American Royalty at Hogwarts

Chapter 24: Winter's coming

Third-Person PoV:

Ron shivered and wrapped his cloak around him tighter, he clenched his jaws as he attempted to keep a yawn in. It was less than a month till the Christmas holidays and he couldn't wait to be able to sleep in till noon and do nothing but eat and play Quidditch all day. His amusement of Umbridge getting pissed at McGonagall while she continues to monitor classes could only satisfy his tiredness for so long. He praised whatever gods were out there that it was still Sunday, yet he was still annoyed, he wanted to sleep like a log tomorrow but it would be Monday and he has a session with Will after classes. He wasn't looking forwards to it, to be honest, he hated it when someone tried to pick apart his mind. It was aggravating.

The cold was starting to seep into the cracks of the castle, it always got cold in November and yet for a bunch of wizards they could never seem to keep the heat in the castle. It was bloody ridiculous!

"Morning Ron." Harry greeted him in the Common Room, Hermione was sitting on the sofas talking with Lavender and Parvati, Cedella was nowhere in sight.

"Morning-" Another yawn escaped his mouth.

"Did you stay up late?" Hermione raised an eyebrow at him, partly in disapproval and amusement.

"No, some of us find school exhausting." The redhead raised his hand to his chest in a grandiose gesture, Hermione rolled her eyes at him and stood up.

"I'm getting kinda hungry now, let's go down to breakfast before all the pancakes are gone." Parvati bounced up and skipped over to the door.

"I wonder if there's any chicken, Thalia told me about this meal they have of waffles and pancakes." Lavender hummed as they exited the room, they all paused to swivel and looked at the girl, she squirmed under their looks and pinched her lips together. "What? Is there something in my hair?" The Gryffindor frantically patted down and combed her fingers through her hair. Parvati laughed being her hand and patted the girl's head.

"Umm like no, you look fine Lavs it's just... waffles and chicken? That sounds gross."

"I kinda wanna try it now, I'm interested," Ron mumbled as they entered the Great Hall. Like every other Monday, the Hall was full of half-dead pre-teens and teenagers struggling to stay awake as they fed themselves breakfast while hurrying to complete homework that had been left forgotten on their desks over the weekend. After a lazy flick around the Great Hall Ron focused back on the end of the Slytherin table where Cedella had a large cauldron being heated up. She was standing on a stool and was going back and forth to the fire roaring beneath it and dipping some weird long, glass stick inside the water.

"Why is Cedella heating up something over at the Slytherins?" The freckles on Ron's nose wiggled in a wave at his distaste.

"Uhhh I dunno, she wasn't in the room this morning."

"She left early, she said something about prepping for some festival that the Royal's celebrate." Hermione sat down next to Neville who gave them a small nod as he went back to nibbling his toast.

Harry snorted and glanced around the Hall, "They could at the very least show up and help her with whatever twisted thing they're celebrating." He murmured through a glass of pumpkin juice.

"Maybe they're still preparing. They may need to dress up or-or gather more supplies or like even finish making things?" Lavender spread some honey on the small stack of pancakes on her plate.

Harry opened his mouth but was stopped as the doors opened wide and Annabeth stalked in carrying the largest olive branch he had ever seen over her shoulder like it was a gun. The blonde's curly hair had a few strands framing her face, the rest of her hair was done in a half-up style where the top was in a bun while the rest flowed down her back, bouncing with every step she took. A simple white chiton hung on her body and hung down to her ankles, and a pair of beat-up black converses were worn on her feet. Over her left shoulder, a grey shawl embroidered with olives and olive leaves stretched over.