Collision Of Worlds: The Crystal Lake

Chapter 19: The Christmas Countdown

Previously:

What was so different about Hermione? Maybe she should help Jayden with his plans against them...

***

A month of lessons passed, and it was five days till Christmas. Half of the Slytherins had gone home, whereas the other half stayed quietly in the dungeons. All except for Emma, of course - she had been spying on the Gryffindor table since the troll incident. She couldn't help but notice Tom and Hermione spending a lot of time together. She also couldn't help thinking about Jayden's plan; why was he so against them? Why her? No one knew for sure, but Emma couldn't help but wish she was in Granger's place. Parker and Dahlia were levitating a Christmas tree into the Great Hall, on Proffesor Flitwick's orders.
"This is harder than I thought." The Slytherin sighed - her arm had been aching after holding her wand for ages.
"Yeah." Parker smiled, it had been ages since they properly talked. "I was thinking lately..."
"What?"
"W-well... there won't be many people here at the Christmas holidays. I thought maybe we could spend some time together during it?"
"We already spend every second together with the others. Why do we need to?" The girl became curious.
"Alo-.... without Evan and Terrence and everyone being annoying." He immediately said.
"Oh, sure." Dahlia focused on the spell. "But there's something else - move the tree to the right - I'd also like to talk about."
"What's that, exactly?" The Gryffindor  asked curiously as he moved around the plant.
"Well when we first arrived here I thought-" Dahlia started.
"What are you all up to?" Adam peeked his head through the pines playfully.
"Nothing, Adam." She waved at her friend.
"None of your business!" A sharp voice came from the other side of the tree.
"Parker! Don't be so rude... sorry, he's not usually like this!"
"It's ok." The Hufflepuff chuckled, loving how he could make him angry just by appearing. "I just came to talk to you."
"To me?" Dahlia raised an eyebrow.
"Yes, you!" Adam laughed again. It was as if the entire conversation was a joke.
"Okay, then." She nodded. "Can you lift the tree by yourself, please?"
"Yeah, yeah whatever." Parker shrugged, speaking with his teeth slightly clenched.
"Are you sure?" Her wand slipped gracefully into the long robe pockets. "If you want I could get Evan to help you."
"No, I'm fine really. Bye." He sounded very monotone and passive-aggressive.
"Bye!" The girl ran off. Parker groaned inwardly - couldn't he have had at least one minute to spend with her? After all this time, it was as if he had been replaced. Once the tree was in its place Proffesor Flitwick awarded him with five house points; he was still in a bad mood.

***

Quietly, he sat down at the Gryffindor table with Ron, Harry, Tom and Amy.
"What's wrong, dude?" Tom bit into a sandwich. "You look mad."
"Am not. Just hungry." Parker disguised his face with food. Amy tilted her head and over-exaggerated a blink as if to show this was unusual for him, and he needed to tone it down. The group stared at him, puzzled. He was usually a happy, optimistic character - now he was acting a lot like Malfoy. Ron narrowed his eyes at the new side of Parker.
"Sorry." He apologised. "Just can't wait till Christmas, and I'm a little stressed - that's all."
"Sure..." Amy loudly sipped from her goblet.
"Let's change subject." Harry intervened. "How are you and your friends?"
"Us and our friends?" Tom raised an eyebrow. They hadn't been doing the most... 'responsible' things recently.
"It's 'our friends and us' actually." Parker corrected them, still a little annoyed.
"You love correcting our grammar, don't you?" The chaser rolled his eyes.
"Nope." The boy's expression was stone. "It's just a way to tell you things still apply from the muggle world, even if we are in the wi-"
"Hermione's here!" Amy pointed out before the boys could get into an argument. The female Gryffindor rushed over, books in hand, to the house table. Her hair was in a bushy mess and her teeth were a brilliant white - thanks to her parents.
"Hi Harry, Hi Ron." The bookworm planted herself next to her friends.
"Hello Mione." Tom smiled.
"I swear you two are the worst at talking to each other." Amy grabbed a slice of ham.
"Of course they are. They can't flirt for anything!" Ron remarked, waiting for a reaction.
"I'm not flirting!" Hermione blushed and slightly shoved him.
"Neither am I!" Tom agreed, focusing on his food.
"Sure, mate, sure." Parker said sarcastically.
"What are you all doing for Christmas?" Ron asked.
"Buying presents, putting up decorations the sort." Amy listed off the activities they were doing. "Talking about what were doing, maybe we should start analysing the Thing." She tilted her head at Parker and Tom.
"Oh yeah.."
"The Thing."
"What thing?" Hermione asked, turning to Harry and Ron who just shrugged.
"Nothing. Just ignore us." Amy wiggled her eyebrows at her pun. The others began eating and talking to each other, doing as she asked.
"Should we bring Hannah?" Parker wondered. "I mean, she was with us last time."
"Maybe not." Tom answered.
"Why? We can trust her." Amy protested. "She already knows the riddle."
"You know how you and Dahlia felt there's something wrong with my broom...." Tom trailed off. In the corner of his eye, he locked eyes with a familiar face. The girl turned around and ran to the left corridor.
"Yeah." Amy said, confused at how not bringing Hannah was related to a broom.
"I have a feeling that this is about something that's about just us seven." Tom continued quickly. "Hannah is awesome - can't lie - but maybe it's not wise if we bring her. She's completely forgotten about the riddle - I talked to her a while back. Just a feeling..."
"Ok." Amy gave up. "We'll meet in the library as usual, Tom you get-"
The boy was gone; no where to be seen.
"Tom?" Hermione stood and looked around. "It's as if he disappeared into thin air."
"Parker, you go get Terrence, Ruby and Dahlia." Amy ordered. "I'll see if I can find Evan and Tom. And have you noticed we always meet up in the library - after the Gryffindors go get everyone? I thinks it's because there's three of us and it's easier for the writers to create a conversation at our table."
"Aye, aye m'am!" Parker saluted, ignoring the girl's fourth wall break. Amy glared at him, slightly chuckled and facepalmed. How annoying could this boy get?