Chapter 23

A Hogwarts Christmas Special

Chamber of Secrets

Hi sis!

You can imagine how bonkers things are at Villa Verpe right now. Dad thinks it's a conspiracy to keep you in Hogwarts and indoctrinate you with Ministry propaganda and mum thinks you're faking it to punish her or something. I still haven't entirely understood what the issue is? You've got the flu, right? Merlin, it's a bloody fiasco whenever those two open their mouths. Also feeling a teeny tiny bit betrayed that I'm forced to spend the holidays all alone with these ancient snobs talking about pure blood magic or some shit. Remember – you're the only cool Verpe I know! I'd love to hear from you some time, send an owl if you're feeling any better. I remember you saying your boyfriend Potter has one, right? Just ask him. Oh, and I've got a new address now, down in South London. Make sure you send it there so that mum and dad can't read it, I'll make sure to jot it down on the envelope. Also, I hope my parcel arrives before the 25th, picked out something nice for you this year.

Merry X-Mas, Happy New Year & get well soon!

Your awesome bro

Fin

Dear Finley,

First off, Harry is not my boyfriend, and I've told you that before and I can clearly picture your smirk right now reading how angry I am!

It's probably some sort of flu I got, though I don't feel it getting any better, honestly. Might need to head to the hospital wing soon.

Sorry to hear you're having a hard time at home. It's selfish to say but I'm glad I don't have to endure it. That letter mum sent me a few months ago was just horrid. I really hope it'll get better between me and her. Maybe it's just cause I'm starting puberty?

Anyways, sending me a gift is really nice of you, I promise I'll return the favour once I'm an adult with money. Until then – thanks for the free gift, you cretin!

(Just kidding, of course.)

Going to finish it off here, need some rest. Leaghon says hi!

Love & Happy Christmas

Your even cooler sister

Marley

It felt like a hex to her, the whole thing. Probably the one Christmas where her strict parents couldn't force her to come home, the one Christmas Marley was able to spend with her friends – and now all she did was lay sick in bed. On the 24th, it got so bad that even Pansy and Millicent begged her to leave the Slytherin dormitories and finally go to the infirmary.

"Blast it.", Draco had mumbled as he spotted her in the common room proper, the girl nearly falling over, "Just uh... stay here. I'll uh... go look for your friends."

She nodded and with a furrowed brow that reeked of disgust and concern the boy left in a hurry.

"What do you want?", Hermione scolded him on her way to the library. Malfoy didn't take kindly to the comment but wasn't in the mood for a fight either, neither verbal nor magical.

"Marley's sick. Will you help her to the hospital wing or not?"

Whatever Granger was doing before she dropped rather quickly before leading the charge to race back down to the dungeons, dressed ever so perfectly in her Gryffindor uniform while Draco whore a thick, sleeveless sweater in an obnoxiously green colour.

"You sure know your way down here."

Hermione only briefly halted to glare back at him, Malfoy smirking like a git before both continued.

"If you're planning on telling on us, fine. But just so you know, we we're doing it to protect Hogwarts and everyone in it – including you."

He grumpily overthought his earlier smile covered in nasty schadenfreude, though it wasn't nearly enough to make him warm up or anything.

"I'm no snivelling little tattletale, Granger. I have no intention whatsoever of ratting you or Potter out", this seemed to get a rise out of her, alerting Draco to tone down his confrontational attitude, "Do whatever you please. Just make sure you put more effort into your scheming, next time. Your impression of Bulstrode was laughable."

To underline his point the blonde pest sauntered past her, Hermione shaking her head and letting out a sigh as they reached the common room's entrance, where Marley was waiting already, seated on the floor, still in her pyjamas, Leaghon swirling around in circles.

"Oh dear. Look at you."

"Hey...", Marley whimpered in a weak voice and for the first time Draco's plastered-on grimace melted away.

"Come on, I'll help you up.", Hermione continued, though moaned in exhaustion the moment the taller girl leaned her full weight onto the shorter Gryffindor.

"You mind helping me out, Draco?", she puffed while struggling to stand up. Malfoy didn't quite know what to do with himself right away, protesting internally as he put Marley's other arm over his shoulder.

"Why'd I even bother getting any of you if I'm forced to-"

"Keep quiet and start walking!", the girl barked at him, Draco flinching slightly as he was reminded of his mother a bit.

