Chapter 7. Christmas Holidays
Three months had passed since the start of the term. The Halloween Feast and Hufflepuff's victory over Ravenclaw in their first match of the year had kept the spirits high in the Hufflepuff common room for days. Alistair enjoyed his time with his new friends. He had been having the best time of his life and he had gotten very close with his fellow Hufflepuffs, noticing how they were acting like a very odd family. Toby was like a father, he had strong leader abilities and a great sense of humour where Layla instead was a like strict mother with her intelligence and sharp comments. William with his artistic abilities and quiet demeanour was like a kind younger brother and Chastity was like a careless older sister with her laidback attitude. Jeremiah with his observance about his surroundings and Mary with her calm and thoughtful nature were like uncle and aunt to him. He smiled often at the mental image even though he didn't dare to tell about it to any of his friends.
But in the addition to all the good things there were always the Transfiguration lessons, the only class Hufflepuffs shared with Slytherins. And now Alistair could clearly see why the snakes were so disliked by the other Houses. During those lessons Albus Potter, who seemed to hate every professor who compared him to his older brother James, used his time to pester everyone around himself. Luckily that considered mostly only his best friend Scorpius Malfoy which instead made Potter actually quite tolerable for the rest of the students in the class.
Alistair had always thought it would be hard to Scorpius Malfoy because he was well known because of his father who had been an actual Death Eater whereas Alistair's father was only related to one. But no one ever seemed to even try to pick on Scorpius when he was with Albus since the younger Potter brother was known for his temper and some nasty jinxes first year students usually didn't know. However, even with his family's reputation as vain and arrogant pure-blood elitists nobody ever saw Malfoy doing or saying anything bad. Of the young Slytherins he was by far the easiest to deal with.
The first year Slytherin girls instead were just plain mean. The doll-like blonde with corkscrew curls who smirked like a maniac when no professor could see and smiled innocently when they did. She had showed to be an excellent user of Tripping Jinx which she more than regularly used on less popular girls. The shorter, raven haired girl who often accompanied the blonde preferred verbally abusing others. Mary had even started crying when she had commented her old robes.
Still, Ven Zabini was the worst in Alistair's opinion. By calling him a wimp during the very first week of Hogwarts Zabini had ensured their some sort of mutual hatred towards each other. Zabini seemed to point out every mistake Alistair made and glare at him threateningly. It all made Alistair feel very uneasy.
Toby advised Alistair to ignore Zabini. "You're better than him anyway," he said. Alistair sighed. That was only partly true since Zabini's grade in their last essay in Transfiguration had been better than his. It had been the class' best actually. And it had made the Slytherin smug. More smug than he usually was.
Studying hadn't really turned out to be easier after Ven had received a letter from his father. Blaise had still been determined about his son keeping eye on the possible will-be Death Eaters. According to what he wrote there still was some underground Death Eater activity and he was part of the squad examining their trails. That meant the Transfiguration lessons continued to be a pain.
Albus' words supported Blaise's theory. "My dad says there's been few marks about them," he had said with a shrug. "But as I said, only few. They probably don't have any real leader so they won't do anything special. And they'll get caught soon anyway if Aurors are already tracking them down."
And Ven had agreed with that. Instead his opinion about his father's attempt to find Death Eaters from among the students of Hogwarts was ridiculous. And even if Malfoy, Rosier, or even Nott will later become Death Eaters they probably won't even consider that opinion at the age of eleven, Ven thought bitterly and glanced at the table where few Hufflepuffs were trying to turn mice into snuffboxes. Nott was one of them.
Ven snorted and went to take a closer look when it seemed like the Hufflepuff had actually succeeded. He gave a smirk when he saw the box.
"It still has whiskers," Ven said, gaining glares from the Hufflepuffs. Nott flushed bright red and looked away. Jones, who seemed to be attached to Nott from the hip, stood up.
"As if you could do any better!" he snarled.
"I could," Ven said and gave an amused smirk. "And I can." He waved his wand and said the incantation to transfigure the mouse that had been previously, and poorly, transfigured by Nott. The whiskers were long gone and the shiny, silver snuffbox had appeared to the table. "See?" Ven said, satisfied.
Jones snarled at him and held out his wand. Apparently Ven had taken one step too far.
"What's going on here?" Professor Norwood asked, noticing the tension between his students.
"I just showed the Hufflepuffs here how to transfigure correctly," Ven said, raising his eyebrow. "Is that forbidden, Professor?"
Professor Norwood's eyes flickered to the snuffbox at the table and then back to his students.
"No, no it's not. Well done, Mr. Zabini," Professor Norwood said and nodded in delight. "Yes, 10 points to Slytherin. Mr. Jones, sit down please."
Ven smirked when Jones reluctantly withdrew his wand and sat down.
In the beginning of December the Great Lake at Hogwarts grounds had frozen over and many students were planning to go back to their homes for Christmas holidays. Ana and Theodore were both expecting Alistair to come home but when Alistair had heard Mary was being only of the first year Hufflepuffs to stay at Hogwarts, he had immediately considered staying at school.
Mary's parents were muggles, you see, and they were going to spend the Christmas with their non-magical relatives and they had asked Mary to stay at school. Mary had smiled at Alistair when he had asked should he stay at Hogwarts with her.
"No, I'll be fine. I already asked Wilona to help me with Astronomy during the holiday since I'm not very good at it," she had said with a smile. "And it's only couple weeks. Don't worry."
And so the Christmas holidays came and before Alistair had even realized it he was on his way back home with Toby and Layla. His parents were waiting for him at the King's Cross Station. Layla and Toby's parents were there as well and so the three children left to their own ways. Before taking a taxi Alistair saw Chastity with her twin brother Claude from the corner of his eye. They were hugging a widely smiling woman. Their mother, Alistair guessed. His thoughts wandered back to Hogwarts where Mary would spend her holiday alone. He made a mental note to himself to send at least a letter to her later.
