Everyone else was packing to return home for Christmas break while I still had my midterms to study for. As a result, I was spending that last night alone in the library, poring through notes that the other girls had lent me, trying to make sense of what we were supposed to have learnt that semester.
I also took the time to look over the papers in the folder McGonagall had given me.
Summary of Prescribed Classes for Wand-Making (Flip for Requirements)
Requirements: Wandlore, Magical Theory, Alchemy, and Legilimency.
Possible Electives: Defense Against The Dark Arts, Dark Arts, Healing Magic, Dissularation, Blue Magic, Charms, Transfiguration, Potions, Herbology, Care of Magical Creatures, Ancient Runes, History of Magic, Potions, Astronomy
I flipped for the requirements and snorted in disbelief when I saw what they were.
So, essentially, pass everything with flying colors. Right. Simple.
Discouraged, I shoved the papers back into the folder, packed my bag, and headed towards the exit of the now dimly lit library. As I did, I saw Regulus Black finish returning his books to Madam Pince and turn away towards the exit. I hid behind nearby bookshelves until he left and then quickly followed him out to the corridor. As soon as he turned the corner, I grabbed him and slammed him against the wall with my wand at his neck.
"Not a pleasant greeting," Regulus said, not the least bit of fear in his eyes. What happened to his frightened, wide-eyed stare?
"You knew," I snarled at him, barely keeping my fury at bay, "You knew my brother was in danger."
"I did," he answered, still calmly. I pressed the tip of my wand a little harder into his neck.
"You and your friends are the most despicable and disgraceful-"
I could feel tears welling up in my eyes as I stood in front of this vile person and found myself unable to hurt him in any meaningful way though my mind and heart were both bursting to break him for all the pain and grief he'd caused my family. Everything I had felt and that I had hid since the moment I'd come back to Hogwarts- the worry, the anger, the hatred- came pouring into my heart at all once and my own emotions nearly overwhelmed me. Angry at myself for nearly crying, I spat more harsh words at him, hating him more than anything I'd ever hated before. "You pureblood elitists are the worst, most cowardly bastards and I hope you all burn in-"
In one abrupt motion, he grabbed both my wrists, directing my wand away from him and holding down my other arm. I struggled, but I was no match for him, he easily overpowered me and had me against the wall in seconds, my wand directed away from both of us.
He leaned in close to me, I saw a dull outline of a faded scar just below his eye that I hadn't noticed before.
His eyes shining intensely, he whispered fiercely, "What else could I do? I warned you, Kingsley, I told you that your brother was in danger. And I paid the price for helping you. But it was you who chose to ignore my warning."
His eyes rested on my lips for the briefest moment before he leaned away from me and said coldly, "So don't blame me for your own ignorance." Then, he let go of me and turned away.
I meant to hex him, I really did, but my mind came up empty and and my wand tip pointed uselessly at the ground as Regulus calmly walked away back to the dungeons where he belonged. I hope he rotted there.
Hardly anybody stayed over at Hogwarts for winter break, though the castle was dressed as though the King himself were coming. I saw Alice, Lily, Dorcas, and Marlene off at the station. While I hugged them good-bye, I also saw the Marauders boarding the train. James and his hair looked ecstatic, Remus looked his trademark worried, Peter looked contentedly fat and sleepy, and Sirius looked uncharacteristically sullen. Of course, if he's going home to people like Bellatrix Black, I would be upset too.
I trudged all the way back up to the castle and was granted permission to the castle by a grumbling Filch.
The grounds were always so beautiful during the wintertime and the air so pure, as though kissed by angels. Crystals of most precious silver had been dashed across the land, spreading a different kind-of infectious magic, magic from children's fairytales, all throughout Hogwarts.
Inside Hogwarts was just as beautiful with its chandeliers wrapped in garlands of spruce and mistletoe and boughs of holly that shook glitter over you if you happened to walk below them. Dangling from the banisters of the staircases were everlasting icicles that were cool to the touch but did not melt. The suits of armour, sometimes sporting fairy lights, would randomly hum Christmas carols when you passed them by. The cleanliness of winter seemed to touch the usually slightly grimy tapestries of Hogwarts (though that may just be because Filch had less students to chase after and therefore more time to dedicate to everything else) and the frost of winter starred the tall colored windows found at the end of every corridor. The fireplaces were always crackling merrily and the smoke smelled slightly pine-scented. It was such a wonderful atmosphere and as long as I didn't think too hard about why I was there, I could feel a little lighter again.
