Episode Thirteen

            With her mother gone Gwen began to formulate a plan. If Gabby, Chris and Graves had been such good friends to her in the dream then perhaps they could still be good friends to her at Hogwarts. Harry was fantastic, but sometimes Gwen wished she could just lean up against Graves and chant or throw a pillow at Gabs.

            She spent the rest of holiday trying to figure out a way to introduce herself. She was truly surprised that she had never noticed them in any of her previous stays at Hogwarts. They all looked exactly like they did in the dream, except here they were a bit younger.

            In the meantime Gwen spent most of her time with Harry. There were to be no more adventures with him, but they spent most of their vacation in the common room, chatting in a quiet corner sharing their thoughts on her past and everything her mother had done.

            "I just can't believe it. Everything I know about the college world was a dream, a figment of my mother's imagination. It's so hard to even fathom."

            "I'm glad that you're here to stay though." He said, his fingers grazing the top of her hand.

            Gwen wasn't certain what direction her relationship with Harry was heading. In the dream world she'd had plenty of guy friends that she cuddled with and held hands. It was just comfortable that way. But with Harry it was different. There was a deeper feeling than just friendly affection in place there.

            They smiled at each other for awhile. "Want to go flying?" Harry asked. "It's really nice with the snow dancing all about."

            "Yeah." She said. She ran downstairs to pick up her broom, a nice Cleansweep Eight that she'd received as a birthday present from her Aunt Ann and Uncle George. She'd always liked them, especially after her lengthy visit to them in her youth.

            She found that many of the memories her mother had tried to bury were now swimming to the surface and she was trying to place them in a sort of context. Some of them were confusing, and out of step with her current picture of her life, she slid those into a mental filing cabinet labeled: confused.

            She shook the thought away grabbed her broom and ran up to meet Harry. They walked down to the Quidditch field slowly, enjoying the nip of the wind and the masses of swirling snow. As it tumbled to the ground it made a crisp sound, as if it were ice hitting dead leaves strewn about the great lawns of Hogwarts. It was enchanting.

            They kicked off the ground and rose high above the field, soaring around singing Christmas carols and Hanukkah songs at the top of their lungs. Gwen could only be thankful that this was her world.

Life here was good.