A/N Okay so I've rewritten this chapter and the next considerably, because of several reasons...

a.) I need to pick up the Metis storyline again!

b.) I've been thinking about the reviews concerning Leandra's switch from Regulus to Sirius. I've decided to ease up on writing scenes where Sirius and Lee are all lovey-dovey. It's more complicated than that, I've just been incredibly lazy at writing recently. It's not a good excuse, I know, but please bare with me :( So I've taken out the scene with Lee and Sirius celebrating xmas together. Instead I have Leandra confronting an important memory from her past, one that could relate to Voldemort's return.

c.) I wanted to create some of the lazy writing in the previous drafts... there were tons in the chapter after this.

Yule Ball

Christmas season in general was a busy time of the year for the Salesmen. This year it was particularly so. Owls came in swarms with requests for magical cosmetic supplies like Pixie Dust and Sleekeasy's Hair Potion. There were plenty of Love Potion orders as well, this gave Corvus some comfort because he imagined those requesting it were still searching for a date too.

"I don't know, Corv. Slipping your date a drop of Love Potion would turn up the heat, wouldn't it?" smirked Louis. Because they were dealing with an overload of requests, three people were assigned every other night to sort orders. The night before the last day of classes, it was Corvus, Louis and Daphne.

"That's horrible," stated Daphne. She glared at him over the new request sheets. They sat in the dank living room of the Shrieking Shack. The boys were busy packing orders for delivery.

Louis shrugged it off. "Let's be serious though, mate. You need to pick a girl."

"Pick a girl?" Corvus repeated, laughing. "You make it sound like there's loads of options here."

"There are!" exclaimed Louis, forgetting for a moment about the parcel of Sleekeasy's Hair Potion he was wrapping. "You and I are the best looking lads in our year, easy. Am I right, Daph?"

Daphne bowed her head further down as if she wanted to curl up into the sheets of papers in her hands.

"And in Hogwarts' top twenty," he added.

Corvus didn't know what to say. He was torn between laughing and choking on the praise. Was this true? Did girls like him almost as much as they liked Louis? But girls hardly ever spoke to him when they flocked to Louis. Perhaps it had something to do with how witty and smooth his friend was with the opposite sex.

"You're just not very approachable," said Louis, as if reading his mind. "There's only about ten people you actually speak to outside of us Salesmen."

"Really?"

"You've never noticed that?"

"No." He looked to Daphne, who was still determined to be invisible. "Do you think that? Daphne?"

Sighing, her head snapped back up and she replied, "Pretty much, yes."

"The good news is that some of those ten people are girls," he smirked again at Corvus.

"Tracey Davies? I was thinking about asking her." She was a Slytherin girl in the year below them. She'd flirted quite a bit with him last year. And whenever they past in the hallway she smiled at him.

Louis made a face, "I'd pass on that. Have you heard her laugh?"

Corvus rolled his eyes. Of course he hadn't heard her laugh. He didn't know her! She was just a pretty girl he was positive liked him, enough to be his date.

"Tracey isn't very nice," spoke up Daphne. She avoided eye contact though.

"How about Marietta Edgecombe?" suggest Louis.

"Marietta?"

"Yeah, she'd go with you. According to Jocelyn she hasn't got a date," he told him. "And she's fancied you since our first year."

"Really?"

Louis laughed and nodded. He thought back on all his crossings with Marietta. She'd always been nice and friendly to him, despite being Cho's best friend. Cho had only recently become cordial with him. She complimented his drawings every time she caught a glimpse of one. She sat with him in Muggle Studies.

Before he could go over more of the facts, Daphne interrupted, "Granger wants more Sleekeasy's Hair Potion."

X
X

Even though Louis had opened his eyes, he still found it difficult to bring himself to ask Marietta to the Yule Ball. There was a strong sense of dread and anxiety. She could say no, maybe he was too late and she had a date. Louis could also be wrong. There might've been no alternative motives behind her nice smiles.

