Chapter 8 – In which Christmas comes to Hogwarts
Christmas was fast approaching. One morning in mid-December the lake had frozen solid. McGonagall had come round the week before with a sign-up sheet for anyone staying at Hogwarts during the holidays. Willow and Hermione had both put their names down but Sam said she was going home so she could catch two weeks of Sydney summer.
Willow, Hermione and Sam had of course heard about the Quidditch match. It was all anyone had talked about for weeks afterwards. The three girls were rather indifferent to it all. They still hated Potter and Weasley but usually avoided the two boys as much as possible. Apparently Weasley had other plans though. He picked fights with Hermione, Willow and Sam almost as much as he fought with Draco. Weasley had also somehow found out that Sam's parents were divorced and liked to rub it in her face whenever he was feeling particularly vengeful.
Sam, Willow and Hermione were walking out of Potions the day before the holidays started when they saw Hagrid carrying a tree and Snape taking points away from Gryffindor because of Weasley. "I'll get him," said Weasley, "one of these days, I'll get him."
"I hate them both," added Potter, "Malfoy and Snape."
"Hey leave Draco alone," Hermione said as the girls approached.
"Well if it isn't the Malfoy cheer squad," Potter muttered.
Sam wasn't paying attention to the "conversation" but whirled around when she heard Weasley sneer, "At least I have parents who love each other and managed to stay married."
"How DARE you!" Sam would've jumped on Weasley then if Willow and Hermione hadn't grabbed hold of her robes.
Hagrid decided that it was time to intervene. "Come on, don't fight, it's nearly Christmas," he said. "Tell yeh what, come with me an' see the Great Hall, looks a treat."
So the five of them followed Hagrid to the Great Hall and stood in awe when they saw the decorations. Willow, Sam and Hermione walked slowly to the centre of the hall and stood there staring at the decorations while Hagrid spoke to Potter and Weasley.
"Wow..." Hermione murmured, breaking the silence that had engulfed them when they entered the hall, as Hagrid joined them.
"So I s'pose yeh three are all going home for Christmas?" he asked.
"No just me," said Sam, "these two are staying here."
"Really? Then you two will have to come down an' see me one day."
Willow grinned. "Don't worry Hagrid. We will."
"What are you girls going to do now?"
"We were gonna go to the library," replied Hermione.
"Library? Bit keen aren't yeh?"
"Oh we're not working," said Sam, as they walked out of the hall, "Just doing some reading."
Hagrid smiled. He had found out that all three girls loved reading. "See you later Hagrid," Willow called as they walked to the library.
Willow, Hermione and Sam were sitting comfortably with their books near the Restricted Section when they saw Potter and Weasley walk over, standing there simply looking at the Restricted Section. "What are they doing in here?" Willow whispered. "They never come in here."
Hermione and Sam shrugged. The three girls watched as Potter and Weasley looked at the Restricted Section. They continued watching as Madam Pince got rid of Potter and Weasley. "Well that was peculiar," said Hermione.
"Agreed." Sam and Willow nodded their heads.
Hermione and Sam went back to the books they were reading. Willow frowned in thought, trying to figure out Potter and Weasley's strange behaviour, but then shrugged before also immersing herself in her book.
When Willow woke up on Christmas morning she was excited to see a small pile of presents at the end of her bed. Being Jewish, Willow had only ever gotten a Christmas present from Xander. "Hermione wake up!" Willow didn't have to worry about the other girls in her dorm as Lavender and Parvati had both gone home.
Hermione woke up and spotted her presents. "Merry Christmas Will," she said happily.
"You too Herm," Willow replied as she grabbed the first present, which happened to be from Sam. Hermione had also picked up her present from Sam. Willow and Hermione burst out laughing at the same time.
The first part of their presents was the same. A photo frame with three photos in it. "Typical Sam," said Willow, as she and Hermione showed each other the photos. Sam had developed an obsession of taking photos of people while they were eating. She had quite a collection of Willow and Hermione stuffing their faces with food. Hermione and Willow had taken their revenge by once or twice catching Sam with her mouth full.
And so the frames had photos of Willow, Hermione and Sam all eating. The rest of the present included a book and a bookmark Sam had made herself.
"I miss Sam," said Willow.
"So do I," Hermione said, "I wish she could be here now."
