Chapter 15: Holly Days

"I noticed you've been spending a lot more time with the Ravenclaw Chaser, Bridget Kineely-McConville," Liam said, taking Matt's rook as they played chess in front of the fireplace of the Gryffindor Common Room, their bellies full from the end of term feast. Some of the other students still milled about, even at this late hour, but most were already in their rooms packing for the Holidays which began tomorrow.

"Yeah. Well, any amount of time is more than nothing." Matt moved his pawn forward.

"You know what I mean." Liam was not one to be easily deflected. "It's the talk of the school. I don't know how you got so lucky, I mean, she's no Cass Weasley, but she's still one of the prettiest girls in Hogwarts."

Matt hadn't realized how the time he was spending with Bridget must appear to those on the outside. At first, even he had been surprised when she asked if she could join his table at the library - in fact, he had been so stunned he hadn't known what to say at all and they had sat working opposite each other for hours in complete silence, until Madam Pince closed the library. It was well over a week before he stopped being so nervous around her - it was hard for him to get over having seen her... in the state he had seen her in. True, he had seen nothing more than the back of her, but she had already been a waking dream to him and that had caused him to completely short-circuit.

"She's just a friend. I've been helping her study for midterms."

"I might buy that if she wasn't already one of the best students in school and two years above you."

"Look, she's nervous about the OWLs, ok? And I've already sat them so I know what to expect."

"But why not go to some other Ravenclaw?"

"You know how they are."

"Not keen to help another student possibly do better than them," Liam supplied, a bit deflated. "A Ravenclaw's best friends are their books."

"Well maybe if you weren't always hovering over me I wouldn't have lost it!" the irritable voice of Cass Weasley said. Matt and Liam both turned from the game to see Cass Weasley stride from the portal into the Common Room as Byron Wycliffe came through, dropping to the floor behind her. Clearly they had been arguing.

"What? That doesn't even make any sense!" he said, flabberghasted. "That pin was worth fifty galleons!"

Cass rounded on him. "Well if you were worried so much about it then maybe you shouldn't have given it to me."

"Maybe I thought you would take care of it! But I guess it's true what they say about not trusting Weasleys with things of value."

Cass's eyes narrowed. "You know what? We're through!" She spun on her heel and marched up the stairs leading to the girl's dormitories.

"Wait! Cass! I didn't mean it!" Wycliffe chased after Cass, but the moment he stepped on the stair it turned into a stoney slide, an event Cass had evidently been prepared for because she came down like a rocket, feet first, bowling Wycliffe over. She stood and brushed herself off, then marched right back out to the portal. Wycliffe struggled to his feet, trying to chase after her. "Cass, wait!" he called. "Where are you going?"

She turned, the fire in her eyes enough to cause Wycliffe to shrink back. "Away from you!" she shouted and climbed through the portal into the hall.

"Cass!" Wycliffe attempted to open the portal door but found it locked. "Cass!" He pounded on the door, his frustration growing. He turned, his face blotchy and red, his normally immaculate hair falling over his forehead. He saw Matt. "What are you looking at, Squib? Alohamora!" The door gave way, and Wycliffe scuttled through it.

"What was that all about?" Matt asked.

"Byron gave Cass a Gryffindor pin for her birthday a few months ago and she lost it."

Matt had the sense he might know where that pin had gone off to. "What did it look like?"

"It was a ruby red shield with a gold lion. Some sort of family heirloom or something."

"Oh," Matt said, vividly recalling the pin Tip had found some weeks back.

It was not difficult to remember seeing as Tip kept the pin on his bedside table attached to the frame of a still photo of he and his mother flashing peace signs as they climbed Mt. Ayers. The photo was pulled in so close to their faces it was difficult to tell they were climbing at all if not for the climbing gear they wore. Beside their faces the golden lion's head mimed a roar. He would hate to tell Tip that Cass had simply lost it and maybe he should return it to her. Though, even to his logical brain it did seem a bit strange the Cass had just happened to lose it in the owlery, and that Tip would happen to find it. It was a coincidence that left too much room for leaps of faith - and Tip would happily go charging off those cliffs. It had to be a coincidence. She could not have intentionally left it. Even if it were just to give her an excuse to break up with Wycliffe, she would have had the consideration not to lead Tip on by leaving it there when there were literally thousands of other places to conveniently lose something at Hogwarts. At least Matt hoped she would. From somewhere in the distance he heard the tapping of freezing rain against the window. He shivered slightly, glad to be inside by the fire.

"Check," Liam said, moving his knight into sight of the king.

"Been a while since you've been able to say that," Matt teased.

"It'll be check mate in a minute."

"We'll see about that." Matt took the knight with a rook. But Liam had anticipated this move and Matt, his attention drawn from the game by Cass's lost pin, had failed to notice Liam's pawn. The match was over in three moves.

"Finally!" Liam raised his fists in triumph. "And don't you go spoiling it by telling me you let me win."

"Consider it an early Christmas gift," Matt said, slyly.

