Even though Christmas has passed for us, Christmas is coming close in the story. I'm not much of a Christmassy person so Abby will be as well, lol. This will be the first part of the story with new additions to the plot, but it won't be anything drastic or important. These additions were inspired by the Christmas side quest, which almost made no sense because according to the achievement log, the Christmas quest is supposed to take place in year one but we don't meet Bill until year two, Tonks until year three and Charlie until year four but it's like we're already friends with them. Then again, nothing's ever really made sense with this game.

Voices in Between

On the morning of December first, Abby woke up with a sigh. Since it was December, that meant that Christmas was quickly approaching and that soon, Abby would be on a trip back to the Selwyn Manor. As much as Abby would've loved to have stayed at Hogwarts for Christmas, her father had already written to her and requested that she be home for the holidays. Christmas hadn't been the same since her mother Constance had died, even more so after Jacob disappeared.

Growing up, Jacob had been more of the celebratory type when it came to holidays like Christmas. He was the reason why Abby even tolerated the holiday, since she never understood the point in celebrating a muggle tradition when they weren't muggles. Without Jacob around, Abby saw no point in celebrating the pointless holiday so she was a bit of a grinch at this time of the year.

It was clear that Hogwarts went all out for Christmas, since the Great Hall had been decked out with all sorts of decorations and an enormous Christmas Tree amongst them. Almost everyone else seemed to be in a festive mood, especially Rowan who was giddy with excitement.

"I'm so excited to go home for Christmas!" Rowan happily exclaimed.

"That makes one of us," Abby muttered.

"What's wrong, Abby? Feeling a little bit like a grinch?" Rowan teased.

"A what?" Abby questioned.

"It's a muggle character who tries to steal Christmas. He's got a movie called How the Grinch Stole Christmas," Rowan replied.

"Then I guess I am feeling like one," Abby crossed her arms.

"Oh come on, get into your Christmas spirit. It's the best holiday of the year! We get presents, everything is all decorated, we can sing Christmas songs and we get to spend it with our family!" Rowan exclaimed before her face fell. "I'm so sorry, Abby. That las comment was insensitive of me."

"It's okay, Rowan," Abby reassured her. "I guess that's why I'm feeling a bit like a grinch. I've never been much of a Christmas fan, but Jacob always made it better."

"Then I'll have to make it better for you myself. Once we've finished our lessons for the day, I'm taking you outside to have some fun in the snow!" Rowan proclaimed.

"You don't have to do that, Rowan," Abby said, not liking the thought of going out in this snow.

"The snow is the best part about Christmas, so of course I have to!" Rowan insisted.

"First we have to find the duelling book in the Artefact Room," Abby pointed out. She'd been waiting to have the chance to find that book since Felix told her to find it, but she hadn't quite had the opportunity to get it yet.

"Ugh, I completely forgot about that," Rowan groaned as she dropped her spoon. "We should go check it out now before class."

Eager to find a way to distract herself, Abby quickly got up with Rowan and they headed towards the Artefact Room. From the few conversations that she'd had with Ben, Abby knew that he often liked to use that room as a place to hide. When they got there, Abby was hoping that they wouldn't find anything unwanted in the room.

"They say that untold treasures lie in the Artefact Room," Rowan stated as they walked inside.

"Along with untold odours," Abby remarked as she covered her nose in disgust at the smell of the room. "Let's hurry up and find that book."

"I'll fight the urge to catalogue every single thing in this room. I'll probably fail, but at least I'm good at multi-tasking," Rowan grinned.

"I'll look over here, you look over there," Abby pointed in the other direction.

Based on the look of things, it seemed like finding this duelling book was going to be a bit harder than Abby had anticipated. There was no telling what other treasures Abby could discover in here, but the only treasure on her mind was the duelling book.

Abby.

"What?" Abby turned around to face Rowan.

"What, what?" Rowan questioned.

"You said my name," Abby stated.

"No, I didn't," Rowan replied.

"But I heard a voice," Abby argued.

"It wasn't me…" Rowan trailed off.

Abby sighed, "Then it must've been my imagination. Let's just find that book."

As much as Abby didn't want to think otherwise, she couldn't help but think that the voice she'd heard wasn't in her imagination. It had sounded like the voice came from this very room, but the only two people in here were her and Rowan. Unless there was some ghost lurking around and playing tricks with them.

After what felt like an hour, Abby finally stumbled across something that looked worth checking out. When she looked at the cover, Abby grinned as she realised that she had found the duelling book.

"I found the duelling book!" Abby exclaimed.

"Brilliant! Now we can learn a duelling spell so that our Prefect can teach us to stand up to Merula," Rowan smiled.

Out of nowhere, Abby suddenly felt like she'd been pulled underneath something even though she knew she was still standing. It felt like Abby was seeing things inside her own mind as a fog swept over her and the voice returned.

