Note: There's a little less humor than usual in this chapter, but hopefully you still enjoy it.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN
HAPPY CHRISTMAS

The wizarding world had their own Christmas carols, apparently.

"Who set fire to the Christmas Tree?" Hagrid sang in his loud booming voice as he bounded into the Great Hall. He had three Christmas trees in each arm. "Was it youuu or was it meee?" Hagrid threw a tree in the air. It stopped halfway up, frozen in mid air. "Who set fire to the Christmas Treeee?" Hagrid threw another tree in the air. "Cause it wants to wrestle!"

What the hell kind of song is that?

Hagrid bellowed another refrain as he threw the rest of the trees into the air one by one. I watched in fascination as Hagrid bent down and picked up an armful of Christmas ornaments and just started chucking them at a tree. The bulbs stuck to the tree and didn't break.

"Who wrestled the Christmas treeee? What is youuuu or was it meeee?" Hagrid kept pelting the trees with silver and gold ornaments. "Who wrestled the Christmas treee?" Hagrid threw the last handful of ornaments. "Cause it—" Hagrid stopped as he noticed me looking at him.

"Don't stop on my account, Hagrid. Sorry, I didn't mean to stare. I've never heard that song before," I stated from my seat at the Great Hall table.

Oliver, Terry Boot, and I were sitting together during a free period. We were currently the only students in the hall.

"Your voice carries very well," Terry Boot said.

"The trees look fantastic!" Oliver piped up from beside Terry.

"Aw, thanks." Hagrid rubbed the back of his head, embarrassed. "I didn't realize I had an audience. You've really never have heard this song before? It's a classic!"

"Muggles have different Christmas carols." I shrugged.

"Ah. Well, I better get back to it." Hagrid picked up another box and started violently throwing other Christmas decorations at the wall and windows.

I turned back to Oliver. "So negatives are good then?"

"THAC0! To hit armor class zero. It's pretty simple really." Oliver smiled brightly and pointed to a chart in his second edition Dungeons and Dragons book.

Oliver had a dream. An impossible and ridiculous dream. He wanted to get other kids at Hogwarts to play Dungeons and Dragons with him with 2nd edition rules. I'm probably the only other kid in this entire school who knows what the hell he's talking about, and even I don't want to play 2nd edition Dungeons and Dragons.

"Why would I run out of spells? That's not how magic works." Terry Boot looked over Oliver's shoulder at his Dungeons and Dragons book like it was some indecipherable ancient Sumerian scroll.

"None of it is how magic works!" Oliver let out a long suffering sigh. I feel like this was an argument they'd already had before. "It's organized this way to make it a game. If magic worked in it how it really works, we would defeat everything in the book easily!"

"Of course, we should. We're wizards," Terry replied without a hint of irony.

Oliver looked at me pleadingly.

I have sympathy for you kid I really do but... "Dungeons and Dragons was fun before I knew I had magic, but why would I pretend to do fake magic when I can just do real magic?"

"You can play another class!" Oliver suggested, but I could see him visibly losing hope. "You could be a fighter?"

Honestly, I already feel like I've multi-classed in real life with one level of fighter.

"Sorry, Oliver. I'm not interested."

Oliver slumped, defeated. "It would have been fun."

"Hey, cheer up. There's still plenty of super fun stuff to do around here. Actually, I'm thinking of starting a study group. Would you want to join?"

"What kind of study group?" Oliver asked, intrigued.

"Well, less a study group and more a study club. We wouldn't go over things we learned in class. Everyone would take turns and teach the group a new spell, skill, or show everyone a fun way to practice something we already know. It wouldn't be open to everyone, just a handful of first years. A lot of spells need a partner to practice with, and I'm sure we all could use some extra potions practice." I turned toward Terry. I didn't know him very well, but it felt rude not to invite him too. "You're invited too Terry if you want to come."

"No thanks. I'm on the Quidditch reserve team. I'm too busy as it is," Terry replied.

"When would we start meeting? Who else are you inviting to join?" Oliver asked.

"I thought we could start meeting after we come back from Christmas break. I want to keep it fairly small for now. Um... I'd like to invite you, Hermione Granger, my roommates, Kevin Entwhistle, and Neville Longbottom."

I'd like to invite Harry and Ron too, but I know right now Hermione would throw a fit if Ron was there. I don't think Harry would show up without Ron either. There has to be someway to get those three to work together.

"Neville Longbottom?" Oliver asked incredulously.

