Quidditch and Christmas
The game was amazing. She had been a bit dubious and nervous at first when she had been deposited at the top of the stands next to James and the twins and the rest of the first years. Al, Rose and Scor were all down on the pitch getting ready to take off, or Rose was, Al and Scor were sitting with Colin and a boy she didn't recognise in the reserve area. The only other people on the team she recognised were Roxanne and Fred Weasley.
"AND IT'S THE FIRST GAME OF THE SEASON! ALMOST CHAMPIONS GRYFFINDOR TAKE ON LAST PLACE HUFFLEPUFF. GRYFFINDOR LOST OUT ON TAKING THE QUIDDITCH CUP FOR THE FIRST TIME IN ABOUT 20 YEARS WHEN HALF THEIR TEAM WAS HIT BY A BAD CASE OF DRAGON POX A DAY BEFORE THE FINAL AGAINST SLYTHERIN. THEY DENY ANY PART BUT WE ALL KNOW THEY'RE DIRTY CHEATERS."
"JORDAN!"
"That's Nick Jordan." James told her. "He commentates and his sister Maise." He pointed to the girl at the front of the Gryffindor line. "Is Quidditch captain and chaser. They're best friends with Fred and their other best friend is Kay Wood, who's keeper." He pointed to the boy directly behind Maise. "And his little brother Jay is the reserve keeper he's a 3rd year. Then Roxanne is chaser. Fred and Rosie are beaters, but you know them. Then the other two are Olive and Nikki Madon, they're American. Olive, the older one who's a 6th year, is the third chaser and Nikki, 4th year, is seeker.
On the other team there's Milly Frisch captain and keeper, she's a 7th year, the chasers are Johnathen Peacher 5th year, Amelia Dion 6th year and Simon Moon, my year. Their beaters are Michael MacDougal who's a 4th year and Sam Finch-Fletchly whose a 3rd year. Their seeker is 5th year Matilda Lorn. The subs are 6th year Luke Peel as beater, Jonas in my year as keeper and two in your year as chaser and seeker."
"Oh it's Peter! He's must Sam's younger brother."
"Yeah he's reserve chaser."
"And eugh Smith is reserve seeker."
"You don't like him."
"No I hate him and McMillan."
"AND HERE COMES MADAME HOOCH WITH THE BALLS." Nick's voice was magically amplified. "THE CAPTAINS ON HAVE SHAKEN HANDS AND…THEY'RE OFF! GRYFFINDOR MAKING HISTORY WITH THE FIRST FIRST YEAR BEATER EVER, MISS ROSE WEASLEY." They Gryffindor's cheered at this. "THERE'S NO DOUBT SHE'S UP TO IT. HER FAMILY ARE PRACTICALLY BORN PLAYING QUIDDITCH."
"Jordan get on with the match."
"SORRY PROFESSOR."
"Who's he sitting next to?"
"McGonagall. She could've handed the position of keeping the commentator in line to Flitwick but she really enjoys it for some reason."
"SO JORDAN WITH QUAFLLE, GO SIS! SHE PASSES TO MADON, BACK TO JORDAN TO WEASLEY. WEASLEY DUCKS A BLUDGER AND ANOTHER. OUCH! FLIES STRAIGHT INTO KEEPER FRISCH. NOT SURE WHETHER THAT'S A FOUL. SO HUFFLEPUFF IN POSSESION WITH DION. OOOH, HUFFLEPUFF LOOSE POSSESION, NICE BLUDGER THEIR FROM WEASLEY. STOP YELLING AT YOUR CHASER YOU IDIOT OF A CAPTAIN AND GUARD YOUR POSTS THEY'RE WIDE OPEN! WAIT WHAT AM I SAYING, KEEP YELLING!" Caly was already laughing hard. "WEASLEY AIMS, SHOOTS AND SCORES! 10-0 TO GRYFFINDOR! YES!"