"Yeah... but I understand why she would go home. I mean besides seeing her family. It'd have to be hard going to school in England and therefore ending up with two winters and no summer."
"True. But she said she would send us an owl today. Now come on it's Christmas. Let's get back to these presents."
Willow had gotten a set of quills and different coloured inks and a pretty journal from Hermione, Draco had sent a large box of chocolate and lollies and Lavender and Parvati had both sent cards. Xander's was the last present she opened. Inside was a plain blue frame with a photo of Willow and Xander in it and a plain blue bracelet that had Willow written on it.
Hermione looked at the photo. "Is this Xander?" she asked. Willow nodded. "He's a cutie."
"I know," sighed Willow.
Hermione grinned. "You like him don't you?"
"No!" Willow protested but then relented. "Yeah. But he only sees me as a friend. Besides I think he has a crush on Buffy."
"What makes you say that?"
"Just the way he writes about her. Come on let's go have breakfast."
Later that day Willow and Hermione received a barrage of owls while they were talking about how they usually spent Christmas. Willow placed the five letters on the table and picked up the top one. "It's from Xander," she said as she immediately recognised his writing.
"Read it out loud," said Hermione, "I wonder if he's found out anything else about Buffy and her apparent need to find information on magic."
Willow nodded and read:
Hey Will!
How's Christmas over there in tweed county? I miss having you here in Sunny- D. I have no one to do my Snoopy dance for. And thanks heaps for those potions. I'm planning on trying out that pimples one when we go back to school. It's bound to send Queen C cuckoo.
About Buffy. I haven't caught her looing for magic stuff again but I reckon she still is. I think you and your friends might be right about the witch thing though. What was it you said she might be? A squib? That would make sense if she couldn't do magic but still wanted to know about it.
Anyway I got to go now. I'll keep you posted. Write soon.
Xander
"What potions is he talking about?" asked Hermione.
"I made some potions that Xander could use to pull pranks on people and sent them to him for Christmas."
"You didn't."
"Well he's a guy and I was having trouble trying to think what to give him. Besides he's been pestering me about it since I found out I'm a witch."
Hermione decided to just let it go and picked up the next letter. It was addressed to both of them and was obviously from Sam. She opened the letter and cleared her throat.
Hey guys!
I bet you two have been waiting anxiously all day for this. Hehe. Miss me yet? I wish you guys were here.
I've spent the last five days lapping up the sun. I hadn't realised how much I missed Sydney and summer till I got here. One day you two will have to come here with me.
Have you been down to see Hagrid? Next time you see him make sure you say hi for me. Oh! And I have to say this. Draco is my hero! My present was a box filled with chocolate. So much better than what you two gave me. Nah I'm just kidding.
Anyway I'll tell you about presents, etc. when I get back. I don't have time now since I'm about to go to Mum's. See you soon!
Love Sam
Willow smiled and rolled at her friend. "So what have we got left?" she inquired.
Hermione picked up the last three envelopes. "These two are from our parents," replied Hermione as she handed one to Willow. "And I think this might be from Hagrid."
She opened it and quickly scanned the note. "We're invited for lunch on Sunday."
"Oh good. I'll write a reply while you read your letter."
The next few days passed quickly and it was soon lunch time on Sunday. Willow and Hermione arrived at Hagrid's hut and heard yelling inside. They frowned at each other and stepped closer to listen to what was being said.
"Please Hagrid; just tell us who Nicholas Flamel is!"
"Is that Potter?" Willow whispered. Hermione nodded and knocked on the door. The shouting stopped and the door opened, revealing Hagrid with Potter and Weasley in the background.
"Willow, Hermione, how good to see yeh," boomed Hagrid in delight, "come in, come in."
"Hello Hagrid," said Willow, "how have you been?"
"Oh I've been good enough. What about you two? Enjoying yer holidays?"
"Loving them," replied Hermione. "Oh and Sam told us to say hi."
"How is Samantha? Having fun in Australia?"
"She loves being back in the sun."
Willow looked over at Potter and Weasley, who were whispering to each other, and asked, "So Hagrid, who's Nicholas Flamel?"
Hagrid looked startled. "Don't tell me you want to know now as well, because I'm not goin' ter tell-"
"Oh we don't care who he is," Hermione interrupted him, "it's just that those two over there seem desperate to know who he is and that made us curious."
