It's snowing.

Ana stares out the window of their dorm room, something dark roiling in the pit of her stomach as she gazes past the glass.

It's snowing and it doesn't look ready to stop in time to clear up by nightfall. Which means the month of having a stupid mandrake leaf in has been for absolutely nothing. Means she'll have to do it all over again.

Evie and Amelia are both still asleep - none of them have class in the morning except for Evie, and Muggle Studies isn't until eleven o'clock - but Ana couldn't stay in bed. Not when it's been exactly one month since the last full moon.

She knows she should hold on to the leaf. It could clear up by nightfall. She's seen that happen in the past - but never this late in the year.

She takes the leaf out and tosses it in the garbage during her morning routine.

Finnigan is the only other fifth year Ravenclaw at breakfast and he either doesn't notice or doesn't care that Ana is eating normally again, as he makes no comment. Ana is surprised to find that she's actually a bit uncomfortable eating in silence - while she herself rarely talks she's gotten used to Jerome and Shaun's bantering, and Amelia's observations on said banter.

She escapes from the Great Hall as soon as she's finished eating and heads for the library, knowing the quiet atmosphere there won't be nearly as off-putting.

Once she's settled at a corner table - she'd instinctively looked for one of the group tables before remembering that she's alone at the moment - she pulls out her Astronomy notes.

She's determined to calculate the dates of the remaining full moon cycles in the school year and then see if she can get Professor Trelawney to use the cards to see which will be clear nights. She isn't so sure she can completely rely on the Professor - that remains to be seen if there's a storm over the break - but it's better than having nothing.

Task set, Ana falls into her zone, completely out of tune with the world around her as she uses a mix of Astronomy and Arithmancy to create a chart of the moon cycles.

She ends up figuring out a formula for determining the moon phases for any date in the year, and she does end up distracting herself a bit testing it to determine its accuracy. Once she's determined it works - and used it to complete her chart - she then decides to have a bit of fun and sees if she can do something similar to determine the dates of solar and lunar eclipses. She can afford a small break after all, she's already completed her assignments for the week.

She's startled out of her zone when someone pokes her a couple hours later.

She jumps and then spins to glare at whoever had interrupted her. "I was on a roll."

"You'll get it back." Jerome grins. "We've got a table by the window if you want to join us. Evie's in class, but Fitz and Fin are both sitting with us! It'll be almost the whole Ravenclaw class all together!" He's grinning hopefully, and Ana sighs.

"Well I'm distracted anyway." She decides, picking up her things and pretending she doesn't smile when Jerome lets out a whoop that gets him shushed by everyone around them.

She doesn't end up back in her zone, instead helping the others - minus Finnigan who although he's sitting with them still refuses to actually interact with the group - with their assignments for the week.

"No leaf, huh?" Amelia is the first to say anything about it when they're packing up their notes to head to lunch. It actually surprises Ana - she had thought it would be one of the guys to mention her failed attempt.

Conversely, it kind of does make sense that Amelia is the one to notice her failure.

"Has to be a clear night for the potion to work." Ana responds tersely. "I'm going to determine the weather forecast and try again after break."

"Why after? You signed up to stay regardless, didn't you?" Amelia replies, seemingly genuinely curious.

Ana doesn't feel like explaining her reasoning to Amelia, and she's saved from having to be rude about it by her roommate's new boyfriend (and honestly, their insistence that they aren't dating is insulting to Ana's intelligence. Anyone with eyes can see how much they like each other).

"And there goes Amelia." Jerome jokes. "Just the three of us for lunch then?"

"Amelia doesn't like sitting at other Houses' tables, she'll likely rejoin us in a few minutes." Shaun observes idly. "I'm not sure where Fitz got to though."

Ana honestly can't say she cares all that much. Fitzwilliam Selwyn has never really been on her radar and he doesn't seem like someone who would be particularly interesting to befriend.

"And Evie's coming from Muggle Studies so she'll be sitting with Hufflepuff." Jerome muses. "You know, I feel like we keep losing people to other houses."

