Chapter Twenty-Seven:

Christmas Holidays in Hogsmeade

"Harry, you're a genius!" Ron shouted, laughing merrily at Harry's own cleverness. "We'll just use one of the secret passageways to make it to Hogsmeade, and then we'll see if Mrs. Von Dorian will let us stay at the Lair for a while. It beats paying for a room in The Wit's End or the Black Annis." Ron bit his lip and said, "I'm not even sure that I'd want to try the Annis…it's rather new, but it's already got a rather nasty reputation for being the place where Dark witches and Wizards hang out in Hogsmeade."

"Just in case Lydia doesn't welcome us to the Lair," Harry said, "the Black Annis is located downtown, instead of uptown like The Wit's End." Hermione and Ron followed Harry to Hogsmeade and then realized where they were. "By the way, this is the Honeydukes basement."

"How nice!" Ron said, beaming. "Harry, do you know if the candy is down here?"

"Why would that matter?" Hermione asked, looking at Ron suspiciously. "It's not like you're going to steal anything down here…are you?"

"Just one little piece," Ron said, picking up a piece of every-flavor gum. "It's for Isis."

"That's still wrong, Ron," Hermione preached. "You should use your money to purchase gifts, not steal them from innocent people!" Ron put the gum back and grumbled a bit. "Harry, do you know how to reach downtown Hogsmeade from here?"

"Of course I do," Harry said, leading his friends out of the store. It was very dark outside, and cloudy. Rain and snow was mixed together to make a lot of slushy mess. The pathway was rather hard to follow, since the slush was covering it up rather quickly. One way or another, however, Harry and his friends managed to make it to the dodgy part of town…downtown Hogsmeade. The slush had ended here, and had been replaced with powdery snow that made a pleasant crunch as it was stepped on.

St. Clytemnestra's Cemetery was rather beautiful with the rime covering the gates, sculptures, flora, and tributes to the dead. They could see Necromancers, dressed in black and other gloomy colors, going about the graveyard, mumbling something by the headstones. What they were doing was not mentioned in any textbook; this was a private ritual of the Von Dorian clan. Harry and Ron didn't know what it was, but Hermione knew quite a bit about the Von Dorian family, especially since she had picked up books about the family history when she decided to do a term paper on the most influential person in the Dark Arts for the Middle Ages. The name had been an easy one to find, Darius Ahsimal, but a fellow named Sargon Von Dorian had been mentioned as perhaps the most notorious Phobomancer in the history of magic.

Hermione was one of the few individuals that actually paid attention in History of Magic with Professor Binns instead of falling asleep. Therefore, she knew that Professor Binns had mentioned eight Atticus Shadows; nearly fifty people belonging to the Von Dorian family; and two people whom bore the last name Skylarke, but neither had been Mortimer Skylarke. She had all the notes in her bag, the notebook filled from bottom to top with useful facts and essays. "I'm not sure if Mrs. Von Dorian is going to be home or not," she said. "I think that's a family reunion going on in the cemetery."

"Oh?" Ron asked. "What are they doing?"

"Every twenty years, the members of the Von Dorian clan come together at St. Clytemnestra's Cemetery to Resurrect one of their own that had managed to get killed by a Slayer. The majority of the Von Dorians are vampiric, so it's become ritualistic to bring back anyone that had left no descendants and made an impression in history that was one of their own." Hermione groaned. "I'm guessing that they're bringing back Sargon Von Dorian since he gave his life to the welfare of vampires and helped start the Undead Rights."

"Wasn't that the name of Ahsimal's boyfriend?" Ron asked, looking rather disgusted.

"Yes," Harry said. "Sargon Von Dorian was Darius's lover."

"That's even worse," Ron said, "Ahsimal's disgusting."

"I think it's kind of cute having a person like our Necromancy teacher in love with another vampire," Hermione said, laughing. "I'll have to ask Professor Ahsimal if he'd mind showing me pictures of Sargon Von Dorian. I'm planning on writing my end-of-term paper for History of Magic on him, so I'm sure that Professor Ahsimal would be a wonderful source of information."

"Can we head over to the Lair now?" Harry asked. "I don't think that Lydia's relatives want us to be staring at them. What if we're caught snooping on their reunion? Cassandra mentioned that her mum's side of the family can be monstrous toward eavesdroppers."

