Author's Rant-Disclaimer? First chapter please.

A heartfelt thank you to all those who took their time to review my story. This chapter holds the result of the previous poll-

Question- Should Harry kiss a girl older than him in his first year? No pressure from his side, the girl asked for it.

Result-

1. If its on her cheek- 11 votes.

2. Not a French kiss but a normal lip lock is okay- 18 votes.

3. Yes, a sizzling hot one- 56 votes.

4. Definitely no- 10 votes.

Total- 95 Unique Votes.

So, please don't blame and sprout nonsense about my mentality...its just what my readers had voted and so I wrote it.

As of now, the poll on my profile is officially closed and the results are visible...so don't send angry PMs. Thank You.

Omakes are still open. Anyone who wants to publish an omake can write it and PM me or email me at devsagi/./black/ (the symbol vanishes on ff site but it's 'at the rate')/gmail/./com (remove the slashes '/')

Author Out!

"I am Talking."

'I am Thinking'

Spells

Previously in SotW-

Hannah smiled as Susan jumped from her bed and hugged the life out of her in the legendary 'Susan Bones' bone crushing hug' "You are the best Hun! I don't know what I would have done without you! Thank You thank You! Thank you soooo much!" The redhead said and giggled as Hannah patted her back praying to any god that was listening to make her fabricated tale come true.

But fate had fabricated other plans….

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

One can never reason with their hearts...

~ R-Kade

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Silence of the Winters

-by Dev Sagittarius Black

~~Chapter 19: A date to remember~~

Juliana woke up to the new day, it was one of the days that she had been anticipating for quite some time, she looked towards the clock on her bedside table,

Monday

February 14th, 1994

04:45 am

'Perfect, ten minutes earlier' She smiled and got down from the bed, there was a certain person she was anticipating spending her day with.

Harry, as usual had woken up on his usual time and readied himself for his early morning exercises, he had been doing so constantly and it was now almost like a second thing. He was quite sure that if he didn't exercise one day (if he is not on a mission) then he, himself would feel more lethargic and morally down.

Though there was a small change in his daily routine which would definitely change his day.

Juliana had been on his doorstep when he opened the door and had followed him towards the grounds. He had asked her to go because of the cold around them but she just smiled and was determined to just sit there or walk around a bit, all bundled up in her winter clothes.

She was around him the entire time that he spent exercising and even took part in some of his exercises stating that she did do exercises as she was a reserve chaser on the Ravenclaw Quidditch team though she admitted that they didn't exercise as hard as him.

There was a moment of hesitation for Harry when he was about to remove his upper vest completely to go for his usual dive in the black lake before he shrugged that doubt away, it was not like Juliana could do anything, right? And Su had already seen him half naked the day she was in distress.

Therefore, Harry just pulled out his upper vest and threw it at the small pile beside him which consisted of a training jacket and his Green loose T-shirt before jumping in the water completely missing the loud 'gasp' that came from behind.

Juliana looked wide eyed at the spot where Harry just was before he removed the only piece of clothing he had on his upper vest and though momentarily he did give her a mouth-watering view of the deliciously carved muscles of his back that rippled with each of his stretches before….HE JUMPED IN THE FREEZING LAKE!

She had sworn to 'not' interfere in the boy's usual training routine and hadn't till the time he did this stunt. It had felt good that he did acquiesce with her wish of staying with him as he continued his daily routine, but this was most certainly not what she counted as 'normal', even for a muggleborn witch like herself.

Still after her Hufflepuff side died down, her Slytherin side woke up and started working in tandem with her Ravenclaw part. Which after a while of replaying her recent memory of Harry and the Lake, came to the grand conclusion that there were about ninety percent chances that this was indeed an everyday thing because the boy hadn't shown even an ounce of hesitation or nervousness before jumping into the bone chilling waters.

After her brain came to that conclusion, her mind stopped herself from prosecuting the earlier plan of either calling the professors or jumping in herself, blame her Gryffindor part for that, even though small. Ergo she decided to patiently wait for his arrival like she had been doing for the past two hours.

