Alastriona tugged her dark green cloak around her shoulders, it was a beautiful soft material that kept her warm even on the coldest winter days like this one.
She smiled one last time at the letter on her nightstand as she and Darcy left the Hufflepuff Common Room to meet with the others for their trip to Hogsmeade.
She rubbed her hands together as they walked closer to the Great Hall, "Maybe I should've put some gloves on..." Alastriona groaned as she walked too close to the wall around the corner and hit her shoulder hard, "Sorry."
Darcy laughed as she heard her friend apologise to the wall, "You know you don't have to say sorry to walls, right?"
"Hey, this is Hogwarts! If anywhere in the world is going to have a wall that is vengeful or hits back when you hit it then it'll be here in this castle!" Alastriona shrugged, "I will not be the first witch to lose her life because she couldn't say sorry to a wall." Her eyes trailed off across the hall, "Dawn!"
The dreaded girl startled slightly but grinned as she walked over and hugged both the girls, "Hey, you both going to Hogsmeade?"
Darcy nodded and bounced up and down on her toes, "Yes! I can't wait to get back into Honeydukes! And I have been dreaming about butterbeer since last time!"
Alastriona glanced briefly at the letters she was clutching tightly, "Are you going?"
"Oh, not this time, I've got some letters to send," she waved them around in the air for a second, "and some work to finish too, this whole studying thing is a real drag."
They both giggled lightly at this, Darcy was hardly keeping still and wanted to hurry to Hogsmeade already but tried to appear patient as Alastriona wanted to keep chatting with Dawn, "Are you staying here for Christmas then?"
"I'm hoping this letter," Dawn held up one of the envelopes, it was rather bulky, "will convince mum and dad to take me back to Romania for the Christmas break."
"Wow, you-- you really like it over there, huh?" Alastriona tugged her cloak around her tighter, "Must be loads of fun, hanging out with dragons and all that--"
"You have no idea! It's amazing! The dragons are so beautiful, I mean terrifying as well but you can't help to admire them, from afar of course, and the people that work there are just so relaxed but powerful--" She cleared her throat and laughed nervously. "Um, anyway, I'll catch up with you guys later, okay?"
The two girls stood in silence as they watched Dawn walk away, Darcy looked at Alastriona, "You don't think she'll leave forever, do you?"
Alastriona stared into Darcy's eyes, seeing the same fear that was weighing heavy in her stomach, "No, of course not, now let's go! They're probably wondering where we are!" Darcy grinned and they continued on, they quickly caught up with Draco, Theo and Blaise who were waiting and more than ready to leave, "Sorry we're late--"
Theo ignored her and tugged on her arm instead, forcing her along the pathway that lead to Hogsmeade.
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