Liam's enthusiasm seemed to wilt. "Really?"

"No, not really. When have I ever let you win? I should have seen that pawn. No wonder you were making such brazen moves."

Liam grinned again, pulling his pieces off the board. "It was all part of my plan."

"Do you want to have another round?"

"And risk losing? Not a chance. I'm starting Christmas break on a victory."

The rapping on the window grew louder.

"That's some rain out there," Matt said.

Liam fixed him with an odd look. "It's not supposed to rain today."

They both looked to the window where a brown owl was pecking at the glass.

"Tycho!" Matt cried.

"Wilson, let him in," Liam called to a young blonde Gryffindor boy who could not have been older than his first or second year. Wilson, who seemed more thrilled that Liam knew his name than anything, opened the window, allowing Tycho to fly in and land on the back of one of the easy chairs, a letter tied securely to his leg.

"Who-who!" Tycho hooted insistently, holding out his leg. Matt quickly undid the letter and read.

"Who is it from?" Liam asked.

"It's from my mum." Matt's face fell as he continued to read. "Mum says that the dementor storm is coming their way and that they are being evacuated. She says they are sorry but due to the circumstances they will be visiting Terry in Egypt for the holiday. They will send loads of books and presents but..." Matt trailed off. He threw the letter onto the table. "She wants Izzy and I to spend the holiday at Hogwarts."

"That's rough, mate."

"I was looking forward to seeing them. I mean, don't get me wrong, Hogwarts is great and all, but I want to see my parents. It'll be my first Christmas dinner away from home."

"At least you'll have your sister."

Matt smirked. "Yeah, I suppose there's that. What about you, will you be doing anything for Christmas?"

Liam frowned slightly. "Yeah, we'll be spending it in London."

It seemed odd to Matthew that what should have been exciting elicited such an unhappy response from Liam. He would have loved to visit Diagon Alley at Christmas. He could just imagine how it must look. In his mind he could see the great pine garlands hung across the storefronts and exquisitely decorated trees in the shop windows with who knows what shiny baubles gallivanting about. "Aren't you excited?" he asked.

"To be honest, I'd rather be staying here."

"Why?!" Matt was flabbergasted.

Liam motioned for Matt to lean in. "Don't tell anyone, alright?" Matt nodded. "Look, my brother, he hasn't be right in the head since the... you know..." He pointed his finger like a wand at his temple. "It's not meant to be done by two people at the same time. He's had a few bad turns. He was staying with my Uncle Tiberius in Norfolk, hunting seems to help, but they had a row and he... well he had another bad turn, the worst one yet. He's been at St. Mungo's almost a month."

Matt was stunned. "You never said anything."

"What was I supposed to say?" Liam's volume rose with his emotion, red splotches appearing on his cheeks. "Hey my brother's a nutter so they locked him up in the loony bin?" A clutch of girls who were drawing star charts and gossiping turned. Liam caught himself, calming himself down. "We don't like to talk about it. Mum and Dad call him a hero, but whenever they talk about him they talk like he died. Their dead son who's still alive. Mum breaks down in tears whenever we have to see him at St. Mungo's and dad has to take her out of the room. And so I'm left standing there looking at my brother in that white beds with its white sheets and nothing around him because he's not allowed to have anything and we try to talk about quidditch until mum and dad come back. And I hate it. I know I should be glad that he survived when so many students died in the battle, but sometimes I wish he'd died too. It'd be better than living like that."

"I didn't know. Is there any hope?"

"The healers are optimistic. But they always are. I've never met a healer who would give you a straight answer. Even when someone's died they still try to avoid saying the words until the last moment." It sounded as though Liam had spent a lot of time in St. Mungo's. "At least Neville will be there."

"Neville? You mean Neville Longbottom?" Matt could scarcely hide his enthusiasm. Neville Longbottom was one of the famous heroes of the Battle of Hogwarts, now an Auror. But beyond that he had recently published one of Matt's favorite herbology pamplets on the plants of the Baltic Sea.

"Yeah. You might have heard about his mum and dad."

"No." Matt shook his head.

"Well, he's gotten so famous of course Rita Skeeter had to let it slip in her tell-all book about the Heroes of Hogwarts. I thought you might've read it since you read everything."

"I don't read Rita Skeeter if I can help it. Gossip rags aren't really my thing."

Liam smirked. "So there is something you won't read afterall. They were tortured into insanity by Bellatrix Lestrange, her husband, her husband's brother, and Barty Crouch jr. during the first Wizarding War." Those names again. It was like they just couldn't stop until they had tainted every wizarding family. "They've been at St. Mungo's ever since. Neville always comes to visit them for Christmas. We go for a muggle ice cream after. Sometimes you just don't want to be around magic, you know? I like the ice cream with the honey-flavoured bits."

"That really stinks," Matt said, sympathetically.

"It won't be all bad. We'll still get together with the rest of the family at Godric's Hollow like every year. We'll play our traditional New Years Eve quidditch match. Hopefully this chess game is the start of a winning streak."

"You just got lucky," Matt said.