"You mean Hufflepuff." Ana corrects. "No Ravenclaws are that closely connected to Gryffindor or Slytherin."

"You used to be though!" Jerome points out cheerfully. It's a throwaway comment but Ana is pretty sure if she still had the leaf she would have choked on it. She wasn't aware that Jerome knew about her past friendship with Alasdair.

"My only non-Ravenclaw acquaintance is Aidan." She responds tersely. "And he's Hufflepuff. Which supports my hypothesis."

"What about Alec?" Jerome grins and how did he have all this information? "He was a Slytherin I think. I mean, he's Alasdair's brother so-"

"You talk to Leona too much." Shaun observes, cutting him off though he's grinning himself. "Lay off a bit Jerry."

Leona Poole. The resident gossip. Somehow Ana isn't that surprised that she's Jerome's source of information. Still, she'll need to have a talk with the brunette about sharing personal information like that. She'd also be curious to know where Leona got such sensitive information.

"Aw, but she's fun!" He complains.

"And cute?" Shaun suggests with a small, knowing smile. Jerome frowns but Ana can see that he's fidgeting as well.

She briefly considers giving him grief about it, but then decides that doing so would be an unnecessary waste of energy. And she's above such things regardless.

"She's only cute, like, objectively." He grumbles as the three of them find a spot at the Ravenclaw table. "You're cute objectively too. I can notice objective cuteness and it can mean nothing." He pokes Shaun in the chest as they sit.

"You sound as defensive as Amelia when she's insisting she and Henry aren't a couple." Ana observes idly as she starts selecting food from the platters laid out along the table.

Jerome surprisingly falls quiet, and it's not until Amelia rejoins them a few minutes later that he begins chattering away again. Ana notes it as odd, but she's noted in general that people get odd when discussing romantic attraction so it's easily dismissed.

Honestly she's glad she doesn't have to deal with such nonsense. She figures she'll meet someone eventually, but not in school. Statistically speaking the chances of finding someone at their age is laughable at best, so she doesn't understand the fascination her classmates seem to have with such things.

Of course, the return of Amelia means the topic of Ana's unfortunate failure once again arises.

"So why aren't you going to start a new leaf today?" Amelia asks once she's nibbled a bit at the food on her plate.

Ana sighs, rolling around several possible responses before settling on the one that sounds best. "I don't wish the leaf to interfere with my examinations."

Shaun nods. "That's what I had assumed. You'll likely want to practice some of the spells from the past month, right? You were never able to enunciate them properly during class time and at least a few of them will probably be tested."

Ana grimaces - doing that would have been a much better use of her morning, and she's rather irked she somehow hadn't thought of it herself. Her entire afternoon is full so the earliest she can start practicing isn't for four hours. "Indeed." She says aloud when she realizes that Shaun is actually waiting for an answer to his comment.

She mostly stays quiet the rest of lunch, mentally scrolling through her schedule and determining the best times to work on the practical magic that she's regretfully fallen behind in.

She hurries off to Arithmancy as soon as she finishes eating, determined to arrive early so she can write down everything she'd planned during the meal. She takes her usual desk at the front and she's just finished filling in her calendar when Aidan arrives and takes his seat next to her.

"Too bad about the snow." He says in lieu of a greeting. "I imagine you'll likely try again for February? That tends to be the clearest of the winter months."

She hums, pleased that she has a friend who gets it without her needing to spell everything out. Honestly how Aidan is in Hufflepuff when he's clearly better suited to Ravenclaw she'll never know.

"Precisely. Honestly I should have taken how cloudy November always is into consideration before starting the process with the mandrake leaf."

Aidan shrugs. "I don't know about that. You've done it now, so likely it won't be nearly as frustrating when you try again."

Ana tilts her head slightly in acknowledgement. "True. Still, it would have been preferable to only have to endure the process once."

Aidan's mouth quirks up. "Fair enough."

They shift the conversation to the Arithmancy assignment as the rest of the class files in, and again Ana is glad she started speaking with Aidan. He can be much more understanding about her privacy than her Ravenclaw friends.