Now that her Ravenclaw part's work was done and only the Slytherin was left…well, couldn't she just go to one of those 'Memory retrieval' shops in Diagon this summer vacation and get a hard copy of Shirtless Potter?….mhmm…sounds goods.

Harry came out ten minutes later completely drenched and panting he even had a few plants in his hand that he kept beside his shirt as he toweled his body dry and then wore his clothes. All this time Juliana was definitely remembering each and every of his pectorals and abs muscles with the thick for thirteen-year-old biceps. She was definitely not going to miss her chance of getting a hard copy now.

By the time the duo went back, they were on first name basis and had shared a bit about how certain exercises worked out a person's mind and body. It was mostly Juliana who asked and Harry who either answered or just shrugged the question away when he didn't want to.

Rest of the day was perfectly simple as the two did whatever they wanted to; they didn't interact much on the hallways either except for the normal head bobbing as greeting. She did steal him from his friends during lunch and forged his connections with her friends who took him in with a healthy interest about his life and how he was doing in classes and all that. Though that didn't mean that everyone liked this intrusion.

Library time had been theirs and they sat down together doing homework like they did everyday before Juliana came in to get Harry at about five o' clock, Juliana was definitely impressed with his knowledge in various subjects and was in awe of him with his arsenal of answers in potions, she was a Ravenclaw after all, Knowledge was Power for her.

After that, they spent rest of the eve outside on Hogwarts grounds just talking about their family life. Again, it was Juliana who did most of the chatting while Harry just listened to whatever she said. After some time she proposed to draw on snow and create a small snowman manually, without magic.

They didn't notice the darkening of the skies and so by the time they were done it was nearly six-thirty. She suggested she knew of a place where they could clean themselves and without asking for permission, she pulled him towards the fifth floor and stopped afront a door beside the statue of Boris the Bewildered.

"Monsoon." Juliana said confidently and then after a small snap she pushed the door open "Welcome Harry," She began with a smile as she stepped inside and turned to face him "to the Prefect's Bathroom." She grinned in content and giggled a bit when Harry did loose momentarily before re-composing himself.

"You go get changed while I fill that tub, there might be something in the cubicles." She pointed towards a set of doors and went towards the large pool size…well pool.

Harry analyzed the complete situation before coming to one straight conclusion- Juliana had pre-planned all of this. It was not much but he had indeed given her his day therefore without a fuss he went towards the set of doors.

By the time Harry was back, the pool was half filled and there was this enchanting smell of roses and jasmines wafting his nostrils sending him to a world of pure bliss, the aroma was slightly visible as blue-colored fumes arising from the gargantuan bath twisting and turning themselves as they travelled around the room. Also, there were bubbles, lots and lots of squishy round transparent bubbles that held the upper one-tenth of the surface and made the water look like a frosted fountain's frothing.

He gently stepped inside the tub and winced a bit, warm water. He should have already known that a normal witch would definitely want warm water, well he could of course use one of his simplest tricks now. It could also serve for him as a way to practice his powers.

Harry concentrated just a bit as he fished out the cold air around the room into a small tornado and with a small push, plundered it into the surrounding area near him, he smiled in victory and sighed in relief when the water in his vicinity dropped to about seven degrees Celsius. Perfect.

Harry sat there patiently for about next three minutes before the door to one of the cubicles opened and Juliana stepped out.

He would be lying through his teeth if he denied the effect the girl had on him and his blood that was now pumping ferociously in his veins. He was not someone who could lose his mind so easily but there were instances when his mind did go under pause. This was definitely one of those moments.

Standing proudly nearly three meters away from him was Juliana Cohen, his date for the Valentine's Day and she looked nothing less than a hot little minx, wearing a skimpy black two piece, her honey blonde hairs were open and fell down her shoulders in waves, her bluish green eyes danced with an intense hunger for him and a promise to help him enjoy everything if he so chooses to.

"Mhmmm…. how's the water Harry?" Juliana asked as she walked closer to him showing off her sexy curves from hours of quidditch drills that Roger coursed through the Ravenclaw team's bench players.

