He awoke to someone gently calling his name. Amanda's face swam into his vision and he sat up.

"Looks like we both fell asleep."

"What time is it?" he asked groggily.

"You've got about half an hour until breakfast starts."

He looked at her, amazed, he hadn't slept this long since he'd left Hogwarts, and there hadn't been any nightmares either. Amanda was confused.

"Should I have gotten you up earlier? Why are you looking at me like that?"

"No, no. This is fine; it's just, I haven't slept that well in a long time."

She nodded, a soft smile once again gracing her features.

"You should probably go; you have classes in a few hours."

She handed him his cloak and then grimaced, a thought suddenly occurring to her.

"What?"

"I just realized I skipped detention."

"I'll tell McGonagall you were working on something for Potions with me."

"Really?" Amanda said, shocked.

"No, I just said that to get your hopes up."

Amanda rolled her eyes and threw a stick at him.

"Be nice," he warned, "or I'll give you detention."

"Good luck finding a night. I've got detention every night for the next two months."

Severus narrowed his eyes; that was a bit much for getting into a fight.

"See you in class. Don't be late."

"And don't forget to change my grade!" she called when he was almost out of earshot. He chuckled silently and continued to breakfast.

That evening at dinner the Great Hall got a grand and welcome surprise. Fireworks flew through the doors and high into the air before bursting among the rafters with much booming and whizzing about. Bright sparks in various colors rained down on students and teachers alike, some shooting back into the air and exploding again, even brighter then before. Students gasped in awe before cheering madly. Many of the older students glanced towards Amanda, knowing this meant the return of their friend.

For her part, Amanda cheered just as enthusiastically as anyone else, feeling much relieved after her talk with Severus. She felt lighter and happier, more confident then before. It was a relief to know that someone else had heard her ideas and not thought her crazy for feeling that way, or at least hadn't told her they thought so.

Classes came and went, and Steven periodically blew up a potion. Amanda watched him like a hawk to make sure he didn't blow up anything too dangerous. She fell back to her old routine and the pranks about the school were renewed.

A particularly memorable prank was held the night before break started in the Great Hall. It was snowing outside meaning the ceiling was as well. Normally the snow would fall and evaporate long before it got to the tables but today it seemed to have a life of its own. The snow balled up near the ceiling and pelted down on students. It started out slow but soon snowballs were shooting down in every direction, knocking off hats and sending students careening off their seats to avoid the snow. Not even the teachers were spared from its onslaught.

The ceiling was relentless, if anyone sent a spell at the ceiling attempting to stop it they would find themselves suddenly the main target of the ceiling and become covered from head to toe in snow. Soon the students were picking up the falling snow and hurling it at each other. It wasn't long before much of the population had fled.

Before he left Severus saw Amanda laughing gleefully while pelting others with snow. He caught her eye and she grinned and winked before being knocked to the ground by a particularly large snowball from the Hufflepuff table.

The snowball fight had lasted long after curfew, with tired students fleeing to their common room and returning later after they had warmed up. Several of the teachers found themselves in the middle of the fun; Dumbledore himself participated in the fight, using his wand to pelt snowballs down on students. Professor McGonagall had even been spotted, casting snowballs around with her wand from behind a corner. Several students had even been brave enough to hurl the snowballs back at their esteemed professors.

In the wee hours of the morning Dumbledore had called a halt to the fun, evacuating students so he could disenchant the ceiling. Severus had spotted Amanda muttering a spell at the ceiling before dashing off with the others. It wasn't long before the snowballs stopped falling from the sky, perplexing the teachers who had been trying to fix it without success.

Later on that same morning Amanda and Charlie climbed aboard the train, still excited about the snowball fight.

"That was awesome, Amy!"

"I'd say so; it took three nights to get that enchantment in place!" she said, thoroughly disgusted at the time span.

"It was worth it and you know it."

"I just can't believe how many of the teachers joined in!" she said, laughing.

