Chapter 10: Their Holidays

Sooner than comprehension allowed, the holidays rolled around to Christmas Eve. And the three friends, bar Percy, who was staying in the Castle this winter holidays, were now in their respective homes, spending a rather quiet night before the Christmas morning tomorrow.

Novi was currently sitting in her favorite stuffed sofa by the roaring fireplace in 'the remote house over the hills'. She had been spending a rather quiet holidays with her guardian, Remus, getting ahead in her studies, and reading whenever possible. Even now, she was reading a rather thick French book she had received quite some time ago, Notre-Dame de Paris.

If one were to peek inside their house (though no one would dare to spy on the strange house that held two strange people), one could see that even the 'remote house over the hills' looked festive this time of the year around. Novi never liked to spend her family money, but Christmas was one of the times she made 'exceptions', and she always gave full efforts, even if it were just the two of them, to make the place look spirited.

Currently, the smell of gingerbread cookies and eggnogs wafted the house. The small Christmas tree they had gotten was decorated in Gryffindor red and gold orbs with sparkling lights, and underneath it, the many presents were just waiting to be opened. On the fireplace, hung the stockings that the two of them had made together back in 1981, filled to the brim with various candies. Even on the WWN, the Weird Sisters playing the 'Merlin Bless Ye, Merry Hippogriff' could be heard faintly.

"Novi, if you don't go to bed soon, Father Christmas won't visit you, you know," Remus joked as he strode into the room, one of his hands holding a mug of eggnog, which Novi suspected was spiked with firewhiskey.

"Well if Father Christmas knew me well, he'd know that I've been an absolute angel as of late," Novi grinned, but marked her page on the book and got up to stretch. "In any case, I'll be going to bed, so I can wake you up extra early tomorrow."

"How considerate of you," Remus said, his words dripping with sarcasm, but smiled as he watched the figure of the girl retreating to the bathroom.

Watching Novela Mary Black's antics during the holidays brought all of the good and painful memories of his friends. The Marauders were always at the Potter's during the winter holidays back in his youth, and Novi's overexcitement of the day was similar to that of Sirius'. He remembered his friend always decorating the large tree with gold and red, similar to that of the tree inside the house now, and he'd always go overboard with all of the presents. The decoration inside the 'remote house over the hills' was quite modest compared to those days, but it brought very familiar feelings.

'Maybe, just maybe, when Novi is of age, I'll ask her if she'd like to go visit Sirius,' Remus thought to himself before he himself retreated to his room for the night.

The next morning, true to her words, Novi woke up extra early. She quickly put on her fluffy white robe and ran towards Remus's room and opened it, not bothering to knock. When Remus heard the door open with a loud smack, he sat up, startled, but relaxed as he saw Novi, standing there with a huge grin across her face in a childlike glee.

She jumped onto the bed, and pulled him into a rather unwilling hug. "Happy Christmas, Rem," she said with a grin. "Come on. We've got presents to open!" She squealed as she ran out of the room.

Remus sighed and followed, tying his plaid robes. His hair askew, he joined Novi at the fireplace, where she had a fire going already, and accepted the strong cup of tea she had stirred up. He was grumbling but couldn't hide his smile as she sat down onto the carpeted floor, shoving his presents by his feet and began to open hers.

Remus' pile of presents was quite modest. He had received a rather sturdy dark grey cloak from Novi, a book called, The Greatest Wizard Pranks of All Time, from 'Father Christmas', quite abundance of sweets from various fellow ex-employees and acquaintances, and even a bottle of fine red wine from a Muggle woman from his current job.

Novi, however, seemed to be on a field day, opening her presents. She ripped opened the present from Remus first, as tradition goes. He had gotten her the book Les Fourmis, in the original French text. 'Father Christmas' also got her a fancy albino peacock feather quill, wishing her a good luck on her OWLs. From Mona, she had gotten a black and midnight blue coloured empire dress that she insisted Novi wore to the Farley Mansion on New Year's Eve. Percy had gotten her a book called, Wandlore in Eastern Asia which actually looked like a good read. She also got couple bags of Dungbombs from the Weasley Twins, and even some sweets from Ron, and Harry.