"I know he's not been the best in class so far, but he seems to have a knack for Herbology. I also know he's a nice person. I mostly just tried to pick people I know are nice and who would get along together." I frowned. "Honestly, I'd like to have someone from every house, but I don't know any nice Slytherins."

"Yes, because there aren't any." Oliver replied deadpanned. "Their alignments are Chaotic Neutral at best."

"That's not true. Daphne and Pricilla have always been nice to me. Sally has never said anything mean. Blaise is a nice bloke even if his mum gives me the creeps," Terry exclaimed.

"They're nice to you Terry, because you're also a pureblood." Oliver rolled his eyes. "Things are a little different for us." Oliver turned back to me. "It's a good idea to keep it to just first years. We'll be at the same skill level. Older students might also try to take over the group."

"I'm not sure older years would want to spend time with us anyways." I shrugged. "We can add some new first years next year if we want." Luna was getting invited no matter what. "I'll write something up over the Christmas break with times and then send it to everyone."

"Brilliant! I'll try to find an oxygen creating spell for my turn," Oliver stated, cheered up already. He seems like the resilient sort.

"I wonder if we can find spells that match Dungeon and Dragon spells?" I asked, secretly hoping to set Oliver on the path to do some of my research for me.

"Brilliant idea!" Oliver's eyes were shining again with excitement.

Yesss. Find my spider climb spell for me Oliver.

Hagrid walked over and dropped a heavy crate on our table. "Would you kids like to help? I'll teach you some wizard Christmas carols as we work!"

"Sure!" I exclaimed and jumped up. Oliver and Terry followed suit.

As it turns out, while wizards do have their own Christmas carols, half of their songs were just reworded versions of the muggle songs.

"Make it snow! Make it Snow! Make it Snooow!" I sang and chucked a glowing red crystal ball at one of the trees.

"In the meadow, you can transfigure a snow maaaaan," Terry sang while attaching a giant red bow to the teacher's table.

"And charm it to climb the local town!" Oliver sang and threw a red crystal ball at the tree.

"We'll have lots of fun with Mr. Snowmaaaan!" I picked up a gold star and threw it as hard as I could to the top of the tree. I could have used a spell to get it up there, but what would the fun in that be?

"Till the aurors make you take it down!" Hagrid bellowed and threw the last handful of ornaments at his tree.

As terrible as this song is, the one about the red-nosed house elf was much, much worse.

December passed by quickly, and before I knew it my Hufflepuff friends and I were exchanging presents the morning before they all left for Christmas break.

"Let's open presents now!" Hannah bounced a bit on her bed.

"No. It isn't Christmas yet. We have to wait." Susan looked disdainfully over at Hannah.

"You're so boring." Hannah rolled her eyes and shook her present from me. It made a small rattling sound.

I'd given Hannah, Susan, and Eloise the extra hair accessories I'd received from Boudica's Boutique last summer. All of the hairclips were ornate and magically hand crafted from metal. I think they will go over well. Even Susan appreciated a practical hair accessory. They were also within the budget we'd all agreed upon. I'm really glad we agreed on a small budget. I hate getting someone something too nice or not nice enough and making life awkward.

I'd bought Hermione her own copy of the book, 'You Can Never be Too Paranoid'. I knew I couldn't get away with giving her hair accessories.

"We don't necessarily have to open the presents." Eloise grinned mischievously and waved my x-ray specs in her hand.

"Hey! Accio spectacles!" I exclaimed and pointed my wand at the glasses. The glasses flew out of her hand sideways. Aww, they were supposed to come back to me. At least, something happened. "Cheater!"

"I was just taking the mickey out of you." Eloise stuck her tongue out at me.

Hannah sighed. "I still can't believe you did not tell us you were staying here over hols! Mother and father would not have cared if you came back with me."

"You can still come with me. Father has already told me to invite you to visit this summer. He won't mind. You can stay in my brother's empty room," Eloise suggested.

"You could still come with me, too." Susan laughed. "Mum is so knackered she wouldn't even remember I didn't ask. Did you know she's pregnant again and due late this summer? The baby isn't even two and she's having another!"

"Aw, you'll have two little siblings tottering about. How adorable!" Hannah exclaimed.

"No, it isn't. Bloody hell, there will be twice as much screaming," Susan muttered darkly looking forlornly into the distance. "Actually, don't come back with me, Kasey. Save yourself."

"I can't come without permission from your parents and mine. It's not a big deal guys," I assured them.

