Draco Malfoy normally loathed Yule. The carolers, the whiny kid-brats, and the family togetherness- it all made him sick. In fact, he usually made a point of staying inside his cramped, one-bedroom apartment until the Yule songs had sufficiently died, and the beggars were safe at home in their cardboard boxes, starving and itching their lice ridden scalps. Draco Malfoy was every bit a Scrooge, as his girlfriend told him each year.

“Come on Draco, I can’t wait out here forever!” Ginny whined, stamping her foot impatiently. He had been in the bathroom for over an hour, ‘getting ready’ for holiday shopping. This, of course, meant casting every single protecting charm he could think of; he apparently knew enough to fill one of the large volumes Hermione Granger used to carry around school for ‘light reading’. “If you don’t hurry up, we’ll miss all of the good sales!”

“I’m coming,” came his muffled reply. He stalked out of the bathroom, shoulders hunched, wrapped up in layers of what he liked to call ‘Woolie-Wealsey’ sweaters. Ginny covered her mouth to hide her grin.

“Alright, let’s go.”

“Stop laughing.”

“I’m not laughing…” Of course, whenever someone says that, they end up laughing anyway. Ginny was no exception to this rule. Draco narrowed his eyes at her; he hated being teased.

“If your mother would stop sending me these repulsive things…” he trailed off, gesturing to the top-most sweater. It was a dark forest green with a grey D emblazoned across the chest.

“You don’t have to wear them,” Ginny pointed out, grabbing the scarf one of her nieces had made her the previous year. Draco crossed his arms, which was an impressive feat considering how bulky the layers of wool made his chest.

“You would scold me if I didn’t. Then you’d tell your mother, and she’d scold me as well,” he sulked, not budging when his girlfriend made for the door. Ginny turned to him and rolled her eyes.

“Mum wouldn’t lay a finger on you…”

“She doesn’t need to; she has that infernal spoon of hers,” he grumbled, taking Ginny’s arm in his.

“Stop whining. We could have been done by now, had you not taken so long getting ready,” Ginny chastised.

“Yes, mum,” Draco snapped. Ginny gave his arm a playful smack and then they were out the door.

---

As it turned out, Draco’s time in the bathroom was well spent. The couple spent the day dodging stray curses some of the more competitive shoppers would cast. The market was a regular zoo - filled to the brim with whiny kid-brats. Draco sneered at each and every one of them.

“Promise me we’ll never have children,” he muttered under his breath as he watched one particularly energetic strawberry-blonde pitch a tantrum for sweets. Ginny gave him a funny look.

“Who said I’d want to have kids with you anyway,” she remarked flippantly. Draco’s face took on a wounded expression, but Ginny failed to notice- she was already browsing a cart full of women’s clothing. “You think Mum would like these?” she asked, holding up two rather large sundresses.

Draco shrugged, shoving his hands in his trouser pockets. Why wouldn’t she want to have kids with him? Did she think that they’d have ugly babies? Nonsense! Every other Malfoy baby had been beautiful (with the exception of Uncle Albert).

Ginny sighed when she noticed his sullen expression. “What’s wrong with you?” she asked, looking down at him. Despite his growth spurt in seventh year, Ginny was still an inch taller. He scowled.

“Nothing…” he mumbled. Ginny studied him for a second then turned back to shopping.

“Should I get the blue one or the yellow one?”

“The yellow one…”

“Really?”

“Sure,” he snapped. If she didn’t want to have kids with him, then why was she still hanging around? He was sure he would make a wonderful father; all he’d have to do was discipline the little kid-brats. Or he could bribe them with sweets; they’d probably inherit the sweet tooth that both he and Ginny shared.

“I don’t know… It's a bit pricey…”

He wondered how many kid-brats Ginny would want to have. Hopefully no more than four.

“Draco?”

Then again, large families always seemed to be much happier… What if she wanted seven children like her mother had? What if they had twins… or triplets?

