Chapter 8: Christmas at Hogwarts

Christmas came to Hogwarts. The week before the students who were going home left, snow had fallen on the castle. It now drifted high against the walls and the sky was a dark, threatening grey. Hogwarts had been decorated beautifully; there were twelve enormous trees covered in golden decorations in the Great Hall, the many suits of armour had been made to sing Christmas carols and the Ravenclaw Common Room had its own small trees decorated in blue and bronze.

The day before Christmas Eve, the students who were going home for the holidays congregated in the Entrance Hall. Padma and Terry went downstairs with Lisa, excitedly discussing about what they thought they'd be getting for presents. The Entrance Hall was filled with students talking loudly and shouting greetings to one another, and Padma managed to spot her sister standing by the doors to the Great Hall, talking to her friend Lavender.

"Have a great holiday," Padma said to Lisa, hugging her. She handed her a present. "Don't open it until Christmas Day. I cursed it, so if you open it before, you'll be sorry."

Lisa smiled, holding her present at arms length. She clearly didn't know whether or not to take what Padma said seriously.

"Are you sure this thing's safe?" she asked Padma.

"I didn't really curse it," Padma grinned, hugging her again. "But I did hex Terry's," she added in a whisper.

"What was that about me?" Terry asked in a panicky voice.

Padma ignored him and ran over to where Parvati stood with Lavender Brown, giggling about something. When she spotted Padma, Parvati left her trunk and hurried over, hugging her tightly.

"I'm going to miss you!" she said.

"I'm going to miss you too!"

It was the first time that they would have been this far apart. Padma held out two packages to her twin sister; they were wrapped in red paper and tied with gold ribbon.

"Happy Christmas," Padma said.

Parvati took the presents and gave Padma two of her own, hers wrapped in blue and bronze.

"Happy Christmas," Parvati said.

"Promise that you'll wait until Christmas Day to open them?"

Parvati nodded and hugged Padma again. Lavender tapped Parvati on the shoulder, dragging both of their trunks behind her.

"We've got to go," she said. She smiled warmly at Padma. "Have a nice Christmas."

"You too," Padma said. "I'll see you in the New Year," she added to Parvati, hugging her again.

Over by the huge doors, Filch, the castle's caretaker, shouted for everyone to leave. As they left, he ticked off their names on a long list. Padma watched as her twin sister walked out of the doors, glancing back and waving one last time. Terry came over to her.

"Are you all right?" he asked.

Padma nodded and smiled warmly at him.

"I'm fine," she said. "It's going to be a bit strange without her, but everything will be fine."

They stood side by side, watching as the last of the students walked out of the doors. Padma turned around to find Morag, Kevin and Anthony walking down the marble staircase. Morag had a bronze and blue scarf wrapped around her face.

"We're going outside for a snowball fight," Anthony said. "Are you two coming?"

Padma shrugged. She was still thinking about Parvati and how much she'd miss her, so even if she'd joined in, her mind wouldn't be on task.

"Sure," Terry said cheerfully. "You coming, Padma?"

"Oh all right!" she said. "You've persuaded me."

The five Ravenclaws spent the next two hours outside pelting each other with snowballs. Padma and Morag, who were hiding behind a tree avoiding a barrage of snowballs from the boys, pulled out their wands and used the Mobilus Charm on two snowballs. They gradually grew in size as they rolled around, eventually becoming as high as Padma's shoulder.

"That's cheating!" Anthony said. He dodged to one side as Padma sent her snowball chasing after him.

"Nobody said anything about not using magic!" Morag shouted.

The two Ravenclaw girls eventually managed to pin Terry between both of the snowballs.

"Let me out!" he shouted.

Padma and Morag threw snowballs at him until he managed to escape by kicking out at them. He chased after Padma laughing maniacally. Her throat was burning and she screamed as he caught her round the waist, hauling her over to a snow drift and dumping her into it.

"That's for using me as a human shield!" he shouted triumphantly, dusting off his hands.

It took Morag five minutes to haul Padma out of the drift. By that time, her lips were blue and she couldn't feel her nose. By lunch, the five of them were soaking wet and freezing cold, and they grabbed some sandwiches before heading up to the Common Room to get changed.

Padma went up to her dormitory to get changed and dry her hair. When she came back down to the Common Room, the others were sitting in front of the fireplace eating their lunch. Terry sat in one of the high backed chairs holding a parchment envelope in one hand. He held it out to Padma.

"Rama came with this for you a minute ago," he said.

