Daydreamer - The Girl Who Lived

Chapter 10

One morning in mid December, the most incredible thing had happened... there was snow. The entire grounds were covered in layers and layers of snow! This was exciting since I had never seen snow before, I was from a place that was hot all year round, which was amazing, but it meant that I had never had the white Christmas shown in movies and now there was a chance that I could.

My reaction seemed to be some sort of magic, with cheers, giggles and pure joy that made everyone smile. I had caught Professor McGonagall smiling from the courtyard as I made snow angels in the ground, Ron and Hermione had agreed to help me make the biggest snowman possible and Professor Flitwick (who had been strolling by at the time) had assisted us by summoning pieces of coal, a hat and scarf, and a carrot for us to decorate him with.

Even Professor Snape seemed to pause, the Professor had gone around and removed house points from students who were acting 'too immaturely', but simply looked at me attempting to sculpt a dog out of snow (for the snowman) and then moved on without saying a word, instead going to punish the Weasley twins for bewitching snowballs to follow Quirrell around and hit the back of his turban.

The only downside I had found was that the castle was freezing cold, I had never been so cold in my life before. The Gryffindor common room was nice and toasty with the roaring fires, but the corridors had ice everywhere, the windows rattled with the harsh winds, and Professor Snape didn't seem to notice how cold the dungeons were. My breath froze in the air every time I breathed out and I had to stand as close to my cauldron to try and stay as warm as possible.

I hadn't realised there was another downside, until Malfoy had said it rather viciously in Potions class. "I do feel so sorry," he said rather loudly, looking directly at me, "for all those people who have to stay at Hogwarts for Christmas because they're not wanted at home."

"Ahh, sí. Making fun of te fact my Mama is dying." I say back dryly, weighing my lionfish as carefully as I could. "Very cómico. We're all laughing..." I rolled my eyes and shook my head, all the Gryffindor's glaring at Malfoy and nobody laughing along with him.

He wasn't wrong, I wasn't going back to Spain for Christmas. Professor McGonagall had made a list of all the students who would be in the castle over the holidays and I had no choice but to sign up. Mama was in a coma and Papa was severely depressed, having to deal with his abuela and abuelito, and working all hours of the day to try and pay for Mama's hospital bills.

Luckily for me, Ron and his brothers were staying, too, because his parents were going to spend Christmas in Romania with his older brother, Charlie.

When we left our potions class, we were all halted by the giant fir tree that blocked the corridor, someone huge was dragging it and I only knew of one person of who it could possibly be.

"Hi, Hagrid," Ron greeted, moving the branches to speak to him, "want any help?"

"Nah, I'm all right, thanks, Ron."

"Would you mind moving out of the way?" Malfoy drawled out. "Are you trying to earn some extra money, Weasley? Hoping to be gamekeeper yourself when you leave Hogwarts, I suppose, that hut of Hagrid's must seem like a palace compared to what your family's used to."

Ron dived at Malfoy. "WEASLEY!" Unfortunately at the same time Snape was coming up the stairs. Ron immediately had to let Malfoy go.

"He was provoked, Professor Snape," Hagrid instantly came to Ron's defence. "Malfoy was insultin' his family."

"Be that as it may, fighting is against Hogwarts rules, Hagrid," Snape said, not caring about what Malfoy has said. "Five points from Gryffindor, Weasley, and be grateful it isn't more. Move along, all of you."