A month has gone by since the Quidditch match, and it is officially close to Christmas. It also has been an entire month since I spoke, or in my case wrote, to Draco. Since the Quidditch game, Draco stays with a group of Slytherins while I am either with my brother and his friends or I'm by myself. The only time that I can hang out with Hermione is when I am with Harry and Weasel. Every day, I keep glancing at Draco with a sad expression because even though he was being very mean I still think of him as my friend. Occasionally, I will catch Draco looking at me but when he notices that I see him looking at me he turns back to his group. I don't know if it is me being optimistic but I'm hoping that him glancing at me as well means that he feels the same way. Unfortunately, I'm not sure if I should be the bigger person and talk to him first but I feel like I shouldn't have to. I did nothing wrong.
Pushing those thoughts out of my mind, I look out one of the windows in the dining hall that is decorated with Christmas ornaments. I will admit that Hogwarts loves to decorate for this holiday more so than the other holidays. Snow is piling up on the grounds of the school and people are walking with their suitcases packed for those that are going home for winter break. Of course, my big brother and I are staying at the school for Christmas and so is the Weasel, unfortunately. Even sadder news is that Hermione is going back to the Muggle world for her winter break. Back in September, Hermione told me that her parents were muggles and worked as dentists.
Speaking of my brunette friend, she just so happens to enter the dining hall with her suitcase in hand. I wave my hand and she smiles at me before walking over to my table. After giving her a hug, we look over at my brother and his friend while they play the wizard version of chess. Unlike the muggles way of playing chess, wizard's chess has the chess pieces move on their own, the players still have to call out the spot they want the pieces to go to, and the chess pieces come to life. Once they come to life they destroy the other piece that is on the square that they are landing on. So far from the looks of the board, it looks like the Weasel is beating my brother in this round. When Hermione observes that the pieces destroy each other her mouth drops open in shock and disgust.
"That is totally barbaric!" Hermione says while Ron looks smug at the way the game is heading. I nod my head in agreement with her words while I continue to watch the chess pieces.
"That's wizard's chess," the red-head says before looking down and noticing her suitcase, "I see you've packed."
"I see you haven't." Hermione replies and I chuckle silently before looking out the window again. Unlike other people, I absolutely love everything that has to do with winter and snow. The perfect temperature for me is in the lower sixties and I always wish for a white Christmas. It looks like I'm getting my wish this year! Oh! Maybe on Christmas Eve I could go out and play in the snow with my brother! That sounds like a wonderful idea and it reminds me of those classic Christmas movies that the Dursleys played around this time of the year.
"-My parents are taking a trip to Romania to visit my brother, Charlie," weasel's voice breaks through my happy thoughts and my happiness instantly shrivels up. Rolling my eyes, I start to wonder if I should leave them alone; however, any idea of leaving leaves my brain when I hear Hermione's words.
"Good! Then you can help Harry look through the library for any information regarding Nicholas Flamel," she tells him while he looks like the idea of the library is actually disgusting to him. The Weasel whines to my friend that they already checked the library like a hundred times. I swear I'm a nice person but lately, that boy has been grinding my gears. While sighing at the boy's behavior, I notice that Hermione leaned against the table and whispers to us, "Not in the Restricted section. Happy Christmas!"
After she walks away from us, I decided to head back to the Slytherin commons and hug my brother goodbye before leaving. Walking towards the dungeons, I stop in front of a window and look out towards the Forbidden Forest. The forest is just covered with snow and a peaceful sigh escapes my pale lips. While looking out the window, a thought crosses my mind that I sadly didn't think about for a while now. Is Nightshade alright? I haven't seen him since opening the cage that night a few months ago. Honestly, I miss that beautiful guy even though I only had him for a short amount of time. Maybe that should be my Christmas wish for this year.
During all of this thinking, I didn't hear the slow and unsure footsteps heading in my direction or these same footsteps stopping right next to me. It isn't until a hand clasps my shoulder do I shake out of my thoughts and turn to see who is it. My eyes first land on the sleek ash blonde hair and then finally settle on his sad-looking gray eyes. Turning towards him, I give Draco my full attention and I notice that he has a suitcase behind him. Another thing that I quickly notice is that he has a hand behind his back while the other hand is resting on said suitcase.