"Well, who'd know better about the Von Dorians than Cassandra?" Ron said, letting out a heavy sigh. "Maybe we should head over to the Lair, Hermione, just like Harry said." The three friends went across the street and headed directly over to the three-story home with the wrought-iron fence and dying garden, covered eerily in a thin blanket of snow. They went through Rhianna's secret entrance and knocked on the door.

After waiting on those cold front steps for nearly a minute, Teiresias opened the door. Faust was curled up on his left shoulder, and his glasses reflected the bright full moon. "Hello," he said curiously, and then held his black kitten in his arms. "Is there any specific reason as to why you three are out here, or were you just passing along and decided to stop by for a visit?"

"We thought we'd visit," Harry said, "I hope that's okay with you."

"I don't mind, really," Teiresias said, stroking his furry little friend in his gloved hands. "Just make sure you guys don't run into my dad. He hasn't been feeling well, especially because Mum divorced him and he's supposed to leave the Lair for good by midnight." A loud crash could be heard from a room in the back. "I think you could have guessed that the noise you just heard related to him. You're correct if you thought that."

"That's a cute cat you've got there," Hermione said, trying to talk cutesy to the boy. Teiresias didn't really appreciate it and scowled. "What's the little ball of fluff's name?"

"Faust," Teiresias said flatly. "I named him after a philosopher that sold his soul to the devil."

"How wonderful," Hermione said sarcastically as she followed Harry and Ron inside the Lair. "So, where's your mother, Teiresias?"

"Oh, I'm about to go get her," Teiresias said. "Could you stay in the lobby for a moment? I think she's practicing a Banishment Curse on the third floor." He looked at Harry and said, "Thanks for picking out a nice cat; I'm sick of Cassandra's stupid Pandora." He walked up the stairs. Faust—who was now on the ground—followed his master, hopping from stair-to-stair as quickly as his little kitten body could. Teiresias stopped on the second floor and bent down to pick up his friend. "Sorry, Faust; I didn't realize you were down there."

'He sure loves that cat I got him for his birthday,' Harry thought. Looking at Teiresias, Harry could tell that the boy was really enjoying that specific gift more than any of the others. Faust was a cute little cat and had begun to look just a bit like his master. He had the long black hair, and the inquisitive eyes that somewhat reminded Harry of Teiresias Snape.

"Wow!" Ron shouted, looking around at the lobby. "This place is even bigger than I remembered it being!" He sat down excitedly on a red velvet-covered chaise lounge and looked at the stained-glass rose garden window. "I wonder why Cassandra wouldn't want to live here."

"I know why," Lydia said, walking down the wrought-iron spiral staircase. She was wearing a red sports bra with a pair of black pajama bottoms. Her hair was pulled back into a wet ponytail. "I sent Cassandra to live with her uncle because I didn't want Claudius to hurt her. He's got a horrible hatred toward female vampires."

"That doesn't make sense," Hermione said, "he married you, didn't he?"

"Yes, he did," Lydia replied, "but he didn't find out that I was a vampire until after we had Cassandra together." She groaned. "I filed for a divorce, you know." There was another loud sound coming from around the staircase, only it sounded a bit more like a 'thump' than a 'crash.' "Not again," Lydia groaned, rushing over toward the staircase. "Teiresias, dear, did Pandora trip you again?"

"I'm down here on the floor now," Teiresias snapped bitterly, "what do you think, Mum? Of course that stupid cat made me lose my balance and kiss the floor. I hate that cat…"

"Well, the bandages are in the bathroom cabinets, in case you need them," Lydia said, walking off toward the bathroom. "Do you need me to look at the sore and make it feel better?"

"What are you proposing to do to it?" Teiresias asked, "kiss it?"

"Of course not!" Lydia replied, waving her hand around dismissively. "I could just numb it, you know." Teiresias didn't object to having his mother numb his battle wound from the most-recent Pandora incident. Lydia then faced Harry and company. "So…you decided to spend Christmas with us?"

"Is that alright?" Harry asked.

"Of course it's alright!" Lydia cheered. "I'm sending Claudius away tonight, as you probably already know, so the house is welcome to everyone that wishes to visit." She looked around for a moment, and said, "Ah! I know! I think I'll go pull out the red wine. We already had dinner, but it wouldn't be too much trouble to heat up something for you three."

