It's Christmas Time!
The next morning Ron was talking with Harry and Hermione in the Great Hall during breakfast as if he wasn’t the reason that Hermione had been put in danger. I keep a close eye on their interaction the entire meal, my anger at the redhead festering inside. I try to shove the feeling back and focus on something else, but I couldn’t with the trio in my line of sight.
“I’m going to the library, do you want me to grab you anything?” I ask Minnie as I stand.
“No, thank you. Please try not to fight a manticore today, I don’t think I would survive that,” Minnie jokes. My mood only gets worse at the reminder of the fear I put Minnie through last night.
“I promise,” I press a kiss on her cheek and leave the hall. The corridors were filled with hushed whispers about the events of last night, and I could feel people looking at me as I passed. My skin crawled from the attention and I sped up, slipping into the first secret passage that I could to ease the itch. I shake out my hands before scrubbing them over my face.
Hermione’s my soulmate. Which means Pansy is my other soulmate. It makes sense, they each described their common rooms that first day. And I feel the calmest when they’re around. Did Hermione figure it out last night as well? Do they know they are my soulmates? My feet had taken me to the library without conscious thought and I now sat looking out the window in the hidden nook.
I should tell Dora about the troll before she hears about it from Draco. With a sigh, I pull a piece of parchment off the stack on the table and start to write. Once I start there was no stopping me until everything that has happened since my last letter filled the front and back of the sheet. I blow on the ink to dry it and set it off to the side while I doodle on the envelope that I folded from another piece of parchment.
“A certain someone told me you fought a troll last night,” I jump at the intrusion, only to relax as Pansy sits beside me.
“It wasn’t on purpose,” I lean into her offered side hug, feeling the rolling anger from this morning calm at her touch.
“How are you feeling, darling?” Pansy asked. I slip the now-dried letter into the envelope and think about how I want to answer the question.
“I’m fine, a bit sore but all and all I wasn’t the one who got hurt,” I hum, playing with her fingers now that I wasn’t doodling.
“How did McGonagall react? Piscín’s worried that she got you in trouble,” The Irish witch’s head leaned over to rest on mine.
“Mamaidh was just scared, I think she lost one of her nine lives,” The joke comes out flat as everything starts to run through my mind again. Does Pansy know? If she knew would she be sitting with me like this? She can’t know. Why do I feel disappointed and relieved at the same time?
“Eva,” I blink a few times before focusing on the bushy hair of Hermione. I hum in acknowledgment, trying to recall when she had gotten here.
“You got lost there for a minute,” I leaned into the hand carding through my hair, closing my eyes as I relaxed even further.
“Sorry,” I apologize.
“Stop apologizing,” Hermione chuckles, “You have done nothing wrong.”
“Do you know how Harry and Ronald were punished?” I ask, sitting up to put a bit of distance between Pansy and myself.
“They got five points each for sheer dumb luck,” Hermione cringed as I sat up straight.
“We should have told them the real reason we were there, then maybe they would have been given a detention or something instead of getting off free,” I huff, folding my arms.
“What did they do? Enter a girls’ bathroom?” Hermione genuinely looked confused and I sigh, not wanting her to think any less of Harry when I didn’t even know if he was an accomplice to the redhead.
“The door was locked, Mia. Right as we came out of the stall I heard the door lock, trapping us in there with the troll,” I try to be gentle but the way her face falls hurts a bit.
“You don’t know what could have happened,” Pansy cuts in as she takes the Gryffindor’s hand. “Talk to Harry to find out what happened.”
“We can next time we meet up. If I go anywhere near Ronald I’m gonna punch him in the face,” I grumble, still not over how he made Hermione cry yesterday.
“Awe, she’s getting defensive!” Pansy cooed, petting my hair before getting serious, “But no, I will hex the Weasel into next week if he so much as makes you pout.” Hermione has a fond look on her face even as she rolls her eyes.
I send my letter to Dora later that day and spend some time writing to Charlie about his dragons to send once Anastacia gets back. The week following the Troll incident was filled with people getting excited about the Quidditch season. Hagrid was out thawing the broomsticks every morning and I would bundle up to go help him, wearing the rabbit skin mittens that matched the ones I had given him last year. It was also when I released my retaliation against the youngest Weasley at Hogwarts.
With some help from a seventh-year Ravenclaw, I had charmed Ron to have emerald green insults written on his forehead for the day. They didn’t show up when he looked in the mirror so he had no way of knowing why people were laughing at him. I had word spread through the gossip mill of Hogwarts that no one was to mention the new addition to the boy, letting him suffer in ignorance.