I was going to try to use the holiday break to befriend Harry and Ron. Or at the very least, talk with them. It also gave me time to find the Mirror of Erised. I'm really curious what I'll see in there. Me as a powerful adult witch? Me as an adult in a room full of hot men and delicious pastries? Who knows?

Hopefully, it's not something lame like me with my family. Who I don't miss. At all. Really.

"You're visiting us this summer! No excuses." Hannah wagged her finger at me.

Hmm, I'm going to have to come up with a plan on how to deal with the 'no parents' situation before then. Maybe I'll be visiting relatives in the States? I'm sure my friends would let me visit each of them in turn so I didn't have to "go home" at all, but there really is shit I have to get up to during the summer that I need to be on my own for. I wonder how long aging potions last? I could get a lot done if I looked like an adult most of the day. Well, muggle things. Wizards could probably detect that sort of thing.

The girls gathered up their things and I walked with them down to the Hogwarts lawn. The lawn was crowded with students and carriages. The thestrals were invisible to me although I could see their hoof imprints in the snow. I'd never seen anyone die in person. I suppose grainy news reports on television and YouTube videos of natural disasters didn't count.

After helping my friends load up their carriage, I waved goodbye and walked back into the castle.

At dinner time, I looked around the Great Hall table for Ron and Harry. The tables had been reduced to only one student table. There was a handful of Ravenclaws, Gryffindors, and Slytherins staying for the holidays. I think I was the only Hufflepuff still here. The common room had been eerily quiet after the train had departed.

Harry and Ron weren't anywhere to be seen. Did they not stay for the holidays? But the rest of the Weasleys were here...

What the hell. I'll just ask.

I sat down across from Fred and George. "Did your mum only want to see Ron this Christmas?"

"Yes." Fred replied sarcastically (I'm going to assume he's Fred he's got an 'F' on his sweater). "We've been disowned."

"Very tragic." George struck a tragic pose. "Now we'll never inherit Dad's prized rubber duck collection."

"Percy wasn't invited because he's too much of a ponce," Fred stated loudly enough for Percy sitting several people down to hear him.

Percy glared in their direction and then went back to speaking to the tall Ravenclaw girl he was sitting next to.

"Why do you want to know?" George waggled his eyebrows. "You wouldn't have a crush on old Ronnikins eh? Quite the downgrade from us I have to say."

"Is this 'fake crush' business going to be a thing every time I talk to you guys?"

"Maybe," Fred quipped. "As long as it annoys you, and you're being nosey."

I blushed. I was being nosey. They must think I'm fishing for gossip.

Fred and George laughed at my expression.

"Ron is spending Christmas with Harry and Harry's godfather," George replied congenially.

"Oh, that makes sense."

Good for Harry. Although, I can't help but wonder if Sirius is still a bit off. It wasn't that long ago when he was in Azkaban. Hopefully, he was a dog at the Quidditch match to avoid Rita Skeeter and not from a mental break. I wouldn't want to deal with her either.

At least, Ron was with him if things got awkward. What the heck am I going to get up to now? Randomly explore the castle by myself?

The plates and silverware appeared with a flash in front of us. A few seconds later, platters of roast beef and steamed carrots appeared on the table as well. It all smelled and looked delicious. I put some roast beef on my plate.

"What are you guys going to do during the break?" I asked curiously.

"That..." Fred trailed off. I leaned forward to hear. Fred smirked. "Is a secret!"

I suppose I had that coming.

I haven't had this much free time since last summer. I got my homework done this morning and now I'm not sure what to do with myself.

I walked into the common room. My footsteps loudly echoed in the empty room. It was downright eerie for the usually boisterous common room to be this silent. I'm going to have to go somewhere else for awhile. Hanging out in a large empty room by yourself with a bright sparkly yellow Christmas tree is depressing.

I went back to the dorm, grabbed my bag, and headed out of the common room.

I guess now is as good a time as any to start researching how to break the spells on the Occlumency library book. I can take a break for dinner and then wander the halls a bit. Maybe I can find the Mirror of Erised? Or some other random interesting place. Heh, I'll be careful to look for laundry shoots before I walk into a room.

The library was almost as eerily deserted as the Hufflepuff common room except for Madam Pince and one sixth or seventh year Ravenclaw boy intensely studying at a library table. He's probably a seventh year now that I think about it. The kids studying for their Newts always look they're one step from the edge.

