Chapter 11:

Christmas

Time flew and before I knew it the whole Castle grounds were covered in snow, showing that it was almost Christmas. The Black Lake was completely frozen solid and my idiotic brothers were punished for bewitching several snowballs so that they followed Quirrell around, bouncing off the back of his turban. I smiled as I walked outside watching the scene, creep deserves it. The few owls that manage to battle their way through the stormy sky to deliver post had to be nursed back to health by Hagrid before they could fly off again. And that was exactly why I was outside. I had received a package and a letter from a friend over in Bulgaria, Viktor Krum. A dear friend of mine from when I snuck off to the Malfoy's and they had tickets to the Quidditch World Cup and invited me to go along. I had met Viktor at one of the games, I bumped into him accidentally after the match. The story for that tale is a different one entirely, I'll tell you that one later in life.

Anyway, I was walking up to the Owlery to send Viktor's owl back with his present. I walked up the steps to the Owlery and quickly went inside. I pulled out the package and letter from my bag then handed it to his Eastern Screech owl. "Alright, Rocco, get this to him safely." I told the owl softly stroking the owls head before feeding him an owl treat. "Be careful, love. It's dangerous out there." The owl nuzzled my hand before he flew off. I watched him leave the Owlery before leaving the Owlery myself to watch him fly off.

"Eh? Whatcha doin out here?"

I looked down from the sky and down the steps to see who was here. It was Oliver Wood.

"Hello, Wood." I replied. "Sending presents to the family?"

He looked rather surprised that I wasn't sneering. "Oh, uh yeah."

I nodded walking past him. "Best hurry before it gets to bad, yeah?" I walked down the stairs and back towards the Clock Tower courtyard.

The Great Hall looked amazing! Festoons of holly and mistletoe hung all around the walls, which I greatly avoided standing under, and there were twelve towering Christmas trees stood around the room, some sparkling with tiny icicles and some glittering with hundreds of candles. I sat down at the Slytherin table making sure I didn't sit under any mistletoe and took out some parchment and a quill. I began writing until I felt someone sit beside me. I looked up and seen it was Jesse, his face held a look of boredom. "Alright there, Jess?" I asked folding up the letter I had written and put it in an envelope and capping the little jar of ink before putting it back in my bag.

"Alright." he replied dully.

I giggled and said nothing more as Draco showed up. "Good day, Mister Malfoy. Goin home for the holidays?" I asked as I turned to face him as he sat down.

"Good day, Miss Weasley." He replied back in a teasing tone. "Of course I am, shame you can't come back with me this year."

"I know, tragic!" I pretended to faint against Jesse. We all laughed and I regained my regular composure. "But in all seriousness, I'm only staying because of this bloke here!" I slung my arm around Jesse shoulders and pulled him closer to my side. "He decided to stay home, so I'm going to keep him company!"

"Oh? Family going somewhere, Reynolds?" asked Draco leaning against his palm looking at him.

"Yeah, Paris. To visit my Grandmother for the holidays." he replied sharply. "Decided to stay here. Gran can get really bothersome with all the cookies she makes."

Draco let out a chuckle and we both looked at him. "Think –"

"I'm –"

"He's –"

"Joking?" We hissed our eyes narrowing at the memory of when I went with him to their Gran's house.

"You've been to see her?" asked Draco, surprised.

I nodded. "We nearly exploded from all the cookies she tried to feed us, but she's really sweet."

I sighed, but smiled. "Looks like I can finally snoop through the Slytherin dormitories to see what kind of dark secrets they hold –"

I was smacked on the back of the head and I turned to glare at Jesse. "Not while I'm around, besides who knows what horrors await in the girl dormitories."
All three of us shuddered at the thought of finding something we didn't even want to know about.

"Oi, Raven"

"Raven wake up!"

I turned over away from the voice that wanted me to wake up.

"Dammit, Raven! Wake up it's Christmas!"

I immediately sat up an looked towards the voice that woke me up. I had fallen asleep in the Slytherin Boys dormitories, me and Jesse stayed up the previous night from our excitement of the day that was to come. We played exploding snap, had a midnight snack in the Kitchens, had a late night stroll round the castle before coming back to the Slytherin dormitories to play another round of exploding snap, read a few manga here and there, danced around to some music. Basically all around fun until we passed out on his bed. It wasn't unusual for me to wake up in his bed so it was completely normal.

"It is?!" I gasped immediately jumping out of bed. "Then what are we waiting for!"