His frustration was delicious! He was too preoccupied with all the stares and laughing that he didn’t notice that I followed him through the day just to revel in his misery. At dinner, the spell that prevented him from seeing the writing was canceled and his explosion at catching his reflection in a pitcher was priceless.
“What the bloody hell is that!?” Ron jumped up from his seat to snatch the pitcher for a closer look. PEA BRAIN was currently on his forehead, and the green clashed with how red his face was getting.
“Mr. Weasley,” Professor Sprout just so happened to be walking down the aisle at the time of his outburst, “There is no reason for you to yell such things. Ten points from Gryffindor,”
I bury my face in Cedric’s shoulder to try and stifle my laughter but it was getting hard with the other boys shaking shoulders.
After that, it returned to business as usual. With the extra Quidditch practices that Wood had scheduled due to their first game on Saturday, Harry was starting to slowly get further behind in his homework. The twins had forgone getting their homework in time like last year when they had first joined the team, driving me up the wall. I was late to the last study session before the match from helping with the CMC creatures and slump into the couch with a huff, cheeks still flushed from being out in the cold.
“I hope you were wearing more layers than that if you were outside,” Percy doesn’t give me more than a fleeting glance before turning back to his homework.
“Yes mum, I stopped by my chambers to drop my coat off,” I appease the worrywart.
“How are the creatures doing?” Draco asked, taking the chance not to do homework.
“Pretty well, we had to charm a box to keep the smaller creatures warm, but the bigger ones like the hippogriffs are doing really well.” I stretch out with my feet going in Pansy’s lap, her book resting on my shins and her one hand massaging my muscles. We sit in silence, the sound of quills scratching on paper and flipping pages the only sounds to fill our space. I was dozing off when I notice muffled curses getting closer to our nook. I sit up and look in the direction the sounds were coming from, Pansy’s hand tightening on my leg as she closed her eyes and focused.
“Ronald is coming,” Pansy opened her eyes and the scared look in them had me moving. I slip through the shelves and find the redheaded buffoon looking down the rows with a frown on his face.
“Whatcha looking for?” I ask, stepping into the main aisle with my arms folded.
“None of your business!” He spat at me, his face getting to the point it almost matched his hair.
“Mia and Harry left a bit ago, they aren’t here anymore.” I lie through my teeth, wanting to get this over with quickly. He huffs, shoulder-checking me hard enough to jam the corner of the bookshelf into my back. I frown at his back as he leaves, why does he hate me so much? With a sigh of defeat, I make my way back to my friends to enjoy the rest of the day.
The next thing I know, it was Saturday. The day of the first Quidditch match of the season. I was in the stands letting Hermione strangle my hand as we watch Harry play. Between gasps of fear, Hermione told me everything that Harry had seen last night.
“There is no way Uncle Sev would be after whatever Fluffy’s guarding,” I shuffle closer to Hermione’s side so that Ron wouldn’t hear our conversation.
“There has to be some, eep! Some explanation!” Hermione buried her face in my shoulder as Harry dodged a bluger. I laugh as I pat her head, hoping Harry liked the sign his dorm mates and Hermione put together for him. Potter for President with a lion head underneath, the ink changing color every now and then.
“Budge up there, move along.”
“Hagrid!” I greet the half-giant with a smile, and my greeting is echoed by the rest of our group.
“Bin watchin’ from me hut, but it isn’t the same as bein’ in the crowd. No sign of the Snitch yet, eh?” Hagrid asked as he pats his binoculars to follow the speck that is Harry. I think something in my hand cracks from Hermione’s grip as Harry dodges a bludger.
“That was a foul!” I shout when Flint smashed into Harry, knocking him off course from getting the Snitch.
“This game is barbaric!” Hermione now has my entire arm wrapped in her death grip.
“Send him off ref! Red card!” Dean shouts out and I agree with him wholeheartedly.
“You heard the man! Red card him ref!” I roar, smirking at the small shake of Madam Hooch’s head as she flies by our seats.
“What are you going on about?” Ron’s face was scrunched up in confusion, making him look constipated. I hide a giggle in Hermione’s hair as she lets the smallest of smiles grace her face at the muggle reference.
I lost my breath as I watched Harry’s broom start to act up, following Hermione when she set off to distract Snape. I didn’t think it was Snape who jinxed Harry’s broom, he could have been uttering a counter curse, but Hermione was so sure that he was the one at fault. I bit my lip to stop myself from putting out the fire she started, wringing my hands as she scoops the flames into a jar before grabbing my hand and leading me back down the stairs.
