One morning in mid-December, the castle awoke to find itself buried in several feet of snow. A bitter wind blew around the spires, and an icy chill descended in the drafty corridors. Hagrid could be seen dragging huge spruce trees away from the forbidden forest, towards the castle. Christmas was coming to Hogwarts.
Everywhere you looked, festivities where in full swing. Bunting and tinsel hung across hallways and fireplaces, while a small Christmas tree had appeared in the Gryffindor common room seemingly overnight. Even the teachers were becoming more relaxed. Professor Flitwick had enchanted baubles to float above their heads during lessons, while Professor Slughorn brewed hearty warming concoctions to warm them up in the icy Potions classroom.
But nowhere was more magnificent than the Great Hall. Twelve enormous Christmas trees lined the walls, each with unique decorations: some sporting golden glass baubles, others hundreds of miniature candles. Festoons of mistletoe and holly dangled from every wall. Every feast was a joy to behold: the house elves had out done themselves with exquisite platters of food for the mains and towers of ice cream for dessert.
With just a week to go before the Christmas holidays, the talk of the school was the rapidly approaching "Slug Club" Christmas party. The competition for a date was ferocious. All the girls had somehow compiled a list of which boys where in Professor Slughorn's inner circle, and did their utmost to persuade a boy to go with them. However, this made it difficult to move about the castle with ease.
Every day, Harry had to evade groups of girls, with evenings in the common room disrupted with whispers and giggles of on lookers. More than once he had seen Romilda Vane spying on him in the library.
"How do you do it, mate?" said Ron.
"Do what?"
"How do you go about it every day, and not snap at them to leave you alone?"
"Listen, I've had this attention for the past three years, I can cope with it a few more years." Since becoming Gryffindor Quidditch captain in his fourth year, he had become the hero of his house, leading them to successive titles. And the number of females clamouring for his attentions had only swelled since.
As they took seats at the Gryffindor table in the Great Hall, Ron asked: "are you going to ask anyone? Pretty sure everyone would say yes, but don't leave it too long." Before Harry could answer, his thoughts were distracted as Hermione sat down opposite them.
"Hi you too. Harry, you do know that Romilda Vane tried to sneak you a love potion again last night?" Harry paused, goblet frozen in his hand. "I'm not saying she's spiked that! Just that you should watch your back more."
"Hey Hermione," Ron asked, "Who are you taking to Slughorn's ball?"
"Oh don't get me started. Cormac McLaggen won't stop following me around. He's vile! But let's not focus on me. Harry, who are you taking?"
"I told you she'd ask!" Ron exclaimed. "He's not saying, but I'm pretty sure he's got someone in mind." But Harry had stopped listening; he'd become distracted by her brown eyes, the curls of her bushy hair, the way she tucked it behind her perfectly rounded ears. "…Harry? You still with us?"
"What?!" Harry was jolted back to reality. "Yeah, sorry just thinking about…Christmas presents for mum and dad."