The people of this world had another holiday Envy had never heard of. Christmas. It involved decorating the hall gloriously and giving gifts. Envy really didn't see the point of it, but then again, he didn't see the reasoning behind any other holidays either.

The day of the first snow, sometime in the middle of December, the Weasley twins were punished for charming several snowballs to fling themselves at the back of Quirrell's head. Envy had helped, but he managed to escape before McGonagall caught him and privately laughed at the twins' failure.

The Gryffindor trio seemed rather occupied with something. Every time Envy saw them, they were either running to the library, coming back from it, or they were already there. He would hear them whispering about someone called Nicolas Flamel, a name that sounded vaguely familiar, but he couldn't quite put his finger on it . . .

Snape had come around with a list of students that would be staying for Christmas Break. Envy had signed up without a second thought, but, as only two other Slytherins wouldn't be going home, it was going to be rather lonely. He didn't care about that, of course, definitely not. There was no reason whatsoever why he should feel alone.

This didn't change the fact that for some reason, he felt quite pleased when Granger approached him after Potions class one day.

He cast her a glare, not wanting to seem too friendly. "Is there something you want? Because if not, I need to get going."

Hermione gaped for a moment, surprised by Envy's attitude, before answering. "I didn't get the chance to say thank you after the whole incident with the troll."

Envy raised his eyebrows.

"S-so, um . . . thanks."

Envy sighed. "Fine you're welcome." He didn't stick around to see what she said next, instead choosing to hurry on to his next class, Charms. As usual, his time at Hogwarts wasn't any more exciting than days at a magic school could get. He was getting top marks in Transfiguration, but really, who cared about grades? . . . Well, he supposed all those other kids did, but he didn't.

He probably should, considering Father wasn't around to help him (or rather to be helped) in this world and he would need to eat when he grew too old for school.

'-'

Envy received a surprise on Christmas morning when he spotted the single wrapped gift at the foot of his bed. A little note was attached to the ribbon that was neatly tied around the whole thing.

Envy,

Thanks again for helping to save me from the troll. Here's some compensation.

-Hermione

He snorted in disbelief (why would she give something to him? They hardly knew each other!), but opened the parcel anyway.

It was just a book. A very thick book titled Transfiguration for Beginners. When he flipped open the cover, another note fell out.

McGonagall mentioned that you're good at Transfiguration. Hope you like it.

Maybe he would read it after breakfast.

All of the meals on Christmas Day were very large in proportion the the people who were staying at Hogwarts for break, which was something not far over a dozen including the teachers who had remained. Because there were so many turkeys, everyone had the opportunity to stuff their faces.

'-'

As the next Quidditch match—Gryffindor versus Hufflepuff—grew ever nearer, Harry Potter seemed to be growing anxious about something. Envy was quite sure that the black-haired boy hadn't been this nervous about the his first match, but he hadn't been paying much attention. So he decided to ask about it.

"Snape's refereeing the next match," Harry said gloomily.

"And?" Envy prompted, unimpressed.

"Haven't you seen him in Potions?" Bits food flew from Ron's mouth as he said this, spraying the table with crumbs.

Envy didn't pay it any mind—he was used to Gluttony's eating habits, Ron wasn't nearly as bad.

"He hates Gryffindor! Always docking points, and giving them to you Slytherins, even when your potions are as bad as Neville's!"

Said forgetful boy, who was sitting a few seats away, looked a little hurt. Ron didn't notice, but Hermione did. "He didn't mean it, Neville, at least your potions are better than Crabbe and Goyle's."

Neville brightened a bit and went back to eating. Meanwhile, Ron had finished chewing and was informing Envy of why Snape refereeing a Quidditch match was a bad thing.

"He'll take every chance to give Hufflepuff penalties, and he might try to kill Harry again."

Envy found that last part very interesting, very interesting indeed. "Again?" he asked, eyebrows raised.

"Oh, um, well . . ." Ron stumbled over the words for a moment and Hermione stepped in.

"Remember how Harry's broom was bucking at the last Quidditch game?" Envy nodded. "Well, Snape was jinxing it! He was staring at Harry without blinking and muttering something. I set fire to the hem of his robes to distract him."