Alright so... I guess I find a generalized book on permanent enchantments and go from there.

After a quick trip to the card catalogue, I wandered to the back of the library. The enchantment section was near the periodical section and smelled extra musty. Enchantment wasn't a subject taught at Hogwarts, so these books all had a fine layer of dust on them. I climbed the rickety ladder slowly, holding tightly to the railing as I ascended.

Merlin's balls, this has to be thirty feet up.

I glanced at the card in my hand and then at the books directly in front of me.

Shoot, I need to go much farther to the right. Do I get down or?

The ladder suddenly lurched to the right with a horribly screeching sound of seldom used metal scraping together. I grabbed onto the railing and held on for dear life as the ladder whooshed off to the right and stopped abruptly in front of the book I needed.

I crouched down on the ladder for several moments like a frightened rabbit, waiting for my heart to stop trying to jump out my throat. Eventually, my heart went back to normal and I pried my white knuckled fingers from the railing long enough to grab the book I needed. I very carefully descended the stairs, trying to keep my mind blank.

I walked to a table near the shelf and sat down to start researching.

An hour later, I shut the book and went to get another book on situational enchantment. Another hour after that, I shut the situational book and went to get a book on basic runes because apparently, situational enchantments worked a lot like computer programming with if/then statements, but the if/then statements were written in runes. An hour after that, I went to get a book on situational runes because basic runes weren't the right kind of runes. ARGH.

Two hours after that, I had a massive headache and needed to get a book on revealing enchantments and curses because I couldn't do anything about the runes on the book if I couldn't see them. Then another hour after that, I retrieved the book 'Curse Breaking: A Beginners Guide'. It's not enough to see the runes and know what they stand for, you also have to know the spell to cancel them out.

Bill Weasley must be a genius.

I went to Madam Pince to check out all of the books and dumped them in my bag for later. My head was throbbing.

I can't book anymore. I have the dumb. Read later. Want food now.

I was halfway to the Great Hall for dinner when a voice caused me to freeze in shock and fear.

"Miss Thompson! H-Hello. How are you? D-Doing some more research on the m-mysterious assailant?" Quirrel asked with a fake smile plastered on his face.

I immediately averted my eyes to the floor.

"Oh no, sir. Just some personal research for fun." I tightened my grip on my book bag. My heart started to hammer loudly in my ears.

"And here I thought we had a group of b-burgeoning girl d-detectives!"

I giggled nervously. "Oh no, we gave up on that."

Act normal. Act normal.

"Ah. What a g-good sensible Hufflepuff to give up if it's too hard. Let the adults handle things. I'd hate for one of my students to be injured." Quirrel's tone rang fake to my ears.

And how dare you, you son of a bitch. Hufflepuff's don't give up!

"I'm sure Dumbledore has things under control," I replied trying to keep my voice even. There was still a slight tremble at the end.

"D-Dumbledore is only human after all." Quirrel's tone seemed colder.

I'm not sure what possessed me to say what I said next. Maybe it was the crack about Hufflepuff's giving up. Or maybe I'd lost my goddamned mind.

"Dumbledore is the only one You Know Who ever feared. He'll solve the mystery," I heard myself saying as if I was far away.

Three full seconds of silence followed my statement. My stomach gave a horrible lurch.

"I was under the impression that You Know Who feared no one," Quirrel replied eventually. The edge of his voice held something cold and dangerous.

"Uh that's just something I heard people saying." I shivered and forced myself to hold my ground although my knees felt shaky.

"Hmm, I'd be careful listening to rumors if I were you. They are often exaggerated."

His shoes really do look like size eleven...

"Yes, that's true. Well, I better get to dinner. Good night Professor."

"Have a good night Miss Thompson. It must be quite lonely up there in the common room by yourself," Quirrel replied with false cheer.

Oh god.

"T-Thank you."

I forced myself to walk calmly away until I turned a corner and then sprinted to the Great Hall.

The food I ate at dinner might as well have been saw dust for all I tasted it. Later that night, I cast all of the protective spells and simple traps I could in my dorm room from Mayoral Stood's book. For good measure, I pushed my nightstand next to the door. I know it wouldn't do anything if the freaking DARK LORD wanted to murder me, but it made me feel better.

I thought about going to sleep in the Room of Requirement, but then I'd have to go through empty hallways and up seven flights of moving murder steps…

After I'd put up my feeble protections, I laid on my bed in the empty dorm room with my wand under my pillow. I jumped every small door creak, floor board groan, or slight whistle of the wind. After being awake for hours, I jolted upright as I came to a sudden and chilling revelation...