She then proceeded to open the present from Oliver. He had promised her that she'd love the present, and was overly excited. Just then, in a box, a single ticket fell out. Novi picked it up unsurely, looking at it. It was a ticket to go see the Weird Sisters! Oliver explained in a letter that he had gotten everyone a ticket to go see them. The date was during the Easter holidays, and Novi couldn't stop from squealing. She was going to go see the Weird Sisters with her best friends. Christmas was the bestest.

At the Farley Mansion, in Mona's room, the familiar roaring emerald green flames shot up, scaring the occupant inside it. Mona dropped her wet towel, and turning around, gave a sigh and an eye-roll. From the fireplace, a familiar face of Novi gave her a lopsided, mischievous grin as she stepped out.

"Mona, I take it that your Christmas was fantastic?" Novi said as she dusted herself and made herself at home in her friend's room, throwing her small trunk onto the floor.

"Yeah, girlie. Thank you for the new camera case and the butterfly knives, I haven't been able to stop playing with it," Mona said enthusiastically. "And can you believe Oliver's got us all tickets to go see the Weird Sisters? It's wicked!"

"I know, I didn't even think he liked them that much," Novi said as she took her robe and made for the bathroom. "I'll be out in a second."

Mona watched as her friend disappeared into her bathroom, and as the lock clicked shut, she gave an eye-roll and a shake of the head.

Matter of fact, Oliver wasn't that big of a fan of the Weird Sisters. Heck, Oliver wasn't big fan of anything besides Quidditch, and the Puddlemere United – his Quidditch Team. The only reason he had gotten those tickets was because he knew that Novi would love it. Mona couldn't possibly imagine why that thought wouldn't cross her friend's mind. And grumbling, she was reminded of the week before the holidays.

Week before the Winter Holidays, 1991

Much to Mona's dismay, even after all of the flirtatious aura between the two, Oliver and Novi did not end up kissing after the Gryffindor's victory over the Slytherin in the Quidditch match. In truth, they acted as if their dallying before the match didn't even occur, and went on about their lives.

She had been so excited, too. A part of her teenage mind had wanted the whole wazoo. Gryffindor would win the match, Oliver would whoop gleefully, and as his eyes locked with Novi's in the stands, he would swoop down, and they would passionately kiss. Call her a hopeless romantic, but she had honestly thought that'd happen.

"You alright, Mona?" came the voice of the culprit of Mona's woe, Novi. Mona looked up, just noticing that they had been in the dungeons the whole time, reviewing the Girding Potion and how to make them. "That's the sixth time you sighed your lungs out in the past ten minutes, what's with you?"

Mona shrugged. "Bored, I guess," she lied, not wanting to pester Novi about Oliver today.

"Well, today is your lucky day," Novi gave a wicked smile, and then she whipped out a small pouch from her pocket and held it out to her friend. "Please, do smell this."

Mona narrowed her eyes, but complied, when she was pleasantly surprised. "Coffee?"

"Ah, don't let it fool you, my dearest friend. This is laced with Viagra, crushed pufferfish eyes, and distilled doxy venom," she said with an ever-present grin.

"I'm not following," Mona said.

"Watch and observe," Novi said with a grin. Then, with a perfectly calm face, she got up from her seat with a phial full of perfectly made Girding Potion. But as she passed by Cygnus Goyle's cauldron, she threw the pouch of the poisoned coffee into it discretely. Mona was surprised to see that the pouch dissolved immediately, and the cauldron flashed brown before it settled to the golden colour again.

When Novi came back after dropping off her Potion on Snape's desk, nothing had happened to Goyle's cauldron thus far. Mona gave her a look with raised eyebrow, unimpressed.

"Now, what exactly is supposed to happen?" she bit sarcastically.

"Give it a minute," Novi answered. "Ah, just as I thought."

Mona's face whipped toward Goyle's cauldron expectantly. What she did not expect was that dunce to actually scoop a bit of the potion with a spoon he had conjured from nowhere, and drank a spoonful of the concoction. Mona could literally feel her mouth drop.

"Now, enjoy Goyle's anguish as he suffers from a raging woody for two weeks," Novi smirked.

"But, how?"

"Pufferfish eyes are an ingredient to make a swelling potion, just the right amount mixed with Viagra will certainly make the effect of the said pharmaceutical drug to be enhanced in a way. The distilled doxy venom was to create a bond between the original Girding Potion and the mixed coffee. The venom will also make the coffee smell to be virtually undetectable," Novi shrugged.