Her next class is Charms, and as Ravenclaw has the class with Hufflepuff she and Aidan walk over together. They're accompanied by Amelia and Shaun, while Fitzwilliam and Franziska from Hufflepuff walk behind them.

"I'm honestly getting a bit lost on some of the new theoretics." Shaun says as they miss the stairs and begin the trek to the other end of the corridor.

Aidan hums. "They're a little odd for sure but I think I get what she was saying in class today. I'll need to do some proofs on my own to be sure, but if you like I could help you study. I doubt today's lesson will be on the exam since it's next week and that's not nearly enough time to properly comprehend the material, but whenever you'd like."

Shaun looks surprised, and then smiles. "Of course, that would be very helpful. We tend to study together," he indicates himself, Amelia, and Ana with a small wrist movement, "But I'm sure no one would object to your joining us."

"Not at all." Ana agrees, and Amelia shrugs. She still doesn't do well around people she doesn't know well, but she's been getting better at talking to strangers so Ana isn't concerned that Aidan joining will make their study session awkward.

"That would be cool, especially after break. I may bring some friends along as well if that's alright. Everyone is worried about OWLs."

"Henry isn't." Amelia says quietly. Shaun looks proud that she'd spoken up. 

Aidan just laughs, either unaware of or ignoring the obvious nerves Amelia is feeling about speaking to him. "Too true, but Henry has always been pretty laid back about most things, save for you." He grins teasingly, and Ana can see the moment Shaun starts mentally considering him a part of their group.

Amelia flushes. "Oh good, more of this." She grumbles, and Aidan puts his hands up in surrender.

"Sorry, he's had a crush on you since third year and has been attempting to ask you out ever since. I've spent a lot of nights hearing all about how smart and pretty you are."

Amelia somehow manages to blush even brighter while behind them Franziska starts giggling, clearly listening in on the conversation.

She confirms Ana's suspicions when she speaks up. "He would still be moping around if the girls hadn't given him a few shoves in the right direction."

Ana is surprised when Aidan frowns back at the girl and she suddenly falls silent, quickly turning away from them and back to Fitzwilliam who looks concerned.

She doesn't push. If Aidan doesn't like Franziska for some reason, Ana won't judge. Goodness knows she's had people she doesn't like - though oddly she's now on rather good terms with both Evie and Jerome despite her early opinions of them.

Aidan ends up sitting with them in Charms, though their Houses have always mixed their seating arrangements in the classes that they share so it's not particularly unusual. What is odd, which Ana figures she'll have to become accustomed to, is Henry sitting next to Amelia and Jerome being displaced so he has to sit behind them.

Charms is, for the first time in a month, thoroughly enjoyable. Ana can actually pronounce everything, and she even earns five House points for the flawless Silencing charm she performs on her first try. Jerome is excited until she dawdles on reversing the charm as payback for his comments earlier in the day, leaving him mute and frustrated for a good five minutes before a giggling Amelia takes pity on him and frees him from the spell.

It's weird seeing her so cheerful, but it's only cementing Ana's opinion that she and Henry are most certainly a couple. Amelia would never act so oddly otherwise.

Then Charms finishes, and she bids farewell to Aidan before turning to head for her last class of the day.

Normally she's quite excited for Transfiguration - Professor McGonagall is by far her favorite teacher, and the subject is one of her best - but the absence of the leaf in suddenly becomes quite prominent as she gets closer to the classroom where she's been studying for her Animagus transformation.

She knows logically the professor won't be upset - no one can control the weather, and Ana certainly has done everything correctly up to this point. Still, the feelings of failure almost overwhelm her as she sits in her usual spot at the front of the classroom.

She initially doesn't think that McGonagall is in the room. The desk is unmanned aside from one of the castle cats perched atop it, a common enough sight that Ana doesn't really stop to consider it until she remembers a certain lesson early on in her Animagus training.

Of course today is the day that they're studying advanced Animagus theory. Because her luck hasn't been bad enough today.

