different | h. potter

18

In preparations for the upcoming ball, the Hogwarts staff seemed determined to show the castle at its best. Everlasting icicles has been attached to the banisters of the marble staircase; the usual twelve Christmas trees in the Great Hall were bedecked with everything from luminous holly berries to real, hooting, golden owls, and the suits of armor has all been bewitched to sing corals whenever anyone passed them.

The festive atmosphere extended outdoors, where thick snow was now falling over the castle and its grounds. The pale blue Beauxbotons carriage looked like a large, chilly, frosted pumpkin next to the iced gingerbread house that was Hagrid's cabin, while the Durmstrang ship's portholes were glazed with ice, the rigging with with frost.

"Hurry up," Cassia hastened, "I will finish my snowman before curfew."

Dinner had just let up, and Draco Malfoy found himself being dragged by the arm through the Entrance Hall, racing back to a mound of snow in the courtyard. A few paces ahead of them were none other than their favourite trio.

"Hermione - who are you going to the ball with?" they heard Weasley say.

Cassia stopped in her tracks. Perhaps the snowman can wait...

"You're joking, Weasley?" Draco called out, "You're not telling me someone's asked that to the ball? Not the long-molared Mudblood?"

Potter and Weasley both whipped around furiously, but Granger said loudly, waving to somebody over Draco's should, "Hello, Professor Moody!"

Draco paled and jumped backwards, looking wildly around for Moody, but he was still up at the staff table, finishing his stew.

"Twitchy little ferret, aren't you, Malfoy?" said Granger scathingly, and she, Potter and Weasley went up the marble staircase laughing heartily.

Cassia rolled her eyes.

"Cheer up, D," she said, "you can tell Theo that Granger has a date and he doesn't. Now back to business..."

~

Cassia awoke early on Christmas morning. Pulling back the curtains of her four-poster bed, she noticed that everyone else in her dorm was still asleep, their curtains drawn closed. At the foot of her bed rested a pile of presents. The sight was unusual; every previous Christmas had been spent in her own home, where a handsome stack of gifts sat beneath an extravagant tree in the foyer. Despite the less than luxurious change of scenery, Cassia was thrilled to experience her first holiday in the company of her best friends. She quietly got out of bed, brushed her teeth, gathered her presents, and made her way to the common room, where they had agreed to open their gifts together in the morning.

To her surprise, Cassia wasn't the first to awaken. Seated on a green velvet couch by the fireplace was Draco, still pajama-clad, his own heap of presents on the table before him. Apart from the two of them, the room was completely vacant. In the soft firelight and rare tranquility, the Slytherin common room felt almost homely - nothing like the dungeon that it was often compared to. 

"You're up early," Cassia said.

"So are you."

Cassia placed her gifts on the table and took a seat next to Draco. He picked up a black velvet box, adorned with a silk ribbon, from her stack and held it out to her. "From my parents - go on, open it."

"They shouldn't have- " Cassia immediately protested. 

"- Yet they always do. Now, open it." Draco gently shoved the box onto her lap.