Just then, Novi and Mona heard as a very disturbed sound of Goyle's moan. The class stopped and looked at the boy, confused, as did Snape.

"Is something wrong, Mister Goyle?" Snape drawled in an annoyed manner.

"Er… no," Goyle kept it short, squirming in his seat with a very confused look across his Troll-like face.

"Then, I would very appreciate if you didn't moan in my class," Snape shot.

Novi had a giant grin across her face and Mona was doubling over, holding her stomach by the time the two left the dungeons. They had taken their time, picking up their books to observe as Goyle tried hurriedly to get out of the class, awkwardly running and panting.

"What did you do, Novela?" Percy asked when the two girls finally made an appearance. Oliver and Percy sat a couple seats away from the two girls and had not been there to witness her actions, but did see as Goyle made a fool of himself and fled from the Potions Class toward the direction of the Slytherin Common-room.

"Just enjoying myself before we leave for Christmas next week," Novi smiled. "You think Goyle's parents will mind that their son is in a constant state of sexual frustration over Christmas holidays?"

The four of them laughed, finding Goyle's predicament hilarious. "Well, I must say, though I feel a little sorry for him, it was a brilliant scheme," Oliver laughed.

"So any plans for the holidays?" Percy asked when they have settled down. "I'm staying at the Castle, Mum and Dad's going to Romania to see Charlie. I reckon I can use that time to study for my OWLs"

"How is he? Enjoying the Dragon Reserve there?" Oliver asked, curious about his old Quidditch captain.

"Fine, I bet. So what you doing over the holidays?" Percy asked again.

"Just the usual Wood family get together before going to Mona's for the New Year's Eve, then we'll stay there until we come back," Oliver shrugged.

"Yeah same," Novi and Mona shrugged. "We'll miss you at the Farley Mansion," Mona added.

"Yeah, you will," Percy joked with a wink.

"You all wait until you see my Christmas gift to you," Oliver said with a mischievous smile. "You're especially going to love it, I know so," he said to Novi, putting his arm around her shoulders and grinning down at her.

Novi's heart sped up a little. She was very aware of the placement of Oliver's hand on her shoulders. He smelled like the grass after a rain, with a slight musky, pine scent from his shower gel. His mischievous smile, crooked a little, was so adorable. Novi's face was instantly very pink, but she gave her own smile. "Well, you certainly know how to make a girl very curious, Mister Oliver Wood."

Mona gave a sigh of surrender at the whole situation. It was this pattern, all the time, with the two of them. They'd flirt, and act like nothing happened, and repeat. She didn't know why they wouldn't just admit to their feelings and just make the whole situation 'official'.

Just then, Novi, now very fresh and showered, came out of the bathroom, adorning her fluffy white robes. Mona gave her friend a lopsided grin.

"So you ready to look incredibly hot tonight?"

Oliver was once again, standing at the bottom of the staircase, uncomfortable in his dress robe, waiting for his two female friends to join him. At least last year, there had been Percy with him, but now he was all alone, standing in the midst of the Slytherins, and their pureblooded families. He fidgeted with his cufflinks, cursing Mona, whom he knew was the culprit of their tardiness.

"Oliver," he then heard from the top of the flight of stairs. He looked up to see Mona, and Novi, and he wasn't disappointed by the results.

Mona had her blonde hair in waves and down, framing her slim face with smoky eyes in a gorgeous way. Her willowy body was adorned in a long pale pink dress that sashayed around her legs. She seemed to capture a lot of attention from her guests, who all, but a few, insisted on wearing a darker coloured dress robes.

Novi, though, almost made everyone stop. Her hair, for tonight's occasion had been coloured black, and results were incredible. She looked like an aristocrat, and looked true to her family name sake. With all of her hair pulled back into an elegant bun, her aristocratic cheek bones were prominent, and her grey eyes dark with dark shadow. The black and midnight blue empire dress made her long bare neck stand out. To add, she was wearing the red lipstick, demanding the eyes of every male species.

"Hey Oliver, you look nice," Novi said as she gave him a smile.

Oliver was wearing a dark blue double breasted military jacket style suit, finished with fur-lined manteaux that Mona had gotten him. "I guess we can both thank Mona for this," he said with a grin. "You look beautiful, tonight."

