Thank you - Drarry

Chapter 6

As winter holidays grew closer Harry didn't know what to do. On one hand he wanted to spend it with Andromeda and Teddy. Harry loved his godson and had spent a lot of time during the summer with him and his grandmother. He hated that he hadn't been able to see him since school started, and so he wanted to take the opportunity to see him during Christmas. On the other hand, he felt like he should spend the holidays with the Weasleys, as he had in the past. Fred's death had been hard on the whole family, but especially on George and Mrs. Weasley. Therefore, everyone thought that getting the whole family home for Christmas might help them.

Only, while Harry was contemplating those two options, a third one made its appearance. Headmistress McGonagall made the announcement that those who had any subject that they wanted to work a little deeper on, extra lessons would be available during Christmas break.

With the school having a senior class twice the size of what they usually had, student's schedules had been affected. In some subjects that were in high demand, the school had been forced to hire extra teachers that came in and taught only a few times a week instead of all week like the regular teachers. Harry had gotten lucky. He had been able to get spots in all of the regular classes in every subject but Defense Against the Dark Arts. Instead, he had been forced to study with the secondary Professor who only had two classes per week instead of three.

Harry, who played with the idea of becoming an auror, knew that he really should take the opportunity to take extra Defense Against the Dark Arts classes with the full-time teacher, who everyone spoke incredibly highly off. Therefore, he was really contemplating staying for the holiday to do just that. Hermione had somehow managed to study during the mission, not that Harry was too surprised. She had ahead of time gotten the right books and had brought them with her in her bag. So, she hadn't really been affected by this year's miss-matching schedule. Ron, on the other hand had not studied last year. Not that it mattered since he was set on helping George run the joke shop, now that Fred was gone. He just had to finish his last year at Hogwarts, no matter the grades. This resulted in neither Hermione or Ron having a reason to stay at Hogwarts during Christmas.

Someone who was staying at school was Draco Malfoy. McGonagall had put up a sign-up-sheet where students who wanted to stay during Christmas could sign their names. This was to give her some time to check with the students staying if they had any subjects they wanted to study as well as which ones. This would help her see what teachers would be needed during the holiday. Harry had looked at it out of curiosity and seen Draco's name at the top of the list. It had confused Harry since he knew that Draco hadn't missed any school the previous year, but he supposed there might be a different reason why the Slytherin wanted to stay. During their many conversations in class earlier in the year Harry had understood that the situation at home were quite bad for Draco right now. And Harry knew better than most how Hogwarts could become a good escape from a bad home.

In the end, with everything considered, Harry decided to stay at Hogwarts. Ron and Hermione seemed a little bummed that he wasn't going to celebrate the holiday with them at the Burrow, and they even offered to stay with him. Although Harry really appreciated the offer, he quickly declined it. Although it would feel weird to be away from each other, he didn't want to deprive them of an amazing Christmas at home.

Time flew by, and before they knew it the whole castle was fully decorated for the holidays, with big Christmas trees in the Great Hall, bows and holly, soft snow falling from the enchanted ceiling over the four house tables and mistletoes hanging everywhere. The winter holidays were upon them. The day came for his friends to go home and Harry wished them all happy holidays, promised to write and then they were all leaving.

Harry stood outside, watching them walk away towards Hogsmeade and the train. He watched them until all that was left to look at was some tiny specks of color, disappearing behind some trees. With a sight and an annoyed look at the pile of snow next to the big doors he turned around and walked back inside.

For hours he just wandered the castle. He hadn't had time to explore the whole castle since coming back, and he was impressed with how fast they had managed to put it back together after the battle. He walked past walls and windows that had been gone or broken when he had run past them a few months ago. The Slytherin's house point hourglass that had spilled green beads everywhere during the fight, was now mended and held a fair number of beads at the moment. The whole of Slytherin house had been on its best behavior all term and their points were proof of it.

In the end, Harry ended up in the library. He had come here a lot lately. It was big and therefor easy to get some alone time. He had started to go there when he needed time to think or to just be alone for a while. There was a special hidden corner in the very back of the library that he had found a few weeks ago. Hidden behind a big bookcase stood a small table, two chairs and a small window with a little windowsill to sit on where Harry loved to spend his free time. Through the window he had an amazing view of the grounds and the big lake. This is where his feet were leading him now, walking through the maze of bookshelves, humming on a Weird Sisters song. But as he rounded the last corner, he saw that his usual spot was occupied by none other than Draco Malfoy, and he was crying.