Double Double Toil and Trouble // One //

Chapter Ten

Christmas was now getting close. McGonagall had gone around and taken the names of the students that were staying at Hogwarts over the holiday. People who were leaving would get on the Hogwarts Express the third week of December to head back to London. Mr and Mrs Weasley were going to Romania to visit Charlie, their second-oldest son, for the holidays, so Percy, Fred, George, and Ron were all coming home with Harry and me for the holidays. Harry and I had nothing to do with it. Mum heard about their trip and insisted the four boys stay with us. Her exact words were, "They're as much our family as the twins are."

We must have looked through every book in the entire library to find something about Nicholas Flamel, and we got nothing. The name sounded familiar to me but I couldn't remember where I had heard it before.

Before anyone knew it, Hagrid was dragging a large, snow-covered pine tree into the Great Hall, where Flitwick would decorate it with ornaments, lights, and tinsel. Students who were at least third years or older got to visit Hogsmeade, a quaint little village just outside Hogwarts gates, to purchase Christmas gifts for their friends and family.

~

About a week before the fall term ended, I was sitting with Nat by the lake, our emerald and silver scarves wrapped tightly around our necks and a thick blanket placed under us to protect us from the snow. We were discussing, "Travels With Trolls, By Gilderoy Lockhart," a book she made me read so she had someone to talk about it with. Normally, we would skip rocks across the water whilst we did this, but the lake was frozen over due to it being winter and all.

In the midst of our discussion, I felt something cold hit the back of my neck and slide down my back, causing me to tense up. We turned around to find Draco with his arm stretched in front of him and a smirk on his face. Nat and I stood up. "You're going to really wish you didn't do that." I said, bending down and collecting some snow in my gloved fist. "Oh? Why's that?" The blonde taunted. I arched my arm back and sent my snowball flying. It crumbled in his face, covering his shoulders and chest. "Because you've started a war."

Our snowball fight lasted up to at least an hour. By the time the three of us got back to the dungeons, our faces were red from both running around for an hour and the cold temperature. We spent the rest of the afternoon together, laughing at each other's corny jokes and telling stories with random topics.

"Hey Lex, what's the time?" Nat asked me a couple of hours later. I looked at my watch. "7:15p.m., why?" She stood up and pulled on Draco and I'd arms to follow her. "Come on, I wanna show you guys something." I shared a clueless look with my blonde friend as we were forced out of the common room.

Nat dragged us up so many steps, I was starting to think the roof to the castle didn't exist. When she finally stopped pulling on our arms, we found ourselves on top of the Astronomy Tower. "What're we doing up here?" Draco asked. "I was up here the other night studying for our Astronomy exam, and I saw something I have to show you." We followed her to the edge of the railing, overlooking the entire castle. We could see the sun descending behind the mountains in the distance, making the sky turn a beautiful orange-pink colour. "Whoa." I breathed. I looked to my left, watching Draco become mesmerized by the view as well. The three of us just stood there for a while, taking in the view while we could.

~

Time flew by way too fast for my liking. In a matter of days, I was packing my belongings into my trunk to go home. I had dragged Pads' cage out of the closet from where I stashed it the first night I stayed in the dormitory. He wasn't very fond of being in a cage for an entire train ride, but it's amazing what animals will do for a treat.

Before we left to get on the train, Harry and Ron wanted to play one last game of Wizard's Chess in the Great Hall. I couldn't help but be amused at the way Harry was losing. "Knight to E5." My brother's knight moved along the wooden board. Ron thought over his actions before making his move. "Queen to E5." His queen approached Harry's, raised her sword, and chopped it into pieces before taking its place. Ron smirked at his victory as he collected the remains of the knight.