Christmas edges nearer.
As it does, one day, on the cold twentieth of December, Finn finds Xavier, Marius and Emily and asks about visiting each other over the holidays. Emily and Marius are quick to agree, but Xavier hesitates.
"My family.. My family are going on holiday for a bit, then we come back in time for me to come to Hogwarts. I'm sorry.."
"No problem." Finn smiles. "I get it."
"Can I bring David Garvin?" Asks Marius hopefully. "You know him, right?"
"Sure." Finn says, with the pang of guilt in his gut, that always accompanies David's name, twanging. "That'd be great."
Finn, Emily and Xavier wander off, to Gryffindor tower, leaving Marius to do the same in the opposite direction. Except, y'know, not to Gryffindor tower. Because that'd be weird.
The trio decorates the Gryffindor common room with mistletoe, baubles, Christmas trees, tinsel and Emily manages a charm to bewitch five baubles to float around for several days, constantly changing colour.
When the holidays come, very few people stay at Hogwarts. On the Hogwarts Express, Emily, Finn, Xavier, David and Marius sit in the same compartment together, having managed to fit inside, and chat happily. David is quiet, listening to everybody talk, despite Marius and Finn's best efforts to get him talking.
When they get off the train, Finn shows off by making a huge, shadowy hand wave at them, though the effect is ruined when he loses concentration and the hand's pinky, ring and middle finger dissipate, leaving it looking like its index finger and thumb are portraying the letter 'L' for loser. Finn waves his wand and the rest of the hand vanishes.
Marius was coming straight back with Finn to his house, where the pair would wait for their friends. When Finn asks why Marius isn't going home to his parents, the latter sidesteps the question, saying, "Is that your father, over there?"
Finn drops the subject pretty quickly.
Three days before Christmas day, Xavier, Emily, David and Finn's presents (to and from people) arrive.
"This is addressed to David." Finn frowns, holding up a small box.
"Probably since he's coming here. Owls are proper clever at finding people. I think it might be a wizard-bred trait." Marius shrugs.
"Hmm.. Would explain why presents to Xavier aren't here. Just from him."
"Yup. Oh, cool, thanks!" Marius says, holding up Finn's present, which was a miniature Thunderbird model which flew around the room, causing tiny showers of rain, sometimes patches of unnatural sun and sometimes shocking the pair with painless but surprising static electricity.
Marius had shown Finn a Thunderbird egg he owned a week or so previous. Finn, in return, had talked all about Zero — who, as a matter of fact, was fetching Finn his presents.
"No problem — thanks for this, too!" Finn replies, holding up a special edition of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, by Newt Scamander. Each creature had an image beside its name, of one of its species. The image was constantly moving. (Finn was particularly entranced by the Lethifold.)
"Hey, Xavier got me a Sneakoscope! It's a special brand, too, it folds up to be miniature for carrying it around! Gotta owl him with thanks..." Finn said happily.
Emily had gotten him a book all about obscure magic — spells, Animagi transformation and how best to do it, and lots more — along with a huge box of Honeydukes' best sweets and Weasley Wizard Wheezes' best products.
"Christ, this is a goldmine!" Finn laughs.
David's present was a small, cardboard box. Finn chews his lip and opens it.
Inside is an egg. Finn stares in disbelief, looking at it all over.
"What's that?" Marius asks curiously.
"An egg. He got me an egg."
"I know that." Snickers Marius. "I mean, what species?"
"Streeler, I believe."
"Aren't Streelers dangerous?"
"They're giant snails that change colour every hour and secrete poisonous slime." He replies in a deadpan voice. "Hold on, there's a note here..
Dear Finn,
I hope you like this. Streelers are interesting creatures and my grandfather used to breed them. I tried to find a Lethifold egg for you but couldn't." Finn rolls his eyes and continues. "Not sure when it'll hatch. Best wishes, David Garvin."
Marius raises an eyebrow. "Lethifold eggs?"
"Long story."
A day or two pass. Finn starts flashing back to.. Images. A woman, usually. Blonde hair, shoulder-length, piercing blue eyes, early twenties... He's not sure who she is or why he keeps focusing on her, but whoever she is she's persistent, as he is suddenly unable to stop thinking about her.
Then Emily and David arrive. A day afterwards, Xavier arrived.
"You said you weren't coming!" Finn hollers at him when he sees his best friend. The pair are grinning.
"Change of plan." He said cheerfully. "My family decided to stay at home this year. Mostly because my mother got sick."
"Ah. Shame."
"Not really, means I can get out of there for a bit." He laughs.
At the Christmas dinner, the Sneakoscope starts spinning inexplicably.
"That's odd, they're really good Sneakoscopes. Expensive too." Xavier frowns. "Shouldn't go off like that."
David looks like he's politely forcing interest. He also looks slightly nervous.
A few seconds later, Xavier looks towards David, then several things happen at once.
Xavier starts to say something — The doorbell rings — Dylan Jones looks up and heads to the door and the Sneakoscope stops whirring.
Finn tilts his head. Dylan sounds happy and surprised at the same time, chatting to whoever was at the door. Then he comes back into the room with a woman.
Shoulder-length blonde hair. Bright blue eyes. Early twenties — It's the woman who was popping up in his head. Finn blinks in surprise. She waves lightly.
The rest of dinner went by in a blur. Suddenly Finn was downstairs with Dylan and the woman. The others were upstairs, playing games. He tried to work out how the time had gone by so quickly.
"So, Finn. I assume you have a lot of questions." The woman says.
"Who.." Realising his voice is strangely croaky, he clears his throat. "Who are you? How do you know my name?"
"My name is Violet. I'm an Animagus and I work as an Auror. I've been tracking post-Voldemort—" Finn cringes "—Death Eaters."
"Y-You... You're the person I've been dreaming about? You're who I've been watching Death Eaters through?"
She nods.
"Who are you..?" Finn mutters, head spinning.
"Well.. I'm Violet Jones. I'm twenty years old and an Auror, Half-blood, daughter of Dylan Jones and Rosa Maine."
"Finn... I'm your sister."
Finn stares, struck dumb, for several seconds. Then, as the reality of what she just said strikes him, she starts to tell him her story.
Short chapter this time, but I felt like ending on a cliffhanger :P
Review! Criticise me!