Christmas break was now around the corner.
The snow reigned supreme all around the Hogwarts castle. Anyone who dared walk outside found themselves calves deep into that icy substance.
Going to Herbology was hard as ever. It took students several minutes to get through all that snowy path. Neville even fell once, finding himself sinking into the snow. But he would never miss an Herbology lesson, so he got up and went anyway. When he got to the greenhouse, he was shivering so much that Professor Sprout had to send him straight to the Hospital Wing.
All Quidditch matches had been canceled as a consequence of the weather, much to Harry's relief, as he had not yet found a replacement for Ginny.
Draco was glad that he was now spending little to no time in the Slytherin common room, for it was always so cold in the winter, due to it being located in the dungeons.
The Gryffindor common room was much warmer, not only for its location and its fire, which was always on, but also for the presence of his boyfriend.
He knew that, technically, he was breaking a law. Common rooms existed for a reason.
He was beginning to consider asking the Headmistress to make an exception for him and let him hang out at the Gryffindors' as much as he wanted, given his situation. He wondered if he could ever find peace in his own dorm again. But that was unlikely, given how much shit Blaise was giving him lately.
Also, there was one thing that was constantly tucking at its brain. How he would have spent Christmas. Professor Slughorn, who was now head of the Slytherin house, had made a list of the students who would spend Christmas at Hogwarts and he was pressuring Draco to tell him what his intentions were, but he didn't feel like getting into it just yet.
There was no way he could ever spend it at home. Not that he wanted to go there, anyway.
So, this meant that he would have to stay at Hogwarts.
But Harry wouldn't have been there, he was supposed to spend it with the Weasleys.
Therefore, he was dreading the arrival of that day.
One Saturday morning Draco was determined to ask his boyfriend to stay there with him and spend Christmas together.
Harry had a special thing organised for that day, but he didn't say what it was.
It involved them being outside though, was all that he knew about it.
The couple's destination was the lake. When they reached it, Draco looked at Harry with widened eyes. "What exactly do you think we are going to do on this frozen lake?"
"Give me your feet." Harry simply said.
Draco's expression was puzzled, at this point. What the devil did he have in mind?
"My feet?" he asked with a hint of fear.
"Relax, I'm not gonna detach them from your body." Harry said with a chuckle. Then, he pointed his wand at his boyfriend's feet. A moment later, his shoes had turned into ice skates.
Harry made a chair appear, just in time for Draco to fall right on it.
"What exactly are these?" Draco asked, wiggling his feet a bit.
"These, my love, are ice skates." Harry explained. Then, he made another chair appear, sat on it and gave himself a pair of skates as well. "These are used to skate. It's kind of like dancing, but on ice." He concluded, smirking.
Oh dear Merlin and any other wizard. Was his lunatic of a boyfriend going to dance on the damned lake with these ridiculous muggle shoes?
Harry extended his hand for Draco to hold. "Come on, Draco. Don't be a chicken. It will be fun, I promise."
Draco hesitated at first, but then he took his hand. Both of them stumbled for the lack of balance, but they were able to get on the lake, eventually.
Harry guided Draco as they skated their way towards one of the shores, where they made their first stop. "Was it that bad?" Harry asked, grinning widely. But when he looked at his boyfriend he couldn't suppress a laugh. Draco showed the angriest death stare ever.
"You're joking, right? I risked falling on this stupid ice, I look like a freaking monkey with this walk and I'm afraid we'll drown into the freezing waters of the lake!" Draco whined, this only made Harry laugh more. "What's so funny about this?" The blond boy asked in a semi-infuriated tone.
"You're just so unbelievably cute, all angry and unexperienced." Harry said, wrapping his arms around his lover.
Draco sighed, then he hid his face in Harry's shoulder. "I suck at muggle things." he said.
The black haired boy suddenly twirled him around, making a circle in the ice. Draco had to hold on to him to avoid falling head first into the ice. "Are you out of your mind?" he yelled.
"Come on, who cares if you suck at it, this is just so fun!" the Gryffindor said. He took Draco's hand back into his and skated all around the lake, clumsily making pirouettes and tricks, all while a stumbling Draco kept screaming, but he slowly turned his scream into a laugh.
Not much later, Harry fell, thus dragging his boyfriend along with him, who fell on top of him.
They both laughed hysterically.
"I told you it wouldn't be that bad." Harry said, after the laughter had died down.
He extended his arm to get his glasses, which had detached themselves from his face upon impact.
"Oh, shut up!" Draco said, slapping his face lightly.
Harry pretended it hurt. "Ow!"he said, but he giggled right after.
"I hate you, Potter." said the Slytherin, biting his nose. That made Harry grimace.
"Will you stop hurting me?" Harry whined, making a puppy face.
"Ugh, you know I can't stand this damned face of yours!" Draco said in a fake angry voice.
"Which face, this one?" Said Harry, maintaining his puppy face.
Draco let out a sigh of frustration mixed with a squeal, then he planted a kiss on his lips.
Only minutes later the pair was able to at least sit up. That's when Draco remembered that he had a question to ask him. "So, as you know, Christmas is close." he began, although he thought that what he had just said sounded a bit dumb.
"Oh, about that!" Harry said, remembering something. "I've been meaning to ask you... will you spend Christmas with me at the Weasleys'?" he asked.
That was not quite what Draco expected. The Weasleys weren't so fond of him, to say the least. Arthur Weasley had his fair share of discrepancies with Lucius, so he didn't think that he would have welcomed him into his home with open arms.
