Chapter Twenty-Six:
Term Ending
Unfortunately, when Elizabeth got to Herbology that Tuesday afternoon, she learned that Hagrid's class didn't go well at all. Despite Hermione's attempts, Hagrid had decided to teach what he wanted rather than something that would be a safe bet around Umbridge. And just as unfortunately, Umbridge showed up for inspection.
"Honestly, though, thestrals are not a bad lesson at all," Hermione was saying while they were pruning fanged geraniums, "It was all on Umbridge. She turned everything Hagrid said into something negative, either about him or the way he was teaching."
"I wish that cow had never set foot in this castle," Elizabeth grumbled, trying to trim the leaves of her plant while simultaneously keeping the plant from biting her. She honestly only new very little of thestrals—mainly that they were a bad omen to some wizards due to their connection to death—but she had to admit, she didn't see how they'd be a dangerous lesson.
"She was looking for any excuse," Harry said bitterly, "I bet she would have turned a lesson on flobberworms into something about Hagrid risking our lives..."
Elizabeth glared at her fanged geranium, accidentally cutting off too much of the vine in the process. She really wished the Ministry hadn't have forced that horrible woman on them.
Elizabeth found herself becoming busier and busier during December. Prefects were meant to help with decorating the hallways and Great Hall as the holidays approached. Elizabeth couldn't help but find it fun.
"I never realized how much work had to go into decorating the castle," Ernie said one weekend afternoon when they were working on hanging mistletoe in one corridor.
"It's pretty fun, though," Elizabeth said. Though no sooner had she said that, Peeves came through the wall with a loud shout. Elizabeth yelped and jerked backwards, falling off the stepladder she was on. Luckily, Sprout was able to catch her before she hit the floor.
"Thanks, Professor," Elizabeth said as Peeves zoomed down the hall with a loud cackle.
When they weren't decorating, they were keeping an eye on first and second years that were spending breaks inside due to the colder weather. This one was a task that didn't take as much effort, so Hermione often spent the time knitting elf hats while they just made sure the younger students didn't get out of hand.
"You're really determined to free every elf in the castle, aren't you?" Elizabeth asked with a sigh.
"It would go much faster if you offered to help," Hermione said irritably, "Or to even put out the hats in your own common room."
Elizabeth pursed her lips, but didn't say anything. She really couldn't bring herself to tell Hermione that she was going about things the wrong way. Forcing freedom on the house elves wasn't going to get anything to move forward. Elizabeth especially learned that one last year after meeting Winky.
Though the closer holidays got, the less Elizabeth looked forward to it. Hermione was going to go do some Muggle activity called 'skiing' with her parents—Elizabeth had read a little about it during their Muggle hobbies lesson and thought it was odd. And Harry would be spending the holidays with the Weasleys. Elizabeth, however, would be going home. For the first time, she found herself not wanting to go home for Christmas. There wasn't any way she could get out of it, however.
Elizabeth wasn't looking forward to the final D.A. meeting—two days before holidays began. She went early, however, and let herself into the Room of Requirement where she found Harry trying to take down an insane amount of tacky Christmas decorations—mainly baubles featuring his face and a large banner reading HAVE A VERY HARRY CHRISTMAS!
Elizabeth couldn't help but giggle. Harry spun around, his cheeks going a bit red.
"Dobby," he said, "I'm trying to get rid of it before everyone shows up."
"It'd be nice to leave the mistletoe up though," Elizabeth said, coming over with her wand and helping Harry start to take down the tacky ornaments.
"Looking forward to being home for the holidays?" Harry asked. Elizabeth sighed and shook her head.
"I've got a feeling my Christmas isn't going to be that merry," she said as they worked, "Mum and Lewis believe the Daily Prophet. Aunt Ginger and Uncle Xavier are on our side, but most likely I'll just be arguing with them over the next couple of weeks. I even wrote Mum saying I was thinking about staying here, tell her I wanted to study for my O.W.L.s, but Mum said no. I spent the last three Christmas holidays here, and it was time for me to spend one at home."
"Too bad. I'm sure the Weasleys would have welcomed you instantly."
Elizabeth felt her cheeks grow warm and she grinned at Harry. She knew it was his way of saying he'd miss her, and she appreciated it. She was going to miss him, too.
"I'm going to be visiting Alain and Helene at some point," she said, "Maybe I'll talk them into coming by the Burrow one day. Just don't need to let my mum know..."
"I don't want you getting into trouble again," Harry said, "Especially after what happened when you visited me at the Dursleys—"
"And I still don't regret doing that," Elizabeth cut in, "I just thought it'd be nice to see each other over the holidays. But there's always when we get back to Hogwarts, I know."
They'd just finished getting down the last of the decorations and Elizabeth helped Harry push the box behind a table, only for them to both realize they were underneath a fresh bunch of mistletoe. Both stared up, cheeks going red, but before they could do anything the door opened and they jumped away from each other. Luna Lovegood was the first to arrive, with Helene right behind, looking even more cheerful than usual—and Elizabeth might have been imagining it, but the girl's cheeks seemed pink and her smile seemed more than just a normal one. Elizabeth wondered what had happened to cause that.
"It's good you left the mistletoe," Luna said, pointing to where Elizabeth and Harry had been standing, "It's often infested with nargles."
Elizabeth and Harry exchanged a confused look and when Elizabeth looked to Helene, she just shrugged, making her way over. At the same time, Angelina, Kate, and Alicia of the Gryffindor Quidditch team came in and Harry went over to talk to them.
"So, what's got you so happy?" Elizabeth asked Helene once she was over. Helene giggled again, the pink of her cheeks deepening.
