Chapter 6: Christmas

Christmas was coming. One morning in mid-December, Hogwarts woke to find itself covered in several feet of snow. The lake was froze solid and Juliet and the Weasley twins were punished for bewitching several snowballs so that they followed Quirrell around, bouncing off the back of his turban.

The few owls that managed to battle their way through the stormy sky to deliver mail had to be nursed back to health by Hagrid before they could fly off again. No one could wait for the holidays to start.

While the house common rooms and the Great Hall had roaring fires, the drafty corridors had become icy and a bitter wind rattled the windows in the classrooms. Worst of all were Professor Snape's classes down in the dungeons, where their breath rose in a mist before them and they kept as close as possible to their hot cauldrons.

"I do feel so sorry," said Draco Malfoy, one Potions class, "for all those people who have to stay at Hogwarts for Christmas because they're not wanted at home." He was looking over at Harry as he spoke. Crabbe and Goyle chuckled. Harry, who was measuring out powdered spine of lionfish, ignored them. Malfoy had been even more unpleasant than usual since the Quidditch match. Disgusted that the Slytherins had lost, he had tried to get everyone laughing at how a wide-mouthed tree frog would be replacing Harry as Seeker next.

Then he'd realized that nobody found this funny, because they were all so impressed at the way Harry had managed to stay on his bucking broomstick. So Malfoy, jealous and angry, had gone back to taunting Harry about having no proper family.

"That is it!" Juliet yelled, and tackled Draco to the floor. "That wasn't funny you arse!" She screeched, and punched Draco in the face. She moved to punch again when Kryssie and Ryder pulled her off of him.

"Knock it off Julie!" Krysie exclaimed, as Snape rushed over and checked on the Malfoy.

"Then that arse face better back off my friends!" Juliet nearly screamed.

Snape looked conflicted. "Miss Jacobs, ten points from Slytherin for attacking another student." He had a twitch in his eye, clearly not happy about docking points from his own house. "And two extra days detention."

While Juliet was pissed about more detentions, she was overjoyed at having points docked from Slytherin. "Yes Professor." She said, faking a sad face, and sitting back down with Krystian.

It was true that Harry wasn't going back to Privet Drive for Christmas. Professor McGonagall had come around the week before, making a list of students who would be staying for the holidays, and Harry had signed up at once. He didn't feel sorry for himself at all; this would probably be the best Christmas he'd ever had. Ron and his brothers were staying, too, because Mr. and Mrs. Weasley were going to Romania to visit Charlie.

Kryssie and Juliet were staying back at the school as well, for their mother was going away for an art show in America. The twins had been asked if they wanted to go as well, but they declined, saying they would rather stay at Hogwarts.

When the group left the dungeons at the end of Potions, they found a large fir tree blocking the corridor ahead. Two enormous feet sticking out at the bottom and a loud puffing sound told them that Hagrid was behind it.

"Hi, Hagrid, want any help?" Ron asked, sticking his head through the branches.

"Nah, I'm all right, thanks, Ron."

"Would you mind moving out of the way?" came Malfoy's cold drawl from behind them. "Are you trying to earn some extra money, Weasley? Hoping to be gamekeeper yourself when you leave Hogwarts, I suppose — that hut of Hagrid's must seem like a palace compared to what your family's used to."

Juliet dived at Malfoy, punching him in the face again. Ron joined her, grabbing ahold of his robes.

"Weasley! Jacobs!" Snape yelled as came up the stairs

Ron let go of the front of Malfoy's robes.

"They were provoked, Professor Snape," said Hagrid, sticking his face out from behind the tree. "Malfoy was insultin' Ron's family."

"Be that as it may, fighting is against Hogwarts rules, Hagrid," said Snape silkily. "Five points from Gryffindor and Slytherin, and be grateful it isn't more. Move along, all of you."

Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle pushed roughly past the tree, scattering needles everywhere and smirking.

"I'll get him," said Ron, grinding his teeth at Malfoy's back, "One of these days, I'll get him."

"I hate them both," said Harry, "Malfoy and Snape."

"You and me both Harry," Juliet muttered with pure venom dripping from her voice.

"Come on, cheer up, it's nearly Christmas," said Hagrid. "Tell yeh what, come with me an' see the Great Hall, looks a treat." So the group followed Hagrid and his tree off to the Great Hall, where Professor McGonagall and Professor Flitwick were busy with the Christmas decorations.

