A/N: A new, rather Christmas-y story :) Hopefully you'll like it!

Disclaimer: I don't own the world of Harry Potter.

Christmas was fast approaching and everyone was trying their best to make their homes warm and comfortable. All sorts of Christmas decorations were found in every house in every street in every town and all the people were busy and happy. Stores were filled with men and women buying food, presents, and, for the sake of it, even more decorations. Children were admiring the toys in all the different shops, tugging at their parents' arms, begging them for more gifts.

Trying to make his way through the masses and not bothering to look around, Draco Malfoy could feel the happiness and eagerness that seemed to ooze off his seven-year-old son Scorpius. Draco mentally cursed himself for letting Astoria, his wife, convince him to take Scorpius to Muggle London for another present. He himself had hardly ever been to Muggle London and thus, he had no idea what he was supposed to do and where he was supposed to go. But then again, Scorpius had never been here either, so at least he couldn't beg to be taken to this or that shop. Or so he thought.

"Dad?" Scorpius was now tugging his hand. "Can we go in there?" He pointed a small finger towards one of the shops; to Draco's horror, it was also the most crowded one of all.

"I don't think that's a very good idea, Scorpius," he therefore answered, and his son's face fell.

"But dad – "

"Scorpius," Draco interrupted him strictly. "What did I tell you before we left?"

Scorpius looked down at his feet. "No begging or whining today or I'm not getting anything."

"That's right," Draco said, looking around. "Why don't we go there?" he pointed at a nearby shop that looked much quieter. One look at Scorpius' face told him, though, that it was probably the last shop he wanted to step into. Draco sighed. "If there's nothing there you like, we'll go to the other shop," he said at last. Scorpius seemed to think this over for a moment and then he nodded.

Entering the shop, it became clear to Draco why it was (almost) deserted. It looked like a Muggle version of Borgin and Burkes, and although Draco himself had never had a problem with going in there, he knew that it wasn't exactly the first shop one would visit when doing Christmas errands. Scorpius was holding onto his hand more tightly now as he looked around with his wide eyes.

"May I help you, sir?" As he turned towards the source of the voice, Draco saw an older woman standing next to the door.

"Well," he started, glancing around, "do you happen to have anything – for Christmas?"

The woman laughed, and Draco felt Scorpius cower behind his back. "For Christmas? No, I don't sell anything that has to do with Christmas. You want to know why?" She took a few steps forward, and Draco subconsciously slid his hand into his pocket. His wand was still there, fortunately. "You want to know why?" the woman repeated, now looking straight at Scorpius.

The little boy shook his head wildly, and the woman grinned wickedly. "I think it's about time we left," Draco said loudly, eyeing the woman with suspicion. He pushed past her and pulled Scorpius outside, back to the main street. "Come on," he said in a gentler tone, "let's buy you a nice present." Although Scorpius still looked a little worried, he followed his father obediently into the crammed toy shop.

That evening, while Draco and Astoria were preparing the house for the next day, they heard Scorpius stumbling down the stairs. While his wife went to see what was wrong, Draco frowned. What could be the matter? Scorpius had been in bed for more than two hours already, and usually, he fell asleep rather quickly.

Astoria opened the door again, and Scorpius came running towards Draco. "What's wrong?" he asked over his son's head, but Astoria shook her head, obviously not knowing the answer.

"Can't you sleep, honey?" she asked Scorpius gently, stroking his hair. Scorpius just held onto Draco even tighter than before. They let him be for a couple of minutes, and Draco was growing more and more uncomfortable every second. He wasn't used to this behaviour from his son, and he himself couldn't remember any occasion when he had hugged his own father. After what seemed like ages, Astoria spoke again. "Did you have a nightmare?"

Scorpius lifted up his face just enough for his parents to see him nod slightly. Draco noticed that he hadn't cried, he just looked scared to death. "What was it about?" Draco asked, and judging from the look Astoria sent him, his tone wasn't exactly nice and comforting

Scorpius sent him a fearful look. "It was that woman," he said simply, his eyes wide again. Not having heard the story already, Astoria simply looked confused. Draco rubbed his temples, wondering how he could explain the story to her, while, at the same time, not upsetting Scorpius.