I grabbed Jesse's hand and bolted out of the boys dormitory and down to the gigantic tree in the Slytherin common room. I slid on my knees to the tree grabbing Viktor's present first. I had place my present from Viktor underneath the tree last night and all my presents from my Slytherin friends were also under there, knowing I'd be staying in their dormitory during the break. I ripped the package paper off and opened the box inside. Inside was a silver sterling box with three silver roses on top of the lid, along the edges was a fancy design with three roses in each corner. I pulled out the box and underneath it was a key and a box of Chocoballs. I squealed setting the jewelry box down and opening the box of my favorite sweets. I popped one in my mouth and picked up the key to open the locked box.

"I see Viktor went all out again." commented Jesse as he opened one of his presents.

"See your Gran did too" I replied back after swallowing the sweet that was in my mouth.

"Oh shut it, what's in the box?" he asked eating one of his Grandmother's cookies.

"Getting there!" I hissed putting the key in the keyhole. I turned until the I heard the clicking noise within the box. I opened the lid and looked inside. I gasped as I pulled the object out and showed it to Jesse.

"Is that –" gawked Jesse.

"It's a fire rose frozen in crystal!" I couldn't believe my eyes. These things weren't even possible to look at or even touch. It was a rare magical rose the bloomed once every thousand year in only one spot, but never the same spot. How'd he get a hold of this? I told him that I've always wanted to see one since they were only grown in Bulgaria, but it was ultimately a myth. And to have one frozen in crystal for me to stare at was just unbelievable!
"Viktor seriously out did himself this year." grumbled Jesse.

I looked at the flickering flames that still danced after being frozen in time. "I'll say!" I placed the crystallized rose back in the box and locked it before moving on to the next gift.

"This one from you, Jess?" I asked looking over at him. He said nothing and looked away as I opened the small box. I lifted the lid of the box and inside was a sterling silver ring with a fancy vine like design, on the top of the ring was a bright emerald and if you looked closely enough you could see me initials inside. I blushed and gaped in shock. "I-It's beautiful, Jess!" I gasped. I put the ring on my ring finger and admired it.

"Thought you might like it." he smiled.

"Thank you!" I hugged Jesse and gave him a kiss on the cheek as I handed him another present. "From me! Although compared to your gift, it is nothing."

"Nonsense." he replied lifting the lid from the box inside was a book, a camera, and a CD.

He stared at the contents and smiled. "You remembered!"

"Of course I did! You've been wanted their new cd for weeks!"

"And the camera and book?" he asked picking up the book and opening noticing a picture of Jesse and I last year.

"W-well it's a scrapbook and a camera to fill it up with pictures." I replied blushing before looking away. "You said last year you wished you had a camera to take photos throughout the year so you wouldn't forget the memories you made that year. Like I said nothing impressive."

"I see you remembered that too."

Jesse pulled me into a hug and kissed the top of my head. "I love it."

"Lies."

"Truth."

I giggled and wiggled out of his arms to open the next gift.

All of our gifts were opened and Jesse took his upstairs as I munched on one of the cookies that his grandmother sent me. When he came back down he took half my stuff and we left the Slytherin common room and made our way to the Gryffindor Tower.

I said the password and Jess and I entered the Gryffindor common room. My Brothers, and Harry were sitting around the fire place opening gifts.

"Wait here kay?" I asked taking my stuff from Jesse as he nodded and I ran upstairs to place everything in my room. I set everything on my bed and hurried back down to the common room. When I came back down I could feel the tense atmosphere as I reached the bottom step.

"Something the matter here?"

"Why'd you let him in?" hissed the Twins.

"Because I can, now shut up." I hissed back walking over to Jesse, who never glanced in their direction. Jesse and I left to go down to breakfast but not before I was stopped by my brothers.

"Where you going, Raven?" asked the Fred.

"You've got gifts to open. 'sides Christmas is for family!" said George.

I sighed and looked at Jesse who smiled and waved going down the steps.

"See you later."

I stood there with my mouth hanging open in shock, he left me! Although, I couldn't help but smile when he did. I turned around and went back inside. "Fine." I hissed. I walked over and plopped down in the arm chair closest to the fire.

"Yay! We knew-" said George

"-you'd come around!" continued Fred.

"Now why don't we start with mums?" they cheered pulling out a lumpy parcel that was under the tree. "Can't celebrate Christmas without a Weasley sweater!"

I groaned at the thought of what lied in that damn lumpy parcel. I nearly took out my wand and set it on fire if they would allow me. I took the parcel reluctantly and opened it nervously before glaring at the contents. Inside was a large purple sweater with an R stitched in gold on the bottom right corner on the front."I don't even think that the damn giant squid would want this ugly thing." I muttered, of course it was a lie. I actually enjoy these wretched things. It made me feel cared for when I didn't think I mattered.

