The Siren's Call (A Draco Malfoy Fanfiction)

24. Christmas

The next day, Christmas Eve, dawned bright and cold. Snow was falling outside making the light from outside Dioleh's window blinding when she first opened her eyes. With a yawn, Dioleh said, "Morning."

"Hi," Imani said, rolling over again. Dioleh laughed, moving her favourite stuffed animal to the side. Looking up, Imani asked, "You sleep with a stuffed animal?"

"Helps with my anxiety," Dioleh explained with a shrug. "I just keep him out of sight at school."

"Oh," Imani said, yawning again. The two girls eventually got up and quickly dressed. It was around nine in the morning so the two girls were hungry. Downstairs, they found two plates of eggs and sausage under covers to keep them warm on the table.

"Thank you!" Dioleh called, knowing Oscar, who always cooked breakfast, was in the next room over.

"There's hot water in the kettle if you want tea," he called back. Dioleh smiled, grabbing two cups and moving over to the cabinet where they kept all the tea.

"What kind do you want?" Dioleh asked, taking out her own fruity black tea.

"Do you have green tea?" she asked.

"Always," Dioleh said with a laugh. "It's one of Jean's favourites." After placing the tea bags in the cups, she poured the hot water over the bags and covered them so they stayed warm while they seeped. While they waited, the two girls ate their breakfast. Once they got their tea and fixed them how they liked it, the two sat down again and began discussing what they wanted to do that day.

"We could go play in the snow," Imani suggested.

"All right," Dioleh replied. The two quickly finished off their tea and changed so they would be warm enough outside. The snow had left a thick covering over all the grass in the Granger's backyard. While Imani wasn't looking, Dioleh crouched down and made up a snowball. Smirking, she threw it at her. Imani shrieked, caught by surprise.

Realizing what had happened, she said, "Oh, you're so on, Granger!" She dove to make a snowball of her own while Dioleh did the same. Snow flew through the air between them as they laughed and shouted, moving behind trees and bushes to try and avoid the snow. An hour later, when neither of them could feel their thighs, hands, or noses anymore, they headed back inside. Dioleh made hot chocolate and they sat in front of the fire in the family room by the undecorated tree.

"Why isn't it decorated?" Imani asked.

"Oh, we always do that the night before Christmas," Dioleh explained. "So that whoever is coming home for Christmas can help. It's a family thing. I guess you're the Hermione replacement for this year." Imani laughed. "But first we have to make Christmas cookies. Biscuits, sorry."

"Why do Americans call them cookies?" Imani asked. Dioleh shrugged.

"Just the way it is," she replied. After they made cookies with Jean, possibly being interrupted with a flour fight, the two girls had lunch and spent the afternoon decorating the tree with Jean and Oscar. Dioleh went to bed with a smile on her face.

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The next morning, Imani woke far sooner than Dioleh and shook her awake, exclaiming, "Dio, it's Christmas!" Dioleh groaned, rolling over. "Come on." Looking over, Dioleh saw that Imani really did act like a little child that couldn't remember many Christmases before. Her eyes were light with excitement and her lips were spread in a wide grin.

"Fine," Dioleh groaned, rolling out of bed. Jean and Oscar were still asleep, so Imani and Dioleh made breakfast while they waited. They made a large stack of pancakes and were just finishing putting them on plates when the two arrived in the kitchen.

"Morning, girls," Oscar said with a yawn.

"Oh, look, they made us breakfast," Jean said. "Thank you."

"No problem," Dioleh said. They all sat down and while the girls went quickly through their food, the two adults took their time, knowing that they were torturing the two girls.

Finally, Oscar said, "All right, you ready to open presents yet? We've been waiting forever."

Dioleh rolled her eyes, smiling at his silliness as she rushed to the tree with Imani. They divided up the presents into piles for each person. "All right, our guest first," Jean said. Imani grabbed the first present in front of her and opened it to find a shark tooth necklace from her father. She clasped it around her neck while Dioleh opened her first present.

Jean and Oscar had gotten her a pair of large hoop earrings. "Oh my gosh, I love them. Thank you," she said, smiling at them. They spent at least an hour getting through all the presents until there was only one left. Dioleh grabbed her last present, a small one wrapped in green paper, and opened it. From the wrappings fell a ring. It was black-gold with two stones set in between three serpent heads. One of the stones was clear, like a diamond, and the other was dark green like an emerald. Curiously, Dioleh slipped the ring on her finger and held it up to the light.

"Who sent you that?" Imani asked, looking at it over her shoulder. Dioleh shrugged, looking back in the packaging for a note.

"There's no note," she remarked with a frown. "That's odd."

"Yeah," Imani said. "It's pretty, though." Dioleh nodded, studying it.

She soon forgot about the ring, however, as she and Imani spent the rest of the day outside playing in the snow.