"Ah, Hagrid, the last tree — put it in the far corner, would you?"

The hall looked spectacular. Festoons of holly and mistletoe hung all around the walls, and twelve towering Christmas trees stood around the room, some sparkling with tiny icicles, some glittering with hundreds of candles.

"How many days you got left until yer holidays?" Hagrid asked.

"Just one," said Krystian.

"That reminds me — Harry, Ron, we've got half an hour before curfew, we should be in the library." Hermione said, turning to the two.

"Oh yeah, you're right," said Ron, tearing his eyes away from Professor Flitwick, who had golden bubbles blossoming out of his wand and was trailing them over the branches of the new tree.

"The library?" said Hagrid. "Just before the holidays? Bit keen, aren't yeh?"

"Oh, we're not working," Harry told him brightly. "Ever since you mentioned Nicolas Flamel we've been trying to find out who he is."

"You what?" Hagrid looked shocked. "Listen here — I've told yeh — drop it. It's nothin' to you what that dog's guardin'."

"We just want to know who Nicolas Flamel is, that's all," said Hermione.

"Unless you'd like to tell us and save us the trouble?" Harry added. "We must've been through hundreds of books already and we can't find him anywhere, just give us a hint, I know I've read his name somewhere."

"I'm sayin' nothin', said Hagrid flatly.

"Just have to find out for ourselves then," said Ron, and they left Hagrid looking disgruntled and hurried off to the library.

Kryssie, Ryder, Juliet and Neville stayed behind, and looked around the hall. "It really is beautiful," Juliet said with a smile. The four first years sat down at the Gryffindor table to talk, and admire the decorations.

"Yeah," Kryssie agreed, and then turned to the two boys. "What are you're plans for Christmas Holiday?"

Neville was the first to speak up. "Gran is hosting another family reunion. I'll be lucky if I get to even go christmas shopping with all the preperations."

Juliet laughed, "You better try to make time, I mean I already have your gift picked out, I owl-ordered it yesterday."

Neville looked a little red in the face. Kryssie understood that most likely he hadn't thought of what to get Juliet.

Ryder laid his head on the table, "As for me, I'm stuck with a family reunion as well, but trust me, yours will be easily ten fold more entertaining then mine.." He grumbled.

"What, don't like your family?" Juliet asked, poking the raven haired boy.

"Not particularly.. My older brother goes to Durmstang, and my little sister will be starting at Beauxbatons in two years.. They both detest Hogwarts.." Ryder continued to grumble as he spoke.

"Detest Hogwarts? Is that even possible?" Kryssie asked, blinking.

"Oh trust me.. it is.." Ryder sighed.

Neville stood suddenly, "I'm sorry, I need to go up to the dormitory, I need to finish packing. T-The train leaves only an hour after classes end t-tomorrow, there will be no time so.."

Juliet waved him off. "We get it Nev, go."

Kryssie smiled at him, "Get packing, if you've forgotten anything you need, I'll owl it to you."

"T-Thank you Krystian..." Neville returned the smile and hurried off to Gryffindor Tower.

"Ah Kryssie, your too soft on him," Juliet complained with a pout. "He needs to man-up."

"Oh leave him alone Julie," Kryssie said with a soft laugh. She looked at her twin with a twinkle in her eye, "The unlikeliest of people, can turn into the most worthy hero."

"Aaaah!" Juliet held her head. "No more of your prophetess mumbo-jumbo!" Ryder and Kryssie laughed as Juliet groaned.

The three spent a while in the great hall, talking and poking fun at eachother. Their fun was short lived, as just as Juliet was getting to a good part of a story from when they were little, about playing a prank with the Weasley twins, on Percy, Snape walked over.

"Students are to retire to their dormitories for the evening." Snape said with a sneer at the three friends. He walked away, leaving Juliet glaring holes in his back.

"That grease bucket needs to get the pole out of his arse..." Ryder muttered to the twins. Juliet snorted and Kryssie tried to hide her giggles.

Ryder and Kryssie finally stood up. "We should really get up to Gryffindor tower.." Kryssie said, then hugged her twin. "See you tomorrow Jules."

"Sleep tight Kryssie," Juliet murmered, dreading heading down to the dungeons. "See ya Ryder.."

Ryder gave Juliet a sympathetic smile. "See you tomorrow Juliet," he said, then turned to Kryssie. "Let's go."

