The next day Delilah managed to finish the rest of her homework in the early hours before anyone else was awake, which meant she got to enjoy the peace and quiet in the best seat next to the fire. It also meant she had time to write a note for the Ravenclaws.
As sad as it was, it was time to end the prank war.
Delilah wrote the when and where, copied it a few times, and headed to the Great Hall early to put them along the seats.
As she finished putting the last note down, breakfast was ready so she could start eating.
Just as she finished eating Fred and George came in. She hesitated, but walked up to them.
"May I join you?" Delilah asked.
They studied her.
"Hm, what do you think, George? Should we?" Fred teased.
"I don't know Fred, she has been ignoring us for that ferret," George responded.
"But, she has been ignoring said ferret for a bit because he is a huge prat," Delilah argued.
Fred stroked his chin.
"That is a fair point."
Fred and George exchanged a look.
"Only if she'll have a snowball fight with us later," George decided.
They both grinned. Delilah smirked.
"Only if you want to lose."
Their grins widened.
"Ooo, smack talk. How do you know we haven't got tricks up our sleeves?" Fred pointed out.
"I guess we'll see then," Delilah said, smiling.
She sat down between them and helped herself to another piece of toast.
"You better have had more to eat than that," George said, eyeing her.
Delilah rolled her eyes.
"I got here early and ate some eggs and sausages."
"With toast?"
"With toast."
"Good," Fred decided. "You've been looking a bit peckish recently."
"It was one meal because of homework."
"Exactly! One, full meal," George insisted.
"Yeah I've missed more," Delilah muttered into her toast.
"Want some sugar for that sour face?" Fred offered with a straight face.
Delilah smiled.
"I'm fine, thanks."
He shrugged, putting a spoonful on his... eggs?
She didn't question him. After her second year she stopped wondering why Fred and George did anything. Once, when she was at the Burrow, she caught them fighting over a cookie when there was still a whole plate beside them.
They finished eating and headed out after Delilah insisted on putting on warmer clothes and left Midnight in her room.
"Why do I have to stay?" she protested.
"I'm having a snowball fight with Fred and George. I don't want you stuck in the cold or for a snowball to accidentally hit you. It would be a pain to explain that to Mrs. Weasley and to clean up the blood."
Midnight wasn't happy, but she stayed in the dorm.
Delilah met the twins by the doors.
"Let's go," she said, grinning as they walked outside. "One on one on one?"
They nodded, smirking.
Of course they still ganged up on her. Of course she got hit, but she managed to hit them back.
And so it went. They threw snowballs at each other until all three of them were soaked. A few times Fred and George threw a snowball at the Gryffindor tower, and even hit Ron once when he opened the window to yell at them. Of course they couldn't understand him, but it was funny all the same.
Afterwards they snuck back into the castle, careful not to run into Filch, who'd faint at the trail of water they were leaving.
Delilah left Fred and George to change into dry clothes.
Of course she met Draco on the way.
"Why are you all wet?" he asked, looking concerned.
"I had a snowball fight with Fred and George."
"Oh." They stood awkwardly.
"Look," Draco started. "I'm sorry for what happened at the match. I shouldn't have talked about Mrs. Weasley or your mum that way."
For once he actually did seem sorry.
Delilah nodded.
"You're right."
They paused for another moment.
"Well then, I should get going-" he began.
"Wait." She hesitated. "Um, after lunch there will be a snowball fight with the Ravenclaws, ten on ten. Can you come?"
The tension in the air relaxed slightly.
"Yeah, who else is going?"
"So far only the two of us are committed, but I was thinking Daphne, Theodore, and maybe Tracey and Sally would agree."
Draco nodded.
"Yeah, that sounds about right, but we'd still need 4 more people."
"Yeah, I don't know who-"
"Could we go?" a hesitant voice asked. Delilah turned to see Miguel and one of his friends.
She grinned.
"Of course. That just leaves two more, do any of you guys know someone else that would?"
Silence. And then-
"Well, I know two sixth years that might agree," Miguel's friend, Delilah thought his name might have been Noah, hesitantly said.
"Great, would you mind asking them... Noah?" she guessed.