"Damn right I did. And let's hope it keeps up. I wouldn't mind being crowned the New Year's King of Quidditch this year. Then all my cousins will have to do whatever I say for the rest of the night." Liam leaned his chair back, lacing his fingers behind his head and staring up into space, lost in his own imaginings.

Matt started putting away the chess board.

The next morning everyone was saying their goodbyes in the entryway.

"If I'd known I'm sure mum and dad would have invited you and Izzy to stay with us," Donald said. "I'm sure you could just come. I mean, what's two more mouths to feed? We could send an owl ahead from the train. They'd be glad to have you."

"I can't, mum and dad want us to stay here. They say they would feel safer knowing we were at Hogwarts."

"I don't know how," Declan said, clapping Matt on the shoulder, "you get in more fixes than the rest of us combined. Here." He handed Matt a small squareish package wrapped in yesterday's Daily Prophet. "I know it's a bit early, but if I take it home I'll probably forget to send it. Merry Christmas, mate."

"Thanks, Declan! I'm sorry I don't have anything to give you."

"You're giving me the quidditch cup, remember?"

"Oh yeah. Well, I'll try my best."

Declan raised a brow at him suggesting this was not the answer he wanted.

"I'm just not sure how well it'll wrap. That's never been my strong suit."

"Now we're talking. Don't forget, I want you doing drills every day. Don't think you get to take it easy because it's the holidays."

"Aye aye captain!" Polly said, appearing on the other side of Matt, giving Declan a mock salute.

"You too MacHeath. I don't want you getting soft."

"Me? Soft?" She flexed her bicep. "Not likely. If anyone it'll be you gettin' soft on those fancy chocolates your grandmum buys you."

"Fancy chocolates?" Matt asked teasingly.

"Oh yeah," Polly answered. "Declan's a right spoiled little prince when he gets home, sittin' 'round the fire with his grandmum feedin' him bonbons."

Matt tried to suppress a laugh at the image of Declan sitting in an easy chair by the fire in Christmas pajamas with his doting grandmother feeding him chocolates but could not which Polly, Donnie, and Sean, who had just come up, echoed.

"Alright already, enough," Declan said, irritably. "One more crack and I really will bewitch bludgers to chase you when we get back."

"Oh no! I'm shaking," Polly mocked, walking away on fake-shaking legs.

"Oh you will be!" Declan called off after her. "Anyway, Merry Christmas, Boot."

"Merry Christmas, Declan." Matt said.

Declan began walking away, turning as he did so, "And don't forget, I want to see at least a quarter of that book filled out by the time I get back."

It took Matt a moment to figure out what book he was talking about, then he remembered the present in his hands. He tore it open.

"What is it?" Donnie asked.

Matt held it so they both could see. "It's a quidditch playbook. But it's completely blank."

"He probably wants to see if you are as good at making plays as you are at breaking them," Taro said from behind them. Both boys jumped. "Happy Holidays Mr. Boot, I look forward to seeing what you come up with." He tipped his hat and continued along.

Both boys stared after him with eyes as large as saucers.

"That was..." Donnie began.

"Taro Masumoto," Matt finished in awe.

"You look like a pair of lovestruck schoolgirls," Shoshanna's voice cut through their amaze, bringing them back to reality.

"Shosh, where's your trunk?" Donnie asked, his cheeks vaguely pink from the sting of her insult.

"I'm not going home."

"You aren't? But you've been on about latkes and loukoumades all week!"

"Yeah, my parents were ordered to evacuate due to the dementors, so they decided that this was the year they would visit the Holy Land. I just got the owl yesterday. Next year in Jerusalem!" she said, making a mock toast.

"Why aren't they taking you?" Matt asked.

"They don't want to take any chances with so many death eaters still at large. There are rumors that some are stirring up trouble in the middle east."

"So this is as much about work as it is about vacation." Donnie said.

"Yeah." Shoshanna said, glumly.

Matt suddenly realized he had no idea what Shoshanna's parents did. "What do you parents do?"

"Mum works for the Ministry's Department of International Affairs and my dad works as her translator. You would not believe how many dark wizards try to destabilize countries in order to put themselves in power."

Matt felt a sudden weight on his back, as though a small child had hopped on for a piggyback ride. "Hey, did you hear?" Tip practically shouted into Matt's ear.

"I may never hear again if you keep shouting into my ear," Matt said.

"Oh... sorry." Tip slid off of Matt's back, his expression still one of pure elation.

"Hear what?" Shoshanna asked.

"Cass and Wycliffe broke up. Everyone's been talking about it."

"Really?" Shoshanna raised a brow. "I didn't think they'd ever break up. Do you know why?"

"Who cares? He was a git and she dumped him. Now she can find a better man."

"Like you?" Shoshanna teased. "It's probably just a rumor."

"Why not me? I am the star seeker for the Hufflepuff quidditch team and the king of pranks at Hogwarts."

"Self-proclaimed," Shoshanna interjected.

