WE FOUND WONDERLAND | golden era

ten

It was weird being at Hogwarts for the holidays. Mia missed home. Was privet Drive horrible, absolutely but it was better than this. Besides she had to spend have of each day working Professor McGonagall so she didn't fail. Mia was fine with failing, she would love to get kicked. But Professor McGonagall refused to let her fail out. So she did. 

Reluctantly.

She made sure her work still showed her disdain. If she was going to be forced to do work, she'd make sure her teachers knew that she wasn't doing it willingly.

Once the holidays had started, Ron and Harry were having too good a time to take much note of her absence. They had the dormitory to themselves and the common room was far emptier than usual, so they were able to get the good armchairs by the fire. They sat by the hour eating anything they could spear on a toasting fork -- bread, English muffins, marshmallows-- and plotting ways of getting Malfoy expelled, which were fun to talk about even if they wouldn't work. She would join them when she got back from McGonagall.

Ron also started teaching Harry wizard chess while she was gone. This was exactly like Muggle chess except that the figures were alive, which made it a lot like directing troops in battle. Ron's set was very old and battered.

Like everything else he owned, it had once belonged to someone else in his family -- in this case, his grandfather. However, old chessmen weren't a drawback at all. Ron knew them so well he never had trouble getting them to do what he wanted.

Harry played with chessmen Seamus Finnigan had lent him, and they didn't trust him at all. He wasn't a very good player yet and they kept shouting different bits of advice at him, which was confusing. "Don't send me there, can't you see his knight? Send him, we can afford to lose him." 

Overall, the holidays were okay but Harry was happy.

On Christmas Eve, Mia went to bed, her cat wrapped in her arms, looking forward to the next day for the food and the fun, but only expecting one present.

So she was so surprised when she woke up to a small pile at the bottom of her bed. She was truly shocked.

She has presents?

Someone shouts her name from the boys side. It's Harry.

"Mia, did you get presents?" He said the instant she poked her head out.

"Yeah, you?"

"Yeah," Harry laughs. He looks so happy. "Bring yours over, we'll open them together."

"Be right there," she says, gathering her stuff, and her cat and making her way over and then plopping down on an empty bed. She thinks it's Neville's.

"Come on, open 'em," Ron says, eagerly.

"You first," Mia says, watching Harry excitedly.

Harry picked up the top parcel. It was wrapped in thick brown paper and scrawled across it was To Harry, from Hagrid. Inside was a roughly cut wooden flute. Hagrid had obviously whittled it himself. Harry blew it -- it sounded a bit like an owl.

A second, very small parcel contained a note.

We received your message and enclose your Christmas present. From Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia. Taped to the note was a fifty-pence piece.

"That's friendly," said Harry.

Ron was fascinated by the fifty pence.

"Weird!" he said, 'NMat a shape! This is money?"

"You can keep it," said Harry, laughing at how pleased Ron was. "Mia, did you get one?"

She digs around and find a similarly sized parcel and opens. It's a fifty-pence piece. She laughs, handing it to Ron. "Happy Christmas."