A day had passed since then and it was now Christmas Eve, leaving Mrs Weasley bustling about everywhere to organise everything before everyone came that night.

Haidee had been the most help even with her trembling hands, as she usually was, helping Mrs Weasley in the kitchen once again, however, this time alone, as Mrs Weasley had some errands to run before that night. She watched as Fred, George, Ron and Harry pulled up carrots for Haidee to peel for Christmas dinner the following day, laughing as Fred got bitten on the ankle by a cheeky garden gnome, who had not known what he had gotten himself into.

Fred, with a displeased expression, stupified the garden gnome and brought him inside, the rest of the boys following, disregarding their previous duties.

"What are you gonna do with him, Fred?" Ron asked, looking excited for whatever outcome Fred had in mind.

"How long do you think it will take Mum to notice she has a new angel on top of the Christmas tree?" Fred grinned, painting the stupified gnome gold with magic and stuffing him in a small tutu.

"You need wings if he's gonna be an angel," said George, finding something that looked similar to miniature wings and glued them on. Haidee watched them, stifling laughs as Fred reached up and replaced the angel that sat on top of the Christmas tree with the gnome.

"That is the ugliest angel I have ever seen," laughed Harry, looking at its bald head and hairy feet.

"Even so," Haidee said, looking at the gnome from a distance as she was in the kitchen, "it's hard to tell. I don't think anyone will notice if I am being honest," she laughed.

Once she was done, which was fairly quick as she used magic for the majority of it, she wandered upstairs where she had watched Fred ascend after replacing the angel with the gnome. She crept into their room, expecting him to be there, but the room was completely empty, not even George was there. In fact, the house seemed a bit more quiet than usual. Maybe it was because she was consumed in her thoughts while she was cooking that she hadn't noticed anyone around the house, but it was odd that she hadn't seen Fred, George, Harry, Ron, Ginny or Mrs Weasley barely at all that day. She knew that Remus, Bill and his new fiancé Fleur would be arriving that night.

Mrs Weasley had spoken about Fleur in not the prettiest of ways. Often she would find her comparing Haidee and Fleur as partners for her sons, in which Mrs Weasley was always sure to raise Haidee upon a pedestal. Fred thought this was amusing, constantly joking that he had the better partner and Haidee would laugh and nod along, not wanting to disrespect Mrs Weasley's opinion, especially when it was positive about herself, but Haidee couldn't help but feel uncomfortable.

She did not know Fleur very well, however, she remembered her from years ago when the Triwizard Tournament was held at Hogwarts as she was one of the champions. Haidee did not have much of an opinion on the lady, considering her lack of knowledge, but she could hardly imagine Bill, who she liked very much, to fall for someone as horrible as Mrs Weasley described.

Haidee, after searching the floors above the ground floor and seeing no one, decided to head back down to the kitchen in hopes that someone had entered in the time she had left.

"Aaah, George, look at this. They're using knives and everything, bless them," she heard the voice of Fred say from the kitchen as she descended.

"I'll be seventeen in two and a bit months' time," said Ron grumpily, "and then I'll be able to do it with magic." Haidee peered from the staircase to see Ron and Harry peeling mountains of sprouts in the kitchen that had not been there when Haidee had left.

"But meanwhile," said George, sitting down at the kitchen table and putting his feet on it, "we can enjoy watching you demonstrate the correct use if a - whoops-a-daisy."

"You made me do that!" said Ron angrily, sucking on his cut thumb.

"Oh, George," Haidee huffed and from her hidden spot on the stairs, she flicked her wand and healed Ron's injury, revealing herself the stairs.

"Thank her," said Fred quickly with a cheeky smirk.

"I was going to thank her before you told me to!" Ron huffed, although thankful for what she did for him, he did not like having been told to be thankful. "Thank you," mumbled Ron angrily before turning back to his brothers. "You wait, when I'm seventeen-"

"I'm sure you'll dazzle us all with hitherto unsuspected magical skills," yawned Fred.

"And speaking of hitherto unsuspected skills, Ronald," said George, "what is this we hear from Ginny about you and a young lady called - unless our information is faulty - Lavander Brown?"

"Oh!" Haidee said excitedly. "Ginny never told me. Actually, I haven't seen her recently," she admitted before moving to Fred and George who sat at the kitchen table, and Fred guided her to sit on his lap.

"Mind your own business." Ron turned a little pink, but did not look displeased as he turned back to his sprouts

"What a snappy retort," said Fred. "I really don't know how you think of them. No, what we want to know was . . . how did it happen?"

"What do you mean?"

"Did she have an accident or something?"

"What?"

"Well, how else did she sustain such extensive brain damage. Careful, now!" Mrs Weasley entered the room just in time to see Ron throw a knife at Fred, who turned it into a paper aeroplane with some lazy flick of his wrist. "I'm currently holding precious cargo," he added, pecking Haidee's cheek.

