A/N: Hello hello! Exciting things today!

So! I have been on Accio Nox lately (hint hint: GO ON IT'S AWESOME! but please tell them I sent you...) but that doesn't mean I won't update!

THIS CHAPTER, Hydra the Dragon's character will be introduced! Yay! Half credit for how they meet goes to Hydra! Hip hip hooraaaaay! Also, CHRISTMAS IN OCTOBER! Let's all learn a thing or two from Walmart about rushing things!

Hope you all enjoy :) Remember, reviews ROCK!

Talk flew around the school constantly, and I understand why. It's quite scary, really. How in the world did a mass murderer break into a school? And one with dementors guarding every entrance! Stuff like this isn't supposed to happen in daydreams! Even though Sirius is... well... ya know...

Maybe we all underestimated Sirius Black.

Throughout November, the talk continued, until it started to die out around the end of the month, towards American Thanksgiving. Speaking of which, I've always wished we celebrated it. Who doesn't like a good feast?

Nothing, again, truly exciting happened until the beginning of December. A buzz of excitement coursed through us students on a daily basis. Twelve large Christmas trees were put up around the Great Hall. If you peered really closely, you could spot four parchment-ornaments hiding behind the rest on the tree closest to the doors. The work of Talon, Sneaky, Tawny, and I, in case you hadn't guessed already. The rest of the castle was decorated as well, with strings of tinsel hanging off of torches and mistletoe at intervals through the hallway. We got a few good laughs from those; people had a bit of a habit getting stuck under them.

All in all, it truly was the most wonderful time of the year.

Now the teachers were starting to go easy on us. No one could really concentrate anyway, not even the major brains of us first years.

This lack of homework was what led me to wandering around the castle aimlessly, caught up in thoughts of the holidays and going home to see my parents and sisters. Oh, I missed them, but that was why I was going home. All four of us had completely ignored the sign-up list for people staying at Hogwarts over the holidays.

I stopped by an open window and peered out onto the grounds. Snow was falling lightly, and the ground was covered in it. The lake was half-frozen over, and the tips of the trees in the Forbidden Forest were white. Hogwarts was beautiful.

A small snowflake landed on my nose, and I stared at the little drop of water, going cross-eyed. Upon seeing my reflection in the glass of another window, I burst into laughter. I just looked so ridiculous!

I've always loved winter. It could be calm... If it wanted to. But that wasn't very often, and that was why I loved it so much. That, and the cold.

I was walking for a little while more when something nearly scared me to death. I jumped what felt like five feet in the air when a sharp knocking came from a window. My head shot around to see a majestic barn owl perched on the window sill, a letter clamped firmly in its beak.

I hurried over to the window and opened it, letting the owl hop inside. He shook the snow out of his speckled feathers and all over me. I chuckled as I opened the letter and began to read as he flew away.

Dear Breeze,

Ges wut? We are riting this letter all by or self! Are yoo proad of us?Mum and Dad sad that yoo are coming home for crismes. We cant wat! Plese bring us cady. And pie.

Love,

Julia

Anne

I stared at the first line of the letter, bewildered, trying to make out what in the world they had scrawled onto the little piece of paper. For one thing, half of it was covered with a rather colorful drawing of who knows what.

It took me a second of trying to comprehend it all before I began to laugh hysterically. And I laughed... and laughed... and laughed, because it was just do darn adorable! I slid down to a sitting position and sat, laughing, with my back against the wall. I'm beginning to wonder if I have serious issues... I felt my eyes water with tears and my sides began to ache. I put my head on my knees, still clutching the letter as I continued to laugh hysterically. That last line!

Soon I heard someone coming, but I was laughing too hard to do anything about it. -.- Really?!

Suddenly, there was a concerned voice from above me in a thick Irish accent. "Hey, are you okay?"

I looked up to see an older girl standing above me. She looked like she was at least in her third year. She swept her long, deep brown bangs to the side as she stared down at me, misty blue eyes filled with concern.

I had abruptly stopped laughing. Now, I chuckled a bit again, brushing a small drop of water from the corner of my own bright blue eye. "Yes! Why?"

"Well, it... it looked like you were crying," She said, her kind voice now laced with confusion.

I shook my head, a grin on my face. "No, I was laughing. I don't know what came over me, but my sisters caused it!" I waved the letter above my head.

She gazed down at it. "Right. Well, you're okay, so that's good."

"Yep," I said. She seemed like a Hufflepuff, but I didn't recognize her from the common room or lunch or anything. "Say, what house are you in?"

"Slytherin," she said proudly.

I was a little shocked for a second, and, without thinking, blurted out, "So, why do you care?"

She looked a little dumbfounded. "Huh?" she asked in her thick accent.

My eyebrows knitted themselves together and I inwardly slapped myself- hard. But it was over. Taking a deep breath, I repeated, "Why do you care if I'm crying if you're a... Slytherin? I thought for sure you were a Hufflepuff..." Way to be the image of House prejudice...

A sad, slightly offended look dawned on her pale face, and I felt guilt flow into me. She bowed her head slightly, a curtain of dark hair blocking half of her face from view. "Not all Slytherins are mean," she said quietly. "Believe me, I'm not like the rest..." She looked up and out the window, a faraway look in her eyes. I realized now, as the sun hit them, that there were specks of green and yellow fading in and out of the blue.

