Even when Petunia and Vernon wanted me home for Christmas, something I knew now was called Yule in the Wixen World, I declined their offer of coming home to focus on my studies and the mystery of Quirrel.
I signed my name to say that I was staying the Yule holidays within Hogwarts' walls. My gifts would be sent by eagle on the 25th of December.
The next few weeks, snow fell onto Hogwarts and left it several feet thick. The lake froze, a icy layer of several feet on the lake, barely showing through the top of my window.
Instead of being the drafty, damp cold dungeons as the other Houses believed that the Slytherin common room would be, it felt like very early spring. All the Slytherin students swore their black or dark grey vests under their robes, the older years taught the younger warming charms that lasted several hours.
Me and my House finished our potions lessons for the day and were the first to leave the class. As we left the classroom, a large Fir tree blocked the corridor. We instantly knew that Gameskeeper, Hagrid was the cause of this inconvenience.
Ronald Weasley shoved past Draco, elbowing me in the process. I elbowed him back just as hard, making him weeze. He glared back and I sent a seething stare at him.
"Hi, Hagrid," Weasley popped his head through the branches of the Fir tree. "Want any help?
"Would you mind moving out of the way?" Draco said coldly. "You want to make some extra money for you and your family? Or are you hoping to become groundskeeper? His hut must be a palace compared to the hovel that your family is used to."
"Draco, you know that isn't nice," I said. "Even if you are putting it nicely. But we all know the truth so it is fine to say, I suppose."
Weasley dived at us . He grabbed the front of Draco's robes. The latter just smiled and laughed as the bat-like Snape came up the stairs.
"Weasley!" Snape said as Weasley jutted away from Draco.
"He was provoked, Professor Snape," Hagrid said. "Malfoy was 'nsulting 'is family."
"Fighting is still against Hogwarts' rules, Hagrid. You should know that fights of all natures unless during the duelling club, are prohibited. Ten points from Gryffindor. Move along, all of you."
We shoved past the tree, scattering nettles onto the floor.
"There's been talk of a creature on the third floor," Pansy said as we went into the library. "The one Dumbledore warned us about. Some of the older years, sixth years I think, went there and found a dog. But not a normal dog, it has three heads!"
"You mean a Cerberus, then," I said. "The three-headed dog from the Netherworld. Pet of Hades,"
"From one of your books, yeah?" Blaise asked.
"Yeah," I shrugged. Morgana's book had it in there, telling me all about it and various other creatures. "When don't I know something from my books?"
"True," Daphne laughed. "Also, isn't it true that you're staying the holidays here and not going home?"
"Yes, I've decided to stay the holidays since I'll be able to catch up on work,"
"What's the real reason?" Draco said, looking to the others. "We all know that isn't the only reason. Spill."
"Alright. I already knew about the dog. I overheard the older years talking about it a few weeks ago," I said as the group entered the library. "I want to know why the dog is here, and figure out if they are dangerous or not. You all know that I love animals, love them enough to stop eating them."
"And you adopted that fleabag, Emperor," Pansy said.
I gasped in fake shock, clutching my heart. "My poor, not so defenceless familiar of mine. How dare you!"
Everyone in the group knew that Pansy was not a fan of animals unless they were on a poster and not shedding fur, skin or scales. No one could make fun of her, the barely visible scars on her left bicep were from a dog. She had a genuine fear of dogs and was wary of other animals in general.
I made sure that she was never alone with Emperor, even if the familiar was asleep, Pansy couldn't think very clearly alone with him. I might've not cared for other people and their opinion of my familiar but I had respect for my group of snakes so adhered to their wishes.
"Has anyone done the History homework?" Blaise said, glancing to everyone.
"No, but I finished the essay for Chams. This one was easy. Can you read mine and see if there are any mistakes, please?" I passed a single foot of parchment over.
"Does anyone have the notes for our lessons on Monday? I was ill and only just remembered to ask for them," Pansy said, her cheeks blushed a rosier tint.
Draco flipped through a notebook. " Yes, here. You can borrow them over the holiday since there is only one day left."
"Oh, before I forget, I have a detention this evening with Snape," I said, silence ensured after her words. "Don't worry, it's not actually a detention. It's more like an extra tutoring lesson, Snape thinks that I could use this extra time to advance myself and my potion-making skills."
