A Forbidden Love

Chapter 38: Gifts Gone Wrong

Christmas morning finally arrives. I wake up early and see only a small stack of presents at the foot of my bed. There are maybe four or five there. I silently hope none of them are from my friends because I forgot to get them something. I sift through and see that none of them are.  In fact, they're all from Ms. Brown.

Me and my friends are passed gift giving. We're at that age where we don't really want gifts from each other. We leave that up to our Significant Others.

I quickly open up the four gifts and the card. The gifts are the usual. They're just some books and games. I mean, I'm not complaining. I love books, but they're nothing special.

The card, however, is shocking. I open the card and pull out a normal looking Christmas card. Inside, though, are the adoption pages. The message on the inside of the card reads:

Dear Draco,

I signed the papers, but it requires a signature from your current guardian. Unfortunately, your parents are still your registered guardians. Unless you can convince them to sign, I can't legally adopt you. I'm sorry. I hope you can still enjoy your Christmas and your school year.

I love you.

Ms. Brown

I sit there for a few minutes looking over the papers and the message. I can't believe this. I try to think of ways to get them signed, but the only thing that comes to mind is forgery because I know they'd never give up ownership of me. Normally, I would have no problem forging, but I can't on something as legally based as this. That's very illegal. That's like huge fine or jail time illegal.

I throw the papers down in frustration. I guess I could try a note. I quickly write one to my parents. I write:

Dear Lucius and Narcissa,

As you probably remember, we have had a few disagreements lately about my sexuality. For that reason, I no longer accept my place in the family. I hope you feel the same. If you do, I ask that you sign the adoption papers I have included in the later.

Sincerely,

Draco

I cringe when I realize I wrote Lucius and Narcissa instead of Mom and Dad. As much as I hate them, it hurts to know that I don't even have to think about disowning them at this point. It's just natural now.

I pocket the letter and the papers. Engrossed in writing, I don't notice Theo wake up next to me.

"You okay?" he asks.

"Yeah. Why?" I ask, confused.

"You threw those papers down a bit harshly. Not to mention, you practically tore up the paper writing whatever you were writing."

"Oh." I rub the back of my neck in embarrassment. "Yeah. I'm fine."

He eyes me suspiciously. "Whatever you say." Then he adds, "I'm not going to judge you, if you want to talk about it."

"I'm fine!" I yell, still frustrated about the papers.

"Okay, okay. Geez." He holds up his hands in surrender.

Everyone begins to stir because of my yelling. Before any of the rest of them can question me, I storm out of the room, still in my pj's. At this point, it doesn't even bother me.

I walk up to the owlery and send off the note and papers. Then, I go and sit outside the Great Hall, until the doors open for breakfast. I walk over to our section of the table and sit there, enjoying the silence.

After about five minutes, the kids still at school begin to file in. My friends sit down quietly. I'm happy they don't try to talk to me.

I mindlessly eat my breakfast, ignore any Merry Christmases from friends or teachers. I am only here for one reason.

Finally, I hear the screech of an owl. Everyone looks around, shocked, knowing there's never post on Christmas. I smile to myself as Hedwig flies in with the broom. She drops it right in front of Harry. He tears it open and grabs the note before it lands on the floor. He looks at me and smiles.

Just then, McGonagall walks up and grabs the broom. I see Potter fight it, but in the end, McGonagall wins. I run out of the hall in anger.

I run all the way to the Room of Requirement, hoping Harry will know to find me there. He does and I'm thankful. I kiss him and sit down on one of the chairs in the room, sadly.

"I'm sorry about the broom. McGonagall kept insisting she had to check it for bugs, just in case it came from Black. I tried to tell her it came from you, but she wouldn't have it. Why would Black even send me a broom?"

I bite my tongue. "I don't know." It hurts to lie to him.

"Any way, I have a gift for you. This should cheer you up."

He pulls a perfectly wrapped package from behind his back and hands it to me. I look at it, turn it over, and examine it. I can't figure out what it is.

"Go on," he urges. "Open it." He's smiling widely.

I tear open the wrapping paperand pull out a box. I open the box, and the contents take my breath away. Inside is a pendant with a dragon on it. It's so perfect, it has a yellow glow to it.

"Aww!" I exclaim. "It's so perfect." He knows I love dragons.

"Put it on." he says excitedly. "I want to see what you look like in it."

"Why don't you help me," I say with a side eye.

He smiles and grabs the pendant. He places it around my neck and fastens it. Suddenly, I feel sick. My insides begin to feel jumbled. I notice my nails grow and my hand turns into a paw.

"What is happening to me!" I scream.

"I don't know! You're... You're turning into a dragon."

"Holy crap!" I explain. I choke as fire begins to blow out of my mouth.

"The necklace! It must be the necklace!"

He hops on my tail and climbs my back. This is not the way I expected him to be riding me for the first time. When he reaches my neck, he grabs the pendant and unfastens it. As quickly I changed, I change back.

"Woah!" I say.

"Woah is right."

"What kind of dragon was it? Do you know?"

"I'm not sure." As if on cue, a book on dragons appears, laying open on the Hungarian Horntail page.

"That's it! That's the one!" Harry exclaims.

"Nice!" That's one of the most dangerous dragons. That thought puts a smile on my face. "Thank you so much. I love this."

"I thought you might."

That's when I remember Harry's other gift. "Oh yeah," I say. "I got you another gift."

"Awesome! Thank you!" he says.

I hand him the other gift I got him, which appeared as soon as I thought of it. He tears it open. I eagerly look at his face, wanting to take in his expression. Shockingly, he looks confused.

"It's a book," he says, sounding as confused as he looked.

"Yes, I know!" I say excitedly.

"What am I supposed to do with it."

The smile is wiped from my face. "You read it?"

"Oh. So it's just for fun?"

"Yeah." Why isn't he more excited about this?

"Oh. Thanks." He doesn't sound happy. He doesn't like it.

I start to cry. "You don't like it!" I exclaim.

I run out of the room in tears. I hear him call after me, but I don't care. This whole day has been awful. Except for the cursed necklace, nothing good happened to me today. This was the worst Christmas ever. Why must my life suck?