December 1943
Ro was allowed to leave the Hospital Wing the morning after the Quidditch Match, though she thought her early dismissal was probably due to her driving Madame Quinine around the bend with her constant complaining more than her being ready to leave. Madame Quinine had given her a tin containing the slimy bruise paste to take back to her dorm with her and instructions to apply it every night, but the stuff felt so strange on her face that she had no intention of following her orders. The only way she could persuade Poppy to let her not use the paste was by giving Poppy the tin to add to the makeshift medical box she kept in her bedside table, though Ro was certain that Poppy would find more use for it than she would.
No Quidditch practise for all of the next week due to the Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff teams booking the pitch every evening wasn't as torturous as Ro expected, as Nancy still in the Hospital Wing meant they wouldn't have been able to practise properly anyway. She finally returned to the Gryffindor Common Room the day before the match between Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff, which was won by Ravenclaw in a very close and lengthy game. Septima had gone through with Minerva's idea of trying out for the Ravenclaw team and flew as one of the Chasers; Ro was very thankful that the Hufflepuff beaters weren't so good at aiming at the opposition's heads so Septima finished the match unscathed.
Fleamont had promised to get team practises up and running again as soon as the pitch was free, but on the morning of the first practise Ro woke to see snow falling so fast she could barely see the Forbidden Forest from out the dormitory window. It was agreed by everyone that there was no way they could safely practise in those conditions, and there was no real need to practise in snow like they needed to in rain as blizzards on match days were likely to leave the match cancelled. With plenty of free time due to the cancelled practise, the Sunday evening found Ro sitting by the fire in the Gryffindor Common Room with Poppy and Minerva starting to write out her Christmas cards.
"Isn't it a little early to be doing that?" Minerva asked, giving her a skeptical look before turning back to her own sheet of parchment.
"Should I just remind you that I have a mother, four aunts, three uncles, two grandparents, four siblings and seven cousins to send Christmas greetings to!" Ro laughed at Minerva's shocked expression. "Plus we've only got a week and a half until school finishes for the year and I'm not risking all the school owls being out when I need to send them all."
"You could always borrow Nightingale if you needed to," Poppy pointed out, "I've only got one letter to send home so he'll be in the Owlery for most of this month."
Ro nodded gratefully. "I think I'll take you up on that, thanks Pops. Anyway," she turned her gaze back to Minerva, "if you're not writing Christmas cards, what are you doing?"
"The essay on turning animals into water goblets that Professor Dumbledore wants in by Tuesday." Minerva said briskly before picking up her quill again and continuing without another word.
Ro slumped back into her chair with a groan. "I thought it was just to practise the spell. I've done that, watch!" Seeing Godric perched on Poppy's shoulder, Ro pulled her wand out from behind her ear and tapped him three times before saying "Vera Verto." Godric did indeed turn into a water goblet, but it was left with a covering of pale custard-coloured fuzz.
"Hey!" Poppy protested, snatching Godric the water goblet from her shoulder and examining him in great detail. "I hope you know how to turn him back."
"Minerva will, I think I need some more practise before I have another go at that."
Rolling her eyes despite the smile Ro could clearly see on her face, Minerva quickly turned Godric back into a proper puffskein. Suddenly remembering something she'd been intending to show them since it had arrived via Owl Post from home the previous day, Ro sprinted back up to the dormitory and took a small cardboard box out from under her bed. When she returned to the Common Room, she set the box down in between her and Poppy and opened it with a flourish to reveal a second puffskein.
Poppy grinned as she picked him up and set him down on her lap next to Godric. "Where did you get him from?" she asked excitedly.
"I Owled Erika last week and asked for another one; I can tell you've got quite attached to Godric and wanted one for myself." Ro grinned as she explained, taking the new puffskein from Poppy and holding him up above her head. "So that means Godric's officially yours now Pops!"
"What are you going to call him?" Minerva asked.
Ro glanced down at the Christmas card she was writing; the first words on the parchment read: To Uncle Georg and Aunt Mabel. "I'm calling him Georg." She said, "After one of my uncles, my dad's brother. He's a marizoologist, and puffs are one of his favourite animals to study. Apart from the fact you get hair everywhere, I think Aunt Mabel's going to have a heart attack one day with the amount of shedding they've got all over their cottage. The cousins think it's great though."
"How old are your cousins again Ro?" Minerva asked; Ro had gone through all her closer family members on the train to Hogwarts, but she didn't blame Minerva for forgetting some of the smaller details. "Your Uncle Georg's children I mean."
"Emery just turned eleven last month, Heidi is ten in March and Anja was nine in the summer." Ro said, "So Emery'll be here this time next year, and I wouldn't surprise if he brings both his puffs with him. He took them off Erika like I did with Godric and Georg; learned to juggle with them over the summer, it's pretty impressive."
Poppy looked scandalised at the thought, but Minerva had the tiniest smirk on her face. "Perhaps you should get a third one for Christmas?" she suggested, earning her a pillow slap from Poppy. But the idea had already been planted in Ro's mind; she pulled Erika's card out from the pile that she'd already written and started to write furiously.
