Liquorice Honey (A Draco Malfoy x Reader fanfic)

11: Gingerbread in December

(A/N: This is probably my weakest chapter, purely because writing a Christmas chapter in bloody June is painstakingly difficult for me. But I had to, as I plan to link back to this closer to the end...so uh, enjoy it as best you can, but it'll probably be majorly edited and reviewed by the time Christmas actually rolls around!

Oh, and also, I'm having severe difficulty making Harry relevant without making the reader attached to him...so there may be some huge bit with Harry later on, as reader appears to be much closer with Ron and Hermione than she is with him ;-;)

(Y/N) bit proudly into the gingerbread she'd made herself from a Muggle cookbook she found in a strange shop years ago. It had taken her four attempts and a lot of precious time, but she'd managed to get a gingerbread man iced like everyone she knew; plus a few others that were requested by closer friends. (Y/N) laughed as she realised she'd bitten her gingerbread self's head off; she slipped the rest of them into bags with neatly handwritten tags (she'd tried to imitate her mother and Opal's handwritings), and put them all into her main bag ready to give out in the day. Another message from her father lay abandoned in the bottom of her bag, simply reading, ''Dear my usually forgetful daughter; do not forget to buy Draco something! You can say it's from me but—'' something had blurred out the ink past that point. She spent most of the travelling time making absolutely sure that every single gingerbread man was in there, and that no-one was scratched or cracked; eventually, she felt eyes looking into the bag. Someone stepped closer, but (Y/N) raised her arm; ''You can't have yours until we get to Hogsmeade, Ronald.'' She smiled back and was met with a sort-of glare. Eventually, they got to Hogsmeade after what felt like forever, and (Y/N) and the Golden Trio sat down so (Y/N) could hand out her confectionery. ''I, uh, apologise that it's Muggle stuff. I just found them cute...'' She shyly handed one to Hermione first, who was immediately enthralled by the attention to detail. ''Aww, it's cute! And even the tags are immaculate...don't tell me you made this yourself?'' (Y/N) nodded, blushing a little as she replied, ''Yep, managed to be allowed into the kitchens for a bit.'' She quickly pulled Harry's gingerbread man and one of the many ginger ones from the bag, mumbling, ''Oops, that's not Ron's one...'' He stepped over to peer into the bag, and sighed a little when he saw everything. There was a gingerbread man in there for all of his siblings too, as well as his parents. ''You seriously didn't have to do this,'' he said, ''But as you have, I suppose I have to accept it!'' (Y/N) rolled her eyes a little as she finally found Ron's one, and handed it to him with a smile, but as she moved her hand, Ron was sure he saw a flash of blonde looking icing and smirked knowingly at the now even more pink (Y/N). Hermione and Harry looked awfully confused, and Hermione went as far as to ask, ''Do you know something we don't, Ron?'' He shrugged, still focused on (Y/N). ''I don't know,'' he said casually as he bit into his gingerbread self, ''(Y/N) told me to stay quiet about it.'' The now huffy girl stood up sighing, as she was now being bombarded with questions; the only way to escape the situation was to say she wanted 'time to buy presents', but even that didn't work. Instead, the same girl who always seemed to thrust the mail at her arrived, half-dead with running as per usual. ''It's...huff...a Christmas card. Not from me, but...huff...from someone who was too embarrassed to give it to you...'' Hermione looked the girl up and down, and then asked shortly, ''Is this letter cursed? Is that why they didn't want to—'' the girl huffed loudly, exclaiming through her lack of breath, ''I don't...huff...make the tea, I just...huff...I just serve it, Gryffin-loser.'' She forced the letter into (Y/N)'s hand and ran off again, a dozen other Christmas cards in her hands from the people too embarrassed to send their owls. (Y/N) slipped her finger under the mint coloured seal on the back, and after flinching in response to something that didn't happen, she sighed in relief. Hermione exhaled in relief, ''I think you're safe, so read it!'' (Y/N) rolled her eyes as Ron added, ''Yeah, you never know, it might be from some secret admirer...'' (Y/N) quickly pulled the letter from the envelope and cast her eyes over it. ''To Fur (Y/N),Even the little mail witch was unhappy about having to give this to you, but I suppose I have to wish you Merry Christmas, being a family friend. So there. Merry Christmas. I guess I have to send you a Christmas present, so hurry up and tell me what you want. I don't expect anything good from you anyway.''