"Thanks," Padma said.

She sat down on the sofa, crossing her legs underneath her and opening the envelope.

Padma,

When your mother told me that you had decided to stay at Hogwarts for the holidays, I was very disappointed. After all, your family should be more important than your schoolwork. If Parvati is coming home, then you should be as well.

Grandmother

Padma stared at the parchment for several heartbeats, reading it over again to see whether she had read it correctly. Anger welled up in her chest again along with tears and she threw the letter aside, storming out of the Common Room. She stared out of the window near the bronze eagle. Outside, snow fell in flurries from the sky, whipped about by a strong wind, and she watched as a solitary owl battled through the storm.

That's exactly how she felt; buffeted around, treated by her grandmother as if she was something less; as if she was worth less than Parvati. She let the tears roll down her cheeks, feeling the anger pound in her ears as she glared out of the window.

"Padma, are you alright?"

She looked around. Terry stood behind her, his face full of concern. Padma turned back to the window, biting her lower lip.

"What's wrong?" Terry asked. "What did the letter say?"

"What makes you think it was the letter?" Padma snapped, turning around.

"Well, you weren't upset or angry before you got it," he started logically. "And then you…" he trailed off as Padma started to cry again.

Padma sat down at the top of the staircase, putting her head in her hands. She heard Terry walking towards her and looked up, finding him sitting next to her.

"I…I don't know much about this sort of thing," he said, staring at his shoes, "but it seems like you should just ignore her if she's upsetting you this much."

"You're so nosy!" Padma said shrilly. At the sight of Terry's face, she lowered her voice and continued," It's not as simple as that. It's just my grandmother… I don't really want to go into it."

"That's fine," Terry said, smiling warmly at her. "I'm not too good at listening to people's problems."

"That's because you're a boy," Padma said. She wiped her face dry. "Thanks for trying anyway, Terry." She paused and got to her feet. "I want to beat you at wizard chess," she said suddenly.

Terry laughed, scrambling to his feet.

"That'll never happen," he said as they walked over to the statue. "But you can try if you're willing to be humiliated! Athene noctua."

The two of them walked back into the Common Room. While Terry went up to his dormitory to get his chess set, Padma picked up the letter from the sofa where she'd left it. She stared at it for a moment, feeling tears pricking at her eyes, and she tossed it into the fire and watched it burn.

The rest of the afternoon, Padma tried desperately to beat Terry at wizard chess. She came close once, but his queen to out her attacking bishop with a vicious swipe. They played for hours, but she eventually gave up when Terry seemed to be enjoying beating her too much. The rest of the evening, the first years annoyed the few remaining Ravenclaws by playing Exploding Snap until very late.

o0o

Outside, Christmas morning dawned cold and crisp. When she woke up, Padma curled up under her covers and tried to pretend she was asleep, but Morag insisted in throwing a pillow at her head.

"Happy Christmas, Padma!" she said cheerfully.

Padma laughed.

"Happy Christmas, Morag!" she said, chucking the pillow back at her roommate.

Morag ducked and pulled on her dressing gown and slippers. Padma crawled out from her bed, finding a small pile of brightly wrapped presents at the foot of her bed. She put on her slippers and got out of bed.

"Do you want to go downstairs and open these?" she asked Morag.

Her roommate nodded and gathered her presents up in her arms, struggling to keep them balanced. Padma put hers into her dressing gown and lifted them that way.

"Wish I'd thought of that," Morag said as they struggled down the spiral staircase.

Downstairs in the Common Room, the trees on either side of the fireplace stood decorated in blue and bronze, topped with a bronze eagle. Aside from the two first years, the room was deserted. Padma dumped her presents onto the sofa and pulled her dressing gown on over her pyjamas. Morag sat down on a chair, glancing in the direction of the boys' staircase.

"What are you thinking?" Padma asked curiously.

"You'll see," Morag said.

She got up from the chair and sprinted up the stairs. Padma laughed shortly and hurried up after her classmate. She almost ran into Morag when she eventually reached the door of the first year Ravenclaws. Morag put a finger to her lips and crept forwards, pushing open the door slowly. Inside, the three boys were asleep, one of them snoring loudly. Their dormitory was exactly the same as Padma and Morag's, except it seemed to be messier, with clothes and spare parchment strewn across the floor. The two girls stood in the middle of the dormitory and shouted at the top of their voices,

"Merry Christmas!"

