The month of September flew by, and before anyone knew it, they were at the end of October. Lupin's class was a success, as the Gryffindors knew it would be. Kit was settled into the Hogwarts routine, and so was Jonathon. Harry took a special interest in the boy, and went out of his way to help him along anyway he could. Besides being Hermione's little brother, Jonathon was a really cool kid. After seeing a Ravenclaw Quidditch practice, he fell in love with the game, but was saddened to hear that first years were not allowed to join. "But you can try out next year," Harry reassured him.
The Gryffindor team was also practising hard. Ron was elected team captain, and Harry was genuinely happy for him. Their first game was scheduled for the weekend after Halloween, and the new members were very nervous. However, after Ron had told the horror stories of his first game, the team was feeling a lot more confident.
The end of October meant the first Hogsmeade visit of the year. Only third year and above were permitted to visit Hogsmeade, and so Harry, Ron, and Neville entered the tiny village together, in hopes of a visit to Honeydukes.
Upon entering the little shop, packed with other Hogwarts students, the three boys headed over to the chocolate section of the shop, seeing a very familiar face seeking the shelves.
"Fancy seeing you here, Professor," Neville said, as he perused the shelves himself.
"Well, hello there, boys," Lupin smiled at the three D.A. members.
"Why are you picking up chocolate?" Harry asked him, knowing that it was very close to the full moon.
Reaching for what looked like the biggest slab of chocolate in the shop. Lupin turned to the boys and said, so quietly that they had to lean in slightly to hear, "It helps with the transformations. Professor Snape has been doing things for – you know – and I figured I would tough it out this one night." He smiled a mischievous grin, "Maybe give a Halloween surprise to anyone strolling by the shack tonight."
"So you won't be coming to the feast tonight?" Ron asked him, selecting his own chocolate.
Lupin frowned. "No, Dumbledore figures I shouldn't risk it."
"He figures a lot of things, doesn't he?" Harry commented in a bitter tone. Lupin gave a slight laugh.
"I'm not the only who thinks so, am I?" Lupin said, smiling at Harry. "But, I better be off. Hopefully I'll see you at the next D.A. meeting."
"Does that mean we're stuck with Professor Hughes again?" Ron asked, pretending to be disappointed. Once again, Lupin laughed.
"Yes, unfortunately you will be 'stuck with' Sasha for another couple of lessons," Lupin said. "Is she really that bad?" he asked, looking concerned.
"We Gryffindors don't think so," Neville said with an evil looking smirk on his face, "but the Slytherins are calling her a traitor."
"Is it true they're engaged?" Harry asked. Lupin smiled.
"Apparently, but you should really ask her yourself."
"Move it along there, werewolf," a friendly voice said from behind them. They turned and saw a very windswept Oliver, hand in hand with Sasha. "We just wanted to tell you all in person that the wedding will be held on January second."
"Isn't that a little early?" Harry asked.
"No," Sasha replied. "I have been planning this day for a long time. I have the dress picked, the flowers ordered, and the location booked," she smiled. "All we need is guests."
"And since we've decided to try to keep it low key, it will mostly just be people from the Order, family, and you guys," Oliver said.
"Where are you going to have it?" Ron asked.
Sasha smiled. "Since I have arranged mostly everything, Oliver got to pick the place."
"You're all going to laugh when I tell you," Oliver said, "but it's going to be fantastic." He smiled at his bride to be.
"The Quidditch pitch at Hogwarts," Sasha said, beaming.
"Are you serious?" Neville blurted out. Sasha laughed.
"Yes, seeing as how he doesn't get to spend much time playing anymore, I agreed that it would be the perfect place."
"But it's winter!" Ron exclaimed. It was Oliver's turn to laugh at this.
"Yes," he said, "but they are saying is will be a warm winter. Besides, the ceremony will be really short. It's the reception that carries on all night."
"And we're having the reception inside the castle," Sasha added, answering their unanswered questions.
"But there is one catch to getting invited," Oliver added, a sly grin playing with the corners of his mouth.
"Which is?" asked Ron, with a slight sense of foreboding.
"You have to bring a date," Sasha said, laughing at the look on the boy's' faces. "And you can't bring a sibling, or anyone invited by us to the wedding."
"So in other words, someone you two have never met?" Neville asked.
"Exactly," Sasha replied, the smile on her face bigger than ever. "The ceremony starts at two in the afternoon. See you all there!" And with that, the happy couple left the shop, leaving behind a very worried and nervous looking bunch of young men.
Still getting over the shock of going to a wedding with a date, the trio travelled down the road to the Three Broomsticks. Upon entering the pub, Harry spotted Kit waving at them from a corner booth. As Ron and Neville went to the counter and ordered butterbeer for them, Harry went over to Kit's table where she was sitting with some new members of the D.A. They all greeted him with great enthusiasm, and Kit smiled as she slid over to let him sit down.
"How do you like Hogsmeade?" he asked her, as she sipped her butterbeer.
"I love it!" she exclaimed. "And this stuff is so good!"
"It's better in the winter, when you're cold you can't even feel your toes. Then it warms you from the inside –" Ron explained. He sighed dreamily, making the other girls at the table giggle. "There's nothing better."
The group of them chatted about anything and everything for while. The boys learned that the black haired girl's name was Navadrien Singollo, but she preferred to be called Adrien, not Nava, as Ron learned the hard way (she threw his own drink in his face when he called her that). The other girl, a very thin, dark-haired girl, was Carnia Belaque, who preferred to be called Nia. It was three o'clock in the afternoon before they all headed up to the castle for the Halloween feast.