"Don't worry about us, Mrs. Snape," said Ron.

"I'm now Ms. Von Dorian," Lydia said, "but I'm begging you…call me Lydia."

"Okay, Lydia," Ron said, looking at the woman carefully. "Were you exercising up there?"

"Yes," Lydia said, "is there any reason why you'd want to know?"

"Oh, not really," Ron replied, "except Teiresias told me that you were practicing a Banishment Curse."

"I was doing that earlier," Lydia said, "and then I mastered it. After I master a Curse, I hardly ever bother with it until I go to the Dueling Arena uptown. There's a nice building up there—it looks like an old train station—and people all over Hogsmeade come over there to hold Duels. It's great, because all the rules are enforced, but people always find one way or another to cheat." She groaned and said, "A younger friend of mine was infamous for finding loopholes in the rulebook. I think she's in charge of the Dueling Club up at Hogwarts now…Constanza Talus?"

"Yeah, Stanzi's the head of our Dueling Club," Harry informed Lydia. "So…what exactly did you and Teiresias have for dinner?"

Lydia smiled as she said, "Oh, we had Cassandra's favorite meal; Caesar salad."

Ron didn't look too thrilled by that news. "Did you make it?"

"No," Lydia said, "Scrappy did." She went into the kitchen and offered a bowl of salad to Ron, Harry, and Hermione. She lit a few candles up on the table, and gave each one of the students a small glass of red wine. "Please, enjoy yourselves. I don't have company very often anymore, so I enjoy having people over as often as possible." She looked at Hermione and said, "I read about you in the Daily Prophet about a month ago. Weren't you one of the students that fell into that Minotaurian Coma?"

"Yes, Lydia," Hermione said timidly, eating a bite of the salad. She couldn't help but look around the house over and over again. Harry found himself doing the same thing. It was far from being a mansion, but it was still a rather large house. Three people could probably live in there and never have to see one another. "I was wondering about Cassandra. Do you know if she's alright?"

"Of course she's not," Lydia said, "she's still in Azkaban, isn't she? Teiresias and I are trying to get people to sign a pardon for her, and I noticed that Harry started the SOS campaign over at Hogwarts. I was so glad to see how many people want my daughter out of that horrible place." She began to chew on a piece of celery with her pearly white teeth. "Now, if only I could get this parchment over to the Minister of Magic—"

"Leave it to me, Lydia!" Ron said, smiling. "My dad works for the Ministry of Magic, and I'm sure he could send it to Cornelius Fudge." Lydia hugged Ron rather suddenly, but Ron really didn't seem to mind being embraced by someone as eerily pretty as Lydia Von Dorian.

Lydia was happy the whole time she was serving dinner, and then looked a bit dismal for a moment. "Oh dear…I just thought of something. I only have two guest bedrooms."

"That's alright," Harry said. "I'll just sleep on the couch in your library or something."

"Thanks for being so understanding about all of this," Lydia said, sighing. "I'll get you an extra blanket and a couple of pillows for when you begin to get tired."

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Hermione managed to do her last-minute shopping for Christmas, and when the time came for the holidays, the three friends were still lodging with Lydia, Pandora, Faust, and Teiresias in the Lair. After a couple of days, the house didn't seem quite as intimidating; the floor-plan was an easy one to follow, and most of the rooms didn't look like something from the Addams Family television show. Teiresias had made sure that his sister's friends had a great time hanging around, and made sure to leave them alone for the majority of the time. He'd just sit in the library, constantly looking over curses, spells, and ways to conjure up the dead.

It didn't take Hermione too long to realize that Teiresias wasn't one of those cute and cuddly little boys. She thought he was cute when she first saw him, but she realized he behaved much more maturely than he looked. He could talk about History of Magic on the same level as a Third Year, Defense Against the Dark Arts on the same level as a Fourth Year, Curses & Rootwork on the same level as a Fifth Year, and Potions on the same level as a post-graduate. His résumé was quite impressive, but Harry realized that the only way Teiresias was so good at all of this was because he had people that expected him to be the best…he was being pushed way too hard to be something more than even he wanted to be. Teiresias was a prodigy, but only because his mother constantly pushed him to strive for nothing less than more than what he was capable of doing. After seeing how glum some of Teiresias's studies made the boy, Harry wondered if Cassandra had gone through something similar.

