Christmas Eve; Layla tried to put on a cheerful front, but found it increasingly harder to do. Two days had passed since she had first kissed James, and she had felt like she was floating since then. That morning, though, she had woken up with the instant realization that it would be her first Christmas without her mother, and it was all her fault. What made the guilt even worse was the knowledge that Ren was experiencing the same thing.

Layla had been watching her sister recently, watching her depression grow as it drew closer to the holidays. She had also noticed the relationship between Audrey and her sister, feeling it her duty to know if Ren got hurt too badly, so that she could plot Audrey's death. At first, the two were as close as ever, but a day or two ago, Layla noticed her sister avoiding Audrey, which she knew would never happen unless something very bad had happened. Though she hated herself for it, she was secretly glad about it.

Slowly, starting at the beginning of term, Ren had withdrawn from her, and became closer to Audrey. Layla loved her sister and wanted her to be happy, but she couldn't control the anger and jealously that rose up in her every time she saw the two together. Audrey made Ren happy, which she could never do anymore. Audrey was the one that Ren kept spending time with, ignoring her twin in the process. But most importantly, in Layla's mind, was the knowledge that it was her fault that they were alone in England, anyways; if it wasn't for her stupidity, her mother would be alive, and Ren would never had met Audrey.

To avoid seeing them together, Layla stayed alone in the Room of Requirement more often. She didn't like feeling so abandoned or anti-social, but she couldn't help it. In her point of view, she had lost her sister, and if she didn't have her sister, then she didn't have anyone. Thinking about it, she grew angry with herself. At the beginning of the year, she had Ren and Skye. Once she became more settled at Hogwarts, Skye hung out with her old friends, and Layla hung out with Ren, or James. Then, her sister became so obsessed with Audrey that the only one she had left was James. And now, she hated herself for being as attached to James as Ren was to Audrey; not only did she feel like a hypocrite, but she couldn't stop thinking that she was wasting his time with her stupidity. Now, she had Ella as well; but they had only known each other for a week, so even though they could talk about things to each other, Layla was afraid of getting too close, certain that in a few months Ella would have abandoned her, too.

So, after another day spent alone in what took the form of her old bedroom, Layla went down to the Great Hall for dinner. Ren ate nothing; despite Layla's half-hearted attempts to force feed her. Instead, she just kept glancing down the table to where Audrey sat, not noticing her twin shooting glares in the same direction.

"I need to talk to you," Ren muttered, and Layla felt relieved. Maybe things would work out between her sister and her, after all.

"D'accord… allons-y," she said quietly.

They walked in silence up to their dormitory, and Layla couldn't shake the feeling of impending doom.

"I thought you should know that I fucked it up," Ren said once they reached the darkness of their room, confirming Layla's thoughts.

"What?" she asked uneasily.

"Everything," a sigh escaped her lips as she sat on her bed. Layla followed suit, sitting on her own and looking at her older sister with a confused expression on her face.

"We're here on a limited time. Audrey found out about us."

For a second, there was a sickening silence as the words hit her, then Layla cried out angrily. "What!"

"I-It couldn't be helped," Ren said, sounding almost afraid.

"Of course it could have!" Layla snapped. She was shaking with rage, not so much at her sister, but at Audrey. She had done enough damage, in Layla's opinion, and now this. Would they have to move again? Would everyone find out, and hate the two vampires? Even worse… would he hate her? And, worse still: would Jeff find out somehow, with the gossip that would surely reach from students to family, and family to distant relatives?

"What was I supposed to do when she takes my flask and drinks from it?" Ren's voice was beginning to match her sister's in anger.

Layla shot daggers at her sister. Somehow, she just knew that the sudden anger in Ren's voice was because her sister knew that she was mad at Audrey; and she was siding with Audrey. "Well, I don't know, but how the fuck can you be sure she's trustworthy! What if she goes blabbing? We'll be kicked out, and who knows what."

"I know that! I trust her, she promised not to tell anyone."

"God damnit, that's what Jeff said," Layla muttered to herself. Now she was more afraid than angry; she could picture her mother, afraid but showing a brave face to the vampire hunters that had killed her. She couldn't let the same thing happen to Ren.

