Order of the Sphinx... Why should HP get to have all the fun?

Chapter 13: The Mad Hatter's Tea Party

Dumbledore was letting us borrow a beautiful old room in the east wing of the castle and one could tell by looking at it, it had been originally designed to host these sort of parties. It had been abandoned for a while though, and was insanely filled with Monet’s of cobwebs and so laden with dust; it looked as if it had snowed in that room too. When we had agreed whole heartedly with it, Dumbledore had set the house elves to work cleaning it. They were funny little creatures and they were cute, in a way that a hobo was cute. But cute none the less.

It was a chilly morning, but we were all eager to get going, knowing we had to make the most of our time there at Hogsmede. We had developed a game plan and it was simple yet effective and relied solely on luck; We would tag off, with two or three people entertaining the birthday girl while the rest of us dashed off to purchase a present, then when the others returned, more excuses were to be made as the others disappeared. Simple and hopefully effective.

The letters from AV came every Friday and they had taken to providing little snippets and clues as to where they were and what relationship I had with them. What I knew for certain was they were defiantly a Varias and in some shape or form, we had a blood connection. How this was possible was still a mystery to me, as Dumbledore had given me the impression that all the Varias clan had been wiped out. Maybe my grandad had a brother he wasn’t telling me about.

Wouldn’t surprise me, the old man didn’t say much, most of the talking was left up to my Bunica who happily filled the space with her constant chattering. Don’t get me wrong, I love the woman, but it was plainly obvious to see where Roxie’s obsessive monologues came from.

Half my mind was on this and the other half on the conversation which was currently flying around the group as we strode through the ankle deep snow on our way to Hogsmede. We were lagging behind the main group of students, preferring to stay in our little huddle of Australian foreign learning. The rest of the kids were happy to leave us be as they couldn’t understand half our jokes and thought we were plain weird. Hell I didn’t blame them, we were a bunch of nut jobs and this was probably the reason why we were all friends.

We reached Hogsmede finally, and I was beginning to feel the cold air seeping down into my bones. I shuddered, despising the feeling. It may come as a surprise, especially considering my heritage, but I hate the cold. I hated winter too. It was my least favourite season. I hated the sting and the bite on my cheeks which always seemed to be a constant pink during the colder months. I loved the hot, sticky summer months when it felt like you were going to melt like the Wicked Witch of the West. I adored it, but was the only one out of my company who did. I was an Aussie to the bones and I felt such a strong bout of homesickness that my legs almost buckled beneath me and threw me face first into the snow.

They didn’t and I walked towards the Three Broomsticks with my friends all in tow. We seemed to have silently agreed that a bit of refreshment was in order. And I gave Will a significant look, hoping he would take up the hint. He did, his Slytherin cunningness kicking in. As we all filed through the door, tugging on scarves and gloves, he dithered back, gently taking a fistful of Colin’s clothes and holding him slightly back. Colin caught on quickly and out of the corner of my eye I saw them both nod. I steered Ivy, Alice and Jen towards a table in the back of the pub and plonked myself down.

Alice waved her hand in the air for the waiter who spotted her quickly and rushed over swiftly. After placing our orders- One ice water and three butterbeers- the boys made their excuses, saying that they had heard that the broom shop down the road had just got in the newest range of flying robes and they wanted to take a look. If Ivy suspected foul play she didn’t let on and waved them off before diving back into her conversation with Jen about watercolours in some drawing Jen was doing.