White Heather for Protection

'Tis the Season

Yule seemed to have snuck up on Heather. Between searching for her evasive godfather, Hadrian's Patronus lessons and her personal potions research, she hadn't noticed time flying by. She and her brother had considered returning home for the break, but because their friends had opted to stay, they had too.

When Heather woke on Christmas morning, a small pile of presents awaited her at the foot of her bed. Even after all these years, her heart warmed at the sight. The novelty of receiving presents - and its implication of being cared for - would never wear off. After washing up, she gathered her presents in an extendable knapsack and made her way to breakfast. Not before she put on her Weasley sweater though (a beautiful cream with a boiling cauldron in the centre). She didn't care that the other students sneered at the clearly homemade piece - she loved all her Weasley sweaters and it was tradition.

As usual, the four house tables and teacher's table had been replaced with a large table for everyone. It hardly made sense to separate everyone when so few had stayed for the holidays. She took her seat between Fred and Rian. It was one of the few days that the twins actually woke before her.

"Happy Christmas everyone!" A chorus of greetings was returned. Even the stern Professor Snape gave her a brief look, which in Snape-speak was a suitable equivalent. Heather dug into her breakfast and finished quickly at her brother's behest. He was practically bouncing in his seat, he was so excited.

"Relax Rian, your presents aren't going to apparate away!" she said teasingly.

"Nuh uh." He shook his head. "I just can't wait for you to see what I got you!"

Puzzled, Heather gathered her bag of presents and walked with her brother and their group of friends to Den. They had agreed to open all their presents (bar the sweater) together, though it had been a near-miss when Ron tried to sneak one before breakfast.

The room had been decorated for the holiday. A tiny pine tree stood proudly in the corner with strings of tinsel and little baubles hanging off of it. A few glowing fairies had agreed to help for today, fluttering about the plants in return for fresh nectar. The desk and chairs in the centre of the room had been pushed to the side for the occasion and they all sat on the plush rug in a circle.

"Open our-"

"-presents first!" the twins shouted enthusiastically. Heather was amused to note that they had switched their sweaters so that Fred's had a G on it and George's had an F.

She reached for the two brightest packages she had and undid the rainbow ribbons. She was only mildly surprised by the burst of confetti that erupted, though she did jump at the tiny birds that flew out of the boxes then faded into nothing. Reaching into one of them, she took out a scroll of parchment. She unrolled it and gasped in awe.

It was an exquisite painting of her and her Patronus. Because her snidget was so tiny, she was only depicted from her chest upwards while her little bird flitted excitedly around her. It was incredibly rendered, down to the wispiness of her Patronus. Heather chuckled as her painted self shook her head to dislodge the mischievous bird from her hair.

"Thank you Fred; it's beautiful," she said warmly. Fred had inherited both twins' artistic genes. "Almost makes up for all your size jokes. Trying to suck up to my snidget now?" He just stuck out his tongue at her.

Impatiently, George pushed his box towards her and she obligingly took out its contents. She held out the large jar of clear golden liquid, surprised. Uncapping the jar, she took a quick whiff. A sweet fragrance enveloped her senses. Nectar - the favoured food of snidgets. Likely nectar from the honeysuckle in the room. She laughed. "I sense a theme here, guys. If you wanted Patronus lessons, you just had to ask. I'm already teaching Rian anyway." She carefully put aside the jar. Nectar that was unadulterated and home-grown was the best for potions. It must've taken a long time for George to extract so much, and so purely too.