"Gag me," Mona joked, pretending to choke at the display of her two friends. "Well I don't know about you guys but I'm heading right for the food."

"That sounds very agreeable right now," Novi nodded.

The three of them made to the giant row of over hundreds of different finger foods. As they ate, they talked about their Christmas with their families. They also talked about the upcoming OWLs, and which courses they'd actually need to pass to go into their respective fields. It was well into the afternoon when the ball started up with the music of the string quartet.

"Excuse me," we heard a voice with an accent from behind us. "May I haff your hand in this dance?" he asked, offering a hand to Mona.

Mona giggled a little uncharacteristically, her face going slightly pink. "Well, yes, of course," she said as she got up. And shooting a wink behind her, Mona was gone with the mysterious boy with the accent into the midst of other dancers.

"Well, looks like Mona will be occupied for the rest of the night," Novi grinned to Oliver with a knowing grin. "Anyway, can you believe that 1991 is almost over? I feel like it was one of the fastest to go by, yet."

"Yeah, I get ya," Oliver agreed. "We'll soon be NEWTs level student. That's kind of like a big step in our academic career, you know?"

"Yeah, I totally know what you're talking about. I feel like every year, the faster the school year ends. The Weasley twins and I'm planning so many parties this year to make it memorable," Novi said enthusiastically. "The next Quidditch victory party, the twin's April Fools party, all the Sweet Sixteens."

"Sweet Sixteen? What's that?"

"It's a Muggle girl thing, apparently. They have this giant party on their Sixteenth birthday, completed with extravagant gifts, dress robes, alcohol and sometimes drugs, crazy amount of food and cake, boys, and flowers. Just, everything, BIG, you know?" Novi shrugged. "I know Mona's waiting for us to throw her a huge party. I don't know what the big deal is, but if it's important to her, I'll make it happen."

"And what about you, do you want to have an excessively extravagant sweet sixteen of your own," Oliver asked slyly.

Novi shrugged. "I don't know. I think I'd like a small party with just some people I love. I guess it'd be nice to be treated like a princess for the night, too."

'I'd treat you like a princess every night and day if you were mine,' Oliver stopped himself from saying. 'God I sound so cheesy, what happened to me?' he reprimanded. Then, he turned to her and gave a smile. "Fancy a dance?"

Novi smiled back. "Sure, we can burn off all the food we just inhaled," she said.

After several dances, and several knowing smirk from Mona to both of them, Mona's father, Mister Farley demanded the attention of his guests, calling, "A minute until the new year!" He ushered his guests out to the back balcony of the mansion, facing the empty field which would light up in fireworks as the midnight struck.

"10 … 9 … 8 …"

Mona was now giving Novi a look. When the latter gave a confused frown, Mona discretely pointed at her lips and then nodded toward the direction of Oliver.

"7 … 6 … 5"

Novi shook her head, giving her friend a glare, which Mona reciprocated.

"… 4 … 3"

Novi grinned a little as the boy Mona disappeared with wrapped his arm around her, closing her in.

"… 2 … 1! HAPPY NEW YEAR!" the crowd screamed as the sky lit up with thousands of glittering lights with a loud bang. Then, the fireworks rearranged itself as a giant monkey which came very close to the ground until another round of fireworks shot out.

"Happy New Year, Novi," Oliver whispered, catching the attention of Novi who had been gleefully watching the fireworks.

"Happy New Year, Oliver," she said back to him with a shy smile. They were so close right now.

"Do you mind if I have that victory kiss from the Quidditch game now?" he asked, his face blushing a little as he asked.

Novi could feel her face heat up into a shade of crimson. "Yes," she managed to whisper with the big lump in her throat.

Cupping her face gently, Oliver looked into her eyes. Her usual grey eyes were twinkling in an almost silver colour with uncertainty and anticipation swimming in them. His eyes flashed down to her lips which was still coloured blood red against her fair skin and dark hair. Then, without further ado, his lips met hers.

(A/N) Yay, so they finally kiss again. Sorry this took so long but I had a bit of a writer's block. Well, anyway, what do you think? Are they an official couple now? Well, I don't really know either so leave your comments in the Review and if you love my story, lemme know with your support by clicking Favorite and Follow

xxBingum