He grinned, looking surprised that she remembered his name.
"Yeah, I will."
"Tell them that we'll need to play nice, no major injuries or blood. We'll meet outside the front doors after lunch so we can start building our fort."
Noah nodded and ran off.
Delilah shivered.
"I'm going to change. Could you ask Tracey and Sally? I can see if Daphne and Theodore want to."
Draco nodded and left.
Delilah quickly changed her clothes, and Midnight slithered back onto her shoulders between her sweater and scarf.
"Missed me?" she teased as she started for the Great Hall.
Midnight ignored her, slithering closer.
"Warning, I'm having another snowball fight after lunch."
"Why?"
"To beat the Ravenclaws."
"Ok. You better drop me off then win."
"Don't worry, we will."
They both fell quiet as they entered the Great Hall. Delilah sat down beside Daphne and Theodore.
They exchanged the pleasantries and Delilah got to the point.
"There's a snowball fight with the Ravenclaws-"
Daphne interrupted her.
"Yeah, we know. They left the note here, I was the first person to see it. They agreed to do it."
"So you both will come?"
Theodore nodded.
"Who are the other four going to be? Obviously you, Draco, Sally, and Travis. So who else?"
"Two fourth years and two sixth years."
He nodded.
"That's a good team. Is it right after lunch?"
"It doesn't start until a bit later, but we should go early to make a fort and some ammunition. We are playing nice though. No blood or major injuries."
They both nodded.
Lunch went by quickly and Delilah met the other nine Slytherins outside the front doors.
"So what's happening?" one of the sixth years asked.
"A fight with the Ravenclaws to end this war," Draco dramatically replied.
"There's going to be a snowball fight," Delilah clarified. "So we won't have to deal with a prank war on top of our homework."
The sixth year nodded.
"So we're here early to build a fort?" the other sixth year asked.
Delilah nodded.
Both sixth years grinned mischievously at each other.
"We'll start on that then. Noah, you'll help? Your friend too?"
Noah nodded, and went to help with Miguel at his heels. Next to each other, Delilah noticed a small resemblance between Noah and the taller sixth year. They obviously were related.
"I'll help too," Daphne offered and she hurried to help.
"We'll start making the ammunition," Delilah informed the rest of the group. "Or is there something else I'm forgetting?"
No one replied. Instead they all got to work.
As Delilah started making a third snowball, ten Ravenclaws walked onto the field. She frowned. It wasn't time for the match to start yet.
"I see you got the same idea we did," Lyra said, grinning.
Delilah smiled back, nodding.
Lyra quietly told the others what needed to be done and they split up. One of the older students pulled out a blueprint of their fort and they got to work.
Delilah refocused on her task. She made snowball after snowball, adding to the giant pile behind the wall they had built.
And then it was time to begin.
They lined up and it started.
It didn't take long for people to start getting soaked. Delilah threw snowball after snowball. Soon enough the pile was almost to the ground, so Miguel and Noah started making more while Daphne repaired the damages to the fort.
Surprisingly, a few minutes later, a group of Hufflepuffs came over.
"Can we join?" one of them asked.
"Sure," Lyra and Delilah responded.
So they joined the fray, adding to the confusion.
Of course, where there was trouble there was Fred and George.
"You're having a snowball fight without us?" Fred asked, his hand to his heart.
"How dare you," George accused.
And with that they grabbed snowballs and joined the fight.
Breathes, minutes, maybe even hours later they all were laughing, soaking wet as they finally headed back inside, carefully avoiding Filch.
No one really knew who won, and they were all too busy joking around to care. Even if they did, it probably would be the Hufflepuffs, who managed to watch the backs of their friends while retaliating. It was unnerving.
By the next day more snow managed to fall from the sky. Delilah, who was already worried about Hagrid's class, was even less enthusiastic when she saw the foot of snow they'd have to travel through.
As if sensing her dread, the morning seemed to speed up. It all seemed a blur as people noticed that Hagrid was back, some cheering and others exchanged gloomy looks.
To make matters worse, Umbridge would probably be in their class too.
