The Children Who Lived and The Philosopher's Stone

Chapter Twelve - A Mirror at Christmas.

Christmas was on its way. One morning in December, Nellie woke to find Hogwarts covered in several feet of snow with the lake frozen over. That same day, the Weasley twins were punished for bewitching several snowballs so that they followed Quirrell around, bouncing off the back of his turban. The thing that made Nellie the most happy though, was the decorations in the common room and the Great Hall. The Hall looked spectacular. Garlands of holly and mistletoe hung around the walls, and there were twelve towering Christmas trees, some sparkling with tiny icicles, some glittering with hundreds of candles, and all with amazing and intricate decorations.

No one could wait for the holidays to start. While the Gryffindor common rooms and the Great Hall had roaring fires, the corridors and classes were bitterly cold. The worst was Professor Snape's classes down in the dungeons, where their breath steamed, and they kept as close to each other and their bubbling cauldrons as possible.

"I do feel sorry," Draco said, looking at them while walking in the corridor, "for all those people who have to stay at Hogwarts for Christmas because they're not wanted at home."

It was true that Nellie and Harry were not going back to Privet Drive for Christmas. Professor McGonagall had come around the week before, making a list of students who would be staying, and Harry and Nellie signed up at once. They didn't feel sorry for themselves at all; this would probably be the best Christmas they'd ever had. Ron and his brothers were staying too because Mr and Mrs Weasley were going to Romania to visit his brother, Charlie.

On the last night of classes, while almost everyone was packing. Ron, Harry and Nellie were in the Great Hall, sitting at the Gryffindor table. The two boys were playing chess, and Nellie was reading her practice books when Hermione walked in, dressed for the outside and dragging her trunk.

"Knight to D4," Harry said in a clear voice. Suddenly, the chess piece moved from its spot to the new one, all on its own.

"Queen to D4." Ron smirked. Just like Harry's piece, his too moved on its own to the new spot. When it got there, the queen got off from her chair and swiped it at the knight, completely shattering the piece.

"That's totally barbaric!" Hermione cried.

"That's Wizard's chess," Ron said. "I see you've packed." He gestured to her trunk.

"I see you haven't."

"Change of plans, my parents are going to Romania. To visit my brother, Charlie."

Hermione nodded before replying, "Good. You can help Harry and Nellie then, they're going to look in the library for anything about Nicholas Flamel."

"But we've looked a hundred times," Ron whined.

Hermione leaned in. "Not in the restricted section." She then began walking away. "Happy Christmas."

"I think we've had a bad influence on her," Ron said.

Once the holidays had started, Nellie, Ron and Harry were having too good a time to think much about Flamel. They had the dormitories 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 fire for hours, eating anything they could spear on a toasting fork, and plotting ways of getting Malfoy expelled, which were fun to talk about even if they wouldn't work.

On Christmas Eve, Nellie went to bed with Harry. The empty girls dorm was too quiet for her, having never slept in a room by herself. She was looking forward to the next day for the food and the fun, but she was not expecting any presents at all.

"Harry! Nellie! Wake up!" Ron shouted from downstairs, rousing the Potter twins. "Come on guys, wake up!"

The two of them shot out of bed and looked down at Ron from the landing at the top of the stairs.