A Reason To Be

For the first time since he had attended Hogwarts, Harry was the only student to stay at the castle for Christmas. He was incredibly depressed that he could not go with Ron to the Burrow for their holiday. When he was not in his room, he went down to visit Hagrid. He went to go see Hermione every day as well, usually in the early-afternoons. Draco had seen him do this, though Harry had not seen him. He did not know that actually wasn’t the only students who stayed at Hogwarts for the Christmas break.

Draco spent his nights in the hospital wing as usual. He knew that Madam Pomfrey, Dumbledore and a few other professors knew that he went to visit her but he was quite careful to make sure that Harry was never the wiser. That was the last thing he wanted to deal with. Potter’s annoying ‘wrath’, spouting off threats that he could not visit Hermione. As far as Draco was concerned his was none of his damn business. He also visited Hermione everyday, though he had managed to keep his hands to himself, for the most part anyway. One night, just before he left for his bed, he kissed her again. It lasted a little longer than the first one but he managed to forgo the bath when he got back to his room.

It was now Christmas Eve and Draco was on a mission. It was about ten o’clock in the evening and he moved silently down the thick snow-covered lawn to Hagrid’s hut. He had enchanted a large box to levitate and follow him as he walked. The large box was a Christmas gift for Hagrid. Never in a thousand years would Draco admit to giving anyone anything, though he had indeed bought something for the giant. The truth of the matter was that Hagrid and he got along decently now and since he was buying things for other people at Hogwarts, he felt he should buy something for Hagrid as well. He had instructed a local Hogsmeade tailor to make a dress coat for Rubeus. At first his instincts had told him to make it black, it was the color he would have chosen for himself but after second thoughts Draco settled on a dark, forest green. The collar and sleeves had been trimmed in dark purple and it had gold buttons. The day before he had snuck out and picked up the coat and a few other purchases. The coat would have been considered expensive to anyone else, but to Draco it was pocket money. He could afford to buy the giant a whole new wardrobe if he was so inclined.

Draco quietly approached the door to the small house, taking care not make a sound. He then turned around and grasped the large gift box that floated at chest height. He placed it on the doorstep and then swiftly ran back up the hill. When had gone a safe distance he rolled up a snowball and hurled to towards the hut’s front door. It hit its mark with a loud thud. When Draco heard the thud, he turned back around and dashed out of sight. Just as he did, the door of the hut opened and Hagrid peeked out. When he saw the large box, wrapped in a bright red ribbon, he looked around to see where it might have come from. He saw nothing though. Hagrid shrugged and then picked up the package, looking at it curiously. There was only a small tag on it with only Hagrid’s name on it. The giant smiled and with the gift under his arm he went back inside. When Draco had seen that his work had been done, he pulled his black coat closer and hurried back up to the castle.

When he reached to his room, Draco summoned some house elves to him. When it came to secretly delivering presents, none were better than house elves. Two little elves came and left with the gifts and the instructions that they were to be delivered in the dead of night. Draco had bought Severus a healthy amount of both fernadis root and beliandah blossoms. They were important ingredients to many important potions. They were somewhat rare and quite expensive. Draco had noticed that his Potions professor’s stock of those two items was running low. Dumbledore had been nearly impossible to buy for. Draco had not even the slightest clue what to get Albus. After walking around the entirety of Hogsmeade, Draco had finally settled on a bottle of fine wizard whiskey. Draco knew he wasn’t a booze hound but who didn’t enjoy a nice sip of whiskey on a cold night? As a second thought, Draco also bought a bottle of it for himself. Cold night or no, he knew he would enjoy knocking a few back.



Christmas morning came and Draco wanted to go back to sleep. He couldn’t though, breakfast was being served and Dumbledore would come up and drag Draco from his bed himself if he did not make an appearance. Malfoy yawned and rolled out of bed. It startled him when his feet didn’t touch a stone floor, but paper and ribbon. He looked down, rubbed the sleep out his eyes and saw that there were presents on the floor near his bed.

“Well fuck me, I got something for Christmas.” Draco said to himself, he truly was surprised. He hadn’t expected anything at all. He bent down and gathered up the three gifts that sat at his feet. One of them was quite large, so he left it on the floor. He sat back down on his bed and un-wrapped the first one. It was a small box wrapped all in green. He torn away the paper and opened the small box. Inside was a little black bottle. The label, which was definitely written in Snape’s handwriting, said ‘Nocturnia Livium Draught.’ Draco thought a moment and tried to remember what exactly the potion was. After a few minutes of searching his brain it hit him. This potion was drunk before one went to sleep and it induced pleasant dreams for the sleeper. As far as Draco had known, Albus was the only one who knew that he was plagued with nightmares, but apparently had had told Severus. Draco did not mind though, it would definitely become useful.

