Ivory rubbed her bruised side absentmindedly as she walked up to the first floor to have her first transfiguration class with the third years. Unicorn hunting had left her exhausted and included a lot of running and sitting silently for a long time before sprinting again. Of course, the mistake as old as time had been made, she had stepped unknowingly between a unicorn dam and her foal and had been charged. Vincinte had been quick enough to nudge the unicorn so she wasn't stabbed by the horn, but she had been knocked into a tree rather roughly. Cyrene had managed to catch the unicorn by hugging it's neck with one arm and whispered a phrase quietly while pointing her wand at the unicorn before pulling out a small flask and pouring it's content down the animal's throat, sedation.

Ivory blushed a little remembering how Vincinte had asked her if she was okay about twelve times. She had certainly been hurt worse, and he had insisted on using a spell to check if she was truly well enough to continue on. Other than some heavy bruising, she was fine. She was early for her class, but Professor Rivers was there anyway and smiled, "There's assigned seating, you're in the back row, fourth desk to your right."

Ivory put her bag down at the seat indicated, but leaned against the wall behind her desk rather than sit, "Who am I sitting next to?"

"Cyrene Neri is on your right, and her brother is on the other side of her. Then… I'm not sure having your brother sitting next to you is a good idea, especially with Smoky in front of him." Rivers said thinking about his seating chart, "Oh well, we'll see how it goes."

"How what goes Professor?" Kris said as he opened the door, and then watched as Professor Rivers pointed at his sister, "What the hell are you doing here?"

"Mr. Potter, language." Professor Rivers said sternly, he was a relaxed teacher that was fine with anything as long as you stayed in your seat and kept a civil tongue. Which was harder for some of his students than it was for others.

"This is my new transfiguration class, have a problem with that?" Ivory said in a polite tone, that frankly pissed her brother off.

"Yeah, I do. Who's bright idea was it for you and me to be in the same class?" Kris said bitterly as he dropped his stuff at his desk and was now standing face to face with his sister, who at this point in time was two inches shorter than him. However, her death glare made up for not being able to look down on him.

Professor Rivers cleared his throat, "It was my idea Kris, now I suggest you two learn to tolerate each other. I can't believe I'm actually saying this, but if you two are going to fight like siblings during class, I'm sure your father would be more than happy to get involved.

It was quiet for a few seconds and the two sat down, and Kris said, "That won't be necessary."

"Good, I was hoping not." Rivers said sitting at his desk to wait for the rest of his students.

A few students took their seats around the room, Smoky being one of them, and eventually the Neri twins came in. Vincinte quietly greeted her, but Cyrene decided to make a production out of it, "Oh, Ivory, how's your side. Seemed pretty painful last night, I'm surprised one of us didn't have to carry you back."

"I'm fine Cyrene, just a little sore." Ivory said, Smoky and Kris were now glaring at the twins that had apparently taken Ivory somewhere she had been injured.

"As expected of someone who got knocked on their ass by a unicorn," Cyrene said grinning.

"Neri, language." Rivers said rolling his eyes.

"Sorry Professor," Cyrene apologized, although she clearly wasn't the least bit sorry, "It was a pretty pathetic performance on your part though, wasn't it."

"Cyrene," Vincinte said curtly in a voice that would make anyone stop in their tracks, "Enough, she did fine. Besides, if you had been paying more attention, like you were supposed to, she never would have been charged. Also, I don't think it's polite to tell her brother that she was able to see and ride unicorns last night. It might make him jealous."

Nearly the whole class had arrived and was eavesdropping the second they heard unicorn, and everyone was either jealous of Ivory, surprised to see the Neri twins argue, or a mix of the two. Cyrene, while taken aback by her brother being contrary, didn't seem threatened, "Oh, sure, choose to defend your new friends rather than me. Oh well, at least she's feisty little devil, you know, with the whole slapping you thing. And for your information, I brought it up in order to make everyone jealous of her."

Vincinte sighed, "I know."