"Hey stay out of our business," said Potter.
"We weren't trying to get in it," replied Willow. "Jeez calm down already."
Potter and Weasley glared at the two girls. "We'll come back tomorrow Hagrid," Weasley said. They left and Willow and Hermione sat down.
"Well that was strange," said Hermione.
"Those two just keep getting weirder," added Willow.
"What are you talking about?" asked Hagrid as he set a pot of tea on the table and sat down.
"Potter and Weasley. On the last day of term we saw them staring at the Restricted Section in the library. They weren't doing anything, just looking at it."
Hagrid frowned but let it pass as Willow and Hermione began to tell him how they had been spending their holidays.
Over the next week Hermione and Willow spent their time either in the library, the Gryffindor common room, or when it wasn't snowing, outside playing in the snow. A couple of times the two girls had been able to scrounge up enough people from other houses for a snowball fight. Even when they couldn't Willow and Hermione had made snowmen, snow angels or held their own mini snowball fights.
The day before term started, Sam returned. The three girls spent at least two hours catching up on everything that had been happening. Sam was curious about who Nicholas Flamel was and why Potter and Weasley wanted to know about him. She decided to send an owl to both her mum and dad to see if they knew who Flamel was.
About an hour before dinner Willow, Hermione and Sam were strolling through the halls of Hogwarts when they came across Dumbledore outside an unused classroom. "Good evening Professor," said Willow politely.
"Good evening girls," Dumbledore replied. "I trust you all had good holidays?"
"We did," Hermione said. "But what about you Professor? Did you get what you wanted for Christmas?"
"Sadly no. I wanted a nice pair of socks but again I was given books."
"That's a shame," commented Sam. "Perhaps you'll have more luck next year."
"Indeed perhaps I will. Good night girls."
"Good night Professor Dumbledore."
Dumbledore left them and Willow, Sam and Hermione continued roaming the halls. "You know what we should do?" Sam said.
Hermione and Willow glanced at each other. "No, what?" replied Willow.
"We should get Dumbledore a pack of socks for Christmas next year."
Willow and Hermione burst out laughing as they nodded their heads in agreement. The three friends continued to the Great Hall for dinner, all laughing but not quite sure what about.
Christmas was fast approaching. One morning in mid-December the lake had frozen solid. McGonagall had come round the week before with a sign-up sheet for anyone staying at Hogwarts during the holidays. Willow and Hermione had both put their names down but Sam said she was going home so she could catch two weeks of Sydney summer.
Willow, Hermione and Sam had of course heard about the Quidditch match. It was all anyone had talked about for weeks afterwards. The three girls were rather indifferent to it all. They still hated Potter and Weasley but usually avoided the two boys as much as possible. Apparently Weasley had other plans though. He picked fights with Hermione, Willow and Sam almost as much as he fought with Draco. Weasley had also somehow found out that Sam's parents were divorced and liked to rub it in her face whenever he was feeling particularly vengeful.
Sam, Willow and Hermione were walking out of Potions the day before the holidays started when they saw Hagrid carrying a tree and Snape taking points away from Gryffindor because of Weasley. "I'll get him," said Weasley, "one of these days, I'll get him."
"I hate them both," added Potter, "Malfoy and Snape."
"Hey leave Draco alone," Hermione said as the girls approached.
"Well if it isn't the Malfoy cheer squad," Potter muttered.
Sam wasn't paying attention to the "conversation" but whirled around when she heard Weasley sneer, "At least I have parents who love each other and managed to stay married."
"How DARE you!" Sam would've jumped on Weasley then if Willow and Hermione hadn't grabbed hold of her robes.
Hagrid decided that it was time to intervene. "Come on, don't fight, it's nearly Christmas," he said. "Tell yeh what, come with me an' see the Great Hall, looks a treat."
So the five of them followed Hagrid to the Great Hall and stood in awe when they saw the decorations. Willow, Sam and Hermione walked slowly to the centre of the hall and stood there staring at the decorations while Hagrid spoke to Potter and Weasley.
"Wow..." Hermione murmured, breaking the silence that had engulfed them when they entered the hall, as Hagrid joined them.
"So I s'pose yeh three are all going home for Christmas?" he asked.
"No just me," said Sam, "these two are staying here."
"Really? Then you two will have to come down an' see me one day."