"I wish I could stay for Christmas too, think of all the secret passages I could find! But dad says Christmas is a time to be with family." Tip rolled his eyes.

Matt felt a heavy weight across his shoulders and turned to see Liam holding out a package to him. This one was actually wrapped in real wrapping paper with little golden snitches in red santa hats and trailing evergreen garlands literally flying in diagonal lines across the glossy white background. "Hey Matt, I know it's a bit early, but Merry Christmas," Liam said, handing him the present.

"Thanks, I got you something too." Matt tugged a bag of fizzing whizbees out of his pocket. "Sorry, I didn't get a chance to wrap it."

Liam took them happily. "Ah, fizzing whizbees! Great!"

"Yeah... great..." Donnie appeared crestfallen.

Matt rolled his eyes knowing exactly what the problem was. "I slipped it in your trunk when you weren't looking."

"Really?" Donnie's face immediately brightened.

"Did you really think I'd forget to get a present for my best mate?"

Tip, not the least bit interested in the conversation, interrupted with what he clearly felt was a subject of far more import. "Hey MacLaggen, is it true that Cass and Wycliffe broke up?"

"See for yourself," MacLaggen said, indicating with a nod to where Wycliffe stood with Jerry Card as Cass approached from the dining hall with her two friends, Muriel Roberts and Claire Warren, chattering happily. As they caught sight of Wycliffe all chatter immediately cease and the trio assumed a haughty, cool look as they passed. Wycliffe appeared as though he wanted to speak but the iciness of her countenance seemed to freeze the words on his lips.

Cass pointedly made certain not to so much as look at Byron as she sashayed by. He stared agog as instead, as though only to further rub it in, when she passed by Tip she ruffled his hair without so much as a word, a triumphant grin across her face. Tip looked so thrilled Matt feared he might literally explode. "Merry Christmas Cass!" Tip managed to shout as the last flick of her long red hair passed through the doors.

"Did you see that? Did you see that?!" Tip practically shouted, his voice cracking. "I've got to go catch her!"

"Good luck, mate," Liam said, almost laughing.

Tip scuttled to the giant double doors, but then, as though realizing he had forgotten something, he turned and waved with his whole arm, shouting, "Merry Christmas everyone!"

"Don't worry, I'll get his trunk," Sean said with a bit of a laugh. Easily hefting the trunk onto his back so that it hung next to his own. "Easier to carry two than one, anyhow. Weight's more even. Have a Merry Christmas."

"Merry Christmas," they echoed back.

"I'd better go too." Donnie said. "Merry Christmas, Matt." They clapped each other on the back in a hug. "Happy Hanukkah, Shosh." They seemed uncertain what to do alternately going for a handshake and a hug and vice versa. Finally, giving up, Donnie waved. "Well, see ya."

"Yeah," Shoshanna said, turning in the opposite direction.

"Aren't you going too?" Matt asked Liam.

"In a minute. Come on, open it."

In all the chaos, Matt had forgotten about the present. "Oh yeah!" He tore open the packaging, revealing an album with a black binder.

"It's for your Chocolate frog cards. I noticed you were using a gum band to keep them together."

"Thanks, mate," Matt said flipping through the pages, already planning which cards he would put on the front page. Of course the Ling Fen card Tip had given him from China would have to be in the top row.

"Where's your trunk, Squib?" Liam's jaw clenched at the sound of the familiar mocking voice. Matt turned to see Ceelee sitting on the wide stone banister of the great staircase.

He allowed half of a wry smile. "In my dorm, under the bed."

Ceelee slid down from the banister and sauntered over, "You aren't going home?"

"Nah. My parents are in Egypt visiting my brother. I'm guessing you aren't going home either."

"What was your first clue, Sherlock?" Matt always found it amusing, these little moments of rebellion in Ceelee when she would make reference to muggle things. "But I see McLaggen's all packed and ready to go." Her aspect grew cool. "Merry Christmas McLaggen. I hope you enjoy your time with your dear and loving family."

"Sod off, Carrow." McLaggen said. Without another word he turned and walked away.

Ceelee stared after him, doing her best to hide her shock behind a veneer of indifference. "What's gotten into him?"

Matt sighed heavily walked away. She didn't know, he had to remind himself. It was the only thing keeping him from giving her a piece of his mind.

"Matt. Matt! Where are you going?" He heard Ceelee call out from behind him. She jogged to catch up. "Come on, was it something I said? I'm sorry I called you a squib, alright?" She grabbed onto his arm. "Matt?"

He turned, "Look, do you really have to be such a jerk all the time?"

Stunned, she dropped Matt's arm.

"Look, I'll talk to you later. I just can't right now. I... I have to go find Holly." He walked away, still livid, looking for the little girl with the flaxen braids and crooked smile.

He watched as the last of the stragglers made their way out the door, making a point to avoid Ceelee. Had he missed Holly? No. She would have at least found him before she left. He was sure of it. He could feel the corners of chocolate frog box in his other pocket jutting into his leg. Maybe she wasn't going home for Christmas. Maybe she didn't really have a home. She never talked about it. She wouldn't be the only student orphaned by the wizarding wars. He decided to check the one place he was sure she might be.