"Good enough for me." Was his monotonous reply as the teenage mage slowly got his mind under control and was once again its ruler and not its slave. This was one of the primary lessons he had been taught- Your mind is completely yours, its your choice what you make of it. A ruler or a slave.

Of course, it was a hard thing in his early life, but he tamed his mind enough to be his slave and not the opposite. So, it was definitely not going haywire when affronting a seriously hot girl.

They stayed in the water for some time as Juliana did laps around the pool and talked about her life in general. She asked him a few questions which like always, he either answered in short suave sentences or completely ignored them as they touched a particularly sensitive topic.

Juliana was on her seventh lap around the pool when she suddenly stopped right in front of Harry and stepped a bit closer. Harry just quirked his left eyebrow and saw the girl blush a bit before shaking her head to sort her mind out. Harry so wanted to read the girl's brain but he had promised himself to let the girl do whatever she wanted as she had certainly hoped all this to be a surprise of sorts and he better let her have her fun.

"Say Harry," her voice was awfully nearing a hot sultry whisper as she took another step towards him, her emerging breasts looked like floating on the water surface "Have you ever kissed a girl?" She was continuously taking small steps towards the stoic boy and stopped when she was barely inches away from him.

.

Susan Bones sat down on the Hufflepuff table with Su on one side and Hannah on her left. Her day had gone okay at best and bad at worst. She thought she could easily survive the day with a practiced smile and glint in her eyes but that wasn't so. She just couldn't smile her best and enjoy the day knowing full well that her very good friend was right now with a, as she put it, future boyfriend snagging witch doing merlin knew what.

Even the eighteen Valentine's Day gifts and proposals she had received today was nothing compared to the moments she spent with Harry beneath the leaves of the large oak tree sitting amidst its very large roots. She looked towards the large doors of great hall and sighed in despair thinking the same thing that she had since the time Juliana snatched Harry away from her 'Where are you, Harry?'

"Where's Terry?" Tracey called out and looked around for the curly haired mischief filled boy. Su just gave a nonchalant shrug "Off to some gardening. Well, that's what he said at least."

"That's surprising, his herbology marks don't say much about this new hobby of his." Tracey quipped and laughed along with the girls before digging in as food appeared in the empty trays aligned on the table.

"What are you thinking Daphne?" Tracey whispered as the said blonde queen poked at the honey cured ham in her plate and looked around occasionally.

"Nothing Tracey, just looking out for any more potential idiots." She muttered as she sliced a thin piece and placed it in her mouth, savoring its taste.

Tracey just gave a small smile and squeezed her long-time friend's hand. Being an heiress to a Most Ancient and Noble house and having boys drool for you might be something some girls their age and above dream about but that was most certainly not as easy as it looked to be. And Tracey, having first hand exposure of what her friend's life was like completely disqualified herself from the list of such girls.

Daphne had gone through a lot of changes since the first time they met when they were four years old. Actually, they met when they were two but Tracey didn't remember anything when she was that small. Still, the younger Daphne smiled a lot more than this one and not the 'I-am-superior-than-you' one, it used to be a full blown heart warming innocent smile.

Younger Daphne ate according to her age and without a second thought about her figure, she definitely didn't have ulterior motives for every little thing and more importantly she definitely enjoyed her life.

This Daphne on the other hand smiled a lot less, only in their room when no one was looking or back at The Ossuary when they were on a vacation. She didn't ate much and did yoga and other things to keep her in proper shape. She had an ulterior motive hidden under an even ulterior one for each little thing she did. This Daphne definitely knew a lot more than younger one but it certainly didn't help her in enjoying life.

She did things that were 'required' of her, set ambitions higher than she could achieve and strived till her last breath everyday to finish things not possible at thirteen years of age. This struggle of hers did fruit in the form of power she was slowly getting under her that would be useful to her in both, near and distant future, but was eating her mind and soul.