“Draco? Are you feeling okay?” Ginny asked, touching her hand to his forehead. “Dear Merlin, you’re burning up! We’ve got to get you home…”

“I’m fine…” he protested as she hurriedly paid for the yellow sundress.

“Oh no, you’re not! I bet you’ve caught the flu. It’s been going around work. Cassandra’s boyfriend, you know the one who works on level eight, caught it last week…”

“I’m fine…” Draco repeated feebly. Despite his complaints, Draco was literally dragged out of the market.

---

“I can’t believe you’ve gotten sick again! I thought I told you to eat healthy and stay away from those awful bathrooms at the Ministry? The facilities are absolutely filthy there…” Ginny rambled, as she Accioed the ingredients for a Pepper-Up Potion. Draco looked up miserably from his spot on the couch. As soon as they had gotten home (or rather, to his flat. Ginny had a place of her own, but he rarely reminded her of that fact), she had bundled him up with three large quilts and shoved him on to the couch to ‘rest’.

“Is this really necessary?” he groaned. He hated Pepper-Up Potions; they tasted foul. The withering glare she sent him was answer enough.

He wondered if she’d always fuss over him like this. Perhaps she’d be one of those old birds who’d constantly adjust her husband’s tie or fix his hair in public. Perhaps she’d go completely batty with old age. He smiled at the thought.

Ginny took the opportunity to shove a large spoon full of Pepper-Up into his mouth.

“You crazy wench!” he coughed, making most of the potion spilling out of his mouth as he did so. Ginny’s mouth quivered dangerously. Draco silenced his coughing and braced himself. That quiver was a telltale sign of-

“I can’t do anything right! I can’t even take care of my own boyfriend when he’s sick!” Ginny wailed, bursting into tears. “Mum’s right, I’m going to be an absolutely horrid wife!”

Draco let out a loud ‘OOF!’ when she fell on top of him. She continued to sob into the quilt wrapped around him. He would have put his arms around her, had his arms not been bundled up in the quilts as well.

“Ginny, darling…”

“What?” she sniffled, looking up at him with watery eyes.

She’d make a wonderful wife. Sure, she could be a bloody handful, but it would be worth it…

“You’re smushing me.”

For some reason, she began to cry harder.

---

“Alright, let’s try this again…” Ginny said, a spoonful of Pepper-Up poised over her boyfriend’s mouth.

“Do we have to? I mean, I’m feeling a little better already, see?” he said, smiling for effect.

“Draco…” she warned, her lip beginning to quiver.

“Okay! Ahhhhhh,” he said, opening his mouth wide.

Ginny quickly dumped the spoonful of Pepper-Up into his mouth and watched as he swallowed it all. She wasn’t a very good nurse, but she sure did cheer him up. He could imagine her playing with their kids, packing the children's lunches for primary school, or trying to fix a large family meal...

It wasn't long before he was asleep.

---

Draco woke up to a slightly uncomfortable weight on his stomach. It took a few eye blinks and yawns later to realize that it was Ginny sleeping on top of him, her trademark red hair spread over his chest. She looked so peaceful when she was sleeping… That is, until he heard her snoring. Not that her snores were masculine or anything… They were just… loud.

“Ginny,” he whispered, shifting to try to wake her up. He winced when she rolled off him and hit the floor with a loud THUMP.

“Ooooww! Draco, you jerk!” she snapped, standing up slowly with a hand nursing the back of her head. She glared at him. He looked like he was in a cocoon of blankets, like a large quilt worm… then she remembered why he was wrapped in the blankets in the first place. “Oh! Are you feeling better? Does your head hurt? What about your stomach? Your temperature feels like it’s getting back to normal, then again, you can never be too sure…”

“I’m fine, Ginny… thanks to your amazing nursing skills,” he added with a wink. She narrowed her eyes at him.