"Ron!" shouted Mrs Weasley. "Don't you ever let me see you throwing knives again!"

Ron muttered something under his breath which Haidee couldn't hear.

"Fred, George, Haidee, I'm sorry, dears, but Remus is arriving tonight, so Bill will have to squeeze in with Fred and George. Haidee if you could move into Ginny's room with her."

"Yes, of course," replied Haidee, although she heard Fred huff.

"Then, as Charlie isn't coming home, that leaves Harry and Ron in the attic, and if Fleur shares with Haidee and Ginny-"

"- that'll make Ginny's Christmas," muttered Fred.

"- everyone should be comfortable. Well, they'll have a bed, anyway," said Mrs Weasley, sounding slightly harassed.

"Percy definitely not showing his ugly face, then?" asked Fred.

"No, he's busy, I expect, with the Ministry," replied Mrs Weasley, turning away before she answered.

"Or he's the world's biggest prat," said Fred as Mrs Weasley left the kitchen. "One of the two. Well, let's get going then."

"What are you up to?" asked Ron as Haidee stood from Fred's lap. "Can't you help us with these sprouts? You could just use your wand and then we'll be free, too."

"No, I don't think we can do that," said Fred seriously. "It's very character-building stuff, learning to peel sprouts without magic, makes you appreciate how difficult it is for Muggles and Squibs -"

"- and if you want people to help you, Ron," added George, throwing the paper aeroplane at him, "I wouldn't chuck knives at them. Just a little hint. We're off to the village, there's a pretty girl working in a paper shop who thinks my card tricks are something marvellous. . . almost like real magic . . . "

With that, Fred took Haidee's hand and led her across the yard, which was now filled with snow. Haidee, from behind her back, twirled her wand and she heard small cheers coming from the kitchens, as the sprouts started to peel themselves.

Later that night, after watching George flirt with a pretty girl and strolling around the cold streets, eating ice cream in such inappropriate weather with Fred, they returned to find that the others had arrived.

Haidee, who was wrapped in her moss-like shawl, was very excited to see the full house when she arrived. Entering the house, Fred took off her shawl for her and she thanked him, immediately moving to Lupin and greeting him with a smile and a chat. She asked him how he had been and how the Wolfsbane-sweets had been working.

"There are more werewolves against Greyback thanks to your sweets, but unfortunately it is still not many. Not enough to make an impact, I'm afraid. The majority still sides with Greyback," Lupin explained and Haidee sighed.

"We can only do what we can, can't we?" Haidee muttered as Lupin nodded before she felt two presence coming to her side.

"Haidee," said Bill, causing Haidee to turn from Lupin to Bill who was standing beside her with his fiancé, Fleur, who looked as radiant as ever. "Nice to see you again. This is my fiancé, Fleur," he introduced and Haidee smiled.

"'Ello. Oui, I do remember you! With ze eyes," she said enthusiastically, without an air of redness.

Haidee smiled, understanding that her eyes would be the main contributor to her being remembered. "Ah, yes, my eyes. It's nice to meet you," Haidee replied, extending her hand in greeting.

"Yes, it iz - oh! You are trembling! Are you cold?" Suddenly, everyone stopped to listen to their conversation, the only noise was the music playing in the background. Haidee was a bit taken back by the question, quickly retreating her quivering hand as she stared up at Fleur.

"Oh, um-"

"Yes, yes she's cold. Come along, dear, you can warm up by the fire." Mrs Weasley swooped in and led Haidee, who was still a bit stunned by the reaction, towards the fire. She had adapted to her quivering so well, she almost forgot that it was there and normally when others addressed it, they knew the source. Never before had she had to think about, during a conversation, how she received the shivers, which took her mind to a dark place.

Mrs Weasley sat Haidee down by the fire, rubbing her arms comfortingly. "Thank you, Mrs Weasley. I- ugh I'm fine."

"Yes, I know," she smiled towards her, comforting Haidee before leaving her to herself, sitting by the fire. Fred joined her soon, picking her up and placing her on his lap.

"Bill's asked her not to talk about it," said Fred and Haidee nodded.

"It's all right, really. I would be curious, too-"

"You would be too polite to say anything," Fred smirked.

"Yes, but I would still be intrigued," inforced Haidee, turning to Fred as she sat on his lap with a little smile.

He pecked her lips, his arms wrapping around her as he pulled her closer. She nestled her head between the crook of Fred's neck. Fred's fingers traced lines around Haidee as she rested on his, sometimes she would feel spontaneous kisses every now and then.

She looked up at him and smiled. "I love you," she whispered in the moment and Fred smiled, placing a kiss on her lips.

"Not as much as I love you," Fred reminded and Haidee chuckled.