"Hello, Ana," Draco awkwardly says with an awkward smile. I don't know what gives me this idea but I have a feeling that this is going to be a very awkward conversation. Taking out my notepad, I quickly write out a hello before standing there for a minute.
"Um, I'm leaving for Christmas and I wanted to see you before I left," he says while shuffling his feet. I smile a little from the small, yet sweet gesture. He takes the smile as a good sign and with a little bit more confidence he pulls out a small present that is wrapped in Slytherin colors, "Here! I got you this for Christmas and hopefully, you'll like it!"
A full blown smile appears on my face as I gingerly take the present from him. I know Draco long enough to know that this is his way of apologizing to me. While holding onto the present, I wrap my arms around his neck and hug him tightly. I may not agree with how he acted at the Quidditch game but I'll ignore all of that for now and forgive him. In this house, I need a friend to keep me company because they other Slytherins just ignore me. I honestly didn't realize that they were ignoring me until Draco and I were not talking because none of the other Slytherins even tried to talk to me. Releasing my friend from the hug, I think about his present and I realize that I didn't even get him anything because I didn't think he would get me something. With hesitation, I slowly write out 'I didn't get you anything though' before showing him the note.
"Don't worry about it. I wasn't expecting you to get me anything because of how I was acting," he chuckles and ruffles my hair slightly. Huffing at him for messing up my hair, my annoyed look quickly changes to a thoughtful expression as I think about what to get him. A good idea pops into my head and I decide to not tell him that I am getting him anything.
"I have to go now but I wish that I had more time to talk with you," Draco says with a disappointed sigh. My happiness dampens a little bit before I give him another hug. Before he walks off to the train station I write to him to remind him to send me letters during his time away and to have fun with his parents. As I watch him disappear up to the ground floor, I wonder if I will ever meet his parents and I wonder what they are like.
Another thought enters my mind as I continue to head to the commons. Maybe I should get presents for my teachers too. If I do decide to get them some presents too, what will I get them and how can I do it. I don't want to waste money that was left for myself and Harry. Sighing, I guess that I'm going to have to wait to get them presents for another year when I have enough money.
A few days later, I wake up to a smile plastered onto my face. Today is Christmas! Happiness explodes inside me as I throw the blankets off me and rush out of the girls' dormitory. Rushing recklessly down the stairs, thankfully I didn't fall, I jump down the last few steps before the wonderful sight of a decorated Christmas tree enters my view. Underneath the tree is quite a few presents that make me gasp in shock. Are these presents for me? Happy tears well up inside my eyes as I slowly walk towards the tree. When my big brother and I lived with the Dursleys, we barely got any presents and when we did get presents they were full of hand-me-downs that didn't fit us at all.
Taking my five presents, the rest are for the other Slytherins that didn't go home, I head out of the commons with only my pajamas on and I head over to the Gryffindor commons. I'm not sure how I'm going to get in but maybe the Fat Lady, the portrait that guards the Gryffindor house, is feeling charitable today and will allow me in. As I continue to think about how to get in, I want to hit my forehead with my hand for my stupidity. Harry gave me the password to the commons so I could celebrate Christmas with him. Yeah, there are times where I will have these short spouts of stupidity and afterwards I will hit my head against something. For an example, one time I was eating something with a wrapper and when I was done eating I went to throw away my garbage but I couldn't find the wrapper. IT WAS IN MY HAND! Literally, it took me a couple of minutes before I realized that it was in my hand. Yeah, that wasn't and still isn't my brightest moment.
When I arrive at the portrait, she looks at me and asks for the password. Setting down my presents onto the staircase landing, I grab my notepad and quickly write down the password that Harry gave me a few days ago. Walking closer to her, I hold the pad up for her to read. She reads the password before looking back at me in a suspicious manner. Smiling at her, I grab my presents again before looking at her and wait for her to open up. Grunting, she slowly opens up so that way I can see into the Gryffindors commons.