Once inside the hospital wing Madame Pomfrey looked much less harsh than when Harry was suffering from bone loss, talking to a feverish Marley in a soft voice before returning to Hermione and Draco, who were standing awkwardly far apart from one another.

"I gave her something to help with the fever and allow her to sleep for a few hours. It's best you don't disturb her until the morning."

Unsure how to react to this, the Gryffindor and the Slytherin exchanged an awkward nod before leaving quietly. Outside the infirmary Hermione mumbled something about "plans needing to be changed" before Malfoy spoke up again, arms crossed this time and his expression a lot less sharp.

"How'd you do it?", stopped them both, a nearby torchlight casting a reddish glow as Miss Granger scoffed, still on the offense it seemed.

"Did what?"

"How'd you turn into Millicent?", he followed up with more spite, though toned it down again immediately, "I'm just curious."

"Polyjuice.", Hermione declared, her chin held high and her brows sailing with pride high above her eyeballs. Malfoy's jaw nearly dropped as he began to chuckle.

"No. Absolutely not. That's NEWT level stuff. No way did you do that."

"I didn't, Marley did. But... I would've been able to as well. Must surprise you, seeing as I'm a mudblood."

A term the boy has heard plenty before, mostly at home, though some of the other Slytherins and even some Ravenclaws have used it in his presence. He has of course uttered it himself, though not since the attacks have started.

Yet now, hearing it from the mouth of a... well... a person affected, his stomach felt like it was spinning faster than a particle accelerator. Especially since she said with very apparent personal vigour.

"I didn't... I wasn't-"

"Thank you for letting me know about Marley.", she spoke like a teacher, very much like McGonagall, actually, "Merry Christmas, Draco."

By the time Malfoy felt like saying it back Hermione had already long left.

The second Marley opened her eyes the girl felt like she was dreaming. In contrast to Harry, who could still see relatively okay without glasses, Marley was practically a blindworm. In her first few moments of waking up a warm bit of sunlight caught her face, the infirmary illuminated in a homey, bright shimmer that felt much more comfortable than heir dormitory bed. Able to grab a glass of water next to her she could feel her throat having lost around 90% of the inflammation and pain she had felt the night before. Poor girl even cursed herself for not going to Madame Pomfrey earlier. Then, once she finally found her binoculars again and put them on, her jaw dropped rather comically.

In front of her stood a rather impressive little Christmas tree, decorated with plenty of magical light orbs and red ribbons, alongside an assortment of ornaments including elves and reindeer and nutcrackers, most of which moved in a subtle but noticeable fashion. There was even a whole arrangement of wrapped gifts waiting around at the foot of the plant, as if waiting to be torn apart. All of that in the hospital wing in which only the Slytherin girl resided in.

"That must be the fever.", she spoke out loud to herself, Leaghon reacting first as he caused the necklace next to her glass of water to rumble.

"She's up!", a shrill voice announced close by, Marlene able to identify it as Hermione's precisely the moment the brunette girl engulfed her in a furiously festive embrace, "Merry Christmas!", she added, yelling it softly into her ear.

"Happy Christmas, Marles!", announced the next person, Ron joining the girls and turning it into a group hug whilst to Marley it was still very much unclear what was even happening.

"Merry Christmas."

Harry came last in the struggle, ultimately causing the collective squeezing to subside as the poor girl still tried to adjust to her surroundings.

"You go easy on her or I'll be forced to act.", Madame Pomfrey warned them, coming off as rather intimidating, the cool kind, Marley thought, "You had a bad case of a muggle virus, dear. Usually those don't survive long inside the castle, but I suspect it must've somehow. You didn't bring any more of those muggle devices with you this year, did you?"

Wearing her guilt quite openly, Marley looked to her friends as she thought about all of her music cassettes, the Walkman, the boombox, magazines, clothes, and even one of those "Gameboys", which Finley had gotten for her on a flea market, though she hasn't been able to figure out how to use it yet.

"Um... one or two..."

Once she gave the Slytherin some instructions on how much potion she was supposed to drink and when, alongside a tray with what looked like breakfast and lunch, the stern nurse left the kids to it.

"Don't be too rough with her. Miss Granger, you keep an eye on the boys.", which Hermione very much enjoyed, the aforementioned boys, not so much.

"We're not animals, you know.", Ron protested as he handed Marley her first present, which was the precise moment the little thing came to understand that these were real and for her.

