Hello any of you who have read this thus far. I feel unsure about this chapter. I'm not entirely sold on the plot line that I've started here, so tell me what you think and where this is going, I like input. I would also love suggestions for the next chapter which will be new years. There is more info on what will be happening on new years in this chapter.

Sorry it's a bit dark. Enjoy

Chapter 7

Phoenix:

With classes and detentions filling up most of his days, Phoenix had hardly noticed the rapidly approaching holidays. One minute it was November 1 and they were cleaning the entire great hall the muggle way, and the next they were getting owls from their parents regarding their holiday plans. They were eating breakfast when the post arrived, and six owls dropped six letters onto the six friends' laps. Phoenix noticed his mother's printing on the envelope.

Dear Phoenix,

Your father and I are looking forward to seeing you over the holidays. We miss you terribly and want to hear all bout school when you get home.

There is also some great news! Your Grandma Matilda will be coming to stay with us for the holidays.

Grandma and I will be sure to pick you up from platform 9 ¾ next week.

Lots of love,

Mum xoxo

Phoenix dropped the letter. Not Grandma! Please, if there is a God, let him spare anyone who has to deal with Grandma Matilda. The woman was so old she knew the recipe for dirt. She was completely nutty and nearly blind and insisted on calling Phoenix 'Fee-fee', which drove him nearly as insane as she was. The woman also seemed to think she was married to Albas Dumbledore, no matter how hard you tried to convince her otherwise,, and to top it all off she always smelt like cats and cough drops. Phoenix would rather stay at school than go home to face the cheek pinching wrath of Grandma Matilda.

"Awesome, my parents are taking me and my brother to France for Christmas!" Aubrey was smiling as he read the letter he had just received.

"Nice! I'm going to London to stay with my cousin Seamus. We're going to the Weasley's new year's party." Quinn looked nearly as excited as Aubrey.

"I'm going to be there too, my family's the one throwing the party. I can introduce you to all of my relatives." Teddy smiled at Quinn who reciprocated with enthusiasm.

"I'm jealous, we've just got a good old fashioned Wiggins family Christmas." Holly didn't look half as amused as the others.

"Don't you have a nice family?" Teddy said.

"I guess, but they're not near as exciting as yours." She looked a bit resigned.

"No one's family is as exciting as Lupin's." Sawyer smiled as they all smirked. It was true, Phoenix couldn't think of a family as exciting as Teddy's, and frankly he doubted there was one in the wizarding world.

"That's true." She laughed, "I would be scared if there were a more exciting family anywhere. They would have to train dragons or something!"

"My uncle Charlie studied dragons if that counts." Teddy grinned as everyone at the table groaned; they would need to find something dangerous that a member of Teddy's family hadn't done.

"What are you doing for Christmas?" Phoenix knew the question was directed towards him.

"I'm going home for Christmas and my Grandma Matilda will be staying with us…" he dreaded it even more now that he said it.

"You don't sound too enthused about that." Quinn said looking at the rather downtrodden redhead.

"My grandma is just terrible, and my parents are a bit psychotic and like to live like muggles. I have no real extended family, so my parents are going to go all out on a big Christmas dinner for the four of us, even though no one really wants that. They feel they need to have all this fancy Christmas stuff, but it's really annoying." Well that was more than he had intended on saying… His fork suddenly became really interesting.

"Least your family isn't muggles, even if they pretend to be." Sawyer said, "I've got to spend my whole holiday lying through my teeth about this great muggle bordering school I go to in Australia... luckily I've got a few days before my family get there so I can Google all about Australia."

He received blank stares. "What's Google?" Teddy asked with a cheeky grin, "it sounds dirty."

Sawyer laughed, "It's a search engine that-"

"What sort of muggle contraption is a search engine? Is it like the engine on a car?" Holly looked at him attentively.

"It's not actually an engine, it's a website…" more blank stares, "a web site on the internet..." Sawyer looked to Phoenix for help when he got more blank stares.

"Do you all know what a computer is?" Phoenix hoped they had at least heard of a computer before, but he figured from the blank stares, that they hadn't. "Well it's something that muggles invented so that they could put information on it, and move it to another computer… at least I think that's why they invented them. And so they put information in these computers and then it goes through the internet to other computers. And Google is somewhere you can go to look for this information… on the computer… Does that sound about right?" He looked to Sawyer who shrugged, "Sounds about right, I don't really know how it works."

Teddy looked even more confused, "Does it run on electroicity?"

Phoenix and Sawyer laughed and confirmed that yes computers ran on electricity. Which just lead to them explaining what electricity was, and then how telephone poles worked, and then how telephones worked, and then what cell phones were, and by the end of it Teddy, Holly, Quinn and Aubrey felt like muggle experts, even though their teachers only sort of knew how all this muggle technology worked.

"I have to bring you lot home one day so I can show you all of this muggle stuff." Sawyer was still smirking from Aubrey's question about why muggles needed a phone with them at all times if they already had one at home. Phoenix and Sawyer smiled at one another, knowing the others probably would never understand.