“I’ll pretend I didn’t hear that. What time is it?" she asked as she looked towards the wizard clock on the wall. "CRAP! If we don’t get ready soon, we’ll be late for the dinner at Mum’s!” she cried, practically running to his room.

“Your dress is hanging in the wardrobe!” Draco called, trying to wiggle free from the confines of his quilt prison. Ginny ran back out of the room with her dress halfway zipped up and hair spilling across her shoulders in wild curls.

“Why aren’t you ready yet?” she snapped hysterically, looking for her high-heels.

“For some reason, my girlfriend thought it would be funny to turn me into a human egg-roll,” he hinted, still wiggling for freedom. Ginny paused and stared, taking in the sight of Draco Malfoy squirming in a tight roll of quilts on his couch. She began to laugh. He fell off the couch. She laughed harder.

“Sorry, I forgot…” she gasped between giggles, running to help unroll him. She grabbed the edge of a quilt and pulled.

Dizzy and a bit disoriented, Draco stumbled to the ground with his arms flailing. He hit the ground with a loud THWUMP. Ginny’s mouth formed a small ‘o’ and her bottom lip began to quiver once again.

“No, no, I’m fine. Just get ready,” Draco said hastily, using the couch as leverage to pull himself to his feet.

“Help zip me up?” she asked coyly, the corners of her mouth lifting into a smirk. Draco raised an eyebrow as she gathered her hair across her shoulder to reveal a very bare and very freckled Ginny-back.

His mouth went dry.

“Sure,” he croaked, feeling clumsy as he walked over to her. He slowly zipped her dress up, internally bemoaning the loss of the speckled skin as it was replaced by black cloth. He winced as the zipper caught on a loose strand of her hair.

“OW!”

“I’m sorry…”

“Just… Never you mind, I’ll do it,” she snapped, stomping towards the bathroom. Draco frowned; leave it to him to mess up a perfectly romantic moment. He’d have to make it up to her later on.

---

“What took the two of you so long? We were about to eat with out you!” Molly Weasley exclaimed as she enveloped her daughter, and then her daughter’s boyfriend, into a large bear hug. Draco smiled nervously. Surely Ginny wouldn’t mention it.

“Draco was feeling a bit under the weather today, Mum,” Ginny stated, stepping past her mother and into the kitchen. Draco glared at her retreating back; she had mentioned it.

“Oh, you poor dear! Let me check your temperature! Have you eaten anything? Oh, of course not, that’s why you’re here… Well, come on then, let’s put a little meat on those bones of yours. I swear, what has Ginny been feeding you?” Mrs. Weasley rambled, dragging him by the arm into the kitchen. The Weasley men all smirked at him as they watched their matriarch shovel mounds and mounds of food onto the overwhelmed man’s plate. “You poor thing, no wonder you’re so small. You must not have had a proper diet when you were younger. Such a shame. Well, eat up then, we haven’t got all night!”

Draco nodded obediently and began to pick at the large helping of food on his plate.

---

Draco watched with a smile as Ginny tore through her presents. She let out loud exclamations over each one - even the poorly made picture frame one of her nieces had made her. Draco craned his neck. She was getting to his present now. Her eyes lit up when she found the small velvet box. He failed to notice the slight dimming of her joyous expression when she discovered that the box only contained a silver bracelet.

“Uncle Draco.”

Draco looked down at the young tyke who was pulling on one of his trouser legs. The pigtailed girl smiled up at him, her freckled cheeks dimpling. He bet Ginny’s kids would be even cuter, especially if he was their father. “I made this for you…” she whispered shyly, holding up a small present wrapped in an old comics section of the Daily Prophet. Draco gave her a reassuring smile before taking the present from her eager hands. “It’s a drawing of you,” she said excitedly, before he had a chance to see it himself.

“So it is,” he said, holding the picture up to the light. It was a strangely proportioned drawing of what seemed to be a blond haired wizard with a blimp-like head and extremely pointy nose. His smile grew strained. Hey, the kid-brat meant well… “Thank you, Cecelia, it’s beautiful,” he mumbled, giving her a small, polite hug.

