Chapter 13 - Christmas

The day after Halloween, the mood in their dorm was icy. Hermione had gone to bed without a word and left the left next morning without so much as acknowledging their presence. As worried as Holly was for Hermione, she was still too hurt by what was said in the bathroom the day before. She hadn't even told Lavender and Parvati the details, but they'd guessed most of it already.

When they got down to breakfast and saw Hermione sitting next to Longbottom and Weasley, Holly felt like she'd been punched in the gut. Was she really that easy to replace?

Even if the rumours were true that Longbottom had fought and killed the troll with his bare hands to save Hermione, Holly didn't think she'd just get dropped like a hot potato. Apparently that's exactly what happened though.

So, Holly just threw herself into schoolwork and playing with the animals to bury the bad feelings. As she got closer and closer with Lavender and Parvati, Hermione seemed to drift off further. She almost exclusively hung around Longbottom and Weasley now. Holly never even saw Hermione wear the gloves she'd gifted her anymore, even with how cold this November turned out to be.

It just got worse when the practical portions in classes picked up and her theoretical knowledge couldn't keep her grades on par with Hermione's almost flawless ones across the board. She seemed so smug about it too, like she was secretly winning their ending friendship or something.

Maybe Hermione thought Holly's grades dropping now meant that she'd been right in her accusation that Holly only wanted to win over her. One day she'd make Hedwig hide dead mice in Hermione's clothes if she couldn't stop being so immature. Not a mature response either, but Holly couldn't care less at the moment.

Watching Fang and Hedwig fight over the toy mouse was a delight as always. It could now fight itself free from their beak, talon or muzzle with a little trouble, so Holly had the free time to work on other things while they chased the toy around.

The grounds were as empty as they could get. If this was an old western, then a tumbleweed rolling across her path wouldn't be a surprise. Holly guessed it made sense. Nothing had a wizard's attention quite like Quidditch and today was the first match of the season.

The most anticipated match-up of Slytherin versus Gryffindor had the whole castle in shambles. Or it would be in shambles if a simple wave of a wand couldn't repair everything in a matter of seconds.

The taunts and jeers from both sides had tension running high. Especially after Halloween and the troll debacle the simplest insult could make spells go flying. As first-years they were mostly left out of the conflicts, but that didn't prevent them from accidentally walking into one.

Some poor Hufflepuff boy had his whole skin turned red by a spell meant for a Slytherin and then made puke green goo by a spell from said Slytherin intended for the Gryffindor who shot the first spell. That wasn't the only one it happened to though. It was a whole big mess and Holly couldn't wait for it to be over.

That was also the reason she wasn't attending the game today. She'd borrowed a pair of binoculars from Hagrid to watch some from a distance though. Gryffindors chaser trio was a sight for sore eyes and their moves on a broom were just superb. Holly wished she could be up there as well, doing similar things on a broom.

The prototype of her Soaring Boots were close to being done and Holly couldn't wait to finally feel the freedom of flight again.

After recharging the mouse toy for her companions and setting it free again, Holly was distracted by screams coming from the Quidditch pitch. Looking through her binoculars, she could instantly see what had everyone's attention.

Longbottom's broom was bucking and shaking as if trying to throw him off. Had this been what her accident had looked like? Because if so, she could understand why people had laughed back then. It simply looked ridiculous.

The broom seemed to stop its shenanigans once he was only hanging onto it by a single hand, thankfully. Holly didn't want him to die by falling off. How would she get her revenge if he just died? She shouldn't have worried though, because half a second later he had swung himself back up and was off again, looking for the snitch. Holly hoped he'd thank his beaters for keeping the bludgers off of him that whole time. Otherwise that could have ended much worse.

The walk had taken Holly especially long today. She'd wanted to avoid the audience returning from the pitch since more fights were almost guaranteed to break out. Though, she did hear from the distance that Gryffindor had won. By Longbottom catching the snitch in his mouth. How did he manage to do that?

Walking up to Hagrid's hut, Holly was surprised to hear loud voices coming from inside. She wasn't surprised at the voices being loud, but there being more than just Hagrid present. Apparently he had visitors.

