Not Potter and the Stupid Stone

Chapter 11

Laura

When the sign-up sheets came around, for holiday, I was happy to say I was going home. Although they're great friends, it's nice to think that I won't have to deal with Hermione and Noel dragging me off to the library every hour of the day. Hopefully whoever stayed at Hogwarts over break would find out who Nickolas Flamel was before I came back.

Noel peered over my shoulder at the list, "Is that just for Gryffindor, or does it show all the houses?" Noel questioned.

"I'm pretty sure it's just for Gryffindor." I replied

"Oh," Noel sighed, somewhat glumly, "Do you think they'll kill me, if I stay that is?"

"Who?"

"My parents." She groaned.

I rolled my eyes a bit before commenting, "You could try reading one of their letters," thinking about the pile of unopened black envelopes that resided in the drawer in Noel's bedside table.

She glared at me for a minute before relenting and going up stairs. A moment later she returned with a stack of six letters. I watched her as she carefully broke the emblazoned, emerald green wax seal on the one with the earliest date. She cleared her throat and sat up straighter before beginning to read in her most proper tone.

"Dearest daughter of mine, Noel Clement Belvina Avery,

It has been brought to my attention by the pen of your brother the nature of your sorting. As you must understand, this is an atrocity of yours by the most egregious matter. I do not know how your father can ever be expected to recover from such a blow. The social implications of having a Gryffindor daughter are simply unfathomable. Our family has always been known as the most pure Avery bloodline, something that, in light of your recklessness, is now in question. I raised you better than go galivanting around in society with the likes of the muggles and anarchists that your house provides. I am more than disappointed in you and am sure you can, therefore, understand the fact that I will never be able to forgive you. I expect a formal apology for this behavior as well as a great many thanks. You owe it to me that you are still a part of this family. It is only out of the inherent goodness of which I have so plenty of that I was obliged to talk your father down from burning you out of the family tree. I have to go assists your father, now, as we attempt to regain the scraps of our dignity from edge that you pushed them to with your disgusting behavior.

Out of utter disappointment,

Katriane Adrienne Burke Avery,

Lady of the House of Avery,

First born daughter of the House of Burke,

Fourth in line to the House of Borgin"

I stared at Noel in utter shock, and horror, for a moment before moving to comfort her. "I had no idea, I thought you were exaggerating," I said, thinking of all the times Noel had mentioned being disowned or cast off by her parents. In light of this, I moved to hug her, but she quickly jumped away from my reach, instinctively casting a shield charm. This caused a lot of attention to be drawn to us, though, so, she quickly retracted the spell. Still, many people had seen and Ron, Harry, and Hermione rushed over from where they had been, close to the fire.

"What's wrong?" Harry asked, looking from Noel's face, which was tight with concealed emotions, to mine, which certainly had confusion painted all over it.

"Nothing," Noel quickly responded, smoothing the emotions out of her face, "It was just reflexive to what."

I looked at the still very concerned faces of my other friends and attempted to explain further, "Noel was just reading me one of the-"

"Nothing," Noel quickly cut me off, "I was reading her nothing." She stated, quickly snatching up the stack of letter from where it lay on the table between the two chairs we had previously been occupying. She then snatched up the Christmas break sing up and wrote her name down under the going home column. "I've simply decided I'm going home for Christmas. All Laura was doing was helping me reach my decision."

"Noel, do you really think that's the best idea?" I pushed, really not wanting her to go home to people who seemed to care so little about her.

"Of course, I am, they're my family." She said sharply before storming off.

"what was that all about," Ron questioned, still staring up after the, now, long gone Noel.

I conceded what would be best for Noel before continuing, she didn't seem to want to open up about her parents, but maybe if more of us knew what they were like, we could convince her not to go. "You know all those terrible off hand remarks Noel makes about her parents?"

All three hummed confirmation.

"Well, Noel just read me one of the letters they sent her and I don't think she was exaggerating. Like at all."

"They really can't be that bad," Hermione insisted, unwilling to believe anyone could be so cold to a child.

"You should have herd the letter, it was the one they sent her after they found out she was in Gryffindor. Not a single bit of it was asking her how she was doing or feeling, it was all just them talking about how disgusting her behavior was and how she owed them all an apology. They acted as if she had chosen to be in Gryffindor just to spite them."

"Blimey," Harry said weakly.

"Dad did always tell us about how uptight the ex-Death Eater families are." Ron said, equally as weakly.

"I still can't believe they would treat their child like that," Hermione exclaimed. "Their child!"

We all nodded meekly at Hermione's statement before falling into a restless quiet, surely all thinking about what a very unpleasant Christmas Noel is about to have.

Noel

It was the last day before break and classes had only lasted for half the day, to allow student who were going home for the Holidays more time to pack, which is exactly what I was doing. Although now that I was thinking about it, Hannukah had already passed, having fallen from December 1st to 9th this year, without any celebration or even accommodations taking place for the Jewish students to celebrate, so it was really just a Christmas break and not an all-inclusive holiday break. That felt problematic somehow. Anyway, I was packing. And quite peacefully, might I add. That is, until Hermione and Laura walked in.