For their last Muggle Studies class, Corvus hadn't heard a single word professor Burbage said. He was too busy spying on Marietta out of the corner of his eye. Class went by at a snail's pace.

"I thought last year's work load was horrible," said Marietta when they finally ended class and they were packing their things. She was, of course, smiling that pleasant smile of hers.

"Yeah it's brutal."

"My plan is to spend two hours a day working on my assignments then an hour of just revising," she explained to him as they walked out of class together. "But it's going to be difficult to concentrate on anything until after Christmas. I mean… it's too exciting this year, isn't it?"

Again that smile! It was directed right at him.

"Hn."

"Are you excited?"

"Do you want to be my date for it?" he blurted. It felt like appropriate timing, though he should've been more tactful with his words.

Her face went blank first, then red and then stretched into an elated smile. This all happened in a matter of milliseconds. "I'd love to, Corvus."

X
X

For the rest of the day, Corvus felt like a free man finally. He was bringing to get excited for the ball. Louis's sister still hadn't set them their dress robes, but many of the Beauxbatons girls had purchased theirs at her boutique in Paris. He saw them swapping pictures of dresses with each other over dinner and in the Entrance Hall, by the looks of it Margaux knew what she was doing.

"Marietta's cool," said Max as they headed to dinner.

"Yeah," he couldn't help but grin. Marietta was a pretty girl.

"You won't be walking into a MoMo trap with her," he assured him. Corvus hadn't even thought of that. "Did you know Cedric Diggory's taking Cho?"

He hadn't heard this, but then again until today he'd been bogged down by a lot and fell behind on his Hogwarts gossip. "When'd this happen?"

"Last week I think."

"Well, speak of the devil," remarked Corvus, gesturing ahead. Standing in the Entrance Hall was Fleur Delacour with Rebecca, Louis and Cedric Diggory. He looked to Max to see what his reaction would be, but he remained cool-headed.

"Salut!" waved Rebecca as they approached. It was as if Louis and her had been together for years. They were both holding onto each other.

"Hey," greeted Diggory.

"What's up?" asked Corvus.

"We were just saying, zat someone said zat Dumbledore got ze Wicked Sisters to perform at ze ball," explained Fleur, excitedly. Corvus smiled at her, happy that she was happy. How could he not be happy when she smiled?

"That's really wicked," he replied, a little dazed.

"I hope they play stuff from their old albums," said Louis. "Their new album didn't do it for me."

"I agree," nodded Fleur.

"I kind of liked it," shrugged Diggory.

"Fleur, go to the ball with me!"

For a brief moment Corvus was afraid he'd been the one to blurt this out. But the voice came from behind him. It was Ron Weasley, who'd been passing by on his way to dinner when he foolishly decided to shout this out. Now he was rooted in place, completely petrified with his wide eyes glued on Fleur. He muttered 'ball with me' a few times absentmindedly. You had to wonder if maybe he'd suffer a head injury.

Louis started cracking up. The sound of laughter ended the odd suspension of time. Corvus and Max began to laugh too; even Diggory hid a grin behind his hand. Fleur couldn't even form a reply, she was speechless and looked as horrified as Weasley did. Quickly enough the Gryffindor snapped back to his senses and ran for it.

X
X

Penelope Clearwater was certainly burning the midnight oil. She'd been given a very important job of filing the inventory list for the Tower's commission. Stupidly she forgot to include November 17th's order of ebony wood, something she remembered suddenly while she was sleeping. If Leandra found her sneaking about in the Tower at such an hour doing work she should've already completed…

Actually Leandra wouldn't care. She'd told Penelope once before that she was allowed to enter the Tower whenever she needed to. Penelope always forgot to relax.

So here she was a week before Christmas, looking for November 17th's order of ebony wood. She was in her small office, which was through one of the doors on the spiral staircase. The only light in the Tower came from her wand's tip.

"Where are you?" she whined as she started searching under her desk.

As she imagined the severe, heart-breaking consequences she'd have to face if she didn't find this order, she heard a door shut downstairs. She froze, wondering who could be in the Tower at this hour.

"Hello?"

