Chapter Fourteen: Christmas at Hogwarts
Nothing of significance happened between Halloween and Christmas, unless you counted Snape giving Seamus Finnigan detention for losing his homework. Seamus returned from scrubbing the dungeon floor late one night, just before the holidays. Jessica, Ron, Harry, and Hermione were still up, trying to finish the last bit of homework the teachers had squeezed in before the holiday. They looked up when Seamus came in, covered from head to foot in grime.
"What did Snape do to you, Seamus?" asked Harry.
"Did he make you swim through a vat of old porcupine guts?" Ron asked, slightly laughing.
"I had to scour the floor until he thought it was clean," Seamus gasped. "I don't think that floor had been cleaned in centuries before tonight!"
"I'd take a shower before I went to bed, Seamus," said Jessica.
"You don't think I've tried? The teachers won't lapse on the curfew! I'll just . . . wipe myself clean," he said, and began to trudge up to his bedroom.
"Poor Seamus," said Hermione as he was out of earshot, "If he'd stayed a bit longer, I would have taught him a Scouring Charm."
Harry, Ron, and Jessica closed their copies of "Unfogging the Future," and began to compare star charts. Hermione rolled her eyes and closed her Arithmancy book. She climbed the stairs.
"I'm going to bed," she said in a very haughty voice. Ron and Harry laughed.
"Haven't heard her talk like that since first year," said Ron.
"I know," said Harry, "I was starting to think just how nice it had gotten."
Jessica yawned. "I really have to go to bed now," she said, collecting her papers. "Let's just hope Trelawney thinks these are 'up to par.' Goodnight, all."
She stood, yawned, then began to go up the stairs. Harry stopped her, then nodded to Ron.
Ron got the hint after a moment, although he looked rather confused. "I'll just be off to bed. Goodnight." He picked up his things and headed to the dormitory.
"Goodnight, Ron," said Jessica. She then turned to Harry.
"A moment of peace," said Harry, his fingers brushing her cheek. She smiled.
"We don't seem to get many of those, do we?" she said, lacing her fingers through his.
"I miss them," he said, leaning in.
"Me, too," she said softly as he kissed her. They broke after a moment. Harry ran his hand through her hair, then she said, "Goodnight, Harry." He smiled at her.
"Goodnight, Jessica."
They went up their separate dormitories, both thinking of the other with smiles on their faces.
The next day passed without great event, and as students left to go home, Harry, Ron, Jessica, and Hermione watched them go, as they all had signed up to stay over the holidays. The days until Christmas passed quickly, until the morning dawned bright with a fresh layer of snow on the ground.
"Jessica, Hermione! Wake up, it's Christmas!" Harry and Ron exclaimed, throwing back the drapes on both of the girls' beds. They woke up with a start.
"You're not supposed to be in here!" they said simultaneously. Harry and Ron laughed.
"There's nobody else here," said Harry. That was true. Most of the other students had left, because of the scare with Lavender and Neville. Neville still had not been found. The Professors were searching and waiting day after day, and Lavender had recovered and returned to classes shortly after Halloween. There had been no more attacks since Neville, so it looked as if the extra security was working. Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Jessica had decided to investigate the end of that hallway that night, under cover of the invisibility cloak.
Jessica and Hermione sat up to piles of presents at the end of their beds. They each reached in and grabbed one.
"Ron!" exclaimed Jessica, "I can't believe you got me chocolate. It's the single greatest passion in my life! I'm addicted to it! Thank you so, so much!"
Ron muttered a "you're welcome" as Jessica flung her arms around his neck. Hermione opened her first present - pies from Mrs. Weasley. Jessica, whom Mrs. Weasley had never met, received:
"I can't believe she made you a Weasley sweater!" Ron exclaimed, picking at his own maroon one. Harry was wearing a bottle green one as well. Jessica's was blue.
"I think you've got one, too, Hermione," he said miserably, poking at a lumpy parcel at the foot of Hermione's bed.
Jessica threw a box of Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans onto the bed behind her. She pushed aside a few gifts she knew were from her aunt in North Carolina, and were all candy, and withdrew a long, thin box.
"What on earth?" she asked no one in particular, setting it on her bed.
"I don't know," said Harry.
"Let's open it," said Ron.
Jessica took the top off the box, then began to remove the brown sheets of paper wedged between the box and . . .
"It's a broomstick!" said Jessica.
"It is!" said Ron, pulling it out.
"Wait a minute," said Harry, taking it from Ron and letting it go in midair. It hovered, perfectly balanced, at just the right level for someone to mount. Ron examined the handle.
"That's a Firebolt!" he exclaimed. "How do you get so lucky?"
Jessica shrugged and pulled out a note that had been sent along with it.