Today was one of those days that Daphne didn't like. It wasn't that she hated this day or any such thing it was the fact that she had to put up a mask throughout the day that she hated. Smile every single time someone gave her a gift, open it right there if the person insisted and then strategically accept it without giving any hints for future relationships. Tracey was sure she would have ended at St Mungos if it was her who was at the receiving end of twenty-three gifts and had to go through all of that smiling and accepting nonsense.

"Hello Susan."

The conversation immediately dropped around them as they turned towards the source of this hated voice.

"Alandale." Susan gave a one-word acknowledgement and a short nod telling him he had her attention.

Alan Potter grinned showing his pale yellow teeth and straightened up puffing his chest and indirectly his large belly before forwarding his hand towards his pet weasel who handed him 'something' wrapped shoddily in an ugly pink wrapper with green polka dots.

"I am inviting you, Susan Bones to dine with me. I am sure you would see the privilege allowed to you." The fat head again gave a grin which he thought charming and humans thought ugly before forwarding his gift towards the said redhead.

"I think its 'allow me' not 'allowed to you'." Tracey said and giggled along with Hannah and Su while Susan was having a hard time keeping a straight face as even Daphne gave a small smirk.

"Shut up Snake. No one asked your dirty opinions." Weasley growled as he took a step forward and was right into the bubbly Slytherin's face.

"Yes, because you would need brains to understand an intelligent suggestion." Tracey spat back but was held by Daphne before she could say anything else.

"Why you ugly-" Ron began but had to stop when he felt something poking on his stomach. He looked down and his eyes widened when he saw a wand straight at his…. "Greengrass what is this, do you think you could intimidate me with your fancy twig?"

"No, I could do a lot more. Now stay away and talk from a breathable distance Weasley. We don't want the air around us to smell like a dump yard." Daphne said with a stone cold mask and was satisfied when Alan pulled Weasley out of their face.

"Calm down Ron, we are here for far more important thing." Victor Potter told his boot licker and turned towards the Tracey, his eyes narrowed and he sniffed in disgust "You too watch your step Davies, I won't be so lenient next time." He said and turned towards his personal eye candy, The Bones Heiress.

"So, Susan?"

"Forgive me for my negligence 'Mr.' Potter, but I find myself helpless against the situation acting against your invitation of allowing me the chance to dine with you." She said in a completely calm pureblood manner full of chipped words and tone depicting her utter sincerity.

"Situations acting against what? What are you saying Susan? come out clearly." Alan said completely confused and for once didn't make an argument as to why the people around her, especially the two Slytherins were shaking their head looking at him.

"I can't take your gift nor your allowance." Susan said as simply as she could and saw an instant change in the redhead Potter.

"What? Why?!"

"Because I will be going towards the Greenhouses after dinner and I am sure your gift won't be able to handle it." Susan said as straight faced as she could and picked up her fork again.

"Abott could do some work then, give it to her and she would keep it wherever you all sleep." Alan shrugged and looked towards Hannah who just shook her head at how much of a brainless idiot the boy was.

"No, Hannah too is coming with me along with Su, so they can't. And unless you want 'your' gift in hands of two 'snakes', there is no other way." Susan said and gave a small smile towards Tracey whose eyes widened at the pure Slytherin way Susan had handled the redhead.

"Err..N-no. Not gonna happen…well, uh..no problem then, I could give this gift tomorrow yeah? It is the intent that matters right?" Alan gave a nervous chuckle before asking "But why couldn't you dine?"

"I rather love my current company and so I can't come there and having you here is not acceptable because you don't like my friends." Susan finally said and then completely ignored the aghast expression that crawled over Victor's face.

"But they are Slytherites! No one likes them except their own!" Weasley couldn't control himself and again took a step forward to stand beside his redhead friend.

"Well, I do, in fact, all of us do and you would do better than to call them names right in our face. Now please move away if your funny business is over." A new voice entered, and the girls smiled when they saw their curly haired friend standing right behind the two redheads.

Alan glanced around himself and at all of the faces who had seen this rejection. Some were smiling, some were laughing! They had the audacity to laugh at him! Him! The great Boy-Who-Lived, strongest wizard of their generation who had saved their sorry arses from You-ruddy well-know-who! There was just one person whom he had wanted to outshine today and it was getting increasingly difficult with all this.

