Bonds by the Book

Bonds by the Book

Chapter 10

“Come on, you two. We’re gonna be late if you don’t hurry,” said Harry, franticly gathering up all of the presents they were taking, shrinking them, and putting them in his pocket.

“Calm down, Harry. We still have ten minutes,” said Lucius soothingly, entering the library with Draco trailing behind him. “Do you have all of the gifts?”

“Yes, I shrank them and put them in my pocket,” said Harry, patting his pocket reassuringly.

“Hold on then,” said Lucius, pulling Harry close and holding Draco’s arm. He apparated them to the Burrow\'s front door.

Harry knocked on the door, shifting impatiently on his feet. He was excited about seeing all the Weasleys again. The door opened and before he could even really see who had opened the door, he was pulled into big hug. The hug finally ended and Harry found himself looking at Molly Weasley.

“Hello, Harry dear. I’m so glad you made it,” she said, pulling him into the house. Lucius and Draco just followed behind quietly.

They didn’t even make it through the door completely before the problems started. Ginny, who had smiled upon seeing Harry, saw the Malfoys behind him and burst into tears. She couldn’t believe they had actually come with Harry. She had hoped that once she got Harry alone, she could talk him out of this nonsense. She ran from the room, ignoring her mother’s look of surprise.

Ron saw Ginny run by crying and immediately assumed one of the Malfoys had caused it and stormed into the room angrily. “What did you do to her, you disgusting ferret?” he asked furiously.

“Ronald Weasley! How dare you talk to my guests that way!” yelled Molly at her errant son. “You apologize right now!”

“I want to know what they did to Ginny,” he insisted stubbornly.

“Ron, no one said or did anything to her. We haven’t said a word since we got here. I honestly don’t know why she’s crying,” said Harry, tugging on Draco’s arm to keep from hexing Ron.

“I still think Ferret Face did something to her,” muttered Ron.

Harry lost the battle with Draco and suddenly, Ron was sporting warts all over his face. Ron screeched and reached for his wand. Fortunately Molly intervened by grabbing Ron by the ear and dragging him out of the room.

“Really, Draco, was that really necessary?” asked Harry, glaring at the grinning blonde.

“Necessary? No, but it was fun. Besides, he deserved it and don’t even try and say he didn’t. I haven’t been here ten minutes and he’s already accused me evil deeds and insulted me. He’s just lucky he didn’t try that with Father,” said Draco smugly.

Harry just shook his head and started towards the living room. Fred and George met them at the door and said, “Ron opened his big mouth, didn’t he?”

“He accused me of doing something to Ginny because she, for some unknown reason, started crying and ran off,” said Draco.

“I’m not surprised. I don’t think Ginny really admitted to herself that you are no longer on the market. She probably thought if you came alone, you would realize she suited you better,” said Fred.

“Yeah, she’s great at self-delusions,” said George. “So Ron immediately pegged you as the culprit, Draco?”

“He certainly did. And then he had the utter gall to insult me to my face. In front of your mother,” said Draco indignantly.

“Come now, Draco. It’s not like he hasn’t called you worse than that,” said Lucius.

“That’s not the point,” said Draco, glaring at Lucius.

“How have you been? Business good? Heard from Percy lately?” asked Harry quickly, trying to head off another argument.

“We’re fine, business is great, and Percy’s still a prat. Any other questions?” answered the twins in unison.

“Yeah, can we go into the living room, or do you want us to leave these gifts and go back home?” asked Draco impatiently.

“Impatient little bugger, isn’t he?” asked Fred quietly, aiming the question at George.

Before Draco could explode once again, Mrs. Weasley came rushing back into the room. She saw Fred and George blocking the doorway and immediately started fussing. “Fred, George, I know I taught you better manners than this. Show them to their seats.”

The twins rolled their eyes and gestured for Harry to follow them. The twins ushered them to the unoccupied couch, and Harry gratefully sat with a Malfoy on either side. Silence reigned and Harry shifted uncomfortably. Harry finally couldn’t stand it anymore. He jumped up and said, “I think I’ll help mum in the kitchen.”