The two Gryffindors headed up to their tower, leaving the reluctent Slytherin to brood until Professor McGonagall appeared to shoo her from the Great Hall. Juliet slumped her way down to the dungeons, and slowly made her way to the wall that hid the entrance to the Slytherin common room.

"Pure Blood..." She mumbled and the wall vanished and she walked through. She ignored the glares from her fellow Slytherins, and had to literally drag herself up the stairs to her dormitory. Juliet knew pretty well by now, that she wasn't welcome to hang out in the common room, so she avoided it like the pleague.

She entered her dorm, and quickly made her way to her bed. Juliet looked around her room, the giant window had to be her least favorite part of the room. The window looked out into the Black lake, further reminding Juliet her dorm was under water. Juliet shivered at that, she hated the water.

Aside from the window, the room was pretty basic. The room was rectangular, and the five beds were lined up against the oposite wall, a dresser sat beside each bed, and the student's trunks sat at the end of each one. The beds themselves were four posters, with curtains. The room was annoyingly decotated with green, black and silver.

Her own red trunk stood out like a sore thumb, against the green of her bed's blanket. Juliet made a mental note to bring her own blanket next year. To both annoy her room mates, and to seclude herself from them. She always kept the curtains on the side facing the next bed closed.

Juliet sighed and sat on the side of her bed. No one else was in the room yet, as they were all downstairs talking with their friends, and doing their homework. Juliet turned to see Artemis curled up at the foot of her bed. She had to smile at him, it was impossible not to. She reached over and scratched his ears, and he erupted into a fit of purrs.

"Oh Arty.." She muttered with a small laugh. "Did you spend all day sleeping again?" In response the kitten mewed, liting his head. Juliet smiled, then pulled her knees up to her chest in a ball on the bed. "I wish I was in Gryffindor with Kryssie.." She whispered, and then flopped over and curled up in a ball.

She lay their for a few minutes, staring at the wall. She heard the door open, and four sets of foot steps entered the room.

"... Is she asleep already?" Narcia spoke softly to the other Slytherin girls.

"Must be," Pansy mused. "So what are you girl's plans for the holiday?"

Juliet tuned out the rest of their conversation, how she would be glad when they were gone home for the break...


Freedom. It was what Juliet was feeling as she escaped the Slytherin dormitories. She ignored the pangs of not being able to be with Kryssie and their friends. "Focus on Fluffy... We'll find the puppy tonight."

She snuck through the halls, trying to get to the third floor. She got as far as the staircase before she heard the cackles of Peeves through the hall. "Ah bloody hell, not again.." Juliet grumbled.

She hid behind a statue, hoping he wouldn't notice her. When Peeves flew close, she ducked down. "PEEVES! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" boomed throughout the halls.

Peeves froze. "GAH! Bloody Baron!" he yelled before zooming off.

That made Juliet cower more. She hated the Bloody Baron. He was creepy and weird and stonic and just plain mean. Then Juliet felt a tap on her shoulder making her jump and whirl around. "Now what is the only decent Slytherin doing out of bed?" Ryder asked.

Juliet breathed in relief. "Ryder! What are you doing here?"

He smirked. "Saving your butt. I want to see the dog too, but Snape is guarding the door. I came to warn you, guessing you'd try to find it."

She sighed. "Thanks Ryder. I owe you one."

Ryder smiled. "Yes you do. And you'll cash it in by letting me try to find the dog with you."

"Cute puppy," Juliet corrected.

"Whatever."

Both first years went their separate ways back to their dormitories. Juliet sighed to herself. "I just want something good to happen this year," she whispered as she slipped back into the dungeons.


Once the holidays had started, everyone was having too good a time to think much about Flamel, or the three headed dog..

While the other girls were all gone home, Kryssie didn't have the dorm alone. Juliet had been granted permission by Professor Dumbledore, to sleep in the Gryffindor dormitory for the break. The only rule was she was not to know the password. Ron and Harry had their dormitory to themselves as well.

The common room was far emptier than usual, so they were able to get the good armchairs by the fire. They sat by the hour eating anything they could spear on a toasting fork — bread, English muffins, marshmallows — and plotting ways of getting Malfoy expelled, which were fun to talk about even if they knew none of them would work.

"What if we took him into the dark forest, out cold, and let him wake up there?" Juliet suggested.

Kryssie rolled her eyes. "Go in that forest? No way."