"What's it in him, huh?" Alan said out loudly, unable to control his anger "What's it in that scrawny idiot that you lot seem to stick yourself to that nerdy? He is nothing more than a punching bag if I really wanted to, you understand?! Just because he shares my parents doesn't mean he is as wonderful as me. But you lot are load of bricks, just like that twit."

It just took them two seconds to guess out this mysterious boy's identity and Alan would be lying if he said the temperature didn't plummet suddenly. He looked around for the source and so each of theirs eyes glaring him and their faces carved in stone.

"Congratulations Alandale, you have just carved your own Death sentence. You have three seconds to leave before we finally snap out of our patience and seriously maim you." Su said as coldly and emotionlessly as she could and pulled her wand out along with her friends.

But any further action couldn't take place as a squeaky voice interrupted their stand-off, "I don't think it would come to that miss Li, Mr. Potter, don't you think your stay is being overextended here?" Flitwick squeaked and Alan even though was nothing more than a dumb idiot, he still knew when a professor assigned him an order. Therefore, he just glared at Harry's group and got glared back with an equal if not more intensity before huffing and turned towards to walk towards the Gryffindor table.

Susan just sighed as Hannah squeezed her hand in comfort "Harry would have handled this much better." She said and looked towards the large double doors of great hall with a certain yearning in her eyes.

"He might have but you certainly did quite well, not your fault Alan is born defective now, is it?" Terry said as he took the long route by walking from behind Daphne and sitting in front of her beside Hannah. They laughed at it and let it at that, resuming what they were doing before any of this happened.

Earlier she might have scoffed at that and would have said that it was her who would have done better. But Daphne Greengrass never had an ignorant eye for someone who was better than her in any field and even she conceded to the fact that Harry Potter would have certainly played best among any of them as he was leagues higher in it. Therefore, she too turned towards the great hall doors with the same thought as Sue and Su both.

'Where are you, Harry?'

.

Harry was now perfectly sure that all of this was pre-planned as he saw a small table laden with food and completely decorated with a white tablecloth and purple velvet curtains around them. There were two wooden chairs with a padded back and bottom for better comfort.

"Come Harry, our dinner is waiting." Juliana chirped and gave a cute grin before walking where towards the table. Being a gentleman, Harry helped her in sitting at the table by pulling her chair, she smiled and nodded in thanks.

Conversation followed as the elves began serving them and Harry couldn't help but smile at how easily Juliana had manipulated him throughout the day. She had indulged him in intelligent talk to start their evening and both being in Ravenclaw had appreciated that. Then she had pulled him out towards the snowy grounds and had asked him to draw on snow the muggle way, then making an excuse of sweat and dirty clothes, she had convinced him for that bath.

Finally, she had asked the elves to remove their Hogwarts robes and had his casual clothes brought for him as she had deliberately delayed their time in the bath so that they were past the time when dinner was served in Hogwarts and used this excuse to bring him to the Hogwarts kitchens where she had a fully working 'Romantic Dinner' ready for both.

All of this did make Harry a bit more forthcoming with his answers and so, this time he did answer her a few questions just so she doesn't feel completely left out. It wasn't much but Harry didn't know what else he could do. And perhaps he did a good thing because after he started answering her questions, her face did glow with excitement.

It was 8:45 now and they were just 15 minutes before curfew as they reached the fifth floor. Juliana had taken a tentative step and held Harry's cold hands as they had walked out of the kitchen door.

"Harry?" She called out his name to break the silence around them and said boy just hummed "Thank you."

That made him frown a bit and he looked at her with his left eyebrow quirked up. The third-year claw blushed a bit before smiling "I didn't know what you liked and what you didn't. So, I went through a general plan of how to spend the time together. The most I was actually afraid of was that you would at some point become bored by my chatter and would probably run off to your group."