"Did my parents send them?"

"Some of them, yes.", Harry explained, checking to see if anything had been forgotten, "The others are from... all of us. I was planning on doing this in the DADA room but... here we are."

She gleamed with excitement at his explanation, for once not being overwhelmed and blushing because Harry said a nice thing to her, but because all of her friends made this nice thing happen for her.

"You... you did all of this yourselves?"

"Of course.", Hermione said rather plainly, stroking her arm as Marley sat up, trying her best not to cry.

"Thank you so much.", came out so earnestly and kindly that Harry felt his heart skipping a beat.

All of the Gryffindors had opened their stacks back in the common room, though didn't shy away from explaining, in detail, what each and everyone got from friends and family, Ron just having brought most of his stuff with him, spread out on the empty, neighbouring bed.

"Mom got you some more Draconic Cards for your set. And she made you... well..."

Marley spotted it the moment she pulled out the scratchy, knitted sweater, hers in a nice shade of emerald with a pronounced, silver M on it.

"Oh – it's like that character in that famous movie, who's just called 'M'? What's the name again!?"

They did never find out, though she genuinely did like to wear such a kitschy thing, perfect comfort outfit for a sick winter day. Her luck with the Draconic Cards was mixed, pulling the third Lindworm of her collection, though she did get a rare Y Draig Goch, and a very pretty Jiaolong card, which wasn't very good in the game itself, but it looked really cool, especially as it moved around the little rectangle and splashed into crystal clear ocean water.

From the Grangers she got gifted some more music cassettes, Hermione explaining that Lorraine was planning on buying a CD player for her but that it felt perhaps a bit too much. It included Bowie, whom Marley had heard about from time to time but who she mostly thought was a bit boring, a few Rolling Stones albums, something with Paul McCartney doing a Christmas song (one of the Beatles, she explained with pride to the others), and a few others as well from different genres, stuff she never heard about before like ABBA (which she falsely pronounced A-Be-Be-A), ACDC (which she then falsely pronounced Acdace, sending Hermione into a hysterical laughing fit), and something by a fellow named Frank Sinatra, who she was pretty sure she would either really hate or really love, no in between.

Harry gifted her mostly sweets and chocolates, which Marley might've appreciated the most, alongside a book titled Rare Combat Spells and some pixie-friendly metal polisher for Leaghon. The boy was also the only one who she thanked with a hug, and if Hermione and Ron hadn't joined in, who knows what else she might've done to his lovely face?

Finley sent her Gameboy games, by the way. Though since all four of them had zero idea on what to do with the thing they shrugged it off for now. She'd still send an owl tomorrow to thank him.

"We should really take Muggle Studies next year, Ronald. Might be useful for the two of us", she suggested at one point while playing the Weasley for a game of chess.

"Yeah, right.", he responded with a scoff.

Her parents had also sent two parcels, but it was mostly dresses (which Marley didn't like wearing) and other boring stuff, so she and her friends ignored it.

The remainder of Christmas Day felt pretty normal for the four of them, a day to forget all hardship and current petrification problems. Even Malfoy briefly came by to bring Marley today's Daily Prophet as a sort of gift of his own, though he didn't say much besides "Merry Christmas" to no one in particular before leaving.

It didn't matter that this was likely the last time Marley would have her Christmas in Hogwarts, with everyone the girl loved, but she went with it anyway. She thought of Harry at some point, how the boy was forced to spend prior Christmases with his hated relatives, and how happy he must be to have all of this instead. For a brief moment she wondered if one day she could also choose to celebrate with friends instead of family, minus Finley that is, her older brother probably willing to join her in the idea. Must be nice, she thought, before returning to a deeply fascinating conversation with Hermione about a Potions book that the Gryffindor got.

Marley was unfortunately not granted one final present in the form of letting her friends sleep in the infirmary.

"Boys and girls in the same room? Absolutely not!"

It didn't matter how much all of them pleaded that they obviously wouldn't share beds, Ronald expressing his disdain for the idea perhaps a bit too harshly, upsetting Hermione over some pretty harsh comments on how "all girls are gross." Harry supposed he wouldn't mind himself, he was pretty flexible about that sort of stuff anyways, having slept in a cupboard for the majority of his life. He also didn't feel as strongly about the opposite sex as his male counterpart, though he did suppose that it might be odd to adults to have that happen when all of them were scratching their pubescent surfaces. Plus, with his awfully confusing encounter that he had with Marley prior, perhaps sleeping close to each other really would be odd.