I had just finished the last of my midterms (perhaps not well, but passably, for the cozy feeling of the holidays had helped me to battle the stress and calmly take my examinations) when I saw the Hogwart's Gamekeeper and Key's Keeper, Hagrid dragging a gigantic fir tree into the Great Hall.
"Do you want any help?" I offered to Hagrid, rushing forward. To be honest, I was unsure in what I could possibly help him, but certain that I should ask, at least to be polite. I mean, it was a big tree.
Hagrid, covered from head to foot in shoe, looked down at me with rather skeptical eyes. "Er- thanks, but I dunno what you could do…"
Then Professor Flitwick, the Charms Professor called to Hagrid from inside the Great Hall. "Ah, yes, Hagrid, thank you, please put the last one into that corner."
"Come in." Hagrid nodded his head towards the Great Hall. "I's a real treat."
I did follow him and as my eyes took in the vision of the Great Hall, my eyes widened in absolute wonder.
The Great Hall was a breath-taking wonder to behold with its false snow falling from the ceiling, bouquets of roses and poinsettias on every table, and the Headmaster's Podium all done up in Christmas ornaments. Furthermore, twelve very large Christmas trees had been brought inside and Professor Flitwick was putting enchantments on them to make them look incredibly festive. As I watched, a stream of elegant silver and gold baubles streamed out of the end of his wand and hung themselves on the branches of the tree.
"Wow", I murmured in awe. "That's incredible magic."
"We teachers are actually fairly good at magic, you know," Professor Flitwick remarked in his high-pitched voice. "I could teach you a couple tricks if you'd like."
"Hasn't Professor McGonagall warned you about me?" I asked, embarrassed to be asking this, but also afraid that I would set the entire Hall in flames just before Christmas and ruin everyone's hard work.
"Yes," Flitwick replied merrily, "But you'll be fine under my supervision. See, I drench the flames before I knock off house points, not after."
I smiled and said, "All right."
"Right, then, a simple charm is to flick your wand upwards and thinking hard of the color you would like it to be, say Filum Luminum! Watch."
And he waved his wand and baby blue bubbles floated from his wand and rearranged themselves beautifully around the white holly, gold and silver baubles, cream-colored ribbons, and live fairies floating around the tree.
"All right then," he encouraged me. "Go on, give it a try.
Nervous to be performing in front of Flitwick, I flicked my wand upwards rather ferociously and focusing on the color light gold, said, "Filum Luminum!"
Instead of a gentle stream of bubbles, a thick foam of gold spurted out of the end of my wand, nearly hitting Flitwick in the face.
Flushing pink, I said hastily, "Sorry, Professor Flitwick, I- Here, I'll do it again. Filum Luminum!" And this time light golden bubbles gently wafted up to the top branches of the tree and stayed there, glittering in the candle light of the hall.
"Perfect," Flitwick squeaked approvingly. He then continued, through use of nonverbal magic, to make all sorts of marvelous things floated from the tip of his wand.
"But Professor," I wondered aloud, watching the thick foam on the floor disappear slowly, "couldn't you make solid jewels at will with the right motion and incantation?"
"Solid?" Professor Flitwick chuckled. "No, no, dear girl, I'm afraid that's not possible, or I'd be far richer, wouldn't I? No, see, you could conjure jewels you already owned or make a very convincing illusion such as leprechaun's gold, but to physically create jewels of value for a sustained period of time, that's impossible. No, not even Ravenclaw's Diadem could help you with that."
"Ravenclaw's Diadem?" I repeated ignorantly. "What's that, Professor?"
"You've not heard of the relics of our ancestors?" Professor Flitwick inquired. "The Sword of Godric Gryffindor, the Cup of Helga Hufflepuff, the Locket of Salazar Slytherin, and of course, the Diadem of Rowena Ravenclaw. It's physical appearance is that of a crown with the famous quote, 'Wit beyond measure is man's greatest treasure; etched upon it. Its magical properties were such as that if worn, it would enhance the wisdom of its wearer."
"Well," I asked, "where are they? These… artifacts? In the Trophy Room here at Hogwarts?"
