The Will of the Wands


Chapter 10 – The Christmas Season
"We've been waiting all year for this night, when the snow is glistening on the trees outside, and all the stockings are hung by the fireside, waiting for a Santa to arrive, and all the love will show, 'cause everybody knows, it's Christmastime and all the kids will see the gifts under the tree it's the best time of year for the family!" sang Madison happily around the Ravenclaw common room. People were staring, but she didn't seem to notice. Or, if she did, she didn't care much. "It's a wonderful feeling, feel the love in the room from the floor to the ceiling, it's that time of year, Christmastime is here! And with the blessings from above, God sends you his love, and everything's okay, Merry Christmas, happy holidays!"

"Er," Alexis said uncertainly from behind her copy of One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi, "Are you feeling okay, Maddy?"

"Absolutely hunky-dory!" crowed Madison, skipping around, holding jingle bells in her hands. "I love Christmas!"

"I can see that," Alexis said. "But the seventh years are giving you evil looks. I think I heard that Edgecombe girl say something about a Charms exam this afternoon."

"Why are they studying at a time like this?" Madison said dreamily, twirling around in circles. "When they could be outside in the snow?" She paused. "Lexi, why aren't we

outside in the snow?"

"Because," Alexis said patiently, "we have Defense Against the Dark Arts, remember? Professor Grubbly-Plank said she wanted to review the Komodo dragon before break."

"Oh, that's right," Madison said, snapping out of her holiday-induced high. "She mentioned a surprise exam, didn't she?"

"Yes," Alexis nodded triumphantly. She looked three stories up, where Cho Chang and a group of her friends mouthed 'Thank-you', as they were among the few that still had studying. "Now, want to review before class? We've got something like ten minutes..."


Needless to say, there was no exam, and the last burden having been removed from their consciences, Madison and Alexis made their way as fast as they could to grounds, which had become covered with a foot of snow in the past two hours. Other Houses had had the same idea, as they saw a large number of Gryffindors involved in a snowball fight right outside the enormous stone steps.

"Let's see if we can find Mil and Kota," suggested Madison excitedly, eyeing the snowballs eagerly.

"'Kay," agreed Alexis. They trudged through the knee-deep snow towards the nearest snow fortress, where they immediately recognized the leader, a redheaded girl with a Gryffindor scarf.

"Charge!" she shrieked, raising her wand. Madison and Alexis both ducked when they saw what was intended- upon doing so, Ginny had charmed at least a thousand snowballs to pelt through the air at the opposing fortress. Soon enough, Madison could hear the yells of angry people as the remnants of the snow-shower fell overhead.

"Ginny, you cheat!" Alexis heard Ron yell. "You're not supposed to use magic!"

"Who says I did?" she screamed back. She turned around and beckoned for the Ravenclaws to come closer. "Hey, Maddy, Lexi, help us!" She stepped aside to reveal a tan-skinned girl with a long, dark plait down her back alongside a wispy-looking brunette making snowballs hurriedly. Next to her, Hermione, bundled up in what looked to be the equivalent of a Muggle snowsuit, was busy surveying a piece of parchment.

"Whatcha got there, Hermione?" Alexis asked interestedly.

"Harry's map," Hermione said sheepishly.

"How'd you get it?" Madison asked.

"Er," Hermione said, turning red, "Well, Ron, that is to say...Ron and I snuck out for a walk last week and we didn't want to get caught out-of-bounds," she said in a rush. Madison grinned. "It's not what you think!" she said defensively, as Alexis made a disbelieving noise behind her.

"I'm assuming it tells where people are," Alexis said, moving closer to examine the map. Sure enough, she looked down and saw her name, Hermione's, Madison's, and Ginny's standing side-by-side behind a wall. On the other side, she could see that Neville was pacing back and forth behind Ron, who was looking through a peephole. Harry, it seemed, was trying to sneak around the backside of the school and take them by surprise, along with Millie and Dakota. "Er, Hermione," she said slowly.