Quirrel had forgotten to stutter.

I didn't get a wink of sleep that night.

Two days passed, and Quirrel hadn't gotten around to murdering me.

Which was pretty awesome all things considered.

He must have still thought I was just a stupid clueless little girl. And in all honestly, I was feeling like a stupid clueless little girl. What in the world had possessed me to make a crack about Voldemort fearing Dumbledore? Whatever madness had possessed me, I was going to beat it down hard so it didn't surface again.

The next three days (other than meals) were spent studying my library books. I think I've figured out how to remove the curse on the Occlumency library book. The consequences of failure for this type of enchantment were listed as minor. The consequences varied wildly according to my books, but they were actually minor and not the wizarding version of minor where you're nose falls off. Everything should be fine.

Probably.

"Homenum Revelio," I whispered and looked around the seventh floor corridor. The cost was clear.

I pulled a piece of paper from my back jeans pocket and read it to myself silently as I paced in front of the blank wall.

'I need an Occlumency book, a sound proof room where the door is invisible from the outside after I shut it, and a table and chair... I need an Occlumency book, a sound proof room where the door is invisible from the outside after I shut it, and a table and chair... I need an Occlumency book, a sound proof room where the door is invisible from the outside after I shut it, and a table and chair...'

A door to the room appeared.

Phew! I'm glad I wrote it all down. It was a bit of a convoluted request.

I pushed open the heavy wooden door and entered.

The Occlumency book from the Restricted Section sat in the center of the room on a plain wooden table with one chair. I rolled up the sleeves on my hoodie (I hadn't bothered with robes since Christmas break started).

Let's do this.

I cast a silencing charm on the book first. It wouldn't affect any of the other spells, and I wouldn't have to listen to that harpy's high pitch screeching while I worked. The final spell would strip this one of all the other spells anyways.

Next, I cast the rune revealing spell. This took about half an hour of trying until I realized I was pronouncing the spell with the enunciation on the wrong vowel sound. I hadn't had an actual cursed item to practice on back in the dorm. I technically could have tried on one of the library books I had, but messing around with the books I had checked out was just asking for trouble.

I pulled out my fountain pen and notebook paper and quickly scribbled down copies of the glowing golden runes hovering over the book. I had to refresh the spell several times as it worn off. There might be a way to keep the charm continually glowing, but I didn't know it.

After I had made some passable sketches, I pulled out my situational rune book. I didn't know enough about runes to know what chapter to look into, so I had to flip through the whole book pausing to compare over and over. It took over an hour of searching (there are a lot of runes) until I found what I was looking for. Alright, so it's a Tabula Rasa rune. I suppose that makes sense. I vaguely remember coming across that term in college. I think it means blank slate?

I picked up my curse breaking book and turned to the chapter about tabula rasa runes. There were several that varied in complexity and purpose. There were three spells meant to break spells cast on objects instead of people and one was specifically for books.

Wow, the fact that you could touch something and lose part of your memory is super scary... Huh, this one lets you conceal yourself from various forms of magical scrying. I wonder if that's how Voldemort kept himself from being visible to the Marauder's Map?

I'm going to take a guess and assume Madam Pince used the most basic rune. She's vindictive enough to use the more complicated runes, but also seems very lazy. The books put themselves away and she won't help students find anything. I have no idea what she even does all day. Is the only thing she does is put curses on books and take naps?

I practiced the wand movement again slowly. I'd been practicing for the last two days, but you can never be too careful with magic. It was also rather long. If this worked, it would also cancel the silencing spell I cast on the book.

I took a deep breath and then cast the spell.

"Solve Fasciculos Tabula Rasa!"

The glowing golden runes appeared above the book once more, turned a brilliant crimson, and then... broke apart and faded into nothingness.

I stared for a moment, but nothing else happened.

Did I... do it? I feel like I should have brought a long pole to poke it before I touch it with my hands.

Note to self, get a long pole to poke stuff in the Room of Requirement when I start sifting through all the stuff there.

I poked the book with my wand. Nothing happened.

I poked it with my finger. Nothing happened.

I opened up the book. Nothing happened... and it had text.

FUCK YEAH.

I grabbed the book and flipped through it. The entire book was there; every word and every chapter and there wasn't even a hint of screeching.

I did it!

