(1) Lux Brumalis (R. Weasley)

Chapter Twenty-One

With Harry off for his quidditch practice, Ron is at a loss as to what to do. So he wanders around the school till he decides to check out the school's quidditch books in the library. Here, he finds Pixie, sitting alone on the floor, tucked away in the wizarding sports aisle. Her hair let down, a quill feather sticking out of the top. It's been two months now since the sorting ceremony. Two months of classes and adjusting to life the way it is now. Pixie, despite being in Slytherin, has proven to be an alley to Harry and even Neville. Often being there to save them from Draco when he gets in one of his moods. Ron shuffles on his feet and then goes to talk, but she beats him to it.

"Harry has practice, huh?" She teases, he huffs a little, caught out.

"Yeah" He answers, she hums and nods to the floor next to her.

"Sit then," She tells him and then goes back to her book. She doesn't mind either way as long as he sits down. Ron glances around before he does take a seat at her side.

"What are you doing?" He asks her.

"Last of my potions homework, and all the table were full so..." She rolls her neck to look at him. "I'm on the floor"

"I haven't even started it yet" Ron admits as he touches the spine of a book on the floor next to him. He usually leaves his homework till the last minute. Pixie seems to be the sort that does it as soon as physically possible. 

"Shocker" She teases with a smirk, he looks at her. The two of them share a look and he snorts and looks down. "Do you want help with it?" He glances at her but she's more focused on her own homework.

"I can do it" He argues and looks away from her. She lowers her book and looks at him.

"Oh, urm...I wasn't suggesting you couldn't" She counters. "Just...that if you wanted help..." She closes her book and then stands. "Well....whatever" She collects her things. "I'm just going to finish this in the dungeon" She turns to leave and Ron cringes at how he spoke to her.

"Pixie" Ron stops her, she sighs and turns to look at him. The two of them sharing a look. She snorts a little.

"It's the snake" She taps the Slytherin patch on her jumper and he nods a little. He knows it is because she's in Slytherin and that's all it is. She shrugs a little and then leaves him alone.

........

Halloween has always been a big holiday back home, with Tony and Rhodey going above and beyond for it. For Pixie, this is the first year that she won't get to celebrate it with them. But she does get to do charms, which she does actually enjoy, and she likes Flitwick as a teacher. Despite what some of the Slytherins say about him being part goblin. She doesn't care about that. She sits with Pansy, paired up with her friend, across the room from the Gryffindors who are split into pairs too. Today they actually get to do magic rather than reading about it. That's exciting.

"Now, don't forget that nice wrist movement we've been practising!" Flitwick reminds them, perched on top of his pile of books as usual. "Swish and flick, remember, swish and flick. And saying the magic words properly is very important, too...never forget Wizard Baruffio, who said 's' instead of 'f' and found himself on the floor with a buffalo on his chest" Flitwick then waves at them to give it a go themselves. Pansy leans back in her seat, turning to Pixie.

"You can go first," Pansy tells her as she pulls out her wand. "Is it bad that I kind of want to see you fail?"

"A little" Pixie answers, but she's not offended. She's excelled at everything so far. She kind of wants to see her fail at something too. Pixie holds her wand in her hand and takes a deep breath. "Wingardium Leviosa!" She swishes and flicks her wand as she casts and their feather rises off the desk and hovers in front of them. Pansy smirks and shakes her head, of course, she gets it on her first go. Just like everything else.

"Oh, well done!" Flitwick praises her, clapping his hands together. The whole class turning to see what's got him so excited. "Everyone see here, Miss Stark's done it!"

"Does it ever get tiring?" Pansy asks with a smirk.

"What?" Pixie asks her.

"Being good at everything?" Pansy elaborates. Pixie smirks and then snorts.

"No" Pixie answers. "I'm amazing" She hovers the feather another moment before lowering it. Pansy nudges her and they share a chuckle. Pixie and Pansy's friendship has come a long way in the two months too. She's never really had other childhood to be friends with. Being Tony's daughter isolated her a lot. Being homeschooled just made that worse. She likes having a friend. Especially another girl to hang out with. She looks across the room, to the Gryffindors. Ron and Hermione both look unhappy about their pairing together. Hermione getting the spell straight away too, just mere seconds after Pixie, much to Ron's annoyance. He slumps in his seat and looks across at Pixie who raises an eyebrow back at him. He looks away.

.........

"It's no wonder no one can stand her," Ron complains to Harry as they make their way away from the charms classroom. "She's a nightmare, honestly." Hermione knocks into them as she rushes past them, clearly upset by what she's heard.

"I think she heard you." Harry points out.

"So?" Ron asks, but does appear to be uncomfortable about what he's said. "She must've noticed she's got no friends."

"That was a little harsh" Pixie scolds behind them, Ron and Harry both turn to look at her. "It's not her fault you're all small-minded" She moves to follow after Hermione and then turns back. "She's crazy smart...that's not a bad thing" She looks at Ron and then turns, walking away. Ron looks down a little and scuffs his shoe.