"Oh come on! It would get him expelled, wouldn't it? Waking up and walking out of the forest?" Juliet said with a grin. Then her eyes lit up. "Oh! Or maybe some creature would happen upon him, and we'd never hear from him again!"

"Julie that's mean, even if he's an arse," Kryssie explained, crossing her arms.

"Fine.." Juliet muttered.

Ron had also started teaching Harry wizard chess. This was exactly like Muggle chess except that the figures were alive, which made it a lot like directing troops in battle. Ron's set was very old and battered. Like everything else he owned, it had once belonged to someone else in his family — in this case, his grandfather. However, old chessmen weren't a drawback at all. Ron knew them so well he never had trouble getting them to do what he wanted.

Harry played with chessmen Seamus Finnigan had lent him, and they didn't trust him at all. He wasn't a very good player yet and they kept shouting different bits of advice at him, which was confusing. "Don't send me there, can't you see his knight? Send him, we can afford to lose him."

On Christmas Eve, Kryssie, Juliet, Harry, Ron, Fred and George decided to sleep in the common room, looking forward to the next day for the food and the fun.

The first years woke early in the morning, however, the first thing Kryssie saw was Harry sitting up from his makeshift bed, staring at a small pile of packages at his feet.

"Happy Christmas," said Ron sleepily as Harry pulled his house coat over his pajamas.

"You, too," said Harry. "Will you look at this? I've got some presents!"

"What did you expect, turnips?" said Ron, turning to his own pile, which was a lot bigger than Harry's.

Before anyone could open a single present, Kryssie grinned. "Okay, Ron you remember how our mom had the little tradition of how we opened the gifts?"

"Yeah..?" Ron ask, raising an eyebrow.

"Can we do that?" Kryssie asked, with a shy smile.

Ron rolled his eyes, "Sure, if everyone else is okay with that."

"Harry?" Juliet asked, jumping in her spot.

Harry shrugged. "Alright."

Kryssie grinned. "Okay! Harry you can go first, pick one of your gifts, and tell us who it's from!"

Harry unwrapped a roughly cut wooden flute from Hagrid. Then he opened a note, and inside was a fifty-pence piece from his aunt and uncle.

Ron was fascinated by the fifty pence. "Weird!" he said, "What a shape! This is money?"

"You can keep it," said Harry, laughing at how pleased Ron was. "Hagrid and my aunt and uncle — so who sent these?"

"I think I know who that one's from," said Ron, turning a bit pink and pointing to a very lumpy parcel. "My mom. I told her you didn't expect any presents and — oh, no," he groaned, "she's made you a Weasley sweater."

Harry had torn open the parcel to find a thick, hand-knitted sweater in emerald green and a large box of homemade fudge.

"Every year she makes us a sweater," said Ron, motioning to his like-wrapped gift, "and mine's always maroon."

"That's really nice of her," said Harry, trying the fudge, everyone else in the room knew it was tasty, having grown up eating it. His next present also contained candy — a large box of Chocolate Frogs from Hermione.

Harry picked up another gift, and stared at it. It was two identically wrapped gifts, tapes together. "Krystian, Juliet, you didn't need to get me anything.." He whispered.

"Just open it Harry!" Kryssie said with a giggle.

"I-I didn't get you both anything though.." Harry hesitated still.

"Don't care, we got enough gifts," Juliet said shrugging.

"It is better to give, then to receive," Kryssie said with an air of whimsy around her.

Harry opened the gifts, and smiled softly. From Juliet, he got a miniature broomstick. Then Kryssie had gotten him a set of new, top of the line Quidditch goggles. "Really, thank you!" Harry exclaimed, then hugged both girls. They hugged him back, then he looked at his pile. "Two more.." He whispered, and picked up one. "From.. Ryder." He opened it swiftly, and pulled out a new set of Quidditch gloves, and a limited addition, autographed by the Hollyhead Harpies, copy of Quidditch through the Ages.

"Well, your gloves do have huge holes in them," Ron said with a laugh, then he stared at the book. "How in the world did he get the Hollyhead Harpie's autograph?"

"We'll ask when he comes back," Harry replied, sitting them down, and looking at the only one left. Harry picked it up and unwrapped it. Something fluid and silvery gray went slithering to the floor where it lay in gleaming folds.

Ron gasped. "I've heard of those," he said in a hushed voice. "If that's what I think it is — they're really rare, and really valuable."

