21 Winter

November 1991, Hogwarts

Along with November came very cold weather. The mountains around the school became icy gray and the lake was like chilled steel. Every morning the ground was covered in frost. Hagrid could be seen from the upstairs windows defrosting broomsticks on the Quidditch field, bundled up in a long moleskin overcoat, rabbit fur gloves, and enormous beaverskin boots. If you didn't look closely you could mistake him for a bear.

Another thing was that the Quidditch season began. And the first match was Slytherin vs Gryffindor. Our group of four sat in one of the viewing towers around the large Quidditch field and waited for the game to start.

I sighed. "Why did I have to come?" I give Tracey, who was the one who dragged me here, the stink eye. The brunette witch seemed unbothered by my annoyance and said in an excited tone. "Come on! Don't be a party-pooper. It's Quidditch! The best game in the world! You will love it." She then turned back to Theo and continued their talk about their favorite professional Quidditch Teams. Tracey's favorite team was Montrose Magpies and Theo's was Wimbourne Wasps. Even Daphne seemed hyped up about the upcoming match.

It's not that I dislike Quidditch. It looks like a fun game to me. I just have a few problems with it. One of them is that I don't like the concept of a Seeker. This position almost makes other players useless. The things I like most about Quidditch are the Beaters. Maybe I can try to become a Beater next year. It could be fun and I won't even need to buy myself a broom as Malfoy will buy a Nimbus 2001 for each member of the team. So I will have a pricey flying broom for free.

"What!? What is Potter doing on the pitch? First years aren't allowed to have brooms! He even has a Nimbus 2000! That's clear favoritism!" Shouted Theo, looking through the binoculars at the Savior who just entered the pitch along with the rest of the Gryffindor Quidditch team.

Slytherins started booing and shouting various profanities, but they were overwhelmed by the cheering of Gryffindors and the other two Houses. It was sort of a rule at Hogwarts that when Slytherin plays, then the rest of the school cheers for the other team. Slytherin really isn't well-liked by the other Houses. Well, the snakes have only themselves to blame.

The match was rather boring. They all flew too slow in my eyes. The only interesting things were the commentary of Lee Jordan and Professor Snape's burning robes.

The match ended with Potter catching the Snitch with his mouth, nearly swallowing it.

...

Christmas was coming. One morning in mid-December, Hogwarts woke to find itself covered in several feet of snow. The lake froze solid and the Weasley twins were punished for bewitching several snowballs so that they followed Quirrell around, bouncing off the back of his turban.

Poor Voldemort. He sure has it rough.

But the ones that had it rougher were the owls. The few of them that managed to battle their way through the stormy sky to deliver mail had to be nursed back to health by Hagrid before they could fly off again. I helped him with it as I was visiting Yuki at that time and I felt sorry for the poor owls. I am also on friendly terms with Hagrid. He has a truly pure soul, literally. I often visit him and I help him take care of the Thestrals. I have come to like these beautiful nightmarish creatures and they like me too.

Oh and about Yuki. The effects of my blood that I have been giving her along with the owl treats have finally begun to show. She is growing bigger, right now she is almost as big as an eagle owl and her pure white feathers got a silverish tint. And the amount of magic flowing in her body is ten times bigger than the other owls. She also doesn't seem bothered by the freezing weather. Though I don't know if it also had an effect on her intelligence as she was smart from the beginning.

Currently, I was going through the dungeons after our last class of Potions before the Christmas break. The Potions lessons are enjoyable. Thanks to Professor Snape, I work alone and I could do pretty much whatever I want as long as I have perfectly mixed Potion at the end of the class. Being a favored students feels nice. The only problem I have with Professor Snape is that he wants my genius self to do assignments like the ethers. And other Professors aren't stingy when giving us assignments to work on either. Such a bother.

{Why are you complaining. You don't even do the assignments by yourself. You just have me do them. You are welcome.} Said Agony with her sharp voice.

'And I am grateful. But you can only blame yourself, with your absurd speed of writing and superb penmanship.' I replied to her. Furthermore, we also have to write with quills instead of pens. And instead of paper, we write on parchment. So bothersome. I am so glad that I don't have to write any notes during classes with my perfect memory.

"The dungeons are really freezing during winter. No wonder mom sent me the letter in which she wrote to me to properly dress up." Said Tracey while tightening the striped shawl around her neck. Her breath formed into a mist after leaving her bluish lips. Theo too was trembling from the cold and Daphne, the Ice Queen wasn't a fan of the cold either from the looks of it.

"Suou, doesn't the cold bother you?" Asked me the brunette witch.

"Nope. I am good." What kind of Demon would I be if I was bothered by this level of coldness. That would be embarrassing.

"Hmm, you know and can do a lot of Spells right?" Continued the brunette. "Can't you grace your pitiful friends with some of your magic?" She asked with puppy eyes and I could feel the gaze of my two other friends on me. Sigh. I pulled out my white yew wand and cast a Warming Charm on their robes.

