A/N: I'm back! *smiles at imaginary applause* Thank you thank you! I will do my best to post more often now. Promise! Reviewer thanks at the end.

Disclaimer: Oh, woe is me that I do not own the wonderful world of Harry Potter. Were it not for all the fans who would be desolated if I should give this up, I would die from sadness right now. (Translation: I do not own Harry Potter.)

Chapter Eight: Halloween and Christmas

They won the first Quidditch game of the season and Ron was ecstatic about his new broomstick; he'd actually given all of them a hug upon receiving it. Jessica was not needed in the Quidditch game, which was a good thing because it would have taken Harry getting seriously injured to get her into the game. Jessica, as much as she wanted to hear a lot of Gryffindors shouting her name, did not fancy the idea of Harry being out cold or him having a broken neck.

Lessons, though not always enjoyable, were far from horrible. Unless of course you called the torture known as Double Potions as lessons of course. Actually they weren't as bad as they could have been; Snape was only leaving directions on the board and letting them attempt to make the potions on their own. Jessica found while she wasn't nearly as bad as Neville in potions, she was far from being very good at it. Jessica consoled herself with the fact that at least she didn't have to spend detentions in Snape's classroom; lessons were enough, thank you very much.

Actually lessons weren't as bad as they could be. Jessica was surprised because she had expected Malfoy to throw taunts at her every time she entered the classroom. But he didn't; in fact he had approached her the other day. He had acted as though he'd wanted to say something, other than the usual insults. But then Harry had asked him what he'd wanted and he'd muttered "nothing" and walked off. Though she'd been mildly curious as to what he'd been about to say, her dislike of him kept her from seeking him out to ask him.

Harry had explained about Eliza to Ron, Hermione and Ginny. The word spread all around the school somehow and if people weren't giving her sympathetic looks then they were avoiding her gaze in the corridors. It was quite annoying and Jessica wished they wouldn't do it. It wasn't like she was a psycho for crying out loud. Perhaps going off on Snape hadn't been such a good thing after all; people seemed to think she would start yelling at them any moment. Though if they kept acting the way they were she'd be sorely tempted to do just that.

The first Hogsmeade weekend was coming up; it was the Saturday before Halloween and Jessica was looking forward to a small break from all the homework she had. It seemed she'd picked the wrong year to try and catch up; students were to be taking O.W.L.'s this year and she'd never had this much work before in her life. Never mind the fact that she was behind in most of the classes anyway. Hermione had really done a good job tutoring Jessica but she still had half of fourth year to cover and Hermione never seemed to have any time to give her tutoring lessons.

That Saturday they went down to Hogsmeade together. Ron was determined to pay them all back in some way for the broomstick and he finally settled on buying them some butterbeers in The Three Broomsticks. Jessica didn't mind at all since she found she rather liked butterbeer. They then followed Ron off into Zonko's joke shop. Jessica, who had never been one for pranks or practical jokes, wandered out of the shop, telling Harry she'd be right back. She headed over to a supply shop nearby; she needed another bottle of ink and some more parchment. She'd only been borrowing from others for the last few days now.

She picked parchment quickly enough but she had a bit more trouble deciding what kind of ink to buy. Jessica had an odd habit of drawing on her arms at bored moments during class and she had to keep that in mind. Finally she narrowed it down to three bottles, one that was a sort of shimmery green, one that was sky blue like her eyes and one that was lilac colored. Trying to decide between them, she barely noticed when someone stepped up next to her. That was until they spoke to her.

"Hello, Banks," Malfoy's voice said. Jessica looked up at him sharply. It wasn't so much the fact that he spoke that got her attention but rather the lack of venom in his voice.

"What do you want, Malfoy?" Jessica asked rather rudely.

"I just..." Malfoy was looking uncomfortable. "I wanted to say I was sorry about your grandmother."

Jessica stared at him. What in the world was going on? Draco Malfoy, giving her sympathy? The fact that he'd managed to speak to her without anger in his voice was astonishing enough but this?

"Uh, thanks," Jessica said uncertainly. "I, uh, appreciate your concern." Was this actually happening? It felt kind of like a bizarre dream.

