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"JINGLE BELLS! JINGLE bells! jingle all the—oh draco!! you're finally here!!", lily exclaimed as she skipped towards the tired male.

"why're you always wearing black? I mean, I can appreciate the fit, but it's nearly christmas and you need some color!"

"I'm actually fin—"

"here! matching green sweaters with kittens on it!!", lily smiled as she threw the clothing at draco, who was too tired to even protest.

changing into the sweater, he quickly arrived back to his dorms to change into sweatpants before showing up at lily and snape's shared room again.

"can you help me set up the christmas tree?", lily asked as she unboxed all the parts of the plastic tree along with the many ornaments and tinsel.

"how?"

lily nearly dropped the blue ornament that she was holding as she stared at draco wide eyed.

"what?", she asked in disbelief.

"what?", draco asked in confusion.

"you mean...you've never put together a christmas tree before?!"

"obviously not. my house-elves takes care of all the decoration. mother simply directs them on where to put each wreath and tinsel", draco explained.

lily pouted.

"I'm so sorry your parents robbed you of a proper childhood. anyways, come build the tree with me!", lily said as she pulled draco towards the boxes.

"but I don't know how—"

"you don't have to. just stick 'em together and you know, BAM! christmas tree", lily chuckled as she hooked each little branch of the fake tree onto the base of it all.

draco did as told, though there were a few times he had messed up, as he stuck the wrong branch on the wrong level, making the tree have a protruding branch from the center of it.

"and now it's the fun part!! we get to decorate the tree!", lily laughed, raising her arms up in excitement.

"where do I put them? there's no numbers or anything that tells me where I should place them on the tree", draco said, picking up a red ornament.

"it doesn't have to be a particular order. just place them where you feel like it resonates within you", lily grinned.

"you sound like professor trelawney", draco muttered.

"well broaden your mind dray!", lily teased, making draco crack a small smile.

the two spent a good 15 minutes placing differently shaped and colored ornaments and silver tinsel around the puffy green tree.

"usually papa and I decorate the tree and he lets me put the star on top. but since it's your first time, I suppose you can do it", lily sighed as she handed draco the wired star.

"I suppose I should be honored...?", draco unsurely said as he just stuck the star on top of the tree.

"how did it feel?? magical?!", lily giddily asked, already pulling draco towards the desk that was against the wall, away from the tree and fireplace.

"yes. very...magical", draco sarcastically stated as lily started unboxing the ginger pieces and icing contained in the boxes.

"what's this madness?", draco asked, raising a brow.

"gingerbread house building obviously! sheesh! where have you been?"

draco didn't understand why there was so much "building" to do. he also didn't understand why lily was so excited about doing something that didn't benefit her in any way.

"watch and learn. the icing is like glue. it holds the pieces together", lily explained.

"uh-huh...and what exactly are you building?"

"hogwarts of course! well, I'm leaving out a few towers so...I guess hogwarts 2.0", lily laughed.

"hm".

"what? think you can do better malfoy?", lily mocked.

draco scoffed. "how dare you? of course I can do better! just you wait!", draco proclaimed as he scrunched up his sleeves, just enough so that his mark didn't show, and ripped open the gingerbread packets.

draco examined each piece as he started piecing them together with icing, though it was harder than it looked.

the icing after all was not glue, therefore it did a poor job keeping the pieces together.

lily snickered as she watched draco struggle, making the boy scowl.

lily continued focusing on her hogwarts structure as she wiped her face using her arm since her hands were stained with icing and holding the little candy beads used to decorate her building.

"I'm done!!", lily proudly smiled as she turned to draco, who had long given up on making his gingerbread house.

the boy nearly snorted as he looked at the icing that had magically appeared upon lily's rosy cheeks.

draco wiped the icing off with a napkin.

"merlin, you're just as messy as weaselbee", draco commented, making lily gasp.

"am not! for your information, I am way more sophisticated than ron!", lily huffed, grabbing some marshmallows while she prepared the hot chocolate.

"mhm. if it weren't for the difference in hair color, I would've thought you two were related", draco chuckled.

lily then proceeded to hand draco a cuppa hot chocolate with a marshmallow floating 1/3 the way while slowly melting into the brown puddle.

"beauty and the beast or the grinch?", lily mumbled to herself as she hesitated to turn on the projector.

"obviously the grinch", draco commented as he sat on lily's bed that had ladybug covers on.

"why? because you relate to the green cynical creature?", lily asked as she pressed the play button.

draco looked at the girl with a playful glare.

lily giggled as she crawled onto her bed carefully with her hot chocolate and plate full of cinnamon cookies that were shaped like stars.

"cookie?", lily offered.

draco took one as lily snuggled closer to draco, laughing as the grinch got ready for the day.

she had a feeling that draco could relate a lot to the green creature.

"oh! and before I forget, here's your christmas present!!", lily exclaimed as she hopped out of bed to pull a small black box from under it.

handing it to draco, the male raised a brow as if asking for permission to open it.

"I found it in the room of requirements and remodeled it a bit", lily grinned, seeming proud of her work.

draco perked up at the mention of the room of requirements, nearly feeling his face drain of color by how uncomfortable he had felt when the girl said that.

"something wrong??", lily worried, to which draco replied by shaking his head.

draco took a deep breath in and out as he opened the box, revealing a silver pocket watch with detailed engravings and a long chain.

draco clicked open the pocket watch, revealing not time, but a still—muggle—picture of him and lily at the beach the previous summer.

"do you like it?? I see you wearing your black suit so often I thought you could attach it to your vest and....and you know, wear it", lily smiled.

draco simply pulled the little girl into a hug as he tightly embraced her.

lily laughed as she had assumed that draco had really appreciated her present. she hugged the male back as he was on the verge of tears.

lily's innocence had brought him greater guilt of what he needed to do for his task. he nearly wished that he had accepted snape's help. but his proudness wouldn't allow him to.

"now you're just suffocating me dray!! I can't breatheeee", lily whined as draco let go of the girl, making her dramatically take in a big breath of fresh air.

lily's face then contorted into shock.

"why're you crying?? if you didn't like the present you could've just told me. no need to express your hatred for it through tears", lily said as she wiped them away.

draco shook his head.

"I like the gift. a lot", he croaked out.

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