The ice is here. The vault will open.

Within seconds, Abby's vision became clearer and she could faintly make out what was in front of her. There was a walking suit of armour, a staircase shrouded in mist and ice encasing Hogwarts, spreading faster and faster.

"Ahh!" Abby shrieked.

"Abby! Are you alright?" Rowan asked worriedly.

"I saw something. In my mind…" Abby trailed off. "A walking suit of armour, a staircase shrouded in mist and ice encasing Hogwarts, spreading faster and faster."

"Ice?" Rowan wondered.

"And I heard the voice again. It said: the ice is here. The vault will open," Abby replied nervously.

"That's peculiar," Rowan observed.

"You're wondering if I'm insane, right?" Abby asked.

Rowan shook her head, "No, I still don't think you're insane. I'm wondering if your brother also had these visions."

"Let's just get out of here and talk about this later. This place gives me the creeps," Abby muttered.

"And we've got Potions first! We can't be late otherwise Snape will hate us even more," Rowan said.

Abby snorted, "I'm sure he doesn't hate you, Rowan. He probably hates me though."

"Well, let's not give him any other reason to hate us," Rowan suggested.

With a Potions class to go to and the duelling book safely hidden in her bag, Abby and Rowan headed out of the Artefact Room. But Abby wasn't as worried about Potions as she normally was. She was more worried about the vision that she had just had. It wasn't like anything that she'd experienced before, and it scared her. At least Rowan didn't think that she was insane, although something that Rowan said did stick with her.

Had Jacob had these visions too?

~*•°•*~

Throughout the rest of the day, Abby had taken a peak at the duelling book at every chance that she got. There were all sorts of spells inside, spells that Abby knew that she wasn't ready to learn yet. After all, she was only a first year student. But there was one bit of information in the book that caught Abby's attention, which was something that she wanted to bring up with Rowan before their Charms class for the day.

"It says in here that Professor Flitwick is a champion dueller," Abby said as she showed Rowan the book.

"You should ask him to teach you something cool!" Rowan suggested. "But you should also learn another spell so that you have something else up your sleeve."

"I'd like to learn something that would embarrass Merula the way she's tried to embarrass me since I first got here. Plus, she's spent all of her time embarrassing other people so it's about time that she got a taste of her own medicine," Abby replied.

"Would you mind if I took a look at the book to see if there's something useful that we could use?" Rowan asked.

Abby shrugged, "Go ahead. We should probably return it by tomorrow so that people don't start wondering where it is."

Throughout their Charms lesson for that day, all Abby could think about was how she could possibly approach Professor Flitwick and ask him to teach her something. As a teacher, he would most likely ask her why she wanted to learn a spell, and she couldn't exactly say that she wanted to use it against another student.

So when class was dismissed and everyone else started leaving the room, Abby suddenly thought that she might as well ask Professor Flitwick while she still had the nerve to do so. It wasn't like Abby had any other classes for the day, so she had some time to waste.

"Um, excuse me, Professor Flitwick?" Abby addressed him.

"Yes, what is it, Miss Selwyn?" Flitwick asked.

"Well, I'd heard a few rumours about this and I was wondering if it was true that you were a duelling champion before you started teaching at Hogwarts?" Abby asked.

"It's true," Flitwick confirmed. "I can Stupefy and Protego with the best of them. I have a shelf of trophies to boost."

"Do you think that you could teach me something cool?" Abby wondered.

"The Hogwarts curriculum includes lessons on many defensive spells, Miss Selwyn," Flitwick said.

"I… need some advanced instruction, professor," Abby stated.

"Tell me then, why do you want to duel?" Flitwick questioned.

"Because duelling has always fascinated me and I've always wanted to learn cool spells," Abby answered, using a bit of her Slytherin characteristics to enforce her lie. Although it wasn't really a lie, since Abby had always wanted to learn cool spells.

"I appreciate your enthusiasm in duelling, but it is only something that should be used as a last resort," Flitwick replied.

"Please teach me, Professor. I promise that I won't let you down," Abby insisted. When she got no response from her Charms professor, she tried again. "Please. I wouldn't ask if it wasn't important."

"I was afraid that things might be difficult for you hear at Hogwarts because of your brothers reputation… I may be able to teach you the finest self-defence spell that I know," Flitwick conceded.

"Really? Thank you!" Abby exclaimed.

"I will teach you one spell. The dueller's most essential spell. Expelliarmus. It is used to disarm your opponent without causing them harm or injury," Flitwick said.

For the next few minutes, Abby stood beside Professor Flitwick as he took her through the Disarming Charm. Having read through the Hogwarts curriculum herself, Abby knew that Expelliarmus was typically taught during second year Defence Against the Dark Arts lessons. But if their current DADA professor, a terrified woman by the name of Anneliese Ainsley somehow managed to surpass a year of teaching, there was no way that Abby would be learning this spell anytime soon.

