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He had done everything he could to avoid this. He had checked with each employee in every bookstore she had ever dragged him into to no avail. He had consulted, quietly, with Madam Pince at Hogwarts to see if she had any ideas. Heck, he had even let Percy butt in when he had been talking to Dad on the off chance he might know something instead of just being a know-it-all. To no one’s surprise, Percy had no clue either, and at that point he had to admit to himself that there was just no other way. If he wanted to get Hermione the book she desired more than anything else this Christmas, there was only one person who could find it.
Ron sighed before pushing hard on the door labeled “Malfoy’s - Purveyors of Rare and Exotic Items”, causing a cheerful little bell to alert the shop to his presence.
Or at least, he thought it had. For having such an affluent owner, the room Ron found himself in was rather small, dark, and ever-so-slightly grimy. After hearing a cheerful “one moment” from a back room, Ron sat down on one of the wooden chairs beside the door to wait for the inevitable.
Eventually a very familiar blonde opened the back door. “I’m sorry Mister Perkins, your candles won’t be – oh, it’s you,” A sneer covered Malfoy’s face. “What do you want, Weasley?”
“Trust me, I don’t want to be in your shop anymore that you want me here, but I need…I need…” Ron gritted his teeth. “I-need-your-help.”
“And here I thought you would explode if you ever said those words to me,” a smug look overtaking his face.
“Piss off, I’ll just try to find it on my own.”
Ron made for the door but stopped just shy of grabbing the handle.
“Will you though? If you have come to me for help, I daresay that you would have already exacerbated all of your other options first. Am I right?”
Ron didn’t answer, but he also didn’t make a move to leave.
“I thought so. Why don’t you turn around and tell me what it is you need me to assist you with? Or would you rather just stand there indefinitely blocking my door from other people that actually want to come into my shop for assistance?”
Swearing under his breath, Ron turned around stiffly and headed over towards Malfoy.
“Now then, what do you need my help with, Weasley?”
“It’s a book,” Ron managed to get out with some difficulty. As he continued. his speech managed to flow out more normal. “Hermione’s been wanting it for ages, but I’ve checked with ever person I could think of and no one has ever actually seen a copy of it.”
Malfoy’s face lit up. “You have me intrigued. Of all the things I would have thought you could have been seeking, this sounds much more interesting. What it so special about this book Granger wants.”
“Well – it – I’m – I’m not quite sure. I don’t know if it’s a spell book or an old manuscript or even some kind of kid’s book, but I’ve had multiple people tell me that they have heard of The Widow’s Wand, but no one has ever seen it.”
“Hmm…I think I have heard about that one. It is quite rare and I must confess I don’t know precisely where it is, but I have also never devoted my time to its discovery. How much are you willing to pay for it if I can get my hands on it?”
There it was. The other reason he had wanted to avoid Malfoy at all costs.
“I have a bit saved up. Apparently helping George out makes more money than I ever did hunting Death Eaters as an Auror.”
Oops. Ron regretted the words as soon as he registered them leaving his mouth.
A scowl covered Malfoy’s face for a moment before he could regain his composure.
“I see. If you will excuse me I-”
Ron didn’t wait for him to continue, choosing instead to cut him off.
“Look, I’m sorry, don’t be a dick about it.”
“-just need to double check something in the back,” Malfoy finished. “Patience, Weasley. I see you still lack in that area as well.”
Turning on his heel, the blonde wizard strode momentarily into the back, leaving Ron to reflect on how wonderful the conversation seemed to be going. A few minutes later, Malfoy appeared with an old book in his hand. Ron could just make out the words The Old Magic of Christmas on the cover.
“Let’s see here…yes, I do think I might have the location of one of the books you seek. But it’s going to be difficult to get it.”
“Yes, fine, whatever, I’ll give you whatever you need,” Ron insisted, hoping Malfoy would take the coins he was offering and shut up already.
“Good. We leave at dawn.”
Ron’s jaw dropped. “We? Leave at dawn?”
