AN: This chapter ends very abruptly because I lost motivation. Any constructive criticism is always welcome.

Wonder

Before I know it, it's Samhain (Halloween) night. The Great Hall is filled with floating candles and other festive decorations. Classes continued normally despite the decorations all over the castle. Only Professor Prewett seems to even realize it's a holiday. But that doesn't matter because now it's time for the Feast. I can feel my mouth watering just thinking of it. I walk side by side with Theo and Blaise to the great Hall. We've only grown closer since the incident on our first night, and Hermione stayed friends with me even though I'm a Slytherin. The four of us have made a habit of sitting in a nook in the back of the library to study and do our homework. This is probably the happiest I've ever been, even with the constant miscommunications and the time away from my brother.

Of course, it has to be ruined sometime. After the feast, I find Steve waiting for me outside the Great Hall. I take the letter from him before running to catch up with Blaise and Theo.

"Where'd you go my fair lady?" Blaise inquires with his usual dramatics.

"I was just retrieving a letter from my noble owl, sir knight." I respond in turn.

"Who's it from?" Theo asks curiously. I glance at the front of the letter, immediately recognizing the handwriting I reply,

"My parents, probably asking about when winter break is." Oh, how wrong I was. We quickly make our way down to the dungeons and into my room. I open the letter with a smile, only for it to fall once I read the letter.

"What's wrong?" Blaise immediately asks when he sees my frown.

"My parents don't want me to come home for Christmas." I mutter.

"Oh, that's okay. You and Shawn will have a lot of fun in the castle," Blaise says to try to cheer me up.

"No," I say stronger than before, "Shawn is still going home. They just don't want me to come."

"Oh," Blaise looks down, "Well, Theo and I were planning on staying here anyway so we'll keep you company!" I mutter my thanks before asking them to leave the room. They look concerned but leave without talking. I let out a sigh once they leave.

"I guess it's just you and me, Cosmo." I stroke his back while he continues his evening nap undisturbed. Ever since the incident from last year, they've grown more distant from me. Even more so since I went to Hogwarts. I know they're drifting away but I don't know how to stop it. These thoughts continue to float around in my head as I drift into a restless sleep.

The break passes by quickly with snowball fights and exploring the halls occupying our time. In no time Blaise and Theo are jumping on my bed yelling that its Christmas morning.

"C'mon! We gotta open presents!" Theo pulls the blanket off me while saying this.

"Then go open presents," I tiredly reply.

"We can't without you, my liege!" Blaise protests, pushing me off the bed in the process.

"Fine!" I grumble, wrapping myself in a blanket before stomping out to the common room where our presents lie. None of the other Slytherins who stayed are up yet, not that there are that many to be up in the first place. Blaise races past Theo and I to jump on our favorite couch.

"Tiggy," Blaise starts cheerily to the apparent joy of the house elf, "Can you bring us some hot chocolate?"

"Of course, Master Blaise," The house elf snaps his fingers, and our drinks appear on the table. "Anything else?"

"No thank you, Tiggy," Theo responds while Blaise sips his hot chocolate.

"Happy Christmas!" I say before Tiggy can leave; he beams at me before disappearing with a quiet 'pop'. "Now, who's first?"

"We have to open presents from each other first!" Blaise insists with Theo's approval. "Here!" He grabs a package off the top of my small pile of presents. I assume it's from him based on the anticipatory look on his face.

"What is it?" I ask while unwrapping it.

"Finish opening it and you'll find out," Blaise responds impatiently.

"Okay, okay!" I laugh. I look it over once it's unwrapped to find it's some kind of potion. I read the label, "Sleekeazy's?"

"It's like a hair gel but better," Blaise grins at my unimpressed expression. "I thought you would appreciate something to tame those wild curls of yours! Us Slytherins have to look good!"

"My hair is perfectly fine!" I laugh despite myself, "But I guess I'll use it since you obviously put so much thought into it." I put it to the side before Theo passes me his present. "Hopefully, yours will be more impressive," I joke, ignoring Blaise's indignant noises.

"Mine is practical and thoughtful! What more could you want?" Blaise objects to Theo's snickers. I carefully unwrap Theo's gift to find it's a book. A book I already have?

"Uh, Theo? You do realize I already have this?" I show him the copy of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, only to find him smirking.

"Open it." He says confidently. I do as he says to find a note signed by… Newt Scamander?!