Take that Madam Pince! Take that, book store owners! Ha ha! Who's not going to endanger the entire wizarding world by accidently spilling the dark lord's secrets? Me. I'm not doing that. Or I'm less likely to do that now. Whoo hoo. I finally have an Occlumency book!

And now it was time to read the bastard. I can't wait!

The Occlumency book was really boring.

I can see why Harry had such a hard time of it back in the books. Harry was always a guy of action and little contemplation and this book is all contemplation and mind games. There is only one spell (Occlumens), but the rest of the book was about controlling your emotions, meditating, and creating 'mindscapes' with your imagination.

To be really effective at it, you also had to be able to cast the spell silently and wandlessly. Silent casting and wandless casting were two separate and very difficult skills. Just throwing a book at Harry and expecting him to fill in the gaps was foolishly optimistic at best.

Hell, the book recommended you learn Legilimency too!

I'm… pretty uncomfortable with that idea. I would probably read a Legilimency book if I had it, but I wouldn't want to use it.

Okay, maybe I'd use it to tell the Weasley twins apart. It would drive them crazy if I always knew which was which.

Now that I think about it, Snape being skilled at an art that requires you to control your emotions is really odd. I know on an intellectual level that Snape must be good at keeping his shit together when he has to or he wouldn't be a good spy. That's not what I've seen of him in class, though.

Was his junior high bully routine him already controlling his emotions? Did that mean he was constantly on the edge of going on a killing spree and murdering us all? Or was being shitty to kids just his stress coping mechanism?

Snape's immature baby tantrums aside, I think I have a chance at learning this. However, it was going to take awhile at least several months (maybe even over a year). I could practice the mental exercises right before bed. They were harmless and would only take about ten minutes a day. The real problem though, was that I wouldn't know if I was any good at it unless I had someone try to break into my mind with legilmency. I couldn't let anyone do that without exposing my secrets.

Well, all I can do is try.

The days of Christmas vacation dragged on.

I ordered my own copies of the rune and curse breaking books. I think they'll be useful for checking books in the Room of Requirement, and I had to buy Christmas presents that I can claim are from my parents anyways. I split my time before Christmas Eve between learning the next stage of the Shield charm (blocking physical objects), practicing Occlumency before bed, learning a few warming charms, reviewing my curse breaking books (I made a study guide!) and very reluctantly reading a Potions theory book I'd gotten from the library. And boy, was that one a snoozer. I was really going to need potions during the summer though, so I doggedly forced myself to read at least twenty pages a day.

There wasn't anything else to do but read with everyone gone. I tried to find the Mirror of Erised, but it was no where to be found. Dumbledore must have planted that mirror for Harry to find, because I had systematically looked for it to no avail.

Hmm, was he trying to teach Harry a lesson about dwelling on impossible dreams or secretly checking to see if Harry grew up to be a power/fame hungry monster? Maybe it was a twofer?

Christmas Day passed in a blur. The feast had been good. I had been a bit confused on what a 'cracker' was, until I realized everyone was referring to their party favors and not things you put in your soup.

I'd gotten a few presents from friends. Everyone but Hannah had sent me a book. Hannah had sent me this little gift set of hair changing potions. Oliver sent me "Advanced Dungeons & Dragons: Tome of Magic". I think he was trying to trick me to do his research for him… You can't turn my own tactics against me kid. I'm on to your game.

The fact that I'm looking through it now is only a coincidence.

I turned on the small hand-held Wizarding wireless I had borrowed from Hannah's nightstand. The sound echoed loudly in the empty common room. They were playing some traditional Wizard Christmas story about an orphan kid and his pet kneazle... I stretched out on the plushy yellow couch in front of the fireplace and sighed.

Christmas was... getting to me. Normally, I was pretty immune to homesickness, but there was just something about the holiday atmosphere that dug into my guts and twisted... I don't want to go home. I didn't want to go back to my life of three gray cubicle walls. I loved magic and having magic. But... I sure would have liked to call home even for only a few minutes.

I know I'm being stupid. I wasn't even missing some grand family tradition or anything. My family didn't go anywhere for Christmas anymore (not since my Grandparents died). I'd make food, we'd eat the food around noon, and then we'd sit around and watch television (often in separate rooms).

It was just this general Christmas bullshit family togetherness atmosphere and the empty common room that was getting to me. I'll be fine after everyone comes back from break. I could get over this little bout of melancholy... No big deal.

At least, my eyebrows have finally grown back.