CHRISTMAS WOES

Chapter fourteen

Christmas woes

It didn't take long for the rumour to spread to the entire school that Rick had tried to falsely accuse the Head Boy and like the other Gryffindors, most of them did not like him any better for it. Garron, despite being a Slytherin, was apparently quite well respected by the student body, all houses alike, and many students made sure Rick knew that. In the following two weeks, he got all sorts of hateful remarks thrown at his head.

"Attention seeker."

"Cry-baby."

"Wanker." They called him.

The first few times, Rick had let it slide but the longer it went on, the harder it got to ignore it. Rick knew he was right and he was determined to prove it. He had tried talking to Garron but whenever Rick saw him, he was surrounded by other Slytherins who booed and mocked him so he didn't get the chance. Mordaunt and his friends found exceptional pleasure in pestering Rick about the accusation. Whenever he passed Rick in the corridor, Mordaunt would take a few steps back in pretend fear and warn his friends to watch what they were doing or they would find themselves accused of having a dark object.

"Ignore that idiot." Terri would say but Rick found it harder and harder to do so. Worst of all were their Potions classes, which they had with the Slytherins and which provided Mordaunt with an hour's time to laugh and mock him.

"Watch out friends, the Gryffindor accuser has arrived, no Slytherin is safe from his accusations." Mordaunt laughed at him once again as they were waiting outside the dungeon for another Potions class.

"Put a sock in it, Mordaunt." Rick barked.

"Ooooh." The other Slytherins reacted.

"What are you going to do?" Mordaunt mocked. "Accuse me of having a dark object?" Rick lunged for him but Rigel and Terri stopped him just in time as professor Selwyn arrived.

"What is going on here?" He asked.

"Nothing, professor." Rick said as he relaxed again and Rigel and Terri let him go. Selwyn looked at him dubiously, clearly not believing a word Rick was saying and turned to Mordaunt.

"He was trying to attack me, professor." He said with an evil smile at Rick.

"You little –"

"Detention tonight, Mr. O'Connell." It was perhaps good that professor Selwyn had interrupted him or Rick would have landed himself into even more trouble.

"Detention?" Rick repeated incredulously. "But I didn't do anything?"

"I'm sure you had every intention." Selwyn said grinning evilly, almost as if he enjoyed the situation. He turned to enter the dungeon, followed by a smirking Mordaunt. Rick wanted nothing more than to punch that stupid look from the Slytherin's face but managed to refrain himself, vowing to get him back later. The four friends took their seats at the very back of the dungeon, as far away from Mordaunt and his friends as they could.

"One of these days, I'm going to learn a curse that will maim him so bad his own mother won't recognize him, him and Selwyn." Rick gritted his teeth as he plonked down on his seat.

"I know mate, I'm with you." Rigel joined in.

"Look at it on the bright side." Cedric whispered, trying to cheer him up. "If you're lucky, you'll get Garron for detention and you can confront him about the ring again." Rick, however, was still too angry with Selwyn and Mordaunt to feel pleased about anything.

Rick's mood that evening didn't improve when he found out his detention wasn't with Garron but with Whifferdill, who had him scrubbing toilets all evening with nothing but a toothbrush. When he finally got back to the common room, Cedric was the only one up still, scribbling away on a piece of parchment.

"Hey, how was detention?" He greeted Rick.

"Horrible." Rick replied, nursing his left hand. "People should really learn to aim better when they use the bathroom." Cedric pulled his nose in disgust.

"Did you at least get to talk to Garron?" He asked.

"No." Rick answered as he joined his friend at the table. "Whifferdill had the honours."

"Too bad." His friend sympathised.

"What are you doing up so late?" Rick asked. Cedric wasn't usually one to stay up this late alone.

"Nothing." Cedric replied, rather unsettled. "Just doing some homework."

"I thought you had all your work done already?" Rick asked confused. He recalled Cedric saying something like that earlier this evening.