"What is it?" Kryssie asked. Harry picked the shining, silvery cloth off the floor. Kryssie and Juliet reached over and felt it. It was strange to the touch, like water woven into material.

"It's an invisibility cloak," said Ron, a look of awe on his face. "I'm sure it is — try it on." Harry threw the cloak around his shoulders and Ron gave a yell. "It is! Look down!"

Harry looked down at his feet, but they were gone. He dashed to the mirror. Sure enough, his reflection looked back at him, just his head suspended in midair, his body completely invisible. He pulled the cloak over his head and his reflection vanished completely.

"There's a note!" said Ron suddenly. "A note fell out of it!"

Harry pulled off the cloak and seized the letter. Written in narrow, loopy writing, was a message. "Your father left this in my possession before he died. It is time it was returned to you. - Use it well... A Very Happy Christmas to you..." Harry stared at the note. "There's no signature..."

Ron was admiring the cloak. "I'd give anything for one of these," he said. "Anything. What's the matter?"

"Nothing," said Harry, he looked like he was questioning himself.

Before he could say or think anything else, Fred and George started stirring from their makeshift beds beside Juliet. Harry stuffed the cloak quickly out of sight. He didn't feel like sharing it with anyone else yet.

"Happy Christmas!"

"Hey, look — Harry's got a Weasley sweater too!"

Fred and George, having missed the agreement to open their gifts one person at a time, had quickly opened their blue sweaters, one with a large yellow F on it, the other a G, and pulled them on.

"Harry's is better than ours, though," said Fred, holding up Harry's sweater. "She obviously makes more of an effort if you're not family."

"Why aren't you wearing yours, Ron?" George demanded. "Come on, get it on, they're lovely and warm."

"I hate maroon," Ron moaned halfheartedly, then he unwrapped his customary maroon sweater, sat the fudge aside, then pulled the sweater over his head.

"You haven't got a letter on yours," George observed. "I suppose she thinks you don't forget your name. But we're not stupid — we know we're called Gred and Forge."

"What's all this noise?" Percy said, walking down the stairs to the dormitories, looking disapproving. He had clearly gotten halfway through unwrapping his presents as he too, carried a lumpy sweater over his arm, which Fred seized.

"P for prefect! Get it on, Percy, come on, we're all wearing ours, even Harry got one."

"I don't want-" said Percy thickly, as the twins forced the sweater over his head, knocking his glasses askew.

"And you're not sitting with the prefects today, either," said George. "Christmas is a time for family." They frog-marched Percy over to the couch, his arms pinned to his side by his sweater, then forced him to sit down on it. Percy glared at his brothers, but the scene just made the first years burst into laughter.

After they finally calmed down, it was Ron's turn to open his presents. He had gotten a carved figurine of a broom from Hagrid, a box of Every Flavour Beans from Hermione, Huneydukes best chocolate from Ryder, and a 10 pack of chocolate frogs from Kryssie. He reached for his last present, he opened it and a cloud of smoke surrounded his head. When it cleared, the two sets of twins fell over laughing loudly.

"Y-You look ridiculous!" Juliet choked out over her fit of laughter.

Ron shot up and ran to look in the mirror, and he saw that his hair had turned a vivid shade of green. His face turned brighter red then his hair used to be, right up to the tips of his ears. "Julie!" Ron called at her.

"Oh relax Ronnie, it'll turn back in a day or two!" Juliet chimed over more laughter.

The now green haired Weasley plopped back down beside his presents grumbling.

Fred and George didn't bother showing them all what they got, but they did stop to thank Krystian for her gift, a bag of owl ordered Zonkos products each, then stopped to laugh at the muggle book 1001 Pranks from Ryder. They picked up their last gifts, with a grin towards Juliet, opened them and stared.

"I know they suck, I'm not that good at knitting.." Juliet piped in. Fred and George pulled up hand knit scarfs that matched their sweaters. Juliet waited for the jokes about how bad they were, but they never came. Instead, she felt herself being picked up. Fred and George had in fact picked her up and they sandwich-hugged her.

"Suck? These are the best scarfs ever!" They cheered and then sat her down, and wrapped the scarfs around their necks proudly.

Soon it was Kryssie's turn. She unwrapped a soft purple Weasley sweater, with a darker purple "K.E.A." on the back, from Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, along with the fudge. Fred and George seized it immediately and forced her to put it on over her night gown.