Somehow midterm exams seem to be even more stressful this year than they normally are.

Myr thinks that it's unfair considering their year-end exams are going to be awful as well. But their actual grades for the year will mostly rely on the midterms since the OWL results won't be released until halfway through June, so they can't be used for final grades.

"Fifth year is the worst." Evera summarizes his thoughts aloud for him, the blonde dropping her head dramatically onto the Potions textbook that she's been studying. The two of them are in the Gryffindor common room, attempting to get some studying done before lunch. It's the last day before exams begin, and while he's relatively certain he'll pass everything Myr is feeling particularly pressured to do well.

"That is true." Bill Weasley confirms from where he's playing wizard's chess with one of his roommates. "After fifth year it's smooth sailing. At least until the spring seventh year when NEWT panic hits."

"You wouldn't panic if you studied ahead of time." His brother counters as he and Brandon emerge from the dorm stairway.

Myr is surprised to see Charlie and Brandon outside of the room if he's honest - he hadn't expected them to emerge until it was time to head to lunch. Brandon and Franziska had broken up a few weeks before, and the American hadn't taken it very well, usually vanishing into the winding corridors of the castle when he doesn't have class. Both Charlie and Aidan tend to vanish along with him, and Myr gets the sense they're working on something that he probably doesn't want to know about.

"I do study ahead of time - who do you think taught Percy his time management skills?" Bill shoots back at his brother with a grin. "It's these losers who are going to be panicking." He nods at the boy sitting across from him, who shrugs in agreement as he continues to study the board for his next move.

"Of course, how else could you get twelve OWLs." Charlie mutters. He and Brandon walk right past Myr and Evera without a word and vanish through the portrait hole.

Evera frowns. "Hello to you too. Honestly it's been two weeks almost, how is he still moping?"

"I'm sure you won't be a bundle of sunshine when Fawley leaves either." Bill quips cheerfully, and Evera chokes on air. Myr stares at her in confusion as she starts blushing heavily.

"I have no idea what you mean!" She declares, but it comes out as a squeak and now Myr is curious.

"What's going on with Fawley?" He asks. He hasn't noticed any change between them during practices - maybe a bit less arguing but he thinks they're all rather thankful for that particular development - but he admittedly is mostly worried about watching the bludgers and coordinating with Fiona while they're in the air, rather than noticing what the Chasers are up to.

Evera shakes her head. "Nothing is going on with Jake." She grumbles.

Myr blinks. "... Jake?" He asks, and Evera drops her head onto her textbook.

"Fine. We maybe kind of, sort of, started, um, I wouldn't call it dating really. Mostly just... argh, this is embarrassing." She turns her head so she can glare at Bill. "How did you even know? We've been really good at keeping it quiet."

"We live with Jacob, we know what he's like when he's seeing someone." Bill's friend replies glibly, finally making a move and promptly losing one of his rooks. "Merlin's balls."

"How'd you know it was me though?" Evera pouts. "Also don't tell my brother, I told him it wasn't anything and he believed me."

Bill snorts. "Charlie mentioned you two were working together really well in practice. Easy assumption to make from there." He states, and then grins mischeviously. "Also, I'm Head Boy and that patrol that caught you two a couple weeks ago reported it to me."

Evera re-buries her face in the book and groans. Myr can't help but laugh slightly at the sight.

She looks up to fix him with a glare. "You don't go telling anyone, you hear? Not even Drake and Jemma know." She frowns. "Though they're so busy being a couple they probably wouldn't notice anyway." She adds with a grumble.

Myr frowns, wondering if he should push on that, but Evera sits back up and begins loudly reciting the uses of hellebore syrup from her book. Myr sighs, but returns to his own studies as well.

They meet up with the rest of their House at lunch, which they arrive at a bit late. Charlie and Brandon are already there, and Aidan is sitting with them, which he's taken to doing every few days.

"How was Divination?" Myr asks as he settles next to Nabila and Fiona.

Nabila makes a face, and he can't help but laugh. "You'll be dropping it after this year I assume?"