"Just finishing up, adding a few more details, you know." Cedric explained, turning red, which seemed a bit odd. What was even more odd was that Cedric was trying, not so subtly, to cover his homework with his arm.

"What are you trying to hide, Cedric?"

"Nothing." The boy answered alarmed.

"What is it you don't want me to see?" Rick asked amused. "Are you writing love letters?" Rick made to grab the parchment but Cedric pulled it away. "Come on, let's have a look, who's the lucky girl?"

"No one." Cedric replied, still furiously trying to keep Rick from seeing the parchment but he was too slow and Rick plucked it out of his hand.

"This is homework." He said disappointed as he read the first few lines. "Why are you trying to hide homework from me?" Cedric sighed in resignation.

"Because it's not my homework." Rick scanned the parchment again, looking for a name and was surprised to find his own.

"You're the one who's been handing in my homework?" He asked and Cedric nodded. "Why?" His friend shrugged.

"I was trying to save Gryffindor from losing points again." He explained. "And then we became friends and I kept doing it because you saved me from Mordaunt. I was hoping in time, you would start doing it yourself."

"That's why you kept pushing me to do homework with you guys." Rick said, understanding dawning on him. Ceric nodded.

"I must say the extra homework has kept me quite busy and it would have been nice to have that time to focus on other things." Rick couldn't look Cedric in the eyes, he felt quite guilty. His friend had been working tirelessly doing Rick's homework on top of his own and all his research on the dragon ring because he couldn't be bothered.

"I'm sorry, Cedric, I should have done this myself a long time ago." He apologised.

"It's okay, you can do it now." Rick didn't reply. He knew he had to, he couldn't let Cedric continue like this but it wasn't going to be easy. "So you never realised it was me who did your homework?" Cedric asked.

"No." Rick replied honestly. "First, I thought it was Lewis but I can't see her helping me no matter what. Then I suspected Terri or Rigel but they didn't seem to know anything about it, they seemed to think I did it myself so I kept my mouth shut and let them believe it. I figured as long as I didn't figure out who it was, he or she would keep doing it."

"Well, you were right about that." Cedric said looking a little embarrassed. "And don't worry, I won't tell Terri and Rigel as long as you do your own homework from now on. I'll help you?" He offered.

"Thanks, Cedric." Rick replied. "It's just, it doesn't come easy to me, I get distracted easily." He confessed.

"It's a good thing I'm quite persistent then." Cedric replied with a smile. Rick laughed. "And in return, maybe you can help me with my wand work?" Cedric suggested.

"No problem." Rick consented. "Now, tell me, what does Waffling have to say about charms?" Rick and Cedric worked together to finish Rick's homework and Rick was quite proud of the seven he got on that essay afterwards, even though Cedric had done most of the work. From that moment on, Rick always joined his friends in their study hours. Rigel and Terri were quite surprised to see this new development but they didn't comment on it. With Cedric's help, Rick was handing in his own homework now and though his essays weren't as good as Cedric's, at least he was handing in something and he was even starting to understand some of the theoretical mumbo-jumbo the professors were teaching them. Cedric was a great teacher, explaining things in a way that wasn't boring and helping Rick stay focussed on the task at hand. Rigel and Terri pitched in as well. If they knew what had caused the change in Rick or what Cedric had done, they didn't speak of it and Rick soon realised he didn't dread homework as much as he used to and he actually found some pleasure in it. Rick kept true to his word as well and helped Cedric with his wandwork. He showed his friends the abandoned class room, which Rigel and Terri immediately thought was great and even Cedric, who initially had some doubts about the legality of coming there, soon saw the advantage of having a practise room. Every week, the four of them would head down there to practise magic and they had the most fun there, trying to jinx one another and then trying to remember the counter curse.