"Yeah, did you see Flitwick?"

The conversation lasted them until the end of the train ride where Bill was waiting for them. They eagerly told him the story of what had happened and Bill was quite appropriately impressed.

"That sounds like an impressive bit of magic."

"Yeah but we had people from all the houses working on it." Amanda explained.

"But Amy was the one to actually perform the magic; she stayed up three nights to make sure the ceiling was ready."

Amanda blushed and Bill chuckled, eyeing his brother and causing Charlie to go a bit read in the face himself.

The Borrow was a grand place. The house looked like it could fall over at any moment but it was filled to the brim with warmth and affection. Mrs. Weasley's stomach had grown in size; she would be giving birth before long.

When she wasn't around they laid bets about the child. Amanda and Charlie both laid down five Knuts that it would be a boy, but Bill laid ten against, voting for a girl. Mr. Weasley even got in on the betting. He said that the baby would be born February Twentieth; Bill argued that it would be closer to the Tenth and Charlie put his money on the Twenty-fifth. Amanda disagreed with all of them, voting for an unbelievable January Thirtieth. They each put five Galleons into the pot.

There was also some long-term betting about how the kid would act. Amanda bet ten Galleons that the child would become Head Boy and wouldn't be involved in Quidditch at all. Charlie bet that the kid would be on the Quidditch team and Bill bet ten Galleons that the kid would be a prefect but not Head Boy.

The three young adults had a grand time decorating the house and pulling pranks on each other. In the back yard they groomed the garden and tossed gnomes around. The night before Christmas Eve they stayed up singing Christmas songs and drinking eggnog so they would be able to sleep on the actual Christmas Eve. And in the morning they held a competition to see who could wake up first and wake everyone else up in the most spectacular way.

Amanda managed to wake first this year. She conjured up a horde of fake small children and sent them whizzing into the boys rooms, screaming and whistling. She'd cast a charm on Mr. and Mrs. Weasley's room so that they wouldn't be disturbed. Shouts could be heard from upstairs and Amanda sat quietly at the kitchen table sipping coffee. The boys thundered downstairs and tackled her, tickling unmercifully.

"Alright! ALRIGHT! I give up! Stop it!" She shrieked and Mr. and Mrs. Weasley came down.

"Alright boys let her up," she said. "I guess that means you won this time, Amy. What'd you do?"

"She sent small children into our room! While we were sleeping!" Charlie sounded affronted. They all laughed and gathered around the table to open gifts.

Amanda had given Mr. Weasley a VCR, something Steven said muggles loved. Mr. Weasley was ecstatic but Mrs. Weasley groaned. Amanda made it up to her by giving her a new necklace that looked stunning with the robes her husband had gotten her, and the shoes Bill had gotten her, and the hat Charlie had gotten her. Mrs. Weasley laughed when she realized what they'd done. Amanda gave Bill a new book of curses and Charlie a broom cleaning kit. She'd sent Dumbledore sweets, socks, and various little muggle puzzles that he could enjoy; he had enough books. Her mother was sent a book and a hat to wear.

In return Amanda was given the usual box of sweets and sweater from Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, this year the sweater was blue and matched her eyes. She also got a box of Zonko's joke products from Bill that and a new bracelet from Charlie; it was silver with little leafy designs. Amanda had been thrilled; it was gorgeous and told him so, causing him to go red in the face. There were also several boxes of sweets and other small things from Amanda's other friends, a few books from Dumbledore and a new robe from her mother. Amanda had also sent a book to Severus; it had taken her months to track it down.

After a while Mrs. Weasley and Amanda left the boys in the den and started cooking Christmas dinner. Mrs. Weasley's voice could be heard floating out of the kitchen as she sang along to the radio.

"You really don't have to help dear." Mrs. Weasley said.

"I know, but you certainly do need some help in this state and do you really want one of them to help?"

Mrs. Weasley looked horrified at the thought of one of the boys helping and they went back to cooking.