This is the first time that I have ever seen any other house commons besides Slytherin's. Gryffindor's commons are actually bright and cozy compared to the commons that I'm used to. Not surprisingly, the house colors are everywhere in this place and the Christmas tree stands out compared to the rest of the room because it is the only thing that isn't in the Gryffindor colors. Another thing that is different than my commons is the fact that there are windows here. Considering that the Slytherin commons are in the dungeons, we don't have any windows there which would explain why we are slightly paler than the other houses.
The Weasel and my big brother are sitting underneath the Christmas tree that is next to the fireplace. I smile at Harry while I set my presents down next to his and give him a loving hug. Even though I dislike Ron with a passion at the moment, I decided to give him a quick hug in the spirit of this holiday. His surprised look actually made the hug worthwhile because he truly wasn't expecting that.
"Wow, sister! You have five presents!" Harry says while smiling at me and I nod my head in enthusiasm. Looking over at Weasel again, I notice that he has a slightly ugly sweater with a large 'R' on the front of it; the sweater almost looks home-made. Turning back to my presents, I grab the nearest present and I look at the name that is on the label.
Surprisingly, the first present is from Fred and George Weasley. My black eyebrows lift up as my eyes widen in shock. I did not expect them to even think about getting me a present. I mean we only talked to each other a few times. The wrapping paper is striped with the colors blood red, gold, and light brown. The present is shaped like a cube or a Chinese takeout box. Ripping the wrapping paper open, the first thing that I notice about the present is that it is in a gold box. Turning the box around to its front, there is a red circle with an old fashion little girl head in the center. In big gold letters, it says, "Shock-o-Choc" and below the girl's head it says, "Add some SHOCK to your Choc-o-late." I laugh silently as I realize that I'm not surprised that they would get me something like this. Except, I was pretty sure that if they ever did get me something then it would relate to pranks.
Gently setting their gift down on my left, I move on to the next present. This present isn't in a box like the others, but it is the biggest present in the lot. Grabbing the present with the royal purple string that is tied around it, I set it on my lap and look at the wrapping paper; this gift is also in Slytherin colors. Pulling the string off and then the paper, I take out a dark green sweater that has a large dark purple A on the front. On the outside of the sweater, the texture is rough and not pleasing to the touch but inside the sweater, it is soft and will definitely keep me warm. Quickly, I pull it over my pajama shirt and hug myself to get warmer quicker. I look back at the label to see who sent it and I realize that it was from Mrs. Weasley. Smiling softly, I make a mental note to write a letter thanking her for the sweater.
Regarding my other presents, I look between Draco's gift, a black present that almost looks like the galaxy, and the small white box. After deliberating for a minute or two, I decided to just close my eyes and randomly pick the next package.
After picking one, I open my eyes to see which package is in my hand; it is the galaxy looking present. This time I look at the label before tearing the wrapping paper apart. This present is from my other best friend Hermione. Getting truly excited, I quickly get rid of the paper and my mouth drops open in delight. Of course, Hermione being a bookworm like me, her present to me is a muggle book called Pride and Prejudice. Laughing silently, I flip the book over to briefly glance at the pre-read that is on the back cover.
Once I set the book next to my gift from the Weasley twins, I move on to Draco's gift to me. Ever since he gave me this present a few days ago, I have wanted nothing more than to open it but I kept restraining myself for this day. Slowly opening the rectangle sized box, I pull out a long rectangular jewel case. Holding in my surprised gasp, I calmly open up the black case and this time I couldn't hold back my gasp. Inside of the case is a necklace that is covered with my birthstone which is also known as rubies. Every other gem is a green looking gem that if held up to the light it will change colors to a purplish-red. These particular gems are the ones that caught my eyes because of the fact that they are so rare and they are one of the birthstones for June; I remember that that is Draco's birth month. Quickly wrapping my head around the gem, it takes a few moments before I remember the name of this particular gem, Alexandrite. This must have cost a fortune! He shouldn't have wasted his money on me! Delicately, I take the necklace out of the box and clasp it around my neck. I move my body to face the sunlight pouring in through the window, and I watch with fascination as the Alexandrite gems turn colors. Now, I truly feel awful that I didn't get him a proper gift. Well, when I make his gift today I'll make sure that it is the best work that I have ever done. Thinking about it, I'll also make Hermione and the Weasley twins present during that time as well.
