Chapter Seventeen

Christmas Plans

As October turned into November, Mia's found her workload increasing as the teachers seemed to compete over who could set the most homework. Whilst the temperatures inside the castle fell so much that students took to carrying portable fires around the corridors in jars in an effort to keep warm, Samuel kept up a relentless schedule of two Quidditch practices a week in the hope of the team redeeming themselves when they played against Slytherin in January. Mia's remaining evenings were spent either huddled by the fire in the Inter-House Common Room tackling a mountain of homework, usually cuddled up with Reuben for warmth - which may or may not have had a negative impact on her concentration - or at HEC meetings.

Mia had to hand it to Matilda – her environmental group did seem to be doing well. The mini-beast hotels were now up and running with the haphazard, cobbled together dwellings having already received their first visitors. The group was prepared to plant around a hundred new trees on the edge of the Forbidden Forest in the Spring; one of the four second years led a group to record creatures spotted outside Greenhouse One every Friday evening, come rain or shine; and the school corridors were plastered with posters bearing slogans such as 'Keep Calm And Help The Environment' and 'Re-use paper –save a unicorn'.

One Friday evening toward the end of November, Mia walked back up to the castle with Emma after the HEC meeting. Although Mia saw much less of her 'little sister' than last year, this was largely because Emma was a lot happier than she had been in her first year. She had really settled into Hogwarts now that she worried less about her siblings back at home, and Mia knew she loved having her dad in her life.

"I had a letter from my dad this morning," Emma said hesitantly as they crossed the lawn.

"Yeah?" Mia asked encouragingly.

"He wants me to spend some of the holidays with him," Emma said. "I want to... but I haven't seen Eddie, Ellie and Evie for so long... but then I haven't seen Dad and Astoria since the summer, either."

"There's enough time to do both, I think," Mia said, as the two of them climbed the steps to the front doors of the castle. "You could maybe go to your dad's for a long weekend, over New Year or something. That way you'd see plenty of your siblings, but also get to see your dad's family a bit."

"Yeah, I guess," Emma sighed. "I just feel stretched in so many different directions. I love Hogwarts. I love my brother and sisters. I love my dad, and Astoria and Scorp. There's just not enough time!"

"Mmm..." Mia agreed, glad she didn't have two families to split her time away from Hogwarts between.

The two of them parted ways on the second floor, as Emma headed up to Gryffindor Tower, since it was almost first and second year curfew, whilst Mia went to the Inter-House Common Room.

As she walked along the corridor, Mia fought off the annual pang of longing for a Weasley Christmas. She loved spending the festive season with her family – she wouldn't have had it any other way – but she'd heard so much about Weasley Christmases that she couldn't help but long to experience one for herself someday.

Reuben wasn't in the Inter-House Common Room, but then he'd said he planned to study in the library this evening. Lily and Mac were missing too. Knowing them, Mia suspected they'd found a dark corner to snog somewhere. But Al, Cassie, Zoë and Rose were sat by the fire, so Mia headed over to join them.

"Hey Mia – room for a little'un," Al said, moving over to make room for her on the sofa he and Cassie were sharing.

"Thanks," Mia said, sinking into the well-worn sofa and then trying to conjure up the energy to do some homework.

"Aren't boys bastards?" Zoë said, to no one in particular. "No offence, Al."

"None taken," Al grinned. "So, who's got your gargoyle, then?"

"Michael," Zoë sighed. "You know he's barely spoken to me since the Feast, and then this morning I saw him snogging Cara Moore in the Charms corridor! And then he said he thought I knew he and Cara were back together and that he'd only asked me to the Feast in the first place to make Cara jealous. He's a... two-faced troll!"

"Most guys are," Rose scowled, dipping her quill in her inkpot so violently she knocked it over.

"Rose and Scorp are on the outs, for the twelfth time this academic year," Al put in, as Rose cleared up the spilt ink.

"And I'd just bought him a Christmas present, which the pompous little git doesn't deserve," Rose grumbled, putting her essay aside for the moment.

"Give it to Granddad," Al suggested, leaning back into the sofa and closing his eyes, his arm draped around Cassie's shoulders.

"Since it's neither a plug nor a rubber duck, I doubt Granddad would be interested," Rose said scathingly.

"Hey, about Christmas, Cass," Al said, opening his eyes again, "are you planning on staying here again?"

"Yeah," Cassie said defensively.