"Well that's not nice!" said the twins.

"If I've got to wear one so do you." hissed Percy.

"Go on put it on!" chuckled Ron.

The prefect glare Percy was giving was enough to make me put it on, and I felt bad for hurting him back during the beginning of the year.

"Fine, if it'll get you lot off my back!" I shouted pulling the loose purple sweater over my head and pulling my arms through the sleeves and letting the rest fall to my mid-thigh. "There happy now?"

"Very!" said my brothers.

"What's next?" I asked looking into the fire as if I was bored.

"Seems Bill left ya one!" said Ron looking at the pile of gifts.

"Really now?" I asked resisting the urge to snatch it from the pile. I loved my eldest brothers, Bill and Charlie. They always cared for me and besides their gifts are amazing. I carefully picked up the package and sat against the front of the sofa in front of the fire. I ripped the package opened and inside was a book, a plain black book with my name in gold writing near the bottom. I opened the book and looked down at the blank pages. I flipped through every page before going back to the first page, where words appeared.

Dear Raven,

Merry Christmas, little sis! How have you been? This here journal is a special one, mind you. Not something I happen to see in a shop... okay I saw it in a shop, but whatever. Anyway this is one of two things I bought, me keeping the other. This journal has a sort of connection to the one I have. It allows us to communicate by just writing in it and only you and I can read what the other writes. That way we don't have to wait weeks for Errol to deliver a bloody letter. Can't wait to here from you, love. Enjoy your Christmas!
Love,

Bill

I smiled at the small note inside and felt overjoyed. I could talk to Bill whenever I wanted and I wouldn't have to wait weeks for a reply. I set the book aside making a mental note to write to him later. I moved onto the next present and looked at the name tag, it was from Charlie. I tore the wrapping off and opened the small box. Inside was a dragon's claw attached to a chain and a note.

Raven,

Merry Christmas. Mum and Dad send their love as well, so sorry you and the rest cant be with us. By the way this is a claw I got from a Hungarian Horntail that I had to deal with the other day. Thought you would've liked it seeing as it's from your favorite dragon.

Love,

Charlie

I held in the squeal I wanted to release and inspected the claw. "No way..." I mumbled. It was an actual claw from an actual Hungarian Horntail Dragon. I inspected it every which way I could. It was the real deal! I smiled brightly as I placed it back in the box and moved onto the next.

I received a book, how typical, from Percy, a box of Bertie Botts beans and a couple of chocolate frogs from Ron, a letter from Ginny, a sketchbook and some colored pencils from Dad, and two gifts from Fred and George. One being a fake gift that exploded in my face leaving me in a mess of some sort of goop, which in turn had everyone laughing and me screaming at the twins casting hexes at them as they ran away from me around the common room; like turning their hair from orange to rainbow and all sorts of crazy complexions before using a cleaning spell on myself. After I turned them back to normal they gave me my real gift which was a beautiful plaid black lace up dress.

After opening up all the gifts we went downstairs to the great hall for breakfast. Hoping down the Grand Staircase two steps at a time until I reached the Entrance Hall and entered the Great Hall. There were only two tables in the Great Hall, seated up at the high table were the Professors and their Headmaster. At the other table were a couple of students who remained for winter break. Jesse was seated at the end of the table closest to the Professors, I quickly walked down to the end and sat down next to him. I hit his shoulder as I ate the breakfast that appeared in front of me with extra bacon.

"Thanks, Jess." I said taking a bite of a strip of bacon as the rest of my family joined the end of the table.

"No problem." he whispered as he continue eating.

Later in the afternoon Jesse and I wandered outside to the snow covered grounds. My family and Harry were having a furious snowball fight. Jesse and I looked at each other, smirking as we bent down and build a fort to prevent in coming snow balls. Then we scooped up some snow and packed it into a ball before throwing it and ducking out of sight. I could faintly hear the thud of it hitting someone.

"Hey!" yelled, from what I believed was, Ron.

"Who did that?" yelled, who I also believed was, Fred.

Jesse and I covered our mouths to keep us from laughing. We balled up another snowball and got up on our knees and threw our snowballs at the unsuspecting victims. We ducked and laughed as I heard Percy give out a shriek. We laughed so hard that we couldn't hear the soft crunching of approaching footsteps coming closer.

"Oi!"

