Alexithymia

Snow fell from the sky, drifting in the wind and coating the castles ground in white powder. Hagrid, with a rope over his shoulder and a large pine being dragged behind him, was seen trudging through the snow heading straight for the Hogwarts doors.

Inside of Hogwarts, students were walking around with luggage, a few even talking to their friends. Some ghosts were grouped up, floating around the halls and singing quietly together, "Merry Christmas, Merry Christmas.. Ring the Hogwart bell. Merry Christmas, Merry Christmas.. Cast a Christmas spell."
Hermione with her own bag of luggage, steps out of a doorway, admiring the Christmas decorations. "Hello."
Letting out a tiny gasp, Hermione whipped around to see her only Ravenclaw friend, [Name]. "[Name]!" Hermione says, slightly irritated from the shock.
"Yes?" [Name] stares questioningly at the younger girl, confused at her tone.

Hermione sighs and shakes her head, "Never mind.. What are you doing over here? And where's your luggage?" Hermione takes a peak around [Name], trying to spot any type of bag or container. "I don't need one, I'm staying here." Hermione nods in understanding, taking a glance around as if thinking about something. "..Would you like to walk with me until I have to go?" Hermione asks, a bit nervously. "I mean, until I find Harry and Ron." She adds on quickly.
[Name] nods their head at her question, "I would be delighted to." And despite their words, they did not look all too delighted, but Hermione paid no mind, already used to this behavior.
Hermione smiles at them, her face tinting a soft pink. [Name] walks over to stand beside Hermione, which gave her the signal to keep walking. The two walked down the halls together until they finally reach the Great Hall, where they could see Harry and Ron sitting at one of the tables, a chess board in between them.

"Knight to e5." They could hear Harry say, causing his knight on the board to move to the spot Harry requested. Ron examines the board for awhile, giving enough time for [Name] and Hermione to show up and stand beside Harry, watching their game.
"Queen to e5." Ron smirks proudly as they watch his queen move forward and destroy Harry's knight.
"That's totally barbaric!" Hermiones smile was gone as she glares at the two boys, judging their choice of game.

Rons face doesn't lose any ounce of confidence as he moves Harry's destroyed chess piece out of the way, "That's wizard's chess." Ron finally looks at Hermione, taking notice of her luggage. "I see you've packed."
"I see you haven't." Hermione snaps back at him, causing him to lean back from her. Ron doesn't look too phased though as he defends himself,
"Change of plans. My parents decided to go to Romania to visit my brother, Charlie. He's studying dragons there."
"Good. You can help Harry, then. He's going to go and look in the library for information on Nicolas Flamel."
At that, Ron looks at Harry in complete shock, "We've looked a hundred times!"
[Name] leans down closer to the two boys, "Not in the restricted section."
Hermione gives [Name] a look before nodding and walking off, "Happy Christmas."

...

"Harry, wake up! Come on, Harry, wake up!" Rons muffled voice is heard through the Gryffindor house, causing Harry to stir in his sleep. Harry reaches for his glasses on his nightstand and places them on his face as he sits up. He rushes out the door still in his pajamas and looks over the indoor balcony. There stood Ron and [Name] in the Gryffindor common room, Ron giving Harry a little wave.
"Happy Christmas, Harry."
"Happy Christmas, Harry."
Both Ron and [Name] say in sync, causing Harry to smile, "Happy Christmas, [Name], Ron." Harry then scrunches up his face, seeing what the two are wearing. "What are you wearing? And [Name], what are you doing in here?"
Ron looks down at his sweater, the letter 'R' stitched onto it, [Name] was wearing a similar sweater, except theirs had the letter 'F' on it.
"Fred and George let me in. Fred is letting me sleep in his bed over break, he gave me his sweater to wear."
"Oh, my mum made it." Ron turns around, gesturing to a package underneath the tree. "Looks like you and [Name] got one too."

"I've got presents?" A big smile stretches across Harry's face, never having received a present before.
"Yeah." At Ron's answer, Harry quickly rushes down the steps to meet the two.
"They're right there," [Name] gestures to the only presents left under the tree, Harry wasting no time to crouch down in front of the tree and pick up one of his presents. Ron sits on top of the table, [Name] sitting beside him. Ron picks up a small snack container, offering it to [Name] who takes a few, watching Harry open up his first present. A letter is held in his hands, he opens it up and reads it aloud for the other two.
"Your father left this in my possession before he died. It is time it was returned to you. Use it well." Harry looks up at his friends, silently asking if they knew anything about it. As usual, Ron shrugs and [Name] just stares at him, hoping Ron's answer was enough. Since those two don't know anything, Harry set the letter aside and started ripping open his gift. Pulling it out, he stood up to get a better look at it.
"What is it?" Ron asks.