With the feverish excitement of Christmas firmly descended upon Hogwarts, the last few days before the Christmas Holidays passed by in no time at all. Professor Dumbledore went through all the Gryffindor dormitories collecting a list of students who wanted to stay for the holiday, and Ro had added her name to the list straight after Poppy and Minerva. Irma and Septima had both chosen to stay at Hogwarts too, but Millicent was going back home.
"It'll be strange being at home for Christmas after what happened last year." Millicent had commented on the morning the Hogwarts Express arrived to take everyone not staying back to Kings Cross.
"I did hear Professor Beery asking Professor Dippet if there could be another pantomime this year," Poppy said wistfully, "but he said a very definite no."
Ro laughed "I wonder why that is!" Hearing Poppy sigh, she added "Don't tell me you'd have wanted a repeat of last year?"
"It was good until the Hall exploded and we all nearly caught fire." Septima put in with a grin. "I think I'd prefer a slightly quieter Christmas this year!"
It turned out to be a much quieter Christmas, with most of the students all going home for the holidays. As Irma and Septima would have both been the only ones left in their dormitories, Ro, Poppy and Minerva managed to persuade Professor Dumbledore to let them sleep in their dormitory during the holidays. There were very few Gryffindors left to mind- the only remaining students were Augusta Brown, Lester Longbottom, Alastor Moody and his younger brother in first-year, Donald Moody, who was staying in the Hufflepuff dorms.
When Ro awoke on Christmas morning, the first thing she heard was Septima saying, most likely to herself "It's nice to wake up on Christmas morning not in the Hospital Wing and not trying to cough up a lung." Ro burst out laughing, instantly waking up everyone else in the dormitory and leaving Septima looking mildly embarrassed.
"I didn't mean for anyone else to hear that." She admitted before dangling over the end of the bed to pick up the few presents that had appeared overnight.
"Your point still stands though." Poppy giggled as she started unwrapping the first of her gifts; Ro was very pleased that there wasn't going to be any waiting around like there had been with the teachers last Christmas.
Poppy's two presents turned out to be, to no-one's surprise, two hefty books which she immediately added to the already bulging bookshelf. Septima received a small compass on a chain and a few other bronze contraptions that Ro recognised from Astronomy classes, and Irma's gifts were a small black necklace with a dark green stone in the centre and a pluming black quill.
Ro was glancing between the two sets of gifts, thinking to herself how incredibly different they were considering the two were twins, until Irma caught her eye and explained "These came from our mother and Septima's gifts were from our father. That's always how it's been."
There was quiet for a moment, before Minerva said softly "And you're ok with that?"
Septima and Irma glanced at each other and shrugged. "It's normal," Septima said, "I think as far as they're concerned, I'm solely our father's child and Irma's just our mother's. It doesn't work brilliantly, but we get by. Come on, let's see what you two have got."
Minerva lifted up a broom servicing kit, complete with a pair of clippers for lose twigs, a tin of wood polish and a tiny broom compass. "This is going to be very useful, the Comet's starting to look a bit ragged after all the practise we've been doing."
"Hey look, we've got the same!" Ro grinned as she pulled the wrapping paper off a very similar kit. "This is from Tavin and Kurtis, Mallory sent me... this." Her face fell as she caught sight of a thick book on the History of the Ministry of Magic. "You'd think as my brother he'd have more a clue about what I'm interested in." She muttered half to herself as she opened a Gryffindor-coloured scarf from her mother and then turned her attention to a large box from Erika. The wrapping had many small holes stabbed into it, and it was with great excitement that she tore off the wrapping paper and lifted the flaps on the cardboard box to reveal a cream-coloured mass of fluff.
"Don't tell me you've got another puffskein!" Septima laughed as Ro lifted him out of the box and kicked it away onto the floor. She sat the puffskein on the bed next to Georg, and beckoned for Poppy to throw Godric over.
"My cousin Emery learned how to juggle with two puffskeins he got over the summer, and I wanted to have a go with three." Ro explained, "So Poppy, if you don't mind-"
"Rolanda Hooch if you so much as try to juggle with these three puffskeins I will put puffskein fluff in your Christmas dinner!" Poppy said with so much bite to her voice that Ro couldn't help but laugh. Poppy's own resolve only lasted a few seconds before she too was in giggles.
The Great Hall looked spectacular when they arrived for their Christmas lunch, with gold decorations hanging from the walls and the ceiling enchanted to look like a snow-filled sky. There were only two tables set up with plates and glasses, one for the staff and one for the few students that remained. Augusta, Lester and Alastor were already seated at one end of the student table with Donald Moody and a couple of Hufflepuff first-year boys next to them. Alfred Diggory and Robert Fawley were the only other second-years still at the school, then there were a few older Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws who Ro couldn't recognise. Tom Riddle, the Head Boy, arrived last and sat on the seat at the opposite end to Augusta and the other Gryffindors, looking disapprovingly at Hagrid who hovering uncertainly between the two tables.