Lydia continued to feed her guests well, and was by far one of the best hostesses Harry could ever recall having. She was sensitive, interactive, good-spirited, and well-mannered. She insisted that her guests listen to the house elves sing Christmas carols and encouraged everyone to sing along happily. She was a rather nice singer, but she kept cutting herself off, thinking she didn't sound very nice. While Hermione ended up looking at books and magazines with Teiresias, Ron and Harry found themselves watching Lydia do her morning aerobic exercises.

When Christmas Eve finally came, Lydia seemed a bit excited. "I hope nobody minds that I invited a few of my closest friends over for the evening and tomorrow morning." She opened the doors, and in came Morty, Darius, Aurelius, and Mr. Fenrir. Snape wasn't there, but Harry had a strong feeling that he was outside, talking to Teiresias. Being inquisitive, he looked out the window to see if he was correct…and he was. Looking at the little boy, sitting there talking to the Potions Master, Harry could really see the resemblance between the two. It was unnerving, but somehow not a surprise.

"Well, Merry Christmas, everyone!" Morty shouted. "How's everything been lately?"

"Oh, just fine," Harry said. "Lydia was nice enough to let us stay here for the time being." He looked at Aurelius and noticed that the man was walking out of the Lair and into the street. "Hold on, Aurelius! What are you doing?"

"I've had my name cleared," Aurelius said merrily. "Isn't it great? I even got a sum of money from the Ministry of Magic for apologies. This is a very Merry Christmas indeed!"

"I can believe it," Ron said, looking at Aurelius curiously. He then made sure to hand Harry a card. "Here, Harry; I think this one is from Teiresias."

Teiresias looked up from outside and peered through the window. "I heard my name. What has been said? Somebody needs to tell me." He looked a bit annoyed with everyone for talking about him while he wasn't there, but curious nonetheless.

"All I said was that this present was from you, honest," said Ron. "There's no need to pitch a fit or anything, little guy."

Teiresias rolled his eyes and stomped off after being called a "little guy." Apparently, he didn't enjoy the joke. He picked up Faust and stomped up to his room. "I think I'll open my presents later."

Harry looked to see what type of card Teiresias had given him. As he opened the envelope, he could see a black card with thin, pale green stripes on it. Etched on the top was 'Nezura's Curiosity' and there was the Occasion Alley address. It was a gift card worth ten Galleons, a rather nice present. Had the ten-year-old still been in the room, Harry would have thanked him. However, Teiresias was upstairs and probably refused to come down. Faust was still on the first floor with everyone else, so Harry got an epiphany. He wrote Teiresias a note and tied it around the kitten's leg. "Okay, Faust; go back to Teiresias and tell him that I enjoyed my present." Faust nuzzled against Harry's shoulder for a minute, and then began to jump from step-to-step until he made it to the second floor.

"Cute cat," Aurelius said, taking a sip of eggnog. "It's kind of hard to view this as Christmas 1996…it's just so difficult for me to accept the fact that I've become old."

"Watch it," Darius said with a mock-warning tone in his voice. He then let out a rather girlish laugh and said, "Okay, I'm ready to open something. Please, someone; hand me a present to rip open with my newly-manicured fingernails!"

"Darius, you need to calm down," Snape said in a monotone voice. "You'll open something eventually and your impatience will only make matters worse."

Darius was ecstatic as Hermione handed him a gift. "Is this from you?" he asked. When she nodded to indicate that it was from her, Darius gave Hermione a friendly hug. "You're so sweet, and here I was thinking you thought I was some sort of freak and didn't like me!"

"Fancy that," added Snape. He was looking up at the staircase. "Is there any chance that your son will be joining us again, Lydia?"

"I'm not sure," Lydia said, shrugging her shoulders. "He's just been sort of moody lately. I know that he'll grow out of that stage in time, but it's about to drive me berserk." She looked around at everyone and said, "I know, I said I don't cook, but I lied. I tried making Christmas cookies, and I was wondering if any of you are brave enough to try one." Aurelius raised his hand eagerly and took a bite of the cookie. After he admitted that he found it tasty, Lydia looked rather cheery. "See? I guess I'm not that bad. Morty, I'm begging you, please try one."