After a while, the commotion of the accusation quieted down and even the Slytherins got bored of harassing Rick about it. Rick himself still had his mind set on proving Garron had the ring but for now, the head boy remained out of his grasp. Rick suspected he was deterred by his accusation. Garron must have realized that with Cormac and everyone else at Hogwarts on the lookout for the ring, it would be dangerous to use it or wear it now and without the ring as evidence, Rick's chance of exposing Garron was nearly no-existent. Nevertheless, the four friends kept their eyes and ears out for anything that suggested Garron was trying to use the ring. So far, though, nothing peculiar had happened. Cedric was still looking in the library for any information on what Garron could try to accomplish with the ring but the hope of finding anything was faint.

Outside the castle the weather changed, the hales and rains making way for snowstorms and blizzards. The first week of December, their head of house professor Griffiths, took down the names of the Gryffindor students who would be staying at Hogwarts for Christmas. Rick immediately signed up, not in the least interested in spending his holidays with Mad Maggie but he was one of the few. Cedric, Terri and Rigel were all going home to spend Christmas with their families. Terri and Cedric were looking forward to it, Rick knew, but they refrained from happily chatting about it for his sake, which he was grateful for. Rigel, on the other hand, made no secret of it that he was about as excited about going home as he would have been if someone told him he would have to transfer to Slytherin. According to him, Christmas with the Baileys was as dull as a History of Magic class.

"So why are you going then?" Rick had asked him.

"My parents sent me a letter saying I need to be on that train or I'll be in big trouble." Rick wasn't at all looking forward to having to spend Christmas alone. Still, alone at Hogwarts was still far better than going home to Mad Maggie. On the final day of term, Rick, Rigel, Cedric and Terri enjoyed a quiet evening in the common room before the train left the following morning. Cedric had, for once, put down his books and had joined them in a game of Exploding Snap. After a few games, they all had singed eyebrows and were all laughing at each other. The mood was so amiable, Rigel addressed the issue they had all been skirting around somewhat the last few days.

"So Rick, what are you going to do while we're gone?"

"I don't know." Rick replied. In truth, he hadn't given it much thought. "Sleep in, perhaps practise some flying."

"You could continue to look in the library for the dragon ring." Cedric suggested.

"You've been looking for nearly two months, I don't think I'll find anything in two weeks." Rick replied.

"Well, you'll never know if you don't try." Cedric answered with a wink.

"I'm going to miss your jokes, Cedric." Rick said amused. "Anyway, I heard Garron is going home for Christmas so we won't have to worry about him doing something with that ring for a while."

"I heard Cormac is finally leaving as well." Rigel remarked.

"What?!" Rick asked, alarmed at this news. "But, what about the ring? He's not going to look for it anymore?"

"Apparently not." Rigel answered grimly.

"But he's wrong!" Rick said adamently.

"I know, but we can't prove otherwise. Not yet, anyway." Rigel said dejectedly. The news about Cormac leaving darkened Rick's mood even more and he went to bed feeling helpless and restless. With Cormac gone and none of the other teachers believing him, Garron would have free reign to try and use the ring and he had no clue how to stop him.

All in all, Rick wasn't feeling very cheerful the next morning when he said goodbye to his friends as they were preparing to leave. Cedric did remember to give him an early Christmas present, which cheered him up slightly.

"Something to do when you're feeling bored." He said with a smile, handing Rick a piece of parchment with a list of spells on it they hadn't practised yet. "I looked some up for you and when you've mastered them, you can teach me." He said with a wink.

"Thanks, Cedric." Rick thanked him sincerely.

"Have a good Christmas, Rick."

