- The Hufflepuff Princess -

Chapter 11

It was a week before Christmas and Elyse had just finished packing her trunk. She had decided to have Christmas at the Diggory's house mush to her parents disappointment.

"Elyse are you packed?" Katie asked.

"I just finished." Elyse said as she closed her trunk. She grabbed her trunk and backpack and walked up to Katie and Rosalie.

"Ugg I'm going to miss you so much over Christmas break." Rosalie said. Her parents were flying to visit her brother Maxwell in Colorado. Rosalie's parents gave her choice to go but she decided not to.

Elyse sat down on one of the sofas in the common room and chatted with her friends before she grabbed her thinks and left.

After riding in one of the carriages to the station, Elyse met of with Daphne and Astoria. The three walked onto the train and sat in a compartment with Draco, Crabbe, and Goyle.

In the middle of the train ride back, when Elyse was reading, she felt a tap on her shoulder. Elyse looked up and saw Draco next to her.

"What Draco?" Elyse asked slightly annoyed

"Neverminded then. I won't tell you." Draco said as he stood up.

"Wait- now you've got me interested. Tell me." Elyse said.

Draco sat back down next to Elyse and handed her a piece of parchment paper. "Here. Don't open it until you're alone." He said with a wink and walked out of the compartment.

Elyse put the letter in her pocket before anyone else noticed. All the others were playing a game of Truth or Dare and Elyse did not want to play. Elyse saw that Astoria was blushing but she didn't here what the question was. She guessed that it was something embarrassing.

Elyse went back to her book "Behind the Willow Tree."  She only looked up when a passage in her book made her think.

The castle was hidden behind a think grey mist and when Glenn and Audree looked behind them, they saw that the mist had closed in behind them. They were stuck. They couldn't see anything.

Glenn put one hand on his sword and his other slipped into Audree's hand. They walked forward.

"Hey Astoria?" Elyse asked.

"What's up?" Astoria said.

"How's Hogwarts hidden from Muggles? How come Muggles can't see Hogwarts?" Elyse said, a million thoughts running through her head, trying to come up with an answer.

"It's not really hidden per say," Astoria answered. "I was told that if a muggle come up to the castle, all they would see would be a pile of rubble and lots of signs telling them to stay out."

Elyse continued to ask questions and such. After five more minutes, Elyse was even more confused then she was before she asked.

When the train stopped at King's Cross Station, Elyse got out and looked around for Mr. Diggory, who said that he would be picking her up.

Once she spotted him she, with her belongings, walked up to him and stood there awkwardly. What would she say? Hello? What's up?

Mr. Diggory smiled at her and finally broke the silence. "Hello. How was your first semester?"

"It went well. Thanks." Elyse answered.

"Your accent has definitely become more noticeable." Mr. Diggory said.

"Thanks."

"Here, I got you some lollies." Diggory said as he handed Elyse a bag of jelly beans.

Elyse smiled at Mr. Diggory and they walked through the wall and apparated to the house. The two walked inside and as soon as Elyse walked in, she could smell the sweet smell of cookies, or biscuits as she learned Katie and Rosalie called them.

"Welcome back Elyse." Mrs. Diggory said as she walked in to great Elyse. She was holding a plate of biscuits and offered the to Elyse.

Elyse smiled and took one. She walked into the living room and saw that a Christmas Tree had been put up and there were gifts underneath the tree.

Elyse felt as though she was four years old again. She sat down next to the tree and took a look at all of the gifts. She saw some from her parents and her friends back home.

After telling the Diggory's all about her semester at Hogwarts, she took her things up to her room to find a letter sitting on the bed.

Elyse took a quick glance at the letter and saw that it was from "L" but she also saw that it said "DON'T OPEN UNTIL CHRISTMAS."

Before Elyse knew it, it was Christmas Day. Eylse woke up and remembered the letter that she had gotten from "L" Elyse slipped out of bed and walked to her trunk where she had placed the letter and forgotten about it. Elyse opened it and a pendant necklace fell out when she took out the letter. The necklace simple but beautiful. It was a pale yellow gem on a chain. Elyse held it in her hand and with the other, she opened the letter and read it.

Elyse

Everyone should have some sort of necklace. Even you. Merry Christmas. Enjoy it. I wish I could tell you who I am, but I am not capable if doing that at the moment. I will send you two more letters and that is it. I hope you have figured it out by then.

L

Elyse slipped on her clothes and got ready for the day. She put the necklace around her and went downstairs. She saw Mr. Diggory sitting on the sofa reading the newspaper and Mrs. Diggory in the kitchen cooking breakfast.

The three if them had breakfast which was cinnamon rolls and some fruit. Once everyone had finished eating, they went over to the tree and opened their gifts. From L.A. Elyse has gotten the sequel to her book "Behind the Willow Tree" which was called "Around the Spruce Tree." From her parents, she had gotten some parchment paper and a new quill. Elyse had also gotten a letter from Lilli-Anna.

Dear Elyse,

MERRY CHRISTMAS!! I miss you so much at Ilvermorny, but from what you have told me, Hogwarts is AWESOME. I hope you have a very special Christmas and I can't wait to see you when school is out for the summer.

Lilli-Anna

P.S. Things have been getting dangerous at Ilvermorny. I'm not really aloud to tell you everything, but I'm going to tell you something that I think you should know.

When I was walking from my evening class, I heard a few teachers talking, I'm not aloud to tell you who though. Anyways, they said something about a prophecy in the Ministry of Magic. I think they said it was in the Department of Mysteries. This might nit seam important to you, but as I was walking away, I heard them say YOUR NAME. I don't know how this relates to you, but I thought you should know.

Again. Merry Christmas.

Elyse had read the letter a few times just to make sure she had read it all correctly.

Elyse also had gotten a letter from Harry, Ron, and Hermione, but all it said was that they were sorry that they didn't trust her. Elyse just ignored the letter.

Just then she remembered the letter that Draco had given her on the train ride back. Once she excused herself she ran up to her bedroom and looked for the letter. She found it in the pocket of her backpack.

The letter was a bit crumpled up, but Elyse could still read the letter. The letter was written in a very dark and think font. It had no Dear Elyse or anything like that.

Merry Christmas. This is probably dumb to write, but whatever. All I want to say is I know more about you then you know about yourself and I can't tell you what that is, I can only help you figure it out.

Draco L. Malfoy

Elyse looked at the letter again. L. L. Could Draco possibly be the person who was writing to her, but using his middle name as his first name?

Authors Note: I finished the outline for the book, and there are going to be 25 chapters, I know, short. I'm sorry, but really, there are going to be 27 parts in total, with the prologue and the epilogue. I also figured out who dies... Sorry...