Morty took a bite of one and made a funny face. "It's not that much of an accomplishment to hear Aurelius tell you it was good food. Next to what they serve in Azkaban, even Hagrid's treacle fudge looks like something made in Heaven." Darius and Aurelius laughed along a bit, and even Snape made a motion to laugh just a little until he realized that Harry was watching. "Don't get me wrong; I like Hagrid, but I just don't think he's a good cook."

"I remember when you tried cooking, Morty," Darius teased. "You were horrible too, so you have no room to talk about Lydia being a bad cook."

"Thank you, Darius," Lydia said, folding her arms and sitting next to Mr. Fenrir.

"However, I have room to complain," Darius added. "I've been cooking for millennia, and I probably know how to fix more recipes than any other man or woman alive. Each and every one of you—except you three students—has tasted my stuff." He stood proudly and said, "Admit it; all of you know for a fact that I'm quite a chef."

"Well, yes, but still…" Morty said. "I also recall you telling us that Sargon wouldn't eat anything but your cooking. It's not good to have it where people hate your food, but it's also not good to have it where people become addicted to your food." Darius looked around the room and then opened his present from Hermione. "Okay, Darius; what did Hermione get you?"

"Oh my stars," Darius said, squealing with delight. He made such a show of opening his present that he had reminded Harry of a vulture tearing up an animal carcass "My dear Granger, you are such a doll!" He hugged Hermione again and said, "How did you know that I love chocolate?" Harry looked down to see Hermione had bought a box of chocolates for Darius. "Well, Merry Christmas to you too!" He handed Hermione a small box, which she opened to discover a box of Mood Drops. "Mrs. Lorelei Siren informed me that you liked these, so I made sure to get these for you, Weasley, and Harry—"

Mr. Fenrir covered up Darius's mouth with one of his large, sinewy hands. "You're not supposed to tell people what you got them. As ancient as you are, my friend, I'd have thought you'd know that by now." Darius nodded, and sat back down, engulfed with his chocolates. Mr. Fenrir turned toward Snape and said, "After hearing about certain events, Severus, I thought that this might come in handy." He handed over a present wrapped in black paper with Slytherin ribbons.

Snape pulled back the ribbon and then snapped off the tape in the corners, instead of making a mess like Darius had done. There was a rectangle of black paper and a tidy ribbon in the corner, and in Snape's lap was a book bound in green leather. "Is this the one that I requested?" he asked.

"Yes," Mr. Fenrir said, a smirk on his wily face. "That's the one that had the instructions on how to stop a doppelganger. You asked about it, so it was rather easy to have it preordered for a good friend." Snape didn't say much, but he did give Mr. Fenrir a look that was about as friendly as he could possibly make. Mr. Fenrir then handed Morty a present. "This one's for you, from Aurelius."

"Oh no," Morty said teasingly. "I wonder what kind of booby trap he gave me this time!" He managed to somehow get the paper off in one swift move. "Oh, Aurelius? How did you know that I needed another voodoo kit for my class?"

"How could I not know?" Aurelius asked, laughing. "You'd been mentioning that you were low on voodoo ingredients for nearly a month. I just got some of my hush money from the Ministry, and decided to spend a bit on your voodoo stuff."

"Morty, here's another one for you, from me!" Lydia said, smiling cheerily.

"Whatever could it be?" Morty asked, opening the box to uncover a leather jacket identical to the brown one he wore everywhere, only this one was black. "Thanks, Lydia."

"You were about to wear your other one out, so I thought this was a good idea," said Lydia.

"Aurelius, this one is from all of us," Snape said, handing a black box over to Aurelius.

"Is it going to bite me when I open it?" Aurelius jeered jokingly as he removed the ribbon. "This really is something I needed to get!" He held up his new gift so Harry and the others could see what everybody had gotten him…a new wand. "Now I can cause all sorts of damage!" He rushed out of the room, looking very happy with himself for regaining his wand-magical powers.

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The rest of the Christmas presents went along those same lines, and then everyone was asked to report to the dining room for lunch. "Everyone, I'd like to inform you that I roasted this delicious bird all by myself," Lydia said, looking quite pleased with herself over the turkey.

"We're all just so proud," Snape said sarcastically. Suddenly, the doorbell rang again. Snape reluctantly got up to see who was there. "Lydia, no! Please tell me you didn't invite those weirdoes over here!"

"Who is it?" Teiresias asked, Faust still on his lap.