"It was Snape, Hermione and I saw him mumbling under his breath, cursing your broom." What was up with Holly stumbling into situations where she could eavesdrop on Weasley and friends. (Now including Hermione.) It really wasn't too hard with how loud they always spoke about their conspiracies. What else could it be but a conspiracy, accusing Snape of trying to kill Longbottom. He'd never take Holly's revenge from her.

Hagrid didn't know that tidbit, but defended Snape anyway. Solidarity between Hogwarts staff, how nice. And of course Longbottom had something to add as well.

"I found out something about him. He tried to get past the three headed dog on Halloween, I saw the bite wound yesterday!"

Really now, the potions master who could whip up a magical concoction to fix almost any ailment in a jiffy running around with a simple bite wound for over a week? Did they even have common sense? He was either playing with them, trying to get them to suspect him or lead them onto the wrong path to keep them out of danger.

Weird to think of Professor Snape as caring about students like that.

Their fight got pretty uninteresting after. "How'd you know about Fluffy?", "who names a three headed dog Fluffy?"

EXCUSE YOU?! The name Fluffy was absolutely brilliant. Those three just didn't have any class. It was all worth it when Hagrid shouted out: "You better forget that dog, an' you better forget what it's guardin', that's only between Professor Dumbledore an' Nicolas Flamel"

Of course! That made so much sense. Who else would you give your greatest treasure to guard when you suspected it would be stolen soon? Your best friend and colleague Albus Dumbledore, Supreme Mugwump, Headmaster of Hogwarts and Order of Merlin.

Fluffy was guarding the philosopher's stone and someone was trying to steal it. Holly decided on that moment to intervene, before Hagrid spilled any more secrets and the other three got too much information out of him.

The voices stilled instantly when she used the heavy door knocker as hard as she could, quickly thrice in a row.

The door opened just a crack, Hagrid peeking out. Fang, after being so good and silent for so long pushed through the gap excitedly with some loud barking. There were screams of disgust when he drooled on the other's robes. Bloody gits don't even appreciate puppy love!

"Evenin' Holly, yeh want some tea?"

"No, thank you Hagrid. Just bringing Fang back from our walk, he's all knackered out so don't be surprised if he just wants to sleep now." Hedwig was glaring at the trio behind Hagrid from up on Holly's shoulder. She could have kissed her.

"All he does is sleep, didn' expect anythin' else!" He boomed out with a laugh. Chuckling herself, Holly replied.

"Well, he gets a regular workout now. So you can't call him lazy anymore at least. Have a good evening, enjoy your company."

"Yeh as well, Holly. Hope yeh had fun!"

"I did, thank you," she turned to the others in the hut, "And just so you know. If Professor Snape wanted to kill you, you would just drop dead one day from some unidentifiable poison. Have a great evening!" Shooting the trio one last glare, Holly turned on her heel and stalked off, back to the castle, not giving them the chance to answer. She had a letter to write.

The cold November turned into an even colder December, bringing with it lots of snow. While Hedwig was almost impossible to spot in the heavy snowfall with her white feathers, Fang happily bounding through the snow was easy to see. The sight melted Holly's heart. She wished Fluffy could be out here with them and enjoy the simple pleasures of life as well.

Slipping back into the castle after her walk, she kept getting incredulous stares. Apparently no one else was crazy enough to go outside in this kind of weather. Not even the quidditch obsessed team captains forcing their players outside to train managed to stay out longer than 30 minutes.

And then here she was, ickle firsty, as Peeves the Poltergeist would call them, running about the snow with the gamekeeper's dog and her owl for hours almost every day.

The heat regulating runes Holly had sown into her robes worked like a charm, pun intended. Probably even better than a charm, since the other students didn't go out even with warming charms on their clothes. Compared to being comfortably toasty under her own clothes, the others froze their arses off.

At least most of the stares would disappear soon with the start of the Christmas holidays. She'd be the only Gryffindor left in Hogwarts with the exception of one Percy Weasley. They had all been invited over to Longbottom's, but Percy stayed to study for O.W.L.'s.

Not even any of her friends from the other houses would be staying. Sadly their weekend Fludgeball meetups stopped after it got too cold to wash off in the lake after. They did still see each other from time to time and even sat at the other's table for dinner sometimes. All that couldn't really make up the lost weekends though.