Envy frowned, remembering the disgruntled look Quirrell's face held at the match and his skipping out on the feast. "I dunno . . . Snape doesn't seem like the kind of guy who would try to kill little kids. Even if they're Gryffindors," he added upon seeing the incredulous expression on Ron's face.

"You could be right," Hermione said slowly. "But we'll have to wait and see."

'-'

Envy chose to sit as close as he could to Ron and Hermione without it seeming strange. Despite their worries, however, there was nothing out of the ordinary about the match other than the fact that Snape did indeed award several penalties to Hufflepuff. Ron got into a fight with Draco Malfoy, something which Envy found quite amusing, and Neville tried to back him up, but he ended up being knocked out by Crabbe or Goyle—Envy couldn't be bothered to remember which one was which.

In the end, Gryffindor won the match. Envy wasn't sure if he should be happy about this or not. On the one hand, Gryffindor was a rival house and he should be unhappy about the easy win. On the other, the Weasley twins were on the Gryffindor Quidditch team (he definitely didn't care about the trio, this was completely unrelated) and they needed to keep their alliance intact.

He decide to remain neutral.

'-'

As exams made their slow approach, the teachers began piling homework in front of their students. Envy noticed that the fifth years and up had more than anyone else.

Well, he wasn't looking forward to those years as much anymore.

At the moment, Envy was in the library. He had barely made any effort to do some studying before he started wandering about the Transfiguration shelves—he had already finished the book Hermione had given him—and pulling off volumes at random.

He never dreamed he would ever become so bookish.

The former Homunculus dragged his stuff to a table—which he noticed absently was a not far from the one where the Gryffindor trio were sitting—and started reading Tea Cups to Rats. Two chapters in, he felt a slight tremor in the floor and looked up to see the gamekeeper whispering to the trio. What was his name again? Haggar? Haggard? Hagrid? Yes, that was it, Hagrid. Anway, Hagrid was looking quite shifty about something and hiding a book behind his back. The trio was looking curious, but Hagrid didn't seem to be telling them what they wanted to know. They didn't look like they were pushing very hard either.

Heh, if they didn't know how to get information out of people, then he wasn't telling them.

'-'

After that, everything seemed normal. Then the trio started looking harried. They whispered to each other a little more frequently, and whenever one got too loud they would be silenced with a noisy "SHH" from Hermione.

Envy at last decided to confront them when he found out Ron was stuck in the Hospital Wing.

He snuck up behind the trio (or rather, the two that were there) after Potions class, getting a strange sense of déjà vu as he did so. "You guys have seemed kind of suspicious lately. What's that all about?"

They jumped and turned to face him.

"Oh, Envy!" Hermione gave a smile that Envy got the impression was fake. "We didn't see you there. Did you like the book?"

He blinked. "Wha—oh, yeah." He shifted uncomfortably. "Don't try to change the subject, what have you been whispering about?"

"Um . . ." Hermione glanced around. "You're not going to blab to Malfoy, are you?"

"You mean the blond haired brat?" Envy snorted. "We might share a dorm, but that doesn't mean I'm one of his loyal minions."

After being given an affirmative glance by Hermione, Harry launched into an explanation about Hagrid and a baby dragon called Norbert. By the end of it, Envy's eyebrows had disappeared behind his headband.

"Well, I would love to see that dragon."

'-'

Draco wondered why Novus kept talking to those Gryffindors.

'-'

Full Name: Envy Novus

Birthday: 7 May 1980

Wand: Hawthorn and Dragon Heartstring, ten and a quarter inches, flexible.

House: Slytherin.

Parents: Connor Novus (half-blood) and Lucy Novus (muggle).

Skills: Good at Transfiguration and offensive spells.


Okay, so, this wasn't made clear last chapter, but Malfoy's started to think that Envy might be a muggle born/muggle lover/possible blood traitor, and if you're in Slytherin, that's not a good thing. Also, I forgot to mention that I was going to stop putting up Envy's profile for a while. But I think I'll start putting it up again, really, for your convenience. The previous chapter has been edited to contained Envy's profile.

I've changed my review policy. I now answer reviews if I feel like it.

Please review! You know you want to! *holds up FMA character plushies labeled "REWARDS"*

-Quiet Leaf