While they were cooking an owl flew in and circled about in the kitchen. It was huge and black and snapped at anyone who approached. Charlie got bitten twice but managed to see who the letter was addressed to.

"Amy! I think it's for you!"

Amanda walked in and the bird instantly calmed down, alighting on her shoulder and sticking out its foot.

"Blimey that bird is protective." Charlie muttered. "We were going to give it to her you know!"

Amanda held out a plate of toast and bacon for the bird and he munched happily while she read the letter, there was a small package enclosed.

Thanks for the book, it's great. I hope you like this and it makes up for some of the Christmas's I missed.

She set the letter down and tipped the package into her hand, a necklace spilled out onto her palm. The necklace had a delicate silver chain with a small sapphire pendent hanging from the center. It was breath taking.

Amanda just stood there looking at it. She knew perfectly well who it was from; she'd recognized both the bird and the handwriting. But she still found it hard to believe; when they were both in school Amanda had given him a present every year, usually just some sweets and then upgrading to a book when they'd gotten closer. This year she'd sent him a book that had been particularly hard to find, she'd had to ask Dumbledore to help her. And she hadn't told him who it was for, saying the old Headmaster couldn't keep a secret for long. But Severus had never given her anything in return.

After a few moments of waiting Charlie and Bill became curious, they jumped up behind her and gaped at the necklace.

"Wow," Charlie exclaimed. "Who gave you that?!?" He read the letter over and over again. "Who do you know that's this rich?" She shook her head, not answering. Bill held out his hand.

"May I?" She gave it to him, still not saying anything. Bill worked at Gringotts and often saw such jewelry; he tapped it with his wand. It glowed green and flashed brightly. He handed it back.

"It's real, and there's a protective charm on it. Someone really wanted to make up for past years apparently."

She turned to Charlie, holding out the necklace and gesturing to her neck.

"Will you?"

He nodded but scowled at the necklace when she turned her back. The necklace ran just above her collar bone and could be hidden beneath her collar if she wished, it sparkled when she moved.

At dinner Mrs. Weasley was the first to bring up the necklace.

"Oh Amy, that necklace is stunning! Who sent it to you?"

"Her boyfriend," grumbled Charlie.

"I haven't got a boyfriend. You know I would have asked your opinion you if anyone important had asked me out before I answered them," Amanda said.

"You've never told me about anyone asking you out!" he exclaimed.

"I told them all no. I was only going to tell you if there had been any chance of me saying yes."

Charlie went red in the face but looked a little relieved at these words and the conversation moved on to a different subject.

After they ate the group spent hours talking and laughing at each other. Mr. and Mrs. Weasley went to bed after awhile and Amanda fell asleep soon after. She'd been leaning against Charlie, one of his arms wrapped around her waist. She nodded off with her head on his shoulder, content and safe. Charlie rested his head on hers and stared into the dieing fire. Bill watched his brother holding their friend and sighed.

"Charlie," he said. "It wasn't the beauty of that necklace that stunned her. It was the person that wrote the note."

Charlie stroked her hair absently.

"I know."

"Charlie –"

"I never told her. But its okay, I'm happy, really I am. She's like my sister. I know she loves me, just not in the same way." Bill nodded.

He stood up and patted his brother's arm as he walked by.

"Good luck, Charlie."

Charlie sighed and stared at the fire for a little longer. Eventually he gathered the sleeping woman into his arms and carried her upstairs. He set her down in her bed and tucked her in. He lingered for a moment; brushing a piece of hair out of her face before leaning down and gently brushing his lips against her forehead.

"Good night, Amy. Pleasant dreams."

She mumbled back incoherently and fell back into her slumber. Charlie smiled softly and left.

Poor Charlie Three chapters in twenty minutes, I better get a lot of reviews for this! You guys should let me know if I ever make Snape drop out of character too much, he's hard to do during the mushy parts.