The game went on. It seemed Gryffindor were superior in every department except seeker. They were 70-10 up and the game could have been over and won twice but Nikki had missed the snitch and it was only sheer luck the Hufflepuff seeker hadn't caught it. It was getting irritating, she could sense James' frustration. Their seeker was really only good at one thing and that was following the other seeker. Caly had a feeling this game was never going to end when.
"AND LORN IS SPEEDING UP, YES SHE'S SEEN THE SNITCH! AFTER HER MADON! YES SHE'S GAINING!" WHAM! A Hufflepuff beater had collided with Nikki and knocked her off her broom. She was free falling to the ground. The crowd let out a collective gasp of horror as she hit the ground and didn't move. "YOU CHEAT! YOU STINKING CHEAT!" Nick was yelling into the microphone but McGonagall was hurrying away to see if Nikki was ok. "YOU FILTHY GOOD-FOR-NOTHING- WOW!" Everyone gasped as a blur of red and gold shot up from the ground. Nick was standing there speechless. Caly's mouth was hanging open. She had never seen anything move so fast. No one spoke until.
"AL YOU NEED TO GO FASTER!" Scor was standing in the reserve place and shouting at the blur. Caly gaped at James. That blur was Al. He'd obviously heard Scor because he seemed to catch up. He was at their heels. Then they were neck and neck. For a moment no one knew what had happened then Al came down to the middle of the pitch, hand high two gold wings coming out either side of his fist.
"YES! GRYFFINDOR WINS! 220-10! AND WHAT A CATCH FROM RESERVE SEEKER ALBUS POTTER! I THINK THEY MAY NEED TO RETHINK WHO PLAYS FIRST AFTER THAT! THAT'LL GO DOWN IN HISTORY AS ONE OF THE GREATEST CATCHES HOGWARTS HAS EVER SEEN. CERTAINLY A RIVAL TO THE ONE HIS FATHER DID IN HIS FIRST YEAR."
"Come on." James was pulling her off to where Al had landed and was surrounded by his team. It seemed the rest of his family were coming over to congratulate him. Even his Hufflepuff cousin, Molly, gave him a hug and told him the catch was spectacular.
The after party went on till midnight and it was good thing that it was still the weekend because she knew she'd never get through her lessons otherwise. Al had been the centre of attention, which he really hated. He kept trying to slip off to where Caly, Rose and Scor were to talk privately but people kept dragging him back. At 10:30 Olive had climbed through the portrait hole and said her sister had woken up briefly and was absolutely fine but she wouldn't be out of the hospital wing till Tuesday and that the Hufflepuff beater was serving three months worth of detention. This had raised everyone's spirits even more. Fred and his friends had brought food from the kitchen and James and Colin had disappeared for an hour or two to arrive with bottles of something called 'butterbeer' and mountains of sweets. It was undoubtedly the best party Caly had ever attended.
The weeks after the victory saw the Gryffindors in continued good spirits. First of all they had only three weeks of school left, which meant Christmas was fast approaching. Also Slytherin had lost to Ravenclaw in the next game by a margin of 10 points which, according to her friends, was excellent news. This meant Gryffindor were in the lead of the Quidditch cup by 200 points, they had 210, Ravenclaw 10 and Slytherin and Hufflepuff had 0. The point system worked by subtracting the winners score from the losers, this was also the amount the house won which meant Gryffindor were in lead for the house cup, too. Al was happy because him and Nikki were sharing the roles of seeker and res seeker and Maise said she would finalise the day before the match and he was going to see his parents and little sister again soon. Rose, too, was happy because of Quidditch and the prospect of seeing her family. She was always complimented on her beating skills by everyone and she, too, wanted to see her parents and brother. Scor was pleased because he was getting less and less nasty comments and remarks thrown his way by everyone, bar McMillan who wanted to make the quartet suffer. Also he was looking forward to having a proper Christmas alone with his mother.