"I'm afraid not, my dear girl," Flitwick replied, "they've not been seen in years, particularly the Diadem. In fact, it's now called the Lost Diadem of Ravenclaw. Even her own daughter, the Gray Lady of Ravenclaw, does not know where it is. As for the other relics, I would wager that they belong to some very wealthy descendants."
As I watched Flitwick pile fake snow onto the branches of the last tree, I recalled my only meaningful memory with the Gray Lady of Ravenclaw. She had said to me abruptly, "Beware the overly sympathetic, beware those who seem to understand. For they-"
"Here, another trick to teach you. Like this: Clara stellas!"
Shimmering iridescent stars hugged the trees loving, casting their pale light upon the other ornaments on the tree so that the entire tree seemed to sparkle in a most dazzling and brilliant way. And from the light of all the trees together, the entire hall glowed with a majestic but warm light.
If only my family could be here with me, right now, warm and safe, but they aren't. And Jamie doesn't even know that's he's missing out on anything. He doesn't even know that it's Christmas.
And while the next stream of scarlet red ribbons that burst from my wand, I prayed and wished that next Christmas would be much, much brighter for all of us.
All too soon, the halls of Hogwarts were flooded again. In truth, I had very much enjoyed the silent, peaceful halls. But it was undoubtedly worth it, for my best friends were back.
"Hah! I knew your mother would listen to me and get you that frumpy shirt!" Marlene pointed gleefully at Dorcas' rather unfitting shirt. dorcas looked at Marlene with a sullen expression. Clearly, she was only wearing it to please her mother. And I could see why. While wasn't ugly, per se, it was unquestionably out of fashion now.
"Mmm, vintage," I said, trying to keep from laughing.
Lily ignored Marlene's joyous cackle and turned to me, "How were exams, Ray?"
I grimaced and shook my head. "If I pass Herbology at all, it'll be thanks to your notes because that's the only part I understood on the whole bloody test."
Marlene laughed and slung her arm around me. "Ah, well, you can make it up now, right? With your O.W.L.s and all that?"
"O.W.L.s are nothing to joke about, Marlene," Lily said sternly. "They're going to be really difficult. We'll have to-",
"What's that?" Dorcas blurted abruptly, indicating a small box on my bedside table. The O.W.L. argument between Marlene and Lily must have already happened several times on the train ride here.
"Oh, a wizard's chess set. I pulled it from one of the Wizard Crackers at the Feast," I explained.
I hesitated, "Liste-"
"Excellent," Dorcas said, "Can I borrow that? I've been meaning to challenge Frank Longbottom in chess for ages."
"Uh, yeah, you can borrow it."
"Frank?" Alice asked, her eyes suddenly a little brighter. "Why Frank?"
"He just keeps going on about how good he is and it's annoying, that's all," Dorcas shrugged.
I handed her the chess set and warned, "Break them in slowly. I don't want them all battered before I've even used them."
Dorcas' eyes glinted, "Can't promise that. The nature of war calls for brutal sacrifices." And before I could reply, she'd snatched a startled Alice and said teasingly, "Shall we go find our dear Frank, then?" and dragged out a blushing Alice.
About an hour later, Lily, Marlene, and I trooped down to the common room to see that Dorcas had started a very competitive game of Army Chess. Army Chess is where you line up as many chess boards in a row as you can. It is essentially a strategic game with two teams, because if you kill an opposing piece, you hand it off to the person next to you and they can enter that into the chessboard as a move.
The teams were: Harper Bell, Kingsley Shacklebolt, Sirius Black, James Potter, Evanna Weasley, and Frank Longbottom against Hayden Knight, John Prewitt, Peter Pettigrew, Remus Lupin, Alice Baker, and Dorcas Meadowes.
Marlene walked over to Sirius and kissed him on the cheek. He wrapped an arm around her shoulders and they began to talk quietly, murmuring in a way only couples do.
I turned away from them and tried to talk to Lily. "Lily, I-"
"And… Checkmate! I won," Dorcas beamed. I looked over at her. Frank was looking at her with defeated but amused eyes. Meanwhile, my incredibly battered chess pieces were deflated and groaning and not in the least bit amused. Most of them were groaning. It had taken all of their novice bravery to follow Dorcas' insanely risky chess moves.
"I said to break them in gently," I scowled at Dorcas. She patted my back, but didn't fight to hide the beaming smile stretched across her face.
