Chapter 12: December

The days crept by and layers of snow were starting to cover the Hogwarts grounds. Neville had been released out of the hospital wing two days after being attacked. Madam Pomfrey had said that there had been no damage done, but that he needed to rest a bit. Two weeks before Christmas, notices about the next Hogsmeade trip had been put up.

"I can't wait to go to Hogsmeade, I need to buy so many things," Hermione told her friends as they walked towards the Great Hall for breakfast. It was Friday, and everyone was anxious for the weekend to start so that they could have snowball fights outside on the grounds. There had been a lot of blizzards and now that the weather had calmed down, outside looked absolutely charming: The lake was frozen, most of the snow was untouched, and the trees were covered in the white powder, except for the ones in the middle of the Forbidden Forest.

"I can't wait either, I really want to see the shop Fred and George opened," Ron joined in. "They told me that they've finished repainting the store and that everything is ready to be bought." An evil smile appeared on his face. "I can't wait."

"Uh-oh," Hermione said worriedly. "Everyone better get Ron's good side, before it's too late." There was no doubt Ron was going to find someone to play pranks on with the stuff he'd buy in Fred and George's shop. The four ate breakfast and then joined Dean, Seamus and Neville to go to Transfiguration.

"We will continue to practice turning worms into quills and leaves into parchment. You may start," Professor McGonagall instructed them. Everyone did as they were told and chatter broke out. Transfiguration was a good class to talk while you were practicing spells, so was Charms class.

"I'm gonna take all my money and spend it in the twins' shop," Ron told Harry excitedly.

"Me too," he agreed. "But I do need to get everyone presents, so I'll have to save a bit of money for that." Ron's smile faded.

"Oh yeah, I suppose I'd have to get mum and the rest presents too. Unless… do you think they'd believe I got mugged after I bought stuff from Fred and George?" he asked hopefully.

"I doubt it, they'd probably guess you spent all your money in there."

"I could try… no? Fine, I'll buy every one presents."

"Just think of it this way, Ron," Nora cut in, "When you buy everyone presents you're not really spending your money, 'cause you get presents back, maybe even stuff from Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes."

"Really?" Ron's face lit up, he looked at Harry, who nodded. "Well in that case I'm buying everyone great presents so I get a lot of stuff."

"You do realize we're going to have to buy him everything from that store, so he's not too disappointed, don't you?" Hermione muttered to Nora.

"Yes… I actually didn't think he'd be this excited. Sometimes he's just like a child." They practiced turning worms and leaves into quills and parchment for the rest of class and then made their way to History of Magic. Hermione, of course, began scribbling notes as soon as Professor Binns began to talk about the Troll Massacre in 1742.

"There'll be a Hogwarts Massacre, if he keeps teaching like this," Ron muttered to Harry, who murmured his agreement. Nora looked outside, nothing to see there. She closed her eyes but after five seconds she snapped them open again, frantically looking through the window towards the Forbidden Forest. Nothing. Had she really seen it? Or was this incredibly dull lesson affecting her eyesight. She nudged Harry, who picked his head up off his desk and looked at her sleepily.

"Whazzit?"

"I dunno, but I thought I saw someone walking along the edge of the forest." She whispered.

"Wha'? Probably jus' Hagrid" he laid his head back on his desk. Nora shook him. "What?"

"I don't think it was Hagrid, Hagrid is a lot bigger than the man I saw."

"Well let me see." He leant over her to try and see the man.

"He's gone now, I only noticed I saw him when I had my eyes closed. But he was wearing a cloak and a hood, that I do know." Harry looked at Nora.

"You think it was a Death Eater?" he whispered, being suddenly very alert.

"I'm not sure, but he looked like one." The bell rang and they walked out of class, still whispering about the Death Eater. Hermione and Ron walked behind them confused.

"Will you two tell us what you're being so secretive about?" Hermione asked impatiently as they made their way to lunch. Nora told the other two what she saw.

"How could a Death Eater get in, though? Wouldn't he be spotted by someone?" Hermione asked thoughtfully.

"I dunno, but I'm pretty sure I saw him, the gray colors stood out very clearly against the white snow…" After lunch they had Potions and Care of Magical Creatures.

Nothing exiting happened during either lesson except that Draco had melted his cauldron by accident and he was too agitated, and somehow upset, to explain to Snape how it had happened. Nora gazed intently at the platinum-haired boy, searching him, wanting to catch his eye, but he never once looked at her and somehow she felt disappointed, and guilty. Ever since she'd told Draco that nothing would happen between them, ever, he'd ignored her and acted cruel and merciless towards everyone. After both lessons Hagrid held Harry back and said:

"I've been meanin' ter ask yeh, how'd yeh like yer birthday present?" Harry remembered the photo album he'd received and beamed.

"I loved it," he said honestly. "Thanks Hagrid. It was brilliant." Hagrid smiled, his beady eyes twinkling. He then sighed.

"Ah, they were great folk, yer parents. Sirius, too. Used to help me during me job as gamekeeper, they did." He sighed again. "Great folk. Terrible what happened to 'em." He seemed to be talking more to himself at this point but Harry felt sad, all the same. The four of them said goodbye to Hagrid and then went into the Great Hall for dinner.