Sure enough, huddled in a little corner, surrounded by stacks of books, sat Holly. She reminded Matt of a little white mouse.

"Merry Christmas, Holly," he said. The sound of his voice startled her. She looked up from her book to find Matt holding out the chocolate frog box. "Don't worry, I checked, it's a Merlin card."

She grinned widely, showing off her crooked front teeth. "Thanks Matt! I have something for you but it's not quite done."

"That's ok, as long as it's ready by Christmas. What are you reading?"

"It's a book on counter-curses," she said.

"Any good ones?" Matt sat himself down tailor-style next to her and in that way they passed the morning.

At lunch it became painfully clear how empty the school had become. At the Hufflepuff table there was only he and Shoshanna, a second year named Josie Carmichael, and Holly, who had required no invitation, only the nod that it was okay to join them. When Izzy came down they waved her over. She came pulling along a fourth year who introduced himself as Phitchit Sirisopa.

"Hey, Bridget!" Come sit with us," Matt called out as the dark haired Ravenclaw chaser entered. Glancing down the empty Ravenclaw table, she sat herself down at the Hufflepuff table across from Holly. Three other Ravenclaw girls saw the little knot of differently housed students and joined them, though at a bit of a distance. Besides the Hufflepuff table, the only table not empty was the Slytherin table, which still held at least a dozen students.

"What's with all the Slytherins?" Matt asked.

"Azkaban orphans," Shoshanna answered.

"Azkaban orphans?"

"Yeah," Phitchit said. "Their parents are in Azkaban for serving you-know-who so they're stuck here."

Bridget surveyed them. "It's sad, they have no homes to go back to."

"I never thought I'd see you here, Bridget," Shoshanna said. "I figured you'd be in Ireland."

"Oh yes. My parents are... traveling," she said. Matt could see the pain in her eyes as she lied.

"That stinks," Shoshanna said, sticking a piece of broccoli with her fork.

"It's not so bad, you get used to it."

"Carrow sure looks cross today. I wonder what's gotten into her," Phitchit said. Matt turned to see Ceelee sitting, cross-armed with a sullen expression on her face as she stared at her plate of food. "Well, whatever it is, I hope she doesn't take it out on the rest of us."

"And Darius Flint now has worms for ears," Shoshanna narrated as the aforementioned Flint began to scream and ran out of the room holding two long worms out from the side of his head. Matt had to hide a roll of his eyes. He would talk to Ceelee the next time he had the chance. For someone who acted so tough, she sure was sensitive at times.

"You know, I really don't feel like pudding with lunch anyway," Phitchit said, grabbing a leg of chicken and standing. "I'll see you guys later."

"What's that?" Holly asked. "You'd like more food?" Matt and a few others turned to see who she was talking to. She was holding her mouse, Artemis, and gently putting small bits of food in his mouth. Though the rodent appeared asleep it seemed to be chewing and swallowing the food. "Oh, no more peas? You don't like them? I'm sorry. Maybe some corn? No it's not creamed. Oh, you want chicken." She took a bit of chicken and placed it in the mouse's mouth. Matt watched as it slowly chewed and swallowed the chicken.

Shoshanna leaned in close to Matt. "That girl is weird," she whispered. At the moment, as Holly slowly dribbled a spoonful of lamb stew into Artemis's mouth, he found he had to agree.

The next few days passed in a blur of glorious freedom. It was quite a marvelous thing to be at Hogwarts without annoyances like classes to get in the way. Matt, Shoshanna, Izzy, Phitchit, Holly, and Bridget formed something of an unofficial explorers club. It had been Phitchit and Izzy's idea and they had gotten quite a few nasty stares from Madam Pince as they pitched their plan in the library to the others. They decided that the best way to use the time would be to explore the whole of the castle, leaving not a single secret passageway or moving staircase uninvestigated. They would then make a map, a new map, listing everything they had found. Afterall, they said, the old maps were useless now that the castle had changed itself following the Battle of Hogwarts. Matt was surprised to see that Holly was the first to want to join the club, volunteering herself and her mouse to join the effort. Perhaps it was Matt's imagination, but it seemed like she was talking to that mouse more now. It was more difficult to convince Bridget, but Phitchit finally succeeded by arguing that there was no point in reading Hogwarts: A History if you never actually saw it all.

"I think Godric Gryffindor designed the headmaster's room," Phitchit said. "Look, the door has a griffin on it. Griffin-door, get it?" He had pitched this argument before in their current quest to discover the identities of the rooms designed by the four founders.

Shoshanna rolled her eyes. "Well, if Godric Gryffindor were feeble-minded enough to find that joke funny, then perhaps."

"Well, which room do you think he designed?"

"Oh no, I'm not saying your wrong. If anything I think it makes perfect sense the way you put it." She was very clearly mocking him.