"What about Jeff?" Ren asked quietly.

"I said that's what Jeff said!"

"What do you mean?"

Layla was silent for a moment, afraid of what her sister would think at the end of this conversation. She had avoided it for far too long, though, making it even harder for both herself and Ren. "Back in France… when Jeff and I were still dating… he- he cheated on me, and when I found out… I… I did something completely irrational and stupid."

"Wait… he cheated on you?" Ren's face showed her sympathy, and Layla hated it, knowing that in a few minutes, that sympathetic face would be contorted in rage.

"Yes, with some slut a year older than us…"

"But, why? I thought he loved you."

Layla winced at the words. Love; her greatest fear, now, because of him. "He said he still did… but I knew he didn't."

"But-"

"So I bit him," Layla interrupted, trying to get the confession over with as fast as possible.

"What!"

"I bit him." A tear slid down her cheek, and she wiped it away with the back of her hand. "I was just so overcome with passion and hate and love and… I didn't know what I was doing. I almost killed him."

"But you didn't…"

"No… I turned him to save his life… but then, when he regained his strength he and I fought, and he threatened to tell everyone what happened…"

"Was that the week before classes were out?" Layla nodded, and Ren continued. "I remember that… but you never told me why you were fighting."

"That's why."

Layla sat in silence, looking away when she saw the horrible realization hit her sister. Ren turned red with rage, her body shaking as she fought for self-control. She stood up, stamped her foot and punched the air, though Layla knew that Ren wished it were her that she was punching. She knew, as her sister stormed out of the room, that the confusion and anger would remain for quite some time, and hated herself for having to do that to Ren.

She pulled the thick, dark curtains closed around her bed, and bit down as hard as she could on her finger. She deserved the pain, which was almost bittersweet to her. Christmas Eve night, she fell asleep with tear stains on her face.

Layla awoke the next morning, feeling depressed and disoriented. If it wasn't for the small pile of presents at the foot of her bed, she would have completely forgotten that it was Christmas. The curtains were still drawn, so she slowly opened her presents, feeling very alone.

From her sister, she received a dragon hide strap, since her current one was starting to rip. Ren also gave her a new silver flask- Layla smiled bitterly when she saw that- and some cashmere socks. Ella had given her a collection of pictures, a few of herself, but most featured James and Layla together, or James by himself. She blushed at this, and wondered how Ella had managed to get all of these, and how she had never realized that her picture was being taken. There was a note attached, in which Ella explained that since Layla was such a horrible stalker, she took it upon herself to gather pictures for her. She also apologized for not being able to get any pictures of James naked for her- Layla blushed deeply at that comment- and demanded that she not be hit for being impertinent. She stared at the pictures for a long time, before carefully setting them aside and picking up the gift from Skye; a box of Honeydukes chocolate.

Her hands were shaking as she carefully picked up the present that James had given her. She lightly ran her fingers over the wrapping paper, deciding that she would save the paper, feeling like a stalker for thinking of it. Layla carefully pulled the card off of the front, and read it through multiple times.

Layla,

I hope you'll like these books (I know how much you love to read). Also, I've noticed that you have a vampire fetish. Then again, I kind of do, too. Don't know why so many people hate them. Sorry, I'll try to not ramble. I guess I just wanted to say thank you, for putting up with (and actually encouraging) me speaking in a lot of different languages all of the time, and always being there for me to talk to. I guess this is long enough…

Happy Christmas,

James

She carefully opened the wrapping paper, folding it neatly and hiding it underneath the box of chocolate before looking at the books. One was a copy of Bram Stoker's Dracula, which she had always wanted to read. There was also a large volume about vampires; it contained information on the clans, biographies of famous vampires from the past, vampire myths, as well as spells and potions created by vampires to make life easier for others like them. The final book was the French romance novel that she read so often at the library, inside of which a small piece of paper read: Madame Pience was complaining that if you read the library's copy any more times, it would fall apart- so I figured you could use your own cope to wear out.

Layla bit her lip to keep herself from shivering, though she didn't really know why she was shivering, since she wasn't extremely cold. It was just so hard to believe that one person could be so amazing and sweet.

