November 3rd, 1995. Sunday.
"Alright, Liz, go, go!"
Selena laughed as Alisson squealed for their friend to push her down the hill.
"Oh!" Renee cried from behind them as Tess managed to hit her square in the face with a snowball charmed by Wingardium Leviosa. The whole of Hogwarts - and probably all of Scotland - was frozen over with two feet off fluffy, glittering, perfect white snow. Most of the Fifth Years were stuck inside doing homework (Wendy and Anne were particularly both upset by this.) However, the rest of the students were enjoying the snow day.
Several people were skating on the Black Lake where the Giant Squid was confusedly drifting around under the ice like a pink shadow.
Fred and George Weasley were amusing themselves with Alexanda and Lee Jordan by using the same spell as Tess, making the snowballs hit the Gryffindor Tower window. A prefect would occasionally yell out the window only to get a face full of white slush.
"Okay, hold on!" Elizabeth laughed, pushing her glasses up the pale bridge of her nose with a gloved hand before sweeping her wand at a grinning Alisson. "Depulso!" White light shot out of her wand, hitting the toboggan Alisson sat on.
With a holler, Alisson's toboggan lurched forward, rocketing down the hill before running into a now-lumpy snow bank.
"Ooh, that was cool!" Bronwen said, walking up the hill towards the rest of the girls.
Selena laughed again, adjusting her scarlet-and-gold Gryffindor scarf. "You should have seen it when Ree went! She flew right over the snow drift and hit the tree."
"She made good distance," Alisson agreed, walking up the slope with the toboggan in tow.
Renee stuck her tongue out at them in time for Tess to hit her with another snowball.
"Sel, Sel! Selena!" a voice called.
Selena whipped her head around, looking for the source whilst Alisson used the wooden toboggan as a shield form the oncoming barrage of snowballs (Renee and Tess had teamed up now.)
"Can we play?" Ivy Malast asked as she trudged through the snow with a sloppy grin. Her tangled dark hair, pieces stick out everywhere, gave her quite the deranged look. Behind her was another girl, this one with black hair and a Ravenclaw scarf.
The girl waved shyly, smiling hesitantly at Selena and her friends.
"Hello," Selena said, giving the girl a warm smile she hoped was welcoming.
Ivy motioned to her. "Sel, this is my friend, Raven Kinomoto."
Bronwen looked up from the snowball fight. "Kinomoto? Hey, you wouldn't happen to be related to Darien Kinomoto, would you?"
Raven gave a shy smile, nodding. "DJ is my older brother. Do you know him?"
"I know he's practically the best Quidditch player for Ravenclaw, he's the best Beater in decades," Bronwen said with a grin. "Nice to meet you, Raven."
Ivy motioned to Raven and herself again. "We're in the same dorm. Raven, this is my older sister, Selena."
"Nice to meet you," Raven replied, white air wisping out in front of her.
"You too." Selena motioned to her own friends. The five girls waved before they resumed their snowball battle. "These are my dormmates. They're in Gryffindor. Oh, except Bronwen over there, who you met. She's in Ravenclaw too."
Elizabeth shrieked as Bronwen lobbed a snowball at the back of her neck, Renee collapsing into laughter.
"Can we join the snowball fight?" Ivy asked eagerly, stepping forward, snow crunching under her boots.
"Are you sure you won't cheat?" Selena asked wryly, judging the mischievous look in her sister's big blue eyes. She knew her sister wasn't always one to play fair.
"Cross my heart," Ivy said casually, making a little motion over her chest before crossing her arms with a smirk. "I'm a Ravenclaw, remember? Not a Slytherin."
"So you say," Selena answered her.
"So the hat says," Ivy specified smugly. "I'm clever. I'll outsmart you in any quiz, sissy."
"Quizzes are one thing, snowballs fights are another," Selena said with a sly smile.
"Whose team can we join?" Ivy asked the older girls.
"Bronnie, Renee and mine," Tess said simply as the snowball war continued. She ducked a snowball and managed to hit Alisson with one.
Bronwen gave a quick little nod. "I don't mind!"