"It's alright," Astoria told Scorpius, "she won't come here. You're safe here." She shot Draco a look that clearly told him that he would have some explaining to do once Scorpius was asleep again.

"She was so scary," Scorpius almost whimpered, burying his head even further in Draco's chest.

"You're safe here," Astoria repeated, and then she sat up. "Tokky! Could you get us a glass of warm milk and some crackers?" Within seconds, a House-Elf appeared, holding a glass of milk and a tray of cookies.

"Are we out of crackers?" Draco asked before the Elf or Astoria could speak up. Tokky trembled visibly.

"Yes, sir. We is out of crackers. Tokky is very sorry, sir – "

"Don't be," Astoria interrupted him. "You can go back to the kitchen." With a low bow, Tokky disappeared quickly. Astoria gave Scorpius, who seemed to have calmed down a bit by then, the glass, and he took a few small sips of milk. Then he proceeded munching on one of the cookies, and Draco and Astoria shared a look. After last year, they knew exactly what their son was up to.

"That's enough for now," Draco therefore told Scorpius when he reached out for his fourth cookie. The boy pouted for a moment, but once he noticed that his parents weren't about to give in, he turned back to his milk. It was actually a miracle that Scorpius was drinking the milk now; it made him drowsy enough to send him to sleep within seconds, and last year he had wanted nothing more than to see Santa Claus on Christmas Eve. Obviously, he didn't want to do so this year.

Once Scorpius was done, he turned to his parents with a wide grin on his face. "Can we leave the cookies here?" he asked.

Draco and Astoria exchanged a glance. "Why should we do that, Scorpius?" Astoria asked him.

"Because," Scorpius stopped there for a moment to form a coherent sentence, "because Santa Claus and his reindeers must be very hungry from bringing everybody presents tonight, so they might want a cookie."

"Alright," Astoria said, smiling a bit, "we'll leave the cookies here for Santa Claus and his reindeers. Now daddy will get you back to bed. Sleep tight, honey." She kissed her son on the cheek, before he bounced off to the door again.

"Since when does he become so active from milk?" Draco wondered aloud, but followed Scorpius quickly before he would undoubtedly hurt himself with something.

As he tucked his son in, Draco had to fight back a yawn himself. Running around in Muggle London was much more tiring that doing the same in the magical part of the city, he realised now. "Dad?" Scorpius was watching him with a serious expression on his face, his stuffed snake tightly in his arms. "Promise that woman won't come and get me in my sleep?"

Draco smiled reassuringly at his son. "I promise, Scorpius. She can't do you any harm here. Now, go back to sleep and when you wake up, you have to wait until we come and get you, alright?" Scorpius nodded earnestly, but Draco knew that he would probably have forgotten all about his promise the following morning, just like the past two or three years.

When he was about to close the door, Scorpius spoke up again. "Dad? Could you ask Tokky to fill the glass with milk again? I think Santa Claus wants some milk with his cookies, too." A yawn. "Santa Claus likes," another yawn, "milk and," yawn, "cookies." Almost before he had finished his sentence, Scorpius had fallen asleep.

Shaking his head, Draco walked back downstairs. "What's wrong?" Astoria asked him as soon as he entered the room again.

"Santa Claus might want some milk too," Draco replied, smiling slightly. Astoria nodded knowingly.

"Ah, yes, of course. Tokky? Could you bring some more milk?"

Within a few seconds, the House-Elf had come and gone again, leaving a glass of warm milk behind.

"So," Astoria said, as she watched the combination of food and drink on their table. "Milk and cookies, all for Santa Claus?"

"All for Santa Claus," Draco repeated, smiling slightly. "And it has to be gone in the morning, you know that, right?" Astoria stared at the cookies for a moment.

"Well," she said in the end, taking one of the various cookies on the platter, "what are we waiting for, then?"

A/N: Well, what do you think? Let me know, please review!