Huffily Puffily || Golden Trio

Cursed Mirror || xiv

The next month passed without much progress in terms of solving the mystery of the three-headed dog. Apparently, Hagrid let slip a name— Nicholas Flamel— but that wasn't much help as none of the four recognized the name at all. Lucy consulted her Hufflepuff friends, but they didn't have any idea either. She didn't dare ask Anthony in fear that he might tell Daisy, who she knew wouldn't approve of Lucy's scheme.

Hogwarts in the winter was a wonderful sight. The lake had frozen over, and the Forbidden Forest looked so lovely coated in snow that it almost felt welcoming; so much so that Hagrid had to chase her and Megan away from there more times than anyone would care to admit. Despite how whimsical the castle made her feel, she couldn't ignore the bitter cold that lingered throughout the corridors. The dungeons were particularly bad, and often Lucy's teeth were chattering too much to pay attention to Snape's instructions.

Despite how unbearably cold the dungeons were, Lucy waited outside Professor Snape's classroom for her Gryffindor friends to resurface. Professor Sprout held sympathy for her freezing Hufflepuffs and let them go halfway through class to warm up in the Great Hall, so Lucy had plenty of time to meet her friends for their break.

The Slytherins and Gryffindors filed out of Potions class and Lucy kept pace with Harry, laughing as he told her about the Weasley twins' recent excursion. Apparently, they'd enchanted snowballs to follow Quirrell around and bounce off the back of his turban. She was still suspicious of the man, so she'd have to thank Fred and George for this one.

Of course, a peaceful conversation couldn't last for long.

"I do feel sorry," Draco Malfoy said loudly to Crabbe, "for all those people who have to stay at Hogwarts for Christmas because they're not wanted at home."

At once, Lucy felt Harry tense up, and she felt herself go stiff too. Last week, Professor McGonagall passed around a list for the students who would be staying at Hogwarts during Christmas break. She and Harry had signed up right away. She didn't even want to think about going back to Wool's Orphanage— the thought was almost unbearable.

"Would it kill you to be nice for one day, Malfoy?" Lucy snapped at him.

"It might," Malfoy retorted. "You're right, I suppose I could have rephrased. I feel sorry for anyone who's not wanted at home or who don't even have a home."

Lucy felt her veins go cold. For once, she was too hurt to respond.

Ron glowered at the platinum blonde. "Shove off, Malfoy. Go chase your reflection or something."

Malfoy only grinned smugly as he turned the corner to the Slytherin common room. The four walked quietly, neither Ron nor Harry knowing what to say.

Hermione nudged Lucy in the side gently and gave her a small smile. "Ron and his brothers are staying over Christmas, too. Malfoy may have a manor, but I've noticed he doesn't have half as many real friends as we have. He's really the unfortunate one."

Despite herself, Lucy smiled back. "If only you were staying too, Hermione. Then it'd be a real party. We could set someone on fire again."

"Oh, are you ever going to let that go?"

"Not until you do something worse, no."

"Sadly, that's more likely than you'd think."

The quartet arrived at the Great Hall and separated to their respective tables. Lucy rather enjoyed her meals with the Hufflepuffs; Cedric and Anthony bickered to no end about everything, leaving Daisy to try to defuse their argument, which always ended up in yet another argument between her and Anthony.