Lucius and Draco glared at his retreating back. Lucius leaned over to Draco and whispered, “Are you sure he’s a Gryffindor because that was a Slytherin retreat if I ever saw one?”

The twins snickered at the remark and soon they were laughing loudly and holding their sides. Ron walked in just then and asked, “What the devil is going on? Where’s Harry?”

That just made the twins laugh even harder. By this time, even the Malfoy’s were snickering slightly. Fred finally managed to recover enough to gasp out, “Harry beat a Slytherin retreat to the kitchen.”

Molly came into the living room, smiling when she saw most of the occupants smiling, and said, “Dinner’s ready.”

The table was positively buckling under the amount of food piled on it. Harry was positively salivating in anticipation of this meal. He absolutely adored Mrs. Weasley’s cooking. Harry started bouncing slightly in his seat in impatience until he saw Lucius staring at him with a smirk on his face. Once everyone was seated, the food was passed around and Harry loaded his plate with all of his favourites.

The Weasley table was never quiet and holidays were no exception. Three different conversations were going at once. The twins were talking softly with each other, Molly was talking to Lucius, and Ron was trying to engage Harry in a conversation, but Harry was enjoying his meal too much to really reply.

Harry was finally satiated enough to talk to Ron, but by then, everyone had finished eating and it was time to open gifts. They filed back into the living room and the gifts were passed out. Harry got his customary Weasley jumper from Molly, samples of their merchandise from the twins, and what looked like a month’s supply of Honeyduke’s chocolate from Ron.

Molly had even given Lucius and Draco a Weasley jumper. Harry laughed and made them put the jumpers on, and soon everyone was wearing a jumper with their initial on it. This was the best Christmas he had ever had.

******

Harry put all of his things in his room and picked up Danger. “I got you something for Christmas, too, Danger.” He pulled a collar out of his pocket and said, “I know you probably don’t want to wear a collar, but it has a tracking charm on it in case you get lost.”

Harry gathered the gifts he had gotten for Lucius and Draco and walked back to the library. He tried to sneak in quietly, but Danger meowed right as he passed the door, alerting Lucius to his presence. Harry halfheartedly glared at Danger and sat on the couch. He handed Lucius and Draco a gift and said, “Here, Happy Christmas.”

Draco saw the collar Danger was wearing and said, “You collared him?”

“Yeah,” said Harry slowly. “It has a tracking charm in case he gets lost or stolen.”

“Ah, I see,” said Lucius. “We’re more alike than I thought.”

“What do you mean?” asked Harry, turning to look at Lucius. Lucius just silently handed Harry a small wrapped gift. Harry eagerly opened it and gasped. Inside a silver necklace was a pendant of a dragon and phoenix entwined. It was absolutely gorgeous.

“The necklace has a tracking charm and is spelled as an emergency portkey. Just tap the dragon and say ‘Luc’ and it will bring you straight to me,” said Lucius, taking the necklace and fastening it around Harry’s throat.

“Thank you, Luc. It’s beautiful,” he said, still staring at the necklace in awe.

Lucius opened the gift Harry had given him and almost dropped the box in surprise. Harry had given him a book on rare forms of blood magic. Only thirty copies existed. “Where did you get this, Harry?”

“Apparently, it came out of the Potter vault. Why?” asked Harry nervously. “Do you not like it? I’m sorry. I really didn’t know what to get so I owled Dumbledore for ideas and he said he knew the perfect gift. I …,” Harry couldn’t say anything else because Lucius had claimed those lips as his own.

“I love the book. Thank you,” he said, pressing another kiss to those perfect lips.

“What about you, Draco? Have you opened your gift yet?” asked Harry breathlessly, turning to look at the younger blonde.

Draco was still looking into the opened box, not saying a word. Harry’s shoulders slumped. He knew that giving him that gift wasn’t his best idea. He started towards Draco, debating on what he should do. Right now, tossing the present in the trash was a viable option. He had thought the stuffed dragon was cute. The dragon had a silver unicorn necklace around its neck. He had hoped Draco would like the stuffed toy and necklace. Obviously not.