Willow grinned. "Don't worry Hagrid. We will."
"What are you girls going to do now?"
"We were gonna go to the library," replied Hermione.
"Library? Bit keen aren't yeh?"
"Oh we're not working," said Sam, as they walked out of the hall, "Just doing some reading."
Hagrid smiled. He had found out that all three girls loved reading. "See you later Hagrid," Willow called as they walked to the library.
Willow, Hermione and Sam were sitting comfortably with their books near the Restricted Section when they saw Potter and Weasley walk over, standing there simply looking at the Restricted Section. "What are they doing in here?" Willow whispered. "They never come in here."
Hermione and Sam shrugged. The three girls watched as Potter and Weasley looked at the Restricted Section. They continued watching as Madam Pince got rid of Potter and Weasley. "Well that was peculiar," said Hermione.
"Agreed." Sam and Willow nodded their heads.
Hermione and Sam went back to the books they were reading. Willow frowned in thought, trying to figure out Potter and Weasley's strange behaviour, but then shrugged before also immersing herself in her book.
When Willow woke up on Christmas morning she was excited to see a small pile of presents at the end of her bed. Being Jewish, Willow had only ever gotten a Christmas present from Xander. "Hermione wake up!" Willow didn't have to worry about the other girls in her dorm as Lavender and Parvati had both gone home.
Hermione woke up and spotted her presents. "Merry Christmas Will," she said happily.
"You too Herm," Willow replied as she grabbed the first present, which happened to be from Sam. Hermione had also picked up her present from Sam. Willow and Hermione burst out laughing at the same time.
The first part of their presents was the same. A photo frame with three photos in it. "Typical Sam," said Willow, as she and Hermione showed each other the photos. Sam had developed an obsession of taking photos of people while they were eating. She had quite a collection of Willow and Hermione stuffing their faces with food. Hermione and Willow had taken their revenge by once or twice catching Sam with her mouth full.
And so the frames had photos of Willow, Hermione and Sam all eating. The rest of the present included a book and a bookmark Sam had made herself.
"I miss Sam," said Willow.
"So do I," Hermione said, "I wish she could be here now."
"Yeah... but I understand why she would go home. I mean besides seeing her family. It'd have to be hard going to school in England and therefore ending up with two winters and no summer."
"True. But she said she would send us an owl today. Now come on it's Christmas. Let's get back to these presents."
Willow had gotten a set of quills and different coloured inks and a pretty journal from Hermione, Draco had sent a large box of chocolate and lollies and Lavender and Parvati had both sent cards. Xander's was the last present she opened. Inside was a plain blue frame with a photo of Willow and Xander in it and a plain blue bracelet that had Willow written on it.
Hermione looked at the photo. "Is this Xander?" she asked. Willow nodded. "He's a cutie."
"I know," sighed Willow.
Hermione grinned. "You like him don't you?"
"No!" Willow protested but then relented. "Yeah. But he only sees me as a friend. Besides I think he has a crush on Buffy."
"What makes you say that?"
"Just the way he writes about her. Come on let's go have breakfast."
Later that day Willow and Hermione received a barrage of owls while they were talking about how they usually spent Christmas. Willow placed the five letters on the table and picked up the top one. "It's from Xander," she said as she immediately recognised his writing.
"Read it out loud," said Hermione, "I wonder if he's found out anything else about Buffy and her apparent need to find information on magic."
Willow nodded and read:
Hey Will!
How's Christmas over there in tweed county? I miss having you here in Sunny- D. I have no one to do my Snoopy dance for. And thanks heaps for those potions. I'm planning on trying out that pimples one when we go back to school. It's bound to send Queen C cuckoo.
About Buffy. I haven't caught her looing for magic stuff again but I reckon she still is. I think you and your friends might be right about the witch thing though. What was it you said she might be? A squib? That would make sense if she couldn't do magic but still wanted to know about it.
Anyway I got to go now. I'll keep you posted. Write soon.
Xander
"What potions is he talking about?" asked Hermione.
"I made some potions that Xander could use to pull pranks on people and sent them to him for Christmas."
"You didn't."
"Well he's a guy and I was having trouble trying to think what to give him. Besides he's been pestering me about it since I found out I'm a witch."
Hermione decided to just let it go and picked up the next letter. It was addressed to both of them and was obviously from Sam. She opened the letter and cleared her throat.
