"Bye, guys!" Rachel waved with one hand, brushing snowflakes off her eyelashes with the other. "Have a great Christmas!"

Tanya's, Katelyn's, Hermione's, and Sarah's farewells were lost in the swirl of snow and wind, but Rachel got the idea and waved a hand, ducking back into the warm castle. "I'm going to run up to Gryffindor Tower to get something," she told Hannah. "Then I told Harry and Ron we'd eat with them. We are the only Gryffindor first years left, anyway."

Hannah nodded. "Sounds good."

When they reached their common room, Hannah flopped down with Seamus to warm up by the fire, and Rachel hurried up the stairs. Ten minutes later, she came back down. "Let's go," she said. "Seamus! Why're you not going home?"

"I live a ways away," he said, standing. "Sure, but it's a hassle, you know? Why're you staying?"

"My parents can't afford to fly me overseas four times a year. I'm okay with it, though." She smiled, but Seamus could see her red-rimmed eyes. "Come on."

Hannah patted her back soothingly as they passed a rather ugly statue of a one-eyed crone. "Haley stayed, too, 'cause it's much too expensive to fly us both back home to O'Hare two times a year, then back."

Seamus nodded, concentrating on his sneakers as Rachel wiped her cheeks with her sleeve. "Me brother, Francis, had the same problem."

"What happened to him?"

"Sure," Seamus said thoughtfully, "but he was expelled in his third year. But that's not the point."

Rachel laughed, patting his back. "Thanks, Seam."

"'Shame'?"

"Yeah! Like, 'it's the Seam thing'…Seam…same…get it? Hah, hah."

Seamus blinked. "Aye, and you'll be calling me that from now on, won't ye?"

Rachel stopped mid stride. "Call you…yes! That's your new nickname! The Seam Thing!" She laughed.

"Well, you cheered her up, at any rate," Hannah said.

"Yes, but at what price?" Seamus replied dryly. "I fear I've just sealed my doom. Aye, she'll never forget it."

"And you know it," Rachel called gleefully.

Seamus sighed.

-------------------------------

"Merry Christmas, Schmurf!"

Hannah jumped as a pillow hit her in the face. "Nuffasnuffa," she mumbled, rolling over.

"Come on, Han," Rachel said, throwing another pillow. "We have presents!"

"Presents?" Hannah sat up, rubbing the sleep from her eyes. "Where?"

Rachel ignored her and began ripping open her gifts. "Oh, cool, Hannah, a journal! How'd you know I left mine at home?" She opened it, and a bright voice filled the room. "'To accomplish great things, we must dream as well as act'."

"It's got a quote of the day, too! Thanks, Hannah."

"No problem. Ooh! A gift card to Flourish and Blotts!"

Ten minutes later, swimming in wrapping paper and hyped up on chocolate from Honeydukes, they opened their last gifts.

"Oh, another one from my parents," Rachel said. "Feels like a book—oh, it is! But I already have this one: Magical Beings of Europe."

"Look. I have one from Seamus!" Hannah said, mildly surprised.

"Me too. Ah, but I didn't get him one."

"Me neither."

"Oh, well, I'll give him the Magical Beings book. It'll go nicely with what he gave me."

"Which is what?"

"'Magical Equines: where to find them, how to train them, and where to acquire a suitable alternative'; and 'Quidditch Through the Ages.' They're short. You?"

"'Quidditch Through the Ages' and 'Muggle Studies III: Arts II: Muggle music, dance, and literature'. He has the Van Halen page bookmarked! I'll give him this pack of chocolate frogs."

"I suppose we can go over there now," Rachel said, glancing out the window.

"Yeah. The sun's up, and only he and Harry and Ron are there, anyway."

"Come on, then," Rachel replied, standing and putting her new Christmas robe on over her flannel pajamas. Hannah did the same, and they tiptoed over to the boys' dormitories.

"Seamus? Harry? Ron?" Hannah whispered, tapping lightly on the door. There was no answer.