"Well, Hagrid certainly was… emotional," Ron said as he piled mashed potatoes on his plate.

"Yes, it must've been terrible for him, too," agreed Hermione. "He knew them pretty well, didn't he? It certainly was awful though…" Harry said nothing. A pang of hurt and sorrow hit him now that he was forced to think of his parents and Godfather again. He got up from the table, said he wasn't hungry and ran out of the Great Hall to his dormitory, where he fell onto his bed, sobbing.

"Great going, Hermione," Ron said acidly. Hermione looked confused.

"What… Ooooh. Oh no, what have I done!" She felt horrible. "It's just… I didn't realize that it was still painful for him and that he minded when we talked about it."

"It's not your fault. I didn't realize either," Nora said.

"You know…" Ron said silently, "He still has nightmares about it all. I can hear him muttering in his sleep sometimes, or tossing and turning." The girls remained quiet and Hermione played with her food, not being able to eat anymore.

The next day it was finally weekend and Draco was walking around the Hogwarts grounds, alone. He couldn't hang out with Crabbe and Goyle because they were pigging out in the kitchens once again and since he had already had lunch an hour ago, he wasn't really that hungry. Pansy and Millicent were out of the question too, because, even though they were somewhat bearable at times, they were talking about girl stuff and didn't want him there, not that he even wanted to be there to hear them gossiping about boys. So now he was walking all alone in the snow, the snow crunching beneath his feet with every step he took. Suddenly he heard people laughing and shouting. He looked up and a bit ahead to the right were Harry, Hermione, Nora, Ron, Ginny, Seamus and Dean having a major snowball fight. For a minute Draco thought about joining, but then, looking at Potter and Weasley he decided it was better not to. Besides, he wanted nothing to do with them, especially not with… her. He began walking again, when all of a sudden he received a snowball square in the face.

"Hey! What the -?" He shouted angrily wiping the snow off his face, but when he saw Nora walking over to him his expression softened and his heart melted, no matter how hard he tried to scowl at her and act indifferent.

"Hi!" She said breathlessly. Her cheeks were rosy colored and her hair was tangled with snow. "You wanna join us?"

"Uhm… No, I don't think I should," he answered her, trying hard not to care and eyeing the four boys who were looking over at him, expressionlessly.

"Oh, come on, they won't mind," she said following his gaze, "Hermione and Ginny want you to join too, and the others, well, I don't really care what they think." Draco hesitated, but before he could say anything Nora had grabbed wrist and dragged him over to the others. As soon as they reached them the boys began pelting him with snowballs. The three girls took this as a challenge and made it guys vs. girls, with Draco on the female half, though that of course meant absolutely nothing… ahem.

They had a wonderful day, just throwing snowballs at each other. After a while they had grown tired though and as it wasn't time for dinner yet, they sat down on a blanket, which Hermione had brought along, and talked. Draco was actually quite enjoying himself and Nora thanked Merlin that the other boys noticed that he was actually quite nice, though to them he would always remain a Slytherin.

"Finally, time for dinner, I'm totally starving," Ginny grumbled, getting up. The others followed her example and the group walked over to the Great Hall, saying "Goodbye," to Draco as they walked over to the Gryffindor table.

"See? He's not as bad as you think," Nora told the boys, who just shrugged, clearly not wanting to agree with her on that subject.

Next Saturday was a Hogsmeade day and Ron was literally jumping up and down, telling the others to hurry up while they were walking towards the magical village.

"Ron, will you please calm down, you're acting like Colin Creevy," Harry told his best friend. Hermione and Nora sniggered while Ron slightly calmed down, looking very offended. But that didn't take very long

"I'll race you guys! Last one there has to spend the whole of tomorrow with Trelawny!" He shouted as he started running ahead. The others chuckled and looked at each other, then they sprinting after Ron. The four reached the entrance to Hogsmeade pretty much together, all out of breath.

"Thank god none of us has to spend the day with Trelawny," Hermione said, almost pleadingly, as they entered the village, mainly because she'd been last. They went around shopping for Christmas presents and finally they reached Fred and George's store. It was packed.

"Oi, Ron, over here!" George shouted, sighting the four.

"Wow, this place is loaded with stuff!" Ron exclaimed in aw, the others agreed.

"Yeah, we're making a big load of cash, especially around Christmas," Fred told them.

"Excuse me?" a very old man had made his way through the students and tapped George on the shoulder. The man was quite tall with very long silver hair. His beard grew passed his belt. He had half-moon spectacles and a glint in his eye that Harry knew all to well.

"May I help you, sir?" George asked him.

"Yes, I'm looking for something to give to my brother, it's been a long time since I've seen him, and I was looking for a… prank of some sort." George grinned.

"You'll love this." He grabbed a pair of gloves and showed them to the man. "These are Hand-Switchers. You give these to your brother, and the second he puts them on, his hands switch places. He'll have to get used to writing with his left arm, but right hand." The old man looked at them in aw.

"He'll love it, I'll take them," he said beaming, and he followed George to the cash register.

