Dwelling on Dreams (A Marauders Fan Fic)

A Snowy Christmas

The arrival of Christmas was heralded by another Quidditch win for Gryffindor, this time against Slytherin. With Gryffindor now firmly in the lead they all embraced the Christmas spirit excitedly and for a week afterwards the main topic of conversation was how they almost certainly now needed only to beat Ravenclaw to secure the Cup for the third time running.

The snow buried Hogwarts early and the Quidditch teams returning early after a bitterly cold practice, soaked through to the bone, became a common sight. Even the magical James Potter would retreat to the common room with a bright red nose and numb hands, something which didn’t seem to stop the girls who watched him closely any time he entered a room.

Cassie took to spending all her free time in the Gryffindor tower where the fires kept it toasty and warm, instead of in the draughty corridors. She was lucky though because most of her teachers cast spells to keep their classrooms warm – Slughorn’s Potions classroom was overbearingly hot he had so many fires burning in it. However, Cassie dreaded having Herbology because the greenhouses only just managed to stay above zero and they always managed to freeze half to death on the way up or down from their lessons. She thanked her lucky stars over and over again that she didn’t have to take flying lessons in the bitter cold; she didn’t think she would be able to stand it, even with the many layers that she wore underneath her robes.

All this, however, did nothing to lessen the Christmas cheer and in a matter of days Hogwarts was besieged by mistletoe at every turn, carol singing ghosts, the smell of roast turkey and Peeves who floated along the corridors throwing snowballs at unsuspecting pupils. Lily fell afoul of him one day on her way to lunch and spent the whole meal shaking snow out of her hair angrily and trying to stop it from dripping down the back of her robes.

The Christmas cheer did not, unfortunately, stop the teachers from piling more and more homework upon them and Cassie thought that she might possibly have died if it had not been for their collaboration; the four of them would do some of their homework together and, as long as she had another to trade, Lily was prepared to share homework that she had done with Cassie, with frequent reminders that she was only using it for reference.

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Christmas at the Jones household was an amusing (and rather jolly) affair. As they were wont to do, Jasmine and Archie caused more havoc than their daughter, mocked everyone and broke something.

“Miss Jasmine Miss, you just knocked over the table,” squeaked Yola as it crashed to the floor, books and cards flying everywhere, the radio smashing and the wizard’s chess game that Archie and Cassie had left there the day before teetering precariously on the arm of the chair.

“So I did Yola,” remarked Jasmine as she waved her wand, the table being put to rights again. “Thank Merlin for magic eh? That was all your fault Archie!”

“My fault? All I did was make a little feather tickle you!” he said from underneath his crown of tinsel.

“And you made me knock it over!”

“So? You knocked it; therefore it was your fault! I don’t see how it could possibly be my fault,” he said. “Look, I’m an angel.” He put his hands together to demonstrate his point. “And I even have a tinsel halo to match.”

“Can we open the presents yet?” asked Cassie eagerly.

“Of course. Shall we open our presents now?” Archie asked Jasmine as he Summoned a large pile of presents from under their tree. “Why am I being so silly? Of course we will!” Beginning with Cassie they all took turns to open something, her squeals of delight being well received by her parents who smiled at each other happily.