It was Harry's voice that woke her up on Christmas. Her dorm room was empty except for her and so she had kept the two way mirror right under her pillow, just in case.
"Rohini!" Harry said, sounding excited. Thranduil meowed and stretched before jumping off her back. Rohini groaned and Harry had to call her three more times until she finally open one eye and pick up the mirror.
"What d'ya want? It's too early…" She mumbled, rubbing dry drool out of her face. Harry grinned.
"Merry Christmas, Rohini!" He said and Rohini realised that indeed, today was the 25th of December. Her grumpiness flew away as she sit up, smiling.
"Oh, Merry Christmas Harry! And Merry Christmas to Ron too." She said, and she heard Ron wishing her the same thing. "What are you wearing?" She asked, realising Harry was wearing a handmade sweater with the letter "H" on it. Her brother's smile only grew bigger.
"It's a gift from Ron's mum! Isn't it cool?"
"It is!" Rohini said, feeling a bit jealous of Harry for getting a gift from someone they only met once by accident. "Did you get mine?"
"Yeah, thanks for that. How did you know which Quidditch team was my favourite?" Harry asked, wrapping Rohini's scarf around his neck. It was one of the products sell by the Bulgarian Quidditch team. Rohini didn't know much about them except that they were pretty good and everybody seemed to love them.
"A shot in the dark, I guess." She said before hearing Ron gasping. He probably had taken the mirror from Harry's hand because his face replaced her brother's.
"Thanks for the chess game!" He said and Rohini was glad to see he was beaming.
"It's actually from both Harry and I, I just was the one to order it." Rohini explained. "I mean, you're pretty good at chess so you need a set that reflects your talent."
"Wicked! I'll have my first game with you." Ron said before asking her what kind of presents she got. Rohini realised that she didn't think about the possibility that she might have received some too and told the boys she will contact them again as soon as she reached the Ravenclaw Common Room.
The eagle head had a little Santa Clause hat topping him which seemed to annoy it greatly.
"Who is never hungry at Christmas?" It asked in a dull voice and Rohini she knew this one already.
"The turkey cuz it's always stuffed." She said and the door opened. The room smelt of cinnamon and freshly baked cookies, and Christmas songs were playing. There was a huge pine tree in the middle of the room with presents at its feet. Most of them had already been opened and everyone was spread across the room, showing each other what they got or reading their new books.
Rohini's jaw dropped wide opened when she saw that she actually received quite a few gifts herself. She used the mirror to contact Harry again.
"I got presents too!" She said before kneeling next to the pile with her name on it. "I can't believe it!"
"Show us!" The boys said and Rohini blocked the mirror between her laps so Ron and Harry could see what she was unwrapping. She heard Ron groan.
"Looks like mum made you a Weasley sweater too" said Ron. "It's the lumpy parcel."
"Oh wow, really?!" Rohini said, tearing the parcel apart and yelling happily as she pulled out the thick, hand knitter purple sweater with a golden "R" on it. There was also a large box of fudge.
"Oh my gosh Ron, your mum is the best mum in the world!" She said and she heard Harry laugh as Ron said nothing, probably blushing.
"Try another one!" Harry said. "Hagrid sent me one, look for the thick brown paper parcel!"
"Oh, found it!" Rohini said. Hagrid had written a messy note on it. "I send him a pair of gloves by the way. I said it was from both of us. Oh, look at that!" It was a set of roughly cut wooden chess figures. "Oh my god, I can't believe he took the time to do that!"
"Yeah, Hagrid is awesome." Harry said. "He did a flute for me that sound like an owl."
"Neat!" Rohini said, before picking up an envelope. "Urg, a letter from the Dursleys and a coin. Lovely." She said with an evident sarcasm. "Did you send them something? I sure didn't."
"Hermione sent us candies." Ron told her and Rohini searched for Hermione's parcel. It was neatly wrapped which didn't surprised her at all. Inside was The tales of Beedle the bard. She let go of an excited squeal when she found out that Harry had bought her a set of inks that changed colours. Finally, she spotted a package wrapped in orange and crimson paper. When she saw who sent her this, Rohini's smile got even bigger.
"It's from Padma!" She said. There was a short letter with it that she decided to read later, once she will be alone. The boys told her to open it and she did. "Wow!" She said. Inside were a set of three beautiful Sandalwood Carvings of an Occamy, a Hippogriff and a Thestral. Rohini were able to identify them for they were some of her favourite creatures from Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. There was also a pearled bracelet and a few unknown cakes that tasted really good.