"Business is simply booming," Fred continued. "So, are you guys buying anything?"

"Are you kidding?" Ron told him "I'm spending most of my money here!"

"Yeah, me too," Harry agreed, the two girls nodded smiling. Ron talked to his two brothers a bit more, and Hermione and Nora took the chance to walk around the store and buy things for Ron, as they knew he was hoping to get a lot of prank items for Christmas, like they had told him he would. The four bought a ton of stuff and then said goodbye to the twins, who were beaming at all of the customers in their shop.

"So, should we go to the Three Broomsticks and warm up?" Nora asked her friends.

"Oh, well I already agreed with Parvati to meet her at Zonko's and go shopping with her," Harry said awkwardly, not looking at her.

"Er… and I agreed to meet up with Lavender," Ron said, staring at his shoes. Nora turned to Hermione hopefully, but saw the look on her face.

"I'm so sorry, but Terry asked me to shop for presents with him; he never knows what to buy."

"It's ok," Nora said trying to sound casual. Her friends all headed in different directions and she walked towards the Three Broomsticks all by herself, feeling horrible. 'I'm probably the only one without a date. I can't believe they didn't even tell me they had other plans, too. Maybe I can find Ginny.' But just then Ginny came walking by with Colin Creevy. 'Figures.' She walked into the cozy bar by herself and went over to the counter to order a Butterbeer. Madam Rosmerta smiled at her sweetly as she gave Nora her drink and then walked off to help other costumers. The place was decorated with three large Christmas trees, and fairies were fluttering above people's heads, weaving in and out of the Gold and Silver banners that were hung up. Nora sat down at a table by the window and saw Dean walk in, by himself. 'Just as long as he doesn't come over here and brag about Crystal-Rose… or come over at all,' she thought, filled with hate, anger but most of all sadness. Unfortunately Dean did walk over to her, clutching a Butterbeer tightly in his right hand, not looking her straight in the eyes.

"Hi, mind if I join you?" he asked her quietly. 'Yes.'

"No, go ahead."

"Are you still mad at me?" 'Yes.'

"No, of course not."

"Are you sure?" 'No.'

"Of course I'm sure."

"Ok then," he looked outside. 'Stupid prick.'

"So… I found Crystal snogging a seventh year Slytherin yesterday." 'Serves you right.'

"I'm sorry to hear that."

"Are you really?" 'No.'

"Yes." Dean looked Nora straight in the eyes. His were filled full of pain and regret, and all of a sudden she did feel sorry for him. It's not as if he had cheated on her. At least he'd had the decency to tell her that he liked someone else, and wanted to see if it would work out between him and Crystal. Her iciness immediately disappeared and she rubbed his arm, which was lying on the table.

"I'm really sorry, you didn't deserve that at all," she told him.

"At least now I can hear that you mean it. I'm so sorry if I ever hurt your feelings… But… I noticed only a few days after I broke up with you that I had made the wrong decision. I just didn't think you'd want me back anymore. After I had dumped you for that… thing." Nora laughed and kissed his cheek. Dean looked her in the eyes and leant forward. He planted his lips on hers and gave her a passionate kiss, which she returned. They broke apart, grabbed their Butterbeers and hurried outside, walking up the street. Dean put his arm around Nora's waist and she did the same thing, with a smile on her face. They ran into Colin Creevey a bit later, Ginny was nowhere in sight, and he insisted on taking a picture.

"Excuse me… Silence please…" said Dumbeldore, who was standing up and was waiting for everyone to turn silent, shushing them with his hands, which seemed to be on the wrong arms. "Now, before we start dinner, I have a little announcement to make. I am pleased to say that my brother, Aberforth, has finally decided to pay visit me and will be staying at Hogwarts during the vacation." Dumbledore beckoned to someone standing in the doorway, and the old man the Gryffindor four had seen in Fred and George's store, walked forward. Every one started clapping. "Now, dig in!" Dumbledore added, then he began chatting merrily with his brother, trying to hold his knife and fork steady with his switched hands.

"They certainly do look a lot like each other," Hermione said.

"Yeah," Dean agreed, who was sitting next to Nora and holding her hand. "I wonder if they're gonna use that to fool and confuse all of us students. Fred and George used to do it all the time,"

"I know. They'd pretend they were the other and confuse you completely," Ron told them. "They still do that, actually," he added thoughtfully.

After dinner they went upstairs. "Oh, wait, Harry, before I forget, mum wrote a letter and said that I was to invite you to come over during Christmas break, you two too," he added looking at Nora and Hermione. Harry smiled and was glad he would be going to the Burrow for Christmas. Nora kissed Dean goodbye and walked with Hermione to their common room.

"I can't wait till Christmas. I really want to see the Burrow again," Nora said to her friend, who was looking worried. "Wait, what's wrong?"

"Well, I don't think we're going to the Burrow, that's not safe for Harry."

"You mean we're gonna go to Sirius' house? But that would kill Harry!"

"I know." They walked into their common room, and found Terry and Draco sitting there talking, the two girls joined them, but they remained worried and kept getting lost in their own thoughts.