The solstice curse 15/25

[herumtreiber]

Title: The Solstice curse 15/25
Author: herumtreiber
Word Count: 1,097
Rating: PG-13
Prompt: Day 15 traditional - snowman
Warning: Humor
Disclaimer: JK Rowling owns them, not me. This is for mischief's sake, not profit.
Author's Notes: This is for slythindor100 's Christmas challenge picture prompts. Sequel of Part one,  Part two,  Part three, Part four,  Part five, Part six, Part seven, Part eight, Part nine, Part ten, Part eleven, Part twelve, Part thirteen & Part fourteen

"Buy Malfoy some Chocolate Frogs," Ron said, gazing at his friend.

"No, that's too simple and Draco's raging mad," said Harry.

"I know he likes books, so why don't you dash off to Oxford Street and buy him one?" suggested Hermione.

"Books are too impersonal," said Harry, recoiling at Hermione's glare at his answer.

"Turn him into a hippogriff and ride him," piped up George.

"Are you barmy?" growled Harry and then he looked around. "Where's Fred anyway?"

"He's around," said George mysteriously, wiggling his eyebrows. "On secret WWW business."

Harry rolled his eyes.

George glanced at the clock over the mantelpiece and stood up. "Well, I have to go, my dear gits. You should do what I say, Harry."

George Apparated into Malfoy Manor. He stuck his wand into his robes but before he could ask the house-elf the whereabouts of Draco and Fred, he heard a smooth, cultured voice, "Mr Weasley, if you please."

He whirled around and then nodded, "Mrs Malfoy."

Narcissa stared at him. "You know Slytherins have long memories, don't you?"

"Really?" said George casually.

"I can assure you of that. I remember Draco telling me about the time you and your brother held him whilst Harry beat him up."

George gulped at her menacing tone.

"But I will let bygones be bygones, as long as you and your brothers help Draco this time." Narcissa said sweetly, stepping towards George to nudge the collar of his shirt. "Understood?"

"Yes," breathed George.

"Draco and Fred are in the parlour," said Narcissa, walking towards the door. She called over her shoulder, "Please tell Draco the anchor is a portkey that will take him to any place in the vicinity."

"Why don't you tell him?" said George sceptically.

"I don't want my son to think I'm too Slytherin."

George rolled his eyes. "Fine, then."

oOoOo

"Will we have to wait for long, Weasley?" drawled Draco, staring at the snow that coated the garden.

At that moment, George knocked on the door and entered, waving at the two wizards. "Oi, blond and ginger gits!"

"Do you have it, old chap?" said Fred.

"In my pocket," said George.

Noticing Draco's raised eyebrow, George took out a Knut which he proceeded to lay on the table. He fished out his wand from his pocket and swished it at the coin, muttering an explanation, "It's a listening gadget we perfected. Fred managed to slip it into Luna's office."

"That's how we found out she's an Unspeakable," said Fred.

George motioned for him to stop talking because out of the coin, tinny voices could be heard.

"This glow you observed… Malfoy and Potter were engaged in…"

"Sexual congress, I think," said Luna.

The other voice, a man's, coughed in embarrassment and then went on, "There are disquieting signs, such as a disturbing increase in the number of crop circles that follow strange patterns, mostly in southern England. Ministry workers consider them fairy rings, even the work of drunken wizards!" The man snorted. "Those fools!"

"The ley lines, sir," muttered Luna.

"Beg your pardon, Unspeakable?"  

"I've studied the maps, Mr Bledsoe, and the crop circles in the fields follow ancient roads which in turn were built along ley lines," said Luna in a dreamy voice. "My father believes those lines pulse with energy."

"That's interesting, Unspeakable Lovegood; still it doesn't tell us what's going to happen."

"Did you have people look for the prophecies I mentioned?" asked Luna.

"Indeed. Let me tell you the results." The man paused and the sound of ruffling parchments could be heard coming from the coin. "Here it is, Lovegood. We collated the results from several prophecies that seem to talk about the same thing; Unspeakable Hampton is quite good at that, I might add. I'll read it to you."

The three wizards listened intently to the man's words.

"At the solstice will come a new age, bereft of impurities, and none will come after." They heard the man coughing and then he finished, "That's all we could get, Lovegood. Mighty difficult to get even this."

"I see, sir."

"Any progress towards finding out what Caithor Gall means?"

"I'm afraid not, Mr Bedloe."

"Keep working on it, Lovegood," said the man reassuringly. "The Department is quite satisfied with your work. The fact people overlook your abilities works in our favour, though I'm afraid your work will have to remain secret even from your friends."

oOoOo

"Didn't know you made snowmen, Draco," said George, staring at the neat mouth formed by buttons, his gaze sliding down to the vertical row of dark stones that signalled the snowman's coat.

Draco trudged on the snow ahead of the twins, his boots making swooshing sounds. "Your brother told me about the times you lot made snowmen." He sighed deeply and stared at the snow-covered hedges. "It sounded like fun, and I never made any so I took the time to build them."

Draco hunched his shoulders and trod on, and thus did not see Fred winking at George, who brandished his wand at the snowman and muttered a spell. The figure was upended.

Draco glanced back and growled, "Merlin's beard! What did you do?"

George wrapped his arm around Fred's shoulders and grinned at Draco. "Your snowman was too fat, he needed to do push-ups."

"Blond git, we have to leave you here," said George.

"Time flies in the spying business," added Fred.

The twins bowed at Draco and disapparated, leaving Draco staring disconsolately at the snowman, whose belly was sagging dangerously.

Draco sensed Harry's presence before the Gryffindor spoke. It had always been so between them, he thought as he turned to behold him.

"Oi, Draco," said Harry, snuggling into his woollen cloak. He lifted up his gloved hand which held a badly wrapped basket. "Brought you some apples as apology for laughing and all that. Didn't know what to…"

Harry trailed off when he watched closely the funny snowman. "Merlin's beard! What did you do?"

"Wasn't me, Potter," said Draco as the upper part of the snowman fell to the ground with a plopping sound. He sighed sadly as he grabbed the basket Harry offered.

"Could use an apple right now," he muttered.

Harry's glance went from the snowman to Draco's sad face and he grinned at this boyfriend.

"Well, we could eat the apples after we build our snowman." He crouched and began to gather snow.

"That's a fine idea, Harry," Draco said, beaming at him as he crouched next to Harry, ready to collaborate in the building of what, he believed, would be the best snowman in Wiltshire.

Part sixteen