Learn to Love » Draco Malfoy x Reader

XXXIII

As nice as it was spending time with my friends, I knew it would be short lived.  I could only hide in the arms of Daphne and Theo for so long, considering how quickly Christmas was coming up and how I knew I would have to go back for the ball.

I spent the night with Daphne and Theo but in the morning I accepted my fate and apparated back home.  I still actively avoided Draco, though, which made the transition back home easier.  I stayed in my room, talked to the house elves, and spent as little time as possible helping with decorations.

Luckily most of the decorating had finished while I was away, so I didn't have to worry about that.  Christmas was always one of my favorite holidays, simply because of the jolly energy that it created everywhere you went.  That was another reason I loved Hogsmeade so much; it was like Christmas year-round. 

As unhappy as I was otherwise, I couldn't help but smile at the green and red themed house and other cute Christmas appeal.  The wreaths were large and elegant, there were twinkling lights everywhere.  My favorite part was the gigantic Christmas tree in the ballroom.  It was always what captured guests' attention, and for good reason.

The tree reached the top of the staircase in the ballroom, so it had to have been a good thirty or so feet tall.  I didn't know where it could be chopped down from; maybe magic was used to make it that big. 

Something I always insisted on was having an angel on top of the tree instead of a star.  I thought everyone used stars so we shouldn't have one; plus, there were lots of other decorations and ornaments on the tree that my mother approved of, so she let me have the angel at the top if I so wished.

Regardless, it was nice having something to cheer me up while I was home.  I could look forward to, if I was forced to step out of my room, that at least I would have something nice to look at. 

That was exactly what happened when I was (not so subtly) trying to sneak from the kitchen back up to my room.  I don't know how, but out of all the rooms in our manor, my mother happened to see me with a mini sandwich in hand and forced me into the ballroom.

"Y/n dear!  We haven't seen you in two days, where did you go off to?"

She was upset, clearly since I'd gone off at such a hectic time without telling her, but I could tell her voice was also laced with concern.  I'm sure, being my mother, she was still worried about my wellbeing.

"I just needed a moment to myself, mama.  I'm here now, aren't I?"

She rolled her eyes, but still looked overall content I was back.  "And not a moment too soon, clearly.  Come on, Narcissa and I have been so busy planning all this ourselves."

She grabbed me by the arm and yanked me into the ballroom.  I immediately felt comforted looking at the tree.  It looked like it had every year for as long as I could remember.  I found solace in the familiarity of it.

"It's a nice tree," I smiled.

"It's the same as ever year's, y/n," my mother noted. 

"And every year we choose a good one."

"You didn't choose anything.  You're lucky I have such good taste, otherwise you'd be stuck with such an ugly home that reporters wouldn't even want to come to the event."

I rolled my eyes at her remark, but I let it slide since I knew that right now if I said anything, it would only make things worse between us.  I had no doubt she was upset that I'd left yesterday, so I might as well try to quell the flames as best as possible by not feeding into her insults. 

Plus, I knew this was stressful for her.  In her defense, the papers could rip families to shreds if they hosted poor parties.  The stress of essentially the entire media was put on her shoulders.  I remember a few years back when Blaise Zabini's sixth step-father had just "passed away", his mother didn't plan anything special for a New Year's Eve party.  She was torn apart by the Daily Prophet.