“He knows he could use his hands right?” I whisper to Hermione as we watch Harry spit the Snitch back out and she shoves me with a smirk as we rush to congratulate the boy. I let the twins drag me away to celebrate their victory as the trio of Gryffindors follow Hagrid back to his hut.
“Nicolas Flamel. We need anything that mentions Nicolas Flamel,” Hermione walked up to me in the library the day after the game. Harry and Ron were following behind her like lost ducklings already looking like they were regretting being there.
“What for?” I ask, letting her pull me to my feet and into the shelves.
“Why do you need to know?” Ron glares at me and I hold up my hands in defeat. I close my eyes and think about all the books I had read, trying to remember any mention of the wizard. I speed through the shelves, starting to pluck books off the shelf to hand to the trio.
“These are all books about famous witches and wizards. There are a few others but they have either been checked out or put back in the wrong place,” I tell them before slipping away to get Ron’s glare off of me.
In the weeks leading up to the Christmas break, I help the professors decorate the castle in any way I could. The day before break, I was in the Great Hall with Minnie and Flitwick holding out the golden ornaments for him to levitate into the trees. Hagrid shuffles in with the last tree and three stragglers in his wake.
“Ah, Hagrid, the last tree,” Flitwick smiles at the giant man.
“That one goes in the far corner!” I chirp, pointing in the correct direction. Hagrid does as instructed and Flitwick summons golden bubbles to line that tree’s branches.
“How much longer before your break?” I turn to join the three Gryffindors around Hagrid as he asked his question.
“Just the one,” Hermione informed him, brushing her fingers over the back of my hand in greeting.
“You going home for the holiday?” I turn to Harry, hoping he wasn’t going back to the home that abuses him.
“No, staying here,” Harry smiles at my concern and I relax a bit.
“I’m going to France to visit my Grandparents, Dad says that I’m old enough to go skiing with them this year!” Hermione bounced a bit in her excitement. France. Flower lives in France. Flower and Kitten know each other. This changes a few plans. As Hagrid scooped me up and perched me on his shoulder, I was brought out of my thoughts.
“Fancy helping me for a bit?” Hagrid and I wave as the trio leaves to continue their search in the library.
“Take her, she needs to let out some more energy,” Minnie passes with a pat on my knee. I spend the rest of the day out tending the garden with Hagrid and Fang. That night after dinner I go to the library to meet one last time with everyone.
“Happy Christmas everyone!” The twins cheered as they crossed into our bubble.
“We come bearing presents!” Fred held up the sack he was carrying.
“We brought our gifts as well, didn’t know how we were going to send them without our parents knowing.” Draco dropped gracefully onto the couch next to Harry, who leaned a bit on the blond.
“Gift exchange?” Neville grinned as he held out two presents wrapped in green and silver paper.
“You shouldn’t have,” Pansy protests even as she eagerly accepted the gift.
“Why would we get presents for everyone but you?” Cedric teased, nudging the Irish witch’s knee with his foot. We all sit in a circle and take turns passing out wrapped boxes. Everyone had gotten Harry something Quidditch related while Draco blushed as he got things related to astronomy.
“I never told anyone about this,” Draco gave Pansy a weak glare, though she just shrugged with a smile.
“Just like I never told anyone about my fascination with potions,” Pansy shook her head as she opened her won gifts. Hermione was very enthusiastic about all the books she got, already starting to get lost in one. I made everyone a small batch of Pandora’s cookies and a small sketchbook full of drawings.
After all the gifts were opened we joked around for a bit longer before having to scatter when Pince and Filch started their rounds. I check my bedside drawer when I get back to my room and pull out the two thin, long boxes from inside. I trek through the castle and find Flitwick on his way to his chambers for the night.
“Uncle Filius!” He stops to wait for me to catch up with a soft smile on his face.
“How can I help you, child?” He accepts my hug.
“I was wondering if you could put some charms on these for me? I would try to do it but I don’t have a wand yet,” I blush a bit as I push some hair behind my ear.
“Has that ever stopped you before?” His knowing look made me clear my throat and walk away as he chuckles. He lets us into his chambers and has his tea set make us hot chocolate as we settled in front of the fire.
“Now, what were you thinking?” There was a twinkle of delight in his eye and I explained what I wanted. We talk it out and refine the plan before he hands me his wand with an encouraging nod.
“Why Uncle! I didn’t take you to be one for breaking the rules!” I gasp, clutching at my chest with a repressed smile. He laughs it off and directs me on what to do for the spells. I leave two hours later exhausted but with an accomplished feeling swirling inside. This was shaping up to be a good holiday indeed.