Weeks passed and the weather got colder. The corridors were now in a horrid condition because the stones did nothing to keep the up coming winter cold away. Two weeks before the term ended it snowed for the first time.
Mauve was utterly bored out of her mind. Once the corridors got colder and the countdown until vacation reached three weeks Mauve got substantially less students. It didn't help that the Weasley twins now had practice more often and they only visited when they could, which was about once every three weeks now.
She had taken to visiting the library more often in hopes of finding students who needed help. This day when she was passing a large window she saw a spectacular sight: the first snow at Hogwarts this year.
The mountains in the distance already had snow on their tops and as the snow was falling it made Hogwarts look even more magical, if that were possible. It looked like something straight out of a fairy tale.
Mauve continued to the library and found Jeremiah hunched over a table, with a few books sprawled around him. Trying not to scare him she called out a greeting, he looked up, slightly scared.
"Hullo, what are you doing out of your office?" Jeremiah pushed some of the books out of the way so Mauve could sit with elbow room.
"What, am I suppose to stay there all the time?" Mauve smiled and sat.
"It seems like you do, but I guess that since break is almost here most people don't want to think about their studies."
"Spot on. What are you working on?"
"Arithmacy, I can't translate these two symbols." He pointed to the problematic symbols. One was a line near the top of the paper and the other was a triangle filled with a circle and a line right in the middle.
"Well I believe this one", she pointed to the first symbol, "is a smudge. However this one, " Mauve pointed to the triangle "is the symbol of the Deathly Hallows. Here," Mauve summoned said book then left Jeremiah to his work.
Christmas time arrived quickly. Mauve decided to stay at Hogwarts during the holiday to celebrate with her grandfather. Christmas morning came and Mauve found a pile of presents at the foot of her bed.
From Jeremiah, a book about rare magical creatures, as that was Mauve's worst subject. April gave Mauve a pair of leggings that changed color according to her mood. Kara added a scarf with all the house colors. Fred and George gave her a book on "creative" things you can do with common household items. From Dumbledore, pictures of Mauve's grandmother during her Hogwarts years.
Other than an unfortunate incident with a cracker on Christmas day, it was an uneventful holiday. Mauve and her grandfather spent the time reconnecting, sharing their lives up 'til that point. When the students returned Mauve was glad, the castle would play tricks on people, especially when they were alone.
In general life went on, Mauve spent her days shaping minds while her friends received the shaping. The Quidditch players went back to practice, some teams more relentless than others. In the second match after the break a group of Slytherins even dared to dress up as dementors to scare the young Gryffindor seeker.
That night Mauve could hear the Gryffindors celebrating their victory, it was a comforting sound to fall asleep to. That is, until the joyful sounds disappeared, leaving an empty silence. Mauve was woken by the silence, which was too eerie. A doorway in the wall opened up to Mauve's right and to her surprise Professor Mcgonagall was standing in the doorway.
"The castle has been attacked again, this time the youngest Weasley boy was confronted. You search the fourth floor." As quickly as she appeared, the professor vanished along with the opening in the wall.
Mauve dressed as quickly as she could and set off towards the fourth floor.
They hadn't found anything, of course. That Sirius Black was a slippery snake who knew a way into the castle that no one else knew. The security increased significantly, and Mauve could only hope it would lead to the capture of Sirius Black and to the safety of mind for all at Hogwarts.
Easter break was the worst time for Mauve because of the build up of emotions in the castle. It seemed every Slytherin and Gryffindor was out to get each other, and they would do whatever necessary to render the opposition useless for the upcoming match. It almost seemed the entire school was turning their feeling of fear into anticipation, trying to ignore the elephant in the room that was Sirius Black.
The match was probably the dirtiest match Hogwarts had ever seen. Thankfully the match was over quickly, Mauve was tired of seeing all the bloodlust.
The Sirius Black problem seemed to work itself out, he was found but escaped. It seemed like he was gone for good this time, the minister took the dementors away so Hogwarts became a much more welcoming environment.
Just in time for exams it seemed, soon all the seventh and fifth years were forehead high in their books. Even the trio of pranksters hunkered down for a little while to study for their O.W.L.s.
Exam time seemed to be Mauve's busy time. She held study sessions on the various subjects and what was most likely to be on the exam. Unless one of her friends came to one of her sessions they didn't see her because of the demand for her help. It all payed off when she saw the students remembering the subjects, and understanding them though.
Thankfully, exam time came and the number of students needed help dramatically decreased. By the last day of exams Mauve didn't have any students, any that had a subject left felt it would be too late for a cram session.
Mauve ventured out to the lake, one of her favorite parts of Hogwarts. She walked around it until she found a place fairly empty, away from the many students taking advantage of relaxing time. As Mauve reached the opposite side of the lake she heard a fishy sound, literally. She rounded the corner and saw a sight.
Mauve thought the Weasley twins couldn't shock her anymore, she really did. But she was proven wrong when she saw Fred jump into the lake, in hunt of a giant tentacle. George held up a sandwich on a stick, trying to lure the octopus out.
"And what do you intend to do when you catch a tentacle of the giant octopus?"
George was surprised by the sound of Mauve's voice so much he dropped the bait, right into the lake. "Hey!" Fred yelled, but when he turned around he saw the problem.
Mauve was the least of their problems now though, the octopus had taken a liking to the sandwich now that it had a chance of receiving it. Rising from the lake behind Fred came a purple tentacle, Mauve yelled out but it was too late.
The tentacle seemed to swallow up Fred, it moved from behind him to over him, reaching for the sandwich. The tentacle wrapped around the morsel, moved above Fred again, then plopped back into the lake.
Mauve walked to the lake, swam to Fred who was too shocked to move, grabbed his ear and pulled him to the edge of the lake. Fred sat down where Mauve left him, soaking wet. "Why?" was her simple question.
"We wanted some slime from the octopus. It's rumored to have special properties that make an awful stench when marinated right."
"The octopus wouldn't have hurt us." Fred seemed to be recovering, he stood up and rubbed his sore ear.
"And how do you know that?" Fred opened his mouth to retort but Mauve beat him to it. "It hasn't happened before, so it's never going to happen? Like a car has never crashed into the Whomping Willow, oh wait, that happened!" Mauve was angry, but she more than that she was scared for them. She used a spell to dry Fred off than gave him a hug. "You could have been hurt." She then hugged George, "both of you."
Mauve enjoyed the second hug more than she cared to admit. They were friends, that was all, or at least that's what she tried to tell herself. Nothing could ever happen, you're a teacher and he's a student. He's not even of age, get a grip Mauve, she thought to herself.
Mauve pulled away and gave them a stern glare that worked even on Slytherins. "Next dangerous adventure, I want to help." They both nodded.
The group, which consisted of Mauve, April, Kara, Fred, Jeremiah, George, and Lee, visited Hodsmeade the day after exams and promised to keep in touch. Everyone was going to be going to their respective homes, which for Mauve was Hogwarts. They all looked forward to the summer time, but they also couldn't wait to see each other again.
I'm going into flashback style because I really want to get to the fourth book, I just don't have all that many ideas for this one now. To all that have stayed with me during my leave of absence: I can't thank you enough. To everyone reading this: I promise I do have an end goal and I'm working towards it. As always, review! Every time I read a review I get the urge to write!