"She's an official Weasley!" Fred cheered.

George grinned. "When hasn't she been? Her and Juliet are as good as family!"

Even Percy, still with his arms pinned to his sides, laughed, which caused the two Weasley twins to grin. With a laugh and a smile, Kryssie put her arms through the sleeves, and went on opening her gifts.

She got a set of gobblestones from Ron, a few licorice wands and a few chocolate frogs from Hermione. True to his word, Harry hadn't gotten her anything, though he promised to make it up to her next time. She got a really pretty scarf from her mother, it was soft purple, like her Weasley sweater, making everyone think Mrs. Weasley and Camila had planned it. She opened a box with holes in it, to find a miniature rose bush from Neville, causing Juliet to snicker, and joke that Neville had a crush on her, that made her roll her eyes.

Before she could pick up her next gift, Fred and George shoved two small boxes in her hands. She blinked, then opened them, and in one box, was one earring, with crescent moons dangling from it, then the other was a matching earring with stars instead of moons. Kryssie laughed.

"So.. you got me one earring from two different sets?" She asked laughing.

"Nope," Fred said, grinning ear from ear.

"We got you one complete set of earrings, and wrapped them separately," George continued.

"Twice the unwrapping fun!" They said together.

Kryssie laughed. "You two are so weird!" She shook her head, then opened her gift from Ryder, which caused her to pout. It was a book he labeled "Transfiguration for dummies". She glared at it. Then she took it out of the box, and then squealed, pulling a small orb from under the book.

"What is that?" Harry asked, looking at the orb in Kryssie's hands.

"It's an enchanted constellation map! It shows all the constellations, and tells in what months you can see them the most clearly!" Kryssie exclaimed with a wide grin. "I mentioned I wanted one to Ryder last month, he didn't have to buy it for me!"

"What's the use of that?" Ron asked looking at it weird.

"It's very useful for seers and prophets! Using the constellations to tell the future!" Kryssie was still gushing over the fist sized orb.

Juliet snickered. "Scratch Neville having a crush on you, it's Ryder!"

Kryssie rolled her eyes. "No, he's just a great friend."

She opened a shabbily wrapped object, that was small as her fist. She opened it and couldn't fight the smile that traced her face. It was a carved wooden star, with her name burned into it, from Hagrid. It was also on a small sting, meaning it could be hung. Kryssie vowed to herself to hang it on her bunk in the dormitory.

Last, she picked up Juliet's gift to her, and opened it to see the new Weird Sisters poster and a gold bracelet, with a Gryffindor red gem embedded in it. Kryssie hugged her twin tightly. "Thank you!"

"Your welcome~" Juliet said with a laugh, hugging her twin back.

Once Kryssie took her seat again, it was Juliet's turn to open her gifts. She got a red Weasley sweater and fudge from the Weasley's. With a wide grin, she slipped it on. She got a set of exploding snaps from Ron, and half a dozen cauldron cakes from Hermione. She opened the one from their mother and found a pair of jeans. She tried to avoid the box with holes, knowing it was a plant from Neville. She didn't want to keep it, there was no sunlight in her dorm, it would die.

Kryssie took the present from Neville and opened it, then grinned. "Julie, take a look."

Juliet reluctantly looked at the plant, and saw a note. She took it, and then set the plant down. "Dear Juliet, I finally found something I think your going to really like... This plant is called The Shadowed Phoenix flower. It's a flower that only blooms when not in direct... sunlight.." Juliet stopped reading the note, she stroked a petal. "So beautiful..."

Kryssie smiled. "I say Neville hit the nail on the head with this one, eh?"

Juliet smiled and nodded. She opened her next gift, it was the same muggle 1001 pranks book that Fred and George got, and a few of Zonko's best selling products. She spied a envelope inside the book with a message: "Don't Tell Kry the contents of this letter." She slipped it into her pocket, determined to read it later.

Next she opened Kryssie's to her, inside was a silver necklace, with a lion pendent. Juliet grinned and hugged her twin. She picked up a crudely wrapped gift, and knew it was from Hagrid. She opened it and pulled out a carved circle with her name. It was also on a string.

Juliet then turned to her last gift, one from both Fred and George. She opened it, only to find another box. ".. What the..." She opened that one to reveal another one. That went on for six more boxes, until she got one fist sized. She opened it, and fireworks went whizzing past, and exploded over her head. She laughed, then looked into the box, and found a small creature looking up at her.

