Malory's POV
Christmas morning was actually really peaceful. I don't know why I expected something to go wrong but thankfully we all got to enjoy opening gifts and sitting by the fire together without any issues.
It also snowed overnight and Draco has been begging us all to have one of our classic snowball fights since he noticed how white it is outside. I told him we'd go out as soon as breakfast was finished.
"Are you done with your food?"
I turn to Draco, who has completely devoured the food on his plate.
"No, I'm not."
He scrunches his eyebrows and falls back into his chair defeated. When I still take too long for his liking he ends up eating my leftover eggs and toast for me.
"I wanted that!" I huff.
"No you didn't," He mutters. "Can we please go outside now?"
Blaise and Aary finish their food also and get up from the table to join Draco who is already piling clothes on. I wash everyone's dishes quickly then pour the remaining tea into a mug and set it on the counter for when Snape wakes up.
"Here, put this on!" Draco shouts at me while throwing a jumper over my head.
I sigh dramatically then pull the warm clothes onto my body along with the jumper and my boots. I hear Snape enter the kitchen behind us and turn around to greet him.
"Merry Christmas!" Aary says happily.
Snape nods while taking a sip from his tea. I follow Draco, Blaise, and Aary to the front door and Snape ends up doing the same. He stands in the doorway and watches as we all start making piles of snowballs.
"You should join us!" Draco hollers at Snape.
Of course, Snape completely ignores him and continues to observe. Although he has opened up a lot to me and the others this holiday I can't imagine him messing around in the snow.
"Yeah, join! It'll be fun!" Aary whines.
Snape gives me a blank expression and I shrug my shoulders, letting him know I didn't put them up to it.
"Okay so are we doing boys against girls again?" Blaise asks.
Draco nods. "You're great and all Mal, but I'm not going easy on you."
I raise an eyebrow at him and he winks playfully before joining Blaise over on the opposite side of the yard. While waiting for them to start the game I look around at all of the other houses to see if anyone else is enjoying the Christmas snow, but no one's around.
"Ready?!" Blaise shouts.
Aary places a snowball into my hand and when Draco shouts go we all start throwing the snowballs at each other full speed. Each time I think I'm close to hitting one of the boys they quickly crouch down and it flies right over their head.
"I'm going to move, cover me." I whisper to Aary.
She nods and I slowly crawl over to the bushes on my left and luckily Blaise and Draco don't see me. Or at least, that's what I think.
"Mal, watch out!"
Just as Aary shouts at me I feel hands wrap around my waist and throw me onto the ground. Draco jumps on top of my body and starts shoving snow down my jumper and I can't help but scream from the cold.
"You think you can sneak up on me?!" He taunts jokingly.
"That's fucking freezing!" I shout.
Aary starts throwing snowballs at Draco's back in hopes of him getting off of me but Blaise tackles her to the ground too, leaving the four of us in a massive pile.
"You were supposed to cover me!" I yell.
"I didn't see him!" Aary shouts. "His hair matches the snow!"
That grabs Draco's attention; his head shoots up and he glares at Aary, who is laughing hysterically.
"Now get off of my so we can have a remat-"
Suddenly, the pain in my arm that has been distant for weeks now comes back and shoots a burning sensation through my entire body. It takes a second for Draco to realize but when he does he immediately gets off of me.
"What is it?"
I start to answer but then the pain hits him too, and when I look over at Snape he's staring down at his left arm. Aary and Blaise give each other worried glances.
"Is it the mark?" Aary asks.
"We need to go," Snape demands. "You two, go inside and don't go anywhere."
Aary and Blaise don't question it but I still see the confusion in their eyes. The burning continues and I dig my nails into my skin in hopes of distracting myself but it gets worse.
Snape hurries over to Draco and I, and without any warning apparates us to the unknown location we're being called to. At first when we arrive I only see tall grass and muddy water below my feet. But then heat hits my back and I quickly turn around to see a house going up in flames.
"Snape, where are we?!" I shout.
He tries to answer but is cut off by an unknown Death Eater approaching us.
"We didn't think they'd all be here." The Death Eater explains. "Greyback is dealing with the red headed girl and I think Bella saw Harry, but there's loads more in the house."
"You set the house on fire with all of them still inside?!" I yell.
The Death Eater gives me a filthy glare. "Why don't you make yourself useful."
I start to argue once again but Draco grabs my arm and pulls me over to the fighting happening in the field. I see him pull his wand from his back pocket so I do the same.
"Why is this happening?" I ask under my breath.
"I don't know," Draco replies. "I thought your dad was waiting until my task was done to go after Potter?"
That's what I thought too, but I guess things have changed. Either that or he's just trying to ruin Christmas for everyone.
I don't know why out of everyone they decided to call Draco and I here, we go to school with Harry and his friends. If they see us here they can easily spread the word around Hogwarts that we're Death Eaters.
"Come on." Draco says quietly.
He takes my hand and we crouch down into the tall grass, trying to move our way around the fighting happening in the center. Right when I think we're in the clear, I feel a sharp pain shoot through my spine and push me onto the ground.
While getting up I look around to try and figure out where the blast came from, but there's no one around us. That is, until I look behind me and see Harry coming out of the grass.
At first, I can tell that he doesn't recognize either of us and I feel relieved. But suddenly his eyes grow big with shock and his wand slowly lowers.
"It's you." He struggles to speak. "You're his daughter."
I open my mouth to speak but a Death Eater on Harry's right casts a spell that knocks him off of his feet. As the Death Eater gets closer I see who it actually is; Snape.
"I don't know why he wanted you here, you two need to leave before it gets worse."
Snape sees my mouth open and he quickly cuts me off.
"Now!"
Draco stretches his arm out and grabs my hand tightly, and within an instant we are apparated back to the silent streets of Cokeworth.