"How about coming to Grimmauld Place with me?" Al asked.

"Really?" Cassie said.

"Really," Al confirmed, leaning over to kiss her on the forehead. "I've already written to my parents, and they'd love to have you."

"Even now they know I'm Bellatrix Lestrange's granddaughter?" Cassie asked bitterly.

"You're Cassie," Al said firmly. "That's all that matters. To me, to them, to anyone who knows and loves you. And Merlin's balls to anyone else... if you'll pardon my French."

"Okay," Cassie said. "I'd love to spend Christmas with you."

"You can replace Vic in the snowball fight," Rose said. "The baby's due in February, and I can imagine Teddy putting his foot down if she tries to play anyway."

Last year, Mia reflected, she had been a last minute addition to the annual girls vs boys snowball fight, due to Dom breaking her collarbone the day before and being advised by Healers to rest. But it looked like she wasn't going to be needed this year.

On the first day of the Christmas holidays, most of the students left the castle after breakfast to travel back home for the festive period. Mia travelled to the station in a Thestral-drawn carriage with Reuben, Lily and Mac, Al and Cassie, and Samuel, who had cheerfully declared himself a seventh-wheel before hopping in.

"Are all your family home for Christmas, Sam?" Mia asked. "Say hi to Danielle and Chris from me."

"Will do," Sam said.

"Are there five of you altogether?" Reuben asked. "Your eldest sister was Quidditch captain in my first year, right?"

"Yeah – Olivia," Samuel said. "She was a Keeper – Mia's predecessor, although there was Will Darrow in between."

"I haven't heard from him recently," Mia mused. She and Will had written to each other fairly regularly since he'd left at the end of her first year, but she hadn't heard from him since the start of term.

"I expect he's pretty busy," Lily shrugged. "He was a reserve for a couple of England games in the summer, wasn't he?"

"Yeah," Mia said. "Never got to play, though."

At the station, Lily and Mia said goodbye to their boyfriends since they were going to travel together with all of the Weasleys, as was traditional. Whilst Lily and Mac said a lengthy non-verbal goodbye, Mia hugged Reuben tightly.

"Have a great Christmas!" she said. "Wait, does your family even celebrate Christmas?"

"Not really," Reuben grinned. "But Hanukkah starts tomorrow, so there's that."

"Well, in that case, Happy Hanukkah," Mia said. "I've got you a – uh – Hanukkah present... Is that a thing?"

"Yeah, thank you," Reuben said, stowing the present away in a pocket of his robes. "I owl-ordered your present, but it hasn't come yet, so I'll have to send it to you. Merry Christmas, Mia," he said, stooping down to kiss her goodbye.

On the train, Mia was the last-but-one to join the Weasley carriage (Lily and Mac continued snogging for so long they had to make a last minute scramble onto the train before it pulled away). The carriage was already rather full, containing Dom, Louis, Molly, Lucy, Roxanne, Rose, Hugo, Al, and... Cassie. Mia was pretty sure Cassie – who'd never been on the train for the Christmas holidays before – didn't know how much of a big deal this was. Boyfriends and girlfriends had never travelled in the Weasley compartment before, and, after four years, Mia was only just convinced she belonged in it. But it looked like Cassie had just been unofficially adopted by the Weasley family.

The journey back to London was filled with Exploding Snap, snacks from the trolley, and walks in the corridors with boyfriends and girlfriends. Al and Cassie remained sitting in a corner for the whole journey. Cassie was very quiet, sat leaning her head against Al's shoulder and staring unseeingly out of the window. Mia guessed she had to be nervous about meeting all the other Weasleys.

By the time the Hogwarts Express pulled into Platform Nine and Three Quarters, Mia felt exhausted; it was strange how tiring sitting around could be. Everyone gathered their belongings and disembarked, calling out goodbyes to friends and greetings to parents.

Mia walked across the platform with Lily, Al and Cassie, in the direction Lily said she'd spotted her parents. Mia couldn't see her own parents yet, but imagined they'd be with Lily's parents as they usually were. But as they walked across the platform, Mia saw that her parents weren't with Lily's – in fact, she couldn't see them anywhere.

"Uncle Harry, have you seen my mum and dad?" Mia asked as they reached talking distance.

"I'm afraid your parents have been snowed in in Canada, Mia," Harry said. "You're coming with us."

A/N: Sorry for the massive gap between updates, but... life.