People Watching.

Chapter Seventeen.

Christmas morning dawned, cold and white. (Y/n) had opened her presents by herself, put the presents away and stored the wrapping that could be saved, and took the presents she had for (and from) the remaining Gryffindors. 
(Y/n) wore a brown oversized cable knit turtleneck and a pair of blue jeans. She was relatively disappointed at the lack of a Weasley sweater, but she wouldn't admit that. She put on a nice pair of earrings and headed straight for the Gryffindor common room.
The Weasley twins were there to let her in, but not without a comment about her lack of sweater. (Y/n), in turn, told them that she'd wear the sweater Molly made her over the summer if it were really necessary.

"Hey. Pretty sure your sweater's under the tree," Percy greeted. "Or at least something addressed to you is under the tree," he corrected. "Don't know how that got mixed up."
(Y/n)'s eyebrows furrowed. She looked under the tree and, sure enough, there was a present addressed for her sitting under the tree. She cautiously plucked the letter from the box and opened it. 
It was a letter and a gift from Fleur! (Y/n) wondered how that got messed up. She scanned through the letter with a glowing smile. Returning the letter to its envelope, (Y/n) opened the box. Inside was content (Y/n) could only describe as an elegant mess. There was vintage jewellery and a vintage mirror; There was a fan whose leaves were feathers rather than fabric; There was a nightgown that went with a cute robe; and candles. Tons and tons of candles.

"Hey, besties," (Y/n) greeted as Ron, Harry, and Hermione came down the boys' staircase. Hermione gave (Y/n) a peace sign and the two exchanged gifts. Before (Y/n) opened hers, she gave the others theirs and vice versa. For the first time ever, Fred and George's gift didn't explode in (Y/n)'s face.
"Look at it," (Y/n) gasped to Hermione, holding up the extremely ugly frog mug the twins hadn't gotten her. "I love it. I'm going to drink everything from it. I love mugs— and tea sets, too; I have a whole collection."
Hermione nodded to this, then she gave the twins an odd look. (Y/n) held up one of the nail polish bottles (Y/n) had gotten as a stocking stuffer.
"Did you know that pet-safe nail polish is a thing?" (Y/n) asked."Well, it isn't really nail polish, it's more of little nail guards that prevent cats from scratching you. Anyways, they're applied to the cat like fake nails and I painted the nails.
"Ooh, and I also got a copy of Five Centuries of Verse," she added suddenly.

"I still haven't gotten my written apology, (Y/n)," Hermione said in a deadpan tone.

"...for literature?" Harry asked.

"No, for Dead Poets Society," Hermione answered, her eyes narrowed at (Y/n).

"You'll never be able to find a masterpiece of a movie after watching Dead Poets Society. You're welcome, Hermione," (Y/n) said.

No one, not even someone dreading taking Polyjuice Potion later, could fail to enjoy Christmas dinner at Hogwarts.
The Great Hall looked magnificent. Not only were there a dozen frost-covered Christmas trees and thick streamers of holly and mistletoe crisscrossing the ceiling, but enchanted snow was falling, warm and dry from the ceiling. Dumbledore led them in a few of his favourite carols, Hagrid booming more and more loudly with every goblet of eggnog he consumed. Percy, who hadn't noticed that Fred had bewitched his prefect badge so that it now read "Pinhead," kept asking them what they were sniggering at. Harry didn't even care Malfoy was making loud, snide remarks about his new sweater from the Slytherin table. With a bit of luck, Malfoy would be getting his comeuppance in a few hours' time.

"We still need a bit of the people you're changing into," said Hermione matter-of-factly, as though she were sending them to the supermarket for laundry detergent. "And obviously, it'll be best if you can get something of Crabbe and Goyle's; they're Malfoy's best friends, he'll tell them anything. And we also need to make sure the real Crabbe and Goyle can't burst in on us while we're interrogating him.
"I've got it all worked out," she went on smoothly, ignoring Harry's and Ron's stupefied faces. She held up two plump chocolate cakes. "I've filled these with a simple Sleeping Draught. All you have to do is make sure Crabbe and Goyle find them. You know how greedy they are, they're bound to eat them. Once they're asleep, pull out a few of their hairs and hide them in a broom closet."