The Holiday Plans
Chapter 15: The Holiday Plans
Fall came and went, and quickly the students of Hogwarts found themselves approaching the Christmas holidays. The first real snowfall of December came quite late into the month, but nonetheless blanketed the grounds in a crisp, glittering white. The air was sharp and cold. Hogwarts had transformed, the usual grand corridors now lined with wreaths, twinkling fairy lights (Vi was delighted when she realized that these were in fact fairies holding little lights), and floating candles that flickered softly against frosted windows.
Most students were bustling about excitedly, preparing to head home for the holidays, but a few – including Vi and Caitlyn – were staying behind. Truth be told, Vi had no reason to stay behind for the holiday. She actually spent considerable time coming up with an excuse as to why she was staying that she could send home to Vander and Powder. But she had made up her mind the week before after her conversation with Caitlyn over lunch.
“So Cait, what big fancy plans do you have for the break?” Vi inquired through a mouthful of her sandwich. She thought she noticed Caitlyn’s face fall after the words had left her lips, but the look was gone as fast as it appeared.
“Ugh Violet, chew your food.” Caitlyn feigned disgust. “And I’m staying here, actually.”
“What? Why?”
Caitlyn shrugged. “My parents have some business to attend to for the ministry, and this sounded more appealing than staying in an empty house with nobody but our house elf for company. What’re you doing?” Caitlyn had addressed her question to the group of them.
“Whole family usually comes over to mine,” Mylo explained. “Do a whole big Christmas Day party. Claggs’ family comes over too.” Mylo grinned and put his arm around Claggor’s neck, ruffling his hair good naturedly.
Caitlyn smiled sweetly. “Sounds wonderful, Mylo. What about you, Vi?”
“Me?” Vi made up her mind at that moment. “I’m staying here too,” she said with an air of finality.
“Wait I thought you were goi–” Claggor shut up when Vi’s foot made contact with his shin under the table. If Caitlyn noticed, she didn’t let it on.
“Oh? How come?”
“Well, my uh…” Vi searched her brain for any reason other than the fact that she didn’t want Caitlyn to be alone for Christmas. “My dad is going to be working a lot and my sister won’t have school so she’ll be really annoying. Just sounds more fun to stay here.”
“Oh! Well, I guess we’ll be seeing a lot of each other, then.” Caitlyn genuinely had looked excited and it made Vi’s heart soar. She wasn’t exactly sure why it did, but she figured that was a problem for another time.