A kiss from the moon

With a little help from my friends

On the 18th of December Sofia said goodbye to her friends who had gotten on the Hogwarts express. It was a very few students who were staying at Hogwarts for Christmas this year so the train had been packed with stressed kids. Most of them were going home this year because Sirius Black was still out and about and that made the parents eager to see that their children were still alive.

So Sofia had walked to the station with her friends to say goodbye. Susan, Zacharias and Hannah had been making plans to meet up sometime during the break and they had tried all the way down to the station to convince Sofia to join them.

"It's going to be no fun without you there honestly" said Susan with a pout. "Zacharias and Hannah are just going to be talking about quidditch or something.

"Oi! I do not talk about quidditch that often!" Said Hannah, a bit offended. "Or do I? Have I become just as big of a nerd as Smith??"

"You really do I'm afraid!" Replied Sofia. "And I'm sorry Suzy but I don't think I can do that"

"Hey I'm no nerd!" Started Zacharias.

"But why? I don't get why you can't leave the castle for just a day or so?" Said Susan, interrupting Zacharias.

"Oh my mum made me promise it" Said Sofia a bit distantly. She didn't want to go in to it really. "Your bag looks heavy, do you want a hand?"

Susan looked at Sofia begrudgingly and nodded. At least her cousin was good at understanding cues.

"Look at them. Already in their world!" Said Susan and pointed with her free hand to Hannah and Zacharias who were bickering with one another again.

"Yeah.. Recon they'll be a thing before summer break?" Said Sofia and looked at Zacharias who was now carrying both his own bag and Hannahs with a sour look on his face.

"Oh yeah for sure! I'd bet money on it" said Susan confidently.

"Alright then. Two galleons from the both of us that they get together before summer. If they don't, we have to.. I don't know maybe we give it to them." Said Sofia. "Or maybe we throw the money in a well or something"

"That's a very weird way to bet on something but alright, your on!" Replied Susan. She then stopped and put down her bag with a thud. They were close to the station now and you could hear the sound of all the students waiting to board the train.

"Promise you'll write at least? You know I'll worry if you don't." Said Susan with pleading eyes directed at Sofia.

"Of course I'll write Suzy" Replied Sofia. "Not that I'll have anything exiting to tell you but I'll write about what I ate for breakfast, or what weird gift I got from my mum this Christmas or something."

"I look forward too it!" Said Susan genuinely. "Have a great break I'll see you in three weeks!"

"Bye! Say hello to uncle from me!" Waved Sofia as Susan started walking towards the train with her bag dragging after her.

"BYE HANNAH AND ZACHARIAS!". Yelled Sofia to Hannah and Zacharias who were walking a bit ahead. When she saw them wave back at her she turned around and started her walk back to the castle.

It was snowing lightly and the snow was laying down like a layer of powder on the already white ground when Sofia walked. She felt weirdly empty as she walked. What was she gonna do basically all alone for three weeks? Think about her dad?? That would be awful. Sure she had Ginny but she couldn't really go and ask Ginny to hang out every other hour the way she did with Sol.

Maybe she could explore the castle a bit further. See if she could find anymore hidden rooms or cool passages. Maybe if she felt bold she could make her way up to the Ravenclaw tower and see if there was anything there about her dad. Only maybe though.

When Sofia reached the Castle and got inside she couldn't help but marvel at beauty of its newly put up Christmas decorations. There were huge gold and red decorated Christmas trees in every corner, mistletoes were hanging over every doorframe, sparky glitter hung over the castle paintings and the statues had been enchanted to sing different Christmas carols. One of them to Sofias surprise seemed to be singing last Christmas which definitely differed from the others old school songs. Must be a clever student who did that thought Sofia as she headed of to her common room.

It was a bit odd to walk around in the basically empty castle halls and Sofia for once enjoyed the sound of the paintings on the wall talking. Usually they annoyed her but now they served as a great substitute to the usual chatter you would here while walking through the halls. Sofia even found herself listening in to some things they were saying.

The Hufflepuff common room was completely empty. Every arm chair and sofa stood empty and the only sound you could here came from the fireplace. Sofia knew that Nicola from her year was staying at Hogwarts as well this year but she must have been doing other stuff because this place was completely empty. Even Helga Hufflepuffs portrait was dark and empty. So Sofia laid down in a couch next to the fire and stretched out her limbs. To her delight she noticed that her feet were touching the end of the couch. She was getting tall. More adult really. Sofia fell asleep fast after that, lulled in to nap by the sparkling sound from the fire and the vague tingling sound from from the plants in the room.

And so the next few days passed by just about the same. Sofia would hang out in the common room. She napped, did some homework, read a book and stared in to the wall. She was incredible bored honestly. And she missed her friends. Hogwarts was really useless without them. She went to all the meals of the day with Nicola, who was staying at Hogwarts only because her grandparents were sick and her parents had to take care of them. At the meals the students still sat at their own tables which was a bit weird seeing that there was only two Hufflepuffs left, three Ravenclaws, Ten Gryffindors and zero Slytherins left. Old habits died hard apparently.

Sofia wanted an interruption to her boredom and on the day before Christmas it came in the form of Ginny Weasley. She caught Sofia leaving the great hall after dinner.

"Hey Sofia!" Yelled Ginny to get her attention. "I have something for you!"

"Really? A present! Oh you didn't have to?" Said Sofia with a smile. Ginny looked Exited as she handed the brown package over to Sofia.

"Oh I didn't, it was my mum really." Said Hinny and Grinned.

"You talk your mum about me?? That's going to make me tear up Ginny." Said Sofia, feeling happier then before. Ginny talked to her mum about her!!!!!.

"Oh shut it! I told her about your little issue.. oh just open it now!" Said Ginny, barely containing her excitement.

"The day before Christmas? Isn't that illegal?"
Said Sofia Jokingly.

"I wanna see you open it so just do it already!!" Replied Ginny a bit impatient.

Sofia opened the package carefully by Ginnys command. There was a few layers of brown paper but under it was beautiful blue knitted jumper with a big S on it. Sofia held it up to look at it and smiled. Ginny hadn't lied when she told her that she knew what to give her for Christmas!

"Ginny it's so pretty!! I have no words!" Said Sofia, still looking at her new jumper. "Your mum is amazing at knitting!"

"Don't tell her that or all of my clothes will be knitted from now on!" Said Ginny, looking happy that Sofia liked the gift. "But I'll let her know you like it! The color kind of match with your hair I thought!"

"I wouldn't even have thought about that!" Said Sofia and looked at the light blue color and the silver S. "Thank you so much Ginny."

Sofia pulled Ginny in to a fast hug without thinking about it and when she let go again it looked as if Ginny was blushing a little.

"No problem Sofia. Merry Christmas!"