As for why Holly had decided to stay? Aunt Marge would be visiting for Christmas. And Holly didn't want another incident of Dudley getting 10 huge presents while she got a nail clipper. Marge had looked so proud of herself when Holly had finished unpacking, like bullying an 8 year-old was an accomplishment. She was such a gem. An ugly and dirty gem no one wants to polish to put on a ring. That's what aunt Marge was.

Not to mention, being at Hogwarts, Holly would have loads of time to play with the puppies and explore the castle with no one around to distract her. She'd neglected that almost entirely which was such a shame. Only about 30% percent of the castle was actively being used. There must be lots of interesting things to find in the other 70.

As Holly was contemplating where to start with her holiday adventures, she was almost knocked over by a Christmas tree being lugged through the main gates of the castle.

"M'sorry Holly, didn't see yeh there!" Hagrid boomed out from somewhere under all the twigs and needles.

"Don't worry about it, I was just spacing out and standing in the way!" Really, she could have at least stood to the side.

There was a loud scuffle by the entrance to the dungeons then. Apparently Weasley and Malfoy were having an argument that almost ended in a fight. Snape, the sneaky arse that he was, had snuck up on them and reduced Gryffindor's points. Again. How her house managed to not fall into the negative with how many points Snape took from them was a mystery.

"Good day Professor Snape, how was class?" He'd had her own class just now, though Holly had been playing outside.

"Miss Potter, I hope you have a good excuse for having missed it. Or else that will be another detention and 5 points from Gryffindor."

The excuse was, today they'd finally be making Wiggenweld potion. (That could easily have cured the Cerberus bite by the way.) And since Holly already knew it well enough Snape had told her to miss the class so he had an excuse for more detentions. He didn't really need those, but Holly went along with it anyways. She got to do some advanced potions with him during those detentions which was brilliant. They'd started on some second year ones, and they were significantly more finicky and took far more concentration. But Holly managed and it was good practice.

Professor Snape was a much better teacher in this kind of one on one type of thing they had. Usually he just swept through the room belittling students for their mistakes and pressuring them with his menacing presence.

Of course, potions lent itself more to personal teaching, but Snape really was a git in normal classes. If he just stopped hovering over already nervous students' shoulders there would be far less accidents.

"Of course I have an excuse, I had an important play date with a puppy. Potions class just doesn't hold a candle to that."

"Detention, Potter. And 5 points for your cheek."

Really, how was cheek worth the same amount of points lost as Weasley starting a fistfight? Well, Snape only cared about Slytherin winning the house cup, so her complaints would fall on deaf ears.

Malfoy gave her a smug look when he pushed past the fir tree Hagrid had been carrying. She returned a glare, no need to indulge him in his superiority complex by starting another fight. As she left for the great hall to eat lunch, Holly heard one last complaint from behind her.

"I'll get him, one of these days, I will!" and "I hate all three of them Snape and Malfoy and Potter, always pretending like they're so much better than us!"

Holly didn't really see herself like that, those two just behaved like imbeciles. Anyone with even a smidgen of manners would make them feel inadequate. And that certainly wasn't her fault. Thankfully they'd be gone tomorrow.

Walking into the great hall Holly was almost speechless. It looked fabulous. Professors Flitwick and McGonagall were floating various decorations up to the walls, ceiling or one of the various Christmas trees that were strewn about the hall. But it didn't only look fabulous. Taking in a deep breath through her nose, Holly could smell the aroma of cinnamon and oranges and nuts and pine needles in the air.

"Professors, Hagrid, you've outdone yourself. This is absolutely brilliant!" You could see the pride in her own work on Professor McGonagall's face.

"Thank you, my dear. It's always a pleasure to have our hard work recognised." Flitwick replied.

Holly spent the rest of the day watching the teachers decorate and the students run around like headless chickens, looking for all their belongings to take home. The Weasley twins and her had placed one of the benches in the great hall a little further into the walkway than usual. They now had a bet running for how many people would trip over it. The twins were currently winning, but she had bet on a higher number. Soon the odds would turn in her favour.