She stepped outside of her office. She couldn't see anybody.

Maybe it was the wind.

X
X

Leandra and Corvus had a unique tradition for the Christmas holiday. Her birthday was December 20th and the night of her birthday marked the beginning of the Spicy Chili Marathon. Every night until Christmas day they ate Leandra's signature spicy chili. It was her signature dish because it was the only thing she knew how to cook. And it was the best chili ever. The tradition began when Corvus was eight years old.

They'd only broken it once before. During Corvus's third year he remained at Hogwarts for the Christmas Holidays. But his mother had sent him a serving of chili everyday between the 20th and Christmas. And Corvus assumed she'd do this again, but on the 20th he didn't get any package from home.

"Are you okay?" asked Daphne as they walked to the owlry on his mother's birthday. He was going to send her gift. He'd gotten her a scarf he'd ordered from Margaux's boutique. Daphne was sending her father a letter.

"Sure," he shrugged. Snow was falling thickly upon the castle and its grounds now. The pale blue Beauxbatons carriage looked like a large, chilly, frosted pumpkin next to Hagrid's cabin while the Durmstrang ship's portholes were glazed with ice, the rigging white with frost. During the afternoons when there was sunlight to sit under, Corvus would go out with his sketchbook to draw this.

As fifth years they had an enormous workload over the holidays, but it was difficult to get into the working mood leading up to Christmas. Slytherin dungeon was hardly less crowded now than during term-time. People were rowdier too. It felt like Corvus was constantly called upon as a prefect to break up some fight.

Corvus didn't hear from his mother until Christmas Eve day.

Dear Corvus,

Thank you for the scarf! It's lovely and I've been wearing it everyday, everywhere. I'm sad
we couldn't have our usual chili marathon, but I guess we'll have to have an informal one
later. How's everything? Anything unusual been going on?

It's very busy here at the tower. I'll be seeing you very soon though!

Love,
Mum

It was disappointing. Luckily he didn't have enough time to sulk about it. He was surrounded by his friends. It was impossibly not to enjoy himself. And on Christmas morning, he felt his mother had made it up to him with an amazing pile of gifts. She'd gotten him a magical camera, a new sketchbook, three new sweaters, a wool hat, a golden quill that wrote dictations ('very handy for revision time' she wrote him) and she sent him the bottle of cologne Morag gave him for Christmas last year. He'd never taken it out of the box, but his mother swore it was a very attractive scent and he should try it on.

Also in his pile of gifts was a Quidditch jersey from Coco. Sirius sent him a cool and stylish looking leather jacket. It fitted nicely too. Looking at himself in the mirror with it on over his pajamas, Corvus secretly agreed with Louis's prediction that he was placed amongst Hogwarts's top twenty best-looking lads.

There was a small, thin black box at the bottom of his gifts. There was no note, but Corvus opened it and found a silver necklace. On the silver chain was a pendant showing the Stirling family crest of a falcon soaring across a tower.

"Who sent you jewelry?" scoffed Anwar. He laughed and shrugged.

"Probably my mum," he replied and put the necklace back in the box. He'd never liked the idea of wearing necklaces. His mother knew that. She'd tried giving him jewelry before to no avail. But he supposed because this was obviously a family heirloom he'd succumb to wearing it.

"Finally, she's sent them," yawned Louis as he pulled out a parcel from his pile of gifts. It was from Margaux.

"What is that?" asked Jeremy, eying it enviously when he saw all the Salesmen got one.

"Piss off."

"Like I care," he sneered and left the room for breakfast.

"That was easy," smirked Max as he pulled out a large box sent from his parents. Even before he opened it, Corvus could smell the aroma of fresh baked cakes and sweets. "I was wondering how we'd get rid of him."

The Salesmen skipped breakfast in the Great Hall to indulge in the treats Max's parents sent them. Anwar suggested they save some for Daphne later, which they all agreed to. Afterwards, Louis went to meet with Rebecca. The rest of them went out into the ground.