However, the High Inquisitor was nowhere to be seen as they struggled through the snow toward Hagrid, who stood waiting for them on the edge of the forest. He did not present a reassuring sight; he had bruises tinged with green and yellow and most of his cuts seemed to be bleeding. While he was away, had he been attacked? But why wouldn't he have asked Madam Pomfrey to help? As though to complete the ominous picture, Hagrid was carrying what looked like half a dead cow over his shoulder.
"We're workin' in here today!" Hagrid called happily to the approaching students, jerking his head back at the dark trees behind him. "Bit more sheltered! Anyway, they prefer the dark...."
"What prefers the dark?" Draco said sharply to Crabbe and Goyle, a trace of panic in his voice. "What did he say prefers the dark — did you hear?"
Delilah, who was beside Daphne, rolled her eyes. They were with Hagrid, and Delilah couldn't think of any creature that would attack them with him leading them.
"Ready?" said Hagrid happily, looking around at the class. "Right, well, I've bin savin' a trip inter the forest fer yer fifth year. Thought we'd go an' see these creatures in their natural habitat. Now, what we're studyin' today is pretty rare, I reckon I'm probably the on'y person in Britain who's managed ter train 'em —"
"And you're sure they're trained, are you?" said Draco, the panic in his voice even more pronounced now. "Only it wouldn't be the first time you'd brought wild stuff to class, would it?"
She wanted to argue, but couldn't as her classmates murmured agreement. Even a few Gryffindors looked as though they thought he had a fair point.
" 'Course they're trained," said Hagrid, scowling and hoisting the dead cow a little higher on his shoulder.
"So what happened to your face, then?" demanded Malfoy.
"Mind yer own business!" said Hagrid, angrily. "Now if yeh've finished askin' stupid questions, follow me!"
He turned and strode straight into the forest. Nobody seemed much disposed to follow. As usual, Harry, Ron, and Hermione led them after Hagrid.
They walked for about ten minutes until they reached a place where the trees stood so closely together that it was as dark as twilight and there was no snow on the ground at all. Hagrid deposited his half a cow with a grunt on the ground, stepped back, and turned to face his class again, most of whom were creeping toward him from tree to tree, peering around nervously as though expecting to be set upon at any moment.
"Gather roun', gather roun'," said Hagrid encouragingly. "Now, they'll be attracted by the smell o' the meat but I'm goin' ter give 'em a call anyway, 'cause they'll like ter know it's me...."
He turned, shook his shaggy head to get the hair out of his face, and gave an odd, shrieking cry that echoed through the dark trees like the call of some monstrous bird. Nobody laughed; most of them looked too scared to make a sound.
Hagrid gave the shrieking cry again. A minute passed in which the class continued to peer nervously over their shoulders and around trees for a first glimpse of whatever it was that was coming. Hagrid shook his hair back for a third time and expanded his enormous chest. Then... he stopped.
Delilah looked around, but nothing was there. Most of the class looked just as confused and nervously expectant. The only people who didn't look confused were Theodore, who was standing just behind Goyle, Neville, and Harry.
"Oh, an' here comes another one!" said Hagrid proudly. "Now... put yer hands up, who can see 'em?"
Theodore, Longbottom, and Harry raised their hands.
"Yeah... yeah, I knew you'd be able ter, Harry," Hagrid said seriously. "An' you too, Neville, eh? An' —"
"Excuse me," said Draco, "but what exactly are we supposed to be seeing?"
For answer, Hagrid pointed at the cow carcass on the ground. The whole class stared at it for a few seconds, then several people gasped and Patil squealed. Delilah flinched, startled but unable to tear her eyes from the bits of flesh stripping themselves away from the bones and vanishing into thin air.
"What's doing it?" Patil demanded in a terrified voice, retreating behind the nearest tree. "What's eating it?"
"Thestrals," said Hagrid proudly and Hermione gave a soft "oh!" of comprehension at Harry's shoulder. "Hogwarts has got a whole herd of 'em in here. Now, who knows — ?"
"But they're really, really unlucky!" interrupted Parvati, looking alarmed. "They're supposed to bring all sorts of horrible misfortune on people who see them. Professor Trelawney told me once —"
"No, no, no," said Hagrid, chuckling, "tha's jus' superstition, that is, they aren' unlucky, they're dead clever an' useful! 'Course, this lot don' get a lot o' work, it's mainly jus' pullin' the school carriages unless Dumbledore's takin' a long journey an' don' want ter Apparate — an' here's another couple, look —"
Patil shivered and moved closer against the tree.