".. Fred... George... What is that?" Juliet asked, looking at the thing. It was the size of a small fist, had the head of a lion, the front half of it's body looked like a wolf, the back half like panther, and it had two long whip-like tails.

"It's an enchanted miniature Chimera!" The Weasley twins chimed together.

"We made it!" George laughed out.

Fred grinned, "No two Chimera's are perfectly alike."

"Even if they're twins." George continued.

"Just like us." They chimed together again.

Juliet smiled widely at the creature. "Chimichanga!" Then she jumped up and tackled the two boys. They hugged her laughing. "You two are crazy, you know that?"

"We know," they spoke in sync.


Christmas dinner at Hogwarts was a sight to behold. A hundred fat, roast turkeys; mountains of roast and bowls of potatoes of all kinds; platters of chipolatas; tureens of buttered peas, silver boats of thick, rich gravy and cranberry sauce – and stacks of wizard crackers every few feet along the table.

These fantastic party favors were nothing like the feeble Muggle one. Harry pulled a wizard cracker with Fred and it didn't just bang, it went off with a blast like a cannon and engulfed them all in a cloud of blue smoke, while from the inside exploded a real admiral's hat and several live, white mice. Up at the High Table, Dumbledore had swapped his pointed wizard's hat for a flowered bonnet, and was chuckling merrily at a joke Professor Flitwick had just read him.

Kryssie and Juliet pulled a cracker together, and were suddenly covered with confetti and streamers. A book landed on Kryssie's lap, and a silver penny whistle hit Juliet in the forehead. Kryssie laughed, and saw it was a muggle book called "Blue Rose."

Flaming Christmas puddings followed the turkey. Percy nearly broke his teeth on a silver sickle embedded in his slice. The first years watched Hagrid getting redder and redder in the face as he called for more wine, finally kissing Professor McGonagall on the cheek, who, to their amazement, giggled and blushed, her top hat lopsided.

When the student's finally left the table, they were each laden down with a stack of things out of the crackers. Harry's including a pack of non-explodable luminous balloons, a Grow-Your-Own-Warts kit, and his own new wizard chess set.

Ron now carried a new bright green bowler hat, a mini lion's head, and a rare chocolate frog card. Kryssie held the muggle novel, a pair of silvery white mittens, and a fake gold ring, with two green rhinestones shaped like fangs. Juliet had the penny whistle, an engineer's cap, and a bed side lamp, powered by a spell.

The white mice had disappeared and Harry had voiced a nasty feeling they were going to end up as Mrs. Norris's Christmas dinner.

Juliet, Krystian, Harry and the Weasleys (minus Percy) spent a happy evening having a furious snowball fight on the grounds. Then, cold, wet, and gasping for breath, they returned to the fire in the Gryffindor common room, where Harry broke in his new chess set by losing spectacularly to Ron. Juliet interjected that he wouldn't have lost so badly if Percy hadn't tried to help him so much.

After a late night meal of turkey sandwiches, crumpets, trifle, and Christmas cake, everyone felt too full and sleepy to do much before bed except sit and watch Percy chase Fred, George and Juliet all over Gryffindor tower because they'd stolen his prefect badge. Kryssie sighed, and rolled her eyes, but it didn't stop the smile playing across her lips from showing.

Once everyone had been tired out, they headed upstairs to the dormitories, and change, then curled up in their beds.

Juliet slipped a new collar on Artemis, it was a red and green bandanna, with a bell sewn into it. She fed him treats as Kryssie gave Damentia a new rock house to sleep in.

Kryssie crawled into her bed, and was asleep when her head hit the pillow, using her Weasley sweater as a blanket. Juliet, who was borrowing Hermione's bunk, sat on the edge, pulling Ryder's letter from her pocket. She ripped it open, and had to fight the laughter down as she read...

Dear Jules,

I just thought you would like to hear

about what Malfoy will be going threw

today. It seems I 'accidentally' sent him

a set of exploding snaps that will change his

hair a different color every time they explode.

Here's hoping he's not good at the game.

Oh no! It seems the colors won't wear our

for a good month or so! Oops!

- With best regards,

Ryder

Juliet grinned and clamped her hands over her mouth, falling back on Hermione's bed, trying to silence her laughter. So she wouldn't wake her twin. She couldn't wait to see Malfoy with rainbow hair when they came back from Christmas Break.