A week passed with little incident. Valeria continued to partner up with Josephine Ogden in Charms class so that Charlotte would be forced to work with Tom, during which time she realized he was certainly not to be underestimated in his aptitude for magic. They spent time together outside of classes too, and people were beginning to talk, not only Valeria.

The weather became even colder and snowier as December began. If it weren't for magic, this time of year it would be very difficult to keep the Slytherin common room, dormitories, and the rest of the dungeon beneath the castle warm. With its window into the black lake, the common room was especially prone to losing its heat. However, the Slytherins would never complain about this—at least not within earshot of anyone from the other houses, life in the dungeons being a point of ridicule against Slytherins. Still, it made seats near the fireplace a highly desired thing, arguments breaking out all too frequently about who could sit there. It usually fell to the prefects to quell these disputes.

On an evening when such a disagreement had resulted in the acquisition of two of the coveted chairs by the prefect himself, namely Tom Riddle, the other being for Charlotte (not the most fair of decisions, but these were Slytherins, not Hufflepuffs), Valeria caused a scene in promotion of some new enchanted clothing she had made.

"Is anyone else a bit hot or is it just me?" she asked loudly, prompting a number of confused looks from others around the room; it was by no means hot.

"Whatever you do, don't come near me! You've probably got a fever and I can't get sick now; we've got exams!" someone exclaimed.

"If that's true you should go to the hospital wing," said someone else.

Valeria smiled. "Don't worry, I'm not ill. It must be my robe because I enchanted it to give off heat on the inside. It's working very well!" Once again it seemed she had found a way to use magic for the purpose of making, or in this case enhancing, clothing.

"Please make me one!"

"Me too!"

"Absolutely, I'd be happy to," said Valeria, pulling out a roll of parchment and a quill to take down orders.

Charlotte looked away from the scene with a smile. "It's brilliant, the things we can do with magic," she said to Tom.

"I agree," he answered.

"I don't know what I would do if one day I lost the ability to do magic. I think I would go mad with depression—of course, magic only ceases in a person when they're in a desperate state like that to begin with…"

"What do you mean? We can stop being magical?" Tom asked with a sudden seriousness.

It surprised her that he didn't already know about this, but she explained, and a hint of relief shown on his face as she did so. "A witch or wizard's magic can weaken in certain states of prolonged emotional strain. It's not very common though." Charlotte only knew of one case personally.

"I've never heard that before. How did you learn about it?" he asked.

"I believe it was from my father," she said. That was believable; she didn't want to tell the true story to him then.

"Ah, yes, you must learn a great deal from him. His position in the wizarding political world suggests he is very intelligent."

"He is," Charlotte agreed. She wondered then if the reason Tom had befriended her had anything to do with an interest in her father's knowledge of current events and influence. Careful attention to his questions in future would help her determine this.

Just then she noticed a group of girls nearby casting scornful looks in her direction, the least subtle of whom was a fourth year by the name of Perdita Pepper. Tom looked up and, seeing her staring, followed her gaze to see what had drawn her attention. "Oh," he said somewhat under his breath, irritation discernable in the exhalation that followed. "Perdita Pepper. She... fancies me. I should have warned you that you could be making yourself the enemy of a great many girls when you agreed to go to Slughorn's Christmas party with me." He smiled. He didn't say the words "a great many girls" with much conceit, as one might have expected; rather, he sounded a bit weary, tired of the attention, but mostly he simply sounded like he was stating a fact. "I believe she and some others have even tried to give me love potions, in various forms: sweets, tipping it into my drink at a mealtime—a hopeless endeavor; I immediately saw what she did. And once, someone during Care of Magical Creatures, whom I think you know, brought me water that was more than just water."

"Valeria didn't!" Charlotte interjected in shock, although she had to admit she was not entirely surprised.

Riddle smiled. "I'm afraid she did, but it doesn't matter." He shrugged. "I didn't take it."

"I always suspected some girls had tried that on you, although I honestly didn't think Val would go to such lengths… " She continued, "But don't worry about me; I think I can handle some envious girls."

"Arms out ," directed a creatively engaged Valeria. It was the morning after the exposition of her warming robe to the Slytherins. Charlotte was standing in front of her wearing the beginnings of her dress for the party. The aspiring designer had come up with a winter-inspired enchantment for her friend's dress, so she said. Charlotte had yet to discover what it was.

"I'm just fixing this sash on the side here…" Valeria said. "After this, it'll be time for the charm."

