the ancient familial seat of the powerful Malfoy clan, now home as well to Sirius Black….all right this bit's boring, so I'm skipping it…enormous guest list, blah blah, hundreds of wizards and witches invited, blah, including MOM Arthur Weasley, and Headmaster of Hogwarts, Albus Dumbledore, miraculously recovered from his state of magically induced stasis…'A miracle of wizarding medicine,' says Dr. Simon Branford-'
'It was NOT a miracle,' snapped Ginny irritably. 'It was because Draco killed Slytherin, so all his spells ended.'
'Branford's a bit of a prat,' said Sirius absently. He was engaged in using his wand to flip open the various boxes littering his desk.
Draco, lounging against the side of the desk, watched with half-interested, lidded eyes.
'But you invited him to the party anyway,' pointed out Narcissa. 'Is there anyone you didn't invite, Sirius?'
Sirius shrugged. 'I wanted Harry to have a big celebration,' he said. winking over at his godson. 'To make up for all those missed birthdays.'
'I'd rather have big presents that a big party,' said Harry, sliding down to sit on the floor next to Ron, with his back against Hermione's legs.
'Size doesn't matter, Harry,' said Ginny, with a grin.
'Oooh, a zinger from little miss Weasley,' said Draco, a smile curling his mouth. 'And here I was worried that you'd been depressed ever since we sent your boyfriend back to the Stone Age.'
'He was not my boyfriend, and it was the Dark Ages,' said Ginny, and pretended to be distracted by something moving along the edge of Sirius' desk. 'What are those, Sirius?'
Sirius glanced over. 'Oh, the action figure prototypes.'
'The WHAT?' demanded Ron.
Harry looked sheepish, Draco smug.
Sirius shrugged. 'The same people who do the Chocolate Frog cards wanted to know if they could market action figures of Harry and Draco…as a promotional device. So they sent some prototypes for approval.'
'And did you approve them?' demanded Ginny, fascinated. She got to her feet just as the Draco action figure poked the Harry action figure hard in the back, sending it tumbling off the edge of the desk.
The Draco action figure chortled to itself and did a malevolent dance. Ginny bent down, picked up the little Harry figure — which looked just like him, in miniature scarlet Quidditch robes — and set it on its feet. 'Poor Harry,' she said.
'No, we didn't approve them,' said Sirius. 'Chocolate frog cards are enough — Draco and Harry don't need their faces plastered on all the wizarding billboard from here to Ottery St Catchpole, selling everything from Toothflossing Stringmints to fancy broomsticks.'
'Besides, I didn't like mine,' said Draco, looking critically down at the miniature Draco, which looked like an exact copy of himself, even down to the tiny smirk. 'It doesn't look like me…if you catch my meaning.'
Harry glanced over. Obviously *he * caught Dracos meaning. 'You took the clothes off your action figure, didn't you, Malfoy?'
Now Draco looked slightly pink. 'Well, I-'
Harry's eyebrows drew together. 'Did you take the clothes off my action figure?'
'Will you look at the time,' announced Draco, and scooted sideways towards the door. 'I must go get dressed.'
Ginny and Hermione bubbled with laughter as Harry jumped to his feet, stepping over Ron, and stood with his hands on his hips, glaring. 'Malfoy!' he yelled, as Draco fumbled with the door handle.
'Get back here!'
At that moment there was a loud POP and Arthur Weasleys head and shoulders appeared in the fireplace. Draco paused by the door.
'Hallo, Sirius,' Arthur said genially, shedding soot.
'You?re early,' said Sirius, glancing at the clock over the mantel.
'?Lo, Dad,' said Ron, waving but not getting up.
'I'm not staying,' said Arthur. 'I just wanted to let you know that I've heard from Charlie down at the camp- he will be able to come after all. I know it's last minute — '
'Good,' interrupted Sirius, looking genuinely pleased. 'It's no problem, Arthur. I told you to bring the whole family.'
Hermione looked over at Draco. His face wasn't nearly as expressive as Sirius', but she could tell from the quick flash of his eyes that he, too, was pleased that Charlie would be there. As if he felt her gaze on him, his eyes slid over to Hermione, and locked with hers for a moment. She read the message in them clearly, and got to her feet.
'I'd better go get dressed,' she said, lightly touching Harry's shoulder.
He looked up at her. 'We've got hours yet.'
Ron snorted. 'You know how long it took her to get ready for the Yule Ball.'
'Good point,' said Harry.
'Maybe if you spent as much time on your hair, Harry,' Hermione said, and avoided with a little hop his playful swipe at her ankle.
She felt Draco's eyes on her as she left, and hoped Harry wouldn't notice, and that Draco would have enough sense to wait a decent interval of time before he followed her out of the room.
She was just laying her dress out on the bed when she heard his knock.