“Yes, I do believe that is what I said. I’m glad to see you possess the abilities of a talking parrot.”
“I don’t understand.”
“I’m going to need some back-up. If you truly want this book for Granger, I will not be able to retrieve it on my own. Assist me in salvaging it and the book is yours.”
Ron stared flabbergasted. “Why? What’s in this for you?”
“Aside from having the chance to see an Auror protect me from a hoard of demonic looking Straggele? Our target has a few other objects I have been wanting to procure but haven’t been able to acquire anyone I could pay enough to try and get them. Also, tomorrow she will be getting ready for her first Hunt of the year, so she probably won’t be home. Probably.”
Ron made to answer but was cut off before he could as Malfoy swooped past him towards the door. “So then, meet back here at 6am tomorrow or Granger won’t get that book she wants for Christmas.”
“Oi!” exclaimed Ron, reaching for Malfoy’s cloak.
But suddenly, his cloak wasn’t there. The bastard had Apparated away before Ron could even agree to his terms. Still, this was his only shot at getting Hermione the one thing she wanted for Christmas, and for that he figured he could endure spending the day with Malfoy. Maybe.
*****
6am came much faster than he had expected it would. Getting up that early to practice Quidditch would have been one thing but having nothing to look forward to aside from a whole day of Malfoy constantly trying to make him look like an idiot was somewhat less pleasant.
“Are you sure you will be gone all day? Ginny said that her, Harry, and Luna would be free tonight if we wanted to finally-”
“I said I don’t know when I’ll be back, ‘Mione.” He kissed the top of her head as he pulled her into a quick hug. “I just know I’m almost late as it is. I promise it’ll be worth it. I’ll get home as quickly as I can, alright?”
He didn’t wait for a response. Turning on his heel he appeared once more outside the shop. Malfoy was already there, staring at the silver pocket watch in his hand. As he turned to greet him, Ron swore he saw a momentary look of relief behind those gray eyes.
“I see you arrived. I was beginning to think you might not show after all.”
“You said six, I arrived at six. If you had wanted me here sooner, you should have said as much.”
“It’s no matter,” Malfoy dismissed with a wave of his hand. “I assume you have your wand?”
Ron held it up for the blond brat to inspect.
“Good. Then take my hand and we will be off.”
Reluctantly, Ron closed the gap between them and soon they had Apparated onto a snowy mountain range just below a massive forest. The wind was foul and made it difficult to both hear and see. He struggled to see Malfoy pointing towards the wood before transfiguring his clothes to something more suitable for blinding snow.
After doing the same with his own clothes, Ron followed him for what felt like hours until they could just make out a large hut ahead. Malfoy held out a hand to stop him before raising a finger to lips. Carefully, they snaked their way through the trees towards the doorway. This took longer than Ron had expected it to as the building was much larger than he had been anticipating – the door alone was easily at least 3 meters tall! They tried to make their way inside as quietly as possible. The hut was surprisingly clean, with large spinning loom taking up the majority of the space inside.
Ron, feeling relieved at making it all the way through the snow, turned to Draco and muttered, “well that was easy!”
Instantly, a woman appeared. She was tall, immensely beautiful – bathed in light, veiled and clothed in white, and seemed to almost float across the floor. A golden spindle with flax still upon it was in her hand as she as she searched for who had spoken. Malfoy, in what appeared was sheer panic, dropped towards the floor and nearly knocked Ron over as he struggled to get back outside. Ron couldn’t understand why he was running and stepped forward towards the glowing goddess to great her.
As soon as she saw him her entire appearance changed into that of a gray, wizened old lady – ugly and foul with a hooked nose that looked like it was made of iron. She dropped her spindle a drew a long knife out from under her cloak with a slash that Ron had to jump over to avoid.
He rushed back out of the house as the old hag continued to slash towards his stomach. Backing up with every stroke, he was startled as his back slammed into a huge tree. Standing perfectly still, he waited for her to swing the knife on last time.