Selena grinned at her sister. "Alright, let's do this."
December 18th, 1995. Wednesday.
"You know, I think I'm getting better at my Stunning Spell," Renee said, twirling her wand in her hand (dark ebony wood with a phoenix feather core.) She gave a little flourish and the wand soared up into the air. Renee tried to catch it, but fumbled, shrieking. Thankfully, Angelina Johnson caught it, tossing the wand back to Renee.
Selena giggled at her friend's cheeks, which were steadily turning cherry red.
"Thanks, Angelina," Renee muttered sheepishly.
Across the room, Sasha giggled loudly. Selena glanced over to where the olive-skinned girl was stepping out of the way of some mistletoe dangling from the ceiling. Talking to her was a tall boy around 6'1" with strawberry blond, straight-but-a-little-wavy hair. Most interesting about him was the Slytherin sweater he had on, one of the few Slytherins in the D.A. Selena didn't remember seeing him in the Hog's Head, so perhaps Sasha had brought him to this meeting.
"Who do you suppose that is?" Renee said, stepping over to Selena.
They both exchanged surreptitious looks, smiles tugging at the sides of their mouths. Sasha gave the boy a coy, flirtatious smile, blinking her long lashes.
"Shamelessly flirting," Renee sighed in mock disappointment, folding her arms. She shook her head, light-brown ponytail swishing. "Isn't our Sasha better than that?"
"He's handsome," Alisson commented, drifting over.
Renee giggled. "I think you'll have to fight Sasha for him, Liss."
"You all look like you're up to no good," a familiar voice said, making Selena turn around.
Rolf and Hazel had arrived, both of them shivering from the cold corridors. The room the D.A. used seemed to keep itself warm. Hazel took off her dragonskin gloves, tilting her head.
"What're you talking about?"
Alisson nodded towards Sasha and the boy. "The winter romance starting."
The two Hufflepuffs glanced over at them before Hazel blushed. "Ah. I see."
"He's good-looking, we know," Alisson said with a grin and a laugh.
Hazel looked at the ground shyly, peeking up at Rolf. The boy was peering curiously at the pair before Hazel elbowed him lightly.
"Hm?" he said, snapping out of his thoughts. "Oh, right." He swept a hand through his green bangs. "Um, anyways, no wonder Sasha seems so happy. I heard from a friend on the Hufflepuff team that Gryffindor had their tryouts to replace Harry and the Weasley Twins."
Selena gasped in surprise, glancing excitedly at Renee and Alisson. "Who?"
"Ginny Weasley," Rolf said, nodding. "She's the new Seeker."
"Wow," Alisson said in surprise. "I'm surprised Dumbridge didn't just ban all the Weasley kids."
Rolf cracked a smile at her nickname for Umbridge before he nodded again. "I know. Apparently Ginny is really good, though. And, also, a Jack... um, Jack something and Andrew Kirke for Beaters. Apparently, they weren't terrific." He smiled broadly. "So that's pretty good for the Hufflepuff team!"
Alisson laughed, punching him lightly in the arm. "Oh, come on, Iredine. Gryffindor is going to win the House Cup no matter what. We still have the best Chasers at Hogwarts."
"That may be so, Hatten," he replied, "and Summerby may be new too, but he's a great Seeker. Weasley won't stand a chance."
"Okay," Harry Potter said, ending the conversation and officially starting the D.A. meeting. The chatter hushed. "I thought this evening we should just go over the things we've done so far, because it's the last meeting before the holidays and there's no point starting anything new right before a three-week break-"
"We're not doing anything new? If I'd known that, I wouldn't have come." Selena immediately recognized the loud-enough-to-be-heard whisper as belonging to Zacharias Smith.
"We're all really sorry Harry didn't tell you, then," Fred Weasley spoke. There were a few snickers around the room, Alisson grinning next to Selena.
"-we can practice in pairs," Harry continued as if no one had said a word. "We'll start with the Impediment Jinx, for ten minutes, then we can get out the cushions and try Stunning again."