"It's coconuts!" She told the boys. "It's delicious!"
"I'm not fond of coconuts." Ron said. "Hey, did you get a package from an unknown person?"
"What do you mean?" Rohini asked, stuffing her cheeks with more cakes. There was a pregnant pause and she thought she heard Harry shushing Ron. Frowning, she repeated her question.
"Harry, tell me what's wrong." She insisted and Harry sighed.
"I received a package, with an anonymous note. It said…" Harry hesitated and Rohini could tell she wasn't going to like the truth. "It said, 'your father left this in my possession before he died. It is time it was returned to you. Use it well. Very Merry Christmas to you.'"
"What was in the package, Harry?" Rohini asked, trying to sound casual even though she was boiling inside. "Tell me."
"It's a cloak. A… an invisible cloak." Harry admitted and Rohini took a deep breathe. "Look, maybe they send you something that belonged to dad too? Look at the rest of the presents, there might be one that was sent to you, maybe there's another cloak."
"I'll see you at the Great Hall." Rohini said before turning the mirror and pulling it on the ground so she couldn't see nor hear the boys. She rest like this for a while, kneeling and surrounded by her gifts.
It was the first time she had a proper Christmas, and it had to be ruined by her stupid jealousy. She tried to fight it, but still the voices in her head refused to shut up. Once again, Harry was the one getting closer to their father. First, with Quidditch and now with an invisible cloak that belonged to James Potter. When will people stop to forget that she was James and Lily's daughter, too?
'It's a universal law; one twin always lives in the other's shadow.' Padma's words came back to her and Rohini embraced her knees with her trembling arms and rested her chin against them. Was it how it would always be? Her, being swallowed by Harry's shadow, no matter what she did? It was unfair.
A scratching sound caught her attention and when she raised her head, she realised Hedwig was waiting on the other side of the closed window, holding a small parcel. Wiping her frustrated tears away, Rohini stoop up and let the owl in.
"Hi, gorgeous." She said with a weak smile, kneeling in front of Hedwig and gently caressing her head. "Poor you, having to be outside with such a weather."
The snowy owl hooted and let Rohini untie the parcel before hopping towards the chimney fire; it had been snowing again outside and the poor owl was all wet. Rohini's attention went back to the parcel: it was wrapped in a fancy paper and a little note was stick to it.
"Your parents were good people. They were respectively Head Girl and Head Boy. This used to belong to them. May it inspire you. Merry Christmas."
Rohini opened the package with trembling hands and covered her mouth in shock; there were two red badges saying "Head Girl" and "Head Boy". It was red and the colour had faded a bit. But it wasn't the only thing in the parcel. Right under it, there was… Rohini couldn't help but cry silently. It was a picture. A family picture. More precisely, the Potter family, eleven years ago.
"Oh my god." She whispered, picking up the old picture that was a bit torn in the left top corner. "Oh my god…"
Smiling and waving at her, each one holding a twin, was her parents. Rohini's whole body was shaking as she was half chuckling, half sobbing, kneeling on the marble floor in her lilac pyjamas. Thranduil rubbed his head against her lap, probably wondering what was happening. Sniffing, Rohini slowly traced her parents' features with a finger.
The colours of the picture were a bit faded too, but she still recognised the familiar shade of green of her mother's eyes. Lily Potter was a beautiful woman, with a warm smile and long, straight red hair. She had a pale skin that contrasted well with James Potter's light brown one. Rohini guessed that it was from him that Harry and she got their skin, poor sight and messy hair.
They were young, younger than what she had imagined when Hagrid had told them the truth. Because how could parents die so young? Yet, they were barely 25 on this picture. Hurrying to pick up all her gifts, Rohini rushed to the dorm where she put them on her bed and quickly get dressed, putting on Madam Weasley's sweater and her pair of old jeans before rushing to the Great Hall, the picture in her hand.
"Harry!" She shouted, sprinting towards Harry and barely noticing that Dumbledore had swapped his pointed wizard's hat for a flowered bonnet at the teachers table. "Harry, you need to see this!" She said between two loud breaths as she finally reached him and Ron. The boys raised an eyebrow and she gave the picture to Harry, who opened his mouth in a silent gasp.
"Is that…?" He said softly, and Rohini nodded. Ron took a look over his shoulders.
"Wow! Is that your parents? Wicked…" He said and Harry nodded, unable to speak. Just like Rohini, he let his fingers memorise their parents' features. "We really have mum's eyes." He said, finally looking at Rohini. She noticed that his eyes seemed a bit watery, but said nothing. Instead, she sat next to him and rested her head against his shoulder as they stared at the picture in silence. Ron cleared his throat and said he needed to talk to his brothers and Rohini appreciated that he gave them some privacy.
