The Baby Project

Christmas Dinner

It was time for Christmas dinner at the Burrow, and Ara was happy she was with her grandmother in Paris. She didn't think she would be able to go to the Burrow where James would be and not fall into a million pieces and start crying. The rest of the term had gone by incredibly slow, trying to avoid him at all costs. Every time she saw him, she would start crying. She hated how much she had hurt him. She could finally see the hurt that had been written across his face, and she hated that she had been on that date. Scorpius, Hyperion, and Mary had barely left her alone after her disastrous date with Mike. She wasn't upset about it, though. She didn't ever want to be alone with him.

Her Mother and Father had been reluctant to allow her to go with her grandmother to Paris, but they came around when Cissy said it would be alright. Draco was extremely worried for his daughter and was trying to hide the fact about her. He didn't want her to be more upset if she found out how upset she was that she was hurting. He tried everything to make her feel better when she arrived home, and nothing had worked. His two oldest sons had been telling him since she had broken up with James how much she was struggling, and he couldn't believe it when he saw just how miserable she looked. 

"Ara, are you ready to go to dinner?" Cissy was calling from the other room. They had decided to have their own Christmas dinner, just the two of them somewhere nice in Paris. 

"Yes, Grandmother," Ara was happy for the first time in a while. She had really enjoyed exploring the city with her grandmother. She had learned so much in the short time that she had been there and was grateful for the distraction. The restaurant they went to was amazing, and Ara couldn't believe how beautiful it looked. 

A young boy, around Ara's age, sat them at a table, and the two talked quietly to one another while they waited for their food. 

"Grandmother?" Ara had wondered for many years why she had never come to the dinner with them and started spending more and more of the Christmas holiday away from her family. 

"Yes, dear?" 

"Why don't you ever spend the holidays with the family anymore?"

Narcissa sighed and figured her granddaughter was old enough to know the truth and braced herself for the tears that were bound to follow, "Well, it's hard to spend it with so many people that lost so much in the war. Many losses at the hand of your grandfather. I don't feel as if I deserve to spend the holidays happy. I don't deserve it."

Ara was astonished by the answer. She had never heard her grandmother even mention her grandfather, let alone the fact that he was a bad person. Of course, she knew the story and why she had never met him, but she had learned all of that from her parents. 

"You deserve every happiness," Ara said with a small smile. She loved her grandmother, and she knew that everyone else did as well.

Narcissa smiled at the young woman that sat across from her and thought about how she had deprived herself of so many Christmas's with her family, and this would be the last one. She came here as an escape, and she knew Ara had as well. Maybe it was good for both of them that they were here together. 

"Let me ask you something in return," Ara nodded at her grandmother and listened intently for what the question was going to be, "What happened between you and James? You both were so happy with one another."

"I ruined everything," Narcissa was surprised at her grandaughter's answer and urged the girl to elaborate. "Well, I was just so jealous of all the girls that were always trying to be with him and wanting to talk to him. He never understood why it made me so upset, and one night I just lost it and accused him of wanting to be with all of them over me, and I just broke up with him. I broke his heart, and he'll never forgive me."