Chapter Thirteen
Day by day, Christmas drew closer. The castle was mostly devoid of occupants as the majority of the students had gone back home for the holiday. The few remaining students tended to stick together as they enjoyed their time off of classes, putting off their homework until after Christmas.
Lin no longer fell into that category, which allowed her to spend more time than ever with Remus. He was growing more and more ill as the days progressed because the full moon was drawing ever closer. This did not stop either of them from reading together, going on walks, and playing Wizard's Chess. The walks got progressively shorter as the days rolled by, but their pattern was otherwise uninterrupted until the arrival of Christmas Eve.
All of that night, Lin sat by her window alone, staring out at the falling snow through the entire night. Another year was gone, another year of her life which Vaeldin had taken from her. Yet, had he not driven her into hiding, she would never have met Albus or Remus. She would be merely existing amongst her people where here she had the option of truly living.
It was at this time that one of her rare urges to write came upon her. In that time, she just wrote what came to mind.
What hope is left now in this frozen world? The snow swirls and the trees die. What now is left alive? What hope can we possibly see? Not a single animal disturbs the quiet. No bird, beast, or fish can break the quiet. And yet, hope remains, even as a robin flies back to its old nesting place, signalling the arrival of spring. What a beautiful herald among the twisted, dead, lifeless limbs of forgotten beauty! The trees that seemed so dead have life yet in them. That is our hope, the hope that warmth will come as the birds come in spring. The world shall not die in the depths of winter, but merely slumber until a new spring comes and peaks its leaves through the snow. A fool's hope it is, but hope it remains. Small and faint it may seem now, but we must cling to it. As firmly as we cling to life, we must cling to our fool's hope, for without hope, we are nothing more than the dirt that life was born from. As we look at the world with our eyes filled with hope, it seems a little bit brighter.
Her writing had, at least, served one purpose. She now had a renewed sense of hope that her life was not a complete waste. Now, at least, she could pass on her knowledge to children again.
ooooooooooo
The following morning, Lin woke late after having actually slept for more than two hours. That being said, she woke at 6am. That left her a little time to go for a walk around the grounds...in the five feet of snow. That left her with the option of walking around Hogwarts, which she promptly began to do.
If she was correct in her assumptions about the remaining occupants, none of them would be awake for at least another hour. Most would sleep in for much longer being that it was a holiday. With that in mind, Lin wandered the halls for another two hours before she saw another soul. Poor, lonely Remus.
"Lin," he said as he turned the corner ahead of her.
"Hello, Remus, and happy Christmas," she said cheerfully.
"What are you doing up so early?" Remus asked with genuine curiosity.
Lin's eyebrow shot up at that question. Her physiognomy nearly oozed a single question: Don't you remember? The answer was quite clear: he did not remember. She continued to watch his face closely until, finally, a look of realization, of epiphany, shone on his face. Now, he knew.
"I'm so sorry, Lin. I completely forgot," he said sincerely, taking a few steps quickly toward her.
Lin smiled fondly and said, "You could say your mind was muddled by holiday cheer."
"Holiday ch-...oh..." Remus said. His eyes widened as he finally remembered what had been bugging him as long as he'd been awake. It was Christmas. Of course, he had known, but only now did he realize what that meant.
"Well, have you opened your gifts yet?" Remus asked.
"Not yet. I wanted to wait for you. Now that I am not a student, it is no longer improper to spend time with you over the holiday break," she said, smiling.
"Which we've been doing for the past several days," he added in.
"Yes. However, it was not Christmas. Now that it was, I only wish to ask: your room or mine?" she asked, failing to notice the allusion that would have been quite obvious were English her first language.
"E-excuse me?" Remus asked hesitantly and very, very awkwardly.
"Where do you wish to open the presents?" Lin asked, rephrasing. She was still blissfully unaware of her indiscretion.
"Definitely yours. As I remember, you actually keep the fire going," Remus said jokingly, recovering himself quickly.
The two turned down another hallway toward her new (to Remus) room. This was actually the room that Lin had occupied since she arrived at Hogwarts.