Chapter 10 - Christmas At Hogwarts

Instructions

.｡*ﾟ+*.｡　chapter 10 - christmas at hogwarts　ﾟ+.｡*ﾟ+ “Vera, wake up!” Vera rubbed her eyes and sat up to find her cousin, Carina, next to her. Carina had on a fuzzy Christmas sweater, held two mugs of steaming hot chocolate, and was fidgeting with excitement. It was their first Christmas at Hogwarts! Vera couldn’t believe how much had happened since the start of first term. It practically felt like a lifetime ago. As the two girls gulped down their hot chocolate, Vera reminisced on everything that had happened that school year. Ollivander’s strange behavior, the Sorting, their secret Quidditch practices, Hagrid’s warning, Herbology classes with Blake, and the Games. The most pressing thing on Vera’s mind was Trelawney’s cryptic prophecy. It was about time she started figuring it out. “Beware the one who hunts without reason,” who could that be? Hunts who? She’d decipher that one later. “Beware the one who is not what he seems,” Well, she’d definitely have to be more careful with that one. “Beware the one who’ll betray you in the end, the one you believed was a friend.” As if that wasn’t creepy. However, logic would dictate that the closer she got to said “end”, the closer she’d come to finding out who would betray her. Vera immediately marked all of her close friends and family off her mental list of suspects. “To win you must lose,” That one was a little confusing. What would she lose? Something like a trial or something special to her, or someone, for that matter? “To live you must d!e,” Vera want very keen on looking into that one, so she moved on. “You must lie to save what you love.” If she wanted something bad enough to lie, it must be pretty important. “Have faith and never lose hope. You’ll never be alone.” After going over that entire prophecy, she was basically just supposed to stay positive while all of those bad things happened!? As much as she regretted it, Vera promised herself she would do all she could to make sure the events of the prophecy played out the way they were supposed to: without any intervention from her. Vera decided to linger no longer on the subject, it was Christmas morning after all. When she snapped back to attention, she noticed that Carina was staring at her oddly, “You okay, Vera? You looked, like, a million miles away.” “I’m fine.” Vera smiled a little too brightly, “Let’s go down to the common room!” Under the Ravenclaw Christmas tree was the biggest collection of parcels and gifts that Vera had ever seen. Her fellow classmates were already unwrapping their treasures and showing them to each other. Cleo displayed a set of fine paints she’d received to her best friend, Kiara Roham. Artemis was quickly emptying a box of cauldron cakes her mother sent her, and Clara and Bia were exchanging pairs of fluffy winter socks. Carina and Vera collected their gifts from the tree and sat down on one of the blue velvet couches. Vera watched Carina open her gifts first. Carina received a camera from her parents, three boxes of Exploding Bon Bons from her brother, and a pygmy puff from Vera. “Oh my goodness, Vera! I love it so much!” Carina hugged Vera. “What will you name it?” Vera laughed. “Hmm, I think I’ll name it Sadr, for the star in Cygnus” Carina held the fuzzy creature close. “So cute.” Vera grinned while Sadr rolled lazily in Carina’s palm. She turned to her own little stack of parcels and opened them. Vera unwrapped an empty photo album from Lucius and Narcissa. The cover was of the finest material Vera had seen since she left Malfoy Manor. She was sure the album would still look just as beautiful well into her adulthood. Vera quickly grabbed a little stack of papers from a nearby table and wrote, “Dearest Mother and Father,” There. She’d finish that later. There were lots of letters and treats from her friends; the sweetest card ever from Skye, all the chocolate frogs Vera could ever want from Maya, a cute note and books (YES BOOKS!) from Freya, and some sherbet lemons and a tight hug from Carina. There was also a bag of sugar quills, sparkling sweetly. The bag was addressed to her, but had no indication of whom it was from. Which was quite odd, because Vera hadn’t told anyone that sugar quills were her favorite, or maybe there was someone? The beginning of the school year seemed so distant, so she resolved that she’d work extra hard to keep it fresh on her mind. Next, she turned her eyes to the oddly large gift from Xavier. Continued in Notes and Credits!