Finally, I turn to my last Christmas present and this time I truly have no idea who this is from. I have already gotten presents by people that I know and from looking all around the box there is no name to go with the mystery person. Shrugging my shoulders, I open the white box to find small old looking bracelets that are as long as my thumb. Unlike the usual material that bracelets are made with these identical bracelets are made out of a hard leather. They look worn and have some burntness to it that makes me question about their past. Shaking off the unpleasant emotions, I gratefully place them on my wrists and they are surprisingly comfortable to wear just like Mrs. Weasley's sweaters.
Smiling, I turn to look at my brother who was sitting patiently for me to finish opening all of my presents before he started to open his. This might seem unusual but that is the tradition that my brother and I created since we were younger; one of us would open all of their presents and the other would wait until they finished opening all of their presents before the other starts opening theirs. Next year, Harry will open his presents first and I will wait for him to unwrap all of his presents before opening mine.
The first present that Harry opens is not in a box but is wrapped in a bluish-silver wrapping paper with regular string tying the package together. My brother takes the letter off the top of it and opens it. He starts to read the contents of the letter out loud, "Your father left this in my possession before he died. I believe that it is time it was returned to you…use it well." Harry looks up at us after reading the letter and my eyebrows furrowed together as I think about what the letter said. Ron just shrugs his shoulders while placing the candy box down that he was eating from. Big Brother opens the parcel before taking a cloak like object out of the wrappings. The cloak is dark brown, red, and black that make patterns but I can't tell what kind of patterns they are. Harry gets up from the chair that he is sitting in and walks a few feet away from us.
"What is it?" weasel asks my brother while Harry continues to look down at the cloak.
"It looks like it is some kind of cloak," my brother says while dropping it over his shoulders before covering his whole body with the old material. My mouth drops open when my brother's body disappears after covering it with the cloak.
"Woah! I know what that is! That is an invisibility cloak!" Ron says and my brother finally looks down at his body. He quickly realizes that he is only a floating head now and he quickly says an 'awesome!' before spinning around. The Weasel stands up from sitting on the armrest of the couch before walking over to the letter that came with the cloak, "Those are really rare. I wonder who gave it to you."
"I don't know. There is no name in the letter and it only says to 'use it well'," my brother says while walking next to Ron as he rereads the letter again. My mind continues to question about who could possibly have sent that cloak to my brother when an idea comes to mind that is really brilliant.
"Big Brother, why don't you use the invisibility cloak to sneak into the Restricted Section of the library?" I say to Harry through the link and he looks up at me with a smile that suggests that I had a smart idea. My brother starts to come up with a plan about sneaking into the library tonight but I can't stay any longer. I have a long day of making presents for my friends and a thank you letter to Mrs. Weasley. Grabbing my presents, I stand up from the couch and start to head over to the portrait again when my brother stops me.
"Anastasia, I want you to come with me tonight. I don't want to go there by myself and if we look through the Restricted section together then we can find Nicholas Flamel quicker," my brother tries to convince me. I turn back to look at him while tilting my head to the right a little bit as I think about what he said. It is true that if I go with him it will be faster than him doing it alone. At the same time if we get caught then we could get in serious trouble. Even if I don't go with my brother, he will still go by himself and get in trouble all by himself IF he gets caught. If I get caught sneaking around the school at night then Professor Snape will find out and I'll definitely get detention. My shoulders slouch in defeat when I realize that no matter what I'll always stick together with my big brother. Looking up at him, I nod my head and I tell him through the mind link to meet me outside of the Slytherin commons. He nods his head and I leave them alone to return to the girls dormitory.
Literally seven hours later, I finally finish the last detail on my last present for my friends. Friends…I didn't think about this until now but does this mean that the Weasley twins are my friends as well? A smile spreads across my face as I think about the idea of having more friends. Before my mind can drift away, I shake my head before focusing on my present task. Grabbing the presents that I just created, I quickly but neatly wrap them up in newspapers before heading towards the door to leave the girls' dormitory. Right as I place my hand on the door knob, I stop as I remember to write thank you letters to them. This new task takes me another thirty minutes before I finally leaving the Slytherin house to head towards the Hogwarts owlery, which is in the West Tower.