…

The next night Teddy and Phoenix were sitting in the common room playing wizard's chess. The others had all already gone to bed, and the two boys were on their last game before they followed suit. Teddy's knight had just smashed one of Phoenix's pons when he sat back and looked at the other boy for a moment. Phoenix noticed and looked back into the other boy's eyes, which were green today.

The metamorphmagus tried to look as consistent as possible in an attempt to not draw attention to his particular talent. His logic was "it'll be harder to use it to prank people if people can guess it's you", but that didn't stop him from changing his eye colour frequently or adding and removing freckles, scars or other blemishes. Phoenix enjoyed watching conversations where Teddy would be standing there slowly changing his eye colour while the other person was rambling on, totally oblivious. Tonight though the boy's eyes were the most brilliant shade of green and they were looking right at Phoenix.

"What?" he was feeling slightly uncomfortable.

"What are you doing on new years?" the other boy asked.

"I dunno, why?" he moved his rook.

"Want to come to the Weasley's party?"

Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yesssssssssssssss!

"Sure, I'll write my mum and see if it's alright." He smiled as casually as he could muster.

"Cool, my gran and I could pick you up if your parents don't want to make the trip; I know how your parent's seem to be against using the floo." Teddy moved his piece. "Quinn will be there too, it should be good."

How on earth could it not be good?

"Yeah, I'm looking forward to it." Phoenix wanted to run and send an owl to his mother right that second.

"Oh yeah, checkmate by the way." Teddy smirked as the other boy's king got destroyed.

That didn't matter, he was going to meet all these people who were so much more exciting than anyone in his family, and as a bonus he was going to get away from Grandma Matilda for a night.

Holly:

The train ride was unexpectedly fast. Before she knew it Holly was standing on platform 9 ¾ with her family. It seemed as though the last few months had been a blur. She had just been standing here saying goodbye to her mother, hadn't she?

She had just left the cottage they were now standing outside of just the other day, hadn't she? It seemed a bit surreal that nearly five months had passed since she had gone to school.

She hauled her trunk into her room and plunked it onto her bed. What now? It was getting late, she was tired. Should she unpack?

"You going to unpack?" it was Tommy. He was leaning against the door frame watching her.

"I don't know, is there a point? We'll be going back soon enough." Would she really need any of her school things?

He smiled, "You like it, don't you?"

"Like what?"

"School." he came in and sat beside her trunk.

"Yeah…" she wasn't sure what his point was.

"It's good. I was worried about you, ending up in Gryffindor like you did."

"What do you mean? Gryffindor's great. I really like it." She felt the need to defend her house. Since when did Hufflepuffs have anything bad to say about anyone?

"That's good then- that it's great." He was looking at her sheepishly.

"What is it?" she felt strange about the whole situation.

"It's just Gryffindors can be a bit… self-centred and arrogant at times, and I want to make sure that no one was giving you any trouble." He was looking at her. Tommy really did look like their father…

"I'm fine, Tommy" she said, smiling at him. Quinn and the girls from her dormitory flickered through the back of her mind. What were they doing there?

"Alright, because I want you to be okay… I worry about people who might be giving you a hard time." There was a flicker of sadness that matched the blue of his eyes.

"What is it?" She pushed her trunk over and sat down beside him.

"Nothing,"

She gave him a look, she knew there was something. She always knew with Tommy.

"I don't want you to worry, you always worry."

She scoffed, "Says the king of worry."

"Hey! The king of worry is that ginger friend of yours, every time I see him he looks like he's about to faint- more than the average first year."

"Phoenix? I guess he is the king, but you're definitely the prince. Now tell me what's bugging you." Holly looked at her brother, gauging his response.

"It's nothing, really..." It was definitely something. He got up off of her bed.

"Really?" she was getting annoyed.

"Really," he looked thoughtful, "Just remember that you mean a lot to me, Holly." He looked into her eyes before turning and leaving the room, taking any certainty Holly had with him. She was confused; there were so many questions she didn't even know where to start. The girl just sat on her bed for a long time looking out the window and thinking.

The moon was nice that night, full and low in the sky. The frost on the fields twinkled in the soft light, only broken by the moon shadows cast from the fences that cut across the fields. She wanted to go out into the night. She wouldn't have been allowed if she had asked her parents… which she had no intention of doing.

She laced up her boots which her mother had put a warming charm on and shrugged on her warmest cloak. She pulled her gloves from her dresser drawer and put them in the pocket of her jeans before opening up her bedroom window to the cold night. Her wand lay on her bedside table, and she debated about taking it with her before remembering she wouldn't be able to use it anyways. Damned underage wizarding laws. Holly slipped out the cottage window, gently closing it behind her. She slid down the roof to the point where it was closest to the ground and lowered herself down to the frozen grass.

Gloves on, hood up, over the wall and towards the edge of the trees. The excitement of being caught mingled with the exhilarating feeling of freedom in her chest, warming her and giving her energy and… existence.

