Christmas was on its way, brightening everyone's spirit. One morning in mid-December, Hogwarts woke to find itself covered in several feet of snow. The lake froze solid, and a few daring students ice skated on it. Delilah didn't, she never had learned how to skate, but it was entertaining to watch.
The cold, despite making Delilah more cheerful, did have its downsides. The few owls that managed to battle their way through the stormy sky had to be nursed back to health by Hagrid before they could fly off again, making it so that less and less owls were being sent, cutting off Draco's supply of sweets from his parents. Delilah wouldn't have cared, but he usually shared them with her.
Still, no one could wait for the holidays to start. While the Slytherin common room and the Great Hall had roaring fires, the drafty corridors had become icy and a bitter wind rattled the windows in the classrooms. Worst of all were Professor Snape's classes down in the dungeons. While Delilah loved potions, the room was freezing and their breath rose in a mist before her and so she kept as close as possible to their hot cauldrons. It made everyone even more eager than normal for the holidays to start
The main reason that Delilah was excited for the holidays to start, however, was because she didn't have to go back to Privet Drive. Professor Snape had come around the week before, making a list of students who would be staying for the holidays, and Delilah had signed up at once. She didn't feel sorry for herself at all; this would probably be the best Christmas she'd ever had because while most of her friends were going, Daphne and Draco were staying. Daphne because she didn't want to spend time with Astoria, her little sister. Draco didn't say why he was staying, but Delilah wasn't going to complain, even if he could get obnoxious.
When Delilah and Draco left the dungeons at the end of Potions, they had found a large fir tree blocking the corridor ahead. Two enormous feet sticking out at the bottom and a loud puffing sound told them that Hagrid was behind it.
"Hi, Hagrid, want any help?" Weasley (Delilah still refused to call him Ronald, even after the troll incident, she just didn't like him) asked.
"Nah, I'm all right, thanks, Ron."
"Would you mind moving out of the way?" Delilah politely asked.
"Are you trying to earn some extra money, Weasley? Hoping to be gamekeeper yourself when you leave Hogwarts, I suppose — that hut of Hagrid's must seem like a palace compared to what your family's used to."
"Draco!" Delilah may not like Weasley but that was very rude.
Ron dove at Draco just as Snape came up the stairs.
"WEASLEY!"
Ron let go of the front of Draco's robes.
"He was provoked, Professor Snape," said Hagrid, sticking his huge hairy face out from behind the tree. "Malfoy was insultin' his family."
"Be that as it may, fighting is against Hogwarts rules, Hagrid," said Snape silkily. "Five points from Gryffindor, Weasley, and be grateful it isn't more. Move along, all of you."
Draco pushed roughly past the tree and Delilah followed closely behind him.
"Draco, that was rude," chastised Delilah as soon as they were out of earshot.
"What? He's an idiot and deserves it."
"Yes, but in front of everyone? That's just stupid."
Draco actually laughed at that.
"So you're mad at me for doing it in public, and not because it was rude?"
"Well, you still shouldn't have said it, even if it is true, because how would you like it if someone started insulting your family? If you insult anyone it should be about them, not their family. People can't control their family, but they can control themselves so it would be more insulting if you said something along the lines that even if Hagrid had needed help then Ron wouldn't be strong enough to help, or that a scrawny git like him would get squashed before he could help," she pointed out.
Draco laughed harder as they reached the common room.
"You amaze me, getting mad at me for not insulting someone good enough, no wonder you're a Slytherin."
Once the holidays had started, Delilah had a great time. She hung out with her friends, and felt strangely happy and content. They had the common room mostly to themselves, so they were always able to get the good spots by the fire, where Draco had started teaching Delilah and Daphne how to play wizard chess. It was exactly like Muggle chess, except that the figures were alive, which made it a lot like directing troops in battle. Draco's set was very nice and Delilah enjoyed playing with him, even if she wasn't too good at it yet.
On Christmas Eve, Delilah went to bed looking forward to the next day for the food and the fun, but not expecting any presents at all. When she woke early in the morning, however, the first thing she saw was a small pile of packages at the foot of her bed.
She took her presents and met Daphne and Draco in the common room.
Delilah opened her first gift and was surprised to see it was from Hagrid and inside was a roughly cut wooden flute which he had obviously whittled himself.
A second, very small parcel contained a note.
We received your message and enclose your Christmas present. From Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia. Taped to the note was a fifty-pence piece.
"That's friendly," said Delilah.
Daphne was fascinated by the fifty pence.
"This is so cool! What a shape! This is money?"
Delilah let her keep it.
She next opened Daphne's present which was makeup and Pansy's was a book about doing makeup.
Draco's on the other hand was a silver with a serpent. She hugged him and thanked him as he helped her put it on, though she had trouble keeping a straight face when he opened hers to find a silver serpent .
Delilah had given Daphne a fancy set of makeup in which she had squealed about. She loved makeup with a passion. It made no sense to Delilah, but if it made her happy who cared.
Harry had given her a book full of rare potions and how to make them. Delilah grinned as she flipped through it.
Delilah was surprised to see two more presents.
"Who could these be from?" she mumbled, mostly to herself.
Delilah opened the smaller one and saw a note, it read:
This was your mothers. Each year she got a new charm. I added a delilah flower.
It wasn't signed, but the handwriting seemed very familiar, as if she saw it on a weekly basis. She opened it and saw a silver charm bracelet that already had charms on it. There was a wand, a lily, a stag, a dog, a potion bottle, a doe, and a delilah. Delilah put it on, the note had said that it was her mothers, which she didn't quite believe, but it would have been a strange lie to tell.
