Before the Darkness

A Very Eventful Christmas (Sneak Peak)

Chapter 14: A Very Eventful Christmas (Sneak Peak)

Christmas was almost here. Nico was surprised at how quickly the school year was going by. It felt like they were sorted into their houses less than a month ago.

One morning in December, Hogwarts was covered in a thick white blanket of snow. The lake where Nico and Kiersten trained every morning was frozen solid. It happened so quickly one would have thought that Jack Frost had payed a visit to Hogwarts himself!

There were only a few owls that managed to fly in this weather and the ones that did had to be nursed back to health by Hagrid. Nico's owl, Tenebris, preferred to stay inside. Speaking of the dark owl, Tenebris had taken a liking to Kierstin's owl, Onyx. The two were always seen together, much like their owners.

Kiersten was doing unbelievably well in her training. Although Nico could still beat her when they spared, it was getting harder by the day. Nico had yet to tell her his plans for their next lesson, which wouldn't be for a while sense they had decided to take a break for the holidays. It drove her crazy, being kept in the dark, which Nico saw as a bonus. She had already offered to bring him breakfast in bed for a whole week (he doubted she could do it, while girls were able to go into the boys dorms, only Gryffindors could get into the Gryffindor dorms), she also promised to sharpen his knife and sword, buy him candies, and give him her dessert for a month. In exchange, all she wanted was for Nico to tell her what their next lesson would be on. He still refused, much to Keirsten's displeasure.

Everyone was excited for the holidays, including Nico. While the Gryffindor common room was warm because of the roaring fires, the rest of the castle had become icy. Snape's classes in the dungeons were by far the worst.

It was days like these that made Nico glad the hat had sorted him into Gryffindor with its warm fires and kind atmosphere instead of the cold Slytherin common room filled with harsh glares and unwelcoming students.

After the Quidditch match, the Slytherins started treating Keirsten as if she were an outcast. They couldn't stand the fact that one of their own was not only cheering for Gryffindor, but was also spending time with the Gryffindors themselves. Although she had told Nico time and time again that she didn't mind all the negative attention, it was more than once that he had found her sitting by the lake sobbing into her hands late at night. After comforting the small girl, he would walk her back to her common room in secret.

On a completely unrelated subject, the hospital wing had been overflowing with Slytherins of all ages who had been the unfortunate victims of mysterious accidents. Whether it was from a faulty broom in flying lessons, the wrong ingredients added to a potion, a misplaced dung bomb, or a spell accidentally hitting a Slytherin fourth year causing boils to erupt all over their faces, the Slytherins seemed to be dropping like flies.

One of the more serious injuries involving the Slytherin team captain, Marcus Flint, was still a mystery. Whatever had happened to him must have caused him to become more than a little delusional, claiming a shadow had thrown him across his empty dorm room.

Although Keirsten had her suspensions on who it was, (all the Slytherins that were injured had made fun of her the day before they were hurt) she never asked her friend from Gryffindor about it. However, whenever another Slytherin student would disappear, Harry would send a certain son of Hades a knowing look which the latter would ignore.

When Keirsten had first started hanging out with the four Gryffindors in public, quite a few people were surprised.

The Hufflepuffs were just glad that Gryffindor and Slytherin were now getting along, even if it was only a few first years.