Malfoy was out too with his group and the Quidditch team. The lads suggested flying, which everyone liked the sound of. Max borrowed Louis's broom while Corvus used his own. It soon turned into an airborne snowball fight. Pansy and her girlfriends were drawn to the show, but they left at four o'clock to get ready for the ball.

"They need four hours?" said Max right before Montague hit him hard on the side of the head with a snowball.

There was no Christmas tea today, as the ball included a feast. At seven o'clock the boys abandoned their snowball fight and returned to the common room with their brooms resting on their shoulders. Louis was already in their dormitory room, having just gotten out of the shower.

"You'd better start getting cleaned up," he grinned, as he looked them up and down. They were all wet and red in the face from the cold. "Or no girl's going to want to snog you."

Margaux had definitely delivered on the dress robes. Each outfit was unique, expensive looking and elegant. Louis had a light blue robe with a white vest and gold tie. Anwar had a dark plum robe with a high collar and silver embroidery. Max had a sapphire blue cloak that was clasped across his chest with small gold claws. Underneath he wore all black.

For Corvus she gave him sea green vest over a white button shirt with a black bowtie. To be worn over that was a black silk robe with a radical plunged neckline that creatively revealed the vest underneath. The vest also had a pocket for his watch and she sent him a silver chain to hook it onto. The four of them looked very sharp, and before he left Corvus squirted a bit of his cologne on.

The common room looked strange, full of people wearing different colors instead of the usual mass of black. Malfoy was wearing dress robes of black velvet with a high collar, but unlike Anwar's his robes looked stiff and made him look like a Muggle vicar. Pansy was beaming at her date's side in very frilly robes of pale pink. Crabbe and Goyle were both wearing green. Blaise Zabini was handsome in his silver robes and on his arm was his date for the night, Tracey Davies. She had her mousy brown hair held back in a bun and her cat-like eyes were very prominent. They seemed to eat up the sight of Corvus.

"Where's Daphne?" he asked, self-conscious of Tracey's stare.

"I'm right here."

He couldn't believe he didn't see it before. She was standing slightly behind Pansy and Malfoy with Theodore Nott. Her long, curly blonde hair had been straightened and it looked sleek, shiny. Margaux had put her into a strapless forest green dress that hugged her body very snuggly. Corvus had never noticed how… interesting her curves were. He'd noted that over the summer she'd gotten wider but under her loose-fitted robes and clothes, he never noticed that she'd gotten… well, let's just say she had all the parts a woman should have and they looked nice.

"It's a bit much, I know," she blushed, brushing back her hair. Corvus had been staring, all the Salesmen had been.

"Blimey, Daphne," breathed Louis. He had that glint in his eyes, the usual one he got when he wanted to flirt with a girl, but he refrained.

"Shall we?" asked Max.

The Entrance Hall was packed with students milling around waiting for eight o'clock, when the Great Hall would be opened. Those people who were meeting partners from different houses were edging through the crowd, trying to find each other. Louis found Rebecca and Veronique, he led Anwar over to them.

"Hi Corvus," Marietta found him first. She looked very pretty she wore dark blue robes. She held out her hand for him. He didn't expect this, and for a moment he hesitated but he took her hand anyway. It couldn't hurt, right?

The oak front doors opened, and everyone turned to look as the Durmstrang students entered with Professor Karkaroff. Krum was at the front of the part, accompanied by a pretty girl in blue robes. Over their heads Corvus saw that an area of lawn right in front of the castle had been transformed into a sort of grotto full of fairy lights.

Breises broke away from her schoolmates and came over to them. She looked strikingly beautiful with her hair brushed back and she wore a dark blue robes, coincidentally matching Max's robes. "You look very handsome," she said, smiling coyly. She then regarded Corvus, "You too cousin."

"Thanks."

"And Daphne!" she gasped when she noticed her. The look on her face said everything. Daphne awkwardly smiled back at her.

"Champions over here, please!" McGonagall's voice called. The crowd parted for the champions to walk through to McGonagall. They were set to wait by the doors, because the champions were supposed to enter the Great Hall in procession when the rest of the students had sat down.