We had over an hour before lunch so we decided to go to the Library to kill some time over some books. On our way, we were greeted with the sight of Hagrid pulling a large fir three into the Great Hall while talking with the Golden Trio. I would have greeted him but I know that it's rude to butt into an ongoing conversation. Furthermore, my relationship with the Golden Trio isn't that great.

Hermione doesn't hang with me in the library anymore and seldomly talks to me after she became part of the famous trio. I blame mainly Ron for this. He doesn't like me just because I am a Slytherin. It doesn't matter that I am an orphan and not some bigoted pureblood. From his point of view, I am just another slimy snake and a dark witch. Then there is the young savior, who doesn't like Slytherin because of Malfoy and his gang, and Ron who told him that Slytherin is some den full of dark wizards. In addition, when Professor Snape picks on him during the Potion classes, he often compares him with me. So he most likely doesn't like me too.

We peeked into the Great Hall. It looked spectacular. Festoons of holly and mistletoe hung all around the walls, and no less than twelve towering Christmas trees stood around the room, some sparkling with tiny icicles, some glittering with hundreds of candles. In the hall were Professor McGonagall, Professor Flitwick, and some of the Prefects. They all were busy with the Christmas decorations.

I hope I don't become a Prefect in the fifth year. From what I have seen so far, the Prefects are only free labor. They had to patrol the corridors of the castle at night, watch over the first years and do various tasks at Professors' calls. Well, there is almost no chance that they will make me a Slytherin Prefect. Being a muggle-born and all.

We reached the Library and quietly went to our usual table at the corner under the piercing stare of the Librarian, Madam Pince. After a while of reading, we started to talk about what we will do during the winter holidays that are starting tomorrow. Apparently, the Ministry is holding a Yule Ball every year the day before Christmas and the three of them must attend this year. I don't envy them at all. As for me, I will be staying at Hogwarts and trying to look for a certain mirror.

"Oh right. Today is the day that our little bet is due." Said Tracey with a happy tone and sharply looked at Theo and Daphne. They both clicked their tongue and reluctantly gave the evilly smiling brunette witch a Galleon each. I looked at them and asked. "What bet?"

Theo sighed and explained. "We bet among ourselves about when you will stop going around barefoot and start wearing your shoes again. I bet at the start of December, Daphne bet that you will wear your shoes after the snowfall and Tracey bet that you will stay barefoot until now." Tracey made a victorious grin and secretly gave me one of the Galleons under the table. A cunning little snake she is.

After it was time for us to go to have lunch, I told the others to go ahead as I wanted to finish my book. Only five pages were remaining and I like to finish things. After a short while, I was finally done with the book and could go to eat. I wonder what the little elves decided to cook today?

I put the book back in its place on one of the numerous bookshelves, but when I was about to leave the Library, I noticed Hermione browsing through a thick book while quietly murmuring the word 'Flamel'.

Well, the Golden Trio will figure out who Flamel is soon anyway, so I can help her out I guess. And she will owe me a favor. "If you are looking for Nicolas Flamel, then you are in the wrong section of the Library." I voiced out and the bushy-hared witch immediately snapped her head in my direction with widened eyes and asked in surprise. "How do you know that I am looking for Nicolas Flamel?" Suspicion in her eyes.

I gave a bored look and said. "You were murmuring the word 'Flamel' over and over again while you were browsing through that book." Her face gained a red tint from embarrassment. "Oh, *cough* so, you know who Nicolas Flamel is?" She quickly composed herself and asked.

"He is an over six hundred years old French wizard, famous alchemist, and the only known creator of the Philosopher's Stone. So you won't find him in..." I paused and looked at the plague on the bookshelf, "... section of Famous Wizards and Witches of the 19. century." After I finished, Hermione ran up to me and hugged me.

"Thank you! You helped me a lot." She said excitedly. "I have to go see Harry and Ron now. See you later Suou. Oh and happy Christmas." She let me go and disappeared into the Library, leaving me there, standing alone and lost in my thoughts.

It's been a really long time since anyone hugged me. It's... not so bad.

I continued my way, but something came to my mind as I entered the decorated Great Hall.

Right, I have friends now, so I will have to get some Christmas gifts for them. Sigh. What should I even gift them?

...

(Tracey Davis POV)

I already finished my light lunch when Suou, my eccentric and dear friend, arrived at the Great Hall. She came to us at our group seat at the end of the Slytherin table, but she suddenly stopped and stared at me.

What's going on? It's hard to read her with her expressionless face. Daphne too has an expressionless face, but she lets some emotions slip and I have learned to read her mood as we have been friends for years. But Suou is really like a doll. It's rare to see some emotions color her face.

She sat close to me and then hugged me all of sudden.

What? I thought that she wasn't a physical type of person as she has that untouchable aura around her.

She let go of me after a few seconds. She looked at me, nodded, and just started to eat without any explanation while ignoring the confused looks that I gave her along with Daphne and Theodore sitting across from us.

Really, what's going on?

...

(Suou POV)

Hugs are good. I thought while enjoying my lunch. And these roasted chicken wings with garlic sauce are also good.