"And tell me, Tabby, when exactly did my parents leave and where?" Ven asked from the house elf that had collected him from the station when they arrived to the seemingly empty manor. The house elf – a small creature from her head to her toes covered in liver spots and wearing only a lavender pillowcase with pink flowers on – hid her big, wet, mud-coloured eyes when she was addressed. She drooped her head instead of looking at Ven in the eye and avoided the question.
"Yesterday night… Master Zabini told Tabby he has to go to work. He said young Master is old enough to handle being in charge of the manor for few days," Tabby explained carefully and finally looked up. "Is young Master mad at Tabby?"
Ven huffed and sat on his usual spot on the grand sofa in the Zabini manor living room. "I'm not mad at you, Tabby," he sighed, rubbing his temples. "What about my mother?"
"Mistress hasn't been around for the past two months," the elf said and looked very sad and guilty. "Mistress went back to Italy. That's all what Tabby knows."
"So, they're finally divorcing." He had been expecting it for the past few years. It had been only a matter of time before his mother would have moved away.
"Young Master can't be so sure about it," Tabby said sadly. "Mistress may still come back."
Ven gave a small smile to the elf even though they both knew Maria Amell was never coming back. She was never again going to sit in the library with her nose stuck on a book for the whole day and complain how horrible the Earl Grey tea tasted. She was never again going to sing outside at the field when the weather reminded her of Italian spring. She would never again even try acting all motherly. And it hurt more than Ven dared to admit out loud.
"Tabby," Ven started. His voice was barely louder than a whisper.
"Yes, young Master?" the house elf asked. "Tabby will do anything Master wants."
"Would you read something to me?"
Theodore's expression soured immediately when Alistair mentioned Professor Longbottom. It was early in the morning before Christmas Eve and the Nott had gathered in the kitchen.
"He said you were the master of silent treatment," Alistair said, drinking cocoa Ana had made for him. In his opinion it was funny to hear what kind of boy his father had been since Theodore didn't like talking about himself. Nor had Theodore stayed in contact with his old class mates so Alistair hadn't even had them to ask. Ana instead had met Theodore when he had been on his eight year. She instead had been on her third year, and they kept being contact in school mostly by letters because Theodore didn't want Ana to get too involved in Slytherins.
"I wasn't," Theodore said slowly and lowered the newspaper. "I just wasn't very interested in mentoring the class's worst student."
Alistair would have stood up for his favourite teacher but he knew his father's words to be true. Professor Longbottom had said it himself. Ana tried her best to lighten the mood.
"So, what's your favourite class in Hogwarts, dear?" she asked Alistair and smiled brightly.
"Herbology," Alistair replied immediately and his father looked like he had eaten a bunch of lemons. "But I like potions, too," he added quickly. "I just don't like Professor Blishwick. She hates everyone."
After the breakfast Theodore had spent most of the day in his study while Alistair helped his mother with Christmas decorations and cooking. Alistair had sent presents and letters for all of his classmates and gotten even few back. He had been especially happy when Layla had sent him a book Guide to Healer's Herbology – Poisonous herbs and antidotes, and he had made sure to not read it when his father was in the same room.
Blaise didn't return home for the Christmas Day. He had explained in a letter that they had gotten an anonymous tip from Scotland that a small group of Neo Death Eaters was hiding in Aberdeen. Ven understood the reason but spending Christmas alone hadn't even crossed his mind when he had left Hogwarts. Tabby, of course, did her best by keeping company and making delicious Christmas dinner, only this time it was served only for one.
"Does young Master want Tabby to fetch something from his room?" the house elf intrigued softly.
Ven shook his head. "No." He barely left the living room and Tabby was okay with it.
"Tabby will go wash dishes," the elf said. "Young Master will call Tabby if he needs something?"
Ven nodded and the house elf apparated with a loud crack. Ven sighed and pulled the blanket over his legs and took a book he had borrowed from Scorpius from the pile on the side table.
There were only eight days left until the holiday would be over.
The rest of the holiday went quietly in Bexley as Alistair concentrated on his homework and got ready to return back to Hogwarts. He had planned to meet Toby at the station and Ana had been very keen to meet her son's friend.
"Hello, 'Listair!" Toby exclaimed and waved his hands frantically until Alistair and his mother had reached him at the Platform 9 3/4. "Hello, Mrs. N," he added.
"Hello, Tobias," Ana answered politely. "How was your holiday?"
"Noisy," Toby said with a shrug. "We had an all-family Christmas at my Aunt Gwenog's place. And I got a broom from her, too! I was planning to bring it over but then my ma reminded that first year students can't bring their owns so I decided I'll wait till my second year when I can try to get into our House's team!"
Ana Nott looked at the babbling boy, positively amused. "That's nice," she said with a nod.
Alistair smiled. "You can go, mother," he said. "I'll be fine with Toby. I'll write to you when I get back to Hogwarts."
"I know, I know," Ana hummed, waving her hand nonchalantly.
"Oh, before I forgot, Mrs. N!" Toby started eagerly. "My birthday is in July so could Alistair come to our place in Holyhead for a week or so during the summer? My ma said I better ask soon."
"Why not?" Ana said with a confused half-smile and Toby grinned from ear to ear.
The train pipe whistled, signaling to the students the train was leaving soon.
"Thanks, Mrs. N!" Toby exclaimed, climbing in the train.
"Bye, mother!" Alistair continued, pulling his trunk behind himself as he followed Toby. "See you in summer!"
Ana waved at him. "Love you, dear!"
"Love you, too!" Alistair replied.
Everything was going to be just perfect.