Caly didn't really have anything to look forward to. She was happy Gryffindor were in the lead and for her friends achievements but Christmas was a pretty bleak looking for her. Professor Longbottom had come round with a list earlier in the week for Gryffindors who wanted to stay the holiday and she was dismayed to see her name was the only one on the list. Her friends had tried to cheer her up but honestly she wasn't looking forward to being left in the common room all alone. Also there was the problem that she didn't have any money to buy presents with. She had sat racking her brains but she couldn't think of anything. Until the first day of the holidays.
She had bid goodbye to her friends who were taking the carriages down to the train station and was wandering through the halls all alone when she had walked into Professor Slughorn. She was undoubtedly his favourite student and he made a point of it. He liked Al and Rose, too, but he ignored Scor. Yesterday he'd had a Christmas party and it had been so awkward, though that might have been the fact she'd gone with James.
"Hey." James sat next to her after their game, which she'd won again. "Did you get an invite?"
"Yeah, so did Al and Rose."
"Duh, my whole family did."
"You going?"
"Yeah I didn't go last year 'cause dad warned me off but now Al and Rose are going I thought I might."
"Why does he want us to go with someone?"
"'cause he's weird like that."
"You going with anyone?"
"Nah."
"Hey, we should go together."
"Yeah sure."
"As friends, of course."
"Um, yeah, sure. Whose Al and Rose taking?"
"I think Rose is taking Jean-Paul because he really needs to get out more. He like never leaves the common room and Al is taking Scor."
"He's taking Malfoy." Caly rolled her eyes and didn't reply.
James had 'picked her up' at 7 along with JP, Rose, Al and Scor. They had gone to his office which had a set table for 18. It was a Weasley plus one gathering really. When Slughorn had seen Caly and James together he had vanished two chairs and they'd all sat. Slughorn had made the introductions, most of which were unnecessary. Vic had brought her best friend/head boy Daniel Corner, who had a sister in her year. Fred had brought his best friend and now, it seemed, current girlfriend Maise. Molly had brought her best friend Ally Longbottom. Dom had brought Marianne Goldstein and Roxie had brought her boyfriend Frank Longbottom, Ally's little brother. Slughorn had spent most of the evening recounting tales of the Weasley-Potter family he taught and Caly's potion abilities. As he grew increasingly tipsy on oak matured mead he insisted that Caly and James were in love and meant to be together. Everyone looked at them suspiciously as they furiously denied this and turned redder and redder.
"Caly, my girl, wanted to apologise for last night. A bit tipsy you see, a little too much of Rosmerta's mead."
"It's ok, sir, I understand."
"Good, good but I still wager you'll get together." Caly refrained from rolling her eyes. "Like James and Lily, they just needed a bit of luck, though sharing a dorm did help." Caly nodded but only one part of the sentence registered with her brain. Luck. She knew what to give them for Christmas.
"Sir." Caly said interrupting his nostalgia tour.
"Yes my dear."
"Could I borrow one of the dungeons? I want to brew something."
"Of course, of course. Been meaning to give you this for a while, now, and no time like the present."
"What?"
"I have a bit of an early Christmas present for you." He drew a key from inside his waistcoat. "For dungeon 10. It's a one person dungeon, meant for private brewing." He placed the key in her hand. "It's yours now. Use it well." He walked off jovially, leaving Caly standing there feeling beyond excited. She had her own place to brew potions.
She sprinted there and unlocked it. There was a cauldron and a small fire burning. There were two cupboards full of ingredients and phials and another with lots of potion books and quills, parchment and ink. The most interesting thing was a glass fronted cabinet that lots of space potions. In here were samples of all the solutions she'd made in class. Folded behind them were copies of her own methods. Each individually labelled by her. There was a note lying at the bottom, she picked it up and read:
Dear Caly,
I see I have finally got round to giving you the key, excuse an old buffers memory. In here are samples of potions you have created with your own method and a copy of said method. When you brew something in your own time please a copy of the method in here and a phial of it and mark it with a star. I'll take a copy of the method and remove the star when I put your next piece of class work away. May you brew successfully.