Susan had hit her in the shoulder when she saw Holly laughing at her. Susan had tripped over it twice, but she was mostly embarrassed. They laughed about it together once some of their other friends tripped as well.

Waking up on Christmas morning was a lonely affair. No roommates or friends to splash with cold water when they overslept. No Hedwig to playfully nip at her ear or get a wing to the back of the head when Holly annoyed her too much.

Hedwig was out delivering presents still, along with some other things. For Longbottom's "present" she had sent a school owl. Holly felt sorry for them having to fly through the heavy snow and ice cold air.

At the foot of Holly's bed sat a small stack of presents. One big one from her friends, some small ones (likely sweets), one from home and one without an obvious sender. She was disappointed to see none from Hermione, Holly had sent her something anyways. A small collection of quotes, tips and tricks for brewing potions from her mother's and Snape's notes. She wouldn't give up hope for their friendship.

Her friends had gotten an assortment of self-sewed and self magiced clothes from her. A couple pairs of socks, gloves or earmuffs with the temperature regulation runes. Holly had gotten down the household sewing charm recently and it was a lifesaver. Without it she'd never have had the time to finish all these gifts. If only some of her class spells didn't have to suffer for it.

She was decent at charms, absolute pants at transfiguration and weirdly enough Defense against the Dark Arts was her best practical subject. Those spells just seemed to click sometimes, even though the classroom experience with Professor Quirrel was less than stellar.

Holly always left with a headache, barely remembering what was said and a weirdly tense feeling in her scar. Like the skin was stretched over too much bone. The smell of garlic from Quirrel's turban was also so overwhelmingly strong that just walking into the classroom was like walking into a wall or cloud of stink. She didn't know how the others learned anything in his classes. At least Holly had her mum's notes to rely on.

Tearing into her presents, Holly was almost moved to tears when the box of her friends revealed a very pretty, dark green robe. Apparently they all had bought it for her together, it should "accentuate her eyes" the note had said. All the little gifts were sweets so she had something from every individual as well. Trying it on Holly was stunned by how well the robe actually brought out her eyes and how well it fit. Where had they gotten her measurements?

From home she got an assortment of wool and fabrics in addition to a small envelope of money. As every Christmas. These kinds of things were always appreciated though, so Holly was thankful. When she picked up the last gift, a note that had been stuck to it fell to the floor.

Your father entrusted me with safekeeping this for you until you were old enough to have it.

Use it well and a merry Christmas to you.

It said in the loopiest handwriting she'd ever seen.

Holly was stumped when the package was finally open. It contained another robe, this one a silvery grey that seemed to flow and shift like those scales of Slytherin's sna-. This had belonged to her father? She'd never have guessed he'd wear something like this. It most certainly was big enough in her hands that even Hagrid could have worn it.

Trying it on and inspecting herself in the mirror, Holly was again surprised. It wasn't really a robe, but a cloak. It did look gorgeous with the flowing silver though. It had also shrunk to fit her smaller frame like her normal cloak. Putting on the hood, it was still so big it almost fell down to her lips though. She could actually look through the fabric as well, what was going on? Turning to the mirror, she startled so badly that she fell on her arse.

There was nothing there, she was gone. Looking down at herself she could still see some outlines of her hands and feet, but she was definitely see-through. This cloak made the wearer invisible. Who would give something like this to a 12-year old?

Once she pulled the hood off again, Holly reappeared in the mirror. What a marvellous cloak, how did it make her fully invisible without covering every part of her? Definitely something to investigate.

But not today. Today she had something else to do. Holly had worked hard the last couple of days and well into the night yesterday. She'd barely finished the gift to herself in time.

She put the new cloak on her bed and then got dressed. Excitedly rushing downstairs and into one of the courtyard, Holly prepared herself. The snow was still thick and heavy on the ground. Stepping up onto a small pile, she activated her prototype Soaring Boots.

Her heart started hammering in her chest when her feet slowly lifted off the ground, inch by inch. Only, her legs were all wobbly. Balancing in the air was much different from her roller skates, and it got harder the higher she was floating. Finally toppling over, Holly ate a face full of snow and just kept laying there.

"Bollocks!"