"We should see if we can find the Chamber of Secrets," Izzy suggested for the dozenth time. "That's Salazar Slytherin's room. They say only five people have been in there since he closed it off. Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, Ron Weasley, Ginny Weasley, and You. Know. Who." She scrunched up her face with excitement as she said the last name. "They say there's a basilisk skeleton there with fangs that contain the deadliest poison known to man."

"That sounds like a good reason not to go." Matt said, though he was secretly just as keen to see it as she was, he was just as aware of the stories of Harry Potter's time in the Chamber and not eager to find out whether more dangers than just a basilisks haunted those tunnels. At least, not with his baby sister.

"But only the most powerful witches and wizards have ever set foot in there. We have to go," she whined.

"No one even knows where the entrance is," he countered.

Izzy looked like she wanted to reply but, finding no response, fell into a petulant silence crossing her arms and sticking out her lower lip.

"So, do you think Rowena Ravenclaw's room is the library or the music room," Bridget asked.

"It's in the third floor girl's bathroom, the sink with the snake on the faucet."

All eyes turned to Holly, who was stroking Artemis's head.

"What did you say?" Shoshanna asked.

"The Chamber of Secrets. The entrance is in the girls bathroom on the third floor. It's the sink with the snake on the faucet." She winced, as if trying to remember something difficult. "If you talk to the snake it opens up."

"How do you know this?" Matt asked.

Holly hesitated, her eyes held a faraway look for a moment before returning back to the present. "The ghost girl told me. She died there." The way she said those words, in her simple, innocent tone, was rather unsettling.

"The ghost girl?" Phitchit asked.

"Ugh! She must mean Moaning Myrtle!" Shoshanna said.

"Moaning Myrtle?" The name was new to Matt.

"Yeah, she's the bathroom ghost. She's repulsive."

"So all we have to do is talk to a snake faucet? What are we waiting for?" Izzy said, immediately taking off for the third floor.

"Wait! Izzy!" Matt called after her. "We're not ready! We don't have any of our equipment!" But it was too late.

"Well, I don't know about you, but I'm going," Phitchit said, excitedly, jogging after her.

Shoshanna rolled her eyes. "Well, we'd better make sure they don't kill themselves."

In a matter of minutes they were all staring at the little snake carved into the faucet.

"Well here goes," Izzy said taking a deep breath. Matt braced himself. "Open!" she commanded the snake. Nothing happened. "Open!. Didn't you hear me? I said: open! I command you chamber of secrets to open!"

Phitchit pushed her aside. "Maybe it needs a man's voice to open it. I mean that would make sense, wouldn't it? If girls could open it just by talking to it, wouldn't it be open all the time?" He planted his feet on the floor and squared his shoulders. "Open!" he commanded. Still nothing. "Maybe it has a secret password. Salazar. Slytherin. Voldemort."

Shoshanna socked Phitchit's shoulder. "Why would it be You-Know-who?"

"I don't know! The Heir of Slytherin commands you to open!"

A strange laugh echoed from one of the toilet stalls. All heads turned as a greyish girl wearing glasses, with her hair pulled up in pigtails, floated up from the stall. "That's not how you do it silly."

Shoshanna made a disgusted face and whispered, "Moaning Myrtle."

Matt looked up as the ghost, "How do you do it then?"

She flew over to them, floating while rotating in place bringing to Matthew's mind a boardwalk sausage. "Well, I'm not going to tell just anyone."

"Who will you tell?" Shoshanna said, a clear note of exasperation in her voice.

"Well certainly not you!" Moaning Myrtle scowled at her. She flew around them. "Ugly, ugly, ugly, ugly," she said as she passed each of the girls. "You're kind of cute," she said to Matt. "Oh, but you!" She flew up to Phitchit, pressing her ghostly form against him is what was probably meant to be a flirtatious way. "You're gorgeous. Would you like to share a stall sometime?"

Phitchit was genuinely taken by surprise. "I-I-I," He stuttered.

"Sorry, Myrtle. It's a girl's room. He's not allowed," Shoshanna said.

"Oh pooh. What do you know? You're hideous. Besides, he's here now, isn't he?" She rested her head against Phitchit's shoulder.

"It's against school rules to date a ghost," Matt said.

"It is? Well, how about a kiss then?"

"Um, I don't know," Phitchit said. "I don't want to get a detention." Matt wasn't sure if he was just playing along or genuinely thought there was a school rule about relationships with ghosts. There might have been, for all Matt knew, it seemed sensible.

She walked her fingers up Phitchit's very tense chest. "Give me a kiss and I'll tell you what you want to know."

"Ummm..."

"On the lips." Myrtle said, flying in front of him. Myrtle leaned forward with her lips puckered, in the way a child might.

"Come on, Phitchit," Izzy said. "Give her a kiss so we can open it."

"Fine." Phitchit leaned forward and gave her a quick peck. He shivered from his head to his toes. "Now tell us. How did they get in the Chamber."

Moaning Myrtle laughed, flying back up to the ceiling. "They hissed at it," she said, giggling. "It really was the silliest thing. Well, see you around, loverboy." She disappeared back into the toilet stall where a flushing sound announced her departure.