"Dad's hair looks even worse than ours." Harry finally spoke, pointing at James' wild black hair.
"Ours are probably a bit more tame thanks to mum's straight ones." Rohini said and they both chuckled. "It feels odd, doesn't it? Finally seeing them."
"Yeah, it does." Harry said. "Who send this to you?" He asked and Rohini shrugged.
"Probably the same person who send you the cloak. An invisible one, seriously? That's so cool…"
"I was thinking about using it tonight." Harry admitted and Rohini straightened up, tilting her head.
"What do you mean?"
"The restricted section of the library. We aren't allowed in. But if nobody can see us…"
"…Then we can look out for Nicolas Flamel!" Rohini finished with a smile. "That's awesome! You're smarter than what you looks like, Harry." She teased him, ruffling his hair and making him groan. They couldn't elaborate their midnight plan for the Weasley twins sat next to them with a huge grin.
"I see you've got your Weasley sweater too." George pointed out.
"Guess we'll have to dye our hair red now." Rohini said with a wink.
"Yours are better than ours, though," said Fred. "She obviously makes more of an effort if you're not family."
"Don't be silly." Rohini said, rolling her eyes. " I never pulled a cracker. Wanna do one?"
She pulled a wizard cracker with Fred and it didn't just bang, it went off and turned into a cloud of blue smoke that took the form of a hatted deer before vanishing into a firework.
"Wow. Wizards really took it to the next level." Rohini said, impressed and the boys snorted. She decided to stay at the Gryffindor table for breakfast, which wasn't a problem considering how few students of each houses were left; Hufflepuffs were sitting with Slytherins, Slytherins with Ravenclaws, and Ravenclaws with Gryffindors.
"Ah, the magic power of Christmas Spirit." George said in a solemn voice. "Want to go play outside and enjoy the itchiness of our beautiful sweaters?"
Harry, Rohini and the Weasleys spent the rest of the day having a furious snowball fight on the grounds and ice skating on the frozen lake before Filch spotted them and chased after them until Hagrid stood in his way, buying them some time to go and hide in the castle. Cold, wet, and gasping for breath, they returned to the fire in the Gryffindor common room, sneaking Rohini inside. The Fat Lady raised an eyebrow but still let her in. They played chess with Ron's new set, taking turns. Fred and George were poor players but made it fun to play against them. They played by pairs: The Weasley Twins, Ron and Percy who had been forced to join them by Fred, and the Potters.
They had skipped lunch to play outside and it's starving that they went back to the Great Hall for dinner. It was a gigantesque feast: a hundred fat, roast turkeys, mountains of roast and boiled potatoes; platters of chipolatas; tureens of buttered peas, silver boats of thick, rich gravy and cranberry sauce… Rohini was drooling just looking at it.
"This is our first real Christmas." She told the Weasleys as she took a large bite of a meat pie. "I would have never thought I'd actually love Christmas one day!"
"You should see Christmas at home." Ron said, helping himself with the sausages. "We don't eat as much, but it's still fun to be all together."
After a meal of turkey sandwiches, crumpets, trifle, and Christmas cake, everyone felt too full and sleepy to do much before bed. Before going back to the Ravenclaw dorm, Rohini pretended she had forgotten something in the Great Hall and dragged Harry with her, hiding in an empty corridor.
"So, what about tonight?" She asked. "Where should we meet?"
"I will come and pick you up at the Ravenclaw tower: the cloak is big enough to hide us both, and it would be too risky for you to walk in plain sight."
"Midnight, then? Everybody should be asleep." Rohini said and Harry nodded. He asked to take one last glance at their family photo and went back to the Gryffindor common room. Sighing, Rohini slowly went back to the girls' dorm, feeling extremely heavy and tired. She had saved a slice of dry meat that she gave to Thranduil.
"Merry Christmas, silly goose." She told the cat who yawned comically. Then, she decided to take a little nap until midnight. She barely closed her eyes and fell asleep that she woke up all sweaty and panting, feeling extremely cold as she heard her mother's scream echoing in her mind. She hadn't had this nightmare in a long time. Was it because of the picture?
Troubled, she sat in her bed until midnight stroke and she put Molly Weasley's sweater and her slippers on before leaving the dorm, waiting for Harry.
"Time to reveal your secrets, Mister Nicolas Flamel." She said, decided to find out who the mysterious