Chapter 23: Christmas

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Veronica's parents had agreed it was best if Veronica stayed at Grimmauld Place over Christmas, after going through such a traumatic experience, they believed it would be best if she was in the comfort of the friends she'd spoke so dearly about in the past few letters she'd sent home. 

Of course, they didn't know about her feelings for Harry, or how she would've now loved to spend a few weeks away from him and get the image of his tongue down Cho's throat out of her mind. Unfortunately, every time she sees him, which is quite often, she is reminded of the fact that the boy she fancies, who she was told fancied her back, clearly wasn't interested. 

Harry had told Ron and Hermione what had happened, and the aftermath after Veronica had run away, this included Cho crying her eyes out for Cedric as well as for Veronica. The Trio noticed how Veronica was much quieter than she'd been before, sinking back into the shell that they'd originally got her out of. 

They weren't the only ones who noticed, however, and Sirius took it upon himself to ask his Godson about what had happened. He'd been watching Harry's hopeful eyes light up when the Hufflepuff walked into the room, but slump and watch her with a sad expression everytime she ignored him. 

Sirius had shared Hermione's view on the matter. That Harry was an idiot for kissing someone else, especially if he had feelings for another girl. The boy admitted that he was confused. Cho was the girl he'd admired for so long but now that he finally has a shot - Veronica has caught his eye and made him feel very conflicted. 

No one seemed to have much advice for Harry, despite him asking what he should do over and over again. Hermione told him to give the girl space, so over the holidays he would just watch her from afar and resist the urge to go over and beg for forgiveness. 

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Christmas arrived slowly and painfully and Veronica had bought the Trio small presents as thanks for befriending her so easily but pondered over if she should really give Harry his gift. She decided eventually that he technically had done nothing wrong, and the present was for her friend Harry, nothing else. 

As they handed out the presents, she shuffled over to the Trio and silently handed over their presents, much to their surprise as she had said very little to them over the last few weeks. Hermione smiled at the girl before giving her a present back, which turned out to be a nice leather bound diary. 

The girls hugged and wished each other a Merry Christmas while the boys sat there awkwardly, Ron sticking by the miserable Harry's side in support. 

Once Veronica had walked back to her seat in the far corner of the room, they opened their gifts from her and found she'd bought them all a nicely wrapped Christmas set of Honeydukes chocolates with a novelty 'Little Book of Defense'. This made them all smile affectionately at the thought of their new close friend. 

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Later on that day, the whole house had taken a trip to St Mungo's to visit Mr Weasley, who although was recovering quite well, had drawn out the healing process by trying muggle methods such as 'stitches' which failed miserably. 

While they were there, they bumped into fellow student and DA member Neville, who was visiting his mother and father in the permanent ward of the hospital. While there, they noticed their old DADA teacher, Gilderoy Lockhart was also a resident of the ward after his memory was badly affected by a backfired curse which the Trio had previously informed Veronica of. 

Mrs Weasley wanted to talk to her husband alone and so after everyone had seen and spoken to him for a little while she sent them out of the room. Fred and George saw this as a perfect opportunity to eavesdrop and pulled out their extendable ears. 

Everyone listened in, hoping to get further explanations for what is going on that the adults were reluctant to tell them. Unfortunately, they happened to overhear what seemed to be Tonks, Moody and Mr and Mrs Weasley having a conversation about how You-Know-Who is seeing inside Harry's mind and vice versa, which explains how Harry saw what he did. 

This brings a sort of silence to the crowd of children sitting outside the ward as they ponder what they just heard. 

The boy himself's thoughts are going into overdrive. Is Voldemort possessing him? Can he be trusted around his friends and the Order if that's the case? 

Veronica does feel pity towards the boy and wishes she could comfort him and tell him that it doesn't matter. After all, she had the same vision just from a different perspective so it can't be that crazy. However, Ginny gets there first, letting Harry know that he isn't being possessed, as she knows exactly what that feels like. 

Eventually, the group heads back to Grimmauld Place their moods dampened slightly at the news they'd just received. Veronica still wanted to ask Harry if he was okay, but once they got back he went to his room and didn't come out the rest of the evening and so she thought it'd be best to leave it. 

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With the holidays almost over, Veronica was ready to get back to Hogwarts. Christmas at Grimmauld Place was alright but she found it shrouded with sadness despite the forced appearance of joy on peoples faces. 

Snape had visited them a few days after Christmas to inform Harry that Dumbledore has decided he should teach the boy Occlumency - a type of magic to stop people from getting inside your mind. 

Of course, while he was here there were arguments between the adults, especially Sirius and Snape, which almost ended in a fight until people came to stop it. 

Veronica was fed up of all the drama and so when the day came for them to return she celebrated a little in her head. She couldn't wait to curl up in the Hufflepuff Common Room away from the Trio for a little while, and missed her other friends as well. She'd taken off quite suddenly in the middle of the night and hadn't spoken to Hannah since. 

They took the Knight Bus to Hogsmeade and then quickly entered the grounds of Hogwarts and Veronica almost instantaneously took off towards her dorm, the Trio watched her leave without saying goodbye and Harry grumpily followed behind his friends to the common room. 

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Undistinguished (H.P.)Waar verhalen tot leven komen. Ontdek het nu