Draco set the bottle thoughtfully on his nightstand and moved onto the second largest gift. It was wrapped rather sloppily in brown paper and string. There was a label written on it in large, think letters. It read, ‘To Draco, From Hagrid.’ An amused look crossed Draco face as he pulled off the string and paper. It was a large, brown, leather-bound book. On the cover, in gold letters read, ‘Prof. Beldorn’s Compendium of Dragons.’ Draco’s eyebrows rose in interest. He had always been interested in dragons; they were his namesake after all. He started flipping through the pages and was amazed even further. As it turned out, when one turned to the page of particular dragon, the book roared that dragon’s unique roar. Draco smiled and put the book down, interested to go through the whole thing later.

He turned his attention to the large, heavy box on his bedroom floor. It also had a small label on it, which said that this particular present was from Dumbledore. It was wrapped in blue paper, which a moment later was in crumpled calls on the floor. Draco soon realized it was a black, wood and leather chest. Embossed on the lid, in sliver, were his initials; ‘D.O.M.’ it soon came to Draco’s attention that the chest was moving slightly.

‘What the hell? What’s going to jump out and bite my head off?’ Draco thought. He swallowed hard and reached over to the lock. As soon as he unlatched it and lifted the lid, a large smile appeared on the young man’s face. It was his own personal Quidditch set. The Quaffle was black with his initials on it as well. The two bludgers were dark green, incised with a swirling silver design. The Snitch was still gold, but it also had the same silver design swirling all over it.

That was it, Draco was officially happy. He had never gotten better gifts than these. He was especially excited about the Quidditch gear, he had never even thought about getting himself something like that. As he gathered together some clothes to throw on, he kept thinking about how great it would be when he finally got the chance to go out to the pitch and christen the set. When he gotten dressed he went out into the hallway and wished the ballerina in the portrait a Merry Christmas and went downstairs for breakfast. When he entered the Great Hall, once again the four house tables had been removed and there was only a round table in the center of the room. Dumbledore, Hagrid, Snape and a few other professors were already seated, awaiting their breakfast.

“Ahh! Merry Christmas Draco!” Dumbledore called the young man as he approached the table. Hagrid and some of the other teachers present chimed in with greetings as well. Severus looked up and simply nodded his head in acknowledgement.

“Merry Christmas all.” Draco replied to them all. His voice was genuinely pleasant for once. He thanked the three of them for their gifts as he pulled out a chair and sat down. Dumbledore smiled at him thankfully, he would wait until the two were in private until he thanked the young man for the bottle of whiskey. Draco looked around at the table and sighed contentedly. His contentment came to a screeching halt when he looked up and saw Harry coming towards them.

“Son of a bitch.” Draco muttered under his breath as he sipped his piping hot tea. In truth, he had totally forgotten that Potter was still around. Draco had been perfectly prepared to enjoy his Christmas morning breakfast, but now he doubted he would.

‘I completely forgot the git was here. This is just what I fucking wanted, spend Christmas morning with Potter.’ Draco thought to himself bitterly.

Harry approached the table and was horrified to see Draco sitting there. He had no idea that Malfoy had stayed for the holidays, and he was the last person Harry wanted to spend his already depressing Christmas with. He sat down in the last chair available, which happened to be directly opposite Draco. The two young men glared at one another while Dumbledore wished everyone a Merry Christmas and announced what they would be having for breakfast. The house elves scurried in and set dish upon dish on the table. While they ate, the professors made pleasant conversation amongst one another. Dumbledore asked Harry how his Christmas was and what gifts he had gotten. Draco sat quietly, not speaking to anyone. All the while, Harry and Draco still glared angrily at one another. Each other’s presence was infuriating to one another. Finally, Harry spoke across the table in spite which was usually very unlike Harry.

“Why did you stay here for Christmas, Malfoy? No family to go home to?” Harry said bitterly. He knew as well as everyone that Draco’s parents were in Azkaban. He was upset because of he himself having to stay at Hogwarts and he was still very upset about what happened to Hermione, though he didn’t know why he blamed it on Draco. Draco looked up from his food and shot an evil look at Harry. His jaw tightened and his eyes burned with anger. No one said anything, they were somewhat taken aback by Harry uncharacteristic malice. Draco looked around at the people that surrounded him and saw the looks of concern they had for him. He remained calm though he was ready to tear Potter apart for speaking to him like that.

‘That bastard knows my parents are in prison. If he wants to mock me than he can, but he mocks the people that have taken me in too. These people have been good to me, far better than I will ever deserve. Fuck Potter.’ Draco thought bitterly. He had always grumbled about living with Dumbledore but deep down, where no one else could see he was secretly thankful for what the old man had done for him. Not just Dumbledore, but Severus and Hagrid as well. Draco finished chewing and cleared his throat.

“You are eating breakfast with my family, Potter. Show some respect.” Draco replied. Needless to say, Harry was just a little surprised and confused.