Chapter 10
That December came all too soon. Diana told a few people about her birthday, which was the nineteenth. Most of the school was going home for the holidays. Draco frowned when Diana said she was staying at Hogwarts.
"Too bad Mother and Father already reserved us a place without enough rooms for someone to join us. I don't think they'd want me bringing a girl to room with me," said Draco.
"I'll be fine, mate. Enjoy your holidays," said Diana, grinning.
"I'll try," said Draco.
He hugged Diana good-bye, then left the castle. Diana watched him go all the way out the castle doors as she stood in that same spot.
She got birthday presents from what seemed like every Slytherin. Odd, she'd only told three or four about her birthday in the first place. Draco had sent her a box full of sweets from Japan, where he was apparently vacationing. They were all frozen, but good nonetheless. Blaise sent her a necklace that sang whatever song the person who was wearing it thought of.
A Gryffindor girl named Lindsay Lupin, who rather liked Harry Potter, gave her a silver wolf bracelet. Percy gave her a card with a sickle in it. Fred and George gave her a music box that wouldn't shut. Fred gave her 144 kisses, since that was the square of her age. She wondered if he expected to get 196 in April.
Almost everyone she walked by wished her a happy birthday. She wondered how they all knew. Draco had probably announced it when she wasn't paying attention. After dinner, she got a cake with the Slytherin crest drawn on it. The candles were small candy snakes with fire for tongues.
When she blew them out, they became perfectly still. They were rice-flavored, and her little piece of cake was kiwi-flavored. She wondered if it had been made from real kiwi, but she didn't think on it too much. She gave a piece of cake to Fred, George, Percy, Ron, Harry, Lindsay, and a few random people who had wished her a happy birthday earlier.
"Fred's piece is massive," complained Harry. The Weasley brothers snickered, and Harry and Lindsay nodded. Fred gave Diana part of his piece. She ate it out of his hand, and there was a collective snicker at the table.
Harry smiled as if thinking Diana and Fred made a cute couple. Lindsay looked at Harry for a minute, but looked back at Diana and Fred as if deciding not to do something. Diana blushed, and Fred gave her the 144th kiss on her left cheek. Then, they played the random word game.
"Kidney!" Fred started.
"Billywig!" said Diana.
"Cow!" said Ron.
"Parkinson!" said Lindsay, and the group laughed.
"Jarvey!" said George.
"Lion!" said Harry.
"Quidditch!" said George.
"Bludger," said Diana.
And the game went on for what seemed like ages. Diana ultimately won, as usual. Fred and George were close, but they said "Dragon" at the same time. Fred, George, and Diana went out onto the grounds, which were covered in snow. Fred and George bewitched snowballs to bounce off of Quirrell's turban. Then, they got in a snowfort Diana was making.
They made a couch out of snow and sat on it. It was oddly comfortable for snow furniture. Diana shared some of her frozen Pocky with Fred and George. Professor McGonagall took Fred and George away to punish them for disturbing Professor Quirrell. Even she seemed to find it amusing, though. She was holding back laughter while she scolded them.
Diana had indeed had a happy birthday. She went to her dormitory alone. Only two other Slytherins stayed at Hogwarts, neither in Diana's year. Diana listened to the music from her music box, which got softer and lulled her to sleep.
Six days later, Christmas came. It was much different than it had been at the Burrow. Diana got many more presents than usual. Many Slytherins sent in gifts. Marcus Flint sent her a model of everyone on the Slytherin Quidditch team. Draco sent a kimono and a few Japanese Mangas in it. She couldn't read Japanese that well, but when she translated it with her wand, she figured out that they really had been talking about giant armadillos in hovercrafts. Blaise sent a statuette of Queen Victoria that stood, smiled, and waved.
Lindsay gave her a wolf statuette that growled silently. Fred and George gave Diana a lock that fit perfectly on the music box to close it with. Diana fancied the card that said she'd get the key on her next birthday. Percy sent Diana a dancing prefect doll that amused her.
She watched it all during breakfast. There was another thing that made this Christmas different from the rest. Diana actually got to ear some of the wonderful food prepared for Christmas. That, and Fred and George forced Percy to sit with them. Diana walked over to the Weasleys, Harry, and Lindsay. She sat next to Fred, who was levitating mistletoe over her.
She closed her eyes and locked lips with him. She used her tongue to express her feelings for him, forgetting about everyone else. After what should have been forever...I mean....after a few minutes...they backed away and looked at the other people at the table, who were smiling. Harry took the mistletoe and hung it over Lindsay. Lindsay blushed, but kissed him on the lips. They both backed away after a couple seconds, blushing.
The group of them talked about the wonderful gifts they had received. Percy had only gotten gifts from his mother, Diana, and a Ravenclaw Prefect he really enjoyed talking about. He seemed to value the Ravenclaw Prefect (Penelope)'s present the most, which gave Fred and George an opportunity to tease him.
Diana hoped Draco would like the doll of her that sang opera in her voice while dancing around. She could tell Fred enjoyed his quill that translated everything he wrote into Japanese. He wrote her a very detailed love letter with it, and Diana was glad that Draco had written a translation spell in her Christmas card.
Harry wasn't quite fond of his fake Curse Scar Removal Kit that made his scar actually appear darker. Lindsay seemed to like her painting of a wolf that ran across a field. Diana had painted it herself. Diana sent many people presents, none that were too meaningful. Well, there was the bag of dung that she sent anonymously to Pansy Parkinson. That meant a whole lot.
The subject of conversation somehow went to Harry's amazing skill as a Seeker. It was then Diana realized she was the only Slytherin at the table. This didn't seem to strike anyone else as strange. As a matter of fact, no one else seemed to notice.