She didn't get that free feeling much anymore. The stone walls of the castle and prying eyes of prefects and teachers buried that feeling. Even when she ventured outside she knew she would need to be back at curfew and that she would have to stay within the grounds. Some nights she wanted nothing more than to sneak down into the forbidden forest and discover every one of its leafy mysteries.

None of that mattered though- school could wait, her friends could wait, her family could wait, Tommy really could wait.

The forest was quiet that night. The moon was the only light to go by. She was left to trust the forest and herself in the dark. Wasn't there just as much to be afraid of in the light as there was in the dark? Did the killing curse not come out as a green light?

She walked until she got to the big rock. She climbed up onto the stone. It seemed smaller now than it ever had before. She perched atop the cold boulder, and sighed, looking up at the stars peeking through the foliage- an unusually clear night for this time of year, though she wasn't complaining. Tonight was perfect…

Something wasn't right...

The images hit her like a bag of bricks. Something was terribly, terribly wrong. She saw blood, so much blood and teeth and claws and darkness… cold darkness. Two eyes glowing in the darkness, looking into her soul. Flesh ripped and Holly heard a scream that cut through her like a dull knife.

She was screaming too. Her mind screamed out- something had happened, something terrible and she had watched it. The girl ran as fast as her legs could take her, sprinting through the trees. She had to get home. Something bad had happened and she needed to be home, right now.

She flung the front door of the cottage open, much to the surprise of her family who were all sitting in the living room calmly talking. John Wiggins looked at the panicked, sobbing, wild-eyed girl who was gasping for breath, "Holly, are-"

"Something happened!" she said her voice cracking, "There's been an attack!"

…

Holly rested her forehead on her knees as she hugged her legs to her body. She was tired, but the bed she sat on seemed daunting at that moment. Sleeping was darkness, there was no more trusting the darkness- golden eyed monsters lived in the darkness. Her vision was blurred from the tears that were beginning to pool in her eyes again, just when she thought she had run dry.

She tried to assure herself that there was nothing wrong, her parents had flooed every member of the family, and all was well. But she couldn't shake the feeling that something was awry. She had sent an owl to Teddy and another to Phoenix. She didn't know where Quinn and Aubrey were staying and Sawyer was with muggles so she couldn't send anything to them. She just hoped they were all okay.

There were hushed voices down the hall- John and Mary were talking, no doubt about her. They were worried. Hell, even she was worried, it's not normal to suddenly have visions, even for a wizard.

Holly felt abnormal and scared and alone and worried and- There was a knock on the door.

"What?" Holly's voice was hardly more than a squeak. Tommy opened the door a little and peered into the room. She looked up him from her bed.

"I just wanted to see if you were okay..." He had never seen her look less okay. She looked so small and defenceless that he nearly felt his heart break. He went into the room cautiously as though if he moved too fast she might break.

"Tommy?" the voice sounded tiny and scared, "Can you sit with me?"

Tommy went to her and sat down beside her, "Holly? Are you going to be alright?"

The girl shook her head and curled into and even tighter ball. Tommy wrapped his arms around his baby sister, "It'll be okay, I promise."

"Am I going crazy, Tommy?"

"No, you're not…" He wanted to make it better.

"Then why am I seeing things!" The girl's voice was scared.

"Some wizards have visions… it's a gift." He brushed a curl out of Holly's eyes, trying to be affectionate and gentle.

"It's a curse." The bitterness in her voice hung in the air, and clung to the silence which followed.

Tommy's curiosity finally got the better of him, "What did you see?"

She had said it was bad, it was horrifying, it was appalling, but she never had said what it was. She seemed unsure when she spoke, "It was just a bunch of pictures... it came in flashes." She turned to look at the older boy, "It was some sort of beast… something with claws and teeth and horrible golden eyes. Then I saw blood…" she shuddered at the memory, "I couldn't tell what it was, but it came from the darkness…"

He didn't know what to say or how to comfort her. The girl had just had a vision of someone being torn apart by a beast in the night. He had taken divination, never having believed a word of it, but then this happened. Tommy simply held his sister and smoothed her hair and tried to wish away her fears.

"You said that some wizards can predict the future?" She pulled away from his embrace to look at him.

"Yes, but-"

"What if that's my future…"

He hoped that it wasn't the case, he had to keep the thought from his mind, "It can't be your future- I won't let it be. I'll fight off any beasties that try to hurt you."

"You won't be here forever." It was strange to hear something like that come from the little girl, but she wasn't so little a girl now, was she? She was nearly twelve, and perhaps she was getting to an age she realized there was more danger out there than a bump in the night and that scarred him. He never wanted Holly to feel fear, not like he remembered feeling when he was young. He remembered when his parents would talk in hushed voices about dark lords and death and have bags always packed by the front door, 'just in case'. The girl's visions made him worry that perhaps she would feel fear far worse fear than he ever had. He had to save her.

"I will never let anyone hurt you." Tommy whispered, "I promise."

And Hufflepuffs never broke promises.