The door to Hastings's office was thrown open wide, and books and papers were scattered everywhere. The drawers of her desk were pulled out and emptied, books were thrown off the shelves, and pages were torn from them. A pensieve that usually stood in the corner was overturned, and the thoughts from inside fluttered all over the floor like live spaghetti noodles. Her Foe Glass had been shattered, and a collection of ancient Sneakoscopes spun uncontrollably on the ground, thrown off their balance. "Oh my… oh my…" Hastings looked at the mess around her, at her ruined things, her hands on her knees, and breathing deeply. She ran to her desk and shuffled through papers and things, searching to see what was missing.

Wow," said Odessa.

"Um… yeah," said Sirius. Trying to look at the lighter of things he said, "Looks cleaner and more organized than usual, Haste." Odessa glared at Sirius while trying to stifle a laugh. Gabe walked over to Hastings.

"What are you looking for, Hastings?" asked Gabe.

"My box…" said Hastings. "My… pencil box."

"What was in it?" asked Sirius.

"Her Chocolate Frogs Card Collection," said Odessa. "Hastings, you can get more Chocolate Frogs. I'll even buy you some…"

"It's not that!" Hastings shouted. She continued to search.

"What is it, then," asked Gabe, calmly sifting through papers.

"My stories and letters from when I was a kid," Hastings said. "Miriam and I used to write stories together, and we'd write letters back and forth for fun. I kept it all in my pencil box. I don't know why someone would steal them – they're meaningless to anyone else."

"We'll help you find them," Odessa said. The four of them scoured the room but nothing could be found.

Hastings sat down on the floor, trying to blink away tears, "It's okay." She said. "It was stupid of me to keep them all these years anyway. They're just letters."

"And they're important," Odessa said. "We'll tell Jade that your room was broken into so that some steps can be made to protect it. And we'll let her know about the pencil box as well."

"Good idea," Gabe said. "Sirius and I'll go let her know. Why don't you girls take an inventory of what's missing." He put his hand on Hastings shoulder, "We'll get that pencil box back for you, I promise."

"Come on Hastings, let's start cleaning up," Odessa said. "Perhaps we'll find the box once everything is back where it belongs." Hastings brightened at the idea and quickly stood up. Pulling out their wands they quickly got the room back into shape.

"There's no box," Hastings said, downhearted.

"We'll find it. I'll put that down first on the list of missing items. What else is gone?"

"Several sneakoscopes, some books…" Hastings started listing things while Odessa wrote them down.

"Hastings, are you okay?" Professor Greene walked into Hastings office and looked around. "Is anything missing?"

"We were just finishing the list," Hastings said. "And yes, I'm fine."

"The boys told me about your pencil box, I'll do everything I can to help you find that."

"Thank you."

"Any idea who might have done this?"

"None," Hastings said.

"Any student upset with you over a grade perhaps?"

Hastings shook her head, "Not that I'm aware of."

"You know," Odessa broke in. "We found O'Reilly in here awhile ago looking through Hastings' books. He never really said why, something about potion properties. Anyway, he left and hasn't been back so we didn't think too much of it."

"I'll talk to him about it. Thanks Odessa." Professor Greene asked a few more questions before leaving.

"Why'd you tell her about O'Reilly?" Hastings asked.

"Because it could be him. I didn't tell her why he was here, but at least now she'll be keeping an eye on him too. Crud, look at the time, I'm late for class. We'll talk later, okay?" Odessa ran out of the room and into her classroom. The first years had already arrived and we're sitting at their desks, talking amongst themselves.

"Good morning class, sorry I'm late. Today we're going to make a simple sleeping draught. I've put the directions on the board. Raise your hand when you're done so I can check it. And for homework I want three feet of parchment on the uses of the draught along with what the active ingredient is and why the other ingredients are necessary." The class began to work and Odessa walked up and down the aisle giving advice here and there, commenting if something was wrong, but her mind was preoccupied. Why would someone break into Hastings office? And why would they steal the pencil box? There wasn't anything in there of any worth to anyone but Hastings. And if it was O'Reilly, why hadn't she seen him on the grounds? Why would someone curse Minerva? And why didn't people seem to realize it? The questions kept running through her head the entire day, but she couldn't come up with any satisfactory answers.

"I love Christmastime," Hastings said as she helped Odessa, Gabe and Sirius hang up the decorations.

"Me too," Odessa said. "It's too bad that Minerva's not better yet. Any thoughts on that Gabe?"