As Ron hoped, the hag put much more force into her swing now that she thought he was cornered, and at the last second, he threw himself onto the snow.
The blade bit deep into the tree. Rolling onto his back, Ron pulled out his wand as the hag struggled to free her knife. Gazing over his shoulder he could just make out Draco slipping into the cottage before he heard a single word that faded into a loud cackle.
“Perchten.”
Looking up, he realized the old woman was no longer looking at him or even her blade. Ron followed her gaze deeper into the forest and could just make out a massive group coming his way. Most were ugly, fanged beasts – some even adorned with hooves, horns, tusks and the like – but there were also some unearthly looking children amongst them. He had no idea who or what they were, but he had a feeling he didn’t want to find out.
“Weasley – let’s go!” hollered Malfoy as he ran from the house. The horde was getting closer but were coming from the opposite direction he had marched up from, so Ron took off in the direction he hoped was the correct one, Malfoy right behind him.
The hag had gotten her knife loose and now appeared to be leading the others. Ron took this as more incentive to keep running faster through the trees. He soon grew tired, but the few times he tried to Apparate had only led to him losing what precious few strides kept him from certain doom. Darkness started to stretch out and soon Malfoy was ahead of him by a few meters as they continued to run. Finally, after what seemed like eternity, the edge of the forest appeared.
“Quick!” yelled Malfoy, reaching out a hand towards him only to slide face first into the snow.
Bending slightly, Ron grasped the outstretched hand instinctively tried to Apparate away, feeling somewhat amazed when he found himself standing in his own living room.
The lights flickered and a large gust of wind shook the small house, almost blowing open the front door.
“Ron?” asked Hermione as she jumped up from her reading chair.
“And Malfoy?”
Ron jumped as he heard Ginny’s voice coming from behind him. Turning, he was pleasantly surprised to see her as well as Harry and Luna standing near the fireplace.
“You barely made it inside before Perchta could catch you,” Luna commented as the front door rattled some more.
“The what, Luna?” asked Harry, confused.
“Frau Perchta. The witch goddess that comes riding on the wind with her horde of monsters on the last three Thursdays before Christmas. You have to make it under a roof before she can catch you on those nights. She likes to disembowel people and stuff them full of rocks and straw before sewing them back up again if you haven’t spun all your flax. Or if your house isn’t clean enough.”
Ron and Malfoy exchanged glances as Hermione rolled her eyes. “That has got to be the weirdest Christmas story I have ever heard,” she insisted. “Though it might be beaten for that title as soon as I am told why Malfoy is standing in my living room all of a sudden with my fiancé.”
After giving her a faint, nervous chuckle, Ron pulled Malfoy into one of the back rooms.
“Was she right? Was that thing trying to disembowel me?”
Draco looked everywhere but Ron’s eyes as he shrugged.
“You knew! You knew what we were heading into and told me nothing.”
“Would you have gone into the house of a goddess on the night she was prepping to ride with monsters and demons knowing she could easily destroy you before you could even realize your wand wasn’t working?”
“Wait, my wand wouldn’t have worked?”
“Of course. Why do you think I have never been able to get someone to come with me? Most saw it as a suicide mission at best. But you made the perfect decoy for me to slip in and grab a few things before the horde arrived. And, as promised, here is Granger’s new book.”
He pulled a large tome from a tiny satchel on his waist. Ron tried to peek in and see what else was in there, but it was closed before he could.
“Trust me, you don’t want to know what else is in there. Plausible deniability is worth more than you know in my line of work. And now if you will excuse me, I need to owl a few of my contacts tonight before it gets much later.”
Ron nodded as the blond witch Apparated out of his home before heading back into the living room and slipped the old tome into his fiancé’s fingers.
“You aren’t going to believe this, ‘Mione, but look what Malfoy helped me get.”
She stared at it in stunned amazement before looking back up to Ron.
“Happy Christmas, luv,” he told her as he kissed her on the head.
“How – how did you even find this?” she managed to get out after a pause.
Ron smiled. “Well, that’s a long story. You see…”