Yours
Prof H. Slughorn
She smiled and replaced the note so she wouldn't forget to do what it said. She then flipped through the potion books until she found one that detailed making felix felicis, the luck potion. She found all the ingredients and began brewing. It was relatively challenging and she thoroughly enjoyed brewing it. When she was done she decanted it and tried a drop. She reckoned the effects would last about 10 minutes. She pulled out her wand and said confidently "Wingardium Leviosa." The whole work bench lifted off the ground. She lowered it and smiled. The effects had worked.
She waited for it to wear off and then began her editing process. An hour and a half later she had created her own version of felix felicis. This time she tried a spell that Rose and Scor had been struggling with, to transform a quill into a wine goblet. She tried the spell and it worked instantly. She reversed it and then waited for the effects to wear off. She put a copy of the method and phial of it, marked with a star, into the cabinet and then decanted the rest into phials, one each for Al, Rose, Scor, James, Roxie, Dom, Molly, Fred and Vic.
She took them upstairs to her dorm and wrote them each a note;
Dear Scor,
Merry Christmas! I hope everything is great with your mother in your new home and that you have a fun Christmas that has a bit of season cheer in it. The present is made by me (I'm sure you can guess what it is now) and I can a sure you it works perfectly, I tested it on myself and I transformed a quill into a goblet (Now you definitely know what it is). Hope Fawkes gets this to you on the right day.
Merry Christmas, again.
Love,
Caly
P.S. Yes it's my method.
P.P.S Remember the rules involved when using this.
Dear Al/Rose
Merry Christmas! I hope your siblings aren't driving you too insane, not that you need them to be insane (Ha Ha, just kidding, a bit.) Anyways here is your Christmas present. I got all your family that I know plus Scor the same thing. Okay I didn't 'get' it I made it (And now you know what it is.) The potion works to a T, I transformed a quill into a wine goblet (damn this is supposed to be a surprise, never mind). It is my version of the method (duh like I'd use anyone else's they all suck.). Hope this finds you alright.
Merry Christmas, again
Love,
Caly
P.S. Remember the rules involved when using this.
Dear Vic/Fred/Molly/Dom/Roxie/James
Merry Christmas! This is my Christmas present to you all. I made it myself out of my own method and it works 100%. Hope you get this on Christmas morning. See you at school
Merry Christmas, again
Love,
Caly
P.S. Remember the rules involved when using this.
On Christmas Eve Caly sent Fawkes off with the phials. She had told him to be very careful because they were delicate and she was sure he understood. She was sad when he flew away because he was the only company she'd had in Gryffindor tower. She'd ended up eating meals there because she was the only student at Hogwarts which surprised her but she got over it and spent a lot of time attempting to do magic, reading and brewing potions. As she climbed into bed she wasn't looking forward to tomorrow because she wasn't expecting presents and she had the prospect of Christmas lunch alone with the teachers, awkward.
Christmas morning dawned with wintery sun peeking through the curtains in the girls dormitory. She sat up yawning and stretched she saw Fawkes perched on the corner of her bed. "Did they get their presents?" He bowed his head which she took as a yes. She drew apart the hangings and nearly tumbled out of bed in shock. She had a large stack of presents by her bed. She gaped at them, then she turned to Fawkes. "Did you have anything to do with this?" He looked at her innocently and she rolled her eyes and then grinned. She had Christmas presents!She picked up the first package which was slightly squishy. She opened it and found a red, hand-knitted sweater with a green plant on the front. There were also some home made mince pies. She pulled it on and she was amazed to see it fitted. A note fluttered out of the wrappings. Merry Christmas dear, I understood from Al and Rosie that you were not expecting presents and I thought you would like one of these. I make them for everyone. I did the same things for Al's dad. Love Mr and Mrs Weasley. For some reason she felt her eyes watering so she hastily picked up the next present. She read the writing on the front first Merry Christmas From Vic, Dom,Bill,Fleur and Louis. P.S. Originally this was just from me and Dom but the rest of my family decided to scrape in, Bill and Fleur are my parents and Louis is my little brother-Vic. It turned out to be a large selection of different sweets. The next package was from Fred, Roxie and their parents George and Angelina. They had given her a wide array of products from George's shop Weasley's Wizard Wheezes. Molly, her little sister Lucy and her parents Percy and Audrey, gave her a selection of wizarding classics, including the story of Merlin. Scor had sent her a special lighter that would never run out of flame. Rose had given her two books; one was A New History of Magic which also seemed to be from her brother Hugo who was 9 and her dad, Ron, and mum, Hermione, and the other was a book on the Catalina flower and all it's many properties and uses, which seemed to be just from her. Al had given her a box of dictating quills, again this seemed to be not just from him but also form James, Lily and Harry and Ginny, his parents, and a small goblin made knife, just from him.