"I think I felt something, I think it's near me!" she shrieked.
"Don' worry, it won' hurt yeh," said Hagrid patiently. "Righ', now, who can tell me why some o' you can see them an' some can't?"
Hermione raised her hand right on cue.
"Go on then," said Hagrid, beaming at her. "The only people who can see thestrals," she said, "are people who have seen death."
"Tha's exactly right," said Hagrid solemnly, "ten points ter Gryffindor. Now, thestrals —"
"Hem, hem."
Professor Umbridge had arrived. She was standing a few feet away from Harry, wearing her green hat and cloak again, her clipboard at the ready. Hagrid, who had never heard Umbridge's fake cough before, was gazing in some concern at the closest thestral, evidently under the impression that it had made the sound.
"Hem, hem."
"Oh hello!" Hagrid said, smiling, having located the source of the noise.
"You received the note I sent to your cabin this morning?" said the toad, in the same loud, slow voice she had used with him earlier, as though she was addressing somebody both foreign and very slow. "Telling you that I would be inspecting your lesson?"
"Oh yeah," said Hagrid brightly. "Glad yeh found the place all righ'! Well, as you can see — or, I dunno — can you? We're doin' thestrals today —"
"I'm sorry?" said Umbridge loudly, cupping her hand around her ear and frowning. "What did you say?"
Hagrid looked a little confused.
"Er — thestrals!" he said loudly. "Big — er — winged horses, yeh know!"
He flapped his gigantic arms hopefully. Professor Umbridge raised her eyebrows at him and muttered as she made a note that must be rude on her clipboard.
Delilah glared at the toad. Hagrid was a good teacher, for the most part. Sure he had some... interesting ideas, but this year he was sure to be better, now that it was their O.W.Ls year.
"Well... anyway..." said Hagrid, turning back to the class and looking slightly flustered. "Erm... what was I sayin'?"
Umbridge continued to write, muttering under her breath, not even trying to be quiet.
" 'Appears... to... have... poor... short... term... memory...' "
"Oh yeah," said Hagrid, throwing an uneasy glance at Umbridge's clipboard, but plowing on valiantly. "Yeah, I was gonna tell yeh how come we got a herd. Yeah, so, we started off with a male an' five females. This one," he patted what looked like thin air, "name o' Tenebrus, he's my special favorite, firs' one born here in the forest —"
"Are you aware," Umbridge said loudly, interrupting him, "that the Ministry of Magic has classified thestrals as 'dangerous'?"
Hagrid merely chuckled.
"Thestrals aren' dangerous! All righ', they might take a bite outta you if yeh really annoy them —"
" 'Shows... signs... of... pleasure... at... idea... of... violence... ' " muttered Umbridge, scribbling on her clipboard again.
"No — come on!" said Hagrid, looking a little anxious now. "I mean, a dog'll bite if yeh bait it, won' it — but thestrals have jus' got a bad reputation because o' the death thing — people used ter think they were bad omens, didn' they? Jus' didn' understand, did they?"
Umbridge did not answer; she finished writing her last note, then looked up at Hagrid and said, again very loudly and slowly, "Please continue teaching as usual. I am going to walk" — she mimed walking — Draco and Pansy Parkinson were having silent fits of laughter — "among the students" — she pointed around at individual members of the class — "and ask them questions." She pointed at her mouth to indicate talking.
Hagrid stared at her, clearly at a complete loss to understand why she was acting as though he did not understand normal English.
Delilah regained her poker face. She would not let the evil hag know how much she hated her guts.
"Erm... anyway," said Hagrid, clearly struggling to regain the flow of his lesson, "so — thestrals. Yeah. Well, there's loads o' good stuff abou' them...."
"Do you find," said Professor Umbridge in a ringing voice to Pansy Parkinson, "that you are able to understand Professor Hagrid when he talks?"
Pansy had tears of laughter in her eyes; indeed, her answer was almost incoherent because she was trying to suppress her giggles.
