Draco's Draught

Happiness

From that moment on, we spent a great deal more time together. With the permission of the headmaster, I was moved to a room near the teacher's lounge where I wouldn't have to see my housemates each day, and the teachers would be nearby if I needed help. I hated it, but it was better than the alternative.

Harry's friends were less than pleased. Most days we ended up eating dinner together in the cozy room Dumbledore had provided me, working on homework, and occasional other things, though never more than heavy snogging. Weasley especially was furious with Harry, and they fought, which ended up with them not speaking for several weeks, but Hermione finally convinced the two to make up.

But despite the pain the fight with Weasley caused Harry, we couldn't stay away from each other any longer. He had become closer to me than anyone I had ever known. Not that my father had ever encouraged me to be close to anyone. We often stayed up nights talking about everything, punctuating our discoveries of each other with kisses.

Before I knew it, it was December. My father had barely deigned to notice my existence since his visit after I had turned to a girl, and I expected very little acknowledgement from him until the potion wore off. I knew that my housemates had probably relayed the gossip about me and Harry, and was dreading the letter I would receive. So, when I received a letter from him telling me that he and my mother would be spending the holidays in the Alps, and that I was to stay in Hogwarts, I was both surprised and unsurprised. I was amazed that my father said nothing about my "shameful" (as I'm sure he saw it) relationship with The Boy Who Lived. Lucius has never been a subtle man.

But this meant that Harry and I would be able to spend our holidays together unmolested. Even Harry's friends would be leaving to spend their holidays with their families. Weasley had invited Harry to come to his house for the holidays, but Harry had turned him down, and though I could tell this angered Weasley, he made no mention of it again.

Harry and I made plans. We had spent a few nights together, though we had done nothing more than snog heavily. But we would be nearly alone for two whole weeks. It would be bliss.

Christmas morning dawned bright and clear. The foot of my bed, usually drowning in presents, held one single box. Harry and I had decided to exchange presents after dinner, so I knew the box couldn't be from him. But why would my parents bother to send anything at all, if they weren't going to send their usual mound of gifts?

I carefully opened the package to discover that it was my mother's usual box of treats, treats that she had sent me once a week for five years now. Treats that had stopped coming the week of my potions accident. I couldn't help but wonder how my mother had even gotten enough nerve to do this for Christmas. I closed up the box and put it aside to share with Harry that night, then dressed.

Before leaving, I checked to make sure that his present was still where I had left it. I had stumbled across it in Hogsmeade one day, and knew that I had to get it for him. I hoped he liked it. It was a small golden dragon with emeralds for eyes. I tucked it away just in time to hear a knock on my door.

I opened the door to find Harry grinning on the other side. "Picnic time!" he said cheerily, raising a large hamper in his hand.

"Picnic? In the winter? Have you lost all your remaining marbles, Potter?"

"Just a couple, maybe. I'm still hanging out with you, aren't I?"

I grinned. "Fine. Where are we having this lovely, if chilly, picnic?"

"It won't be that chilly. But you can bring your cloak if you'd like. We're just going up to the Astronomy tower..."

"The Astronomy tower! Are you crazy? It's the daytime! What if one of the teachers shows up?"

"Relax, Draco, I have permission. Dumbledore said it would be okay. Come on." I grabbed my cloak and we headed up to the tower, where it was definitely cold, despite the morning sun streaming in. Harry cast a warming charm while I spread out the blanket that lay just inside the hamper, then began to unpack the food.

We chatted as we ate, and the talk lasted long past the food. Finally, Harry began to put everything back in the hamper. "We should go down to the Christmas feast. It'll be starting shortly."

I couldn't believe how fast the morning had gone, and simply grinned at him, watching his face as he packed the hamper, and thinking of our promised night together. We walked down to the hall, hand in hand, and entered to see the small table that had replaced the large house tables that usually stood there. There were only ten of us students total, and though it still made for a longer table, Dumbledore seemed to prefer one table to many. Dumbledore saw us enter, and motioned to the seats next to him. "Have a nice picnic, Harry, Draco?" We nodded, then grinned at each other. Some of the other students looked at us oddly, but we ignored them and focused on the meal in front of us.

It was, unarguably, the best Christmas feast I had ever attended, and that was saying a lot, because Malfoy Christmas feasts were never anything to blink at. But with Harry by my side, everything took on a new glow. By the time we left, our stomachs were quite full, and we each had several new hats, a pair of mice each, and enough chessmen to play with three other students.

We giggled as we wandered slowly up to my room, talking about the silly things Dumbledore and the teachers had said under the influence of the plum pudding that most of the students had refused. McGonagall had gone so far as to kiss Snape under the mistletoe, at which Snape had turned a deep crimson, and fled the hall immediately.

Unfortunately, our laughter died as we rounded the corner to my room. Waiting there in the hall, stood my father. "Hello, Draco." He looked Harry up and down, and I pulled him behind me, as though to protect him.

"Father."