Hundreds and hundreds of owls are flying through the windows and to their nests. Looking around at all of the owls, I notice my brother's white owl and maybe she will send my packages. Walking over to Hedwig, I gently start to stroke her beak while listening to all of the fluttering wings. Honestly, this is a nice sounds to be listening to. Right before I could ask her if she could deliver my items, I hear some cawing that does not belong to any owl. Turning towards the sound, I see a large black mass fly into the owlery before landing at an empty nest. Cautiously, I inch towards the dark mass as it caws again. Relief floods through me when I realize what the black mass is; it's Nightshade. Happiness replaces the relief as I run towards him and I throw my arms around the guy. Tears gather in my eyes when I realize that he is okay and he looks exactly like the last time I saw him. Nightshade snuggles into my neck before I pull away from him.
I continue to pet his head while I think about how much I missed him. I wonder if he is hurt or needs something to eat. When I was hugging him he didn't seem like he was hurting and he looks healthy. I didn't even realize that my hand stopped moving until I feel Nightshade nudge my hand. Looking down, I smile at him while I wonder about what he has been doing this whole time. Nightshade nips my hand to let me know that he wants me to step away from him. Confusion takes over me as I step away from the nest and he stretches his wings before flying into the air. He lands onto of my packages that I forgot about until now. The raven grabs the strings that are holding the presents together with his claws before he flys out of the window towards the direction that leads to my friends. I wave at the small speck in the sky before I head off to take a nap before the events of tonight.
Right around midnight, the entire Slytherin commons are covered in a black sheet called night. The only light source is the dying fire in the fireplace and even then there isn't that much light coming from it. Light crackling from the fire is the only sound inside of the whole Slytherin house. Well, it was the only sound inside Slytherin house until a pair of light footsteps slowly descend down the staircase.
My breathing is really quiet but because of how quiet this room is my breathing sounds like a roar. Thankfully, not that many people stay during the holidays and it is really easy to sneak out of here. Once the portrait door closes behind me, I look around me to see if my brother is here yet or not. After realizing that he isn't here, I decide to lean against the cold wall and relax. A noise catches my attention before I could fully relax. I instantly go into guard mode because if I get caught out of bed at night then I could end up getting detention or worse. Instead of seeing anything though, I continue to hear some sounds coming closer to me.
Harry takes off the cloak and I sigh in relief when I realize that it was just him making all of those noises. Before I do anything else, I punch him in the arm to let him know that it isn't alright to scare me. He lightly chuckles before we huddle together underneath the invisiblity cloak. Thankfully, I look over at my brother as we are walking and I notice that he has a lantern. I didn't even think about bring a light source. Actually, now that I'm thinking about it I can honestly say that I haven't even thought of an outline or plan of what we are about to do.
Slowly but quietly, my big brother and I arrive at the library. Opening the door, I look around the door frame towards the desk that the librarian uses but she isn't there right now. Just to be safe though, we decide to keep the invisiblity cloak on until after we get into the Restricted Section. Slightly shuffling towards the back area of the library, my head starts to move back and forth as I look around the library. Usually I love this place and I go here all the time with Hermione but at night this place is definitely creepy to the max.
Harry is the first one to notice the iron gate that cuts the regular library and the Restricted Section. Anticapation grips onto me as we get closer to the gate. Believe it or not but I'm actually a goody-two-shoes and this will be the first time that I'm breaking the rules. Taking deep breaths, we stop at the door and he reaches out towards the knob but, unfortunately, the door is locked. With my hand slightly shaking, I grab my wand from my wand holster, which I got back in Diagon Alley, and push the cloak away from the wand before raising the wand towards the lock. Steeling myself, I take a deep breath before saying 'Alohomora' in my hand while waving my wand in short movements. A large clicking sound is heard as the door slowly opens inward. As we start to head inside the Restricted Section, my wand arm starts to feel abnormal, definitely different than normal. It almost feels heavier and a little bit more weaker. Before I could think further on this situation, my arm starts to feel normal again but it still feels slightly heavier than normal.
