A Winter at Hogwarts

Fixing The Problem

The bell rang ending day one of the N.E.W.T. exams. I headed to the Hufflepuff common room to wait for Winter. We had to end this feud, and I had a plan to mend the friendship we had. I sent a letter to Jamie telling her to meet me at Hagrids tomorrow after the exams. It seemed as though over the summer, and over the course of Jamie's sixth year, the enchantment had not worn off. Now I needed to talk to Winter to get her involved so that I could prove once and for all that this was all just a misunderstanding.

As expected, Winter came into the common room, and as I stood, we made eye contact. It was still just a blank stare, but before she could storm off, I broke the silence. "We need to talk."

Winter nodded and replied "Yeah...alright."

I sat down on the big yellow sofa and she took her place next to me. It felt nice to have her sit next to me again, the way we always sat next to each other for five years.

"What is this about, Vince? Do you really think we can be okay after what happened last year? Not to mention after all that, you didn't write to me all summer, and you haven't spoken to me in months!" Winter wasn't yelling, but the intensity of her voice implied she was trying very hard not to scream at me.

"I know," I said. "but you're just as guilty as I am. You never wrote me either, or spoke to me until now, and you never gave me the chance to explain what happened."

"It looked to me like Jamie was your girlfriend." Said Winter, crossing her arms, sinking back into the sofa.

I started to laugh. "Do you really think she loves me after calling me a mudblood and giving me crap all this time?" When Winter said nothing I continued. "Somehow...it got back to me that...someone was going to lace you with love potion. Someone gave you a box of chocolates that were going to make you fall in love with me, I don't know why, but...Jamie ended up snatching them and when she ate them, she ended up falling for me."

"Do you have any way to prove it?" Demanded Winter.

"As a matter of fact, I do, and I want you to see for yourself. Tomorrow at Hagrids, we're going to lift the enchantment off of Jamie, and things will be back to normal."

"Shouldn't we go to madam Pomfrey?"

"No. I studied this for the N.E.W.T. exams. I know a charm that will help."

Winter was silent for a long time. We both just stared at the fire until she broke the silence once more. "You promise things will be back to normal?"

"I can't necessarily promise, because if the enchantment doesn't work, it might still look like she fell for me without a love potion and I don't want to promise anything if I don't mean it. Just keep in mind that when we go down there, she will be holding my hand and trying to make you the third wheel, but that won't happen, that I can promise." I replied.

Winter sighed. "If it works...then..." she went silent for a long time, then stood up, and made her way to the girls dormitory.

* * *

The next section of the N.E.W.T. exams was easier. I slept well, ate a good sized breakfast, and waited for the second part of the exams to begin. Winter found her place next to me, but still said nothing. It was understandable, because I still had to prove that I was telling the truth about Jamie.

Winter finished about the same time I did. A large sigh escaped her and she looked at me. We both agreed that these exams were nastily exhausting indeed with just one look.

I looked down so that she knew I respected her. We both knew that if this enchantment didn't work, we would most likely be kissing our friendship goodbye.