Harry talked in an undertone about one of his gifts being an Invisibility Cloak, and how he wondered who it was from. Fred and George asked to borrow it, but Harry didn't let them. Diana was a bit disappointed. Surely if they could borrow it, she would also be able to, but she had her own at home. They just didn't know about it.
Then, Diana started to also wonder who it had been from. She knew it was his father's cloak, because they were very rare. It just didn't calculate in her mind, who might have given it to him. It didn't concern her, though, so she didn't think on it much. She, Fred, and George went to the main corridor to throw snowballs at random passers-by. After awhile, Diana just bewitched a bunch of them to fly at random passers-by and walked away.
She went to the lake, which was frozen over. She walked across the ice carefully, though it was quite thick. She stood in the middle of the lake, enjoying the cold and the silence. It wasn't totally silent. There was still the sound of the wind, but there were no voices to question or irritate her. There was no one to criticize her or feel sorry for her. There was no one else here at all. She stood, absorbing the cold air. She fixed her emerald-colored earmuffs, which went well with her forest green kimono, but she had to wear her robes over it. It was far too cold for just a kimono.
She stood at the lake for awhile before anyone came by. It was Hagrid who finally came by, and he had a scary-looking brown dog with him. Diana blinked at the dog. She looked up at Hagrid, who said,
"Sorry, were yeh lookin' ter be alone?"
"Sort of, but I can leave."
"No. Yeh can stay. I have a hut I can go ter."
"Very well. Happy Christmas."
"Same ter you."
Hagrid left for his hut, which happened to be fairly close to the lake. His dog closely followed him. It looked somewhat cowardly for such a large dog. Diana walked around the ice a bit, then walked to the main corridor. She saw Fred, George, and Lindsay talking. Diana wondered why Harry and Ron weren't there. Percy had apparently left them for the Prefects.
She joined their conversation about Invisibility Cloaks and how awesome they were. Diana thought of her own that she got from the remains of the Riddle manor. It was at the Burrow, under Fred's bed. He obviously hadn't found it, or he would have asked to use it by now.
It was about time for the Christmas feast, so they all went to the Great Hall. Since there were only a few people there, everyone was allowed to sit at the high table. Diana was a tad uncomfortable sitting across from Professor Dumbledore. She didn't resemble her father, but Dumbledore would have known by her last name who her father had been.
She then took into mind that Dumbledore didn't judge people by their relatives, and that he gave everyone a second chance. Then again, she hadn't screwed up her first yet.
Fred teased her by eating very slowly and exaggerating his enjoyment of the wonderful food, mostly so she'd eat more. She ended up taking some off of his plate so he'd finish quicker. He ate at a normal speed after that. Diana smiled, as she ate rather quickly and finished before anyone else at the table. They had an interesting conversation with Dumbledore about a group called the Order of the Phoenix that was sent to catch Voldemort while he was in power.
Diana was sure Harry would have liked to hear that both of his parents were members. Fred and George already knew that theirs were. Lindsay smiled. Her father never told her, but she'd be sure to ask plenty of questions about it when she got home.
Dumbledore looked at Diana for a minute; she was the only one whose parents were not in the Order. Everyone looked to Diana, wondering where her parents had been at that time. Dumbledore quickly changed the subject to how great the food was.
Diana was very glad he had changed the subject. Everyone agreed with him and forgot completely about her parents. Certainly Fred and George would have been curious, though. They likely would have wondered where she came from after living with her for about eleven years.
After the feast, Lindsay kept asking Fred and George where Harry was. When she finally believed that they didn't know, she asked Diana. Diana finally told her,
"Wherever he is, he's probably with Ron. I wonder why he didn't come to the feast."
"I'm wondering that, too! He said he'd meet me there," said Lindsay.
"It's just one feast, Lindsay. Seriously," said Diana.
"Well..um...I...like...Harry," Lindsay said nervously.
"Do you?" asked Diana with a tone of sarcasm.
"At least I admit that I like Harry," Lindsay said with a dignified tone.
"What do you mean?"
"You know exactly what I mean."
"Do not."
"I'll tell Fred that."
"No, don't."
"I can't tell Fred you don't like him, but you can't tell me you do?"
"Ok, fine. I might like Fred a bit."
"If I told him you put it that way, it would break his poor heart."
"I'll admit it, then. I love Fred."
"That's the spirit!"
"Well, aren't you going to go tell him?"
"Oh, I'm sure he knows."
"I guess there is something Harry should know..."
"What?! No!"
"I was only joking with you."
Diana, Fred, and George played the random word game again. Diana let Fred win to make him feel special. She was glad to find it wasn't totally obvious that she let him win. He made a winning speech, which was very exuberant, therefore amusing. It took him a good five minutes to explain that his name was Fred Weasley. He shook Diana's hand vigorously afterwards, telling her she'd played a great game, and he made fun of George for being in third place, then shook his hand politely.
Diana smiled. Fred was still treating her the way he always did. She must have been a good kisser. She pondered that for a moment. She then went around the grounds with Fred and George, which was much more interesting than going alone. They showed her a few parts of Hogwarts that she would never have seen just going around in seven years. It was then she realized how big Hogwarts really was.
There was this one room, the Room of Requirement, where everything you need appeared. Diana had water, George had a Pumpkin Pastie, but Fred had..nothing.. Diana blinked. Why hadn't he gotten anything like they had? A book appeared out of nowhere and George started reading it.
Fred smiled at Diana, but no. That couldn't be it. A person could never need another person. That wouldn't make sense. She looked at him, confused. She went to sit down, and a leather chair appeared under her. Fred sat next to her in the chair. She didn't mind. He wasn't hurting her. She felt a warm hand stroking her hair as she drifted into a dreamless sleep.