“Draco?” asked Harry, trying to get the blonde’s attention. “I’m sorry. I obviously shouldn’t pick out any presents for people. Here, I’ll take it back,” he said miserably. He looked helplessly at Lucius because Draco still hadn’t said anything. He finally reached for the box, hoping once it was out of sight, Draco might talk to him again.

Harry took the box from Draco’s slack fingers and hurried from the room. He ran to his bedroom, forgetting all about Danger. Once in his room, he walked to the closet and shoved the box all the way in the back. He’d really screwed up this time.

******

“Draco, what the bloody hell is wrong with you?” asked Lucius impatiently. He was torn between rushing after the upset brunette and staying here to find out what was wrong with Draco.

“He gave me a stuffed toy. I never had a stuffed toy growing up. I had other toys, yeah, but never a stuffed animal. He got me a stuffed dragon with a unicorn necklace wrapped around its neck,” said Draco quietly.

“So you hated the gift. Don’t worry, then. I think Harry went to throw it away,” said Lucius. “Next year, give him a better idea of what you want.”

“He went to throw it away? Oh no,” said Draco, rushing out after Harry.

Lucius looked at Danger and said, “Should we follow them? Sounds like a plan.” He picked up the kitten and slowly walked towards Harry’s room.

*****

Draco burst through the door to Harry’s room, startling the brunette. When Harry realized it was Draco he blurted out, “It’s okay. I got rid of it. I promise I’ll make it up to you somehow.”

“You threw it away?” asked Draco.

“Well, no. I put it up where it wouldn’t be seen. Don’t worry about it. It won’t pop back up anywhere,” said Harry, wringing his hands nervously. He was waiting for Draco to start yelling and demanding why he thought it fitting to give a Malfoy such a menial gift.

“Where is it, Harry?” asked Draco, stalking the brunette.

“In the closet. I didn’t want to throw it away, so I hid it. I’m sorry,” said Harry, walking to the closet, grabbing the hidden box, and handing it back to Draco for him to dispose of it.

Draco grabbed the box and took out the stuffed dragon. He hugged it close and smiled. “I’ve never had a stuffed animal before. I was just surprised,” he said to the brunette. “Thank you, Harry. I really do like him. The necklace, too.”

“I’m glad then,” said Harry, smiling in relief. He was going to have to forego Christmas if every year was going to be this nerve wracking.

“Draco, you forgot this,” said Lucius from the doorway, holding Danger in his arms.

“I didn’t forget Danger; Harry did,” said Draco, smirking at the real culprit.

“Sorry, Danger,” said Harry, pulling the kneazle into his arms.

“Not the kitten, Draco. This box is what you forgot,” said Lucius, shaking said box in front of the younger blonde’s face.

“Oh yeah. Here, Harry, this is from me,” he said, handing Harry the green wrapped box.

Harry slowly opened the box and peered inside. “Wow,” said Harry, pulling out the bracelet. It had snakes and griffins etched into the metal with emerald and ruby stones embedded. “Thank you.”

“I have the matching bracelet. It has a communication charm on it, so if you need to call me just press the emerald. It also has a tracking charm on it,” said Draco, fastening the bracelet around the slender wrist.

“We are obviously meant to be together,” said Harry, snickering with amusement.

“Why do you say that?” asked Lucius curiously.

“I had the same charms put on those nipple rings I asked you to get. I also had them put on my piercings just in case. See?” said Harry, smiling at the looks of shock he received.

“You may be right. We’ve already decided you’re more Slytherin than you let on,” said Draco.

“What do you mean?” asked Harry.

“We mean your Slytherin retreat at the Weasley den,” said Lucius. “That wasn’t a very Gryffindor attitude, Harry.”

“What can I say? There is a reason the sorting hat wanted to put me in that house,” said Harry smugly.

“What?!”