"Some kind of.. cloak."

"Well, let's see, then. Put it on."

Doing as Ron asked, Harry wraps the cloak around him, causing his body, excluding his head, to go invisible. Ron's eyes widen as he lets out an amazed "Woah!", even setting his snack aside and stand up to get a better look.
Harry looks down at himself to see what made Rom react that way, his own eyes widen as he looks up at his two friends. "My bodies gone!"

"That's an invisibility cloak. They're rare." [Name] stands up as well, examining Harry from head to toe. This information excited Harry, "I'm invisible?" He rhetorically asked, spinning around.
"I wonder who gave it to you." Ron picked up the letter to look for a name, Harry and [Name] stepping up beside him to also look at it.

"There was no name. It just said, 'Use it well.'"

...

"[Name]! [Name], wake up!" Harry whisper shouts, shaking them gently as to not wake up the sleeping male beside them. "C'mon, you gotta see this!"
[Name] peaks their eye open, seeing the floating head of Harry and a visible outstretched arm. Trying to sit up, [Name] notices that something, or someone was holding them down. Glancing over at Fred, they quickly realize that Fred had his arms tightly wrapped around them, keeping them from moving. [Name] looks up at Harry apologetically, "You'll have to go on without me, tell me about it later."
Harry sighs disappointedly, but nods his head. "Sorry for waking you up then. Goodnight."

"Goodnight Harry."

Harry walks out of the room and goes down the steps to the common room where Ron was waiting, "Are they coming?"
"No, one of your brothers got them. Well, come on now."
With [Name] being unavailable, Harry covers both him and Ron with the invisibility cloak and make their way to the place Harry is so excited about.

Opening the door to a room, they quickly tear off the cloak and run further in. "Come on! Come! Come look, it's my parents!" Harry stops right in front of a large mirror, Ron stopping next to him. They both gaze into the mirror, Ron more so confused as he see's nothing but the two of them.
"I only see us."

"Look in properly. Go on, stand there." Harry repositions Ron to stand in the middle, Harry then moving off to the side. Now something seems to catch Ron's eye, causing Harry to feel a spark of excitement. "There. You see them, don't you?"

"That's me! Only I'm head boy." Harry stares confused as to what Rons talking about. Ron continues to go further into detail,"And i'm holding the Quidditch Cup. And bloody hell! I'm Quidditch captain too! I look good.. and wait, [Names] here too!" Ron stares confusedly at the mirror, glancing around him. Seeing no one but himself and Harry, he turns to Harry. "Harry, do you think this mirror shows the future?"
"How can it? Both my parents are dead."

The next morning, all students left at Hogwarts were eating their breakfast in the Great Hall. Harry sat off by himself in front of the fire, far away from the rest of the students. All the Weasleys sat together, [Name] sandwiched in between the two twins yet again.
"Do you like yours, Ron, [Name]?" George asks, referencing the sweaters that their mother had made for them.
"Do you like mine, Fred?" [Name] asks the other twin, seeing as he wore [Names] sweater and they wore his. Fred nods his head, "I might just end up keeping yours for myself, you can keep mine if you want."

"I wouldn't mind."

"I don't think Mum would like that too much. You'd better switch." Percy gives the two a pointed look, totally not jealous that they've swapped sweaters like a couple would.
"Mum wouldn't mind! She loves us." Fred tries to reason but Percy only rolled his eyes.

"Ron?" [Name] questions, seeing as he's been keeping quiet and staring at Harry in what seems like worry. At their voice, Ron finally tears his eyes away from his Gryffindor friend, "I'll be right back." Ron sets down his utensils and sits up from his seat, walking over to where Harry sat. [Name] seeing this excuses their self as well and follows Ron over to Harry.
"Wanna play chess?"
"No."
"Wanna go and visit Hagrid?"
"No."
"Harry, I know what you're thinking, but don't. There's something not right about that mirror." Harry nods at Rons words but he wasn't really listening.
"Mirror?" [Name] asks, looking at Ron.

"Last night, Harry found this mirror hidden in the restricted section that showed him his parents when he looked into it. When I looked, I didn't see his parents but I saw me winning the Quidditch cup and.." Ron turns away from his upperclassman, opting to stare at Harry instead when he felt heat crawl up to his cheeks, remembering what he exactly saw. "Well anyways, that's what Harry wanted to show us."

"..That sounds like the mirror is showing something you desire. I'd be careful, though. It's in the restricted section so it could have a bad side effect."
Ron's eyes widen at [Names] words, a look of realization overtaking his face, "Bloody hell, I think you might be right!"
[Name] then looks over at Harry, wanting to comfort him, but not being knowledgeable enough to do so. "Feel better, Harry." They mutter, walking back over to their spot between the twins, Ron following after them.