You're Safe With Me ( Draco Malfoy )

Chapter Nine

There was excitement in the air as the students of Hogwarts awoke, rushing to their windows to see the grounds covered in a thick layer of snow. The morning light reflected off of the white blanket which covered the grounds and rooftops of the castle. Even the forbidden forest didn't look quite as menacing with snowflakes resting on the top of the trees, though most people still wouldn't dare to go in there.

As they sat at breakfast, the group of friends greedily ate all of the hot food that had been laid out in front of them. Of course, Ron ate the most, seeming to practically inhale half of the food. Suddenly, the windows of the great hall burst open and the owls came flying in, a marvellous mix of colours swooping over the students heads dropping letters and packages down to their owners. Alice wasn't expecting to get any mail, which is why she was surprised when her own owl landed in front of her, a letter in its claw. Making sure to be gentle, Alice took the letter off of her owl, giving him a small piece of bacon off of her plate before he flew off.

"What's that?" Ron asked through a mouthful of food, Lavender sat next to him holding on to his arm. It was as if she couldn't physically let go of him, which Alice could imagine getting rather draining after a while.

"Well, does it look like I've opened it?" Alice asked back, raising an eyebrow at her friend who merely shrugged and went back to shovelling food in his mouth like there was no tomorrow. Alice tore off the seal and pulled out the letter, unfolding the paper and reading it.

My dearest Alice,

We will begin with you, how has returning to Hogwarts been? Have you been keeping up with your studies? Enjoying yourself? I assume you've reunited with your old friends again, I'd love to hear about your school life. I'm missing you more and more every day, I keep a picture of you as a child and your Mother on my desk, it inspires me to keep working, your Mother was never the type to give up and neither are you.

And then, we move on to me. I'm sorry to say this but I'm being made to work over Christmas, meaning you can't come home for the holidays as I won't be there and hate the idea of you spending Christmas alone. This will, I'm afraid, mean you'll have to stay at Hogwarts for Christmas. I wouldn't worry if I were you, though, at least your Christmas dinner won't be burned by me!

I miss you dearly,

I love you- Your Father

Alice felt her eyes glaze over with tears, she loved her Father more than anyone else in the world and it broke her heart that they wouldn't be able to spend Christmas together. Harry, who had been reading over Alice's shoulder and noticed that she was getting upset, put his arm around her shoulders and pulled her in to a hug. She leaned in to his shoulder to hide her face and try to compose herself, not wanting everyone to see her cry.

"Oh dear! What's wrong?" Lavender asked, even her voice was irritating.

"Nothing, don't worry about it." Harry brushed her off on Alice's behalf, turning his body sightly so no one could see her tears. He knew that his best friend wouldn't want to talk about it, especially not to Lavender of all people. "Ron, Hermione, let's head off."

Harry stood first, helping Alice up. Luckily she had managed to compose herself and didn't look like she had been crying, but she was crushed on the inside. Hermione and Ron stood, too, Lavender protesting when Ron took his arm away from her.

"Won-Won! Where are you going?" She whined, sounding annoyed that he was leaving. "I had so much planned for us to do today!"

"I'm going with my friends, another time, yeah?" He replied, an irritated undertone to his voice. Alice picked up on this, and silently prayed for him to break up with her soon.