"I mean, I won't have complained if you did because it might have been right thing to do but it won't have made me feel good either. And I know I am ranting now and you might be getting bored here too, but still you are here and not running towards the common room. I am-" She stopped her talk and her feet before taking a deep breath and closing her eyes.

"All I am saying is, thank you for listening and not running away Harry. You have been the most patient listener I have ever met. My chatter was part of the reason I was afraid of asking you out earlier, but you proved me wrong. You might not be the most outspoken boy but now I know why other in your group like and respect you." Juliana said as honestly as possible.

They started moving again and Juliana turned her head "So Harry, don't you have any questions of your own? I mean throughout our day, it was mostly I who did all the talking and asking, don't you want to ask any questions?" She asked the boy walking patiently beside her.

Harry nodded "I do have two questions."

"Really? Shoot them then." The blonde girl grinned as they kept walking.

"What was it that you were going to do in the prefect's bath today?"

Juliana faltered in her steps as she heard his question, she glanced towards the cold prince of Ravenclaw and found him looking straight at her with those beautifully alluring emeralds of his.

"Leave it Harry, it doesn't matter." She said and was about to move when Harry's hand stopped her. She turned to look at him and he just stayed quiet. She was sure they could stand like this the whole night and the boy won't relent. So, she made up her mind to finally ruin her date 'Well, what else did I expect of my fate, at least now we both don't have anything else to do'

"I was going to kiss you Harry." She answered and looked down expecting the backlash of harry making a disgusted face at her and running off towards the common room. Instead, he surprised her by asking another question "And, why didn't you?"

She chanced a look at his face to see if he was taunting her but to her surprise, he was completely calm and sounded genuinely confused. True, she had not gone forth with her plan of kissing him and instead took the coward's approach and swam away from Harry before moving out of the pool and towards the dress stalls. Because she just couldn't let her date end this badly, what if he got disgusted by her? She certainly didn't want to know that.

Taking a deep breath, she opened her mouth to spew the words out "Because you might get disgusted by me and my desire Harry." She continues as he frowned in confusion "It might not be normal for a thirteen-year-old boy to kiss a fifteen year old girl in wizarding world as it isn't that much seen in the muggle world either."

"Therefore, I was kind of worried that you might not like me because I so wanted to kiss you and by doing so I might just ruin any chance of having any further relation with you. Not romance per se, but I thought you might not want to be my friend either after that disgusting act of mine. So instead, I choose the coward's path and went away." She said and Harry felt the girl was about to cry "I am sorry for spoiling your evening, Harry."

Just as Juliana turned to leave, she felt someone grip her hand and give a hard pull, she gasped as she was pulled from behind before being rotated midway and a soft 'thud' was heard as her back was pushed against the castle's wall.

She was about to open her mouth but all her protest died down when she felt a pair of soft lips over her own, coaxing her to open up more and giving her just the perfect hint of what lies for her if she took her chance.

Harry slowly grabbed her bottom lip between his and gave a hard suck before switching it for the top one, then tilting his head to the right returned on sucking the blonde bombshell's bottom ones and placed his right hand on her waist while his left dragged up and down on the side of her thigh.

Juliana gave a throaty moan as she felt Harry's slippery smooth tongue slither over her bottom lips and she clutched on his hairs more as he slipped his way inside her mouth and dipped his tongue in her before the hand grazing her thigh grazed her waist and the one already on her waist twirled on her soft belly which shriveled as his touch stimulated uncontrollable lust in her nerves and fired her hormones leaving her mind a total mess.

She couldn't control herself and launched her legs behind his waist completely securing him as he supported her weight by the help of wall and a hand on her hip. She was sure that due to her skirt being short, the boy could certainly touch the bottom of her panties but that excited her even more.

Juliana wrongfully thought that she was finally regaining some semblance of control over her hormones before Harry's tongue started a war of dominance with her own and his right arm grazed the side of her boob. The poor girl completely lost it when Harry softly cupped her boob from the side and grazed his thumb over her rock-hard nipples, she clutched him tighter between her legs as her ovaries exploded in euphoria and she felt her mind going into blankness and her body went lax.