Draco turned and walked away, leaving her staring after him. Had they really just managed to talk to each other without insulting one another? Jessica stared down at the inkbottles and randomly grabbed two of them before heading up to the counter to pay for her purchases. She handed over her money and walked from the store, lost in thought. That had been odd. What she wanted to know was why Draco suddenly cared when before all he'd been able to do was insult her.

"Hey Jessica," Harry's voice came. She looked up. Harry and the others were approaching her. He noticed the shocked expression on her face and perhaps fearing that she was going back into shock, hurried over. "What happened?"

"I, just spoke to Malfoy, without him insulting me," she said very slowly. She saw her shock suddenly mirrored on Ron's,

Harry's and Hermione's faces. She quickly related the conversation to them.

"You told him you appreciated his concern?" Ron asked in disbelief. "He was probably lying!"

"Ron, you didn't hear his voice," Jessica said exasperatedly. "It was completely devoid of hate or anger or anything like that. He sounded almost sincere."

"But why would Malfoy suddenly care?" Hermione wondered as the three of them walked along. "I mean, normally he'd be bugging you about going into shock."

"I know, I was wondering the same thing," Jessica said. "It doesn't make any sense."

"Well, just because he managed to say a civil word to you doesn't mean his outlook on life has changed," Harry said darkly. "As far as I'm concerned he's still an evil git. You shouldn't hang out with him," he added, throwing a glance at Jessica.

"Harry, it'd take a million Galleons to make me hang out with him," Jessica said. "And even then I'd be reluctant to do it." Ron let out a snort of laughter and Hermione didn't reproach him.

Jessica knew Draco called Hermione a Mudblood. In her opinion the whole deal with "pure-bloods" was ridiculous, Hermione was Muggle-born yet she was top of her class at everything except Defense Against the Dark Arts, in which Harry was better than her. Neville was a pure-blood but he was far from being top of the class. It was just plain stupid. How anyone could actually believe crud like that astonished her.

Jessica was fairly silent for the rest of the Hogsmeade trip, though she did gasp with astonishment when they led her into Honeydukes, the wizarding sweet shop. Never in her life had she seen so many extraordinary sweets; she spent half an hour deciding what to buy. Eventually Harry had to drag her to the register before she could change her mind on what she wanted.

Jessica walked back to the castle with Harry, Ron and Hermione. The memory of Draco's odd behavior retreated to a dark corner of her mind as she spoke with her friends about Halloween. Jessica was cheerful on the way back. The trip to Hogsmeade had lifted her spirits.


When they arrived back at the common room Jessica stayed downstairs a moment to finish up her conversation with Harry and Ron while Hermione went upstairs to the girls' dorm. Jessica followed her a few minutes later.

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It was Christmas Eve. The castle had emptied out and Jessica had stayed. So had Harry, Ron and Hermione. She could have gone to the Weasleys' and they would have welcomed her with open arms. But she didn't think she could handle a family Christmas. Ron, Harry and Hermione could have gone as well but they'd stayed. Jessica knew they'd done it for her and she could not have been more grateful.

They weren't the only ones there for Christmas. Jessica knew that Draco Malfoy was among those who had chosen to stay. All for of them agreed that this was odd; according to Harry he hardly ever stayed at Hogwarts for Christmas.

Jessica was making her way back up from dinner with Harry, Ron and Hermione. Hermione and Ron were talking and Jessica observed them out of the corner of her eye with a hint of amusement. They really didn't know how much they looked like a couple.

They finally somehow reached the Common Room. Jessica was very tired. She'd been up all the night before, wrapping presents in the dark. Surprisingly they'd turned out ok. She hadn't even dared to light her wand for fear it'd wake Hermione and she'd see her present before it was wrapped. Still despite how tired she was Jessica stayed up in the Common Room with her friends. They sat by the fire awhile, just talking. Finally everyone decided to go to bed. Jessica and Harry hung back from Ron and Hermione for a minute.

"Goodnight Harry," Jessica said. She leaned against him and felt his warm arms enclose her in a hug. She hugged him back.

"Goodnight Jessica," Harry said. She moved to break the hug but found herself instead kissing Harry. She felt her heart soar. She could not ask for a better present than that from him. They broke apart and Jessica proceeded to the girls' dorms.

