Charms

Eleven pipers piping...
How about 1 pipe,
And ten other
Weasley's Wizard Wheezes?

The eleventh day of Christmas was bleak and miserable, with it deemed too
cold for the snowball fight. So Ginny, Harry, Ron, Hermione and Cho sat up
in the Gryffindor Common Room, trying out Hermione's gifts for the day.
"I can't believe it...some of this stuff is so new that it shouldn't be on
the market yet!" exclaimed Ron, who was one of the testers for his brothers.
"You can take the Twins out of Hogwarts but you never get rid of their
pranks" was a comment often made by teachers.

Hermione cracked up laughing as the chocolate frog Ginny was trying to eat
suddenly regenerated and started bouncing erratically around the room, not
stopping after the first bounce as they normally do.

"Stupefy!" cried Cho, to no avail. Harry tried to leap on it, but his Seeker
skills obviously weren't up to scratch when it came to catching runaway
sweets.

"Impedimenta!" was Ron's contribution. The frog kept bouncing, stopping only
when Ginny yelled:
"Stop, right now!"

Thank you very much

I need somebody with a human touch

Hey you, always on the run

Gotta slow it down baby

Gotta have some fun!

After the short song was over, the frog remained still. And Harry and
Hermione cracked up laughing.

"Oh Merlin, I should never have played them those Spice Girls' songs..."

"You played Spice Girls' songs for Fred and George Weasley, two of the
Wizarding World's most notorious pranksters? Hermione, do you want the whole
world to suffer?"

Seeing the Pureblood wizards look a little confused, Hermione hastened to
explain: "The Spice Girls are a five girl singing group, each with a
nickname-"

"Ginger Spice, Scary Spice, Baby Spice, Sporty Spice, and Posh Spice,"
interrupted Harry.

*~ How does he know that? ~*
"But their real names are Geri, Mel B, Emma, Mel C and Victoria. They have
had two CDs, and are absolutely huge with the pre-teens."
"They've had a movie and everything."
"The movie was actually pretty funny. I took my younger cousin, Cathy, to go
and see it. Anyway, Fred and George asked for some upbeat Muggle music, and
I'd just gotten a letter from Cathy and well..." she trailed off and shrugged
slightly.

Ginny just shook her head and picked up her frog, "Well, they are more
interesting than the usual chocolate frogs at any rate."

Hermione kept looking through the gifts that she'd gotten.

*~ Not as expensive as the other gifts, but they are rather cute, shows that
the person has a brain, not just a wallet. Who could it be? ~*

Without thinking, Hermione blew a bubble from the pipe she had received as
one of the gifts for the day. The brightly coloured bubble floated over to
Ginny, where it enlarged itself so that Ginny was trapped inside it.

"Eep!"

"Ginny!" Harry ran and tried to pull her out of the bubble, but his hands
couldn't penetrate it.

"It's okay, I can breathe. I was just surprised." She tried to move, and
ended up bouncing the bubble over to the window. "Hey! It's clearing! We can
have that snowball fight after all!"

**********

On the twelfth day of Christmas
My true love gave to me
Twelve uh... twelve... oh dear, I can't remember
Eleven broken buildings
Ten wind-up rabbits
Nine sacks of bird seed
Eight counts a-counting
Seven rusty trash cans
Six rubber duckies
Five argyle socks
Four woolly bears
Three footballs
Two baby frogs
And one delicious cookie!

Draco entered the Great Hall to see the Gryffindors (plus Chang) sitting
around the only table there, laughing as Hermione's Concentus played a
rather silly song. He walked slowly over to them, and took an empty seat two
spaces away from Hermione. He thumped his head on the table in exhaustion,
and only moved when Professor Snape walked over.

"Some chocolate, Mr. Malfoy."

Thanking Snape, who was already halfway to the door, Malfoy broke and slowly
ate it as he reached for the jug of hot chocolate.

