A Christmas fic written for my friend Catherine and her prompt, "a Drarry fic that involves Harry riding a elephant and Draco wearing a Santa hat."

A silence of night fell over Hogwarts castle. Its grounds were muffled by a thick blanket of snow, and the moon was hidden behind dark clouds. Suddenly, the frozen lake erupted into motion as a giant tentacle burst through the sheet of ice. Then the rest of the giant squid emerged from the dark depths of the lake before sinking back again. The freezing water rippled, and was calm once more.

All was quiet. The dark trees of the Forbidden Forest were eerily still. Any onlooker would say that the silence was disturbing. In fact, that's exactly what young Draco Malfoy was feeling, deep within the heart of the Forbidden Forest.

The pureblood wizard was feeling anything but his usual pompous self as he tentatively walked through the forest. Draco felt nauseous as he looked around. All the trees looked the same! He knew he was utterly lost, but Draco continued to wander among the thick undergrowth. Every crunch of dead leaves under his trainers caused him to jump, and every shifting noise set off thoughts of wild creatures stalking him.

Then, the underbrush started to thin out. At last, he had found a path! The battered path was clearly well used and the large footprints of the half-breed, Hagrid, were clearly visible. As Draco set foot cautiously on the trail, he felt a horrible chill creep over him. Goosebumps sprang up on his skin, and he started to run along the path, kicking up dirt and ice.

The familiar feeling of cold fear started to grip his throat and his breath came in short gasps. Suddenly, a sound of heavy paws reached his ears, accompanied by low growls. Draco's eyes widened and he picked up speed. Then he felt hot, putrid breath on his neck and screamed.

All of a sudden, Draco ran face first into a large, grey, wrinkly, and very solid leg. He looked up and saw an even larger, greyer, equally wrinkly and solid elephant. The elephant's thick trunk immediately wrapped around his torso and started lifting him up. The Slytherin student squeezed his eyes shut in fear and sent a silent prayer to his mother. Draco was forcefully deposited on the enormous animal's back.

When the grey skin beneath him began to move, he wobbled and grabbed onto the stranger sitting in front of him. The elephant's heavy footfalls shook the trees passing around them. It was a little more than a second before Draco recognized the raven black hair of the person he was clinging desperately to.

"Potter?" he exclaimed.

The-Boy Who-Lived-Even-Though-He-Should-Have-Died turned and smirked at the flabbergasted blond.

Draco woke with a start. He glanced frantically around his surroundings, as if expecting a werewolf or an elephant to jump out at him. He was in the Gryffindor common room, with its scarlet banners and dying embers in the fireplace.

Normally, waking up to find himself in a common room wasn't an unusual occurrence (he wasn't called the Slytherin Prince of Partying for no reason). Finding himself in the Gryffindor common room would have horrified him just 2 months prior, but that's another story for another time.

Draco sank back in the squishy armchair. 'Just a nightmare', he thought, 'nothing more'.

He was about to raise a hand to wipe the cold sweat that had beaded on his forehead, but froze once he became aware of the weight on his body. He wasn't alone on the armchair. A slumbering boy with raven black hair was curled up beside him, resting his head on Draco's shoulder.

This position was rather uncomfortable for Draco, as the armchair wasn't made to fit two teenagers, no matter how skinny they were. Draco's arm had fallen asleep (it had been wrapped around Harry's waist) and his legs were extremely cramped. The blond shifted slightly, trying to get a more comfortable position, but Harry clung insistently to him.

Under normal circumstances, Draco would have simply pushed the other boy off, but Harry simply looked too cute in his sleep tonight. So, slowly and carefully, Draco extracted his sore arm from underneath the dark haired teen, but that caused Harry to cuddle even closer to him, so that the Gryffindor was partially on his lap and squishing his arm between them.

Exasperated, the blond teenager tried gently pushing the head of jet black hair off his aching shoulder, but even in his sleep, Harry was very stubborn. He flung an arm across Draco's shoulders, effectively trapping him.

After a few minutes of uncomfortable silence (for poor Draco anyway), the Gryffindor student raised his head to nuzzle the Slytherin's neck. "Good morning, Malfoy," he murmured.

"You've been awake this whole time, haven't you?" asked Draco, much too casually.

Harry grinned, mischief lurking his emerald eyes. "Perhaps," he said, absentmindedly picking up a discarded Santa hat from the arm rest (seriously, the Gryffindor Christmas party was a blast!).

The Slytherin student untangled his limbs and said, "You're a little git, you know that Potter." It wasn't a question.

Harry shrugged and placed the Santa hat upon Draco's silver-blond hair. He opened his mouth to speak, but before he could, the other teen had shoved him off the armchair.

"Ouch!" exclaimed Harry, landing hard on the stone floor. Draco stood and strode, nay swaggered, past him without a word. The Slytherin exited the Gryffindor common room, leaving Harry dumbstruck on the floor.

Then the Boy-Who-Lived sniggered to himself, "He didn't take off the Santa hat!"

Author's Note: I hate Drarry! I loathe Drarry! I despise Drarry! With that said, I think I pulled it off quite well for someone who harbours seething hatred for this pairing. Happy Holidays to everyone!

Concrit, praise, and flames are all welcome. Review pwease!