As they were passed the champions, Corvus immediately noted Cedric Diggory and Cho Chang. They were beaming at each other. Max and Breises were ahead of him, so he couldn't see whether his friend even acknowledged them.

"Ouch!"

Louis had suddenly punched him between the shoulder blades. He spun around to glare at him, but Louis was pointing to Krum's date. Corvus's jaw dropped. It was Granger.

But she didn't look like Granger at all. Her hair was no longer bushy, but sleek and shiny, and twisted up into an elegant knot at the back of her head. She was wearing robes made of a floaty, periwinkle-blue material and she was holding herself differently, somehow. And she was smiling, and Corvus noticed that her front teeth weren't as long and bucktoothed as he remembered them…

The walls of the Great Hall had all been covered in sparkling silver frost, with hundreds of garlands of mistletoe and ivy crossing the starry black ceiling. The house tables had vanished. Instead there were about a hundred smaller, lantern-lit ones, each seating about a dozen people.

"It's beautiful, isn't it?" smiled Marietta as Louis picked their table nearest to the large round table at the top of the Hall, where the judges were sitting. They were still holding hands.

"Yeah," he smiled back. He followed Max's example of pulling out his date's chair for her to sit. He looked around at his friends, "Where's Daphne?"

Somewhere along the way she'd sneaked off with Theodore Nott. Scanning the Great Hall, he found them two tables away. They were seated with a few Ravenclaw and Slytherin students he didn't know the names of. Daphne was laughing at something her date was saying. The lantern light lit her face beautifully. Had her skin always been so luminous?

"Who are you?" Breises asked Marietta abruptly, critically eying her from across the table. She shifted uncomfortably for a moment.

"Marietta Edgecombe."

"She's in our year," explained Max, helpfully.

"But this is our first time we've met?"

"She's in Ravenclaw, Breises," Corvus told her, nervous that she'll scare off his date.

"Ah," she nodded, eying Marietta strangely as if her being a Ravenclaw made her suspect to something. "Well, I am Breises Stirling, his cousin."

"It's nice to meet you," she smiled nervously at her. Breises gave a forced smile in return. Luckily she decided to ignore Marietta for the rest of the night, instead focusing her attention on Max. Now Corvus saw how much his best friend smiled in her company.

There was no food as yet on the glittering golden plates, but small menus lying in front of each of them. The trick was to announce what you wanted from the menu and the meal would appear. Corvus ordered the steak.

"Zis 'as been very fun 'ere in 'Ogwarts," said Veronique pleasantly. Veronique was dressed in champagne colored robes, but no matter how pretty she looked Anwar didn't seem impressed by his luck. "Though I miss some things from Beauxbatons, like ze ice sculptures we 'ave for Christmas. They sparkle like diamonds."

Rebecca nodded in agreement, "And we 'ave choirs of wood-nymphs to serenade us as we eat. It is a very beautiful night."

"Maybe the next Triwizard Tournament will take place in Beauxbatons," said Louis.

"But we won't be there," frowned Rebecca.

"Howarts is very nice," agreeed Breises. "I feel comfortable here, I like it."

"Yeah, I love it here," said Max with his half-smirk. "At the end of my first year I didn't want to leave."

"I never felt like that for Durmstrang. It is an exciting place to learn magic, yes, but it never feels like a home," she said. "We have a castle too, but it's not as big as this, just four floors and the fires are lit only for magical purposes. But our grounds are larger than yours, we have lakes and mountains… that is where Durmstrang's beauty lies."

"Before the school year began I had a strategy in mind for studying, but with the tournament and everything – it's impossibly unfair!" laughed Marietta. They were talking about their OWLs, something Corvus had no real interest in talking about. "What subject do you think is your weakest? Not that you have many like that, you are like the top in our year at everything, aren't you?"

"History of Magic, just because I'm lazy at it," he shrugged.

"It is really boring the way Binns teaches it. Sometimes I find some of the things we study are pretty interesting, it's just the way he teaches it."

"Yeah, never looked at it like that."