"Nothing that we haven't already been through a thousand times. We know that O'Reilly visits her in the hospital. We know that she hasn't gotten better. And we know that whatever's causing the illness isn't detectable."

"Odessa!" Professor Vector walked into the great hall. "I think I almost have the potion worked out for my telescope. Do you have anymore unicorn hair? I'll order some more for you to make up for all I've borrowed."

"It's not a problem Isabella. I have one jar left on my shelves. Please feel free to take what you need, I have some on order that should arrive in the next few days."

"You're a doll, thanks Odessa."

"Maybe it's Isabella," Sirius said as she left. "We've never really thought about her before."

"There's nothing evil that unicorn hair can be used for," Odessa reminded him.

"Maybe that's the ruse," Sirius said. "She's borrowed a lot from you."

"All for her telescope. It's pretty amazing what she's done with it."

"Why hasn't she asked you to come up with the potion?" Gabe asked, hanging more tinsel on the tree.

"I don't have the time." Odessa said. "Besides, it's her project, I don't want to take it away from her. But I have given suggestions and she's kept me up to date on her progress. The see-through affect lasts almost two hours now – she's trying to make it permanent."

"Couldn't some students steal the telescope and use it for less-than-savory purposes?" Sirius asked.

"I know what you're thinking," Odessa said. "That the boys could use it to spy on the girls."

Sirius shrugged, "It's what I would have done with it."

"Pervert," Hastings said.

"Just being honest."

Odessa smiled, "Isabella's also thought of that prospect and has come up with a solution that she is currently working on as well."

"Making all the boys eunuchs?" Gabe asked with a straight face. The others burst out laughing.

"Not quite, although that isn't a bad idea," Odessa said. "The goal is to make anything up close exceptionally blurry. And since the telescope can only see through one wall at a time it should work just fine. Once Isabella figures out how to do that anyway. But she's hoping to have it all finished soon so her students can stop freezing on the tower during class."

"Ah, kids these days, they have it so easy," Sirius said.

"Like you had it especially difficult, rich boy." Hastings said with a smile. "I remember you used to always have the best toys, brooms, clothes, everything."
Sirius grinned, "One benefit to being the son of Harry Potter. The Dursley's treated him so horribly that he wanted to make sure that my life was more pleasant. But I wouldn't say I was spoiled."

"Oh no, not at all," Hastings said sarcastically.

"Maybe a little." Sirius said. "But I've more than paid for it by being his son. Too bad there isn't a dark lord for me to defeat, then I could be famous on my own."

"Wouldn't that be wonderful?" Odessa said. "A dark lord of your very own. I bet you could pay someone to pretend to be a dark lord and then beat him up so you could write a book about it."

"Hey, my dad never wrote any books," Sirius protested.

"True. Let me rephrase that, then people could write books about you." Odessa said with a smile. "The great Sirius Potter defeated the up-and-coming dark lord, Henry the Horrible, with a solid punch to the nose."

"Shut up, you goose." Sirius said.

"Hey, I'll write the book," Gabe piped up. "I could use the money."

"And I'll write the forward," Hastings said.

"And I'll live off the royalties," Odessa said. "Let's go hire someone to be a dark lord."

"Who should it be?" Hastings mused. "I know, Hagrid Jr.!"

"You forget, it has to be someone Sirius could beat in a fight," Gabe said.

"That's true," Hastings said. "How about…one of the first years?"

The other laughed, "That's perfect. I'll go speak with one first thing in the morning." Odessa said.

"Oh! I know who it should be." Sirius said, joining in.

"Who?" Hastings asked.

"Michael Creevey. I think he weighs about eighty pounds. I should able to take him out."

"Just by sitting on him," Odessa said.

"Perfect!" Hastings said. "Then we have it all planned out."

"Hey guys, look at the tree." Gabe said. The others backed away and stared up at the giant tree, covered with twinkling fairies, candles, baubles, tinsel, icicles and a giant star on top.

"Gorgeous," Odessa said.

"Breath taking," Sirius added.

"I love Christmas," Hastings said. "What do you say we go into Hogsmeade and have some hot cocoa?"

"Or hot butter beer," Sirius said.

"That works too," Hastings said.

"I'm game," Gabe said. "Odessa?"

"Sounds perfect. Let's go." Making a quick trip to their rooms for their cloaks the foursome tromped out in the snow towards The Three Broomsticks.