Hey guys!
I bet you two have been waiting anxiously all day for this. Hehe. Miss me yet? I wish you guys were here.
I've spent the last five days lapping up the sun. I hadn't realised how much I missed Sydney and summer till I got here. One day you two will have to come here with me.
Have you been down to see Hagrid? Next time you see him make sure you say hi for me. Oh! And I have to say this. Draco is my hero! My present was a box filled with chocolate. So much better than what you two gave me. Nah I'm just kidding.
Anyway I'll tell you about presents, etc. when I get back. I don't have time now since I'm about to go to Mum's. See you soon!
Love Sam
Willow smiled and rolled at her friend. "So what have we got left?" she inquired.
Hermione picked up the last three envelopes. "These two are from our parents," replied Hermione as she handed one to Willow. "And I think this might be from Hagrid."
She opened it and quickly scanned the note. "We're invited for lunch on Sunday."
"Oh good. I'll write a reply while you read your letter."
The next few days passed quickly and it was soon lunch time on Sunday. Willow and Hermione arrived at Hagrid's hut and heard yelling inside. They frowned at each other and stepped closer to listen to what was being said.
"Please Hagrid; just tell us who Nicholas Flamel is!"
"Is that Potter?" Willow whispered. Hermione nodded and knocked on the door. The shouting stopped and the door opened, revealing Hagrid with Potter and Weasley in the background.
"Willow, Hermione, how good to see yeh," boomed Hagrid in delight, "come in, come in."
"Hello Hagrid," said Willow, "how have you been?"
"Oh I've been good enough. What about you two? Enjoying yer holidays?"
"Loving them," replied Hermione. "Oh and Sam told us to say hi."
"How is Samantha? Having fun in Australia?"
"She loves being back in the sun."
Willow looked over at Potter and Weasley, who were whispering to each other, and asked, "So Hagrid, who's Nicholas Flamel?"
Hagrid looked startled. "Don't tell me you want to know now as well, because I'm not goin' ter tell-"
"Oh we don't care who he is," Hermione interrupted him, "it's just that those two over there seem desperate to know who he is and that made us curious."
"Hey stay out of our business," said Potter.
"We weren't trying to get in it," replied Willow. "Jeez calm down already."
Potter and Weasley glared at the two girls. "We'll come back tomorrow Hagrid," Weasley said. They left and Willow and Hermione sat down.
"Well that was strange," said Hermione.
"Those two just keep getting weirder," added Willow.
"What are you talking about?" asked Hagrid as he set a pot of tea on the table and sat down.
"Potter and Weasley. On the last day of term we saw them staring at the Restricted Section in the library. They weren't doing anything, just looking at it."
Hagrid frowned but let it pass as Willow and Hermione began to tell him how they had been spending their holidays.
Over the next week Hermione and Willow spent their time either in the library, the Gryffindor common room, or when it wasn't snowing, outside playing in the snow. A couple of times the two girls had been able to scrounge up enough people from other houses for a snowball fight. Even when they couldn't Willow and Hermione had made snowmen, snow angels or held their own mini snowball fights.
The day before term started, Sam returned. The three girls spent at least two hours catching up on everything that had been happening. Sam was curious about who Nicholas Flamel was and why Potter and Weasley wanted to know about him. She decided to send an owl to both her mum and dad to see if they knew who Flamel was.
About an hour before dinner Willow, Hermione and Sam were strolling through the halls of Hogwarts when they came across Dumbledore outside an unused classroom. "Good evening Professor," said Willow politely.
"Good evening girls," Dumbledore replied. "I trust you all had good holidays?"
"We did," Hermione said. "But what about you Professor? Did you get what you wanted for Christmas?"
"Sadly no. I wanted a nice pair of socks but again I was given books."
"That's a shame," commented Sam. "Perhaps you'll have more luck next year."
"Indeed perhaps I will. Good night girls."
"Good night Professor Dumbledore."
Dumbledore left them and Willow, Sam and Hermione continued roaming the halls. "You know what we should do?" Sam said.
Hermione and Willow glanced at each other. "No, what?" replied Willow.
"We should get Dumbledore a pack of socks for Christmas next year."
Willow and Hermione burst out laughing as they nodded their heads in agreement. The three friends continued to the Great Hall for dinner, all laughing but not quite sure what about.