Shrugging off the feeling, I look over at my brother and realize that during my inner turmoil Harry got the lantern lite. Once we are in the section, we take off the cloak and I head to a random bookcase with Harry following behind me. He takes one end of the bookcase while I take the other end of the same bookcase. Running my hand across the spines, I stop at a old looking book that is black in color and is the size of a pocket book. Unfortunately, before I could open the book, my brother opens his book and a face comes out of the pages while also screaming its head off. My brother struggles for a few seconds before he could finally close the book and puts it back on the shelf.
"Who's there?" the gruff voice that belongs to Mr. Flich rings out throughout the quiet library. Harry and I look at each other with fear clearly evident on your faces before I quickly getting into action. While my brother grabs the cloak, I put the book back in its place before rushing towards his side. Even worse news, when Harry yanks the cloak off the table in front of the bookcase, the lantern smashes to the ground because it was originally placed right on top of it. Oh my Salazar! I quickly cover myself with the cloak and my brother follows my lead.
"Who is it?! Show yourself!" Mr. Filch calls out once he enters the library. We slowly walk away from where we were previously and wait to see what happens. He starts to slowly walk down the aisle with his lite lantern hanging high. My brother and I try to keep our breathing quiet while the old looking man inches in front of us. Oldly enough I don't see his cat with him as he walks past us.
I spoke too soon because as I slowly open the library door, I hear a meow outside of the library and in the hallway that we are now in. Unlike actual people, Mrs. Norris looks directly at us and continues to meow even though we are still underneath the invisibilty cloak. After my big brother closed the door behind us, we quickly walk down the hallway in the opposite direction from Mrs. Norris. That cat has been giving me this distinct feeling that she is more than just a cat.
Right as we turn the corner to the left at the end of the hall, I watch as Professor Snape pushes that stuttering teacher, Professor Quirrell into the wall. The Potions teacher holds onto the front of the Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher's robes. What in Godrick's name is going on here?!
"You don't want me as your enemy, Quirrell," his deep voice says throughout the empty hallway. Harry and I walk to the other side of them as we continue to watch what is happening. I don't want to draw to any conclusions but this is really suspicious.
"W-What do y-y-ou mean?" the purple turban teacher stutters out.
"You know excatly what I mean," professor Snape says but then he stops talking. Slowly, he turns his head in our direction before slowly raising his right arm in the air toward us. Quickly, I put my hand over Harry's mouth as we take a couple steps back from them. Thankfully, when the teacher swipes through the air we have already moved far enough away that he didn't get us. After not getting anything, he pulls his hand back while pointing at the stuttering man. While watching all of this happening, I continue to watch Quirrell and I realize that he should be more scared than he actually is. Considering this teacher and how scared he normally is he seems to not be that scared about being threatened by someone. This seems really unusual and Professor Snape's behavior is also unusual.
"We will have another little chat soon after you have had time to think about where your loyalties lie," the potion's teacher says before stepping away from him just as Filch reaches them. I look down and I notice that he is carrying the lantern that we brought to the library. Great! Now, the teachers are going to be on guard! I roll my eyes at my own sarcasm before pulling Harry with me as I slowly walk backwards. As we are walking backwards I realize that I still have my hand on my brother's mouth and I quiet let my hand fall to my side.
"Oh, professors!" Filch stops in front of them and doesn't even realize what has just transpired between the two. He holds up our lantern while saying to the professors, "I found this in the Restricted Section and it is still hot." Snape and Quirrell look at him questioningly so the old man has to clarify about what he is getting at, "There seems to be some students out of bed." Right after he says that, Snape rushes away with the other two following behind him.
Once they are far enough away, I turn around and notice that there is a door right behind us. Harry looks at the door as well and pulls the latch up. We push the door open and quickly walk inside the very large room. The door closes behind us and we let the cloak fall to the ground. The room is vast and empty, well, almost empty. In one glance the room looks completely empty because there is no furniture or paintings; only the cement brick walls and floor. When you look around the second time that is when you realize that there is one object in the entire room. The object is really large and it is shaped like a mirror. Looking closer,I realize that the object is actually a full length mirror. Why is a mirror in a room all by itself?