"What?" Hermione said, casting a Warming Charm on her mittens, which had all but frozen to her fingers.

"You might want to take a look at this," Alexis said, brandishing the map. "Harry's sneaking around back by the greenhouses, probably to ambush us. Millie and Dakota are with him."

Hermione took the map from the redhead and studied it closely. She traced her finger absently across the weathered parchment, to the cluster of dots in particular. "It looks like they're going to Hagrid's," she said finally.


"Harry, where are we going?" Millie shouted over the roaring wind. She was trying to keep up with him, but his legs were longer, and he seemed to have no problem plowing through the deep snow, whereas her eleven year old legs were screaming at her for rest.

"Hagrid's," he shouted back, coming to a stop behind a tall tree. He pointed to the small hut up ahead. "Come on, not much further!"

Millie nodded to herself, and steeled herself for the gales of wind that would most likely meet her. Beside her, Dakota looked like she was having the same thoughts. The dark-skinned girl pulled her cloak up around her ears, which were partly covered by a large fluffy hat with a pompom on the top, and adjusted her mittens before tumbling out from behind the tree after Harry. Finally, they arrived at the steps leading to Hagrid's hut. Harry pounded on the door.

"Hagrid!" he shouted over the wind. "Hagrid, it's me, Harry!" A second later, the massive door opened to reveal Hagrid, dressed in what looked like a Weasley jumper. Fang bounded out from behind him, knocked Millie down, and started to lick her frozen face.

"Hey, Fang, gerroff her!" Hagrid shouted. The dog jumped back obediently, allowing the girl time to sit up before sniffing her ears. "Hello, Harry," Hagrid said, turning to Harry, who was trying to dry off his glasses.

"Hey," Harry said, giving up and placing the glasses back on the end of his nose. "Nice sweater."

"Oh," Hagrid said with a grin, looking down at it, "Molly made it fer me. You wanna cuppa?" Harry shrugged, and Hagrid ushered them inside by the fire, which was crackling away merrily. The Christmas spirit must have attacked Hagrid as well, since Millie noticed the lopsided wreath hanging over the door and a stocking that looked like she could sleep in it comfortably was pinned up by the fireplace. Dakota looked around in amazement, and it was only then that Millie realized that Dakota had never seen the inside of the hut.

"So what are you three doin' out in a storm like this?" Hagrid asked, picking up what seemed to be knitting needles. On the other end was a yard of blue yarn half the length of a tree branch.

"Snowball fight," Harry said, peeling off his mittens. "Me an' Neville an' Ron are outnumbered, so I snagged these two on their way to the girl's side to help me recruit."

"Recruit?" Hagrid repeated. Then it dawned on him. "Yeh don' mean ter tell me yeh wan' me ter help yeh?" Harry grinned. "In this weather?" Hagrid boomed, jabbing his needles towards the window. "Ye're crazy, Potter."

"So they tell me," Harry shrugged.

"C'mon Hagrid, it'll be fun!" Millie said, blinking her blue eyes up at him. When he didn't seem convinced, she pouted. "Please?" she said.

"Pretty please?" Dakota chimed.

Hagrid stared at them for what seemed like an eternity before grinning and tossing his needles toward the bed. "All righ', all righ', I'm comin'." He took out his large moleskin coat and rummaged around in a drawer until he found a pair of uneven mittens and a woolly hat with a puffy ball on top.

Dakota noticed, and snickered.

"Yeah, well, your ha' 'as one too," Hagrid argued with a blush. "C'mon." He pushed open the door, and Millie nearly fell over as a foot of snow came crashing into the hut. Dakota jumped, and stepped back behind Hagrid, who just laughed and pushed her, Millie, and Harry into the snow, while Fang followed with a derisive bark.


