The Enemy of my Enemy

The Unbreakable Vow

"There's twelve trees," said Teddie. "We want four individual ones for each house, then we can decorate the others by mixing and matching colours."

"I can't see people being all to hyped about a Gryffindor/Slytherin tree, to be honest, Ted," said Blaise, scratching his head.

Teddie shrugged. "We're supposed to be showing solidarity in the upcoming war," she said. "Those who don't want to make enemies of each other will love it, and if there is any trouble, then we know who we can trust and who we can't."

"What about a Slytherin/Ravenclaw tree?" Mason suggested.

"Yeah," Astoria grinned. "That would be fun. Both our houses are close together in similarities."

Teddie looked thoughtful. "Hmm. I like that idea," she agreed. "Remember, no cheating by using magic."

"You just want manual labour," said Blaise, reaching for a nearby box.

"Yep. No pain, no gain, Zabini," said Teddie, laughing.

Blaise shot her a playful glare and then set to work.

With a smile, Teddie turned to her own tree and then reached for the box labelled 'baubles + tinsel' in front of her. She opened it and pulled out a garland of silver tinsel; with it in hand she climbed a very tall step ladder and started to wind the tinsel between the branches.

The four Slytherin's and two Ravenclaw's worked in silence for a good half hour before other students asked if they could join in.

Teddie explained the plan to them.

"I like that idea!" Robin gushed as she joined the fray. Alongside her was her best friend Aster. The pair grabbed a couple of boxes and hurried over to an empty tree.

"Remember, no magic!" Teddie called after her.

Robin saluted.

Smiling, Teddie turned back to her tree, stopping as she found Harry standing beside it holding green and red baubles.

"Where do these go?" Harry asked.

Teddie shrugged. "Maybe we should finish the tinsel and lights first?" she suggested.

"Good plan," Harry said, smiling.

~X~

Aside from the trees in the Great Hall, Teddie had taken it upon herself to also help with decorating the castle. Tinsel and garlands were twisted around banisters, everlasting candles glowed from inside the helmets of suits of armour and bunches of mistletoe had been hung at intervals along the corridors.

Large clusters of girls tended to crowd under the bunches whenever they saw Harry, which sometimes caused blockages in the corridor. This always annoyed Teddie's friends while they were getting to and from classes or were simply resetting decorations which had been removed thanks to Peeves, the Poltergeist.

"I'm so sorry about this, Teddie," said Harry, one afternoon. He had been coming out of the library with Hermione and Ron and had spotted Teddie fixing a garland.

"Why are you sorry?" Teddie asked. Replacing the tinsel stream with another one. "It's not your fault that people are assuming this prophecy thing as being true."

Harry shrugged and helped Teddie down from the ladder she was standing on. "I know, but they're lining up for me and you're the one stuck fixing the mess they leave behind," he said.

Teddie shrugged. "Harry, if I didn't want to fix things, I wouldn't," she said. "Doing this makes me feel like I have accomplished something. Besides, I miss decorating for Christmas. The Flints usually have their decorations up by the time I come home from Hogwarts."