"What are you doing here, Malfoy?"
Draco looked up. "I'm having a hot drink. Is that all right with you, Weasel?
I'm cold, tired, and fucking fed up. So don't mess with me." His tone
brooked no argument, and when Ron opened his mouth, Hermione kicked him.
Hard. He got the hint, and re-asked his question.

"So what was your favourite Christmas, Hermione?"

"It would have to be the one that I spent in New Zealand, during first year. It was wonderful to be able to walk around in shorts and a T-shirt on
Christmas day. The hotel we stayed at was right on the beach, and lunch was a
Barbecue while people went swimming or sunbathed. The hotel gave everyone a
bouquet of flowers too, as a Christmas gift."
"What kind of flowers?"

"Well, there was some of the native Pohutakawa Tree flowers, some
Kowhai...But my favourites were the Christmas Lilies. I don't think they're
indigenous, but they smelt so good...Really beautiful too."

As the conversation turned to Cho's Christmas that she had spent in China,
Draco stood up, rather unsteadily. He walked slowly to the door, as Hermione
watched him go.

*~ I wonder what's wrong...His robes were dishevelled, his hair was dirty,
his eyes were bloodshot and he had huge bags under his eyes. Hmm.. I think
I'll find him later*

**********

Draco was wandering through the stacks in the Library after dinner, looking
for something to take his mind off yesterday.

** 10 Easy Steps to Becoming an Animagus, Men Who Love Dragons Too Much, 500
Muggle Plants for Use in Everyday Potions...where is 'How to Deal with Your
Bastard Father'? ** He heard a noise behind him, and spun quickly.

"Hermione!"

"Draco...could we talk?" Seeing that he was about to refuse **She is going
to tell me how much she hates me, I know it. I could never be with her...*,
Hermione asked: "Please?"

Acquiescing reluctantly, he let her lead him to a couch.

"What's wrong, Draco?"
"I have no idea what you are talking about."
"Bullshit." He had never heard her swear so vehemently before. "There IS
something wrong, I can tell. You look a mess, your eyes are bloodshot, and
you disappeared for over a day! I...I care about you Draco, I consider you
one of my friends, and when something is bothering my friends I like to know
what it is!"

**She considers me a friend? ** Seeing the truth in her face, Draco decided
to respond. Sighing, he said softly: "I went to see my father yesterday.
He's in Azkaban."

"Azkaban? Why? I never heard anything."

"Mother asked them to keep it secret. He's not in the main part, with the
Dementors as guards, just in one of the side wings. Where they keep all the
other... " He stopped, his throat closing painfully. For a few seconds, the
only movement he made was a sort of gaping, like he was going to be sick.
Hermione shifted so that she was sitting right next to him, and gently put
her arms around him.

"It's all right, you can tell me. I won't judge. Your father is your father,
he's not you."
"Rapists." The word was so quiet that Hermione nearly didn't catch it. She
held him tighter, silently urging him to speak. Suddenly, the words flowed
out thick and fast. "It was over the summer, all these girls went missing
from the village near where we were staying. We were out walking in the park
one day, and this girl suddenly started screaming and pointing at Lucius,
saying 'That's him! That's him!' and within seconds this Muggle policeman
was restraining him. He didn't have his wand, and they hauled him off...My
mother contacted the Ministry, she was so sure that there had been a
mistake. Aurors and Muggle Policemen searched the house...there were five
girls tied up in the basement, and they had deep cuts all over them...they
were covered in blood, dirt and dried cum...his cum, they tested it. He was
sentenced to life in Azkaban, no parole, no kiss. Rapists don't get the
Dementor's Kiss...but he should. As soon as my Mother is no longer alive,
I'm going to make sure he gets it...she doesn't want the media circus that
would be sparked by a Malfoy getting the Kiss. But the bastard deserves it,
he deserves to rot in hell. **

That wasn't all though. Draco had left out the most important part, the part
he had vowed to never tell Hermione, or another living soul.