Dear Jess,
Happy Christmas! Consider this fourteen years' worth of Christmas gifts from your dear, old Uncle. I trust you and a certain godson of mine would enjoy separate brooms from now on during your little outings. Again, Happy Christmas!
Love,
Sirius
The next present she pulled out was a small, black velvet box.
"That one's from me," said Harry, "Mind, it may not look as grand next to that broomstick."
Jessica smiled at him. "I'm sure I'll love it, whatever it is."
She slowly opened the lid of the box on its hinges. She let out a cry at what was inside. She gently pulled out a thin chain of perfect diamonds, with a silver clasp at the end, made to look like a fairy. Ron and Hermione's jaws dropped. Harry took the bracelet from her.
"I hope you like it," he said sheepishly, placing it around her wrist. He hooked the clasp, and Jessica placed her other hand over his.
"I love it," she said, looking up at him.
"They're all real diamonds," Harry said, still looking at the bracelet, "I ordered this out of one of Mrs. Weasley's 'Witch Weekly's."
Jessica laughed. "I love it, it's the most beautiful thing anyone's ever given me." She hugged Harry and gave him a kiss on the cheek. Ron and Hermione raised their eyebrows.
"Is there something you two aren't telling us?" Ron asked.
Jessica and Harry laughed. They continued opening presents, then the boys left so the girls could get dressed.
"I can't believe it," said Hermione, "You and Harry . . ." She shook her head.
"Maybe now you and Ron could get together," said Jessica.
"Me and Ron? What gave you that idea?"
"Oh, just a guess."
They finished getting dressed then went downstairs. Then the four friends went down to breakfast. There were so few students left that Dumbledore had once again removed all of the tables except one, where everyone else that was there sat. Jessica, Harry, Ron, and Hermione sat at the end. Breakfast passed without great incident, and they spent the rest of the day up in their common room (except mealtimes) playing games and trying, again, to teach Ron and Hermione how to play Spinks.
"It's not near as hard as you're making it, Ron," Jessica said, exasperated.
"I give up," he said, "I'd rather play chess."
"I'm getting rather good at it," said Hermione as one of Harry's cards set off the firework. "Does that mean I've won? Yay!"
"All right," said Harry, annoyed that he kept getting beaten, and checking his watch, "Let's get the cloak and go now."
The common room was deserted by then (it was nearly midnight, and the other nine or ten Gryffindors had gone to sleep), and the four had no trouble getting out. They sneaked down the corridor, and were nearly there when something moved behind them. They stopped and turned, trying to quiet their breathing. Something, or someone, was definitely following them. They remained still for a long time, until they were brave enough to venture forward, retracing their steps. They hadn't gone far when the pale moonlight flowing in through a window down another corridor cast a little bit of light on a figure, huddled on the ground. They took another step closer. What they saw made them throw off the cloak and bend down to the figure on the ground.
"Neville!" exclaimed Jessica when she had identified the bruised and bloody person on the ground.
"Let's get him inside," said Harry. They gently picked him up and carried him into the common room.
They set him down on a couch, and Jessica rubbed the stone on her amulet. She noticed Neville's amulet was gone.
"Neville, can you hear me?" Hermione was asking, trying to get him to open his eyes. "Neville, it's Hermione, can you hear me?" He didn't answer. He lay shivering on the couch until the other members of the Order arrived. Professor Dumbledore threw his cloak over Neville.
"Where did you find him?" he asked.
"Just outside."
"Just now?"
"Yes."
Dumbledore nodded. "We need to get him up to the hospital wing. Minerva, alert Poppy. We're going to need her help here."
McGonagall nodded, and the professors, Remus (who had opted to stay in the headmaster's office), and Sirius all left, leaving Harry, Jessica, Hermione, and Ron alone.
"I don't understand," said Jessica, sitting down on the couch, "Why go through all the trouble of kidnapping Neville, and then just let him go? He could always identify his abductor."
"Not if they used a Memory Charm," said Ron.
"No, even Memory Charms can be broken," said Hermione.
"Then why?" asked Jessica again.
"I don't know," said Harry.
None of them slept that night. It took three days for Neville to be well enough to speak, and even then he said he didn't remember anything.
"All I know is I was hit over the head from behind on Halloween," he said, "Then I woke up in the corridor and it's Christmas."
Term started before they were ready. Neville rejoined classes and tried to catch up as quickly as he could. Hermione devoted almost all of her spare time to helping him, so they had no time to investigate the supposed "secret passageway" or try to find out who was hurting the Gryffindors. It took several months for anything to happen at all.
Okay, guys, guess what. There are only three chapters left in this installment of The Story of Jessica Black. I'm in the process of writing year 6, so just let me know if you'd like to see that. I'm so sad, I'm nearly done with this. Three chapters to go!