Juliana felt Harry removing his hand and she won't deny the fact that she missed his touch, then slowly his mouth left her gaping one and then he held her just like that till she got herself under control, or as much control as needed to walk no matter how much staggered her walk was.

This was ruddy impossible, there was no way a guy so young could be such a mind boggling, heart shattering, ovary warming kisser, there was absolutely no bloody way that she could reach an orgasm just through a kiss, yet the proof was there, right between her legs.

"Wow Harry, th-that was….I can't find words as to how good it was…" Juliana mumbled looking at the cold eyed teenager with awestruck eyes as they walked towards the Ravenclaw common room which was now just a scant few steps away.

Harry just gave a small smile as he perceived the clear astonishment on Juliana's face "My guardians took me to a strip club to give us a more…practical example of 'the talk'. I might have learned a few tricks there." Normally he won't have shared his trade secrets, but this girl certainly deserved some after all the work she had done for making his day good.

Also, this was not all he did, after all, who said that the obscure arts of Legilimency couldn't be used in such a trivial act such as this? That's right! No one. And so, he was free to learn all about her pleasure tactics that not even she knew about herself and impress her with his style. In the end, she did get her result, right? So, no harm done.

"Wow, that's so cool." Juliana mumbled and blushed beet red when she heard him next "I do think, this day ended well for you, am I right?" She nodded and before he was going to knock on the locked held his hand which was still cold. It was actually quite surprising as to how his lips were warm while his hands were cold. Or was it just her?

"Will….will we do th-that again?" She hated how hopeful she sounded but she couldn't deny her heart's desire and right now it screamed her to beg him to do that again just once more…and keep doing that once mores for another eternity to pass.

"If you don't let social norms prejudice your thinking and stop you to do what you personally feel right…..then, sure."

And with that he knocked on the door-knob and answering the riddle stepped inside the claws nest while Juliana followed after him, making up her mind and calming down her heart as she imagined her next venture with the hottest mage, who could bring orgasms just with a simple kiss.

.

"Well, this is certainly huge."

Daphne just hummed as she prepared her bed to get some beauty sleep while Tracey eyed the gargantuan collection of various assortments placed strategically on her study table so that she doesn't mess any of the gifts with any other. All thanks to her personal house elf Trixie who was more than happy to serve 'Mistress Daphy' in sorting the gifts out.

Tracey picked up a small handmade yet enchanted Valentine's Day card with a rose and twirled it betwixt her index finger and thumb before turning towards the Greengrass Heiress "This is from Terry, isn't it?"

Daphne took a glance and nodded "This is what he was 'gardening' for. He didn't write his name but forgot to change his handwriting which I remembered." Daphne said and both of them laughed, no one could beat a Slytherin in usage of Brain for more tricky ideas and to look for solutions when one doesn't seem to be occurring.

Well, except for maybe one Ravenclaw. One cold Ravenclaw with rich ebony locks, alluring emerald eyes and a stoic yet illegally handsome aristocratic face.

"And you don't need these gifts, do you? You don't even like them."

Daphne frowned in confusion and her best friend continued "Your facial expressions could fool others Duph but not Tracey Davis. I know you don't even appreciate these as they are not from someone you would have liked to receive these gifts from."

"And pray tell me, who this 'someone' might be Miss Davis?" Daphne's voice didn't carry any emotions but Tracey was unfazed and ironically enough, her own brain betrayed her by sending her a picture of the same cold hearted Ravenclaw boy. And not any simple picture, it was the one from their first talk on the Astronomy tower when she took a side profile view of the teenage mage.

"Someone like….Harry!" Tracey cried and laughed when Daphne gave her a totally shocked expression before throwing a pillow at the laughing girl who dodged it.

In truth, Daphne was not angry, well, maybe she was but that was on Tracey's ability to easily 'score home'. Daphne was pretty sure that Tracey hadn't meant it to be a perfect score but that didn't mean she couldn't hate the fact that she said the exact boy which her brain came up with.