Rick waved until they were out of sight and then dejectedly turned around to head for the common room. There was no one there, he was the only Gryffindor to have stayed behind. He didn't mind it, the other Gryffindors didn't like him much anyway and now he could do whatever he liked and he could have all the best seats by the fire without anyone commenting on it. It wasn't all fun, though. Rick lasted all of four days before he was immeasurably and irretrievably bored. He had tried flying, using one of the school brooms but it wasn't that much fun without his friends, he couldn't play chess or Exploding Snap on his own either and though he could pass the time building exploding snap card houses, it wasn't fun if you didn't have someone you could laugh with when your eyebrows got scorched. So he had turned to Cedric's spells. That had kept him busy for a day or two until he'd mastered them and he became bored with that as well. Christmas morning was a nice surprise when Rick woke up to find presents had been left at the foot of his bed. He couldn't even recall when he last had presents for Christmas and he didn't waste much time tearing into them. From Rigel he got a box of chocolate frogs and Terri had sent him a bag of Dungbombs, each with a Christmas card attached. Rick felt a little guilty as he looked at his presents. They were great but he felt a little embarrassed that all he could afford to give his friends was a sloppily self-made Christmas card as the money Harewell had given him when she came to his house was long gone. He hated being poor and felt uneasy about it for the better part of the day. There was a Christmas feast planned that evening but as there were only about a dozen students left, none of whom liked him, it was a pretty dull affair. With nothing to do and the walls of the common room closing in on him, Rick took to roaming the halls, looking for something to do. It was a few days after Christmas when on one of his wanderings, he passed the library and he couldn't help remembering Cedric's joke of the night before they left. It couldn't hurt taking a look, not that he expected to find anything but you never knew and at the moment, he welcomed any distraction. He wandered the abandoned library, not sure where to begin looking so he randomly pulled out books to see if they were interesting. Most of them weren't until he came across one that sparked his curiosity. It was titled Wizarding Families, A Geneaology and Rick couldn't help but wonder if his mother was in it. He leafed through the book and to his pleasant surprise, he soon found a chapter on the Aplin family. It was quite boring to read about the accomplishments of the different Aplins and who had married who and to top it off, the family tree stated Angela Aplin to be the last heir, with no husband or children listed. He didn't know what he had expected or hoped for but it was certainly more than the book had provided. He was just leafing through the following pages, looking if there was any more information on Angela Aplin when someone interrupted him.

"Well what do you know, Rick O'Connell is reading a book." Rick startled at the voice.

"What are you doing here?" He asked, pleasantly surprised when he saw Rigel standing in front of him.

"My parents decided they didn't have time for me after all so they sent me back early." Rigel explained. "This is about the last place I expected to find you. What are you doing here?"

"I'm trying to find my family." Rick answered.

"Your family?" Rigel replied confused. "I tough you said you were muggleborn?" Rick realised he'd never told him about the picture of his mother he'd found in the trophy room that night in detention and felt kind of stupid about it.

"I thought I was." He explained. "Until I saw a picture of my mother and her quidditch team in the trophy room."

"The Trophy room?" Rigel repeated non-plussed. "Since when do you go there?"

"I discovered it that night Terri and I had detention there." Rick confessed.

"That was ages ago, why didn't you say anything?" Rick shrugged.

"I wasn't sure what to make of it and it didn't really come up either." He said. In truth, he hadn't told his friends because back then, they hadn't been on the best of terms. "I always thought she was a muggle, I never saw her doing magic and I was eight when she died, so I would remember if I'd seen her do magic." He expressed to Rigel what had been bothering him these past few months.

"That's strange." Rigel replied. "Why would she have chosen to live as a muggle?" Rigel questioned.

"No idea." Rick confessed. He'd thought about it as well but he couldn't come up with a satisfying answer.

"If your mother was a witch and you didn't know, do you think your father was a wizard as well?" Rigel asked. Rick had to admit that the thought had crossed his mind as well and somewhere, he had even hoped that was the case just so he would have a sort of connection to his father as well but he knew better.

"I don't think so." He replied. "Judging by my grandmother's reaction to magic, he was a muggle."

"Do you suppose then your mother gave up magic for him?" Rigel suggested.

"Maybe." The thought had crossed his mind too in the hours he'd spent lying awake thinking about it but he did not really want to believe his mother had to give up magic because his father didn't like it. How would he have felt about Rick then if he had known he was a wizard as well?

