Кассандра Клэр - Draco Veritas

Harry had given Hermione a blue glass ring on a thin silver chain — she saw Draco look sideways at him when she unwrapped it, but neither of them said anything. "Thanks, Harry," she said, and put it on. Draco had given her a dark green shawl charmed to be warm in winter and cool in summer; Ginny had given her lip gloss charmed to sparkle, scented like ivy blossoms. Draco had given Ginny a box set of everything written by Aurora Twilight, from Pants of the Oppressors to Trousers, Arise!

Hermione was sure this must have some private meaning as Ginny looked quite pleased to get it.

Amid the confusion Draco quite quietly handed something to Harry that he had not put with the other gifts. It was a book, and not wrapped.

Hermione glanced up. She had to admit that she was quite curious about what Draco and Harry had planned to give each other.

Harry turned it over curiously. It was a slender book, very elegantly bound in dark green leather with a number of silver buckles holding it closed. Stamped across the front were six silver words.

"The Malfoy Family Code of Conduct," Harry read out curiously. His eyes widened. "I've heard you talk about this, but I didn't realize it was a real book."

"It is," Draco said. "And there's only one, so don't lose it or muck it up, Potter."

"Only one?"

"Only one," Draco repeated, looking amused, but serious. "It's handed down from Malfoy to Malfoy; everyone gets it on their thirteenth birthday. You're a bit late, but then I guess you're a late addition to the family."

Harry laughed. "Does this make me an honorary Malfoy, then?"

"Yes," Draco said, quite gravely. "You are my blood brother, after all."

"Then I get to keep it until…"

"Till I have any children, I suppose," Draco said, and a dark light flashed at the back of his eyes.

Harry's hand tightened on the book. "Thanks, Malfoy," he said. "I'll…I'll read it."

At that, the darkness went from Draco's expression, and he smiled. "Better you than me," he said. "It's quite boring."

Harry gave him a wobbly sort of look, then rooted around in his own pocket and drew something out. Hermione was struck by the fact that neither Harry nor Draco had bothered to wrap their presents for each other. Perhaps it was because they were boys, and therefore uninterested in presentation? Although no one could accuse Draco, with his perfectly groomed hair and elegant clothes, of being uninterested in presentation.

"Here," Harry said, and thrust something at Draco. A parchmenty something, that crackled when Draco took it.

"Harry!" Hermione exclaimed, too startled not to speak. "The Marauder's Map?"

Draco glanced up, lazy eyes sparking with curiosity. "What's the Marauder's Map?"

Sometimes Hermione forgot how short a time she and Harry had actually been friends with Draco Malfoy. She looked at Harry, who leaned down over Draco's shoulder and traced the lines on the page with his finger.

"It's the castle," he said. "You can see where everyone is all the time, so if you're in the infirmary and you want to know where we are, this'll show you. It's ace for sneaking around too, of course, and when you're better — "

"This is really impressive magic," Draco interrupted, eyebrows raised.

"Did you make this?"

"No," said Harry. "My dad made it."

Draco's eyes widened and he glanced up at Harry in surprise, but before he could say anything, the portrait door opened again and Seamus came in.

"Hello," he said, looking around the room. "Sorry I'm late."

He had a navy wool coat on and his hands were full of packages. Ginny, seeing him, reached out her hand and he went to sit beside her, dropping a kiss on her cheek. Hermione's eyes went to Draco. He had tensed all over when Seamus had come into the room, and now lay rigid on the couch, watching Seamus out of narrowed eyes. Harry, perched on the sofa arm behind him, was tapping his fingers nervously.

"Here," Ginny said a little too brightly, and handed Seamus a gift-wrapped box. Looking pleased, Seamus handed around the gifts he'd been carrying

— one for Hermione, one for Harry, and one for Draco as well. Draco did not lean forward to take his, so Harry took it for him and dropped it in his lap. Draco looked at Harry as if to say, et tu, Brute?

Harry rolled his eyes. "Thank you, Seamus," he said loudly, holding up what looked like a card for a year's subscription to Quidditch World News.

"You didn't have to."

Seamus beamed at him. "No problem, Harry. And thanks for the comic books — they're wicked."

Draco was now glaring daggers at Harry's back. Harry studiously ignored him.

"Draco," Ginny said, unexpectedly. "Open your present."

Draco turned his ferocious glare from Harry to her. "Weasley…"

"He doesn't have to open it now," Seamus said hurriedly.

Draco's eyes went flat and opaque. With a muttered curse he reached for the box in his lap and ripped it open. Something that flashed a bright silver fell out into his lap. He stared at it in silence, and everyone in the room stared at him. It was Harry, finally, who picked the gift up and held it up to the light.

It was what looked to Hermione like a small silver sculpture: carved in the shape of a narrow dragon winding around itself in several coils, it was as elegant, gorgeous, and expensive-looking as Draco himself. The eyes of the dragon were tiny green stones and its sharp teeth glittered like crystal.

Harry whistled aloud. "Nice," he said, and handed it to Draco. Draco took it in one long-fingered hand and looked at it with a blank expression.

Everyone watched him — Ginny, her wide eyes dark, Seamus looking as if he were holding his breath, and Harry with the same mixture of exasperation and fondness that Hermione felt herself. Finally, Draco said, flatly, "Does it do something?"

"Do something…?" Seamus looked uncomfortable. "No. It could be a paperweight, I guess."

"Well." Draco poked it with a finger for good measure. "It's just a little dragon ornament, then?"

"Er…yes."

"Oh, I see," Draco said as if he had just been enlightened as to something important. "A dragon. Because my name's Draco, right? And that means dragon, right? How crashingly original of you, Finnigan. I mean, nobody's ever thought of that before. Least of all me."

Seamus flushed an unhappy red, but it was Ginny who spoke.

"Draco," she hissed. "Don't."

Draco opened his gray eyes wide. "Don't what?" he inquired. "I'm just telling Finnigan here exactly what I think of his little present. Doesn't he deserve to know?"

"You're being a bastard," she said, her brown eyes level with his. "Stop it."

Seamus cleared his throat. "Ginny, it's all right — "

"No, it isn't." Ginny stood up, and yanked Seamus upright by the elbow.

She glared at Draco, her lips flattened into an angry line. "Draco," she said, her voice very clear and level. "Apologize to Seamus right now."

Draco lowered his eyelashes and smiled. "No," he said.

"Seamus has never done anything to you!" Ginny almost shouted. "And I'm tired of you treating him like this. You're just jealous."

Draco raised his eyes and the expression in them was searing enough to make Hermione wince. She wanted to reach out and restrain Ginny, tell her that this wasn't the way, that Draco would despise this kind of behavior as common and childish. But she couldn't. "Jealous?" he said in a very soft voice. "Of Finnigan?"

"You know you are," Ginny said. "You don't want me, oh no, but you don't want anyone else to come anywhere near me either because — because what? Because I'm your property? You want me to wait around for you forever? You hate Seamus because he's all the things you aren't — kind, and gentle, and truthful — "

"And stupid," Draco added. "Don't forget stupid."