"The Weasleys? Oh, but... you know that they don't exactly love me..." Draco answered.
"But, they're like my family! I'm sure they wouldn't mind. I know that there's always been a lot of hate between your family and theirs, but hey, it's Christmas." Harry explained, but Draco wasn't convinced just yet.
"I don't know..." The blond boy said, looking away.
"Look, you're free to choose. But I would love to spend Christmas with you. I could stay here, but I already promised Molly I'd go..." Harry said, looking at him with pleading eyes.
Draco sighed, he wasn't too ecstatic at the thought of spending the holidays with a family who didn't like him. But Christmas at Hogwarts, at this point, wouldn't include his lover. So, he figured he could make an effort.
"Ok, fine." Draco said.
"Ahh that's going to be great! I can hardly wait!" Harry said, excitedly. Then, he kissed his boyfriend on the cheek. "You will see, it will be so much fun! Molly always makes us those ugly jumpers for Christmas!"
Draco remembered those jumpers from a few years back, they were truly horrible.
"Sorry, we're late!" said a puffing Hermione. She waved a hand in the air at the pair, then she skated towards them. Draco was baffled to see that she had such graceful movements on that damned ice. She literally looked like she had walked to them. Ron, on the other hand, was struggling to move an inch. "Oh, Accio Ron's skates!" Hermione said. Her boyfriend flew straight to her, screaming a little.
"Hermione's fault this time." Ron said, defending himself. "She didn't know what to wear. Girls, right?" He shook his head.
Hermione gasped. "Well, at least I don't just throw on the first thing that comes to hand!"
"And you had to put up with this for 7 years?" Draco asked his boyfriend in an undertone.
"Yeah. This is nothing." Harry responded, laughing softly. "Hi, friends!"he then said to them.
Hermione helped him up, while Ron awkwardly helped Draco.
"We were just discussing Christmas." said Draco, after letting go of Ron's hand.
"Oh so you told him." Ron said, looking at Harry, who nodded.
"Yeah, Weasl- um - Ron! Thanks for inviting me." Draco said.
"Actually, that was my mother's idea... She said she's willing to put the past behind now that you're Harry's boyfriend." Ron said. "Although, my dad doesn't know yet..."
*
That afternoon, in the Gryffindor common room, Ginny was sitting by herself, scribbling on a piece of parchment.
She and Luna hadn't discussed their under-the-mistletoe kiss further, as she wasn't sure what it had actually meant. She had felt the so called 'sparks' kissing her, but did that mean that she was in love with her? Was their friendship turning into something more? Even if she didn't know what that was, that had surely taken her mind off of things for a bit.
But now that she was alone, doing her homework, she couldn't help thinking about how awkward Christmas would have been.
"Hey sis!" Ron greeted her. He was walking funny, she noticed. "Don't mind my walk, I fell on ice and landed on my tailbone." He then sat next to her, flinching slightly.
"Has Harry found a replacement yet?" Ginny asked bluntly.
"Oh no, I wanted to talk about something else." Ron turned to face his sister. "You will have the chance to make amends with Harry and Malfoy, since he's spending Christmas with us."
Draco Malfoy was spending Christmas with her family. The families had been clashing for decades. She wondered how that could have ever worked. But, his presence meant that she could go on and speak to them without the possibility of them running away from her.
"Oh I don't know if she told you, but... Luna is coming too, for Christmas. Dad's invited Xenophilius."
Ginny suddenly lightened up, "Oh, but that's great!" she exclaimed.
"Yeah, Mum's going to go mad, there will be like... thirteen people in her house!"
Ron said, after counting on his fingers to be sure.
"Oh, Ron..." Ginny suddenly turned sad. "This will be our first Christmas without Fred."
Their brother, Fred, had died in May. They didn't talk about him much, mostly to numb the excruciating pain his death had brought, but Ginny knew that he would be mentioned at Christmas.
"I know, sis. I miss him too." Ron said, sadly. "But he wouldn't want us to be this sad, he would want us to have fun."He put his arm around his sister's shoulders.
"Ah yeah, he would definitely pull an amazing prank on us, straight from his joke shop." Ginny chuckled, putting her head on her brother's shoulder.
*
Some days later, on Christmas eve, most students were ready to go back home for the Holidays.
Ron, Hermione, Draco and Harry were all sitting in the same compartment on the train, with the same positioning scheme as their double date in Hogsmeade.
"I'm so nervous!" Draco said. He was going to spend the next two weeks of his life with the Weasleys, the very people he had treated like scum for years. He wasn't sure how to feel about that.
"Relax, Draco." Harry said, massaging his boyfriend's shoulder lightly.
"Ron, did you tell your dad?" the Slytherin asked.
"Um... no. Mum said that he never would have agreed to that, so... she said a surprise would be better." Ron said. He, too, seemed a bit nervous.
"Oh, now I'm even more nervous! He will totally kick me out." Draco muttered in his hands.
"I don't think so," said Hermione. "I mean, they didn't react badly to the news of you two being a thing." She pointed out.
"Ginny is the one who worries me." said Harry, shifting a bit into his seat.
"Oh please, don't start again!" Hermione said in a reprimanding tone.
"This could be the right chance to clear things up." said Ron.
"We will see." said Harry.
Although his friends were expecting some kind of reconciliation between him and Ginny, he wasn't up for it. He was only hoping that the girl wouldn't replicate her Great Hall Harry and Draco bashing as a Christmas present.
He wanted to spend a civil Christmas.