"Jessica wake up," A very familiar voice said, waking Jessica. Hermione shook Jessica's shoulder and said, "Jessica come on! It's Christmas!"

Jessica sat up, blinking the sleep out of her eyes. There was a pile of packages and the end of her bed. She scrambled out of it to her presents.

She grabbed a lumpy package and practically tore the wrapping paper off of it. Inside was a lilac-colored sweater from Mrs. Weasley. Jessica held it up, admiring it. She set it carefully on the bed. Next was Quidditch Through the Ages from Harry. Jessica was sincerely thankful for it. She was always borrowing Harry's copy of it and she was glad to have her own. After that was a bag full of joke stuff from Hogsmeade from Ron and lastly a book on Charms from Hermione.

Once present unwrapping was done everyone prepared to head down. Jessica told Hermione to go on ahead. She wanted to clean up the wrapping paper she'd left on the floor. As everyone left the dorm she gathered up the paper into a bundle to make it easier to toss out. Then she noticed the small present at the foot of her bed. It looked suspiciously like a jewelry box, Jessica decided as she picked it up. She carefully pulled the paper off it. Sure enough it was a jewelry box. She opened it and gasped. Inside it was a small note and a necklace. The necklace was made of silver and it held black diamonds. Jessica found that she liked the necklace a great deal and she couldn't exactly explain why. Shaking her head she looked at the note.

Your grandmother once wore this. Now I give it to you.

~Someone Who Knows

Jessica stared at the note. The handwriting was almost like calligraphy and Jessica realized with a shock that it was remotely like her own. Who had sent her this? It was once her grandmother's? Why had she never seen it worn then?

Jessica picked the necklace up out of the box. The black diamonds seemed to flash as the light hit them. Put me on! it seemed to cry. She found herself undoing the clasp and fastening the necklace around her neck. She shivered for a moment as the cold metal touched her skin but Jessica figured it would warm in a moment. She fished around in her things for a mirror and found one. Holding it up she examined how the necklace looked on her.

She found herself almost smiling. The necklace was beautiful. It seemed to match with her face and hair. Jessica moved to take it off so she wouldn't seem too showy but suddenly she changed her mind. It couldn't hurt anything to wear it. Her friends knew she didn't care about being showy and it had been her grandmother's after all. Her hands dropped down to her sides and she headed down to the common room.

Down in the common room everyone who had stayed for the holidays was talking and showing off their presents. Jessica smiled when she saw Harry, Hermione and Ron. Her friends, who'd stayed at Hogwarts for her. She couldn't have asked for better friends.

Harry was the first to notice the necklace she wore. His eyes widened slightly in surprise.

"Hey, Jessica," he said. "Where'd you get that necklace?"

"I," Jessica said, hesitating. Would he really understand? No. They'd just be suspicious wouldn't they? They'd think that she shouldn't wear it and she couldn't do that. It was one of the few things she had left of Eliza. "It belonged to my grandmother," Jessica said, not really answering and hoping her response would deter him.

It did. "Oh, er, sorry," he said, with the air of someone who wants to avoid a touchy subject.

"No it's ok," she said, smiling with relief. That relief faded somewhat when she noticed Hermione watching her suspiciously out of the corner of her eyes. She hadn't believed her story.

"It looks very nice," Ron said, sounding as though he were trying not to upset her. "Don't you think so Hermione?"

"Well, yes, it does," Hermione admitted. The suspicious look in her eyes faded somewhat. Jessica found herself relaxing. Smiling and thanking each other for their gifts, the four of them headed down to breakfast. But the thought of the necklace and the question of who had sent it hovered at the back of Jessica's mind.

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And now, as promised,

Reviewer Thanks:

PippinsMyHobbit: Thank you so much for reviewing! No it's not the end, I just gave up on posting for a while. School and my POTC ff took over my life. I'm so glad to know that I'm not the only one who feels rejected when nobody reviews! I know that stories should be written because they demand to be but it still can be upsetting when no one reviews. So thank you, you kinda rekindled my desire to finish this story. See you next time! (Oh, btw, did you like Chapter Six? Hehe, it's one of my favorite chapters is all.)

And that's all folks! See you next time.