Never The Same

Chapter 17- Merry Christmas

The weeks were passing by and the Christmas holidays were edging closer. Draco had informed Harry earlier in the month that he would probably be staying at school for the holidays and that Harry could go to the Weasleys, telling him he wouldn't have Harry missing out on his big family Christmas. Harry hadn't even replied and had just turned on his heel, scribbled a letter to Molly and basically catapulted himself to the Owlery, using Ron's owl, Pig, asking her if Draco could accompany him to the burrow.

He had received a very lengthy reply from Molly, firstly asking him why he had not informed her of Draco sooner, reprimanded him for that saying both Ron and Hermione had sent her letters almost immediately, he felt a little guilty then, all thoughts of telling the other Weasleys had slipped his mind the moment he was in his boyfriend's arms. She had continued with of course he and Draco were welcome at the Burrow, as were Blaise and Pansy, the more the merrier. he had smiled at that, Mrs Weasley was always accommodating no matter the personal history.

She had sent her love with the promise of lots of hugs and mince pies once the two of them arrived at the beginning of the holidays. He sighed and looked up at the Slytherin table to where Draco was animatedly chatting with Blaise about god knows what, he smiled and got up from his seat barely earning a glance from his fellow Gryffindors who knew all too well where he was going.

Over the last few weeks, they had had one too many close calls in seemingly deserted corridors or empty classrooms. In fact, his own godfather had walked in on them once not quite wearing enough clothes to be decent, Sirius had then burst into fits of laughter saying between laughs that this reminded him of when James had walked in on him and Remus for the first time.

They had both screamed at him to leave before bursting out laughing too, Harry shook his head and smiled to himself at the memory. He had reached Draco and was stood behind him, he placed a kiss to the top of his head and unfolded the letter and handed it to Draco who took it with a confused look which soon morphed into half embarrassment, and half joy.

"Harry! You shouldn't have, I would have been fine..."

Draco trailed off at the end, he knew he wouldn't have been fine and would have been miserable here without Harry but he didn't want him worrying. Now he needn't worry about Harry but worry about how on earth he was going to approach the rest of the Weasley family after practically harassing them for the last seven years, not to mention all the hateful things his father had said to them over the years.

Somehow feeling the worry radiate off him, Harry wrapped his arms around his shoulders and nuzzled his face into the crook of his neck whispering that they would love him and all would be fine, more than fine.

The start of the holidays had arrived and Harry, Draco, Pansy, Hermione, Ron and Blaise were all sat in a carriage, each talking to the respective partners, some were not talking as much as snogging, Harry looked up to Ron and Blaise,

"Guys get a room if your gonna do that the whole way"

He said only half-joking, to be fair to them the pair had got considerably better at not just snogging all the time but they did do it a considerable amount, more than him and Draco, which really was saying something. The two separated sheepishly looking at the others in the compartment muttering sorry.

Soon they had pulled up to Kings cross station and Draco gripped Harry's hand, which he thankfully squeezed back, Draco felt more nervous than he thought possible. The group made their way out of the train and toward the red-headed pair that were waiting for them. Harry, Ron and Hermione ran up to them and all three gave Mrs Weasley a hug and Mr Weasley a handshake. When Blaise approached Mrs Weasley she practically smothered him, telling him that he was more than welcome and that she was so happy for him and Ron. He was soon whisked away by Mr Weasley who spoke to him in a low voice then turned back to the group a few moments later with a cheery expression, as did Blaise, clearly pleased at how that conversation had gone.

Draco turned back to Mrs Weasley who had Pansy in her arms, she then let go and held her face in her hands smiling sweetly at her- apparently, the two had been owling back and forth over the last few months and had built up quite a relationship.

She then turned to Draco who gulped, he had no idea how this was going to go, he only hoped it would go the way he wanted to, he knew Mrs Weasley was like a mother to Harry and he knew that at the end of the day she would come before him, even if it meant breaking Dracos heart.

"Hello Mrs Weasley, we haven't met properly, or politely I should say, it's lovely to meet you and I truly apol-"

He didn't get to finish that apology however as Molly Weasley had practically engulfed him in the biggest hug she could muster, much to the surprise of Draco and the amusement of Harry. He tentatively put his arms around her frame, and once he felt more relaxed he held on tighter. He had never felt this warmth from a hug before- unless you counted Harry, his mother's hugs were always short and polite, acceptable for a Malfoy, and you couldn't even imagine Lucius giving out hugs, no the man was not one to ever show emotion. This was alien to Draco and he felt himself losing control over the kindness radiating from the Weasley mother, after all, what had Draco done to deserve this? He had basically bullied her children and her honourary child their whole time at Hogwarts, not to mention his father, while not his fault was still connected to him.

Breaking away from the hug he wiped a few tears that had escaped while in the bone-crushing hug. Molly merely smiled at him and said,

"Now, now Draco, no need to apologise, I already know, its as if Harry's godparents don't live and teach in Hogwarts and haven't been calling me every night to give me an update"

She looked over to Harry and both boys blushed beet red, what exactly had the pair told Mrs Weasley. Draco decided he rather not know.

"Right you lot, it's off to the Burrow for us, I'm afraid it will be rather cramped with all of us squashed together but I hope you don't mind, I'm expecting best behaviour from all of you!"

She said looking pointedly at the couples standing sheepishly under the woman's stern gaze.

"Of course we will"

Draco piped up, eager to please Harry's honorary mother. He received a warm smile from Molly, and a small one from Mr Weasley, he assumed he would have to talk to the man once they were at the Burrow. For now, he just grasped Harry's hand to which Harry rubbed small circles with his thumb and looked over at him smiling.

"It will be fine, love"

Draco practically died. Harry called him love. He thought he was going into cardiac arrest. He needed a Healer. Seeing this Harry chuckled softly and continued to stroke the back of Dracos hand, just enjoying the flustered state of his boyfriend as they apparated to the Burrow.

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