Chương 24: Christmas Morning
"Don't bring him in here!" said Ron, quickly picking up Scabbers and putting him in his pajama pocket.
But Hermione didn't hear. She dropped Crookshanks and widened her eyes, astonished, at the Firebolt.
"Oh, Harry! Who sent you this?" she asked.
"I have no idea. There was no card or anything," he replied. To his surprise, Hermione didn't seem excited or intrigued by the information.
On the contrary, she seemed disappointed and bit her lip.
"What's wrong?" asked Ron.
"I don't know," Hermione answered slowly. "But it's kind of strange, isn't it? I mean, this is a very good broom, isn't it?"
Ron sighed, exasperated. "It's the best broom in the world, Hermione."
"So it must have been really expensive," she was trying to assess the broom's value.
"It probably cost more than all the Slytherin brooms put together," said Ron cheerfully.
"Well... who would send Harry something so expensive and not even say they sent it?" asked Hermione.
"Who cares about that?" retorted Ron, impatiently. "Listen here, Harry, can I take it for a spin? Can I?" he asked eagerly and impatiently.
"I think nobody should ride this broom for now!" said Hermione, her voice shrill.
Harry and Ron stared at the girl. Ron said, "What do you think Harry will do with it... sweep the floor?" mocking Hermione and protecting his rat from her killer cat.
Harry stopped, observing Ron's rat for a few seconds.
And he remembered that the Magical Creatures shop woman said that rats only lived for three years; he couldn't help but feel that unless Scabbers had some undisclosed powers, he was nearing the end of his life. And despite his frequent complaints that the rat was annoying and useless, he was sure Ron would be very upset if it died.
"And this book, Harry?" curious about the book Harry was holding, she asked.
Harry still held the book tightly in his arms. "Something from my mother, I can let you read it after I finish," he suggested to her.
Hermione's eyes sparkled with excitement as she continued to ignore Ron, who was protecting his rat.
"Where did you get it?" she asked.
"I got it as a gift," he replied, smiling and thinking about the strange Gryffindor girl.
"From whom?" she curiously inquired.
"That girl is really strange!" Ron said to Harry, still ignoring Hermione.
With their two friends arguing, the Christmas spirit was decidedly low in the Gryffindor common room that morning.
Hermione locked Crookshanks in the girls' dormitory, but she was furious with Ron for trying to kick him, and Ron was still fuming with anger over the cat's latest attempt to eat his rat.
Harry gave up trying to make them talk to each other and busied himself examining the Firebolt and his mother's book.
For some reason, this seemed to annoy Hermione as well. She was still on guard about who sent the broom, but made no comment and just kept shooting angry glares at the broom, as if it had also criticized Crookshanks.
At lunchtime, they went down to the Great Hall and found that the house tables had been pushed against the walls again, and a single table had been set for twelve people in the middle of the hall.
Professors Dumbledore, Minerva McGonagall, Snape, Sprout, and WinterHeart were seated at the table, as well as Filch, the caretaker, who had taken off his usual brown apron and was dressed up in a very old, musty-looking coat.
"Merry Christmas!" wished Dumbledore as Harry, Ron, and Hermione approached the table.
Cassia was already sitting there, enjoying a delicious breakfast, when Harry and his friends made their way over, much to Hermione's curiosity.
"Hello," Harry greeted her, still a bit shy around the girl.
"Hello Harry, loud boy, and the girl I haven't spoken to yet," she said.
"Hermione Granger! Hi!" Hermione introduced herself.
"Cassia," she announced, returning to enjoy her breakfast.
There were few students in Hogwarts now, and another new acquaintance joined Harry and his companions at the table.
"Hey, guys," Lorenzo, who had just entered the hall, said to them.
"Hi..." For some reason, Hermione greeted him in a sweet manner, which surprised Harry and Ron, who rarely acted that way.
Cassia just watched with interest in her eyes and a mischievous smile.
Nathaniel watched everyone from the teachers' table, thoughtful about various matters.
Black and Lupin were held in the dungeons for Snape to use truth serum to interrogate them at Dumbledore's request.
Cassia Hawthorne, due to her special condition because of the medallion and her proximity to Harry's group.
The Ravenclaw girl Melissa Carter, who wished him a good morning, resulting in a very eventful day, now seemed more withdrawn from the others while having some books under the table, and nothing seemed to distract her focus.
The Hufflepuff boy who always wanted to impress him with his spell-casting abilities.
Dumbledore sitting close to him and his countless plans.
'Complicated', he sighed.
Back at the table, Lorenzo seemed quite excited as he said, "Since there were so few of us, it seemed foolish to use the tables of all the houses, so I suggested the idea of using a single table for everyone to the professors."
"A great idea!" Hermione responded, again to the surprise of her friends.
"Exploding bonbons!" exclaimed Dumbledore enthusiastically, offering the tip of a silver tube to Snape, who took it reluctantly and pulled. With a bang, the bonbon burst, revealing a large, conical wizard hat topped by a stuffed vulture.
Harry, remembering the boggart in Lupin's class, sought Ron's eyes, and they both smiled.
Snape's mouth compressed, and he pushed the hat toward Dumbledore, who exchanged it for his own wizard hat immediately.
"Is Professor Lupin sick again?" Harry asked, not seeing him at the table with the others.
"I hope not, I don't want Snape taking over the class again," Ron said with disgust.
As Harry was helping himself to roast potatoes, the doors of the hall opened. It was Professor Sybill Trelawney, gliding toward the table as if on wheels. She had put on a sequined green dress in honor of the occasion, which made her look more than ever like a gigantic, glittering dragonfly.
"Sibylla, what a pleasant surprise!" greeted Dumbledore, standing up.
"I have been consulting my crystal ball, Headmaster," said the professor with the most ethereal and distant voice from the world, "and, to my astonishment, I saw myself abandoning my solitary meal to come join you. Who am I to refuse an inspiration from destiny?"
"Of course," said Dumbledore with sparkling eyes. "Let me fetch a chair for you."
Saying this, he used his wand to bring a chair through the air, which spun for a few seconds and landed with a thud between Professors Snape and WinterHeart. Nathaniel wasn't sure if the change was for the better, not being next to Snape who was shooting furious glances at him or now being next to Trelawney and her eccentricities.
"Please, sit down, the turkey is cooling," said Dumbledore.
Sibylla hesitated due to some superstition she had seen in her crystal ball, but then settled into the empty chair, her eyes closed and her mouth tight, as if waiting for lightning to strike the table.
Minerva plunged a large spoon into the nearest tureen and offered, "Tripe, Sybill?"
The professor pretended not to hear. She opened her eyes, ran them around the table again, and asked, "But where is our dear Professor Lupin?"
Her question aroused Harry's curiosity.
"I'm afraid the poor man is sick again," said Dumbledore, his eyes gleaming at Snape and Nathaniel, the only two who were aware that Lupin and Black were in the dungeons.
Both didn't care about the situation.
"Bad luck that it happened on Christmas day," she said sadly.
And upon hearing that Lupin was sick again, Harry felt down.
"If you want to know, Minerva, I saw with my divination skills that poor Professor Lupin won't be with us for much longer. And he himself seems to know that his time is short," she explained.
Nathaniel thought, 'She's surely right this time.'
"He ran off the other day when I offered to consult the crystal ball for him," she was sad, remembering that day.
"Imagine that," commented Minerva dryly.
"I have my doubts," said Dumbledore. "He might recover soon," with a cheerful but slightly louder voice, mainly to alleviate Harry's suspicions, who was paying attention to the conversation and put an end to the two women's talk.
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