"They hissed at it?" Phitchit said, mildly disgusted. "So we just hiss at it?" He and Izzy started hissing. Nothing happened.

"Come on, guys!" Izzy urged. The rest of them joined in in half-hearted hissing. Matt felt ridiculous. His eyes caught Bridget's as she was hissing and he couldn't help but blush. He turned away to hide it and saw Holly, simply standing there, watching, with her mouse sticking out of her front pocket. With its ears back it looked a bit like a furry snake. And idea struck him.

"Wait a minute! Everyone stop," he said.

"What is it? Why are we stopping?" Izzy demanded.

"Salazar Slytherin was a famous parselmouth, right? And You Know Who?"

"Of course!" Shoshanna said. "And that article Rita Skeeter wrote about Harry Potter said he was rumored to be a parselmouth too!"

"He might have taught Ron Weasley or Hermione Granger how to speak it. But what we're doing, it's just gibberish."

"So what are you saying?" Phitchit asked. "We can't get in by hissing at it?"

"That depends, how good's your parseltongue?" Shoshanna said, sarcastically.

"Bloody hell. That was my first kiss. And I just wasted it."

Izzy piped up, "It wasn't wasted. You're probably the only Gryffindor ever to kiss a ghost."

Phitchit allowed a half smirk, but then it faded. "Yeah, but did it have to be Moaning Myrtle?"

At this, they all laughed.

"Well, why didn't he tell me!" Ceelee shouted. Matt had kept an eye out for Ceelee over the past few days but she always seemed to be with someone else. Finally, on Christmas Eve, he found her alone, sitting on the railing of the bridge with her legs dangling off into the void below. "How was I supposed to know his brother is in the nut-"

Matt shot her a warning glare from where he stood next to her.

"At St. Mungo's," she corrected in a more subdued tone.

"He probably thought you'd just use it against him."

"I'd never go that far! He's the one who uses people's families against them."

"Yeah, but it's not like you've ever tried being nice to him."

"When has he ever been nice to me? The stupid pratt can't leave me alone for a minute. It's like he's always waiting for an excuse to have a go at me."

"The way I see it, you give as good as you get."

She was flabbergasted by this. "It doesn't matter, he still could have told me."

"When? It's not like you guys ever actually talk."

"So?" She pounded the railing beneath her in frustration, shaking it so hard that Matt instinctively made to catch her to keep her from falling into the abyss. "Ugh! I hate my dad! Why does he always have to ruin things for me?!"

"Well, you don't have to help him along."

She shot Matt a glare so sharp if it had been a knife Matt was certain he would have been cut in two. "And what's that supposed to mean?"

"Maybe you could trying to be a bit nicer to him. He's not such a bad guy once you get to know him."

"I'm nothing but nice to him!"

"The day I met you you gave him antlers."

"He deserved it! He was making fun of my name."

"Yeah, but did that really warrant antlers?"

"He's lucky antlers were all that I gave him. It's not like I chose my name." She huffed, then broke out into a sly smile. "You have to admit, it was funny watching him try to walk through the train."

Matt couldn't suppress the chuckle the memory elicited. "Yeah, he had to walk through sideways."

Ceelee turned around and hopped down. "Look, it's simple, if he starts being nicer to me, I'll be nicer to him. But I'm not going to paint a target on my back."

"Fine."

"Good." She turned to leave.

A thought occurred to Matt. "Hey, Ceelee. Would you like to play some chess? I don't really have anything to do this evening." Even as he said it, he remembered he did, indeed, have something very important to do.

"Nah, I've got to keep an eye on Flint. He thinks just because there aren't other students around he and the other Slytherins can get away with murder. Not literally, of course. He's been trying to take over for a while. I'd rather not make it easy."

"Then, I guess I'll see you around."

"Not if I see you first."

"Then I'll be a toad."

She smirked. "Something like that."

"Well, come down sometime. I've got something for you for Christmas."

"Yeah, whatever." She waved dismissively as she walked away with a slight smile.

That evening, Matt dug through his chest to the very bottom where a small object had been carefully hidden away. He had worked hard to get it as right as he could, but his skills were not nearly equal to the task and the little painted wooden object was oddly shaped with lopsided features. If only he could perform a transfiguration spell! Then it would be perfect! Exactly as he pictured it in his mind. He sighed at its misshapen form. He hoped it would be the thought that counted. Wrapping it carefully in the paper from Liam's gift, he gathered up his courage and headed off to that long forgotten hallway.

Arriving at the heavy door that no longer seemed quite so shrouded in shadow, he knocked on the ancient wooden planks. There was no answer.

He knocked again. "Mr. Filch?" he called. Still no answer. Filch must be out in the halls. He wondered if he should leave the present there when he felt a whispery sensation about his ankles. He looked down to see the bony form of the sandy furred Mrs. Norris looking up at him with her lantern-like eyes. She meowed.

"Hello, Mrs. Norris," he said, crouching down to scratch under her neck. "Do you know where your owner is?"