"Get over here and sit down, Hagrid!" Alastor shouted good-naturedly , and Hagrid took the seat between Lester and a Ravenclaw sixth-year. Ro sat down opposite him with Minerva, Poppy, Irma and Septima filling up the seats around her. Professor Dippet made a brief speech, with many failed interruptions from Professor Beery when he mentioned the previous year's pantomime, before the food appeared on their plates and heaps of wizarding crackers which Hagrid quickly passed around all the students.
Before long, deafening blasts were echoing around the hall as students and staff pulled their crackers. With the Santa hat that Hagrid pulled from his cracker Ro thought he only needed to grow a beard before he could easily pass off as Santa Claus, and the enormous pink bonnet on Alastor's head was enough to send them all into giggles whenever they saw it. It was when they looked to the staff table though that they laughed the hardest; Professor Dippet was looking remarkably dignified in a small red fez, Professor Dumbledore had swapped his usual wizard's hat for a straw boater, Professor Merrythought was wearing a violently green top hat that looked very interesting against her navy blue robes, and Professor Kettleburn's pirate hat was very appropriate considering his wooden arm and leg. Ro couldn't resist sneaking a peak under the staff table, and met Professor Merrythought's grin when she caught sight of knitted socks sticking out over the shoes of every member of staff.
The Christmas Dinner was undoubtedly the best food that Ro had ever tasted, so it was approaching three hours later when they trooped back to the Gryffindor Common Room. Poppy and Irma were both on the sofa talking quietly, while Septima was sat on the floor in front of them with her astronomy instruments spread out all around her. Ro and Minerva had both brought their broom servicing kits down from the dormitory and were working intently on their broomsticks; it was only when she was sponging wood polish onto the handle of her Silver Arrow did Ro realise how much of a bad shape it was in. There were bits of stick littered around her armchair by the time she had finished, and the sun had set outside leaving the only light source as the fireplace and the few lamps in the Common Room. She joined in with Poppy, Irma and Septima's conversation for a while, discussing what subjects they wanted to take up in their third year, before Ro glanced back at Minerva. She had put down her Comet 180 and was just staring into the fireplace, a thick woollen blanket spread over her lap and her arms crossed tightly over her chest.
"Are you ok?" Ro asked her quietly with a look of concern etched across her face. "You've gone very quiet."
"Hmm?" Minerva looked blankly at Ro for a moment or two before shaking her head slightly. "To be honest I'm not really feeling too great."
Knowing how stubborn Minerva usually was, Ro knew she had to be feeling bad if she would admit to being unwell so fast. "You don't feel it either," she frowned as she felt Minerva's forehead, noting how warm she was despite the fact that Ro could see her hands shivering slightly. "Now, are you going to come quietly back to the dormitory or do I need to get Poppy to come and drag you? Because I know she will."
Minerva smiled with a half-hearted laugh. "I'll come quietly." She slowly got to her feet and pulled the blanket up over her shoulders, before letting Ro take hold of her elbow and walk with her towards the stairs.
"Min's not well so we're going back to the dormitory." Ro called to Poppy, Irma and Septima over her shoulder. "You guys don't have to come if-"
She trailed off with a smile when she heard feet pattering towards her, turning around to see Septima standing next to her. "It's Christmas, we celebrate together." Septima pointed out as Poppy appeared on Minerva's other side and felt her forehead.
Irma pulled the door shut once they arrived back into the dormitory, and Poppy wasted no time in tucking Minerva back into her bed. "I'm sure you're just getting a fever or cold, they're not uncommon at this time of year." She said as she grabbed a book from the bookcase, checked the contents page briefly before flicking through to a certain page. "You just need a good rest and plenty of fluids, I'm sure I could go down to the kitchen and ask the House Elves if I-"
"Poppy." Minerva interrupted her with a tired smile. "I appreciate your concern, but I'm sure I'm absolutely fine. There's nothing to worry about." Poppy make a disapproving noise but put the book away nonetheless.
"I think we could all do with some sleep, actually." Irma suggested as Septima yawned widely. "It's well past the usual curfew."
Agreeing with Irma, they all quickly changed into their nightdresses and got back into their beds. As Ro blew out the lamp that had been lighting the dormitory, Poppy's voice sounded from the other end of the room. "Are you sure you're alright, Minerva."
"Go to sleep, mother." Ro teased, saving Minerva from replying as she looked to be already asleep. "She'll be fine by tomorrow morning."
Author's Note:
Sorry it's been so long since the last update, college has been being a pain D:
We've reached the point now where the pace will start to slow down a little for the rest of second-year, I know things have been going very fast up until now. Next chapter follows on directly from this one, and if you want a clue as to what's up with Minerva I suggest you look closely at the story summary ;)
Irma and Septima's family dynamics is an interesting thing that will definitely be explored more in times to come. To put it simply, Mr and Mrs Vector may as well be divorced for all the love they have for each other. As for the twins themselves, it's very much that Septima is their father's child and Irma is their mother's child, even down to their names. I won't give away too much now, but it rest assured that it will get plenty of limelight as the story progresses.
Writing the Christmas Dinner part was hilarious. Just try to imagine Alastor Moody wearing a flowery bonnet; if you try and tell me that didn't make you smile then you are lying.