Saturday morning. Page 444. Snow flurries spiralized on the grounds, and Felicity shifted her weight to bundle the blanket tighter around herself on the common room sofa. Christmas Day awaited tomorrow. Since September's end, Felicity had prioritized O.W.L. preparation, but next plowing through the hefty psychology book. Luna refused to tell her of her hypothesis until she found the book she sought, should she be wrong.
With the frigid weather outside, cocoa warmed her stomach up even better than usual. She sipped her favorite creamy chocolate amaretto, thinking about Professor Snape.
Actually, she read every word in the book with Severus in mind. It was the whole reason she sought out self-analyzing her behavior, after all. George's remark echoed.
'. . . accentuated like Snape!'
At a small level, we subconsciously mimic the gestures and personalities of those we like. Especially with those we harbor an attraction for. She had summarized from parts of the book.
The Mere-Exposure Effect: the more we are exposed to something, the more we like it. By the Familiarity Principle, it said to justify why lovers "fall deeper in love" the more they are around each other.
Over the years, she had grown fond of Professor Snape. But with Occlumency Lessons, grading, and just prying him from his chained desk to occasional walks together, she depended on his company just as much as she did Luna's friendship.
Did Severus Snape, feared Potions Master, dark and brooding, return the flutters in her heart?
"Joining us at the Burrow tonight?"
Felicity slipped a bookmark. She looked up to find Ron, followed by Hermione and Harry entering the common room.
Felicity sighed. "I'd love to, but I'm helping with tree trimming at Luna's, then its all baking onward."
On the table, she scooped up a heap of gifts and handed them to the trio. "For you guys, Ginny, Fred, and George."
Felicity couldn't wait for them to open their gifts. For Hermione, she got her anti-fraying wool yarn, with S.P.E.W. efficiency in mind, along with a small booklet on various House Elf fashion patterns she could try from. Ron would open to find tickets to another international quidditch cup, and Harry a multi-weather, many pocketed jacket, which magically changed with his needs. It would help him organize his necessities for teaching the D.A, quidditch games, Hogsmeade dates, or straight-up Dark Wizard dueling. Ginny would receive a selection of her favorite ฬєครɭєץร' ฬเչคг๔ ฬђєєչєร products since in a fit of sibling quarrels, her brothers kept overcharging her. Felicity chose her messy, mischievous potions she had created to gift to the Weasley twins to use in their joke shop products.
"Aw, thanks!" Hermione beamed at her. Harry and Ron nodded and grinned in agreement.
The trio planted their gifts to Luna and Felicity on the table.
"Say, Harry?"
"Yeah?"
"You said you discovered your dreams take place in the Department of Mysteries, correct?"
He nodded. "I just don't understand what he's after."
Felicity frowned, thinking. Could Voldemort seek something similar to what Luna's seeking? No, saving lives won't interest him. In any case, however, she needed Luna to find that book before Voldemort found his unknown prize. "I'll ponder it, Harry. Can't guarantee much though," Felicity lifted her head up and faced the three, "Merry Christmas."
"Merry Christmas," they responded, then turned back to exit.
Felicity fumbled with a lightweight, yet bulky gift. A goblin-crafted cauldron lay wrapped in Christmas pine paper. This sort of innovation allowed potion experimenters, which she suspected Snape did quite a bit of, to reuse their cauldrons for decades since the goblin magic resisted explosions and staining. That, and it simply shows little wear and tear, and is easy to lift.
Would Snape find her odd to give a Christmas gift to him? Before, it was simply little things . . . ah well, an anonymous gifting suited better. When Snape retreated anywhere but his classroom, she would stop by and place the gift by his door, then scurry off.
By nightfall, Luna and Felicity caroled at her house, twirling each other around the tree, then giggled at the revival of old memories. It was a night free of quantum jumping, Voldemort, or Syndrome stress. Just an evening of two free spirits, making the most in their moments.
By morning, Felicity adored all her gifts. The trio gave one large group gift---an exotic potion ingredients pack, stuffed of strange and wonderful substances she had never seen nor heard of before. Amaretto-flavored chocolate frogs adorned the outside of the pack, from Mrs. Weasley's talented cooking.
Felicity opened Luna's gift to find a red-brown cloak, with silvery spiralized patterns adorning the fabric. She stood up, holding it to her chest, "oh, Luna, it's wonderful! Beautiful!"
Luna giggled. "Well go ahead, try it on!"
Felicity hurried to a mirror, throwing the cloak over herself. First, her arms disappeared, then her face as she drew up the hood . . . "You didn't!"
She turned around, glancing at the empty spot where she just saw her best friend. A cup of tea levitated mid-air, followed by a sudden appearance of a floating head. The rest of Luna reappeared, as she tore off an indigo cloak with the identical silvery adornments. "Feel the fabric. My father and I rescued a Demiguise, but in return, it offered locks of its hair for us to weave. I mean, it's not the Invisibility Cloak like Harry's---"
Felicity wrapped her arms around Luna, half of herself concealed from part of the cloak. "It's more than I could ever ask for, and I love it."
Luna patted her best friend's back. "Awesome. Because we're going to need to wear these when we seek out quantum jumping practice or the Room of Requirement."