When all the food had been consumed, Dumbledore stood up and asked the students to do the same. Then, at a wave of his wand, the tables zoomed back along the walls, leaving the floor clear, and then he conjured a raised platform into existence along the right-hand wall. A set of drums, several guitars, a lute, a cello and some bagpipes were set upon it.

The Weird Sisters now trooped up onto the stage to wildly enthusiastic applause. They were all extremely hairy and dressed in black robes that had been artfully ripped and torn. Their clothes reminded Corvus of what Margaux had worn the first time he met her, which made sense because apparently she did their wardrobe this concert tour. They picked up their instruments and the lanterns on all the tables went out except for the table where the champions sat.

The Weird Sisters struck up a slow, mournful tune. Corvus watched the champions and their partners walk onto the lit dance floor. He kept an eye on Potter, hoping he might trip or something, but he revolved on spot with his partner, boringly. Very soon other people got up to dance, Louis and Rebecca being one of the first.

Corvus saw Daphne and Nott get up too. He turned to Marietta, grinning, "Want to dance?"

They followed after Louis and Rebecca, and Corvus took her hand and placed his other one on her hip. Unlike Potter, he knew how to waltz which seemed to please Marietta incredibly.

The Weird Sisters struck up a new song, which was much faster. They kept dancing, but they weren't standing as close. At times Corvus would copy Louis and spin or turn Marietta.

"You know what would be fun?" shouted Louis over the music. "Let's swap!"

He spun Rebecca towards Corvus, who let go of Marietta's hand before the three of them collided. He caught Rebecca, who grabbed his hand and immediately went back to dancing. Every song they mixed things up, Corvus danced with Veronique, Breises and, surprisingly, Daphne.

"Having fun?" he asked her.

"Yeah, you?"

He nodded.

"Marietta looks nice."

He looked at her dancing uncomfortably with Warrington. "Where's your date?"

"Dancing with the girl he should've asked to the Ball," she smirked and pointed at Nott. He was dancing with a girl from Ravenclaw.

"What makes you reckon he should've asked her?"

"Because he fancies her, obviously. He's too shy though, so he asked me instead."

"Doesn't that bother you?"

"No, why should it?"

"Don't you want to go with someone you fancy?"

Her smile faltered, "I don't fancy anyone… so, is that what you did? You came with Marietta because you fancied her? I thought it was only because Louis told you to."

Corvus shrugged, "She's alright."

The song came to an end and she excused herself to sit down. Corvus felt quite tired too. He followed her to a table. Anwar was already sitting; talking with Adrian Pucey had his date, Bryony Pettings.

"This whole Tournament's supposed to be about getting to know foreign wizards and making friends with them!"

"No it isn't! It's about winning!"

Corvus turned to see Ron Weasley and Granger going at it, Potter sitting between them looking very awkward. Weasley said something else to her, which sent her over the edge apparently because she jumped to her feet and stormed off across the dance floor.

"Wow," Daphne said what everyone was thinking.

Marietta came over and sat down on the other side of Corvus. She was a bit pink in the face from dancing. "It's hot, isn't it? Do you know where the drinks are?"

Corvus shrugged.

"I think they're over there," said Daphne. She stood up, "I'll go with you – I'm thirsty too."

"Great, thanks," she smiled at her then back at Corvus, "Do you want anything?"

"Just a Butterbeer."

"Corvus, maybe you can help," said Bryony, shooting Anwar a nasty look. "Can you see if Louis will ask Millie to dance?"

"Why would I do that?"

"Because she's going to fall to pieces, look at her!" Milvina was the only Slytherin sitting amongst a bunch of fifth year Gryffindors. Her arms were crossed and she winced every time McLaggen tried to lay a hand on her.

"It's her fault that git's her date."

"But you know she wanted to go with Louis."

"Piss off, Pettings, we're not going to beg Louis to dance with her," glared Anwar. She gave a huff and turned her face away from the boys.

"Vill someone danced vit me, please?" a voice asked. Veronique had approached their table, with a pleading sort of look on her face. She didn't even look to Anwar for an answer. "Corvus?"

