My heart thudded as soon as I spotted the white blond haired boy appear in the distance, trudging through the snow.

I hadn't been sure that he would turn up, I was convinced that he would have forgotten all about me.

I stayed on the swing as he approached me, wrapping my thin coat tighter around me against the cold.

"You're here," he grinned as he wiped the snow off of the swing next to me, "I wasn't sure if you would be."

"I'm always here," I grinned back, not being able to help the chatter of my teeth.

"Have you not got a warmer coat?" he frowned, "you must be freezing."

I shrugged my shoulders. I honestly didn't care. I was just so happy he was here.

"How's your school?" I asked, "did you get into the house you wanted - Slithery, wasn't it?"

Now it was Draco's turn to shrug. "It was alright, I suppose. And it's Slytherin," he shot me a little smirk, "the only decent house Hogwarts has."

"Do you reckon I could get into Slytherin?" I asked. I could only imagine how wonderful it would be to go to a school like Draco's.

He looked me up and down, as though thinking about it.

"To be honest, you're too nice," he said, "I'd put you somewhere like Hufflepuff. No offence."

I had no idea why I should be offended by this.

"That's a funny sounding name," I smiled, "what was the other one you said about - Gryffin-something or other? I like the sound of that one."

Draco immediately pulled a face. "Gryffindor," he muttered contemptuously.

"You don't like that house?" I asked, intrigued what it was about that place that made him look like as though he had just taken a huge bite out of a lemon.

"There's this moron - Harry Potter." Draco spat, his grey eyes narrowing in an angry scowl. "Thinks he's the bees knees just because he exists."

"Harry Potter?" I asked, frowning. Something about that name seemed familiar to me, although I couldn't work out why.

"I don't want to talk about him," Draco snarled, his face twitching in obvious disdain. "What about you? How was your school?"

I shrugged, not wanting to talk about it. It was as bad as I had feared. I had made no friends and kept myself to myself. "It was alright, it's just school - you know."

Draco frowned at me, looking as though he wanted to say something else, but then changed his mind.

"Do you want to build a snowman?" he asked, jumping off his swing suddenly.

"Yeah, sure," I shrugged, jumping down to join him. Draco had already started to roll the snow so I went on the scavenge for twigs and stones.

Draco told me all about his school - about his favourite teachers and his worst. He told me about this special game they played with balls. Except it wasn't football, but a game called Quidditch. He was vague on the details, but it sounded fun. There were so many funny names at his school. It was hard for me to get my head around - like learning a whole new language.

"Don't you just hate maths?" I sighed. I was awful with numbers.

Draco stopped patting the snow on the snowman's head and gave me a funny look. "Maths?"

"Yeah - don't tell me you actually enjoy it?" I gaped at him whilst sticking the snowman's buttons on. "I much prefer English myself, especially when we do literature."

"English? As in the language?" Draco asked, cocking an eyebrow as though I was talking crazy talk.

Now it was my turn to stop what I was doing and stare up at him.

"Don't you do maths or English?" I asked in amazement as he shook his head. "What do you do then?"

I noticed a pink tinge creep to Draco's cheeks, and he quickly looked down as if he was looking for something on the ground.

"Oh, it's sort of specialised subjects," he mumbled vaguely.

"Like what?" I asked, intrigued now.

"Ummm, like there's a class where you mix different ingredients to make... stuff,"

"Oh - you mean like cooking class? We do that in home economics. I quite like that."

"Yeah, we cook," Draco murmured, sticking in stones for the snowman's eyes.

"Did I tell you about our gamekeeper?" He asked, quickly changing the subject. "A great big bumbling oaf who lives in a little hut on the grounds."

It was odd - I couldn't quite put my finger on it. But it seemed as though Draco didn't like telling me much about what they actually did in his school. Which was a shame because it all seemed rather mysterious and interesting.

We met up everyday in the holidays. Even on Christmas Day.

"I can't stay long," Draco said as he handed me over a wrapped parcel. "Mother wants us all to eat as a family together today, although personally I find it rather pointless. Father only talks about boring Ministry stuff and mother barely says a thing."

"Oh, Draco," I said, shakily taking it from him, "I didn't get you anything."

Draco just shrugged his shoulders, watching as I unwrapped a pair of dark green gloves. "It's not much, I just noticed you didn't have any when we built that snowman. Your fingers looked cold."

"They're lovely," I smiled, feeling genuinely touched. I slipped them on right away and my fingers immediately warmed up in their soft woollen lining. "Thank you."

He looked awkward, I guess he wasn't used to giving presents.

"So, err, are you having a good Christmas? Are your parents making you eat all together at the table, too?" He asked, finally sitting on the swing next to mine.

"No," I said quietly, "my dad doesn't really do family meals."

"What about your mum?" I realised that he had never asked about my parents before, and I certainly hadn't ever encouraged the topic.

"Mum's gone," I whispered, but didn't say anymore.

"Oh?" Draco asked, "where did she go?"

"She died when I was seven," I swallowed, "she got hit by a car on her way home from work one night. She was a nurse."

"I'm sorry," Draco said after a moment. "That sucks."

"Yeah," I breathed. My heart hurt whenever I thought about Mum. I wished so much she was still here. I looked down, focusing on my feet - trying my hardest not to cry.

"So is it just you and your dad then?" He asked, and I hoped he would just drop the subject.

"Yep," I answered briskly. I did not want to talk about my dad. I did not want to be reminded of what greeted me when I would eventually sneak home. Sitting in the freezing cold outside all day is preferable to sitting in the warm with him.

"Well, I better get going," Draco said, jumping back up.

"What's the Ministry?" I asked, suddenly remembering something he had said earlier.

"The what?" he said, pausing as he turned to leave, his eyes widening ever so slightly.

"You said your father talks about it all the time. I just wondered what it was. Is it where he works?"

"Yeah," Draco nodded, "something like that. Well, I better be off before mother starts to fret."

"See you tomorrow?" I asked, hopeful.

And I did. He always came. The two weeks flew by far too fast.

I couldn't wait until Easter.