"We all knew you were good at Potions, but we didn't know you were this good!"
"As I've said before, Potions is like cooking," I chuckled lightly, "And I love my food, you all know that!"
"You scarf food down like a pro and still look polite while doing it,"
"Aunt Petunia was picky about that, I used to copy Dudley, my cousin, but since I was a girl I was forced to learn manners. I am happy that I know manners and how to use them and when. It's very important in this World and the Muggle World."
)(-)(
Lunchtime came soon enough, and we marched down the stairs to receive a lovely meal: there were sausages and butterbean stew. Oranges, grapefruits and limes in one bowl. Roast chicken, beef and pork in separate bowls with their own broths. Sweet potato wedges in small portions on each plate. We all had our fill and left for our last few lessons.
Later that evening, when lessons and dinner finished, I made my way through the cold corridor from the common room to the Potions classroom. There was a large pile of caldrons, all covered in a vomit green and rancid yellow slime, and in that disgusting smelling slime was small lumps of something.
It was a surprising mess in the Potions classroom of Severus Snape. He wasn't one to allow such disastrous matters and affairs to happen in his lessons. The maker of this glob must have messed up so badly, it was almost unbelievable.
Professor Snape was hunched over his desk, his quill correcting papers, essays and homework, I guessed, and he was getting frustrated by the lack of intelligence in some of his pupils.
I remained by the door, counting how long it took him to realise that I was there and staring at him. I started counting.
One.
Two
Three
Four…
Eighteen…
Hundred and three…
It took him two minutes, forty-eight seconds and three loud sighs. Those papers must have been so awful to force Snape to sigh so much. There were two piles, the completed pile was several inches tall and the other piles were only a couple inches tall.
"Good evening, Professor," I said, coming closer to the desk. "Are you grading papers?"
"Yes, and sadly my fourth years do not have the potential that you do. Even though they have four years of lessons on you," He pinched the bridge of his nose. I chuckled and sat the desk nearest Snape's, planting my bag on the spare chair next to me.
Since Snape was in a slightly foul mood, this hour would take a while to finish. I had to scrub the caldrons clean while stating what was wrong with the essay that Snape read out to me. I wasn't very happy about the cleaning, but I didn't dare complain.
After all, Snape could not stand complaining and whining, he was already in a bad mood to start.
)(-)(
During the dead of night, at a time when the patrols ended and morning light a distant dream, did my group dare leave the common room and venture into the dark halls of Hogwarts. I donned my dark pyjamas and slippers, accompanying Blaise, Daphne, Draco and Pansy to the third-floor corridors.
There was an eerie feeling about the castle. Too calm. Too quiet. Almost too silent for the dwellings of perhaps a thousand students and thirty-odd staff members, but everything seemed fine in any respects that were due to with the castle.
Hogwarts did not light her torches as we reached them, those torches stayed extinguished of any sort of light. It left the castle and us in the dark. Emperor lead us to that corridor as quietly as the soft footfalls of a scurrying mouse into their respective mousehole.
It wasn't very difficult to find the banned corridor. We walked down it, not seeing any distinctive features on any of the doors that might have distinguished the door from the others. It could take minutes to find it, perhaps any hour or….
There.
The soft sounds of light snoring echoed in the silent corridor and alerted us to the canine. Emperor strolled to the door and pawed it once, I ushered the group to be quiet but swift to get over there.
We crept through the door. The room was extremely large, enough to house the black three-headed dog. There was a harp to one side, close to one of the corners. One head started to snore, followed by another and the last head joined. They stopped in that order and continued in the same way. Each of their left ears twitched as they exhaled.
It was an ...unusual sight, truth be told. An unusual sight that freaked Pansy quite severely, and so we rushed out of the room. Mrs Norris sat in the arms of one of the statues that lined the halls, her eyes glowing even without any light. Emperor strolled over to her, placing a paw on her much small head, then he trotted away with a feline smirk.
The group, excluding me , gasped at the sight of the bug-eyed cat.
"Don't worry," I whispered, stroking Mrs Norris' head and making her purr deeply. "She won't snitch, she likes me."
