31

MILLIES POV

Once the holidays had started, I was having too good a time to think much about Flamel. Ron and Harry had the dormitory to themselves and because no first year girls had stayed other than me, I decided to move my stuff into their dormitory so that I wouldn't be alone, much to Harry's annoying happiness. The common room was far emptier than usual, so we were able to get good seats by the armchair too. We sat by the fire eating anything we could spear on a toasting fork - bread, crumpets, marshmellows - and plotting ways of getting Malfoy expelled, which were fun to talk about even if they wouldn't work.

Ron began teaching Harry how to play wizards chess, and during this time, I went with Fred and George. We shared a love for mischief, and one of my favourite pranks happened one December afternoon.

I was sitting in the Gryffindor common room on a sofa watching Harry and Ron play a game of chess, when Fred and George dropped on the seats either side of me and looked up expectantly.

"I know those looks," I said, a small smile forming on my lips. "What's the plan?"

"Can you come with us?" George said, smiling mischievously.

"Yes, take her, please," Harry said, without even looking up from his game.

"If it means I can get away from him, of course," I said, standing up. Harry pushed my side with his hand, his eyes still fixed on the chess board.

"Let's go," Fred said, leading the way out of the Common room.

"Where are we going?" I asked excitedly, as soon as we had stepped through the portrait hole and the twins began pulling me in the direction of the owlery.

"Here's what's going to happen," Fred explained. "We've found George can do a pretty accurate impression of our Dad."

"Ever heard of a howler, Millie?" George asked me, smirking.

Half an hour later, the twins and I snuck back into the Common room, which to my delight, had quite a few Gryffindor's inside. We hurried into an empty corner, waiting excitedly for what was going to happen.

"Any minute now," Fred whispered. Just as we'd planned, one of the school owls landed on the window sill near where Harry and Ron were sitting and began tapping the glass lightly. They exchanged curious looks, before Ron got up and opened the window. He took the red envelope from the owl's beak and sat back down. I snorted as the expression on his face changed from curiosity to horror as he recognised the howler.

"RONALD WEASLEY!"

The letter roared loudly in George's voice, which according to Fred, sounded nearly identical to Mr Weasleys. I slapped my hand over my mouth to stop myself roaring with laughter.

"I AM DISGUSTED! I HAVE JUST RECEIVED A LETTER FROM PERCY, SAYING THAT YOU WET THE BED LAST NIGHT AGAIN..."

Ron looked around in confusion as the whole room erupted with laughter. His ears turned bright red, as Percy ran desperately around the room, shouting, "Everyone calm down! This isn't true..."

"... YOU NEED TO LEARN TO CONTROL YOUR BLADDER, IF YOU NEED THE TOILET, GO..."

Harry was staring at the howler in disbelief as it continued yelling at Ron, with Percy still trying to restore the calmness.

"... I HOPE THIS IS THE LAST TIME I HEAR OF THIS, RONALD WEASLEY ..."

When the letter finally burst into flames, Fred, George and I clambered out of the corner, clutching our ribs from laughing so hard. Ron saw us almost immediately, and his face went from embarrassment, to realisation, to anger. He stormed over and began yelling at the twins, completely oblivious to my involvement. I stepped out of the way quickly, as a small crowd formed around the three boys.

"Very funny, Donovan."

Harry's voice came from behind me, and I slowly turned around.

"You won't tell him it was me too, will you?" I said guiltily.

He sighed. "I'm going to have too, Mills, I'm sorry..."

My head snapped up at his words, and I glared at him angrily. He burst out laughing.

"I don't have a choice, do I?" He laughed, shaking his head.

"No, you don't," I told him threateningly.

"Don't worry your pretty little head, I won't tell him," he said, ruffling my hair. I swatted him away, but couldn't help but grin widely.

On Christmas Eve, I went to bed early, really excited. When I woke up the next morning, the first thing I noticed was a pile of packages at the end of my bed. I grinned. Both Harry and Ron were still asleep so I took the Liberty of waking them up myself, by jumping on top of them one at a time.

"WAKE UP! WAKE UP! IT'S CHRISTMAS!" I screamed happily.

"Good morning to you too." Ron grumbled sleepily, as Harry scrambled out of bed and pulled on a jumper.

"Merry Christmas," Harry said, as I sat back down on my own bed and began opening my presents. "Will you look at this? I've got some presents!"

"What did you expect, turnips?" said Ron, turning to his own pile.

I picked up the top parcel. It was quite soft, so I guessed it was clothes. I opened it eagerly and gasped happily. Inside was a full set of Gryffindor winter accessories; a hat, gloves and scarf, all red and orange. Underneath was a note that said:

Dear Millie,

Merry Christmas baby! Enjoy your day with your friends!