Jesse and I froze and stopped laughing before looking up. Looking down at us was Fred, George, Ron, Harry, and Percy; they didn't look happy. I looked to Jesse as I noticed that everyone had their hands behind their back and he gave a short nod. We scrambled up and past my brothers and Harry and ran as fast as we could away from them.

"Get back here!" shouted Ron.

I felt my back get hit by a snowball and I fell to the ground. Jesse came to a stop and turned when he hear me hit the ground.

"Raven!" He yelled running back over to me. He skidded to his knees and picked me up. "Speak to me!"

I opened my eyes and looked up weakly at Jesse. Yes, this is about to get dramatic as all hell. "J-Jesse? Is that y-you?" I asked.

"Yes! Yes it's me!"

"I-I'm so glad..." I gave him a fake pained expression. "That I got to see you one... last time."

"What are you saying?!" Jesse asked dramatically, holding me closer as my family approached.

"I-I'm afraid it's over for me, my love." I replied raising my hand to his face. "You still have a chance, r-run as far... as you can."

"What in bloody hell is going on here?" I heard George whisper.

"No idea, but I am disturbed by it." I heard Percy whisper back.

"No! I won't leave you!" cried Jesse.

"Do- Don't worry.. I'll be... alright..." I let my hand drop and I pretended to be dead.

"Raven? Raven?!" he yelled shaking me. "RAVEN!"

His scream echoed throughout the cold air and I had to hold in my giggle wanted to escape. He gently placed me on the ground and pulled out his wand.

"I'll avenge you, my love." he whispered.

He pointed his wand toward the snow and began to bewitch the snow to form hundreds of little snowballs before flicking his wand towards the dumbfounded group. They began to be pelted by hundreds of snowballs until they were practically buried under it all. I couldn't hold it in anymore and I laughed until I couldn't breathe and had tears running down my cheeks.

"Y-You avenged me well, Jess!" I said in between laughs.

He looked back to me and smiled before we took off towards the Clock Tower to go inside the Castle before the boys could resurface.

We ran up the stairs of the Clock Tower and down the hall that led to the Prefects bathroom and we dashed down the hall at the right and came out to a room with a small staircase. We hopped up the stairs and came out on the fifth floor of the Grand Staircase. We decided to stop and take a break here to catch our breath.

"W-We should become actors." I breathed.

"Y-Yeah."

We caught our breathe and we walked up to the seventh floor to the Gryffindor common room. I said the password and entered inside the warm room. We plopped down on the couch and roared with laughter in the safe haven. We only relaxed for a little bit before Jesse laughed and said he was going to change into something warm and get out of the snow soaked clothes. I nodded and he left, then I stood up and went up stairs to the girls dormitory to change as well.

I changed from my soaked clothes to the sweater Mum gave me for Christmas, underneath were some short black shorts and black leggings underneath, and on my feet were a pair of gray boots. I left the girls dormitory and back out into the common room. I came to a stop at the landing between the dormitories and looked down from the little bridge. Downstairs already were my Brothers and Harry playing Wizard Chess. It was Harry and Ron playing with Percy telling Harry where to move.

I quietly walked down the stairs and walked over to see how badly Harry was doing with Percy's help.

"Harry, you'll never win." I commented as I looked at the game before me. "Not with Percy giving you advice." Percy scoffed at me and I chuckled before leaving the the common room.

I traveled down the seven flights of stairs and headed down another level to go into the secret passageway to get into the dungeon. I said the password to enter the passageway and walked out the other end, entering the bleak cold dungeon. I walked down the hallway and came to a stop in front of the Potion's classroom door. I pushed the door open and entered the classroom to find it empty, I walked over to Snape's desk pulling my wand out. I waved it over a small portion of his desk and a brightly colored wrapped box appeared. I placed my wand back in my pockets and left the classroom. I closed the classroom door then walked up the winding steps to the Viaduct. The Viaduct was warm and I missed it so much when I pushed the double doors open and went outside to the cold stone bridge that was iced over and hidden by a blanket of snow.

I rubbed my arms with my hands to get the feeling of warmth back on them as I entered the Entrance Hall and went into the Great Hall for lunch. The family was already there and so were the teachers and remaining students. I joined them and ate lunch before getting back up and going back out to the Entrance Hall. I climbed the Grand Staircase going up to the the seventh floor to the portrait of the Fat Lady. Mumbling the password I went inside to the common room only to pause in front of the tree. Giving a small smile I pulled out my wand from my pocket, waving it in the direction of the tree five brightly colored wrapped boxes appeared, much like in Snape's classroom, one for each of my brothers and one for Harry. I placed my wand back in its place and went up to the girls dormitories and then up to the second year dorm. I looked around the neat room and smiled, it felt nice to have a room to myself for once. I approached the trunk at the foot of my bed, opened it and looked inside. Inside my trunk was my school clothes, tons of books mainly manga, a stash of candied goods, school supplied, and money. I dug underneath my clothes and pulled out a book then settled comfortably on my soft bed.