**I saw him one night...the night before his arrest. I woke up and heard
screams, so I followed them, and saw him with a girl. A girl around your
age, with wavy brown hair and cinnamon eyes. ** A feeling of overwhelming
sorrow filling him, Draco's rage abated and he started to sob in earnest.
Hermione hugged him tighter, placing a soft kiss on his head as she moved
him so that he was lying on her as he cried.

*~ Oh my lord...* circled around her thoughts as she watched the proud young
man cry himself to sleep. She dozed off; her dream filled with a smiling
silver dragon telling her that everything would be O.K.
**********

At midnight, Hermione awoke to find Draco fast asleep, his arms and legs
wrapped firmly around her, and his breath coming in small puffs against her
neck.

*~ He looks so peaceful...* Hating to break his sleep, but knowing that if
neither of them was in their beds in the morning, the results could be
disastrous.

"Draco...Draco wake up." she said as she gently shook his shoulder.

"Back already, kitten," he mumbled sleepily, his dream world running over to
the real world. He reached out his own hand instinctively and slid it under
her shirt, then began to lightly rub her abdomen. "What did the doctor say?"

*~ Mmm, that feels good, ~* she thought as his cool fingers brushed over her
skin. "About what?" she asked, debating on whether to stop him or not.

"What do you think, luv?" he said. His hands got more adventurous. "It's not
going to hurt the baby, is it?"

"Baby?" His hands were definitely wandering now. Not that she didn't mind,
but she wanted him to be awake when they did stuff.

*~ So now I want him awake to do stuff to me...I'm going insane. He doesn't
even like me! ~* Annoyed by the thoughts running through her head, she shook
him harder this time.'

"Draco, wake up. We need to get to be- OUR beds before someone finds us
gone."

"Stop your bloody shaking," Draco responding, coming awake. "I'm up." He had
been having one of his favourite dreams, where Hermione was pregnant with
his child, even though that was impossibility- **I don't have a snowball's
chance in hell with her.** -and as usual, it had started to become erotic.

She managed to slide out from underneath and gave him a hand up.

"Let's go, sleepy head."

She walked him down to the dungeons, as he still looked unsteady on his
feet. They stopped in front of a portrait of a young Salazar Slytherin.

"Catulus Felinus," said Draco. The picture swung open. "I'm fine from here,
it's my room."

"So this is where the Prince of Slytherin sleeps," Hermione commented as she
stretched to see inside.
"Yes, and I'd invite you in if I wasn't so bloody tired. Goodnight, Miss
Hermione." Blushing slightly, he moved forward and placed a small kiss on
her cheek before turning and going inside.

Once the portrait had closed, Hermione's hand instinctively moved to her
cheek where he had kissed her.

*~ He kissed me, he kissed me! Maybe he likes me after all! Ooh boy, add
that to those hands and I know I'm going to have a restless night. ~* So
lost in her thoughts was she that she didn't even hear the door opening
behind her.

"Ms. Granger." She stopped and spun around quickly, nearly losing her
balance.

"Professor Snape! Sir! I'm sorry, I know it's late, I was just walking Draco
back as we fell asleep studying and he's still kinda shaky."
"Relax Ms. Granger, I'm not going to yell at you. You and your friends have
proved that you are somewhat capable of taking care of yourselves, as much
as I am loath to admit it. I just wanted to talk to you."

*~ Okay, where's the white rabbit? I think I've fallen down the damn hole.
~*

"Sir?"

He sighed. "Please be careful with Mr. Malfoy. He's a wonderful person, very
kind. I don't want to see him get hurt; he's like a son to me. I know that
he holds you in high regard...just be careful around him. You may go."

As Hermione walked up to the Gryffindor Tower, she pondered over Snape's
words.

*~ Be careful with Draco...what does that mean? ~*

Once she was in bed, another thought came to her.

*~ It's Christmas tomorrow...Merlin, what about my true love? ~*

*********

Fin.