I stood up slowly, bowing my head in shame. "I'm sorry. I don't know what came over me. Normally I'm completely against house prejudice..."

She tilted her head to face me, a small smile on her face. "That's okay. There are people who have done much worse, just because of a color on my scarf." She gestured down to a green and gray scarf I hadn't noticed. "I'm Hydra, by the way. Hydra Ethelinda Hawkins."

This caught me by surprise. I had just offended her, and she told me her name? She seemed nice, though. "I'm Breeze Summers," I told her, with a smile. "Your name is really pretty."

"Thanks," she said in her cheerful Irish voice. "Your's is, too!"

I highly doubted that; my name was just unusual, where hers was beautiful and unique. But I suppose I could have just had a tendency of being modest. "Thanks."

She directed her gaze back out the window. "Hogwarts is beautiful at Christmas. Are you staying?"

"No," I told her. "I'm going home."

The train pulled into King's Cross station at around five o'clock that Saturday. I grabbed my trunk and a hissing cat and trailed behind Talon, Tawny, and Sneaky out of the compartment.

"... I mean, what's the point of that?" Tawny was arguing to anyone who'd listen. "Why in the world would you need to know every single aspect of the goblin rebellions after you graduate? It's completely pointless! Yet Binns drones on like it's the most important thing in the world...!"

I toned their debate out as I searched through the dense crowd. Soon, I spotted them: Dad in the back, mum by his side, and Anne and Julia pushing their way through the crowd towards me.

I braced myself as they came upon me, pulling me into tight hugs. I laughed and greeted them, "Oomph- Hello!"

"Breeeeeze!" They shouted out.

"Did you like out letter?" Julia asked, gazing up at me with deep, chocolate-brown eyes.

An image the childish scrawl popped up in my mind, and I snorted. "You bet I did."

Sneaky came over, followed by Talon and Tawny. "Breeze! Who's this?"

"This is Julia... and Anne," I said, pointing to the girls, respectively. They dove behind me as if taking cover, and peered shyly at my friends.

Sneaky smiled softly. "Hey! I'm Sneaky." Talon and Tawny introduced themselves, as well.

"Well, anyway," Talon said, "We just wanted to say goodbye."

"Okay," I said, beaming at them. "Have a happy Christmas!"

"See ya!" Tawny said as she spotted her parents and walked away. The other two did the same, and my parents walked over.

"Hello, darling," my mum greeted me, pulling me into a hug. "Ready to go?"

"You bet," I said with a grin.

"CHRISTMAS!"

"BREEZE! BREEZE, WAKE UP!"

"IT'S CHRISTMAS!"

This was how I woke up on December the twenty-fifth. To the loud, screechy voices directly in my ear.

"ARGH!" I shouted, still half-asleep, as I shot up to a sitting position and flailed my arms wildly, succeeding in knocking both of my sisters off of my bed. Smooth.

Unphased, they simply jumped up and ran out of the room, screaming, "MUM! DAD! PRESENTS!" and "SANTA CAME! SANTA CAME!"

I grunted indignantly and pushed the blankets off, swinging my legs off of the bed. A shiver coursed through me, and I dove for my fuzzy robe, which matched my fuzzy pajama pants. I threw it on over my old tee-shirt and, shoving my feet into old slippers, trudged downstairs.

I rounded the corner into the living room and blinked. Just blinked. Very dramatic. (I make fun of myself a lot, don't I?) The Christmas tree's lights were sparkling, lighting up the three piles of presents underneath. I rubbed my eyes sleepily and dropped onto the couch. I closed my eyes, ready to fall back asleep, until-

"OOMPH!"

-Amy came jumping down onto my face. Lovely.

"Happy Christmas, Amy," I muttered, annoyed, as I shoved her off of me. "What a lovely way to say good morning. I'm feeling the love."

"Don't be such a Scrooge," My dad said cheerfully as he came into the room. Julia and Anne were, quite literally, being dragged behind him, their hands wrapped around his arms as he walked. They were omitting high-pitched squeals and giggles.

"Bah humbug," I joked with a yawn. "Hey, look, Santa ate the cookies." Which really meant I ate the cookies. But they didn't need to know that.

My mum came in, her hair tied up in a messy bun, and a wide smile plastered on her face."So, who wants to open presents?"

This caught my attention.

And thus, I dove onto the pile of vibrantly adorned boxes and parcels. I lacerated the wrappings and unearthed the glorious endowments that resided inside. The room was suffused with a mighty blizzard of flying paper and ribbons. My pile grew ever more substantial as gifts landed there, once I had finished marveling over them for the time being; books and candies and fuzzy socks and much, much more. Within the pile I found gifts from Talon, Tawny, and Sneaky; "I think I'm getting the hang of getting packages from these owls," my dad joked.

Half an hour later, we were sitting on the floor in front of the fire-place, cross-legged, with plates of eggs and bacon balanced on our laps. Christmas movies were on the television, and Julia and Anne were both silent for once.

I was home.