Nothing of significance happened between Halloween and Christmas, unless you counted Snape giving Seamus Finnigan detention for losing his homework. Seamus returned from scrubbing the dungeon floor late one night, just before the holidays. Jessica, Ron, Harry, and Hermione were still up, trying to finish the last bit of homework the teachers had squeezed in before the holiday. They looked up when Seamus came in, covered from head to foot in grime.
"What did Snape do to you, Seamus?" asked Harry.
"Did he make you swim through a vat of old porcupine guts?" Ron asked, slightly laughing.
"I had to scour the floor until he thought it was clean," Seamus gasped. "I don't think that floor had been cleaned in centuries before tonight!"
"I'd take a shower before I went to bed, Seamus," said Jessica.
"You don't think I've tried? The teachers won't lapse on the curfew! I'll just . . . wipe myself clean," he said, and began to trudge up to his bedroom.
"Poor Seamus," said Hermione as he was out of earshot, "If he'd stayed a bit longer, I would have taught him a Scouring Charm."
Harry, Ron, and Jessica closed their copies of "Unfogging the Future," and began to compare star charts. Hermione rolled her eyes and closed her Arithmancy book. She climbed the stairs.
"I'm going to bed," she said in a very haughty voice. Ron and Harry laughed.
"Haven't heard her talk like that since first year," said Ron.
"I know," said Harry, "I was starting to think just how nice it had gotten."
Jessica yawned. "I really have to go to bed now," she said, collecting her papers. "Let's just hope Trelawney thinks these are 'up to par.' Goodnight, all."
She stood, yawned, then began to go up the stairs. Harry stopped her, then nodded to Ron.
Ron got the hint after a moment, although he looked rather confused. "I'll just be off to bed. Goodnight." He picked up his things and headed to the dormitory.
"Goodnight, Ron," said Jessica. She then turned to Harry.
"A moment of peace," said Harry, his fingers brushing her cheek. She smiled.
"We don't seem to get many of those, do we?" she said, lacing her fingers through his.
"I miss them," he said, leaning in.
"Me, too," she said softly as he kissed her. They broke after a moment. Harry ran his hand through her hair, then she said, "Goodnight, Harry." He smiled at her.
"Goodnight, Jessica."
They went up their separate dormitories, both thinking of the other with smiles on their faces.
The next day passed without great event, and as students left to go home, Harry, Ron, Jessica, and Hermione watched them go, as they all had signed up to stay over the holidays. The days until Christmas passed quickly, until the morning dawned bright with a fresh layer of snow on the ground.
"Jessica, Hermione! Wake up, it's Christmas!" Harry and Ron exclaimed, throwing back the drapes on both of the girls' beds. They woke up with a start.
"You're not supposed to be in here!" they said simultaneously. Harry and Ron laughed.
"There's nobody else here," said Harry. That was true. Most of the other students had left, because of the scare with Lavender and Neville. Neville still had not been found. The Professors were searching and waiting day after day, and Lavender had recovered and returned to classes shortly after Halloween. There had been no more attacks since Neville, so it looked as if the extra security was working. Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Jessica had decided to investigate the end of that hallway that night, under cover of the invisibility cloak.
Jessica and Hermione sat up to piles of presents at the end of their beds. They each reached in and grabbed one.
"Ron!" exclaimed Jessica, "I can't believe you got me chocolate. It's the single greatest passion in my life! I'm addicted to it! Thank you so, so much!"
Ron muttered a "you're welcome" as Jessica flung her arms around his neck. Hermione opened her first present - pies from Mrs. Weasley. Jessica, whom Mrs. Weasley had never met, received:
"I can't believe she made you a Weasley sweater!" Ron exclaimed, picking at his own maroon one. Harry was wearing a bottle green one as well. Jessica's was blue.
"I think you've got one, too, Hermione," he said miserably, poking at a lumpy parcel at the foot of Hermione's bed.
Jessica threw a box of Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans onto the bed behind her. She pushed aside a few gifts she knew were from her aunt in North Carolina, and were all candy, and withdrew a long, thin box.
"What on earth?" she asked no one in particular, setting it on her bed.
"I don't know," said Harry.
"Let's open it," said Ron.
Jessica took the top off the box, then began to remove the brown sheets of paper wedged between the box and . . .
"It's a broomstick!" said Jessica.
"It is!" said Ron, pulling it out.
"Wait a minute," said Harry, taking it from Ron and letting it go in midair. It hovered, perfectly balanced, at just the right level for someone to mount. Ron examined the handle.
"That's a Firebolt!" he exclaimed. "How do you get so lucky?"
Jessica shrugged and pulled out a note that had been sent along with it.