Her hand pushed the velvet fabric of the curtains aside so that she could peer over at her sister's bed; the curtains around Ren's bed were still drawn shut, so she guessed that her sister was asleep. Maybe it was the guilt that she had been feeling, but she had really splurged on Ren this year, and hoped that her sister liked her gifts. As her yearly gag gift, she had bought Ren some fuzzy handcuffs; for her actual gift, she had given her twin the latest model of the Cleansweep brooms. Now that there was actually a Quidditch Pitch for her to practice on, Layla thought that Ren might finally start playing the game herself, or she could at least fly around the grounds, if she couldn't play. For Ren, Layla had even brought herself to approach Audrey and help the older girl shop for her sister. She had suggested a silver locket, and had given up two small pictures to put inside of it; one of their mother, and one of the twins when they were younger. Layla had also suggested that Audrey find a copy of Les Misérables, Ren's favorite book. Her thoughts then drifted to Skye, Ella, and James, hoping that they liked what she had given to them. Shaking her head to rid her worried thoughts from her mind, she went to shower and get dressed.

When she came back out of the bathroom, half an hour later, the alarm clock read 7:00 A.M. Ren was still asleep, so she decided to head down to breakfast alone, so that if she wasn't successful in her attempts to force feed herself, nobody would be there to harass her about it. There was only a single long table in the Great Hall, and nobody was in the room. Apparently normal people didn't wake up extremely early, even if it was Christmas; or if they did, they didn't come down for breakfast so early. With a sigh, she wandered outside, her feet making soft prints in the new snow that had fallen earlier that morning. The wind blew snow off of the castle's towers, falling on her as if the snowing hadn't actually let up a few hours ago.

The sky was a light grey, with a trace of purple just above the Forbidden Forest. Her breath caused little clouds to form in the cold air in front of her face, and she hugged her cloak closer to her, shivering. Layla walked slowly towards the Quidditch Pitch; she wasn't sure why, exactly, but she suddenly wanted to go to the place where she had first met James. Once she had reached the exact spot where she had stood, a few months before, she crouched down and began to write cheesy love phrases in French in the snow, wishing that she could get the courage to tell him those things. Her ears picked up the sound of someone walking towards her; the familiar sound of the way he walked, and his feet as they touched the ground. She quickly ran her hand over the snow, erasing the words from the ground.

"We always seem to find each other outside, don't we?" James asked softly, coming to a stop just behind her.

"Yeah… and you always talk first, and it's always a question of some sort," she agreed with a small smile, standing up and turning around to face him.

"What were you writing?" he breathed.

"Nothing?"

"You're standing right beside a 'je t'aime.'"

"Je t'aime de tout mon coeur, actually…"

"Wow, you're not one for those slow relationships, huh?" he teased, his brown eyes sparkling in the dim light.

"Shut up," Layla said playfully, though deep down she knew that she could listen to him forever.

"Women like you confuse me. One moment, you're confessing your undying love; the next, yelling. This isn't a very stable relationship."

James had such a serious face when he said it that Layla couldn't help but laugh. Her laughter was cut off abruptly, to be replaced by a sigh of contentment when he kissed her.

"You know, maybe it's because this is near where we first met, but I just realized that I never taught you how to fly, yet… want to learn?" James asked, his forehead pressed lightly against Layla's, as he stared into her eyes.

"Now?" Her eyes widened slightly; she wasn't a big fan of heights when there was nothing to keep her from falling to the ground.

"Why not?"

"I-I won't fall off, will I?"

"Of course not. Here, I'll ride with you today, so you don't have anything to worry about."

"All right… but if I fall…"

"Do you trust me?"

"Of course."

"Then you won't fall."

"That's cheap, bringing trust into this. It has nothing to do with trust; it's about falling to my death."

"So now you think that I'm trying to kill you off?"

"No! That's not what I meant, and you know it!"

"I know, I know, calm down."

Layla kissed him gently, then sighed again, this time in defeat. "All right, get your broomstick, let's go."

"Was that supposed to be a sexual innuendo?"