"You know," Laura began, "I'm sure McGonagall would still understand if you wanted to, perhaps, change your mind and stay at Hogwarts over Christmas break."

I sighed in exasperation, having had this conversation far too many times to count over the last two weeks. "They are my family, Laura. I think I can handle three weeks with them."

"But that letter was just so awful." Hermione insisted.

I felt my frustration begin to build; I still could not believe that Laura had told everyone the contents of that letter. Still, I tried not to freak out on them, "Hermione I know what the letter said, and I read the other five too. If you must know they are not better than the first but avoiding my parents won't fix that. I'll always have to see them eventually and putting that off till summer will only make the problem worse. If you really cared about me, you would all be attempting to support me, not talk me down" I vented. I watched Laura's face crinkle as she realized how valid my argument was and took this as a sign to continue. "I really do appreciate your concern but will not be changing my mind on the matter. If it bothers you so much, I promise to send all of you, even Harry and Ron, although they will be stuck at Hogwarts, an owl if something goes terribly wrong. Ok?"

I stared at Hermione and Laura as they mulled over my proposal. Although they didn't appear to be completely happy with my answer, their expressions suggested that they were willing to accept it. I was further reenforced on this hypothesis when Hermione responded with a soft, "I suppose that sounds alright," and Laura simply turned to her own bags and began packing.

Thank goodness, I sighed, now I could finish packing in peace. I quickly looked over what I had already put in the leather suitcase that I would be taking home with me. I had already packed the textbooks I would need to complete all the assignments I was given and a handful of my favorite sweaters and skirts. I had plenty of ink, parchment, and nicer clothes at my house. I tried to think of anything else I might need and ended up just adding a couple of the notes and doodled drawings that Harry, Ron, and Laura so often passed around in class, just to look at and maybe make me smile. Tucking them into a small slot in the lid of the case to keep them safe. Satisfied that I had everything I would need, I selected something to wear on the ride home and closed and locked the suitcase.

Laura

I finished packing and looked up to see Noel coming out of the bathroom that was connected to our dorms and tucking the robes she had just changed out of into her trunk after using a quick laundering spell on them, not especially effective but useful for clothes that have not been worn for an extended amount of time and are not dirty. I looked at what she was now wearing, "Aren't you a bit over dressed," I questioned.

"Huh," Noel mumbled looking down at her outfit. It consisted of a pair of black stockings, a knee-length, A-line, gray woolen skirt, a black, button-up blouse with a relaxed, lacey collar, and a purple cardigan with gray stripes around the neckline, cuffs, and bottom of the sweater that matched her skirt. Her hair was also done up in a bun as usual, although was now adorned with a silver hair comb that had some kind of black stones set into it, and her signature black, heeled penny loafers. "This is what I usually wear at home," she said with a bit of a frown.

"I think your outfit's very nice," Hermione said, smoothing over my comment and causing a slight smile to appear on Noel's face. "Now," she continued, we ought to be getting to the feast."

I glanced at the small clock that was situated on my bedside table. She was right, it was getting late. I quickly grabbed a pair of leggings and a sweater and changed into them before following Hermione and Noel down to the feast.

After the feast we went upstairs to grab our suitcases, was Noel's vintage, it looked like it came straight out of the 1940s, before heading down to the entrance hall to wait for the carriages which would take us to the train station. When we arrived in the entrance hall, we spotted Harry and Ron waiting for us.

Harry smiled meekly before giving us each a hug and a soft, "Goodbye, have a good Christmas! Be sure to write."

Meanwhile, Ron just stood there awkwardly until I finally hugged him saying, "Merry Christmas!" propelling him to, at least, smile at and offer a merry Christmas to both Hermione and Noel.

It was not long after that that the carriages started arriving. As we stepped into one of the horseless vehicles, Hermione turned around and called after Harry and Ron one more time, "DON'T FORGET TO GO TO THE LIBRARY!" Before clambering inside along with us. After that, the train ride way very uneventful, especially when compared to our original ride to Hogwarts in September. We mostly talked and read, although, at one point, I did convince both Hermione and Noel to a mini exploding snap tournament that went a little bit like this:

Round one; Hermione V Noel- Noel won

Round two; Noel V me- Noel won

Bonus round; me V Hermione- I won

So, although Noel won overall, I was still technically a winner. Hermione could not say the same. When the train arrived at the station, we all hesitated, no one wanting to be the first to leave the cabin. Eventually Jeff, who happened to be walking by, stuck his head in and prompted me to follow him.

"Come on Laura, mum and dad will be waiting, and I want to get home. Don't you want to finally be able to watch TV again?" Jeff bribed me.

"Ok, ok. I'm coming," I replied, as he backed out of the cabin and onto the platform.

"Who was that?" Hermione questioned.

I rolled my eyes, I know I had pointed out Jeff to them before. Still, I responded, "My brother, Jeff."

"Oh," Hermione said, simply, "Well, merry Christmas then," She said, moving to hug Noel and I before picking up her suitcase. We then, as a unit, left the compartment and walked out onto the platform before splitting up to head in the directions of our respective families. After I met up with my family, just before I left the platform, I turned around to wave to Noel and Hermione one last time, but they had already vanished into the nameless sea of faces that crowded the platform.