Dear Jess,
Happy Christmas! Consider this fourteen years' worth of Christmas gifts from your dear, old Uncle. I trust you and a certain godson of mine would enjoy separate brooms from now on during your little outings. Again, Happy Christmas!
Love,
Sirius
The next present she pulled out was a small, black velvet box.
"That one's from me," said Harry, "Mind, it may not look as grand next to that broomstick."
Jessica smiled at him. "I'm sure I'll love it, whatever it is."
She slowly opened the lid of the box on its hinges. She let out a cry at what was inside. She gently pulled out a thin chain of perfect diamonds, with a silver clasp at the end, made to look like a fairy. Ron and Hermione's jaws dropped. Harry took the bracelet from her.
"I hope you like it," he said sheepishly, placing it around her wrist. He hooked the clasp, and Jessica placed her other hand over his.
"I love it," she said, looking up at him.
"They're all real diamonds," Harry said, still looking at the bracelet, "I ordered this out of one of Mrs. Weasley's 'Witch Weekly's."
Jessica laughed. "I love it, it's the most beautiful thing anyone's ever given me." She hugged Harry and gave him a kiss on the cheek. Ron and Hermione raised their eyebrows.
"Is there something you two aren't telling us?" Ron asked.
Jessica and Harry laughed. They continued opening presents, then the boys left so the girls could get dressed.
"I can't believe it," said Hermione, "You and Harry . . ." She shook her head.
"Maybe now you and Ron could get together," said Jessica.
"Me and Ron? What gave you that idea?"
"Oh, just a guess."
They finished getting dressed then went downstairs. Then the four friends went down to breakfast. There were so few students left that Dumbledore had once again removed all of the tables except one, where everyone else that was there sat. Jessica, Harry, Ron, and Hermione sat at the end. Breakfast passed without great incident, and they spent the rest of the day up in their common room (except mealtimes) playing games and trying, again, to teach Ron and Hermione how to play Spinks.
"It's not near as hard as you're making it, Ron," Jessica said, exasperated.
"I give up," he said, "I'd rather play chess."
"I'm getting rather good at it," said Hermione as one of Harry's cards set off the firework. "Does that mean I've won? Yay!"
"All right," said Harry, annoyed that he kept getting beaten, and checking his watch, "Let's get the cloak and go now."
The common room was deserted by then (it was nearly midnight, and the other nine or ten Gryffindors had gone to sleep), and the four had no trouble getting out. They sneaked down the corridor, and were nearly there when something moved behind them. They stopped and turned, trying to quiet their breathing. Something, or someone, was definitely following them. They remained still for a long time, until they were brave enough to venture forward, retracing their steps. They hadn't gone far when the pale moonlight flowing in through a window down another corridor cast a little bit of light on a figure, huddled on the ground. They took another step closer. What they saw made them throw off the cloak and bend down to the figure on the ground.
"Neville!" exclaimed Jessica when she had identified the bruised and bloody person on the ground.
"Let's get him inside," said Harry. They gently picked him up and carried him into the common room.
They set him down on a couch, and Jessica rubbed the stone on her amulet. She noticed Neville's amulet was gone.
"Neville, can you hear me?" Hermione was asking, trying to get him to open his eyes. "Neville, it's Hermione, can you hear me?" He didn't answer. He lay shivering on the couch until the other members of the Order arrived. Professor Dumbledore threw his cloak over Neville.
"Where did you find him?" he asked.
"Just outside."
"Just now?"
"Yes."
Dumbledore nodded. "We need to get him up to the hospital wing. Minerva, alert Poppy. We're going to need her help here."
McGonagall nodded, and the professors, Remus (who had opted to stay in the headmaster's office), and Sirius all left, leaving Harry, Jessica, Hermione, and Ron alone.
"I don't understand," said Jessica, sitting down on the couch, "Why go through all the trouble of kidnapping Neville, and then just let him go? He could always identify his abductor."
"Not if they used a Memory Charm," said Ron.
"No, even Memory Charms can be broken," said Hermione.
"Then why?" asked Jessica again.
"I don't know," said Harry.
None of them slept that night. It took three days for Neville to be well enough to speak, and even then he said he didn't remember anything.
"All I know is I was hit over the head from behind on Halloween," he said, "Then I woke up in the corridor and it's Christmas."
Term started before they were ready. Neville rejoined classes and tried to catch up as quickly as he could. Hermione devoted almost all of her spare time to helping him, so they had no time to investigate the supposed "secret passageway" or try to find out who was hurting the Gryffindors. It took several months for anything to happen at all.
Okay, guys, guess what. There are only three chapters left in this installment of The Story of Jessica Black. I'm in the process of writing year 6, so just let me know if you'd like to see that. I'm so sad, I'm nearly done with this. Three chapters to go!