"Wow, I can't imagine ever abandoning magic for anything." Rigel replied, unaware of the turmoil in Rick's head at that moment.

"I know, me neither." Rick agreed, somewhat dejected. Rigel picked up on it.

"What about in the book? Did you find anything about your father in it?" He asked, trying to help.

"No, he isn't even mentioned." Rick turned back to the family tree. "Look, Angela Aplin is the last on the tree."

"No way." Rigel exclaimed, a smile forming on his face as he scanned the page. "Look at her parents." He said. Rick followed the small line up the page where Angela's parents were listed as John Aplin and Alice Bailey.

"Bailey?" He read. He hadn't even noticed that before.

"I believe she's like my dad's second cousin once removed or something but basically, that means we're actually cousins." Rigel explained.

"Cool!" Rick exclaimed. It wasn't the family he had hoped to find but learning he and Rigel were actually related was certainly the next best thing.

"So what do you think, cousin? Shall we celebrate by ditching these stuffy books, get ourselves a nice hot butterbeer and get started on the enormous bag of sweets I got from my uncle for Christmas?" Rigel suggested with a grin which Rick couldn't help reciprocate.

"Sounds great, cousin." He accepted.

They left the library to head for the Great Hall, still chatting about the discovery they'd just made. As they neared the ground floor, however, they fell silent when they heard angry voices coming from the Entrance Hall. Curious, they followed the noise and found it coming from around the corner near the great oak doors leading outside the castle. Careful not to make a noise, they looked around the corner and found professor Griffiths talking to a strange man. The stranger was rather largely built, had a long scruffy beard, a deep scar running along his right cheek and looked none too friendly. He was definitely not someone that belonged at Hogwarts and he was standing over Griffiths like he was threatening the professor.

"Look, Purcell, I'm going to get you the money, I promise." Griffiths pleaded. "I have something that I can sell and it will make me enough money to pay you, don't worry. I just need a little bit more time."

"You're running out of time, Griffiths, I want my money now." The stranger replied but before Griffiths could reply, he caught sight of Rick and Rigel watching them. The stranger noticed as well and immediately covered his face with his hood.

"Sorry, professor, we didn't mean to interrupt." Rick said, coming round the corner now that they had been discovered.

"No! No need to apologize, you didn't interrupt." Griffiths said and Rick thought he sounded rather relieved. "I suppose you have some questions about that essay I asked you to write, don't you?"

"Uhm..." Rick and Rigel looked at each other, wondering what Griffiths was talking about.

"Well, I think we'd better discuss that now." Griffiths said, quickly moving away from the hooded man.

"This conversation isn't over, Griffiths." The man called after the professor but Griffiths dismissed him.

"I'm afraid it is, my students need me, talk to you later. Follow me, boys." The stranger hesitated a few seconds but there was nothing he could do so reluctantly, he turned around and left.

"Uhm, professor? What was that about? I didn't know we had a paper to write?" Rick asked.

"No, you're right, you don't. I just needed an excuse to get out from under that conversation." Griffiths replied with an embarrassed chuckle. "Thank you for that by the way."

"Who was that man? What did he want?" Rick asked intrigued.

"He's nobody, it was just a misunderstanding." Griffiths answered evasively and he sounded rather nervous. Rick and Rigel looked at each other disbelievingly.

"Didn't look like a misunderstanding to me." Rigel remarked.

"Well, it's really none of your business, is it Bailey?" Griffiths snapped, making the boys jump in surprise. They'd never seen Griffiths lash out like that.

"Sorry, professor." Rigel apologised.

"Now go to your common room and we won't speak of this again. In fact, it's probably best you don't mention what you saw to anyone at all. People might get the wrong impression. You know, they might think there's something going on when there isn't." Rick and Rigel didn't understand what he was saying but Griffiths didn't stick around to explain himself and walked away in the direction of his study.

"What do you suppose that was all about?" Rick asked his friend when their professor had gone. Rigel shrugged.

"Beats me."

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