One of the boys shouted in surprise. Sleepy faces emerged from between the curtains of two of the beds, while it seemed that one of the Ravenclaw boys hadn't been woken. Terry, his hair tousled and eyes bleary, glared at Padma and Morag.

"What're you two doing in here?" he demanded, stifling a yawn,

"We're your wake-up call," Padma said, smiling sweetly.

Terry glared at her and disappeared back into his bed. Anthony put his glasses on, looking seriously at the two girls before wrenching the drapes around his bed again, while Michael continued to snore loudly. Padma and Morag giggled.

"We're going downstairs to open our presents," Morag announced.

"Join us if you want to!" Padma said.

The two girls hurried out of the room, giggling and sitting down in the Common Room to open their presents. Padma got a couple of old books on the history of Indian magic from her parents, along with some silver bangles. She wasn't too impressed with her grandmother's present though; she'd been given an antique tea cup and saucer, a clear hint for her to begin to read the leaves. There were also assorted trinkets from her relatives in India. She came across Parvati's present and eagerly unwrapped it. It was a book called Anciente and Magical Beastes, and there was also a photograph of the two of them in front of their house. Padma stared at the photograph for a moment, watching her and her twin smiling and waving happily before turning to her other presents. She received a box of fudge from Lisa, and Terry had got her a small book titled The History of Magic in Britain and a box of Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans.

Padma turned at the sound of footsteps. Terry, Anthony and Michael trudged down the boys' staircase, Terry still looking very annoyed at Padma for waking him up. His hair was still all over the place and he yawned again, yelping as Padma ran over and hugged him tightly.

"Thank you for the present!" she said.

Terry shrugged, trying to look unconcerned but a smile played at the corner of his mouth and he hugged her back.

"I'm only hugging you because you got me a whole box of Chocolate Frogs and a book on Puddlemere United," he said seriously.

"Of course you are," Padma said, pulling away and smiling.

Terry muttered something under his breath and stormed over to the fireplace, sitting down in one of the high backed chairs. The five Ravenclaws spent the morning looking through their presents, and just before lunch they went upstairs to get changed. In the Great Hall, they joined the partially filled Ravenclaw table for the most amazing Christmas dinner Padma had ever seen.

In between eating piles of turkey and chipolatas, Padma pulled several wizarding crackers with Morag. Padma pulled as hard as she could, suddenly tumbling backwards off her seat, engulfed in a cloud of smoke. Blushing, she scrambled back onto the bench and gathered her prizes together; she had a multicoloured beret that she put on at a jaunty angle, Musical Shoelaces that played God Rest Ye Merry Hippogriffs and several packets of Pepper Imps. At the teacher's table, Hagrid was getting red faced and loud as he drank wine, and Dumbledore laughed enthusiastically at the jokes that Professor Flitwick told him. Snape seemed to be the only teacher who wasn't enjoying himself. Even Professor Quirrel laughed nervously at Flitwick's jokes, though he did jump several feet in the air when Hagrid and Professor McGonagall pulled a cracker.

Padma turned at a yell from Terry. It seemed that Terry had accidentally set his hat on fire by leaning over one of the flaming Christmas puddings, and he was now trying to extinguish it with a cracker.

"Hold still!" Michael shouted.

He grabbed a jug from the table and poured the contents over Terry's head. The fire was out, but Terry looked furious, his hair sopping wet and water dripping from his nose. Padma couldn't help but laugh hysterically, and she and Morag had to lean against one another to stay sitting.

"Thanks," Terry said bitterly, pulling the sodden hat off his head.

Anthony, who was eating some of the pudding, laughed and started choking. He eventually coughed up a silver Sickle that had been embedded inside it. At the end of lunch, the Ravenclaws trooped upstairs. They were too full and sleepy to do anything at all, and they slumped in the Common Room, watching as several bored fourth years sent wrapping paper flying across the room to attack one another.

"How have you enjoyed your Christmas?" Morag asked, stifling a yawn.

"It's been fantastic," Padma said.

It wasn't the entire truth though. She missed Parvati terribly, as well as her mum and dad, and couldn't help but think about what they were doing now. Padma smiled at Morag.

"I'm stuffed," she added as an afterthought.

"Me too," Terry said, even though he was now eating his Chocolate Frogs with gusto.

"Doesn't look like it," Padma said.

Terry rolled his eyes and Padma laughed. It really had been a fantastic Christmas.

After New Year, when the rest of the school returned to start the new term, time flew by faster than Padma had ever known before.