"No... because... well... it sounds... like grunting a lot of the time...."
Umbridge scribbled on her clipboard. The few unbruised bits of Hagrid's face flushed, but he tried to act as though he had not heard Pansy's answer.
"Er... yeah... good stuff abou' thestrals. Well, once they're tamed, like this lot, yeh'll never be lost again. 'Mazin' senses o' direction, jus' tell 'em where yeh want ter go —"
"Assuming they can understand you, of course," said Blaise loudly, and Pansy collapsed in a fit of renewed giggles.
Professor Umbridge smiled indulgently at them and then turned to Neville.
"You can see the thestrals, Longbottom, can you?" she said. Neville nodded. "Whom did you see die?" she asked, her tone indifferent.
"My... my grandad," said Neville.
"And what do you think of them?" she said, waving her stubby hand at where the horses must be. They had now stripped a great deal of the carcass down to bone.
"Erm," said Neville nervously, with a glance at Hagrid. "Well, they're... er... okay...."
" 'Students... are... too... intimidated... to... admit... they... are... frightened....' " muttered Umbridge, making another note on her clipboard.
"No!" said Neville, looking upset, "no, I'm not scared of them — !"
"It's quite all right," said Umbridge, patting Neville on the shoulder with what she evidently intended to be an understanding smile that looked more like a leer. "Well, Hagrid," she turned to look up at him again, speaking once more in that loud, slow voice, "I think I've got enough to be getting along with.... You will receive" — she mimed taking something from the air in front of her — "the results of your inspection" — she pointed at the clipboard — "in ten days' time." She held up ten stubby little fingers, then, her smile wider and more toadlike than ever before beneath her green hat, she bustled from their midst, leaving Blaise and Pansy Parkinson in fits of laughter, Hermione actually shaking with fury, and Neville looking confused and upset.
Delilah glared at the toad's back.
Half an hour later she hurried up to the castle ahead of the class, a plan forming in her head and a duo to meet.
December arrived, bringing with it more snow and a positive avalanche of homework for the fifth years. To make things worse, the amount of Prefect duties Delilah and Draco needed to do. They were called upon to supervise the decoration of the castle ("You try putting up tinsel when Peeves has got the other end and is trying to strangle you with it," complained Draco), to watch over first and second years spending their break times inside because of the bitter cold ("The cheeky little snot rags. Even I wasn't that rude our first year," said Draco) and to patrol the corridors in shifts with Argus Filch, who suspected that the holiday spirit might show itself in an outbreak of wizard duels ("He's got dung brains," said Draco furiously). They were so busy that Delilah, Draco, Theodore, and Daphne barely had time to have their DA meetings and occasionally had to skip it so they had time to do their homework.
"This stupid essay," Draco complained, glaring at his History of Magic essay.
"It's almost break," Delilah reminded him.
He groaned.
"It's still too far away," he exclaimed, dramatically falling onto Delilah's lap, his hand on his forehead, grinning like an idiot.
She rolled her eyes, but couldn't resist a smile of her own.
"So, speaking of the break," Draco started, his head still on her lap. "This year my parents are making me go home for our stupid winter gala, and I was hoping you'd come? You could stay the whole break. I could show you the grounds and the pool. It's really cool. Pun unintended."
Delilah smiled.
"As much as I'd love to suffer a winter gala alongside you, I need the quiet of the common. I'll definitely go to your place over the summer."
And she still needed some time to get over what he had said at the match. She had forgiven him, but she wanted a bit more time to cool off before spending so much time with him.
He nodded, looking disappointed.
"Alright, if you change your mind let me know, we could think of a way to get you there."
Delilah nodded.
"I will."
They sat in silence for a moment.
"Do you want to head to the DA meeting? It's the last before the break," Draco reminded.
"Yeah, let's go."
The meeting went well. They practiced Bombarda, Confringo, and Incendio. Surprisingly no one's eyebrows got burnt off this time.
When it was time to go, Delilah turned to her three friends.
"This is the last one before break, so in case I don't see you guys before then, have a nice break."
They nodded and left, saying goodbye to Myrtle on the way back.