I spent the rest of the afternoon reading and sleeping, then before I knew it night fell and everyone gathered in the Great Hall for dinner. After a meal of some turkey sandwiches, crumpets, trifle, and Christmas cake, everyone felt too full and sleepy to do much before bed, including me. I followed Jesse down to the Slytherin common room and we plopped down on the couch in front of the warm fire.

"Man, I'm so full I couldn't eat for days!" moaned Jesse.

"I give it until morning for you to be hungry again." I laughed as I opened the book I had carried with me to dinner.

"You're seriously gonna read now?" asked Jesse as he changed his position from sitting to laying his head in my lap.

"Yes, I want to finish it." I replied turning a page. "It's quite good."

He hummed and looked towards the fire as I read on. After a couple of minutes of reading I pulled the book away from my face and looked down at Jesse, he had a peaceful expression on his face. I closed my book and set it on the side table before lifting his head up and carefully got up then I carefully set his head down and conjured up a blanket to cover him with before I quietly left the Slytherin common room.

Climbing the Grand Staircase and freezing half to death, I entered the welcoming warmth of the Gryffindor common room, however when I entered the already darkened common room with the only light came from the fire place, I could feel a shift in the air and soft footsteps coming from the stone steps leading up to the dormitories. I stood there and waited to see who came down. No one showed up but I heard the footsteps stop when they reached the end of the stairs. I walked on like I didn't know anything and walked to the edge of the stairs I could hear faint breathing and I couldn't help but smile.

"Using your father's old invisibility cloak eh, Harry?" I called to the air, already knowing who it was and how he managed to do it. Uncle Sirius once told me about his best friends James' invisibility cloak and the fun adventures that he, Uncle Remus, and Sirius had.

Harry removed the cloak to where only his head was visible for me to see. "How'd you know?" asked Harry.

I giggled and gave him a wave as I ascended up the staircase only to peek out over the edge to find him staring at me.

"Just don't stay out too late. Okay, Harry?" He nodded and I smiled. "Have fun!"

I disappeared behind the girls dormitory door and waited a few minutes for him to leave before I opened it up once more. I peeked out and when I saw him gone I crossed over to the boys dormitory and climbed up the staircase to the third year room. I opened the door without knocking and went inside. Inside, as I thought, were Fred and George fast asleep in their beds. I quietly went in between their beds and looked to Fred first and poked him in the face, then did the same to George, and went back to Fred. Hearing them both groan I froze and waited for them to get up, but instead I was pulled into Fred's bed. I struggled to get up but Fred held me tighter than I thought he had.

"Fred, let go!" I whispered trying to remove his hands from me.

As I was struggling to get out of Fred's grip I didn't hear the squeak of George's bed, signaling he was getting up. Before I knew it there was a pressure of the bed sinking in behind me and another pair of arms wrapped around me from behind.

"This is what you get for waking us up." breathed George as he moved some of my hair from my neck and placed a kiss on it then trailed kisses up to my jawline.

"Hey cut it out already! I'm sorry, alright!" I shouted.

Both kissed from my jawline to the corners of my mouth. "I don't think we will." They mumbled against my skin.

I shivered as George sat up and brought me up with him. He leaned against the headboard of Fred's bed and place me in between his legs with my back against his chest and Fred kneeled in front of me. Fred intertwined his right hand with my left, using his left to wrap around my waist and George intertwined his right hand with my right as he used he used his left to wrap around my waist as well.

"Raven..." they whispered. Fred looked up at me as George rested his head on my shoulder and eyed me from there.

"Yes?" I breathed, blushing.

"Merry Christmas." they said as Fred leaned up and pressed his lips against mine. I blushed as Fred pulled away and rested his head on my chest. George removed his arm from around my waist and used his hand to turn my head his way where he claimed my lips. When he pulled away he rested his head on my shoulder once more and placed his arm back where it was. I didn't say anything, I just sat there shocked not moving an inch as I heard my brother's breathing even out. They fell asleep... If we stay like this... My face reddened even more and was about the same color as my hair. We'll have some serious cramps in the morning. I smiled and rested my head on George's shoulder letting sleep take over.