Upon entering the Great Hall for the feast, Harry heard a gasp of awe issue from Kit. Harry grinned.
"Impressive, isn't it?" he asked her. All she could do was nod in reply.
Ron laughed at the expression on her face, and she smiled a brighter smile than any of them had seen from her. With that, they headed over to the Gryffindor table to enjoy the feast, along with entertainment from the resident ghosts of the castle. Although Harry felt sorry that Lupin could not be there to celebrate with them, he fully enjoyed himself for the night.
The weeks passed, and before any of the new friends knew it, the merry season was upon them. The snow refused to fall prior to the winter solstice, but when it fell, it fell hard. In no time, the whole of Hogwarts was thick in the white stuff, and more than several students were involved in various snowball fights. Before long, the individual battles merged into one colossal war. It seemed that almost the entire student population was involved, and it stretched through the whole grounds. As it began to darken, the immensity of the fight decreased, and many students surrendered due to cold, hunger, and fatigue. As the first stars blossomed in the night sky, the war was over, and everyone traipsed back into the castle, soaked to the bone and freezing.
"Good fight today guys," Kit said, as she flopped down onto the sofa in front of the roaring fire.
"You too," Harry replied, smiling at her exhausted figure.
"Don't look at me like that," she mumbled with her eyes closed.
"Like what?" Harry said, trying to look innocent, and failing miserable. Kit was spared answering when Nia, Adrien, and Neville entered through the portrait hole from dinner. As Adrien collapsed next to Ron, Nia and Neville got cozy on an armchair. Harry raised his eyebrows at them.
"Is there something we should know about you two?" he asked. Nia giggled, and Neville turned a bright shade of pink.
"Erm, well – you see," Neville began, but Ron cut him off.
"You two are going out now?" he asked.
Nia giggled even harder at this, but Neville put on a proud face.
"Yes, we are," he said, and Nia stopped giggling long enough to give an admiring smile to her new boyfriend. "And if you have a problem with that –"
"Whoa, mate," Ron said, leaning back on the sofa, "I never said I had a problem with anything."
"Good," Neville said, just as Ginny came down the staircase.
"Hey, Harry," she said, as she sat down on the hearth rug, "I was wondering if you had a date for Oliver and Sasha's wedding."
Harry frowned. "No, I don't, but I'm working on it." He gave a slight, superior smile. "No need to worry."
"Oh, I wasn't worrying," Ginny said, not catching any of his sarcasm, "I was wondering if you would come with me."
"I can't," he said, taking his eyes off her, and retuning them to the crackling flames.
"Why not?" she asked, looking extremely put off.
"Because Sasha said that I wasn't allowed to bring anyone she or Oliver knew as a date," he explained. "Sorry," he added as an after thought.
"That's okay," she said, but not looking it. "Are you invited Neville?" she asked.
"Yes," he said, "and I've already found my date," he added as he cast a look of adoration at Nia. Ginny looked very upset. With a huff, she got up and was about to leave through the portrait hole when Ron piped up.
"Aren't you going to ask me?"
She gave him a look of hatred, not unlike the kind Hermione would occasionally cast him. "Shut up, you stupid prat," she said, and slammed the portrait shut.
"That's too bad," Ron said, "Who will I go with now?"
Harry shook his head, and Kit laughed as she got up. "I'm off to bed," she said, "see you all in the morning."
"Goodnight," they all chorused.
The next three days flew by in a whirl of falling snow and holiday preparation. It wasn't long before Harry was sweating profusely in front of the common room fire. As Kit entered the room through the portrait hole, she caught sight of the boy slightly rocking back and forth in front of the flames. Smiling, she walked over and plopped herself down beside him.
"What's wrong?" she asked him immediately. He just rocked faster, and with a little bit more movement. He was mumbling something, and from what she could tell, it consisted of "Christmas; bloody Christmas; bloody presents; bloody hell." It didn't take a rocket scientist to help the poor lad. Taking hold of his shoulders, she shook him a little, and once his eyes were boring into her own, she asked the crucial questions of the event.
"Do you have money?"
He nodded. A good sign, she thought, as his face paled the slightest bit.
"Do you still have the invisibility cloak?"
He nodded again, this time more slowly. Kit could almost see the wheels turning in his mind, piecing together the situation. She smiled to herself, as his emerald green eyes began to light up.
"Do you have the map?"
He nodded, and jumped up, as though an electric shock sprang through his body. "I'm going to Hogsmeade," he told her in a whisper so that the other students in the common room were not able to overhear. "Cover my tail, please?"
She smiled outwardly this time. "Hurry, the stores are going to close."
He beamed at her, and hurried up the stairs to his dormitory. Within minutes, the portrait hole opened, and then closed, of its own accord. A couple younger students looked at each other, maybe a little frightened, but Kit could only smile as she curled up on the couch.
The next day was Christmas, and Ron was beating Harry awake with a pillow.
"Oi! Presents!" he shouted, waking almost the whole house, and causing Hedwig to jump off the wardrobe in fright. Ron did not seem to notice, and continued the pillow abuse. Harry took revenge, and before long, the dormitory was filled was feathers, and the boys were laughing too hard to take proper aim at one another. They did not notice a green haired woman enter the room with red heads on either side of her.