Selena and Renee paired up, Alisson finding Elizabeth while Hazel and Rolf became partners. The room turned into pairs of people standing apart, wands drawn. Then, the practice began.
"Impedimenta!" Renee cried, pointing her wand at Selena.
Selena braced herself, watching as turquoise light shot from the end of her friend's wand, but it went a few inches to the right and froze Katie Bell. This confused Parvati Patil for a moment, Katie's eyes looking around the room.
"Sorry," Renee called, tugging on one of her golden spade earrings.
"Have another go," Selena laughed.
Renee calmly pointed her wand, exactly at Selena's stomach this time. "Impedimenta!"
For a moment, the turquoise light swirled around Selena before her joints seized up and she couldn't move anything, like some invisible hand was holding her still in her spot. Renee's face lit up with glee as she watched Selena glance around the room. Finally, just when Selena couldn't take not being able to move anymore, the jinx wore off. She and Renee switched off, Selena pointing her wand at her friend. She froze Renee on the first try, her friend freezing with her eyes open wide.
Once everyone could do the jinx efficiently, Harry put cushions out and split up the group in halves. Half would watch, half would practice.
"Stupify!" Selena called, pointing her wand at Renee, who was standing in front of the pillows. The spell missed, hitting around Renee's shoes.
"Stupify!" Selena said again. This time, the burst of the red spell shooting from her wand hit Renee in a buzz of magic. For a moment, her friend wobbled where she stood.
Instead of falling backwards and onto the cushions, Renee tipped forward with a squeak and fell flat on her face.
Some people laughed as Selena cringed, apologizing. Tess helped Selena to move Renee to the cushions until the spell wore off.
"Maybe we need more practice," Selena said with a smile once Renee stood up again.
Renee rubbed her nose, which was just as bright red as her blush had been. "Really? What tipped you off?"
Finally, after an hour of spell practice, Harry called them to stop.
"You're getting really good," he said, giving them all smiles that made Selena swell with pride. They had come far since the beginning of the year. "When we get back from the holidays we can start doing some of the big stuff - maybe even Patronuses."
Once the meeting was over, Selena and Renee left together, walking throughout the corridors, passing the troll tapestry.
"What are you doing for holiday?" Renee asked Selena curiously.
"No idea," she answered, scuffing her black Mary Jane's against the course stone floor. "My family was debating going over to London, but Ivy is insisting on staying in Bath. We'll see. Are you still staying here?"
Renee nodded, watching her feet as they walked. "Yeah, my dad just can't get away from Gringotts." She looked up with a taut smile. "Being a Curse-Breaker can be difficult sometimes. But I'm looking forward to Christmas at Hogwarts! It should be interesting."
Selena bit her lip, quiet for a moment. "Well, you're welcome to come spend Christmas with my family."
"Thanks, Sel," Renee said, giving her a smile. "But I think I'd better stay here for now." Renee was silent for a few minutes until they reached the Grand Staircase, climbing up the steps. The staircase they were on moved, the girls both grabbing the banister to keep from falling. Then, "you haven't talked to Damon in a while."
The comment surprised Selena, who thought about her friend's words for a moment. "No... I guess I haven't seen him in a while."
"Are you guys arguing or are you just not friends with him anymore?" Renee pushed.
"He's just been spending a lot of time with the new Quidditch season, that's all. And, um, probably seeing Jojo. Nothing wrong with that either, they are dating. It would be weird if they weren't together." In truth, she wasn't quite sure. She hadn't sought out Damon for a while, but had said brief hello's in the corridors between classes.
Renee didn't respond again as they reached Gryffindor Tower, and got ready for bed. Neither did Selena.
All she wanted to do was get in bed, ready for the holiday to begin and Christmas to come.
Sorry it took me forever to update. Part of that was barely any comments. Made me feel like no one was reading at all.
But, it should get more interesting from here. With so little reviews there is probably going to be a bigger length between chapters.
Well, I hope you enjoyed this chapter and I hope that you are enjoying the Summer!
Thanks for reading! Review please!
Bye!
~Meghan