Mischief Managed [Harry Potter Next Generation]

Chapter 35: Christmas... (and Newtmas, but this doesn't make any sense)

Once again, I was at Gryffindor's Common Room alone. No James, no Diggory, no Bruns, no John, no Jay... keep going. Just keep going.

That was, until I heard someone enter; James, of course. He sat by my side, close to the window, and asked, "Why aren't you going out of this room with your trunk and the rest of your stuff?"

"What do you mean?" I asked, frowning. He sighed and answered, "Weren't you going to spend Christmas at home?"

"Yes, I was going to. But my owl brought this" I showed him a letter. "My brother is sick, so my mother thought it would be better if I stayed here, y'know, at Hogwarts."

"I'm sorry. You must feel bad."

"No problem. Besides, she hadn't bought the plane tickets anyway" I giggled, making him smile.

"I still feel sorry for you. Are the others going to stay?"

"Yes, just you, the Brazilian gang and a few more people staying at Hogwarts for the holidays!"

He smirked, receiving a "That sounded pathetic" murmur from me.

"I'd love if my cousin stayed here too, though. Pixie, I mean. The one I told you about. "

He nodded slowly. "I know you feel; I wanted Fred and Roxanne to be here. They are twins, so both are only coming to Hogwarts next year. If they were here, I'd had already beaten the detention record— they help me with pranks. I think Roxie would like you—a lot, actually—and Fred would be friends with Diggory and John, maybe even with Jay and Bruno! I miss them, really do. Now, what people have been constantly asking me: is there anybody who I don't miss? Well, sort of. I'm not really close to uncle Percy's daughters, so yes, I don't reeeeeally miss them. Just a bit."

"Do you miss Rose and Hugo?"

"Merlin, you know everyone's name! I do, I like them a lot. Rose may be that annoying type-of kid sometimes"

"Every time, you mean" I smiled.

"But I still miss her. And... I like playing with Hugo. I think you understood what I'm talking about."

  I nodded. "It's tough being the eldest son or daughter sometimes, isn't it?"

  "Yes, it's just... I don't know how to explain. As the eldest son, I should carry the legacy, but everyone points Albus as the one who should be doing that. And I don't even know why! Why?"

I patted his shoulder. "We will discover. Trust me."

I made James smile, "Thanks."

***

"Merry Christmas!"

"Merry Christmas guys!" James said, handing us presents, staying with one box. "Giving this to John later."

  "Already gave you your present, Bruns, actually I have it to you yesterday. Here it is Digs!" I gave him a box.

"Thanks Carina! And that's for you!" He gave me an little box. I thanked him and hugged him.

"Carina, could you please come with me?" James asked.

"Hum... sure!" I walked with him. We went out of the common room, actually we went to the Astronomy Tower. It was sunny, and surprisingly quiet. James took a deep breath and said:

"I want to give you something. "

"Well, me too" I smiled. "Let me go first, please. Here it is. Merry Christmas, James!" I gave him a heavy box. He opened it, and a smile instantly appeared on his face. It was not one of those smiles that he gave me on that week that we barely spoke with each other, it was one of those smiles he gave me when a prank of his worked, when he was extremely happy. He hugged me, all excited and happy.

"Thank you so, so much! This was the only Quidditch book left for me to complete my collection! How did you know?"

I shrugged, smiling. "What are friends for?"

I gave him a broomstick repair kit and a Quidditch book. He apparently loved them, as I loved what he gave me.

  What did he give you, Carina?

  Just wait and see. You won't wait that long actually, trust me.

  "It's my turn now, I guess" he smiled. "Happy Christmas."

  He handed me a small blue box with a ribbon. I took the ribbon off, and opened it; there was a golden heart-shaped necklace inside, one of the most beautiful necklaces that I had ever seen.

"It's... beautiful!" I whispered, smiling like crazy.

"Did you like it?" He asked, hopeful.

I hugged him and whispered next to his ear, "I loved it."

He smiled as well, "I'm glad you did. Open it up!"

"Open it?"

"Yes! Here" he showed me a place to open the necklace. And I did. First of all, I saw a picture; me, James, John, Bruns, Diggory and Jay. Some of us were smiling, others were laughing, like me. I smiled when I saw that; how could James know exactly what I wanted for Christmas? I hadn't told him about that...

  There was also one half of the heart with nothing inside, meaning that I could put a new picture. I smiled even more (if that was possible), and looked at him, and good lost in his eyes. "I, uh... thank you, Jamie. Thank you so, so much."

  He smirked. "You're very welcome, Carina."

   I came back to reality. "We... we should go back." I shook my head, and indicated the door.

  He nodded. "Yes... we should. "

***

   We ate a lot in the special Christmas meal (some more than others— yes, I am talking about James), the rest of the day was also cool. I mean, my friends gave me stuff, I gave them stuff, I got stuff from my family... stuff.

  Actually, we had a really good Christmas. We. Me, Jay, Bruno, John, Diggory, and James Sirius. We were united, we were together. We. Together. Celebrating Christmas. Yeah... I know.

  "You know what was missing? A kiss" Digs said, later on.  "Between you and someone else, who we both know who is."

  I rolled my eyes. "Idiot. You. Are. Just. Another. Idiot."

  "I know" he grinned. "And you are just another stubborn soul that I have to talk with everyday" he gave me a laugh. God, why we always give a laugh? I have to find another way to describe that.

  "I know, right? It will be always like that, I think. I'll annoy you, you'll annoy me..."

  He grunted, feigning disgust. "Always."

  I smiled. If I had to spend eternity with a group of people, I'd chose them. Diggory, James, Bruno, John, Jay. My friends. Cheesy and cliché, but that's actually the truth. And... I wanted to make a quote. There it is.

Note: guys, I'm traveling! I'm almost finished with the another chapter, by the way. Hope you like this!!