The Forgotten House

Christmas

My Pov

It was now December and around Christmas time. A vast majority of the student body was packing up to head home. Thankfully, if you didn't have anywhere to return home to, then you could stay at the school. The the only ones I knew were stay were me, Harry, the Weasleys, Dora, Barnaby, Ismelda, the Sheehans, Talbott and Merula. Everyone else was going home. I sat on by Harry as he and Ron were playing Wizard's Chess. I turned to see Hermione carrying a trunk behind her.

"Knight to E-5." Harry said. The white knight chess piece moved to the spot. Ron seemed to think about his move before deciding.

"Queen to E-5." Ron said. The red queen chess piece moved to that spot, picked up its chair and swung it at Harry's knight, smashing it.

"That's totally barbaric!" Hermione exclaimed.

"That's Wizard's Chess." Ron said. Ron and Hermione had a small exchange before she departed for the train to go home. They were careful not to talk about Nicholas Flamel in front of the older students. Harry told me that Hagrid had slipped in mentioning Nicholas Flamel and that whatever Fluffy was guarding belonged to him. Harry, of course, told me all this as soon as they knew. After some chatting among each other, everyone turned in. Soon, the next morning arrived. My first Christmas from Privet Drive. I heard several knocks on the passage doors. I got up and opened the Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff and Slytherin doors.

"Happy Christmas Holly!" the older students greeted. I greeted all of them. I knocked on the Gryffindor door and it opened. We all went through the passage, with Padfoot and Puff following, and found Will, Katrina, Ron, Fred, George and Harry waiting for us.

"Happy Christmas everyone!" Will greeted. We all sat down and opened presents. Will had gotten Merula a pendant of dark jade and silver, Barnaby had gotten Ismelda a Puffskein and Talbott had given Katrina a necklace with an eagle feather. I didn't understand that part, but it seemed to be a personal thing with them. In addition to the presents from others, some of the other older students had left me and Harry something. Andre had made both of us a part of new dress robes. Mine was beautiful purple dress(it is the magical outfit you can choose to wear on your first date in Hogwarts Mystery). It had also come with a pair of shoes and a headband.

"Here Holly." Dora said. She gave me a small box. I opened it and saw a beautiful necklace. It had a silver chain with a lavender-pink gem in the middle and two small blue gems on either side. She helped me clasp it around my neck. I felt so happy. This was the first Christmas that I had actually had presents and been surround by people I cared about.

"Holly, Harry. There's one more for each of you." Ron said. Harry's was a large parcel and mine was small. Harry opened his and revealed a cloak. Harry wrapped it around himself and all but his head became invisible.

"An Invisibility Cloak!" Katrina exclaimed. Apparently it belong to Dad and it was a rare item. I opened my gift. It was beautiful silver bracelet. I took it out and examined it closer. It had heart design in the middle and from the top of the heart was a unicorn head with wings sprouting from around the horse's neck.

"That's fairy silver." Merula said. I looked at her. "It use to be common hundreds of years ago, but now it's so rare." I looked at the bracelet and couldn't help but think I had seen it before.

"Oh! There's one more." Barnaby said. He pulled a box from behind one of the couches. Unlike the others, this one was moving. Harry and I both opened it and saw a white Crup puppy. When I looked closer, I saw it was the same one that had been brought to me when I was in the Hospital Wing. Both Harry and I took turns holding her and we both agreed to name her Flurry. Everything was going great until I slipped and said something.

"What are we going to do with Flurry when we go back Harry?" I asked. "No chance Uncle Vernon will let us keep her. Especially because she from here."

"I don't know." Harry said.

"Why did you put emphasis on 'here' ?" Ismelda asked. Harry and I both began to get nervous.

"Um..." I muttered.

"Holly?" Dora asked. Harry and I looked at each other as we both started shaking.

"You two don't have to talk about it if you don't want." Talbott said. I felt tears pricking my eyes. I felt Dora's hand grip my shoulder.

"Holly..." Dora said. Harry and I looked at each other and knew we had to tell someone. About our home life.

"Ok... we'll tell you all. But please... wait until the end to say something." I pleaded. So, we told them everything. From the beatings, the starvation, the neglect and even the times we both had been so ill that we both had almost died yet our aunt and uncle didn't get us medical attention. After all of this was said, the common room was silent. Everyone's mouths were hanging open and their eyes were wide. Dora hugged both of us while several of the others were fuming.

"I'll be right back!" Will said, walking out of the common room. Both me, Harry and even Padfoot chased after him.

"Will, what are you doing?" Harry asked.

"I'm going to talk to Professor Dumbledore about this." Will said, not breaking his pace. What?! He couldn't! We tried to keep up with him and then we stopped in front of a stone gargoyle. Will recited several types of candy before it started turning until it revealed a staircase. We all traveled up the staircase and Will knocked on the door.

"Come in." Dumbledore said. Will swung the door open.

"Headmaster, we need to-" Will began but trailed off. We poked our heads from around Will and saw two men and two women sitting in front of Dumbledore. "Talk." I noticed the men and women looking at me and Harry in shock. That's when I heard Padfoot whimper. I turned to look at him and saw how scared he looked.

"Ah, Willis. I was just about to send for you to bring the Potter children here." Dumbledore said. He gestured for us to come in.