Christmas

Christmas! It seemed it would never come, and then suddenly Minna was done revising for exams, her lessons were completed, and she had three glorious days of freedom before she and Ellie would take a portkey home. The first real snow had arrived right in the thick of exams, when everyone was too busy to properly enjoy it, but Minna woke that Saturday to find the second blizzard of the year whirling outside her bedroom window. She smiled and burrowed deeper into her quilt.

When she could contain her excitement no longer, Minna forced herself to abandon her plan to sleep in and go on down to the Great Hall for breakfast. It not being a school day, she was momentarily occupied with the task of picking an outfit. She had become painfully aware that, outside of the confines of the village, nothing she owned would be considered smart. Her skirts fell just below the knee rather than just above; fast as she was growing, her ever-mindful mother had made the skirts extra long. Even her uniforms, having recently belonged to Meg and then Ellie, were rather longer and wider than they ought to be. All the other girls had clever little dresses for free dress days, so Minna had saved her pocket money all Autumn hoping that somehow she could contrive to buy something rather more presentable.

Frustrated, she picked any old thing-- a dark green woolen dress and a brown jumper-- and shoved them on. She had once been proud of her long, satiny-fine hair, but amidst the London girls with their stylish bobs and curls, her braids felt ugly and dowdy. Wanting somehow to look special, she wove her green tartan hair-ribbon into her hair and pulled it into one braid instead of two.

"What are you doing, Minna?" Ellie chuckled from the bathroom door.

"Going to breakfast!" Minna snapped.

"I meant with your hair. What are you doing to it?" Ellie's voice was still amused.

"Combing it" Minna replied defensively.

"Well, if you want my advice, take the ribbon out, because you haven't done it properly and even if you had, it would look stupid to the girls here."

Minna glared at her sister in the mirror.

"It's all right Mins, I can fix it if you want." Ellie laid a hand on her little sister's shoulder.

Unreasonably, Minna felt tears welling up in her eyes. She glared more ferociously, willing herself not to cry.

With two swishes of her wand and two non-verbal spells Ellie unwound the braids and restored Minna's hair to its usual two plaits. "Run along to breakfast, Mins. They've made ginger scones and the Great Hall smells marvelous."

Minna turned on her heel and made for the door, mumbling a thank you on her way.

~*~

When Minna got to the Great Hall, she found that Professor Dippet had combined two of the house tables to make one, and the few students who had not taken a portkey home the previous night were breakfasting together. Disoriented, Minna stopped just inside the door. No one looked familiar. "Accio book!" she murmured, wishing she knew how Ellie did everything non-verbally. Moments later her book flew in the doorway.

"Good catch!" a girl's laughing voice caught Minna by surprise. Mortified, Minna looked up to see an older girl she didn't know still chuckling at her. "Did you summon that thing, then?" she asked. Minna felt the tips of her ears turning pink.

"Yes" Minna said, more primly than she meant to.

"What for?"

"To read."

"At breakfast?" the girl's voice grew more incredulous.

"Yes."

"You're reading that tome-- Quiddich Through the Ages-- at breakfast?"

"Yes."

"Why on earth would you be reading Quiddich Through the Ages anyhow?"

"Dunno." Minna was sure she was being made fun of now, but she couldn't figure out a graceful way to flee.

"What kind of a reason is that? Aren't we on holidays now?" Somehow the incessant questioning had covered the expanse of floor between doorway and table and Minna found herself sitting next to this girl. She snuck a look at her. Seated, she was still nearly a head taller than Minna. Her brown hair was cut short, just under her ears, but she didn't have any clips in it. She wore a thick gray wool sweater and boys' brown trousers. "You're not really going to read that thing at the table are you?"

Would she never stop? Minna wondered. "Yes I am." She replied stoutly.

"Huh. Well, have at it then!" the girl shrugged as she helped herself to breakfast.

Relieved, Minna took a scone and opened her book at last. She hadn't read half a paragraph when the girl interrupted her again.

"You're actually eating those?" She sounded shocked.

"What?" this time Minna stared blankly at her.

"The scones! No one eats ginger scones, they're old-lady food!" the girl snorted.

"They're my favorite flavor." Minna retorted, before she could stop herself.

"Oy! You're ridiculous. How old are you anyway, short stuff? Ten and a half?"

"Eleven and a quarter," Minna replied and did not look up from her book this time. At this, the girl laughed so hard she had to put down her toast and pumpkin juice and grip the table for support.

"Eleven and a quarter? A quarter? Who says things like that!" she choked out, between gasped breaths.

Deciding that this situation could not be handled with grace, or possibly at all, Minna abandoned the remains of her scone, snatched up her book and fled, with one backwards, venemous glare. Cursing herself for everything from her ugly dress and braids to her hopeless conversational skills, Minna ran blindly for the stairs. Without thinking, she bolted up the stairs that would take her to Gryffindor tower, and, halfway up, sank her leg in one of the trick stairs and burst into tears, right there in the middle of the stairwell.

"Problems, Miss. McGonagall?" Dear gods and goddesses, Minna prayed. Why have you let this day get any worse than it already was? Why in the name of Merlin is Professor Dumbledore early to breakfast as well?

"No, Sir" Minna replied, hastily wiping away her tears.

"You've simply chosen to ensconce your left shoe in a trick stair so as to ensure that you will delight in every pleasure offered by this staircase on a beautiful Saturday morning?" His eyes twinkled down at her.

"Something like that, Sir," came her mumbled reply.

"I see." He studied her gravely. "I myself enjoy this staircase a little better at midnight, but I expect that as a student, you have had no occasion to enjoy it at that hour. Might I suggest one feasible improvement to your morning?"

Minna nodded, hoping that somehow this would all be over very soon and she could retreat back under the covers where she ought to have stayed.

"I find that I appreciate this particular staircase much more when I am free to move about," and he offered her a hand and gently pulled her to her feet. He looked at her strangely for a moment and adjusted his wand in his robe pocket before gliding off down the stairs to breakfast. She hadn't had time to thank him properly.

It wasn't until Minna had retreated back under her quilts with her book that she noticed the large satin ribbons of emerald green woven perfectly into her braids.