Which Witch? Harry Potter

006.

SIX.
White Winter Hymnal

The promise of anti-dementor lessons from her father made Riley Jane feel better, knowing she might never have to hear her mother's death again, but the revealing of what really happened on Riley Jane's first birthday still haunted her.

The two events kind of canceled themselves out, so lately Riley Jane had just been...

You know?

Two weeks before the end of the term, the sky lightened suddenly to a dazzling, opaline white and the muddy grounds were revealed one morning covered in glittering frost. Inside the castle, there was a buzz of Christmas in the air. To get over the tension that had grown after their discussion, Riley Jane helped her father decorate his classroom with shimmering lights that turned out to be real, fluttering fairies. It was difficult to pull off, but the Lupin duo managed.

Just because they never seemed to carry any Christmas spirit of their own, didn't mean they had to ruin the rest of Hogwarts' cheer.

The students were all happily discussing their plans for the holidays. Riley Jane was to remain at Hogwarts this year, because her father felt too ill to travel. It wasn't like they would have been celebrating the holidays if they went home anyways, so Riley Jane didn't care.

It helped that Harry, Ron, and Hermione were staying back (not that Riley Jane was suddenly very favorable toward the trio or anything, but they were people her age that she knew, so). Harry was forced to remain in the castle, and Ron and Hermione came up with poor excuses as to why they were staying, too; Harry wasn't fooled, they were doing it to keep him company, but thankfully he was very grateful.

There was to be another Hogsmeade trip on the very last weekend of the term. Everyone was delighted about it except for Harry, who wasn't allowed on Hogsmeade trips because 1) his Muggle family failed to sign his permission form, and 2) he was sort of locked up in the castle because Sirius Black was trying to murder him.

Sucked for him, but Riley Jane was happy for a distraction from the recent news of her mum.

Wrapped in a hand-me-down sweater from her father, Riley Jane started her journey out of the castle. She didn't get very far, though. Actually, she hadn't even exited the common room when Hermione (and Ron) stopped her.

When they asked Riley Jane to join them in going to Hogsmeade, she was instinctively wary. Ron was acting too civil, and Hermione seemed too friendly. She had just opened her mouth to question their intentions when Harry dramatically cleared her throat.

Riley Jane caught his eye. He was moments away from pointing out her supposed defensiveness for the millionth time. She would rather die than prove Harry Potter right.

Begrudgingly, she agreed to accompany Hermione and Ron.

They bid goodbye to Harry and left the castle, traveling into the falling snow.

Their feet crunched in the snow as they walked towards Hogsmeade. Riley Jane was always quiet, but Hermione and Ron weren't talking to each other much either. Maybe it was because they were freezing their butts off, like Riley Jane. To try and get as warm as possible, she tucked her hands inside her father's sweater using the long sleeves that were too long for her arms.