"I will as well." Fiona admits. "It's... interesting, conceptually, but it feels fake honestly."

"Divination is an old and very powerful form of magic." Remi informs her hotly, and Myr startles - he hadn't noticed the other boy seated on the other side of Fiona.

Nabila sighs. "Yes, but it's also passed down through family lines. You either have the gift or you don't. And we don't." She gives Remi a look. "That 'we' includes you by the way, you're just as bad as the rest of us."

Remi grumbles something under his breath and attacks his food with gusto. Myr raises an eyebrow.

"Ongoing argument?" He guesses. Fiona shrugs.

"Not really an argument per se, but yes, essentially." She agrees. "I'd ask your opinion, but you were smart enough to not take Divination."

Myr has heard mixed reviews on the class in the past, so he's also rather glad he'd opted for Muggle Studies instead when they'd been choosing their electives at the end of second year.

"It's an old and powerful-"

"Branch of magic, we know." Nabila cuts Remi off before he can start again. "Anyway, I'm going to study for Care of Magical Creatures between Defense and Charms this afternoon."

"That's our last exam though." Fiona points out. Myr hums agreement. Personally he's going to continue working on Potions, which they have the next day.

Nabila shrugs. "I want to be a Magizoologist. My Care of Magical Creatures grade is the most important one for me."

Myr is a bit envious that Nabila already knows what she wants to do. He imagines studying would be much less stressful if he already knew which classes he was dropping after OWLs. But since he doesn't, he needs to ensure he excels in all of them.

"Don't you need classes other than Care of Magical Creatures for a Magizoologist position though?" Fiona points out with light amusement.

Nabila shrugs. "Potions, Charms, and Defense Against the Dark Arts." She recites with clear practice. "I just need an A on the Potions OWL and that's good enough, and then I need NEWTs in Charms and Defense in addition to Care of Magical Creatures."

Myr is definitely envious now.

Fiona gives a slight whistle between her teeth. "Alright, I won't question your preparedness again." She grins. "Any chance you would want to study potions with me anyway? I need an O on the OWL if I want to avoid having to take it after this year."

"Which we all do." Remi says quietly, and Fiona laughs.

"Most of us." She agrees lightly.

They continue discussing classes until it's time to finish up their lunch and head to Defense Against the Dark Arts, which Myr is slightly dreading as always. His uncle is a surprisingly skilled teacher - he's certainly not an embarrassment on that front - but he tends to favor Myr rather obviously and Myr absolutely hates it.

He sits in the back of the room when they arrive, next to Finnigan Marley from Ravenclaw whom he's never spoken to but who he's been seeing a lot of in class due to his always trying to hide in the back.

"Hey." He greets lightly. Finnigan doesn't respond, though he never does so Myr isn't fazed. "Ready for exams tomorrow?"

Finnigan shrugs. "Yeah." He replies flatly. Myr lets them fall into silence - Finnigan is never in the mood to talk.

The lesson is a review in preparation for the midterm exam, and Myr is careful to not draw any attention to himself. Classes like these usually result in the Ravenclaw students trying to outdo each other and answer the most questions, and today is no exception.

Myr manages to get through class with his uncle only calling him out twice, which he's pretty sure is a record.

"I don't know why you're so embarrassed, your uncle is really cool." Drake tells him brightly as they walk together with most of their peers towards the library so they can study during the hour between Defense class and Charms. "I wish my family was that cool."

Myr sighs. "I know, I like him too. It's just frustrating getting called out in front of the entire class. I can tell it irritates some of the Ravenclaws too."

"Screw the Ravenclaws." Evera declares cheerfully. "It's Gryffindor opinion that counts!"

Drake snorts. "Didn't the hat consider Ravenclaw for you before-"

Evera shoves her hand at his face to stop the end of the sentence, though she quickly yanks it back with a look of disgust while Drake laughs and sticks out his tongue.

"Very mature." Nabila comments flatly, and Fiona grins.

"Calm down you two, Madame Pince is in exam mode." The red head warns lightly. "If you look even slightly rowdy she won't let you go in at all."