At least they were allowed to stay until nightfall, eating dinner together as Marley already showed signs of splendid recovery, though Pomfrey made her stay the night regardless, simply to study muggle disease better.

"Night, Marles.", Ron announced with dim torchlight surrounding them, leaving most of his gifts here for now with the promise of cleaning it up in the morning.

"I hope you sleep well in the boy's dormitory – far away from us disgusting female creatures."

The others did think that Hermione was unreasonably angry about his earlier remarks. Though in all fairness, she was partially quoting the Weasley, so perhaps not.

"See you tomorrow, Marley.", she added, sharing a heartwarming smile before leaving with a glare, Ron forced to chase after her.

"Hermione, wait! I really didn't mean it like that! I just tried to sound convincing!"

The two kept bickering as the Slytherin had already slipped under her comfy covers, able to see Harry's face mostly focused even without glasses, thanks to how close by he stood. Harry always thought she looked like a completely different person without binoculars. Much prettier, he supposed. Then again... pretty much the same level of... pretty. In an... objective sense? Well, Hermione wasn't ugly or anything, despite what Ron had said, but Marley was-

"What are you staring at?", the girl spoke quietly, snapping Harry out of his gordian knot of a thought process. He briefly removed his own set of glasses with a wide smile, rubbing a pair of tired eyes with the sleeves of his H sweater.

"Long day.", he spoke with satisfaction.

"Thank you again, by the way.", she scoffed at herself, before readjusting on her pillow, "Not that I wasn't expecting to spend Christmas with my friends. But... this was genuinely very sweet."

Harry shrugged at this, unable to give a proper response as he felt his cheeks flaring up with prickling sort of heat that seemed to paralyze the boy.

"Soon as I'm back on my feet we'll go back to training.", Marley kept up conversational pace, smirking at the fantastic little tome that she skimmed while brushing her teeth earlier, "What do you say?"

Still unable to verbally respond, he simply nodded, unsure as to what was sealing his lips for now. If he didn't know any better, he'd say it was a hex of some kind.

Their interaction found a brief pause as Ron's and Hermione's arguing by the entrance was still ongoing.

"As if you smelled like roses, Ronald!"

"Oh bother...", Marley commented with a chuckle.

"He did say some really nasty things about girls before. All to make a point.", Harry surmised as he readjusted his glasses in a nerdy fashion.

"Yeah... give it a few years and he'll talk very differently about us girls."

While pondering on the topic, and with Harry eerily quiet regardless, Marley leapt to the conclusion that it was time to share something personal with her third friend.

"Can I tell you something?"

Once again, the Boy who lived answered with a nod.

"I like boys and girls. Told Hermione and Ron already so... I ought you should know it too."

Not quite grasping the weight of her statement, he reacted with an amused smirk.

"I suspected so. After all, you're friends with the three of us."

His joyfully oblivious expression met a wall of raised eyebrows.

"Harry... uh... I didn't mean like as in friends. I meant... fancy."

Oh, he blurted out in his head, nodding for the third time as he came off as quite baffled.

"That's great. I'm really happy for you."

Fortunately, she took well to his final answer, and after Pomfrey attempted to break up Ron's and Hermione's bickering, the Gryffindor trio finally left.

"Goodnight, Marley."

"Night, Harry."

Back in their dormitory, as Ron was snoring on the canopy to his right, Harry was kept awake for another hour or so. He wasn't opposed to Marley being bi, most of the Muggle boys he grew up with would certainly talk ill of queer folk, and he had witnessed some of that behavior in Hogwarts as well. He never got it. Most likely, he figured, being bullied for most of his life made him more open to anything that was deemed wrong by said bullies. Dudley in particular had a habit of using the f-slur from time to time.

No, that wasn't what bothered him. It was the fact that Marley had figured out that stuff already. As far as he was concerned – growing up in a cupboard, raised by conservative gits, discovering the wizarding world, finding out about his parents, and now the Chamber of Secrets – he has not yet reached the point in his life in which he had pondered... well, fancying people. He had a hunch he'd like girls, that was all. Not much more thought put into that.

So... in a few years, when girls stopped being "gross", who would he fancy? And would it even be years?