"Okay class, since you're all here, we're going to start class." Professor Rivers said, noticing that there was a troubled atmosphere today, "As I'm sure you've noticed, we have a new student, first year Slytherin Ivory Potter. She's shown capability at the third year level or higher at transfiguration, and we have arranged for her to be in this class in order to challenge her. So, as I said, we will be starting some more difficult animal transfiguration this year, and after Christmas we should be starting to transfigure animals into other animals. Last week we went over how to transfigure simple objects into animals like rodents, and then into other objects. You will be doing a chain of nine, starting with a spoon and ending with a wombat following the chart on the board. If you don't know enough about an animal, I have some reference books in the front. And absolutely no setting animals or half-animals on fellow students, teachers or other animals. I had some bad experiences with my fourth years yesterday morning, poor Annette Diggory is still in the hospital wing. On that note, begin."

Tempus Praeter

Kris all but stormedout of the transfiguration classroom at the end of the period, Smoky on his heels to stop his friend from doing something presumably stupid. It became obvious that Kris was heading to quidditch practice early, about three hours early to be exact. Considering the captain of the Gryffindor team still had another class before practice could even start. Smoky took a deep breath, "Are you seriously letting her get this far under your skin? All she did was a little transfiguration."

Kris turned on him, "Maybe to you, but as far as I could see, she was showing off. She finished the entire practice in five minutes and offered to help me. While you may be okay with it, there is no way in hell that I am going to accept help from some arrogant first year. Even if she's my sister. See you tomorrow."

Smoky watched as Kris ran off. Smoky had no issue with Ivory's impressive transfiguration skills, but rather in her choice of friends. First, she was getting close to the Neris, which made the fact that he couldn't say anything that much more painful. Also, she had brushed off Rebel for the second time at lunch. The two of them had been so close as kids and Rebel had developed a crush that had him extremely depressed for months after she had run away. Now that she was back he had been hoping their relationship would be the same, but she treated him like a child and brushed him off for her new friends. Hopefully she realized what she was doing before it was too late.

Tempus Praeter

"Sorry Vincinte, this still just feels weird." Ivory said shifting uncomfortably as she too was doing her homework on Smoky's bed. It was November and just a week ago she had conceded to do her homework with the Neris. However, she felt bad for stealing her friend's bed in order to do so.

"Oh relax, he doesn't mind, you saw for yourself yesterday, all he does is kind of glare at us and then leave." Cyrene said cheerfully. Ivory had taken time to come to enjoy Cyrene's company. Unlike her brother, she was rash and was unsympathetic to feelings in most cases. She usually did the first thing that came to mind, which was a liability, but had the brute power and skill to figure things out. Which was the only way she had been able to beat Ivory in a duel.

"Don't worry, this is just the way we choose to annoy him, and we don't even have to do anything Professor Snape would disapprove of." Vincinte smiled softly. Unlike his sister, Vincinte intelligent, more of a strategist than anything else. Because of that he was quieter and more cunning, and could more easily make friends when he chose to reach out to them. Unfortunately, this was a very rare occurrence. Together they balanced each other out. Vincinte gave her a quizzical look, "Have you ever thought of putting your hair up? You seem to spend a lot of time brushing it out of your face."

"I've tried every once in a while, but it's just to much of a hassle. Besides, I can never get it straight." Ivory said, writing her charms essay without even opening the book. Then she stiffened and stopped writing, "Vincinte… what are you doing?"

"Putting your hair up for you." Vincinte asked simply as he held his hand out to Cyrene, who sighed and handed him a white scrunchie. He quickly had Ivory's hair up, and watched as she experimentally touched it, and then gave him a funny look.

"Why do you know how to make a ponytail so well?" Ivory asked.

Vincinte gave a weak smile, "You forget that my twin is very fond of using blackmail in order to get out of doing menial tasks or simply to get on my nerves."

"Oh, well thank you." Ivory said quietly, then bit her lip before talking again, "Your hands are cold."

Vincinte was a little thrown off by the sudden statement. Sure, he had seen her notice that his skin was cold, but she had never brought it up before. Of course, the way she chose to bring it up left little room to reply, so Vincinte simply nodded.

"I've always known you weren't completely human, and you said you wanted me to figure out what you were on my own." Once again, Ivory gave no room for argument or comment, "You two are half vampire, from your dad. Right?"

