Chapter 13 - Snow

Snow was falling fast over the Hogwarts grounds, giving the castle a beautiful washed out look. Avery watched the flakes spiral gently downwards as she penned an essay thoughtfully. She found solace in working hard, and it helped her ignore the taunts of the Pureblood elitists who insisted she was impossible to teach. She'd show them.

It also helped take her mind off of home. Despite how much she loved Hogwarts, and magic, and her new best friend, she missed parts of her simple Muggle life. Potions actually made her miss learning long division, seeing as how her maths teacher's classroom never smelled like chopped eels and boiling salamander eyes. It was strange to think of what she'd being doing now, if she wasn't a witch...

An enchanted snowball smashed into the back of her head. Avery squeaked and looked around, but couldn't find the culprits. Assuming it to be Malfoy, her cheeks flushed in frustration and she threw her things into her bag.

"Oi, sorry miss, we were aiming for our brother!" It was one of the red-haired twins, Fred or George. Avery couldn't tell which.

"Fred! George! 5 points from Gryffindor for attacking a first year!"

"Come off it Percy, we weren't attacking her!"

"Yeah, we were aiming at you!"

"Enchanted snowball fights are against the rules!" Percy, clearly their brother, waggled a finger at them.

"I think Percy thinks he's our mother." Fred, or George, said. Avery had to make a point of recognizing who was who. Before she had to witness a family argument, she slipped away through a crowd of second year Ravenclaws, who were wrapped up in scarves of bronze and blue. She found Dev, not wearing hardly enough clothing, and laying out in the snow.

"Dev!" She called, approaching the girl in short sleeves. "Where's your robe?"

"I like the snow!" Dev responded, wiggling a little. "I always lay in it."

"Aren't you freezing?"

"No." Dev said flatly, though Avery saw her shiver.

"You! First year! Why aren't you properly dressed? You'll catch a cold!" Percy's voice rang across the grounds.

"Uh-oh." Avery looked worried. "That's a prefect. I think he's really strict!"

Dev shrugged, but got up. "I was done anyway." She said, brushing snow from her shoulders. "Want to go inside?"

"Yeah, actually. Do you want my robe?" Avery offered.

"I'm fine, thanks." She said, and they walked together back to the castle. The dungeons were icy in this season, and Avery was baffled by Dev's refusal to take her offer.

When they got inside, there were several Slytherins huddled by the fireplace, keeping toasty. Avery sat cross-legged on a rug to continue her essay, while Dev joined her with a bundle of blankets.

"Finally cold?" Avery asked, sitting close to her friend.

"I like blankets." Dev sniffed. She wriggled cozily into them, and watched Avery scratch away her work by the light of the flames. "Are you staying over during the Christmas holidays?" She asked.

"Hm, well..." Avery stopped, turning over the options in her head. She missed home, sure, but she didn't really want to go back to her house. "What do they do here?"

"Oh, well, there's a feast, and I think we get our presents sent by owl." Dev said, after thinking for a moment. "I'm staying, so I was wondering..."

"Well of course I'll stay!" Avery said, smiling. "We could stay up together!"

Dev's face beamed. "Yeah! And maybe have the fireplace to ourselves."

Avery laughed. "That would definitely be nice!" She agreed.

They sat there, soaking in the warmth, and made their plans for the upcoming holiday.

Meanwhile, faraway in the castle, a boy was out of bed, and gazing into a mirror...

Avery was trying to make her way to Charms, though a large group of fifth years was making this harder than it should. Someone calling her name made her turn her head and stop, despite being late already.

"Avery!" Harry Potter squeezed into a small space that wasn't inhabited by older students, which wasn't difficult given his small size. "Avery, I need to speak to you!"

"What is it, Harry?" Avery asked, looking nervous. "I'm late for Charms, but I can't get through."

"Listen, this is important! There's a dog here, a huge, monstrous dog! With three heads! In the castle!" Harry looked alarmed, and Avery took a moment to let that sink in.

"Are you sure?" She asked, uncertain.

"Yes! I saw it! Last night... and there was a mirror, too, I wish I could have shown you..."

"Well, there are lots of mirrors in the castle you can show me, Harry."

"But it was different! Look, when I saw my reflection, it showed me my parents!"

Avery stared at him. "Are they ghosts?" She asked, slightly afraid.

"No, but I don't know what they are." Harry admitted. "Sorry... I should let you go to class."

"It's okay." Avery said, feeling suddenly very sorry for him. "Just be careful, okay? I'll see you later!" With that, Avery tried to hurry to class, where Flitwick looked surprised to see her.

"Miss Liddell! Kind of you to join us. Ah, 5 points from Slytherin, I'm afraid, for your tardiness..."

"I couldn't get through, sir." Avery said, hurrying to her seat. A few other Slytherins snickered.

"Took long enough!" Dev hissed. "I've had to sit here with... her!"

"She's not really that bad." Avery whispered back. Carly was sitting with her arms folded.

"I'd just run into them, is what I'd do." Carly advised. "Get out of my way, I have places to be!"

"Well, I got stopped, too." Avery admitted.

"By who?" Dev asked, scribbling something on her parchment.

"Harry Potter. He was trying to warn me about a monster."

"I like monsters." Carly said. "What kind was it?"

"A giant three-headed dog. He said it's in the castle."

"A giant monster dog?" Dev looked surprised. I know the castle's big, but wouldn't we have seen it?"

"I don't know, but he insists it's here!"

"I hate dogs." Carly sniffed. "Nevermind."

"Aren't you worried?" Avery asked.

"No. I don't care much." Carly replied. "Besides, they can do magic here, so I guess they could shrink it into a little three headed dog or something if they needed to."

"I... I guess." Avery looked a little more relieved. "Our teachers will protect us."

"Eh. Or the students, you never know. Personally, I don't think teachers actually do anything." Carly said, flicking her wand and making a flower on her desk jingle. "Except give us homework and make us do dumb stuff. What do we need to jingle flowers for? This is stupid. I'd rather have a flower that shoots fire."

"Because that's dangerous?" Avery suggested.

"She doesn't care." Dev reminded her.

"I do care." Carly said quickly. "I'd care if it caught my robe on fire. Anything else... meh."

Dev sighed.

"Are you going home for Christmas?" Avery asked, trying to change the subject.

"No." Carly said dryly. "My mom's sent letters begging me to, but I don't want to. I don't even like Christmas."

Dev gasped. "How do you NOT like Christmas?" She asked, accusingly.

Carly scowled. "None of your business. So shut up!"

Oh dear, Avery thought. This was not a good subject change.

"Um... so the jingling flowers sound pretty." She said meekly.

"Hmph." Carly looked down at her desk, shutting down from them. Dev silently mouthed, "What's her problem?"

Avery wasn't sure what the problem was, but she felt pretty awful.

A/N: Yeah I know I'm horrible and never update and I suck. I have a lot of things I've been trying to write, I've been playing Skyrim, and I've been meeting new people. I'm sorry. But Dev was kind enough to make some fan-doodles (she requested I not call them art) for this fic, so if you're interested see them here: www .flickr photos/squishedkittens/

Just remove the two spaces I put in there. IGNORE THE CICERO PORTRAIT I DREW THAT FOR TUMBLR AS A JOKE. Ahem. Thanks!