"Now can you tell me what you're going to do to it?" Charlotte asked.

"Let's just say, you'll be able to do some studying for Astronomy with it."

"And yours?"

"That, you'll have to wait and see in a week's time." Valeria picked up her wand from the bedside table. The two of them were standing in their dormitory, between beds scattered with various fabrics, as well as the fur trim for the neckline of Charlotte's gown.

They were the only two occupants of their dormitory, and Valeria put the extra space to plenty of use with her projects. Charlotte had a feeling this had been at least as much of an incentive for Valeria to move as she herself, the exciting newcomer, had been. The number of students at the time had been such that there was no room to add Charlotte to. When she arrived at Hogwarts, it had only been Valeria who was to be her new roommate, although her future best friend assured her most everyone had wanted to room with her, but certain things stopped them from making the switch.

It turned out that the fur could be made to appear as the fur from different animals by tugging the sash. However, Valeria couldn't get it quite right—instead it was constantly changing as soon as the sash was pulled. As for the hint about studying for Astronomy, the skirt, floor-length and very full, was bewitched to feature the winter sky, the magical part being that the stars twinkled, and faint lines would appear to show the constellations from time to time.

"Are you certain you don't want a snowing shawl?" Valeria asked, referring to a garment she had charmed to drop a gentle snowfall.

"I think one of us leaving a trail of snow on the ground will be quite enough."

"It disappears after a short while, no puddles or anything," Valeria insisted, turning to fold some of the materials on the bed. "I have to have one; it goes superbly with the ice queen look I'm going for."

"I can't wait to see," Charlotte said excitedly. "This will be an excellent way to end the term—finish exams, there's the school-wide feast, then our special Slug Club celebration, then it's home to Christmas with family."

"I hope you don't mention that around Riddle," Valeria said seriously. "Seeing as he hasn't got a family to go to for the holidays."

"Well he stays here. And he likes Hogwarts very much, so I think he's content with that." She didn't think that the matter was too concerning. Then an almost cheeky grin appeared on her face and she asked, "Is it true you once tried to give him a love potion?"

Valeria froze, the silky charmeuse in her hands slipping to the floor. "He told you that?" She turned her head slowly around to look at Charlotte, her face absolutely red. "I-I was a foolish fourteen year old, and some things happened that I regret."

"Fourteen? That was hardly more than a year ago," Charlotte said with a laugh.

"I'll have you know it was almost two years ago!" Abruptly she buried her face in her hands. "Oh, no don't remind me!" Charlotte bent down to retrieve the fallen fabric.

"Well, you're not the only one."

"Somehow that doesn't make me feel much better, but thanks." She removed her hands from her face, which was now merely pink instead of red. "So, you and Tom have been talking about love potions?" she asked with raised eyebrows in a knowing sort of way, directing the conversation to one of her favorite subjects. "Are the two of you thinking about concocting some of your own?" Charlotte looked at her with confusion, uncertain if this was meant to be some kind of euphemism, or why they would literally need to make any kind of love potions when there was already an attraction, despite however minimal it was on Charlotte's part, between them. Valeria noticed her expression and with a nonchalant shrug, said, "Some couples use them because if you both take it things can get really passionate; you're less inhibited or something like that."

"I will refrain from asking you how you know that."

Valeria shot her a displeased look. "I read it in a magazine—a fashion magazine. Actually it was on the cover so I couldn't really help it."

"So what are your plans for the day?" Charlotte asked, changing the subject.

"Huh? You've forgotten it's a Hogsmeade weekend!" Valeria cried.

"Zut! I did. And I had planned to do some homework today," she replied. "I haven't even started the Muggle Studies essay."

"That's due Monday! I suppose you could probably write it all tomorrow."

"And study for Ancient Runes and Transfiguration?"

"Well, I don't have Ancient Runes with you, but I hear you're a natural. So I doubt you need to study that much."

"Our grades this year are really important! They help us decide our future!" Charlotte was clearly conflicted, but her better judgment with regard to her schoolwork had won out.

"Fine! Fine. It's up to you. Stay here and study. I'll drink a butterbeer for you at The Three Broomsticks." Valeria gave in.

Author's Note: The comment Valeria makes about the love potions-I thought it was funny, and I realized it takes inspiration from modern magazines (probably they didn't have articles like that in the 1940s, but I left it in, and we can pretend the reference is less anachronistic than it is).