"James Akil Karn! Are you trying to call me a slut?" she hit his arm playfully, unable to keep a straight face.

"That depends… how many guys have you slept with in the past week?"

"I lost count after the eighth."

"What a whore."

"Hey, you, this girl doesn't sleep with guys who insult her. I prefer the term prostitute; whores are cheap. I charge."

"How much?"

"Two cents; I'm expensive."

James pulled away from her for a moment, one hand searching in his pocket. "Yes, I have a quarter! Twelve and a half rounds, right?"

"Of course. Let's go," she winked at him and ran out onto the field of the Quidditch Pitch.

He chased after her, and caught up with the slender girl in the middle of the Pitch. James caught her hand and pulled her back into him, capturing her lips in another kiss.

"I could definitely get used to this," she murmured when they pulled away for breath.

"Mm, yeah, me too…" James whispered, hugging her close to him. Their bodies seemed to fit perfectly together, Layla noticed. "We came out here to do something… but I forget what it was…"

"Yeah, it's getting cold… you can teach me to fall- I mean, fly- tomorrow."

"Trust issues, again, I see," he teased her, wrapping an arm around her waist as they headed back to the castle.

"Hold on a second…" Layla muttered, her sharp eyes seeing what looked like a person lying on the ground near a rock. James followed her as she jogged over to the figure.

"Ella," she gasped, helping the girl to her feet.

"Wha- what happened?" Ella asked softly, looking lost and confused. She stumbled, once standing; the snow where she had been lying had been dyed red from a few long cuts.

"Last night was Christmas Eve. Come on, we need to get you to the hospital wing," Layla said with a grimace. James and Layla both helped to carry the exhausted girl up to where Madame Pomfrey worked.

"Oh, dear," the nurse said when the three arrived. "Yes, she's a troublesome patient. Just set her on this bed here, and I'll take care of it from there."

The two Fifth Years did as instructed; placing the younger girl carefully on the bed that Madame Pomfrey had pointed at, and quietly left the Hospital Wing.

"So, do you have any idea why Ella was lying outside bleeding?" James asked. The two were now sitting in a deserted hallway near the kitchens, eating toast that the House Elves had happily given them.

"How do you know her?" Layla asked, avoiding the question.

"The library. Other than us, she's really the only person who goes to the Foreign Language section. I met her last year, there. You never answered my question, by the way."

"I… I can't tell you, I'm sorry. Not without Ella's permission," she replied, feeling slightly guilty that she was keeping something from James, but she couldn't tell Ella's secret.

"I have to say, you are one seriously awesome friend. To all of the students who don't know you well; they're missing out on one hell of a person."

Layla felt bad, spending all of Christmas in the Room of Requirement with James or the Hospital Wing with James and Ella; she never saw her sister at all during the day. That night, she was hoping that she might be able to talk to Ren, try to get a little bit of forgiveness from her twin. When she finally managed to get back to Gryffindor Tower, though, Ren was nowhere to be found. She fell asleep on her bed, waiting for her sister to come back.

The next morning, she woke up early again, and instantly looked at her sister's bed; once again, the curtains were pulled shut. After a quick shower, there was still no sign of life from Ren's bad. Worried now, Layla silently crossed over to the bed; she hadn't seen her sister in over 24 hours, and the curtains on her bed were always closed. She carefully pulled back an edge of the curtain, and hissed silently when she did. Lying on the bed, an arm around her older sister's waist, was Audrey. Furious now, Layla stormed downstairs, slamming the door behind her as she left the dormitory.

Part of her knew that she was being irrational, and rather hypocritical as well. Yet the other part of her, the part that was fiercely protective of her sister, was in a rage. Yesterday, she had felt bad about not spending any time with Ren; but at least she had been with an injured friend in the hospital wing. Her sister probably had forgotten all about her, spending the entire day with Audrey and having the time of her life. Tears were sliding down her pale face, but Layla didn't even notice. All she could think about was how much she hated Audrey, for destroying her relationship with Ren. Her foot connected with the stone wall of the corridor that she was walking in, and she felt a sharp pain as she continued to walk towards the Room of Requirement.