Christmas in the Burrow (Drarry)

1. The Burrow

The cold December wind was whipping around him. He had stopped feeling his fingers and toes a while ago and the pain in his ears was starting to get unbearable. He really should have grabbed a cap in his rushed departure, having long lost the strength for heating charms. The broom stick was pressing between his legs uncomfortably. As much as he loved flying, more than three hours were making him wonder why he had ever liked it in the first place. The good thing about the pain was that he stopped overthinking.

It was more or less a spur of a moment decision after he had spent half of the night tossing and turning. It was definitely not a tranquil Christmas for him.

His blue, shaking lips and his generally borderline numb body were screaming at him to finally stop flying, to get in front of a nice, warm fireplace and drink some hot chocolate. He was not sure how long it would take until he was so numb that he would fall from the sky. As much as he despised his life right now, he was not ready to die.

He let his broom drop lower carefully until the clouds were not shielding him from the sight of the world anymore. It was early in the morning and the street lights were turning off now as the fog slowly lifted from the tiny world below him. He could make out a small city. He reckoned it was not the best idea to land where many people could see him. There was a small wood covering the east and north side of the city. For a moment he thought about searching for refuge there, but the image of himself alone in the woods made him turn away quickly. There were houses scattered in the outskirts, far enough not to see each other but close enough for walking distance.

He took a chance and lowered his himself close to a rather big wooden building. The lower he got, the more he noticed the... interesting architecture. It looked rather rickety and Draco was sure that it was a home of magical folk. Without magic, this house would have collapsed at once. It was a huge contrast of his own home. For a moment, Draco thought about looking for another refuge, but the thought of flying further made him feel like fainting.

So he lowered himself onto the ground and approached the house carefully. He had no idea who it belonged to. The more the thought about it, the more wary he got. Those where wizards and witches, probably. And if they found out why he was not at home with his family, they could send him either to Azkaban, or straight to The Dark Lord, depending on their world view.

He was quivering and shaking from coldness and fear. He had two options. Either, fly away again and probably freeze to death, or building up the courage to knock on the door and see what happened. If the inhabitants did not want him there, he could still fly away and freeze to death. With that in mind, he walked up to the wooden door more determinedly.

Reaching the crooked door, he lifted his hands... before loosing his nerves again. His clattering teeth and shivering skin were screaming for warmth, but his heart was beating fearfully in his chest. Fear might be the dominating emotion during his past half year.

Before he could think of another plan, though, his decision was made by someone else.

He hear faint voices on the other side of the door, a voice of a man shouting "Bye, dears." And suddenly, the door opened. The tall, thin man almost walked him over as he stood there frozen, from the cold and from the shock. The tall man took a step back. He had balding red hair and a confused frown on his face. "Draco Malfoy?"

Draco looked back at the man in fear. He recognized him immediately. Arthur Weasley was working for the ministry, and he was fighting for the light side. He would send Draco straight to Azkaban. And The Dark Lord would get him out to use him for his purposes. He would be right back to square one, but worse, because he had tried to escape.

"Arthur?" A female voice broke their stare and a quite corpulent, but friendly looking woman appeared behind Arthur Weasley, trying to look over his shoulder. "What's going on? Why are you not leaving? I thought you were in a rush."