Christmas was coming. One morning in mid-December, Hogwarts woke to find itself covered in several feet of snow. The lake froze solid and Fred and George were punished for bewitching several snowballs so that they followed Quirrell around, bouncing off the back of his turban. The few owls that managed to battle their way through the stormy sky to deliver mail had to be nursed back to health by Hagrid before they could fly off again.
No one could wait for the holidays to start. While the Gryffindor common room and the Great Hall had roaring fires, the drafty corridors had become icy and a bitter wind rattled the windows in the classrooms. Worst of all were Professor Snape's classes down in the dungeons, where their breath rose in a mist before them and they kept as close as possible to their hot cauldrons.
When they left the dungeons at the end of Potions, they found a large fir tree blocking the corridor ahead. Two enormous feet sticking out at the bottom and a loud puffing sound told them that Hagrid was behind it.
Hi, Hagrid, want any help?" Ron asked, sticking his head through the branches.
"Nah, I'm all right, thanks, Ron."
"Would you mind moving out of the way?" came Malfoy's cold drawl from behind them. "Are you trying to earn some extra money, Weasley? Hoping to be a gamekeeper yourself when you leave Hogwarts, I suppose, that hut of Hagrid's must seem like a palace compared to what your family's used to."
Ron dived at Malfoy just as Snape came up the stairs.
"WEASLEY!"
Ron let go of the front of Malfoy's robes.
"He was provoked, Professor Snape," said Hagrid, sticking his huge hairy face out from behind the tree. "Malfoy was insultin' his family."
"Be that as it may, fighting is against Hogwarts rules, Hagrid," said Snape silkily. "Five points from Gryffindor, Weasley, and be grateful it isn't more. Move along, all of you."
Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle pushed roughly past the tree, scattering needles everywhere and smirking.
"I'll get him," said Ron, grinding his teeth at Malfoy's back, "one of these days, I'll get him.."
"I hate them both," said Harry, "Malfoy and Snape."
"Come on, cheer up, it's nearly Christmas," said Hagrid. "Tell yeh what, come with me an' see the Great Hall, looks a treat."
So the four of them followed Hagrid and his tree off to the Great Hall, where Professor McGonagall and Professor Flitwick were busy with the Christmas decorations.
"Ah, Hagrid, the last tree, put it in the far corner, would you?"
The hall looked spectacular. Festoons of holly and mistletoe hung all around the walls, and no less than twelve towering Christmas trees stood around the room, some sparkling with tiny icicles, some glittering with hundreds of candles.
"How many days you got left until yer holidays?" Hagrid asked.
"Just one," said Hermione. "And that reminds me, Harry, Cassie, Ron, we've got half an hour before lunch, we should be in the library."
"Oh yeah, you're right," said Cassie, tearing her eyes away from Professor Flitwick, who had golden bubbles blossoming out of his wand and was trailing them over the branches of the new tree.
"The library?" said Hagrid, following them out of the hall. "Just before the holidays? Bit keen, aren't yeh?"
"Oh, we're not working," Harry told him brightly. "Ever since you mentioned Nicolas Flamel we've been trying to find out who he is."
"You what ?" Hagrid looked shocked. "Listen here, I've told yeh, drop it. It's nothin' to you what that dog's guardin'."
"We just want to know who Nicolas Flamel is, that's all," said Hermione.
"Unless you'd like to tell us and save us the trouble?" Cassie added, who was not pleased at having to spend so much time in the library.
"We must've been through hundreds of books already and we can't find him anywhere, just give us a hint, I know I've read his name somewhere." persuaded Harry.
"I'm sayin' nothin', said Hagrid flatly.
"Just have to find out for ourselves, then," said Ron, and they left Hagrid looking disgruntled and hurried off to the library.
They had indeed been searching books for Flamel's name ever since Hagrid had let it slip, because how else were they going to find out what Snape was trying to steal? The trouble was, it was very hard to know where to begin, not knowing what Flamel might have done to get himself into a book. He wasn't in Great Wizards of the Twentieth Century, or Notable Magical Names of Our Time ; he was missing, too, from Important Modern Magical Discoveries, and A Study of Recent Developments in Wizardry. And then, of course, there was the sheer size of the library; tens of thousands of books; thousands of shelves; hundreds of narrow rows.
Hermione took out a list of subjects and titles she had decided to search for, Ron strode off down a row of books and started pulling them off the shelves at random. Cassie sat at the table they had commandeered and sorted through which ones they'd already looked at and Harry wandered over to the Restricted Section.
Five minutes later, Ron, Cassie and Hermione joined Harry, who had been sent out, in the corridor, shaking their heads. They went off to lunch.
"You will keep looking while we're away, won't you?" said Hermione.
"And if you do find anything, send us an owl with the news." said Cassie
"And you two could ask your parents if they know who Flamel is," said Ron. "It'd be safe to ask them."
"Very safe, as they're both dentists," said Hermione.
"I'll ask mine as well." said Cassie
The next day, Hermione and Cassie were finishing off their packing. Well, Hermione had been packed for days but Cassie liked to leave things to the last minute.
"I don't see why we have to wear our school uniforms on the train." moaned Cassie.
"We changed on the way up here, so we've gotta change on the way back I suppose." replied Hermione
"Well yeah," said Cassie, laughing "You can't go round Kings Cross in robes, you'll get committed."
Hermione laughed, and threw a pair of socks at Cassie, that had migrated all the way across the room. Once both girls were packed, they said goodbye to the boys and followed Mcgonnagal down to the train station. Luckily for Cassie and Hermione, they found an empty carriage relatively quickly and settled in. Hermione opened her book and Cassie promptly fell asleep, as she had spent most of the night packing, to Hermione chagrin.
"Cassie….Cassie…..CASSIE !"
"What..what is it !" shouted Cassie, as she jerked awake and fell off the seat "Where's the fire ?"
"There's no fire," said Hermione laughing, offering a hand to Cassie so she could get up . "We're arriving in ten minutes."
"Oh," said Cassie, upset that she missed most of the train ride. "I'd better get changed then."
She began pulling her jeans and a jumper out of her satchel and quickly changed.
Minutes later, the train began to pull into the station. Cassie looked desperately out the window, trying to spot her parents. There they were, she could see them, and what were the chances, they were standing next to two people who could only be Hermione's parents.
"There they are !" squealed Hermione, pointing to her parents.
"Right next to mine." said Cassie happily
"Come on," said Hermione, tugging her trunk out of the door.
Cassie followed her, dragging her trunk along.
"Mum, Dad !" she called once she was on the platform.
Her parents looked around and their faces lit up with joy when they spotted her and Cassie was struck by how much she actually missed them. Her Mum and Dad hurried over and enveloped her in a bear hug.
"I've missed you." said Cassie
"I've missed you too baby," said her Mum "Your letters aren't the same as seeing you in person."
"Now," said her Dad, breaking away "Can you introduce us to any of your friends ?"
"Harry and Ron both stayed at Hogwarts," replied Cassie "But this is Hermione."
Hermione turned around from her own parents and said,
"Hello Mr and Mrs Black."
"Alright Hermione ?" said her Dad leaning over to shake Mr Granger's hand.
The two families walked out of the station and towards their cars.
The rest of Christmas past in a haze of good food, presents and family. But near the end of the holidays, Cassie was longing to get back to hogwarts. She missed magic and her friends, Hermione had called on the phone a couple of times, but there had been no word from either of the boys. Cassie guessed they hadn't found out who Nicholas Flamel was but she doubted they were actually looking. Knowing Harry and Ron they had probably found some cool adventure to go on and trouble to get in.