Liberty- A Harry Potter Fan Fiction.

Chapter Fourteen-Expect the Unexpected.

Chapter Fourteen-Expect the Unexpected.

The holidays, as they usually do, passed quickly. The Slytherin Common Room was practically empty, giving Arianna much time to spend with her sister of an evening. In the day, herself and Ascadelia spent long hours in the Room of Requirement, talking and playing traditional games such as Gobstones and Exploding Snap. Due to lack of students, many meals were spent at communal tables, houses mixing together. Well, at least Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff and Gryffindor were. Most of the remaining Slytherins-other than Ari and Calista-not surprisingly chose to remain at their own table, clearly not believing in mixing with the ‘filth’ of other houses. On a few occasions, Ascadelia and Ari were joined by Calista and-you guessed it-Alex.  It was nice for the girl, almost a reminder of what her old life was like before everything got messed up by the war, amongst other things.

Christmas Morning came around quickly. With all Hogsmeade visits being cancelled, Arianna had been forced to use the owl delivery service she had seen advertised in an old copy of The Daily Prophet to buy gifts for her friends, which worked out fine in the end. Waking up to yet another sheet of fresh snow, the girl couldn’t help but smile as she gazed out the window at the pretty, idyllic like surroundings before her. As everyone else had gone home for the holidays, she had the luxury of a dorm to herself, something that came in handy on mornings such as these. It gave her time to think, to have some time truly alone, something she often craved.

Reaching under the green four poster bed she loved, the girl grabbed the pile of presents that had been slowly collecting there for the past week or so and headed down to the common room. As planned, her sister was waiting there with her own pile of gifts. Calista smiled slightly at her approach. “Merry Christmas.” She greeted, holding out a small, neatly wrapped parcel, embossed with the Slytherin house colours. Arianna grinned at her sister; as they had anticipated, they had the common room to themselves. Taking a seat next to her on one of the many leather sofas scattered around the room, the girl passed over her own, untidily wrapped present. It was strange to be there again, just the two of them on Christmas morning. Countless years had been spent, curled up in the elder girl’s bed, opening their presents together. Yes, their Mother would be passed out in the room next door. Yes, their Father would be sleeping, or possibly still out at the pub. But for that one, magical day, every other worry went away. It had always been that way and strangely, Ari missed it.

“I didn’t really know what you wanted...since we weren’t talking and all.” Calista admitted, chewing her lip. “I had to get it from the Owl Delivery Service too...” Arianna grinned. “Ditto.” With their presents swapped, the girls exchanged a grin before ripping open the similar shaped parcels. Trying to simultaneously watch her sister and open her own, the girl almost dropped the present in shock. Funnily enough, Calista seemed to have had the same reaction. For a moment, there was silence. Until....”Ari!” “Lis!” Both sisters burst out laughing, staring at the presents in their laps. Both, it appeared, had brought exactly the same thing; an entire array of Honeydukes sweets, from Fizzing Whizbees to Chocolate Frogs, Droobles’s Best Blowing Gum to Bertie Botts Every Flavoured Beans. Every sweet imaginable was in the hamper-and both had brought the same for one another.

“May as well just have brought it ourselves.” Ari commented between laughs. “Thanks, Lis.” She said, reaching over to hug her sister. As they sat there opening their presents, the girl couldn’t help but feel that today, at least, was going to be a good day.

After opening the remainder of their presents, the two sisters made their way down to the Great Hall for breakfast, quickly joined by Ascadelia with a squeal of “Merry Christmas!” who pushed presents upon both girls. Ari grinned at this; a sure example of typical Asca kindness. Despite not knowing Calista particularly well, she still remembered her friend’s sister at times like these. Once fed and watered, the blonde suggested they go outside to play in the snow, however childish it may seem. As they did so, Arianna detected a flicker of worry upon her sister’s face, only half-heartedly joining in the raging snowball fight. Biting her lip slightly, the girl studied Calista carefully for the remainder of the day. It didn’t take a genius to work out what was wrong; a certain blonde haired sixth year boy had not been seen all day.