It was safe to say that learning the Disarming Charm was a bit more difficult than Lumos. Abby soon found herself getting the hang of it though and it was clear that Professor Flitwick could see that as well.

"Good, you've got the hang of it!" Flitwick observed. "Now lets see if you can cast the Disarming Charm against me."

"On you?" Abby repeated.

"Now!" Flitwick ordered.

Abby readied her wand as she voiced the incantation, "Expelliarmus!"

On her first go, Abby managed to disarm her Charms Professor with ease. She almost felt guilty for doing it, but then she reminded herself that Flitwick had encouraged her to do it, and that it was what she needed to do to beat Merula.

"You've done it! You've truly got a gift for Charms," Flitwick praised her.

"Thank you so much, Professor Flitwick! This was so cool," Abby said.

"You might also want to consider practising with Mr Cooper. He's hesitant, but very skilled," Flitwick suggested.

Abby nodded, "I'll keep that in mind."

"Promise me that you will only duel if you have no other choice, Miss Selwyn," Flitwick said.

"I don't want to hurt anyone unless I have to, so I can't promise you that, Professor," Abby replied.

"Duelling is not allowed on school grounds without permission, Miss Selwyn. If you use this spell for anything other than self-defence, I will be forced to recommend your expulsion," Flitwick stated.

Abby nodded, "I understand."

Now that she'd learned Expelliarmus, Abby was feeling more confident about her abilities and was beginning to reassure herself she could handle any duel with Merula. But before Abby could deal with Merula, she needed to ensure that she was as best prepared as she could be. It was a good thing that Rowan would find another spell for her to learn and that they'd be learning a healing potion in Potions soon.

~*•°•*~

Just like she'd promised, Abby met up with Rowan in the Clock Tower Courtyard. Only when Abby arrived, there was snow everywhere. It was a little surreal for Abby, since she'd only heard about snow and seen pictures of it. This snow only made it even colder than it already was, which Abby quite liked. She hated warm weather, so winter was her favourite season.

"How'd it go with Flitwick? Did he teach you another spell?" Rowan asked.

"Yes, actually. He taught me the Disarming Charm, Expelliarmus," Abby replied.

"That's a great spell! You'll totally have the upper hand over Merula with that since she probably won't know it," Rowan said.

"How'd you like reading the duelling book?" Abby questioned.

"It was great! I even found the perfect spell for you to use against Merula – the Tickling Charm, Rictusempra!" Rowan exclaimed.

"How is the Tickling Charm supposed to humiliate Merula?" Abby wondered.

"Come on, she'd be laughing in front of everyone with no way to stop it! For someone like Merula, that would be awful," Rowan insisted.

"You do have a point," Abby agreed.

"We can learn it here together in the snow! It'll be so much fun," Rowan suggested.

"Yeah… snow…" Abby trailed off as she looked around awkwardly, only to step away as she saw the snow falling down beside her.

Rowan giggled, "You're acting like this is the first time you've ever seen snow."

"It is," Abby admitted.

"Are you kidding me?" Rowan shrieked.

"No," Abby replied.

"How could you have not seen snow before? Don't you live in London? Don't you live in an extravagant mansion with all these grounds that would be perfect for a snowball fight?" Rowan questioned.

"Well, my dad didn't like us going outside during winter. He didn't want us getting sick or something so we were never allowed to go outside. The windows were always covered so we could never see outside," Abby explained.

"That sounds like a very sad childhood," Rowan remarked.

"You don't know the half of it," Abby muttered.

"Okay, forget the Tickling Charm. I'm going to show you how to have fun in the snow – starting by building a snowman," Rowan said.

Abby narrowed her eyes, "What's a snowman?"

"It's a man made out of snow!" Rowan cried.

"But won't he melt?" Abby wondered.

"Well, yeah," Rowan replied.

Abby crossed her arms, "Then what's the point of making one?"

"Because it's fun! You'll see!" Rowan insisted.

Reluctantly, Abby was pulled along by Rowan who spent the next half an hour showing her all kinds of things to do in the snow. It was a unique experience, because up until today Abby had never seen snow before in her life. She'd always wondered what it would be like to go outside of her mansion and play in the grounds full of snow. But her father had never allowed that to happen.

Now, Abby was getting that experience. Although she didn't see the point in some of these activities, they'd certainly had their moments. It was just a shame that when she returned home for Christmas, it wouldn't be like this.

It was actually after I did my planning for this first part of the story when I wondered what an interaction like this with Rowan would be like. And because I've never seen snow before since it doesn't snow where I live, I thought that I could fit that into the story as well. Winter is also my favourite season, since it means I can wear warm clothes without feeling like I'm gonna die. Now if you guys are reading this story, let me know what you think and if there's anything else you'd like to see because there's a bit of a lack of feedback for this which sucks, so REVIEW.