"Huh… sure," he felt his cheeks warm up. He got to his feet and took her hand. She led him back on the dance floor. She was a very good dancer, he'd noticed that before but this time she danced much closer. When the song ended he took half a step back as if he was going to return to his table, but she grabbed his wrist.

"Please, one more song? Anwar won't dance vit me." She had lovely blue eyes. He stayed for one more song, and then they both went to sit down. Marietta was waiting for him with two Butterbeers in her hands.

"We had a little run with Morag," she told him, drinking. "Don't worry, she's here with Anthony Goldstein. She only asked how our night was, she even complimented my dress."

He looked out onto the dance floor, weary. This put him slightly on edge. He didn't drink from his Butterbeer. Once Marietta finished her glass, she wanted to go dancing again. But as they danced, Corvus noticed her complexion drastically change. She was turning green.

"I don't feel so well…" she whimpered. Suddenly she lost her footing and Corvus had to quickly snatch her up before she fell. People turned to stare, some people gasped.

"Are you alright?" he helped her back on her feet.

"Hm – argghhh!"

Marietta bent forward and vomited. Corvus leapt back. Girls screamed around them while the boys started laughing. Zooming through the crowd, as if by a Summoning Charm, came Madam Pomfrey. She looked aghast, "Move away everyone. She needs air."

She took Marietta by the arm. "Huh? What's – what's going on?"

"I knew something like this would happen," Pomfrey muttered on her way out. Corvus watched his date be quickly escorted off the dance floor and out of the Great Hall.

X
X

Christmas without Corvus was hardly worth fusing about. That's why she had no qualms about visiting the Stirling Tower on Christmas night alone to meet Emmeline Vance. Diagon Alley was all but deserted. A blanket of thick white snow covered everything in sight. Leandra's footsteps marked the snow alone. The Stirling Tower glowed red against the inky night sky.

Emmeline stood outside the Tower's doors. She nearly blended perfectly with the shadows of the arched doorway. "Happy Christmas," she greeted her.

"You too, Emmy." Leandra gently touched the door with her bare palm. The doors unlocked and quietly swung open. Leandra allowed Emmy to enter first. The candles on the first floor lit on their own to give them light. Once both women were inside the doors closed again.

"And you're sure we're alone?"

Leandra opened her arms and gazed upwards into the enchanted ceiling. Emmeline watched silently. A trembled traveled up through the Tower, a pulse sent from the ground up. Then stillness fell again.

Leandra let her arms drop; she exhaled heavily as if she'd been holding her breath. "We're alone."

Emmeline smirked, "Neat trick."

"Thanks," she smiled sheepishly. "So… what can you tell me about Métis?"

"I have reason to believe she's dead."

"Based on what?"

"She hasn't set foot back in Romania since she disappeared in the summer," she explained. "The Muggle authorities are investigating the disappearance now too."

Leandra frowned slightly. "And you didn't see her near Nurmengard?"

"There was no sign of her. No one came, beside me and a few German Ministry officials who had to be there."

"Damn, I was sure Ascanius's burial would get her to show her horse-face," she hissed. She paced for a moment. "Nothing feels right."

"I agree," sighed Emmeline. "It's unnerving – no one's found Bertha Jorkins yet either."

Leandra nodded. It feels like it did before, she thought grimly. She didn't want to be the one to say it out loud, but she knew Emmeline felt the same way. And she didn't even know about Peter Pettigrew and Harry's dreams.

"You should go."

"What are we going to do next?"

Leandra had to smile. Emmeline hadn't changed a bit. "We're going to wait. It's all we can do at this point. Whatever's happening will unfold itself."

"Who else do we have on this?"

"Moody knows what we know. I think in a few weeks time I'll have to meet with him," she explained.

Emmeline sighed, "I hate the waiting game."

"Tell me about it," grinned Leandra. With nothing else to discuss, Emmeline bid her farewell and left through the front doors, Disapparating the moment her feet left the Stirling Tower.