"It's the Quirrells," Snape said, sounding very disgusted. He opened the door and said, "Go home; we don't want you here."

"But Lydia invited—"

"Talus, I don't want to hear it," Snape snarled. "I'm warning you. Go home." He pulled out his wand to make his point. "I'm not joking with you people; I want you off Von Dorian territory."

Stanzi pulled out her wand as well. "We were invited over here, and we're welcome here just as much as you are!" She grabbed "Juno" by the wrist and dragged her in.

Cecil just merrily tagged along behind them, wearing a red Father Christmas hat. He took one look at the festive lingerie that Lydia was wearing and said, "I've got three words for you, Ms. Von Dorian. Ho…ho…ho."

Lydia wasn't very thrilled by that comment, so she decided to change into a formal dress. She looked pristine and orderly, and very much appealing. "I can see one reason why Cassandra wouldn't want to stay in this house," Hermione said, "perhaps her mother intimidated her."

"Yeah, I can see that," Ron said, "she was never as sexy as her mum, so maybe that spawned a bit of jealousy between mother and daughter. If Cassandra had looked more like a Von Dorian than a Snape, I'm sure that more than half the guys at school would have been after her." He sighed and added, "that poor girl. She got all the bad traits."

Teiresias went up to Cecil and said, "Look; what you said to my mum wasn't very nice."

Cecil sneered, "It wasn't nice, but it was true. Your mum looks like a hooker." Teiresias lunged at Cecil angrily, trying to defend his mother's good reputation as a great member of the Hogsmeade community. At the last moment, Cecil dodged Teiresias's attack, making the poor boy run face-first into the wall. "Sheesh…you're clumsy."

Snape turned toward Lethe. "You and Talus both need to discipline that brat of yours."

"It's not Cecil's fault that he's superior to Teiresias," Juno sneered. "Your nephew just doesn't seem very coordinated. Smart, maybe, but I think he's going to lack in everything else." She pulled out her wand and said, "Okay, Severus; want to Duel me?"

"I'd be glad to ruin that calm face you're wearing," Snape said, getting ready.

"Hold on!" Lydia shouted. "We're going to eat first! Besides, I've got a spot cleared in the garden for Dueling; the house was just cleaned by Mopsy earlier this week. I don't want it ruined!" She sat down at the head of the table and groaned. "You better not ruin my Christmas."

"We weren't going to," Darius said, beginning to take a bit of the shrimp cocktail. Aurelius and Mr. Fenrir had begun fixing plates, but it looked as if Morty and the others were waiting for Lethe and Snape to sit down to start eating. "Lydia, did you make the cranberry sauce too?"

"Yes," Lydia said, smiling. "I looked up the recipe in Magical Chef Magazine."

"That's a big turkey," Morty declared, pointing to the gargantuan roasted bird. "You'll be eating turkey leftovers for over a month!"

"No, I won't," Lydia said, smiling. "Teiresias and the cats will be eating the turkey. I'll be able to treat myself to a T-bone steak soon, since I'm visiting my cousin Esmeralda in New York City for the New Year's Celebration."

"I'm not going, Mum?" Teiresias asked, sounding a bit worried. Cecil laughed at him.

"I'm sorry, sweetheart," Lydia said, "but I think you'd be better off at home than in New York. Aurelius will be staying over here to keep an eye on you."

"Oh, that's brilliant," Cecil said mockingly. "You're leaving your son with an ex-convict."

"I just so happen to trust Aurelius," Lydia said icily to the boy. "He was innocent anyway."

Everyone began eating the food that Lydia had prepared with the house elves. Hermione only ate the stuff Lydia had admitted to fixing by herself. Ron ate almost everything and found it all good. Harry soon became addicted to the cranberry sauce, but—unfortunately for him—so did Darius. Cecil and Teiresias would not stop insulting each other at the table until Lydia ordered them to eat with the house elves. Even then, everyone could still hear the two boys shouting angrily at one another. "That sounds a bit familiar," Ron said, elbowing Harry.

"What are you talking about, Ron?" Harry asked.

"You don't get it, do you?" asked Ron. "Those two sound like you and Malfoy."

"Poor Teiresias," Harry said. "I actually like him."

"I feel more sorry for Cecil," Hermione said, "that poor boy's been through so much."