"I think Madame Pince is living proof that it is possible to like books too much." Drake declares, just as they reach the library.

The whole group shushes him, but Madame Pince is already leveling a stern gaze at them, and Drake, grinning sheepishly, backs up out of the library.

"See you guys in Charms." He grins cheekily, and after a moment of contemplation Evera follows him out.

The rest of them have to remain extra silent as they pick their way to one of the overcrowded tables by the window. Myr is acutely aware of the librarian eyeing them as they go, and he can't help but think that Drake might have had a point.

Point or not though, the enforced quiet makes focusing on his notes for the Muggle Studies exam incredibly easy. He gets through nearly three weeks worth of material in the hour they have before class, and he's pretty sure he actually remembers it as well when they exit the library and hurry to catch the stairs to the sixth floor.

Professor Flitwick doesn't bother with a review class, pressing on instead with the OWL material. Myr does his best to pay attention, he knows it's important information, but his mind keeps straying over the potions instructions he'd been looking over before lunch and trying to remember what Professor Quirrel had said toasters were for - he'd tried writing the actual Muggle uses for things on exams in the past and he'd been marked wrong.

"You were completely zoned out in class today." Fiona observes with clear amusement when they exit the classroom an hour later. "Would you like to borrow my notes?"

Myr grins sheepishly. "I can't wait for exams to end and break to start." He admits. "And also yeah, that would be great if you don't mind."

"Of course not, you usually pay attention. If Remi was asking I'd say no since he's always off in his head space when he should be focusing." Fiona replies briskly. She taps Holly on the shoulder as their classmates start heading off in different directions now that the school day is over.

"Hey, we still studying for Potions together?" She asks, and Holly's face drops.

"Oh jeez, I completely forgot!" She exclaims, frowning. "Emery and I are going to study in the greenhouse for a couple of hours. I mean, you could come with if you wanted?" She suggests.

Fiona shakes her head. "I'm feeling pretty good about Herbology. And don't worry about it, we can study tomorrow morning first thing." She smiles warmly, and Holly visibly deflates in relief.

"What about you Myr, care to join us?" She asks, and Myr figures it wouldn't hurt to do some hands-on studying with Holly and her sixth year friend. The two are both fantastic at the subject so it would probably be good for him.

"See you guys later, and don't stay out too late." Fiona waves cheerfully, and Holly laughs as she and Myr head out towards the main hall.

"She's gonna be a great mom one day." The brunette grins. "Speaking of, you two have been spending an awful lot of time together lately." Her grins is teasing, but it drops when Myr frowns at her.

"Fiona is a good friend, but I'm not interested. Honestly, what is with everyone and their dating obsession?"

Holly wilts ever so slightly. "Sorry Myr, I was just teasing. Charlie's always been a good sport about it but I'll remember to not do it with you in the future."

Myr sighs. "No, I'm sorry. I'm on edge at the moment."

Holly snorts, perking up again quickly. "Aren't we all? Fifth year is the worst."

Myr gives her a small, tired smile in response and she beams at him.

"At least Christmas is coming up! You're going home, yeah? I think we're the only two Gryffindors who are." She muses aloud as they reach the entrance hall and head onto the grounds. Myr pulls his scarf up defensively against the cold before responding.

"Brandon is too, and I know Fiona was still debating last I talked to her about it."

Holly raises an eyebrow. "Brandon is going home? Brandon never goes home." She says, surprised. "Jeez, that break up really screwed with him, didn't it?"

Myr shrugs. "Exhibit A of why I'm not in any hurry to start dating." He replies, and Holly shrugs.

"Fair enough. I mean, I'm not exactly with anyone myself." She jokes. "Though I think Charlie is starting to wear down!"

Myr laughs. Holly's crush on Charlie is the worst kept secret of their year he's pretty sure, and it's equally well known that it's not going anywhere. Charlie at least is a good sport about it.