She meowed again and trotted down the corridor into the darker region, away from where he had come.

"Wait up!" Matt called, running after her. She stopped, turning her head and meowing impatiently. He followed her through a number of halls and up a long spiral staircase he was certain he had never seen before. She turned again at the top and meowed again.

"Are you sure there's not a faster way to get there?" Matt panted from halfway up the stair. Mrs. Norris meowed in what sounded like an irritable tone. "Fine, fine, I'm coming." He pushed himself forward climbing the remainder of stairs. It seemed to him the stair was the height of the entire castle. At the top he saw a small hallway that led to a door scarcely as tall as he was, Mrs. Norris was sitting in front of it.

"Is this it?" he asked. Mrs. Norris meowed. Matt opened the door to find himself staring into a sea of candles burning bright as snow fell around them, and there, standing just before it, only a meter in front of him and leaning over a ballistraude that appeared to flicker in and out of existence was the bent form of Filch. Mrs. Norris trotted up to her master and rubbed against his legs, purring.

"Well, hello my dear one. How did you get in?" Filch leaned over and stroked her head with one hand, the other appearing to be occupied with a giant hook. Mrs. Norris turned toward Matt and meowed. Filch turned to see Matt.

"I'm sorry," Matt said. "She- I mean, I was looking for you to um give you - here." He held out the package with the flying snitches still traveling across in their diagonal lines.

"Oh ho! What is this? For me?" Filch took it.

"I'm sorry, it's not very good," he apologized as Filch removed the little wooden carving from the wrapping paper.

"I'd say it is. It's Nelly, ain' it?" he said, turning the little wooden tabby cat around in his hands. "You made this yourself?"

"During Divination."

Filch snorted. "Probably the most useful thing to come from that class." Matt chuckled slightly. "Well, come on, boy. Take a look." Filch waved him forward. "There's not many at Hogwarts who have ever had this view. Even those Weasley twins could find this place. Thank heaven for small mercies."

Matt stepped forward and the sight he beheld left him speechless. It was the Great Hall! They were almost on the very ceiling looking down on what appeared to be a wonderland of evergreens and brilliant baubles. Hagrid was at the bottom near the entryway, negotiating the placement of a fir tree that had to be at least ten meters tall while Prof. Flitwick waved his wand and decorations sprang onto another tree. Matt could now see the hook Filch was holding held a giant wreath with long strings of fir tree garlands hanging from it. They traveled along the wall to the very back entrance.

"Jus' puttin' the last touches on it for Christmas."

"It's beautiful," Matt breathed.

"Best one we've ever done, if yeh ask me," Filch said proudly. "Hang on a moment while I get this hung up. Then we can have some tea." Matt nodded and watched as Filch secured the giant hook to the thick stone railing. "Alright, let's go."

"You know, this is pretty good. Is it your first time carving?" Filch asked as they made their way back down the halls.

"Yeah."

"You should keep at it. You've got some real talent."

"But it's lopsided," Matt protested, embarrassed.

"So? I could tell it was a cat. You'll get better in time. Never hurts to work with your hands. Keeps your feet on the ground. Wait." Filch held out a hand to stop Matt. "I hear something."

Matt listened closely, but he couldn't hear anything. Then, just faintly he heard the faint hissing of a whisper and the shuffle of footsteps. In the light of a crossing hallway he saw the small form of a girl holding something in her hands. She appeared to be talking to it though he could not understand what she was saying. It way Holly! She walked on without noticing them.

"Poor girl," Filch said when Holly was no longer in sight. "I remember the first time I saw her. Had to be three, four years ago. It was almost midnight. I was cleanin' out by the Headmaster's office when those Carrows came in with her. She just followed them like she had no will of her own. It was like watching a lamb go to the slaughter."

"Mr. Filch, I don't mean to be rude, but that's Holly Mills, she's only a first year. It couldn't have been her. She would have only been seven if it were four years ago."

"I know what I saw. It was her. 'Cept she was wearing a white dress and her hair was longer. And they had this thing floating behind them, like a table with something on it, and it was covered by a large white sheet.

Matt shook his head. That was ridiculous. It couldn't have been Holly. What would the Carrows even want with a seven year old anyway? And why bring her into Hogwarts? Filch must have been mistaken. It was probably another student who was caught breaking curfew. He checked his watch. It was nearly ten o'clock.

"Mr. Filch, I think I had better be getting back to the common room. It's getting late."

"Oh? What time is it?" Filch looked at his watch, shook it, and held it to his ear as if to check if it were still working. "Well, I'll be damned. Guess you're right. Another time then. Merry Christmas. Thanks for the cat." The words sounded creaky, as though unused to being used by him.

"Yeah. Merry Christmas, Mr. Filch." Matt said, taking the corridor he knew led to the dorm. He was so preoccupied by what Filch had said he accidentally missed the entrance and walked into the kitchens where the house-elves refused to let him leave until his arms were so loaded with pastries and cakes that he could barely tap out the rhythm to get into the dorm.