by your side. [ d. malfoy ]

➵ | forty- two, the necklace

— christmas. after spending summer with the weasleys theo decided thana was spending christmas with him and his family. theo meant a lot to thana, even after all the fights with draco and their friendgroup completely falling apart he was still her best friend. so of course she accepted his offer. she secretly hoped to be able to celebrate it twice, knowing the notts made it into some sort of weekend thing by celebrating it before everyone else.

she hugged fred one last time, "yes i promise i'll write." she said for the 100th time that day. fred smiled and slowly pulled her closer to kiss her goodbye. "hey thana where's my kiss?" george joked when he got a hug.

•••

it had been pretty long since thana saw theodore's parents. she had met them a few years ago when she celebrated christmas with the malfoys. they had a tradition, every year the christmas dinner was hosted at someone's house and the others would come by. every year someone else had to host. they would have their christmas dinner before it was officially christmas and the days after that would be filled with sleepovers, way to expensive drinks and more presents. thinking about this tradition she realised it. "theo please don't tell me its your turn to host." luckily for theo his parents entered the room and saved him from that question.

"thana! we've missed you my dear! how are you? theodore told us about the recent... events and that must've been hard for you." thana smiled at mrs nott's kindness, not sure which one of the events she was talking about. mr nott shook her hand and as he did thana noticed the sign on his arm. she knew theodore's father was a death eater but seeing it from so close made her dizzy. "your father wants me to wish you a merry christmas." he said hesitatingly. "and thats my cue to show you your room thana, come on." theo dragged her away from the possible problematic conversation and the brunette sighed deeply. "he wishes me a merry christmas?" she scoffed in disbelief.

•••

after theo and thana had done their christmas shopping they wrapped their gifts together. it felt nice to be away from all the drama, they just talked about the most random things. theo had left thana's room so they could both get dressed and thana stared at her reflection. the red dress was long, it fell down at her feet and it fitted perfectly. theo's mother came in and helped her do her hair. "theodore also told me about you and draco."

"there is no me and draco."

"yes that's exactly what he told me. you know he's coming too tonight? he probably doesn't know you're here but i'm sure he'll be happy to see you again." the woman put her hands on her shoulder and smiled at their reflection. "you look beautiful dear."

"come in, come in!" thana sat up straight and took a deep breath as the malfoys entered the room. luckily for her the nott's had made sure the two weren't seated next to each other.

draco didn't expect to see her there. the red dress she was wearing looked beautiful on her, she looked beautiful. he stopped and heard his father mumble some insults before sitting down on his own chair but draco couldn't move. they had been ignoring each other for so long and the only conversations they had were arguments. he could think of so many things to say and so could she. she remembered in their third year how she told him 'my eyes are here' but the problem was that he was looking right into her eyes.

the silence ended when narcissa swung her arms around thana. "thana dear! it's been so long, we've all missed you this summer. i'm so sorry about what happened." the brunette smiled, she didn't even realise how much she missed narcissa. the next person who walked up to her was someone she definitely didn't miss. "nice to see you again, narcissa is right, it really has been long." he shook her hand and thana scoffed quietly, "its not been that long, weren't you there when he killed my friend? but yes, wonderful seeing you again lucius, always a pleasure."

the rest of the dinner went better than expected. some other families had arrived after the malfoys did and they did all the talking. thana tried not to let it get to her but she felt draco's eyes on her the entire time. once they were almost done blaise's mother turned to thana, "i've heard you've been dating a weasley?" the girl nodded, "what a shame. you could be with so many better boys like my son blaise or draco over there but you still chose someone like him?" thana scoffed, "actually i have dated your son but he cheated on me. and if i hear one of you say one more bad word about that family i'm out of here."

•••

"leave me alone malfoy."

she didn't have to turn to see who was standing behind her, the smell of green apples and cologne gave away his identity. "we have to talk. no arguments, no insults." thana turned around and made a gesture for him to join her in sitting on the swinging couch.

"if this is all about me dating fred and me spending the summer at their house you should leave. your father watched as he killed my best friend, so i'm sorry but i wasn't looking forward to having to be with him in the same room for more than an hour. and lets not forget that you were the one who didn't write me back." thana said, not thinking about what she said. "last year was... a rollercoaster but we made it through right? we're still here."

after the talk they all changed into more comfortable clothes and got ready to open up the presents. it went better than expected and thana's warning during dinner clearly impressed them because when she opened the package that the weasleys had send her none of them said a word. she proudly put the sweater on and put the letter in her pocket so she could read it later. the last gift was also for the slytherin girl. she opened the package and it revealed a beautiful green locket. she carefully opened the box and read the little note.

merry christmas thana, i've had this for a while and didn't know when to give it to you but christmas seems like a perfect moment. if you want to have a talk about our friendship ( again ) ask if i can help you put it on. if you dont want to talk to me just put it in your pocket.

she slowly opened the locket and it revealed a picture that rita took last year, in the tent before the first task. on the other side it showed a picture of them in thana's first summer at the malfoy manor.

the memories came back before thana could lock them out. this was draco, her best friend draco and awkward flirting draco. eventually she sighed and looked at the already staring boy, "can you help me put it on?" draco nodded and held back a smile as he put the necklace on. everyone else left to give them some privacy and thana stared at the beautiful christmas tree, waiting for him to start the conversation.

"you were one of my first real friends. you're not like theo and blaise. when i told my mom about the situation she asked me a question that made me realise how much i needed you. she asked me: 'if hogwarts was ending, like a war or something, and you could only save yourself and one person, who would that person be?' and it surprised me how fast i answered that."

thana shook her head. this was a whole new draco. this wasn't the draco she used to be friends with but it also wasn't the draco she saw after they got out of the train. "as cute as that sounds i'll have to pass. if there was a war at hogwarts we'd probably be on opposite sides. and my friends would hate me for being friends with you, all you do is try to make them upset." the blonde shook his head, "who was there for you when they dropped you?" draco raised his voice and as soon as he noticed he calmed himself down again. "can we at least be nice to each other? i don't like the whole ignoring thing at all."

thana nodded. she wanted to be friends again but she simply didn't know if it would make the situation any better, so being nice and hoping for friendship was the best option here. "sure. but that includes my friends and fred, you'll have to be nice to them too." draco nodded and thana even saw a small smile playing on his lips when he stood up to go home. "hey draco?" the boy turned around and looked at her, waiting for her to continue and secretly hoping she'd confess something. "thank you for the necklace."

thana was just happy the ignoring was over, she was happy that there could be a possible friendship again. draco was happy too. but in a different way. he was happy that thana didn't put the gift in her pocket and he was happy that he now had the chance to somehow win her back. draco malfoy was still draco malfoy and he wanted more, he didn't realise it but he wanted more than friendship, making him feel even more guilty about what he had to do.