Vincinte smiled, "Well, I have to say I'm impressed, you got it on your first guess. I'm curious, what led you to think that?"

"Well, vampires are one of the few creatures that have a lower body temperature than humans." Ivory began, "There's also the extremely long lifespan of your father, and I did some research. That book was given to him for his fortieth anniversary of being turned, wasn't it?"

"Yeah, but I still don't see how that would lead you to believe that were vampires. We could still be half Ice Nymph for all you know." Vincinte said curiously.

"I also saw Cyrene's fangs the other day. Ice Nymphs don't have fangs." Ivory pointed out. Vincinte turned to his sister and glared.

"What did I tell you about letting your fangs show?" Vincinte said sternly.

Cyrene pouted, "To not to."

"Very good. Now Ivory," Vincinte said turning back to Ivory, "Now unless I'm mistaken, you are going home for Christmas break. Since those leaving are doing so next week, we should at least give our presents to each other before leaving."

Ivory blushed slightly, "I haven't wrapped my presents for you guys yet, so we'll at least have to wait until tomorrow. Are we opening them right away, or waiting till Christmas."

The twins looked at each other before nodding and saying in unison, "Christmas."

Ivory sighed inwardly, that would mean she wouldn't have to see their reactions. She had tried to guess what they liked, and had snuck into Hogsmeade to shop. Somehow she had avoided being captured with a few spells to make her look older(making her hair color blonde for the day had certainly helped the charade). Cyrene's gift had been easier to find, her love for action and strange interest in wizard's chess(even though she lost every time) had led to the purchase of a chess set that actually made the pieces bleed when they were 'destroyed'. Surely she would get a kick out of it. Vincinte, although she knew him better, was much harder to shop for. She deeply hoped that she had made the right choice.

Tempus Praeter

While Vincinte and Cyrene weren't getting on the train, they insisted that they walk Ivory to the train, despite the strange looks they were getting from everyone around who knew that they were spending break at school. Ivory had decided, as most of the Pack had, to opt for a smaller bag so she wouldn't have to drag her trunk home and back. Truthfully, all she had were the books she needed for homework and a change of street clothes to change into on the train. Since there was quite a few people staying at Hogwarts, the Pack was going to take two compartments and turn them into changing rooms during some point to give everyone privacy. Conner, Rebel and Ivory had already been delegated to save the second compartment. Which pretty much meant that they were being kicked out of the other compartment.

Once they got close to the crowd around the train, Ivory turned to her older friends and sighed, "We should probably just say goodbye here."

"Good point, that's one hell of a crowd." Cyrene commented.

Professor Rivers was unfortunately passing by at just that moment, "Neri, Language."

"English." Cyrene snapped, earning a glare from the youngest teacher at Hogwarts, "Man that guy gets on my nerves."

"Oh, come on, he's not such a bad guy as long as you don't swear." Ivory said in his defense.

"That's just my problem, I can't not swear. It's who I am." Cyrene said hugging Ivory, "Now be a good little girl for your mum and dad, stay out of trouble, and if you pull any pranks, you must tell us about them in detail when you get back. Got it, kid?"

"Of course Cyrene, but do I really have to be on my best behavior? It's so much more fun when I'm not." Ivory said jokingly, and then looked to Vincinte as if unsure what to do. Would it be okay for her to hug him too since he was a guy?

Apparently.

Vincinte gave her a one armed, friendly hug, "Have a happy Christmas, and don't open your presents until Christmas. Other than that, I don't care how you behave as long as you come back after break in one piece. I'll miss you."

"I'll miss both of you, too. See you after break," Ivory waved as she turned and headed for the train. Now all she had to do was find the compartment with Conner and Rebel in it.

-

(A/N: I am completely aware of the short chapter, but I decided that I would rather leave the entire Christmas break to the next chapter. Partly because I haven't figured out exactly what Ivory gave Vincinte and what Cyrene gave ivory. Any suggestions will be greatly welcomed and use of those will result in your penname being in the author's note. I will warn you in the next chapter as well, but chapter ten is in REBEL'S POINT OF VIEW. Expect angst, depression, and yes, the first person point of view. I got complaints in Cub for not giving warning, and would like to avoid that, so there. As always, reviews appreciated.)