Courage

-8-

"I do feel so sorry," said Draco, one Potions class, "for all those people who have to stay at Hogwarts for Christmas because they're not wanted at home."

Draco had been even more unpleasant than usual since the Quidditch match, disgusted that the Slytherins had lost.

Professor McGonagall had come around the week before, making a list of students who would be staying for the holidays, and Layla remembered both Harry and Ron signing up. Harry, because he didn't want to go back to his cruel aunt and uncle, and Ron, because Mr and Mrs Weasley were going to Romania to visit their second eldest son, Charlie.

When they left the dungeons at the end of Potions, they found a large fir tree blocking the corridor ahead. Two enormous feet sticking out at the bottom and a loud puffing sound told them that Hagrid was behind it.

"Hi, Hagrid, want any help?" Ron asked, sticking his head through the branches.

"Nah, I'm all right, thanks, Ron."

"Would you mind moving out of the way?" came Draco's cold drawl from behind them. "Are you trying to earn some extra money, Weasley? Hoping to be gamekeeper yourself when you leave Hogwarts, I suppose — that hut of Hagrid's must seem like a palace compared to what your family's used to."

Ron dived at Draco just as Snape came up the stairs.

"WEASLEY!"

Ron let go of the front of Draco's robes.

"He was provoked, Professor Snape," said Hagrid, sticking his huge hairy face out from behind the tree. "Malfoy was insultin' his family."

"Be that as it may, fighting is against Hogwarts rules, Hagrid," said Snape silkily. "Five points from Gryffindor, Weasley, and be grateful it isn't more. Move along, all of you."

Draco, Crabbe, and Goyle pushed roughly past the tree, scattering needles everywhere and smirking.

"I'll get him," said Ron, grinding his teeth at Draco's back, "one of these days, I'll get him—"

"I hate them both," said Layla, "Malfoy and Snape."

"Come on, cheer up, it's nearly Christmas," said Hagrid. "Tell yeh what, come with me an' see the Great Hall, looks a treat."

So the four of them followed Hagrid and his tree off to the Great Hall, where Professor McGonagall and Professor Flitwick were busy with the Christmas decorations.

"Ah, Hagrid, the last tree — put it in the far corner, would you?"

The hall 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.

"How many days you got left until yer holidays?" Hagrid asked.

"Just one," said Hermione. "And that reminds me — guys, we've got half an hour before lunch, we should be in the library."

"Oh yeah, you're right," said Ron, tearing his eyes away from Professor Flitwick, who had golden bubbles blossoming out of his wand and was trailing them over the branches of the new tree.

"The library?" said Hagrid, following them out of the hall. "Just before the holidays? Bit keen, aren't yeh?"

"Oh, we're not working," Harry told him brightly. "Ever since you mentioned Nicolas Flamel we've been trying to find out who he is."

"You what?" Hagrid looked shocked. "Listen here — I've told yeh — drop it. It's nothin' to you what that dog's guardin'."

"We just want to know who Nicolas Flamel is, that's all," said Layla.

"Unless you'd like to tell us and save us the trouble?" Harry added. "We must've been through hundreds of books already and we can't find him anywhere — just give us a hint — I know I've read his name somewhere."

"I'm sayin' nothin," said Hagrid flatly.

"Just have to find out for ourselves, then," said Ron, and they left Hagrid looking disgruntled and hurried off to the library.

They had indeed been searching books for Flamel's name ever since Hagrid had let it slip, because how else were they going to find out what Snape was trying to steal? The trouble was, it was very hard to know where to begin, not knowing what Flamel might have done to get himself into a book. He wasn't in Great Wizards of the Twentieth Century, or Notable Magical Names of Our Time; he was missing, too, from Important Modern Magical Discoveries, and A Study of Recent Developments in Wizardry. And then, of course, there was the sheer size of the library; tens of thousands of books; thousands of shelves; hundreds of narrow rows.

Harry, Layla, Ron, and Hermione had already agreed they'd better not ask Madam Pince where they could find Flamel. They were sure she'd be able to tell them, but they couldn't risk Snape hearing what they were up to.

They found absolutely nothing, heading down to lunch.

"You will keep looking while Layla and I are away, won't you?" said Hermione, turning to Harry and Ron.

"And send both of us an owl if you find anything," Layla added.

"And you could ask your dad if he knows who Flamel is, Layla. Your dad used to be a student at Hogwarts. Maybe he'll know something," said Ron.

With a nod, Layla left with Hermione to finish packing the rest of her things that she was taking back just for the holidays.

The Christmas holidays were very uneventful for Layla. Remus had come to collect Layla from King's Cross station, and within seconds of her and her dad entering the house, Layla started talking about her three new friends, Hermione Granger, Ron Weasley, and Harry Potter. Remus seemed completely stunned when Layla announced that one of her best friends was a boy called Harry Potter, but he didn't say much about why he seemed so shocked. Remus did seem genuinely pleased for her nonetheless.

Layla had no idea what to send her friends for Christmas, so just sent the three of them sweets. She was ecstatic to find, on Christmas morning, that there were two gifts for her that weren't from her dad. Hermione had sent her some pumpkin pasties, Ron had sent her five more chocolate frogs, and Harry was the only one of the three who hadn't sent her sweets. He'd sent her a Christmas card with a galleon inside, as well as a small stuffed bear that he had mentioned in his Christmas card that Mr and Mrs Weasley had bought for him upon his very polite request. Layla also got a bunch of small things from her dad, including a small statue of a wolf which she placed on her shelf in her bedroom.

Layla used up a lot of paper writing almost daily letters to Harry, Ron, and Hermione, and was always pleased to see Hedwig, Harry's snowy owl, or one of the school tawny owls that Ron used. Hermione sent her letters back via the owl that Layla's dad let her use to send her own letters. She'd known that Hermione didn't have an owl and that muggle mailing wouldn't work since Layla lived in a wizarding town, Godric's Hollow, so Layla had instructed Remus' owl to not leave Hermione's house until Hermione had given the owl a return letter.

The day before Layla went back to school, she'd received a letter from Harry that intrigued her. Apparently, someone had given him a cloak of invisibility that used to belong to his dad, but didn't leave a note or anything. He seemed to have used it to sneak out of the common room at night three times in a row, but he was rather vague about the reasoning behind the rule breaking. Layla decided not to ask, as it seemed to trouble him quite a bit.