(Y/N) smiled a little as she read; the letter wasn't signed, but the wording and general harshness alone told her exactly who it was from. With a sigh, she grabbed some paper, an envelope and the little blonde gingerbread man. She caught Ron's eye and winked, ''He took the time out of his day to wish me Merry Christmas.'' It took him a second, but then he winked back. Hermione got extremely annoyed over this, and even Harry looked a little put out; ''You two have been doing nothing but cracking jokes about something you haven't told us for the whole time we've been here!'' Hermione exclaimed, ''It's rather rude, if I do say so myself!'' (Y/N) blushed a little, looking back down at the gingerbread man in her hand. She quickly penned a message, and put it in the envelope with the gingerbread man. As if she knew there was going to be a response, the exasperated mail witch appeared again, snatching the letter from (Y/N)'s hand and saying tiredly, ''You're (Y/N) Silver-whatever...I'll take this to Malfoy as soon as I...huff...facilitate the entire damn school...'' She ran off, and fell into the snow seconds later, soaking her uniform but protecting her letters. ''So, (Y/N), you were saying? About whatever you and Ronald are so fondly laughing about?'' (Y/N) went bright pink, pulling her knees up to her face and mumbling, ''It's embarrassing, y'know. I didn't mean for Ron to know, I just kind of...'' she gestured aimlessly with her hand. ''It just kind of fell out. Merlin, if only I hadn't bloody fainted! Stupid, stupid...'' She continued to ramble into her knees for a solid thirty seconds before Hermione cut her off. ''You mean you less let him know,'' her expression was steely, ''and more so answered a question we asked last year?'' (Y/N) looked up, her face positively glowing pink, ''I...I suppose...'' She shuffled her feet against the snow a little in embarrassment. ''I just know how much you hate him, and how shallow and...and how Pansy-like I'm being!'' (Y/N) let her knees fall to the ground in exasperation, and Hermione crossed her arms. ''So what you're trying to tell us is...''Harry and Hermione fixed their rather evil glares on (Y/N), ''That you like Malfoy?'' (Y/N) squeaked loudly, pulling her shirt over her face to hide her shame. ''I, uh...'' she began to actually cry a little out of embarrassment, ''Yes! I do, and I absolutely hate myself for it! He's horrible, and he hates me, but he's just so...so...'' she gestured with her hand again, ''You get it, right?'' Hermione shook her head. ''No. You're completely mad to like a vile creature like him, you deserve much better.'' Harry chimed in quickly, ''And he ruined your reputation even more, remember?'' (Y/N) nodded, smiling ever so slightly, ''Yep, I know all of that. I just can't help it...'' she sighed a little, relieved that she'd let her secret out, ''You may as well start calling me Pansy, because well...I'm rather obsessed.'' She was met with three looks of utter confusion and a moment of awkward silence before she stood up, exclaiming, ''Right, I've got to buy Christmas stuff now. I suppose I should get the mail witch something...what was her name...? And my father, and perhaps my cousins...and...uh...'' The trio sighed at their now deeply embarrassed friend; she must have thought they were mad at her. ''(Y/N), we'll come too. I don't want you making any more whimsical little mistakes, okay?'' Hermione smiled, showing (Y/N) for definite that she wasn't angry at her. ''Yeah, you might end up ditching us completely for your new favourite person.'' Added Ron as the three set out into Hogsmeade, finishing their gingerbread selves as Harry muttered, ''She's going to get herself hurt...'' and similar things over and over, until Hermione silenced him with another steely look. The rest of the day was spent working out what in the world a boy so spoilt that he probably had everything already would want.But her friends were there, and they accepted her, so all was peaceful for a time.