She opened the last present and found something odd. It was a very small bottle full of silvery dust on a necklace. This too had a note and wasn't signed either. It read: This is a bottle of Dream Dust, it is a rare dust that does whatever the owner needs. It can heal or even make others tell the truth. All it needs is a pinch.
Delilah put the necklace on under her snake necklace.
Draco read the notes over her shoulder and whistled.
"Dream Dust is extremely valuable, though most people don't know about it," Draco observed.
"What? You got Dream Dust? That is so cool! I've never seen it, but from what I've heard it is super rare and very useful! It can do almost anything, all with pinch! A full bottle, even that small, is a lot!" Daphne exclaimed.
"Well, can you guys keep it a secret? I don't want people to know."
They both agreed.
Delilah had never in all her life had such a Christmas dinner. A hundred fat, roast turkeys; mountains of roast and boiled potatoes; platters of chipolatas; tureens of buttered peas, silver boats of thick, rich gravy and cranberry sauce — and stacks of wizard crackers every few feet along the table. These fantastic party favors were nothing like the feeble Muggle ones that the Dursleys usually bought, with their little plastic toys and their flimsy paper hats inside. Delilah pulled a wizard cracker with Daphne and it didn't just bang, it went off with a blast like a cannon and engulfed them all in a cloud of blue smoke, while from the inside exploded a real admiral's hat and several live, white mice which would probably become Mrs. Norris's dinner. Up at the High Table, Dumbledore had swapped his pointed wizard's hat for a flowered bonnet, and was chuckling merrily at a joke Professor Flitwick had just read him.
Flaming Christmas puddings followed the turkey. Draco nearly broke his teeth on a silver Sickle embedded in his slice. Delilah watched Hagrid getting redder and redder in the face as he called for more wine, finally kissing Professor McGonagall on the cheek, who, to Delilah's amazement, giggled and blushed, her top hat lopsided.
When Delilah finally left the table, she was laden down with a stack of things out of the crackers, including a pack of luminous, unexplodable balloons, a new wizard chess set, a bag full of chocolate frogs, and a wart and zit remover.
Delilah spent a happy afternoon with Draco and Daphne just messing around. Delilah even convinced them to join a snowball fight with the Gryffindors including Harry and all the Weasley's minus the one that was a Prefect. Delilah had been put on a team with Fred and George, who were the twins who had thrown the snowballs at the back of Quirrell's turban.
They had dominated. Together with Delilah's cleverness and their creativity they had come up with plans that made them destroy the other team, even with the smaller team.
"You would make a great prankster," Fred told her.
She responded with, "What do you mean would? I already am," and then strutted away with Draco and Daphne while the twins laughed.
Then, cold, and wet, they went back to the Slytherin common room, where Delilah broke in her new chess set by losing spectacularly to Draco. She suspected she wouldn't have lost so badly if Daphne hadn't tried to help her so much.
After a meal of turkey sandwiches, crumpets, trifle, and Christmas cake, everyone felt too full and sleepy to do much before bed except sit and watch the flames in the common room die down.
It had been Delilah's best Christmas day ever. Yet something had been bothering her all day. She looked at her Dream Dust and charm bracelet. Who had sent them? Why? Harry was the famous one, not her. If anyone would have strangers sending them presents it would be him.
Delilah sighed. It didn't matter, tomorrow she would try to find out why the handwriting with the bracelet looked familiar. But for tonight, she would put the thoughts aside and go to bed. Almost as soon as her head touched her pillow, she fell asleep.
Maybe it was because she ate too much, or maybe her brain was just everywhere, but that night Delilah had an odd dream. She was walking down a hallway and opened the door into a room that had a mirror in it. Harry was standing in front of it and Dumbledore behind it.
Reflected in the mirror was Harry, Delilah, and two people behind them. The man looked just like Harry, just with different eyes, while the woman looked exactly like Delilah. They must be their parents.
Distantly she heard Dumbledore say, "So — back again, Harry?"
Harry turned around and saw Dumbledore sitting on one of the desks.
"I — I didn't see you, sir," Harry lamely said.
"Strange how nearsighted being invisible can make you," said Dumbled, smiling.
"So," said Dumbledore, slipping off the desk to sit on the floor with Harry, "you, like hundreds before you, have discovered the delights of the Mirror of Erised."
"I didn't know it was called that, sir."
"But I expect you've realized by now what it does?"
"It — well — it shows me my family —"
"And it showed your friend Ron himself as Head Boy."
"How did you know —?"
"I don't need a cloak to become invisible," said Dumbledore gently. "Now, can you think what the Mirror of Erised shows us all?"
Harry shook his head.
"Let me explain..." Dumbledore's mouth kept moving but Deliah only caught a few phrases including"darkest desire," "family," "Weasley," "outshadowed," "alone," and then everything became focused again.
"The Mirror will be moved to a new home tomorrow, Harry, and I ask you not to go looking for it again. If you ever do run across it, you will now be prepared. It does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live, remember that. Now, why don't you put that admirable Cloak back on and get off to bed?"
Harry stood up and Delilah woke up in a cold sweat and felt a slight heat just above her heart. She looked and saw the Dream Dust was glowing a light purple. She tried to take it off but it was too hot and burned her hand, but not her chest.
Delilah sighed and left it there, and went back to sleep. This time, no dreams bothered her.