"Maybe we beat them in waking up," Rachel suggested. "Why don't we sneak in and set our presents by theirs?"

Hannah nodded. "Okay, I'll go first." She took hold of the handle, turned it and opened the door.

It was chaos.

For such a low number of boys, they were able to produce a surprisingly decent-sized whirlwind of feathers from their pillows. Coughing and sneezing, Rachel and Hannah walked in. As the feathers settled, the vague forms of Harry and Ron and Seamus came into view.

"Well, isn't this interesting?" Hannah asked mildly.

Rachel pulled out her wand and soon she and Hannah had the room clean and the pillows fixed. 'There. That's better, isn't it?"

Seamus and Ron looked slightly put out. "What do you want?" Seamus asked.

Rachel tossed Magical Beings at him. "Merry Christmas, you ungrateful leprechaun, you." She pulled out some Honeydukes chocolate and gave them to Harry and Ron. "Feliz Navidad."

Hannah gave them the chocolate frogs. "Ditto."

As you might imagine, their attitudes changed tremendously after the gifts.

"That was nice of them, I guess," Seamus said, flipping through the book.

Ron stuffed a chocolate frog into his mouth. "They're not so bad, for girls."

"You'd think they liked us or something," Harry said sarcastically, and Ron and Seamus laughed.

Suddenly, Ron swallowed his chocolate frog. "Hey…wait a minute!"

-----------------------

At the end of Christmas holiday, Hermione, Tanya, Katelyn and Sarah all came back from their vacations, chattering about how much fun they'd had. Sarah prattled on and on about the all the cute boys she had met in Mexico. Hannah, Rachel, Tanya, and Katelyn had to keep hitting her every five minutes to show just how annoying she was.

But things weren't any better in class. The professors kept piling mountains of homework on everyone. In fact, it was so much, even Hermione was complaining!

"How do they expect us to do all this?" she cried one evening as everyone worked like bees in the common room.

"Come off it, Hermione," Katelyn told her in a fake British accent. "I mean, everyone knows you're the smartest person in the school! I'm certainly not the smartest."

"None of you Americans are," Seamus said.

Rachel gave him a look. "That's the pot calling the kettle black." She squawked as Seamus, not wasting valuable breath, lunged at her.

"Hey, hey!" Dean said, stepping between them and holding out his arms. "Honestly, you two squabble like an old married couple!"

Where did you think Harry learned it?

"Hermione, even Hannah's not as smart as you," Katelyn said, completely ignoring the mini soap opera unfolding behind her.

"That's right…hey!" Hannah glared at Katelyn.

"Oops! I mean…nice Schmurf." She patted Hannah on the head, but Hannah continued to give her the Look Of Death. "When I said you weren't smart, I meant that you were genius!"

Hannah smiled in satisfaction and went back to her work.

"Sure," Seamus said, sitting back down, "and someone knows when to stop their teasing." He shot Rachel a look.

"Sure now," she teased, a mock Irish brogue rolling her words.

Seamus folded his arms. "Thanks for that."

She grinned. "Sure now."

"Stop it."

"Sure now."

"Stop that…"

"Sure now."

"Stop."

"Sure now."

"Stop!"

"Okay."

Seamus rolled his moss-green eyes toward the heavens. "Is that Flitwick's homework, Hermione?" he asked, looking over at her parchment.

She twitched it away. "No, it's Astronomy. You finished it already, I saw you."

"That's too bad," he said in disappointment.

"And that's the truth." Rachel shrieked as Seamus bolted from his chair. "Child abuse! Child abuse!" she cried as he chased her around the common room.

Everyone watched impassively as Rachel ran up the stairs to the dorms, Seamus close behind. A second later, there was a bang, a thud, and Seamus slid back into view, robes wrapped around his head and arms.

"Boys can't get into the girls' dorms, Seamus," Katelyn said indifferently.

He stood and straightened his robes over his sweater and slacks. "Thanks for telling me that," he said dryly.

"Welcome."