"And you think Teiresias hasn't?" Ron snapped back. "His sister just got thrown in prison."

"And Cecil has been dead for quite some time," Hermione snarled in reply.

Ron and Hermione began to argue about which child was the more pitiful, so Harry made conversation with Morty instead. The lunch seemed to take forever-and-a-day to end, but it eventually did. "So…" Harry said to Ron and Hermione. "Are we heading back to Hogwarts, or are we spending the New Year's Celebration in Hogsmeade as well?"

"You can stay if you want to, Harry," Hermione said, "but I think Ron and I are going to return to Hogwarts."

"We'll just tell anyone that asks that you're spending Christmas with Ahsimal," added Ron.

"No!" Harry said. "Don't do that!" Darius, Aurelius, Mr. Fenrir, and Morty were all laughing. "People will think I'm his new boyfriend, or something along those lines!"

"Okay, then we'll say you spent it with Skylarke," Hermione suggested. "Professor Skylarke, is that alright with you?"

"Oh, that would be fine," Morty said, looking at the voodoo kit Aurelius had gotten him.

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And so it was set…Ron and Hermione returned to Hogwarts to spend the rest of the winter break, but Harry had wanted to stay in Hogsmeade a bit longer. "Lydia, is there any chance I could stay in the Lair for a while?"

"I'm sorry, Harry," Lydia said politely, "but my cousin Leonard has already booked an airplane ticket for me so I can meet up with Esmeralda for New Year's. All the Von Dorians that are eighteen and older are heading over to New York City! Isn't that nice?"

"Er…yeah," Harry said, disappointed. "So where am I supposed to stay in Hogsmeade?"

"I'm sure one of my friends would be more than glad to take you in until the day before school gets back in session," Lydia offered. "Morty doesn't have a home in Hogsmeade—I think he lives somewhere around Greenwich—and neither does Lycaon or Darius. Aurelius doesn't have a home, period, and I'm pretty sure my ex-brother-in-law is on bad terms with you."

"He is," Harry said. "We've been on bad terms since before I was born."

"It's not your fault that your father was on bad terms with Severus," Lydia said, giving Harry a hug. "I'll always be there for you, just in case you need me."

"Why?" Harry asked. "We don't have any ties in any way."

"I was one of your mother's best friends in my school days," Lydia replied seriously, "and also, you're one of the few people Cassandra actually respects. She never respected her father, but she really admires you and each time I go visit her in Azkaban, she asks about you, Ron, Hermione, and a couple of other people."

"So you're offering to be a semi-motherly figure?" Harry asked, a bit confused.

Lydia pulled out her camera and took a picture of Harry. "That is, if you want me to. If not, I'll just be an older lady-friend you can talk to if you ever have any trouble with the opposite gender. Who'd know more about flirtatious females than me? I used to model lingerie at one point, you know."

"No," Harry said, "I didn't know that."

"It was Lily's idea," Lydia said. "She used to do my makeup when we were at Hogwarts, and suggested that I might take up modeling as a career. Honestly, Harry, your mother was such a wonderful person. I could always feel a lot better after talking to her." She patted Harry on the shoulder and said, "In all truth, I just wish my son could have been more like you. He seems to have a grudge with about everything that lives, or so it appears in this house. At one time, he used to confide in me. Now he only seems interested in writing Cassandra and his couple of pen pals in Salem, and talking to his uncle Severus or Faust. You really did him a favor, getting him the cat."

"Well, I wish you a happy New Year in New York City, Lydia," Harry said. "Have a fun time, okay?"

"Oh, you know I will!" Lydia said, hopping on a broomstick. "Well, ciao for now, Harry!"

"Where am I supposed to go? You kicked me out of the Lair for the time being!"

"Lycaon's sister runs the Black Annis. I'm sure that Celeste Fenrir will find a room for you." Lydia waved, and continued to do so until she appeared to be nothing more than a black speck in the sky. But, in time, even the black speck managed to vanish into nothingness.

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Hi everyone, it's Professor Skylarke. I wanted to say a huge thank you to everyone who has reviewed. I really do appreciate every review I get. I still don't quite understand why I don't have more reviews, but I guess I'll keep hoping! I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Oh, and don't worry, Cassandra is going to come back...it's coming. Thank you again and don't forget to send me a review!

Yours, Professor Skylarke