Felicity pulled back, hands planted on hips. "You're kidding. Umbridge---"
"If it weren't for Harry's vision, Mr. Weasley might not be with us right now. As much as reality shifting is dangerous with her around, we've got to do all we can to seek out more lives in danger to help save them. I've a feeling I'm going to find the book soon. Count on it before February."
They sat back down again to an empty floor save for gifts and wrapping paper. "So, I'm going to summon your gift, because I couldn't wrap it," Felicity warned. "Close your eyes."
"Accio Luna's gift."
Carefully, Felicity placed the fist-sized soft object into Luna's palms. Quietly, Felicity stationed a small mechanism on the floor in between them. "Open."
A pink, round furry creature with beady blue eyes watched Luna curiously. "A Pygmy Puff! Is it a he or she?"
"A he," Felicity clarified. "Doesn't have a name yet."
Luna ran a hand gently over the Pygmy, which in turn nestled into a flattening ball in her palm. "You'll be C.C! Short for Cotton Candy."
Felicity clapped her hands together. "That's adorable!"
Luna glanced up, finding multi-colored tubes connecting and spiralizing around each other, with various transparent mini rooms. "It's much like a Muggle hamster playpen, except C.C. can venture in and out as he pleases rather than being caged up. I heard these are good for Pygmy spatial brain development."
"I knew you'd find treasures in that psychology book."
"More or less," Felicity nodded, recalling the animal chapter. "Hey---Oak, Monroe, would you guys leave him alone?"
"Sir Monroe!" Luna corrected, dashing towards the owls who made predatory flight towards a squealing C.C.
After Luna's motherly lecture on creature equality to the three of their furry and feathery companions, they resumed the Christmas festivities. It was a day of complete disregard for conventional celebration, just as they liked. And a perfect sleep after.
The next morning, Felicity groaned, rolling over in the guest bed.
"Are you going to Scarborough Fair? . . . Parsley, Sage, Rosemary, and Thyme . . ."
A squeaky, melodic voice passed over her ears. She buried her face in the pillow, mumbling. "Why . . . you singing . . . . potion . . . ingredients?"
"It's Boxing Day, December 26th, " Luna's voice interrupted the song. Felicity snapped open her eyes, to find C.C. fluttering himself as he sang. "Remember me to the one who dwells there . . . " Luna grinned down at the tiny, furry bard. "I think he likes old folk songs."
"Parsely, Sage, Rosemary . . . and Thyme," Felicity hummed along. "Challenge of the week: I'm going to develop a potion from those four herbs, and I'm going to call it C.C."
"She once was a true love of mine . . ."
The both of them broke in a laughing fit, especially Felicity, who tried imagining C.C. singing a romantic medieval ballad to another Pygmy Puff.
⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯○○◯○○⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯
Holiday break passed by quickly, and soon enough they found themselves on the train once again back to Hogwarts. Organizing their new items in their dorms, Felicity flopped on her bed, sinking into her pillow.
Calm white light from the polar outdoors glistened her wooden night table. She admired the new potions ingredients she had sorted by color in their fresh vials. And . . . she sat up on her elbow . . .
. . . a tiny, black box.
𝓜𝓲𝓼𝓼 𝓕𝓮𝓵𝓲𝓬𝓲𝓽𝔂 read in elegant cursive on the sliver of parchment. Removing the parchment, she flipped it to the other side. No from?
Periwinkle ribbons secured the box in a neat bow. Gently, she untied the gift, then lifted the top off.
Glistening inside, lie pure crystal. Silver swirls snaked around the smooth, chiseled surface, then lead to an intricate chain.
Felicity draped the necklace around her neck, then fastened it. Drawing a hand up to the pendant, she marveled at the weightlessness for a crystal. The chain hardly tugged at her neck.
Luna scooted over.
"Quartz." She lifted the chain, examining the crystal. "Whose gift is it from?" Luna glanced towards the black box.
"Speculation," murmured Felicity.
Luna's finger slid across the mechanism that tied the chain to crystal. "Felicity, get a potion!"
"Why? And which one?"
Luna shook her head. "No matter. Two or three."
After picking out select potions from her storage, she came back to Luna. She twisted her fingers again around the crystal's top, then removed the quartz from the chain. Both looked inside.
Hollow.
Luna held the quartz steady in her palms, then tipped Polyjuice Potion into the hollow quartz. She then meticulously fastened it to the chain again, in which the silvery wiring concealed any mechanism at all in its intricate design.
Filled with green liquid to the brim, the quartz shone of emeralds upon Felicity's neck. Luna unfastened the vial again, and tipped the Polyjuice back into its vial. Felicity then tipped Wolfsbane potion into the crystal, to which the quartz imitated a light version of sapphire. They then tested Felix Felicis.
"It's as if I'm wearing mineral gold," marveled Felicity.
"To the outside world, you wear a fine jewel: sapphire, emerald, or ruby. To you, it's a hidden potion, a necessity in which you must disguise."
Felicity tipped Liquid Luck back into her vial, then fastened the hollow quartz back onto the chain. "I'll keep an open mind for the quartz."
A radiating sensation tingled in her pocket. Luna fumbled in her own pockets. Drawing out two false galleons, they read the surface: front and back. Felicity rose, and folded the sliver of parchment with her name into the black box. She tucked the box into her drawer. The two donned their new invisibility cloaks, then left for the 7th floor.