We love and miss you loads,

Mum and Dad xx

I looked at it sadly. As much as I loved Hogwarts, I did miss home a lot. I placed the present and note to the side, and continued opening my other presents. I got lots of things from family members like a Muggle mascara from my cousins, which I made a mental note to use that exact day. I also received lots of cards from people in the year, mostly boys. I then picked up a roughly wrapped gift. Scrawled across it was:

To Millie, from Hagrid

Inside was a wooden flute. Hagrid had obviously whittled it himself. I blew it.

"What the bloody hell is that?" Ron asked. "Sounds like an owl."

"I've got one too," Harry said, lifting his off his bedside table.

"Hagrid," We said at the same time, and I looked down at the flute and laughed.

I was very quick opening my presents, as my excitement was taking over me. I looked over at Harry and Ron and found they were holding identical packages of homemade cookies. I recognised them immediately.

"Mums homemade cookies!" I cried, grinning.

"Thanks Ruby," Ron said, happily biting into one. "Woah!"

"Good, right?"

He nodded viciously and I giggled.

"What's that, Potter?" I asked the Raven-haired boy, my eyes narrowing suspiciously. He was staring at a note that had fallen out of my Mum's package to him.

"Nothing," He said quickly. He would usually make a smart retort, so before he could do anything, I grabbed my wand and whispered "wingardium leviosa," forcing the note out of his hands and into mine.

"Donovan," he growled, leaning his head back against the bed.

I read the note:

Dear Harry,

Merry Christmas! Thank you for being a good friend to Millie. Keep treating her well,

Love Ruby and Jake x

I grimaced and threw the letter back to Harry. He caught it and placed it next to him, smirking. It seemed his short moment of embarrassment was over.

"Being a really good friend, Donovan?" he said, laughing loudly. "How sweet."

"You are not a good friend-"

"Please don't start flirting now, I don't want to third wheel on Christmas Day," Ron complained, ripping open another parcel.

"Sorry, Ron," Harry said, and I looked up at him for a second in surprise, but it quickly faded when I saw the big smirk on his lips. "I'll stop flirting with my girl."

I opened my mouth angrily, but shut it again when I saw the warning look that Ron sent me. I sunk back into my pillows in defeat.

Ron had got me a large box of chocolate frogs, which I thanked him gratefully for, Harry had got me a pillow with his face on it, which I had immediately thrown in his direction, knocking his glasses off, and Mione had sent me a picture in a frame of us two in the castle grounds. We had taken it using her Dad's muggle camera. We had our arm round eachother, laughing together. I smiled warmly, and put it on the table next to me.

"I think I know who that ones from," said Ron, going a bit pink and pointing at the parcel I was holding up. "My Mum. I told her about you both and - Oh, no," he groaned. "She's made you a Weasley jumper."

I tore open the gift to find a thick, hand-knitted sweater in navy blue. I looked over at the boys to see them holding identical jumpers, but Harry's was emerald green to match his eyes, and Ron's was maroon.

"That's really nice of her," said Harry, and for once, I agreed with him, making a mental note to thank Mrs Weasley when I met her.

As I had finished opening my presents, I resorted to watch the boys open theres. Harry unwrapped something fluid and silvery grey, which went slithering to the floor, where it lay in gleaming folds.

"Hang on," I said, as Harry picked the shining, silvery cloth up from the floor. "I think Mione told me about those." Ron looked up from his box of Every-Flavoured beans he'd got from Hermione. "If that's what I think it is - they're really rare, and really valuable."

"What is it?"

"It's an invisibility cloak!" I said excitedly, my eyes widening in fascination. "I'm sure it is - try it on."

Harry threw the cloak around his shoulders and I gasped.

"It is!" Ron yelled. "Look down!"

Harry's body had completely disappeared, and only his head was visible. Harry nearly ran to the mirror to look at himself.

"Do us all a favour and wear that cloak forever," I said. "Then we won't have to look at you."

"Mills," Harry scoffed. "You would hate that.

"And why is that?"

"Because you would be Potter-less-"

"There's a note," I said suddenly, noticing a small letter on the floor. "It must've fallen out."

Harry pulled the cloak off, clearly forgetting our little argument, and seized the letter. I got up and peered over his shoulder. Written in narrow, loopy writing I had never seen before were the following words:

Your Father left this in my possession before he died. It is time it was returned to you. Use it well.A very merry Christmas to you.

There was no signature. I stared at the note. Ron were admiring the cloak.

"I'd give anything for one of these," he said. "anything-"

The dormitory door suddenly flung open and Fred and George came bounding in, just as Harry stuffed the cloak out of sight.

"Merry Christmas to my favourite twins," I said happily, dropping back down onto my bed.

"Pretty sure we are the only twins you know," Fred pointed out, sitting on my bed and wrapping his arm around my shoulders.

"Merry Christmas to you too, beautiful," George laughed, sitting on the other side of me.