Daphne could reason out her brain's thinking as Harry was definitely the boy she mostly thought about but that was not because she was in 'love' with Harry, it was more because she tried to come up with ways to gain his trust or think more about his latest habits or anything he did and his ulterior reason behind it.

Yes, Harry had told her that she was not doing any good but she just couldn't be all trusting in a minute, right? It was her ingrained ability to take mysteries with a head-on approach. Though, she did trust him now but that didn't mean she couldn't be….curious.

"Why Harry Potter all of a sudden?" Daphne asked her roommate who simply gave a shrug as she tore into a chocolate frog and sat on Daphne's bed.

"Because he is good looking? Honestly Daphne, can you name a girl in complete Hogwarts that would say 'No' to the boy wonder? I can't, seeing his current popularity with the opposite gender when the girl asks him out and plans a date for him. He is definitely more than quite handsome and the female populace are already understanding this, and he is still in his first year!"

"Plus, it certainly doesn't hurt that he has quite a spine shivering voice and hottie hot physique. Hell, I could vote Harry as the perfect definition of teenage Adonis even and could only hope he ages like a fine wine." Tracey sighed dreamily as she went into a mental world doing Merlin or in this case, Tracey knows what.

Daphne just shook her head as she tore a small piece of dark chocolate. Yes, she could admit that Harry was definitely good looking but she was not going to fantasize about doing anything with that boy! That was preposterous! And she did voice her thoughts out to Tracey.

Tracey just shook her head and looked towards the girl but before she could open her mouth Daphne spoke "And you know how much I hate these topics Tracey. I don't need to think these things before the time comes. So please spare me anymore of your Harry or any other boy's good looking speech."

Tracey made a face at that before looking towards the gifts and saying in a more serious voice "But you will have to Daphne." She said and looked towards the blonde girl who quirked her eyebrow "Valentine's Day was a muggle event which purebloods don't believe in but they do believe in intent gifts and that day, both muggle-born wizards and Half-bloods would try to sue you with richness and promises and your grandfather will start with the marriage proposals that are right now on halt."

Daphne groaned and fell back on the pillow. Yes, all of what Tracey had said was true, she was fourteen years old right now, her birthday was in the month of November and so she had to start with the '93 batch instead of '92. She would be fifteen next year and that meant only one thing- Nightmare.

That's what she called it anyways. Doors to her marriage proposal would be unlocked and she would be on the receiving end of intention gifts and marriage contracts. Her grandfather would start the negotiations and Daphne would start fearing every letter she received from the conniving old man, afraid that it might contain her personal life imprisonment sentence.

"But that's not going to happen till next year, yeah? So be a good girl and leave it at that." Daphne growled and saw Tracey nod before giving the 'I-am-going-to-put-you-in-mortal-danger' impetus grin and starting off counting names of most handsome Hogwarts wizards.

"Stand still you bloody Scoundrel!"

"Davis stay where you are and get your face smashed like a good girl or I am coming to there!"

"Ugh! Looks like that chocolate frog gave you it's ability to jump. No wonder you look like one too!"

"I am so going to kill you Davis. Just you see you bloody imp!"

And so on and so forth while the other girl just jumped and dodged the pillows, laughing all the while and still counting names of those wizards.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Ending note-There you have it fellas, Chapter eighteen of 'Silence of the Winters'. Liked it? Loved it? Hated it? Please tell. I am waiting for all your reviews! Also, those who have been with me since the beginning know how much I appreciate constructive criticism and new ideas. So if you have one, DO SHARE IT WITH ME! Put it on a review or PM me, whatever you like. I will for sure respond to it. This chapter crossed 7.2k+ words!

I am also ashamed for the time I had kept you waiting...it was never my intention to test my loyal reader's patience...yet such were the circumstances that I was completely at a loss. I have also lost my beta reader and I don't fault anyone but myself, yet as I had said this earlier and repeating my words-

I will never leave this story unfinished till I am alive...I will do my level best to finish it and give you one of the best reads in potterverse.

Hope you like this chapter. I am excitedly waiting for your reviews. 370+ mark please? Though I would be happy in whatever I get. Love you Lots 3

With Regards

Dev Black