leather couches. He
stretched his arms across the back of the couch and waited for her to join him.
Instead,
she just stood next to him. “Sit down,”
he told her.
“I’ve
got something for you first,” she said as she started to reach into her
pocket. Draco’s mouth slightly opened
when she handed him a wrapped item.
“What’s
this?” he asked looking up at her.
“My
Christmas present to you,” she told him.
He hesitated, but tore the paper off the small package. He threw the wrappings to the floor and
looked at the item he held in his hand.
He couldn’t believe what he saw.
It was a picture of him in his Quidditch uniform and Justine dressed in
her normal school attire. Their facial
expressions were a bit off from the other, but nonetheless they were both in
the same picture together.
Justine
cleared her throat slightly before she began to explain to him. “I wanted to give you something a little more
special, so I took the school picture my parents had taken of me, and then I
found a picture from you last year after you won your biggest Quidditch game. I had Professor McGonagall help me a bit with
combining them.” She watched his eyes
stare at the framed picture. “Do
you…like it?”
Setting
the picture down on the coffee table in front of him, he took her hand and
pulled her down to sit on his lap. “I
never got something that had so much thought put into it. Normally all my presents were quickly bought
and wrapped and handed to me.” He smiled
a smile that he usually people wouldn’t see on Draco Malfoy’s face. “Thank you.”
Justine
leaned towards his face and kissed him gently on the lips. Draco turned her body around and off his lap
to sit next to him, while he deepened the kiss further and further. Pretty soon, Justine found him slowly pushing
her back and crawling on top of her.
However,
the sound of loud laughter could be heard outside the common room
entrance. “Damn,” Draco said as he got
off her. “Blasted
first years.”
“Now what?” Justine asked as she sat up, her hair a bit
messed.
Draco
stood up and pulled Justine to her feet.
“Follow me,” he said picking up the picture and leading her to a black
iron spiral staircase in the back of the room.
They hurried up the stairs just as the common room entrance was
opened.
Justine
followed Draco down the long dark hallway, only a few torches lighting the
stone path. “In here,” he said as he opened
a wood door. They walked in to a
brightly candle-lit room with a large window straight ahead of the door. Justine walked a little further to get a
better look, for the door had a little wall space blocking it in on both sides.
“Is
this…” she started as she heard the door shut behind her. Draco walked up to her and put his hands on
her shoulders. “No one will find us
here. I’m the only sixth year that
stayed, so we’ll have no interruptions.
He
moved over to a four-poster bed that had a large black trunk at the end. Placing the picture on the nightstand next to
the dance trophy, he sat down the edge of the bed.
“Are
you trying to seduce me?” She asked raising an eyebrow, a hint of amusement in
her voice.
“Why,
are you seducible?” He asked with a slight smirk.
“No,
but the surroundings are hard to overcome,” she added.
“Ah,
well would you prefer to go somewhere else?” He asked, knowing darn well that
she’d say no.
She
walked over and sat down next to him.
“What do you think of me?” she asked softly.
Draco
was surprised at the question and didn’t really know how to answer her. “You’re beautiful,” he said.
“Is
that all you see?”
“You
didn’t give me a chance to finish,” he told her. He turned towards her and put his hand on the
side of her head, his fingers raking through her thick hair. “Intelligent, witty, and
thoughtful towards those that don’t think.” He paused.
“And you of me?” He almost seemed a little frightened from what she
might tell him.
“Handsome,
smart, cunning, jokester, and loveable once one gets to know you better.” She smiled as his seemingly pleased
reaction. She waited silently until he
finally leaned over and started kissing her passionately.
She ran
one hand through his hair, as the other’s nails traced the muscles of his back
sending a shiver down his spine.
“I
love you Draco Malfoy,” she whispered in his ear.
Draco’s
eyes popped open. If anyone had ever
said those first three simple words to him before and meant it, he didn’t
remember in the slightest. But she meant
it. And he didn’t even have to force
himself to reply back to her.
Justine
spent the remainder of that night in Draco’s bed, wrapped in his arms with a
single blanket draped over them. She
fell right to sleep, with the feeling of his heart beating against her back.