"Agree to disagree," she replied as Fred pushed a strand of hair behind her ear. They continued to kiss, sitting in the corner of the room by the fire, waiting for dinner to be called when she heard her name.

"Ask Haidee, she's brilliant with potions, as you know," said Lupin's voice.

"Ah, I think she's busy," replied Harry.

"Yes, she is," said Fred loudly, grovelling at Haidee as she lifted herself from his lap. "Hey! Come back!"

Haidee blushed furiously as she swiped Fred's hands away from her, strolling over to where Lupin and Harry sat.

"Sorry," she replied, chuckling awkwardly, looking up to meet Lupin's eyes as he smiled. "How can I help?"

"The Half-Blood Prince. Have you ever heard of him?" Harry asked but Haidee's immediate reaction of furrowing her eyebrows dishearted him.

"No, I haven't," she replied honestly. "Where did you hear about him?"

"He's the owner of my potions book," he replied and Haidee nodded. "He had all these annotations in there. He's just, really making my potions life so much easier. I was hoping you'd know who it was."

"Oh, I annotate my books, too," she said as if it were a quirky little fact, which Harry did not find helpful. "Why don't you check the date of the book, maybe it will give you some clue as to when this Prince was at Hogwarts."

It was dusk when dinner was ready and night before everyone had finished. It was a gargantuan meal, put together by Mrs Weasley that everyone enjoyed thoroughly and the dessert was a banquet of sweets made by Haidee. By the end of the night, even the thought of eating another bite made everyone sick.

After dinner, she had started to notice some odd behaviours coming from the guests. Mrs Weasley would not let her help clear the dinner table and instead, suggested that she went upstairs to relax. After insisting that she helped, Ron came over to chat to her, and although she was more than happy to chat with Ron, the two of them never had the type of relationship where they had fulfilling and long conversations so she wondered why that Christmas Eve night would be the perfect time for them to start.

As he spoke, he seemed to be backing towards the stairs, and as Haidee watched him uncertainly, he gestured for her to follow. It had become clear, particularly through Ron's odd actions and the account that Ginny, Fred and George had suspiciously disappeared, that something was up.

"What's going on?" she asked Ron, who was now quite a distance away from her, standing at the foot of the stairs. She had not followed him as he retreated.

"Nothing. Why don't I show you the potions book?" Harry suggested, coming in from behind Haidee and walking to Ron, who's flustered expression seemed to relax as Harry arrived. "You could see if your annotations match the Half-Blood Princes?"

"Oh," said Haidee, looking over her shoulder for Fred, who was nowhere to be seen. "Sure."

Following them upstairs, she retrieved her potions book (which she had brought with her in case she needed a distraction from her thoughts) and sat down in the attic with Ron and Harry, comparing notes.

"Wow, you really are good at potions," said Harry. "You guys almost have the exact same notes." Harry looked between Haidee's book and the Half-Blood Prince's, page by page, comparing them. "How did you know to do this?"

"I don't know," replied Haidee, shrugging. "I've, um . . . always been good at potions so sometimes I just trust my instincts and other times the instructions just don't make sense. For example, see here, page ten. Draught of Living Death. You need to get as much juice from the Sopophorous Bean as possible, so it's only logical to crush it with the flat side of your knife as it releases more juice than cutting it." Haidee looked at her notes and then to the Half-Blood Princes. "See, he says it right here."

"Incredible," Ron gasped, taking down notes. "Can I borrow your book? Just to take down some notes."

"Yes, of course," she said, handing him her book. "While we're here we can look for that date."

"What date?"

"The date of the book. See when it was made," she replied and Harry nodded, flicking through the pages. "It's fifty years old." Harry looked disappointed, she did not know why, but she nodded sympathetically.

"Well, even if that is not what you wanted to hear, it does not mean the annotation are necessarily that old. See, you have this book in your possession and could just as well have written those notes. The annotations could have been made any time between fifty years ago and now," Haidee explained, which for some reason, lightened Harry's expression.

"Yeah," he nodded, "you're right."

Then a very strange noise was heard from outside, catching all of their attention.

"The cue," Ron whispered, earning a smack from Harry. "Oh, right."

"We should go down now," said Harry awkwardly, packing up his things and heading out of the attic. Ron handed Haidee her potions book, looking disappointed he was not able to get as many notes as he wanted.

"Keep it, for now," she replied. "I'll take it back before I leave."

"You're the best, Haidee," Ron grinned, holding the book to his chest as if it were dear to him.

"Yes," she laughed, "you have mentioned." The two of them followed Harry out of the attic and all the way downstairs.

The ground floor was completely empty of people. No one was there and silence filled the surrounding areas. The lights had been turned off, leaving the room shockingly dark, the only light was the gleam of the moonlight peering through the windows.

Ron and Harry and descended the stairs before her, and by the time she had also reached the bottom of the stairs, they were gone.