Ember. It means fire. Ember was never safe. Even before she was born she was coverted. Hunted. She's the last of her kind. Once there were many. Once there were four. Four families. One for each element. Air. Water. Earth. Fire. Every other family e...
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Snow was swirling against the icy windows once more; Christmas was approaching fast. Hagrid had already singlehandedly delivered the usual twelve Christmas trees to the Great Hall; garlands of holly and tinsel had been twisted around the banisters of the stairs; everlasting candles glowed from inside the helmets of suits of armor and great bunches of mistletoe had been hung at intervals along the corridors. Large groups of girls tended to converge underneath the mistletoe bunches every time Harry went past, which caused blockages in the corridors; fortunately, however, Harry's frequent night time wanderings had given him an unusually good knowledge of the castle's secret passageways, so that he was often, without too much difficulty, to navigate mistletoe - free routes between classes.
Ember was in a similar boat and she and Harry where often escaping through the passageways together. Once she dragged Ginny with her when a persistent Zacharias Smith, who was holding mistletoe, was pushing his way through a crowd to get to her. Ember promptly grabbed Ginny's hand and ran for it through the nearest passageway.
"Maybe I should drop a hint to George to propose. Maybe a ring would keep them all at bay." Ginny teased.
Ember laughed in exasperation. "I don't think anything short of him being my own personal bodyguard would keep some of these boys away."
Ginny laughed. "My you should incinerate one of them so the others get the message."
Ember laughed but it was a hard laugh. Forced. She tried not to think of the people she had incinerated.
"Don't worry, I'm just joking. You wouldn't do that." Ginny said, her voice light and still teasing.
"Yeah." Ember said but determinedly kept looking in front of her.
"Have you ever given it much thought?" Ginny asked curiously.
"Given what much thought?" Ember asked as they walked through the passageway.
"What you'd want your engagement ring to look like?" Ginny said.
"Oh." Ember said. "Uh – I haven't thought too much about it to be honest but I guess . . . I'd want it to be like my mother's engagement ring. It was amazing but I wouldn't even know where to start looking for it."
Ginny gave her sympathetic look and stopped there walking so she could hug her tightly.
"What about you?" Ember insisted as they exited the passage. "What would you want your engagement be like?"
"Something more on the simple side. Pretty but not so in your face." Ginny said.
"Like those rings that look more like disco balls?" Ember said, laughing.
Ginny laughed too. "Exactly."
Both girls were still laughing when they met up with Dean and Seamus.