"I see you've made some new 'friends' this year." He tossed me the box he was holding, then leaned down to my ear. "Enjoy it while you can" he said with a hiss. And he was gone.

After he had completely disappeared down the hall, Harry turned to me. "Dra..." he stopped speaking and just stared at me. I'm not sure exactly what I looked like at that moment, but it was obviously enough for him to drag me into my room and settle me on the sofa before he tried to talk to me again. "Draco, are you okay?"

I nodded shortly, then looked at the box that was still in my hands. It was long and wide, but not deep. Obviously clothing. I opened it carefully and looked inside. Inside was a silk confection that oozed with lace and ribbon. If I had not been pale before, I'm sure I would have lost all color at this. Grabbing the box and its contents, I threw it viciously at the small fireplace, where it smoked and hissed.

Harry hurried to my side. "Draco, what is it?"

I laughed. I hadn't laughed that coldly since the day Harry had come to see me in the hospital wing. It sounded hollow and hurt my throat. "It was a wedding robe. It's my father's way of letting me know he is arranging a marriage for me, unless I become a boy again."

"A wedding robe? You're only sixteen!"

"Ah, but I'm a pureblood. Pureblood girls are usually betrothed by the age of sixteen, so really, Harry, I'm behind the times..." my laughter was beginning to sound crazed, even grotesque to my ears. I stood up. "It's not like I have a choice. Until I graduate, and even after, as a girl, I'm still his property. It's just how things are done in pureblood families." I couldn't look at him any more. I stumbled to the bed and curled into a ball, my knees at my chin, and my arms around them as I lay on my side.

Harry crawled onto the bed, and curled around me. "It won't happen, Draco. Even if the potion doesn't wear off. Dumbledore won't let him. Especially if you ask him to help you."

"Won't be enough. Has he been able to keep him from coming to visit me, despite the fact that he was just released from Azkaban?"

Harry clung to me for a moment. Then he spoke in a very soft voice. "I won't let it happen, Draco. Even if I have to drag you to Gretna Green myself."

I turned in his arms. His green eyes were serious. "You'd do that for me?"

I could see the smile start well before he responded. "Well, not just for you."

"Do you really think my father'd allow that?"

"Do you really think I'd allow him to stop us? I haven't dealt with all this these past two months just to give you up."

I had to look away from him at that. "Even..." I lowered my voice to a near-whisper. "Even if I turn back?"

His hand was on my chin, and he raised my face so that I had to look at him. "All the potion did was allow me to see you in a different light, so that I could realize how I really felt about you, Draco. Male or female, you're still the same person inside. You just hid it better as a male than you did as a female." He leaned forward and kissed me lightly. "I won't push. I know it's a lot to deal with. Even though I never had a real family I can remember, I can imagine that, despite everything, it's got to be hard to go against your father's wishes. Just remember that I'm here, okay?"

I nodded, than put my head against his shoulder, leaning into his neck to try to prevent the tears I could feel from forming. After several minutes, where Harry simply stroked my back as I breathed deeply, I pulled away and looked at him. "We should do our presents before it gets too late.

He nodded. "I'll be right back, okay? I have to go get yours from where I stashed it this morning." He scooted off the bed and disappeared out the door. I hurried to my dresser and pulled out his present, then returned to the bed. Harry returned a moment later, carrying a basket almost the size of the hamper he had brought with him that morning. What in the world had he gotten me?

He hefted it onto the bed, then sat next to me. "You open yours first. I don't think it'll keep much longer."

Keep? Was it more food? I was so stuffed, I didn't think I wanted more, but I carefully lifted the lid. The second I did, a slender white snake slid out and onto my hand, flicking her tongue as she wound her way around my wrist. I was so startled, I nearly jerked my hand away, but Harry reached out and held it still. "It's okay. She's just getting used to your scent." I examined the snake closer, now that I was no longer startled. She had a light green stripe running up her back, and little gold eyes that almost seemed to read my mind. She raised her head, looked at me, then turned to look at Harry, and hissed. "She likes you," he told me.

I was startled. I'd forgotten that he was a Parselmouth. "She...she said that?"

He grinned. "Yep. She says that her name's Serica. And she wants to know if she can crawl up your arm now."

I nodded, and the snake, seeing my agreement, began to unwind from my wrist, and crawl slowly under my sleeve and up my arm.

"I got you some food, and a heated bed for her, so that she can get warm whenever she needs to, and she prefers the dark, so the basket will do for her, as long as you leave it open so she can get in and out."

I smiled at him, still feeling Serica sliding slowly up my arm under my robe. I was mesmerized for several more minutes before I finally remembered that I hadn't given Harry his gift. I held it out to him, feeling as though it were insignificant after the present I had gotten from him.

He smiled, and carefully opened the small box, and unwrapping the figure from the small bag it nestled in. "Draco! It's beautiful." He looked at me, his eyes shining.

"Really? It's not too...silly?"

He leaned over, careful not to disturb Serica from my arm, and kissed me. "No, it's the best present I've ever gotten." Then he grinned. "From a former enemy, anyway."