"You got The Newt Scamander to write me a note?!" I shriek.

"Yup," He says smugly, "Much better than Blaise's gift, right?"

"Hey!" Blaise objects only to gain a resigned look, "Wait, no. His is better."

"I still love your gift too," I reassure Blaise when I see his dejected expression. He immediately brightens again to Theo's amusement. Blaise then turns to Theo, "Now it's your turn."

"Bring it." Theo says it like a challenge that Blaise is only too happy to accept. I hand him my present before Blaise can which earns me a pout. Theo carefully unwraps it to find a silver snake-shaped bookmark, "It's-"

"I know it's probably less than what you were expecting, but I don't have that big of an allowance so I got something I thought you would enjoy and-" I interrupt Theo only to be interrupted myself.

"I was going to it's perfect," Theo beams at me, "This is the first gift I've gotten that actually means something to me." I hug him before I can psych myself out before Blaise ruins the moment with his cry of,

"My turn!" He shoves a small package into Theo's hands as soon as we part. Blaise is practically vibrating as he waits for Theo's reaction.

"No way!" Theo suddenly shouts, "Tickets to a Tornados game!"

"You bet! And there are three so you can bring us with you instead of your tosser family!" Blaise smirks at Theo's gob smacked expression.

"You definitely beat my gift, but I don't care if I get to go to a professional Quidditch game!" I laugh with Blaise. "Speaking of Quidditch fans, it's your turn Blaise."

"Hell yeah!" Blaise grabs the first present off his pile-which is larger than mine-without letting Theo or I hand it to him. He rips the paper off before seeing the small black box. He looks up at us questioningly to both of us shrugging at him. He opens it to find a small necklace with a falcon charm. See, most people know Blaise loves anything to do with flying, but what most don't know is that his obsession includes birds. He immediately puts it on before studying our blank faces. "Which one of you gave this to me?"

"Guess." Theo and I say in unison, barely cracking a smile at each other.

"Hmm," Blaise puts on his 'thinking face', "It's a small, inexpensive, yet personal gift. I'm gonna go with Aria."
"Dang, you've got me." I say dryly only to be tackled by Blaise.

"Thank you," He mutters in my ear.

"You're welcome, "I slowly hug him back before he pulls away with a smile still spread across his face. I turn to smirk at Theo. "Beat that Theo."

He just sticks his tongue out at me before tossing his gift to Blaise. Blaise rips the wrapping off like he did with my present. Inside is an autographed picture of the Tornados current team, where is he getting all these autographs from?

"Great minds think alike!" Blaise laughs at Theo's present. We quickly go through the rest of our presents with the boys getting much more than I did. My only other presents were a t-shirt from Shawn reading 'My little brother is smarter than you', which makes me laugh harder than I'll ever admit to him, and a book about advanced Transfiguration from Hermione, suspiciously similar to the book I got her. I wait for Blaise and Theo to finish opening their insanely large piles of presents before getting their attention.

"Who's ready to go exploring?" I ask with a smirk. I'm answered by Blaise pulling me to my feet and Theo hurriedly calling Tiggy to put our presents away. I laugh at their excitement as Blaise drags me out of Slytherin house before abruptly stopping. "Did you just realize you don't know where to start?"

"No," Blaise immediately responds, "I'm just taking in my surroundings."

"Mhm," I nod. "Then I guess you won't mind if I show you something the Weasley twins told me about?"

"No, I suppose not." Blaise keeps up his 'I know what I'm doing' act while saying this.

"Lead the way." Theo holds his arm out as if to say, 'ladies first'.

"They told me about a secret passage they use to get to potions quicker." I start down the hallway to our left in the direction of Snape's classroom. I don't tell them that the twins saw me get attacked by some upper year Slytherins on the third floor and helped heal me before showing me this passageway. "It has many exits, including one on the third floor right by the Defense classroom." As we near the potions classroom, I slow down to examine the stones.

"Well?" Blaise asks impatiently.

"Gimme a second," I mutter still looking at the stones before I find what I'm looking for. "Aha!" I press the tip of my wand into the groove in the stone before whispering the incantation the twins taught me. "Believe me now?"

"Yeah, yeah," Blaise mutters to Theo's snicker, "You were right." He walks ahead of me into the narrow hallway, quickly followed by Theo and I.