"Steady," Hermione cautioned, holding her arm up to halt the enthusiastic people armed with snowballs. She had charmed the Marauder's Map to enlarge it enough so everyone could see it, and then put an additional levitation charm on it, so she would be free to command the army.

Which, of course, it was.

"Where are they?" the tanned girl, Parvati, asked. "My arms are getting tired."

"They're close," Hermione assured her. She pointed to the map, which pinpointed Harry around the back of the greenhouse- not close enough to fire upon. "A few seconds more...hold it, people, hold it...NOW!"

A downpour of snowballs, some lightly packed, others coated with ice, bombarded Harry and Hagrid. Dakota and Millie saw the snowballs shower down like arrows, and bolted behind the embankment. Hagrid lost his balance, and yanked a tree branch. Instead of keeping him upright, however, the branch unloaded a pile of snow on top of poor Fang.

Before anyone could react, the pile that had been Fang leapt into the air, showering the worried onlookers with cold snow. Fang bounded out, shaking from head to toe, adding ungodly amounts of saliva to the mix.

"Ew," Ron said from behind the closest bank. He was trying to rub an oozing glob of saliva from his face, but it kept getting slicked in with his hair.

"What?" Harry turned, and began laughing hysterically at the sight. Ron paused, and glared at him. Hermione, however, in her haste to ensure Fang's safety, had overlooked any other victims, and turned as well. Her lips, which had just finished sighing with relief, curved into a smile, which soon erupted into a giggle. Dakota and Millie, who had crawled out from hiding, also caught on, and soon the whole yard of Gryffindors was laughing.

"It's not that funny!" Ron shouted angrily, rubbing madly at his forehead. A fresh wave of giggles swept over the girls, and he glared at them, before zeroing in on Hermione. "Think it's funny?"

She looked at him, then evaded her eyes, stifling a snort.

Ron nodded, then picked himself off his knees, and walked over to where she sat. He took her in his arms, and, as she was eyeing him nervously, rubbed the top of his head all over her face.

"RON!" she shrieked, pushing away from him. He grinned, and she shoved him backwards into a pile of snow. He retaliated by throwing a perfectly sculpted snowball at her, which it her in the shoulder, signifying the beginning of the longest snowball fight in Gryffindor history.


Later that night, before everyone went to bed, the occupants of Gryffindor Tower exchanged 'Happy Christmases' and took part in holiday festivities, such as wizarding chess (with the pieces donning ridiculous wreaths and tinsel) and dramatic readings of 'T'was the Night Before Christmas' for the first years, read (grudgingly, in Ron's case) by the House Prefects. Harry sat in a corner, tying the last of his packages as he chuckled at his best friend's expressions. He could tell that Ron sorely wanted to tell the first years to shove it, and read their own story so he and Hermione could go make use of the piece of mistletoe he knew hung from the doorway of the Prefect's bath. He gave Ron credit, though- it was only out of sheer admiration for Hermione that he put up with half of the nonsense Prefects were subjected to.

He left the common room soon after his friends finished the book, saying he needed sleep, after the snowball fight wore him out. Truth be told, he was wondering how he was going to explain the absence of Dakota and Millie's gifts- for they were both friends of his, there was no beating around that; he had seen his name on the tags of packages from both of them when he'd positioned Hermione and Ron's gifts under the tree, and had immediately felt guilty. Harry reached the top of the dormitory stairs, and pushed open the door sullenly. His good mood had been slashed by the despairing thought that he'd forgotten four of his friends. For, when he thought about it, he hadn't gotten anything for Madison or Alexis, either.

It was long after Ron had returned to the dormitory, and just after the chime of midnight, that Harry Potter found sleep.

Miles away, an owl took off, it's direction north. Bound for Hogwarts.


A/N: This was supposed to be up for Christmas, as you can see, but we didn't get that far. Obviously. So, excuse us, and enjoy. And check out our livejournal! Simply click on the "hompage" button!

Siaryst-Dufoli