"I was talking wiz zis boy," Helene said, "Cyrus, 'e ees in Ravenclaw too."
Elizabeth grinned at Helene. So she had a crush.
"I was zinking of maybe inviting 'im to join ze D.A. after ze 'olidays," Helene went on, "'E eesn't too 'appy wiz 'ow Umbridge ees controlling ze school eizer."
"We'll welcome anyone who wants to join," Elizabeth said, "Bring him to the next meeting."
Harry started calling for everyone's attention at that moment, so Elizabeth and Helene quickly sat down on a couple cushions. As the holidays were starting soon, Harry decided that this practice would just be a review over what they'd done so far.
Something Elizabeth was grateful for since, halfway through the hour, Elizabeth started to get a familiar, sickening feeling forming in her stomach. It caused her to be distracted during the practice, causing her spellwork to be off. Harry noticed and asked her about it as people began leaving the room.
"Sorry," Elizabeth said softly, realizing Cho Chang was staring at them as she left with her friend. Elizabeth bristled a little, but turned back to Harry. "Just been...I've been getting one of those weird feelings."
"Really?" Harry asked, frowning. Elizabeth sighed.
"It might not even be anything," she said, "I'm probably just worked up because of the holidays. I'm sure it's nothing."
"Are you sure?"
"Not really," Elizabeth shook her head, "But even if it is, there's nothing we can do about it. I get these feelings, but they never change anything." Elizabeth pursed her lips. "We should get to our common rooms. The last thing we need is for Umbridge to catch us out after curfew, especially when I don't have patrol rounds."
"Be careful, okay?" Harry asked.
"You too," Elizabeth leaned up and gave Harry a quick kiss before heading out of the room, making her way off towards the Hufflepuff common room. The sickening feeling was still worming in her stomach as she walked through the dark castle, and she tried to figure out what it was about. What was the point of these feelings if nothing came from them?
The feeling was still twisting Elizabeth's stomach into knots when she returned to the common room and went to change into pajamas. The others were already crawling into bed to get to sleep, but the more Elizabeth lay still on her own bed—Cream curled up next to her as usual—the sicker she felt.
Then, just as quickly as the feeling came, it was suddenly gone. Only it didn't make Elizabeth feel any better. She still couldn't seem to get to sleep, lying in her bed, tossing and turning through the night. When sunlight started to filter through the small windows along the top of the walls, Elizabeth sighed and realized sleep was never going to come. Frowning and feeling exhausted, she got up and got dressed, already not looking forward to the day of classes ahead. History of Magic was hard enough to stay awake during, especially with her nightmares making sleep rough. Now going on no sleep at all? It was not going to be a good day.
It was still too early for breakfast, so Elizabeth was left to walk through the corridors of Hogwarts. It was late enough that she wouldn't get in trouble, there just weren't many others still awake.
Elizabeth hated seeing Hogwarts quiet and empty. It reminded her far too much of that reoccurring nightmare that came before Cedric's death. It turned a peaceful environment where she could think into a constant reminder of a very dark time. It didn't make anything better after the night she'd just had.
And then she reached a stairway, about to head up, but stopped as she found herself face-to-face with Professor McGonagall and, of all people, Hermione, who was still in her pajamas. Elizabeth noticed she looked confused.
"Ah, Miss Martin," McGonagall said, "Good, I was just about to get Pomona to go and get you. I need to speak with both you and Miss Granger."
A completely different type of sickening feeling wormed into Elizabeth's stomach as she glanced at Hermione.
"Is something wrong?" she asked.
"It's better I tell you both somewhere in private," McGonagall said, "Follow me."
Elizabeth looked to Hermione again, who still looked confused, then followed her Transfiguration teacher through the castle towards McGonagall's office. McGonagall motioned for both girls to sit, which they did, Elizabeth still worried about what was about to come.
"There has been an incident," McGonagall began, "Arthur Weasley is now in St. Mungo's—and before either of you ask, he is fine and expected to make a recovery."
Elizabeth felt sick, staring at her teacher in disbelief. Hermione had her hands over her mouth, her eyes wide and her face pale. Elizabeth thought back to her sickening feeling the day before. Had this been what it was about?
"Mr. Potter and the Weasley children have left early for the holidays," McGonagall went on, "Something that Dolores is not happy about. I would offer to send you two on, but we've already aroused enough suspicion. I'm afraid you will have to finish the term before you're allowed to leave."
"But we'll be able to go to the Burrow, right?" Hermione asked weakly.
"You'll be able to join them for the holidays, yes," McGonagall replied with a nod, "I assure you, Arthur will be fine. Now, you two should be off before others begin to wake up and come for breakfast. I stress that you act as if you do not know what's going on, especially with Dolores Umbridge."
Elizabeth started to get up, then as Hermione headed out, Elizabeth remembered the letter from her mother and turned back around.
"I...I want to spend the holidays with the Weasleys and Harry," she said, "But I doubt Mum will let me. I had already asked about staying here for the holidays to study, and Mum wrote back that I wasn't allowed to. She wants me home."
McGonagall's face was neutral, and Elizabeth felt a bit nervous. Finally, the woman gave a sigh.
"I will write to your mother," she said, "Obviously I cannot explain what's happened, but maybe I will tell her we need a few prefects to stay over the holidays."
Elizabeth stared at McGonagall in disbelief and surprise. She'd really do that?
"Th-thank you, ma'am," Elizabeth managed, still in disbelief as she turned and left the office where Hermione was waiting for her. Was she actually going to get to spend the holidays with Harry? She hoped so. She knew he needed as many around as possible.