She scowled at him and kicked him in the shin.

“I’m Felicia!” she cried, running away.

Bloody Weasley women; they were all insane.

---

Draco clutched at his leg and moaned.

“Remind me to never, ever talk to that kid again,” he groaned, lying down on his couch. Ginny rolled her eyes as she locked the door and took off her coat. She dumped the load of presents they had received- well, Ginny had received - by the couch and stomped towards the kitchen. Draco looked over the back of the sofa, craning his neck to see if he could tell what had gotten his sweetheart in to such a tizzy. "Darling?” he called, getting a bit worried.

She stuck her head around the door frame.

“One sec, I’m making us a bit of hot chocolate,” she stated, her voice a bit cooler than he would have liked. Perhaps he shouldn’t have left her alone with Potter while he ‘rested’ in the kitchen… maybe they had rekindled some sort of romance and she was planning on leaving him!

Gods, his leg hurt.

Ginny walked out of the kitchen with two mugs of steaming cocoa in hand. “Here,” she said, handing him the blue one. He took it from her hesitantly; there was a strange gleam in her eyes.

He looked down at his cup of hot chocolate and nearly swallowed his tongue.

Floating amongst the chocolaty goodness were the words ‘Harry & Me’ written out in deceptively cute marshmallows.

All leg pain was forgotten.

“WHAT!” Draco yelled, nearly sloshing his cocoa everywhere.

Ginny looked up at him, wide-eyed and startled.

“Y-you don’t like it?” she whispered. His girlfriend was crazy, that much he was sure of.

“Why would I like it?” he snapped, his vision blurring. “It’s because of the bracelet isn’t it? I told Blaise you didn’t like girly things like that!” Damn, his eyes were leaking again.

Ginny wouldn’t know. She was staring into her mug as if it held the secrets of the world. She didn’t even seem to be listening to him after his first outburst.

“I… I thought it was the right time… I mean, we’ve been together for four years now and it’s Yule after all…” she cried.

Draco squinted; her eyes were leaking too. He paused and looked back at the mug.

The marshmallows floated and rearranged themselves to say: “Marry Me.”

Cheeky little buggers.

“Oh,” he whispered. “I thought… I mean, the marshmallows must have… It said ‘Harry & Me’ at first,” he finally blurted. Ginny let out a shaky laugh and wiped her eyes.

“What?”

“I thought you… I thought you were breaking up with me…” Draco muttered, feeling more than a bit foolish. “But you were proposing to me… I get it.” He looked up to see Ginny staring at him expectantly. “What?”

“Well? Will you?” she asked, holding her breath.

“Marry you?”

“Yeah.”

“Of course,” he answered automatically, setting his mug down. Ginny set her own hot chocolate down and stared at her hands.

"It was a stupid idea, wasn’t it?” she mumbled. He put his arm around her shoulder.

“Hm?”

“The hot chocolate and marshmallows… I mean, I thought since we first kissed because of chocolate it would be a good idea,” she explained, snuggling up to his chest.

“It was cute.”

Only his Ginny would think of something like proposing with marshmallows and chocolate.

“Really? You aren’t just saying that, are you? I mean, I can take the criticism if it was horrid. I hadn't really planned it out well, but I was tired of waiting for you to finally ask. You can be so thick-headed sometimes, and...”

“Ginny!” he interrupted. She looked up at him.

“Hm?”

“Shut up.”

She let out an indignant cry and slapped him on the shoulder.

“That's it! No more chocolate for you!” she huffed, taking their mugs back to the kitchen. Draco watched her intently as she walked back to the kitchen. He noticed a distinct wiggle in her walk.

That was the girl he was going to marry. They’d have a brood of the cutest kid-brats ever. They’d still be in love when she was a crazy old bird and he was a sour old fart.

Draco smiled despite his loss of chocolate.


FIN