The Wolf's Lion ~ Harry Potter (Editing)

Chapter Thirty-Two | Christmas Spirits

The Christmas holidays soon began, and an unprecedented amount of students decided to remain at Hogwarts, due to their visitors and the Yule Ball.

The Common Room had been more rowdy than usual. Especially since Fred and George, the prank kings of their time, had found success with their Canary Creams (custard creams that turn the person who consumed then into a Canary for a set amount of time). Birds popped up everywhere, so Ariana had taken a mental note to refuse all food and drink the twins offered her.

On Christmas morning, the noise of girls tearing wrapping paper open awake Ariana. She stirred and opened her bleary eyes, stretching in the privacy of her closed curtains. She stuck her head out of the hangings. "Good morning."

"Merry Christmas," three voices chorused.

One of them was Hermione's, another was Lavender Brown's and the final one was Paravati Patil.

Ariana never really got on with Lavender. Mainly due to her personality; she wore pink all of the time and was way too emotional for Ariana's liking. She was also a massive fan of Divination, who had taken to haunting Professor Trelawney's room at lunchtimes.

Paravati was Lavender's best friend, the pair had similar tastes but Paravati's weren't as extreme. Ariana was nice to Paravati, but was more than happy with Hermione as a close friend.

As Ariana tied the red curtains in her bed back with the gold ribbons, Hermione took a seat on her bed. A small box blue rested in her hands, a smile upon her face.

"Merry Christmas, Ariana," she said, extending the hand with the box in it.

"Thank you," Ariana smiled, accepting the gift. The witch opened her bedside cabinet and retrieved a gift wrapped in silver paper, then gave it to her friend. "Merry Christmas, Hermione."

The girl's opened their gifts. Ariana lifted the box lid to reveal a white calendar with glittering goes letters that had been personalised with dates special to Ariana.

"Hermione, I love it. Thank you," she smiled, lying the calender down on the wooden bedside table.

"You're welcome, and thank you. I love it," Hermione said gleefully, holding up the

As per the last three years, Ariana had recieved a gift from Mr and Mrs Weasley. She had opened a package revealing a red and black knitted scarf, a box of mince pies and a Christmas cake.

Ron's parents were the closest thing Ariana had to a mother and father. It made her heart warm to receive a present on Christmas from one person, nevermind several. It finally felt as if she had a family, and that's something she lived for.

After dressing, the girls went to join the boys in their dormitory. Harry and Ron had learned the hard way that boys couldn't access the girls' dorms a couple of years ago; the stairs turned into a slide and sent them back into the common room. It was a source of great amusement for Hermione and Ariana, having laughed until their sides ached when they clapped eyes on Harry and Ron lying at the foot of the stairs in a heap.

They all bid each other, Dean, Seamus and Neville a Merry Christmas, since the other boys were still in the dorm. Ariana and Hermione took a seat on Harry's bed with their friends, passing various sized gifts around.

Ron had given Ariana a, somewhat poorly, wrapped box of chocolate frogs. No matter how much the wrapping looked as if it had been mauled by Crookshanks, Ariana loved the present.

"Ariana," said Harry, his mop of dark hair even messier than it usually was, "I never really thanked you for well... taking that bite for me last year. So, Merry Christmas."