No one said anything, simply nodded and rushed back to our respective dorms, and slept till the morning of the last day of term. Luckily, it would be a free day for the whole school.
)(-)(
Out of everyone in my year, I was the only Slytherin to remain during the holidays. Of course, older members were staying but none of them were near my age. Fourth year and above stayed more often than the younger years due to their need to study for their exams or catch up on homework.
Luckily, the Slytherin Prefects had stayed so I wasn't defenceless against the older Gryffindors that terrorised the younger Slytherin members.
The First-year dorms were cold, not because the temperature dropped, it had been cold since November, it was cold because there was no sign of life. Everything was polished, dusted, and placed in the correct places, tucked or stowed away. There was no sign of life besides me and Emperor, who, given a choice, would have stayed in our dorm room and not left unless it was for food or the library.
We stayed huddled together, swaddled by thick blankets and pillows on the large sofa. I placed out several books, textbooks, volumes, texts and lined paper on the coffee table, spread perfectly so I could reach for something if needed. We stayed like this a lot, most of the time we weren't in the blankets but today was particularly cold. We loved it like this, we wanted to stay like this.
But no, every single time food was presented in the Grand Hall, Gemma Farley refused to let a First-year stay alone in the school without protections. And since Farley didn't have the skills to duplicate herself to be in two places at the same time yet, I was forced to leave my sanctuary every breakfast, lunch and dinner without any exception. I was bitter about it.
I had better things to do than socialise with people who didn't even speak to me, and I told Farley this.
"I would rather be in my dorm, doing something productive," I pouted, stroking kitten-sized Emperor in my arms. "I'm ignored, it's boring to sit there in silence for an hour each time we eat."
"Well, why don't ya just join in?"
"Because, if no one listens, there is no point speaking,"
"Go talk with the Quidditch team about how you can improve,"
"Already did, we plan to start practising after Yule. Flint suggested that we relax for a bit before we start training again."
"Fine, I'll leave you be, only if you join us in the Winter celebrations; you're the only muggle-raised Slytherin in your year. You'll need to know our traditions sooner or later."
I thought of everything that I knew about Winter solstice celebrations, which wasn't much compared to taking part in it. I shrugged with a lopsided smile, "Alright, I suppose it wouldn't hurt."
"They'll be drinks, some alcohol ones, maybe some from the Muggle World. You won't be drinkin' until you're fifteen, or at least fifth year," Farley shrugged and crossed her arms. "Alright, I'll ask Carrow if food can be brought by House-Elf."
"That'll be unneeded, I'll ask Talpey if I'm hungry," I said, thus summoning the House-Elf. "Talpey, can you bring me several brioche breads with raspberry jam and a warm cup of tea?"
"Yes, of course, Miss Potter," Talpey said, his left ear flopped backwards. "With three spoons of honey also?"
"Yes, thanks. And leave it on my desk," Talpey popped away, leaving us alone. "See."
"Alright, I'll see you in the common room at around nine-thirty. Tonight is Winter Solstice, even Snape is joining us. He is always here when there is a tradition to celebrate."
"Goodbye, I'll see you then."
I sighed and closed the door of my room. It had been a long day, even with the irony of that day being the shortest in the year. It was a quarter to eight, so I had plenty of time to nip to the library and get some books again. I was getting so bored, I started reading anything she could.
I never knew there were so many books on Magical Law, it was almost unbelievable to imagine so many laws that could be broken or bent, twisted or twirled around the tongue to make it obey. Law was a strange concept to me, things one had to obey but were simply rules that one person or another made to make themselves and others happy.
Brushing the crumbs off my desk, I pulled a notebook out. A sleek black notebook with a bound spine and a small lock. I uncapped my black-ink fountain pen and began writing what I found out that day; all the little details, notes, knowledge, and facts that I stored away in mh mind. I waved my hand, wishing to vanish the writing as I said the words.
Nothing.
I tried again, my movements more forceful but firm. I flicked my wrist quickly.
The writing vanished, and I shot up from my chair, yelling, "YES!"
Then I realised that I had just vanished an hour's worth of notes. Grumbling, I looked through my textbook for the reversal charm.
)(-)(