She loved all these presents as they were all, either, practical or entertaining. However her two favourite presents were at the bottom of the pile. The first was large and square but bulky at either end. It had a note from James on the front. Hey Caly, I hope your Christmas is good and you've not died of boredom yet. I know the quills were sorting from me but that was because Al couldn't decide so dad said 'why don't we get one from all of us and one just from you' but I'd always known what to get you. I hope you like it. I did the charm myself. Love, James. Caly opened it and her mouthed formed an 'o' of surprise. It was a chess set but it was all themed with the Catalina flower. The front of the case had one in the centre, than the squares had a flower on each square and the base of each piece had the shape. It had another note saying bring on Saturday chess-James
The other package had a very particular shape and she was sure she knew what it was but she didn't want to get her hopes up. She found an envelope attached to the front with Caly written on it in very familiar handwriting. She opened it to find a muggle Christmas card of the nativity scene, on the inside it read;
Dear Caly,
I hope everything is well in your school, I hope you have made many friends and our doing well in whatever studies wizards and witches pursue. I did not know how to get this to you until the phoenix turned up. I did not know you owned such a bird but it carried packages and letters bearing your handwriting so I knew it must be yours. I was very dubious to increase it's load but he is a very insistent bird. This belonged to my late wife. I found it whilst tiding up, and I thought of you. It will be of far more use to you than it will be to me but it means a lot to me, please take good care of it. I know yours was destroyed by children but it must be safe, surely you can charm it or something. I must admit you are probably my favourite child to ever pass through my care, you were always different, special, and not just because you are a witch. You are special and you matter, no matter what people say. Know that there are people out there that care about you. Maybe we can correspond via this phoenix of yours now. I would like that a lot. You are very much like a daughter to me. Have a very merry Christmas, Caly, and may your good will never end.
Yours faithfully,
Herbert.
Caly was crying now. Herb's letter had touched her in the same way Mrs Weasley's had but deeper. The feeling that there were people out there that cared about her and even, to some extent, considered her family. She unwrapped the paper with trembling hands. Inside was a hard case with a padlock, the key was on a chain in the lock. She unlocked it, took the key out and hung it around her neck. She opened the lid and found a guitar.
Caly had played the guitar since she was six. There had been a boy of 14 who had played it and the two of them got on and he'd ended up teaching her how to play. He'd left the home when he was 16 but not after he had given her his old guitar. She'd always played with that guitar since he'd started teaching her. They'd spent many afternoons playing and singing along to whatever came on the radio. However her guitar had been smashed by a very destructive 7 year old, a year ago and she had no money to replace it. She honestly couldn't believe that Herb would give her something like this. Something that was so personal to him.
Later that evening, as she sat in the comfiest armchair by the fire carelessly popping another bertie botts every flavour bean into her mouth, warm in Mrs Weasley's sweater, guitar around neck, a half played game of chess in front of her she decided this had been her best Christmas. Not even the awkward lunch could change that. Thought that had been bad. It had been around half an hour of grilling from the teachers on subjects, what she thought of Hogwarts etc. etc.. She had wanted to die when Slughorn brought up the her and James story again especially as the teachers found it very amusing. But apart from that it had been the best Christmas ever.