After the War.

Alone for the holidays.

I stood, watching as my friends and the rest of the school left. Hermione had spoken briefly to me but Neville Longbottom began speaking too and so I left the pair to talk. They seemed like friends and it also felt wrong to interrupt that. Time with those we really did care about was precious to everyone and that was only fair.

A last minute hug was started before I felt two of the three pull away. Isaac stayed for a while longer as he gripped on so tightly I feared that I may pass out from the loss of air. "You know, if you wait much longer I think Emily will be stollen. She is close to Mr Jones and Apollo is very smitten by her. You don't have to ask her out but you could tell her you like her." His smile was the one he always wore as he pulled back and lifted my chin to make me meet his eye.

"I don't like her in that way. I look at her in the same way you look at Mr Jones. Like a friend and sibling but nothing more." I nodded but the eyebrow I had lifted told him that I didn't agree with him. Or that was what I had hoped he would take from the whole ordeal.

After that the train tooted and Isaac was gone. And as I looked back I realised that all of the others on the platform were adults so I would have to deal with a group of my professors for the next two and a half weeks. My smile didn't seem to form at that very thought and I didn't find it difficult to see why I was less than pleased.

I didn't let Professor Sprout or Professor Allen see as my hair covered my face but neither seemed to be paying much attention so it didn't matter. My eyes could stay on the floor and my feet slowly moved up from the station. Staff had to escort me up due to my young age but they also had to walk down to walk with the rest of the students so it wasn't much of a hassle for them. Especially when I walked faster than either of them. My entry wasn't all that long after I left the station but the pair seemed to be quite a distance back so I walked to my room and grabbed a yellow scarf, the mustard colour was a match for the hat and gloves. My black top and jeans clung to me as well as the mustard trainers that I wore.

The weather outside was freezing and snow was falling. The snow was already pretty thick and with the added falling pieces my eyes could barely see the different surfaces. Trees blended in and so did the foliage as white reflected the light into my eyes and my surroundings blurred.

When the large tree was identified though I moved to it and my body must have stood out like a sore thumb as the black and mustard radiated off of me to the surroundings. As I stopped at the tree though I turned and began to make a snowman. It was the small things in life that made me happy but when I looked up a greasy man I knew too well approached me. He had a cat on his shoulder but she was less than pleased to be out in the snow. I had no clue why he would be out in the cold like he was. No extra layers than usual and so I waited to see what was his purpose in leaving the castle that had fires and more warmth.

"You haven't taken my mop have you?" I shook my head and gave a sorry look before my hands met the snow again. Three various balls were made and the largest was stuck to the floor. Slowly the balls got to be smaller on top of one another until finally I could say a man of snow had been made.

Wood ran through the snow to map out a smile and eyes. My wand had to be useful for something over the holidays and just as I finished the face my wand moved to leave button marks and imprints of a snow scarf were left. The man had been decorated but the hat would have to be missed off. Not that it mattered as snow fell so quickly that the marks would be lost and no sticks could be found unless I pulled them off the tree. That didn't seem fair and it was a little too tall for me.

I sat in the snow for a long time until an owl was heard off in the distance. The dark bird stuck out and as my eyes moved to see where it was my eyes caught sight of a person stood at a window. They were so far away that I could never know what had caught their eye but there wasn't much to see and so I assumed that they were looking for the owl that flew gradually over to me. Then it dropped a letter and flew off again. My eyes falling wide at the act but as I turned it I realised that the handwriting was familiar. Too familiar.

Not giving it much thought I stood and wadded all the way to the castle. Feeling my trainers get heavy and covered more. The waterproof nature was all that I was holding onto. My movement was slow and exaggerated as the snow was far higher than when I had walked out and so it was significantly harder than before. My eyes moved around to see if any of the snow was lower but as I did I looked up to see more snow falling. It was falling hard as well so I gave a defeated look and turned my head down but as I did so that same figure, in green, stood at the window. They were still too blurry for me to see much and I was only able to give them a sweeping look.

After a workout the door was pulled open and I was in the castle. Fire moving around me and warming my frozen frame. Once past the entrance the school was warmer still. Stones stood around me, some on the floor still but it made me recall the fact of there being a war in the school not long before I had heard of it, magic, and so parts of the castle were bound to be broken for a while.

"Miss Flint, why on earth are you not beside a warm fire? On a day like this wondering around can't be very comfortable." I looked behind me to see one of the professors. He was short but sweet. Ideal for any person in my opinion.

"I have just been outside. Dare I ask you what you are up to walking around?" He raised his eyebrows and his lips set into a straight line. We were both in line with one another and my steps had slowed to stay with him.

"Never you mind. Go and warm by a fire. You look absolutely frozen and if Professor Trelawney was to see you she would have you read tea cups with her for the rest of the holidays and judging by your clumsiness more than one cup of tea would be broken and her cups are very precious to her you know." The warning and command was heard but I wished to read my letter and so as we passed the library I mumbled a desire to catch up on work for the rest of the year.

The room was warm but the librarian looked less than pleased to see me enter but I was silent as my body moved to a table. As far from her as possible and then the letter was pulled out, placed on the desk and then a book was pulled from the shelf that was about potions. A lesson I enjoyed and Professor Slughorn was always too ready to praise me for my work. As long as it was right and done quickly for his standards. Rumours of the last professor being even worse and strict were spread but they all spoke of a fondness towards the man. He was clearly well known and appreciated.

That was when I opened the book and ignored the letter. Deciding against reading it and then pages of words were read. Most of it being about why anyone making a potion should follow the instructions with a pinch of salt. Not that I knew how to follow it other than how it was written.