The rest of the term passed quickly. Her classes were interesting, and she felt good about teaching. On weekends, she talked with Stella and Lynne, and watched the inter-house quidditch matches.
As the Christmas holidays drew close, she had exams to prepare for her students. She decided that there would be an essay and a practical part to it.
She worked extra hard to make the necessary potions for the fourth and sixth years, whose exam was not to make their own potion but to fix one that hadn't been properly brewed, such as a step missed. She made sure that the exams were hard enough, but not too hard.
The exams passed quickly for Amy, and by the end, she was exausted. All of the students left for the holidays. Amy had nowhere to go, so she decided to stay at the castle. Stella and Lynne were staying also, saying that Christmas at Salem was beautiful.
They had fun decorating the castle. Amy's candle bubbles were popular, so she made some for the Great Hall, in red and green colours with silver and gold candles inside. Her office was also decorated for the holidays. Around the castle, everlasting icicles, and holly were hung. There were Christmas trees lining the Hall, decorated with various garlands and ornaments. The castle was beautiful.
Amy was looking at her office, at the change since her first day there. in addition to the original decorations, she had hung a Gryffindor banner, to remind her of Hogwarts. She had also hung banners of the four Salem houses: bronze and black for Hippogriff, red and silver for Manticore, green and gold for Dragon, and blue and gold for Chaemera, behind her desk. She had photos of her and her friends at Salem on her walls. The room looked cozier.
She and Stella went Christmas shopping one day when Lynne had work to catch up on. They were strolling down the magical streets in Salem village, when Amy saw a little vendor stall at the end of the street. He was selling small knick knacks and gifts. She had decided before to send Christmas gifts to her family, but hadn't finished her shopping for them yet. She had bought Percy an eagle feather Quick Quotes Quill, and had bought the twins a book on managing joke shops, written by the owner of Zonkos. For Ron, she had sent sweets, and for her father, a beautiful watch, that he could never lose, since Mr Weasley was always losing his watch, and coming home late. Looking at the small stall, she saw a perfect model of a dragon. It was about the size of her hand, and was able to fly about a foot from where it was placed. It wasn't terribly expensive, so she bought it for Charley. For Bill, she bought a penknife with attachments to cut through any muggle made material, unlock any lock, undo any knot, and with a built in watch and compass. Looking around, she found the perfect gift for her mother. It was a ball of yarn that would change colours to suit the knitter's need, and never ran out.
Coming back to the caste, she wrapped the gifts, labelling them clearly and walked up to the Owlery. She enlisted the aid of two barn owls and a brown to send the gifts to their various locations.
She began to walk back to her office to finish up some work. As she rounded a corner, she came face to face with Chris James, professor of Muggle Studies. He was twenty five and extremely handsome. Amy herself had a crush on him, and from what Lynne, his cousin had told her, he liked her too.
Blushing furiously, Amy apologised and made to continue her path, but he stopped her.
"Why do you want to break tradition, Amy?" he asked.
"What tradition?"
"Look up." she looked up and was surprised to see a sprig of mistletoe above them. Turning crimson, she looked back at him,
"So?" In a swift movement, he placed a hand on her waist, and lowered his mouth to hers.
"I like you Amy. I really do."
She was stunned, "I... I like you too Chris."
He laughed. "I've wanted to do that for so long." He kissed her again. "I have to go now," he whisperred, then turned and strode away.
Amy stood there for a moment, then smiled, and ran down to her room, where she collapsed on her bed. She had liked him for so long.
On Christmas morning, she woke up late with a heavy heart. She missed her family so much, remembering how when she was young, she would race down the stairs to open her presents.
Looking to the foot of her bed, she saw a small pile of wrapped parcels.
From Stella, she got a silver necklace with a rainbow coloured star pendant. Amy's heart sank, she had given Lynne and Stella the same necklace in different colours.
From Lynne, she got a charmed charm bracelet. The different charms on it protected her from various poisons.
Tears came to her eyes when she saw that her family had sent her presents. Her mother and father had sent their traditional Weasley sweater, (Green and gold) and home made cookies. Bill had sent her a pair of garnet earrings, and Charley, a pair of amethyst earrings. Fred George and Ron had collectively sent her a bag of trick sweets.
Last there was a small box from Chris. Inside was a beautiful gold locket. Opening it, she saw a small picture of herself, lauging, and a picture of them kissing under mistletoe. She didn't know how he had taken that picture.
She still felt uneasy. She hadn't told her friends her secret. She decided to go now.
She knocked on the door of Lynne's room. Entering, she sat on her bed and shook her friend awake.
"Lynne? Lynne wake up. There's something I need to tell you."
"What is it Amy?" she asked cautiously sitting up.
"Lynne... I'm pregnant." Her friend shot up.
"Whose is it, Chris?"
"No, we haven't slept together yet, but there's something I need to do. Can you tell Stella that I've gone, but don't tell her about this, I'll tell her myself."
"Tell me what?" came a voice from the doorway.
"Stell, I'm.... pregnant." with that, she turned, and walked to Professor Witham's office.
"Er... Professor Witham, I need to ask you a favor."
"What is it, Miss Wright?" the headmistress.
"I need to borrow some Floo Powder. I have to go home today. There's something I need to tell my parents, that I can't write."
"What is it?" the woman asked concerned. "Are you alright?"
"Actually, I'm pregnant. Four months or maybe five."
"Very well. The fireplace is over there." The woman handed her a box.
Amy stepped into the fireplace, and shouted "The BURROW" before vanishing.