So, here she was, alone on Christmas. Sirius was somewhere en route to Hogwarts, hiding with Buckbeak and was probably freezing. She worried about him. This growing conspiracy had revitalized him, but it didn't feel healthy. She'd look into his eyes and she saw the old Sirius, the one who fought side-by-side with James. James was gone, the game had changed and it couldn't be played the same way. A lot more was at stake for both of them.

She went downstairs. There was a small hallway at the end of the stairs. To the right was the Master Crafter's office and to the left, the archives. No one could physically enter the archives unless they were the Master Crafter. Even as the Master Crafter it wasn't so simple.

Leandra took out her wand and conjured a small dagger. She stalked towards the iron door leading to the archive. Without hesitation she dragged the knife across her left palm and pressed her bloodied hand to the door. There was a low groan and the iron door turned red. Leandra stepped through.

The archives were held in a low-ceiling hallway that stretched into darkness. There were no torches or candles to give light to the the Master Crafter. Leandra tore a piece of fabric off her robes and held it in her bleeding hand. With her other hand she used her wand to light her way.

She didn't go far into the archives. The walls were lined with shelves holding millions of written documents, testaments and contracts concerning the workings of the Tower. But a few steps in there were a basin filled with a glittering substance. She hadn't visited this pensieve for years.

She liked to pretend she couldn't remember what was in it. She knew. She bent forward and closed her eyes. The tip of her nose touched the surface and she was catapulted into the past.

X
X

Louis was in a laughing fit when he heard about what happened to Marietta. The vomit had been cleaned up in no time, but Corvus still felt humiliated for the both of them and now he was dateless.

"Maybe we can go for a walk?" suggested Rebecca, her eyes shifting over to Veronique. She gave her girlfriend a smirk and asked her in French if she wanted to come with them.

"A walk sounds brilliant," agreed Louis and he slapped Corvus on the back. "Come on, mate."

They didn't let him respond. Without a second glance at their friends they left the Great Hall and went into the Entrance Hall. The front doors were still open. The fluttering fairy lights in the rose garden winked and twinkled as they went down the front steps, where they found themselves surrounded by bushes, winding ornamental paths and large statues. Corvus could hear a fountain running.

"I don't know what Anwar's problem is," said Louis. "Sorry you were stuck with him, Veronique. Guess he's shy around girls."

"It's okay, I 'ad fun," she told him. "There vere other people to dance vit."

At this she gave Corvus a big smile. He hardly paid attention to it though, he was too busy thinking about what happened to Marietta. "You don't just get sick like that. And before it happened she said she ran into Morag."

"Morag?" asked Rebecca.

"His ex-girlfriend," Louis filled her in quickly. "Give it a rest, mate. There's nothing you can do about it now. You're not sick, so enjoy yourself. Don't you speak French?"

"A little."

"Parlez-vous Francois?" asked Veronique, smiling at him playfully. This time Corvus paid attention to the look she was giving him. She began to ask him questions in French, speaking slowly so he could understand. They were simple questions like 'Where are you from?', 'Do you have brothers or sisters?' and 'What music do you listen to?' but for some reason Corvus felt like it was one of the best conversations he's ever had with a girl.

He was in the middle of listing all the different countries he'd visited when he realized Rebecca and Louis were gone. They'd disappeared somewhere in the twinkling rose garden.

"Voulez-vous vous asseoir?" she asked him, gesturing to a carved bench. As they sat down, Corvus was very conscious of the fact that she had her leg pressed against his.

"Il est belle ce soir," he managed to say. She nodded.

"Tu es tres gentil."

"Ah, merci. Tu aussi."

She said something that he didn't understand. All he caught was Anwar's name. When he asked her to repeat, she spoke in English, "I wanted you to be my date tonight. I said yes to Anwar only because I knew he was Louis's friend and you are Louis's friend."

"Oh… I didn't know."

She kept staring at his lips then up at his eyes. He soon started to do the same thing.

"Can I – can I kiss you?" he dared to ask her. She nodded yes.