They reach the greenhouse shortly after, and Myr reintroduces himself to Emery who he hasn't really spoke to since Quidditch tryouts three years prior. The three of them get straight to work on Herbology, and Myr is definitely glad he took Holly up on her offer - he apparently knows way less about Herbology than he'd thought he did.

They don't stop going through the rows of plants until the sun is grazing the horizon and if they wait any longer they'll be hiking through the snow in the dark. Emery and Holly keep up a steady stream of chatter as they walk, and Myr thinks that if he wasn't drowning in nerves, it would be nice.

But the end of the day means the start of midterms, and he definitely doesn't feel ready.

Franziska floats through the midterm exams in something of a haze. She thinks that might be a bad thing, but she also can't bring herself to care all that much.

Aidan is still avoiding her, and it's making everything awkward at the Hufflepuff table, especially since Leona won't let things go. But Aidan is going home for break, so she focuses on the end of exams, drifting through them and sparing only idle thoughts towards hopes that she'll pass.

"Ugh, I completely bombed Herbology." Tyler groans at the end of the week, dropping his head onto the table. They've just left their final midterm and are settling down for the last dinner before people start heading home for the break.

Kiera elbows him. "I offered to help you study, but you were too worried about potions." She teases lightly.

Tyler whines pitifully into the wood, and Jemma pats his shoulder consolingly.

"Well, now you know what to study for OWLs right?" She points out with a warm smile. Tyler just whines again.

"However you did, they're finally over!" Tonks interrupts, throwing a fist over her head in victory and nearly tipping off the bench. "No more exams until spring!"

"When we have OWLs." Cian grumbles. "So honestly that's sort of a negative."

Kiera and Tonks both attempt to shove him off the bench in protest, and Donaghan shifts out of the way to allow them better access, grinning at the betrayed glare Cian levels at him in response.

Franziska wishes she could jump into the conversation, but Aidan is sitting with them and she doesn't want to make the atmosphere awkward, not when everyone is clearly enjoying themselves. She comforts herself with the knowledge that Aidan will be gone in the next twelve hours, and he'll be taking his grudge and the attached awkwardness with him.

Eventually dinner ends - it seems to drag out longer than usual for Franziska who feels ready to both fall asleep and leap out of her seat and set off fireworks, just to eject the energy building up inside of her. She follows Kiera and Tonks back to their common room, happily hoping into their conversation about whether the heavy snow that's been falling all week with delay the train back to King's Cross.

"This is definitely the worst weather we've had that I can remember." Franziska chips in. "I bet we'll be able to have awesome snowball fights though, it's just the right kind of snow for it."

Kiera gasps. "Oh man you're right! Dang, I regret deciding to go home now." She groans. "I haven't ever had a proper snowball fight."

Tonks looks excited. "Oh, they're the best! You've got to stay next year, you have to know what a snowball fight is like!"

"How have you not had a snowball right before?" Leona asks, slinging an arm around Franziska and Tonks in order to situate herself physically into the conversation.

Kiera sighs. "Living in the middle of nowhere has downsides."

Franziska winces sympathetically. She can't imagine what it would be like to grow up without Rosa, or even the other kids at her school.

Tonks voices her thoughts, and Kiera shrugs one shoulder slightly.

"It wasn't terrible, being home schooled. Some pretty cool people visited when I was really young, though they never stuck around for very long." Kiera replies, her tone mostly light.

"Still, I bet getting here was pretty overwhelming, what with all the people." Leona observes cheerily.

Kiera laughs. "And our House is the biggest this year!"

"Tied with Slytherin, but yeah." Leona corrects. "That makes sense though, Hufflepuff is usually one of the more populous Houses."

"Tied with Slytherin?" Tonks looks surprised. "There are that many blood purists in our year?"

Franziska frowns. "What do you mean? I know they're ambitious, arrogant, and quick to stab people in the back, but saying they're all blood purists seems like a bit of generalization." She observes.

Tonks shrugs. "I mean, maybe, but Salazar Slytherin himself actually valued blood purity, so it's definitely taken into consideration when Sorting even if the Hat doesn't say so." She says. "I'm pretty sure there's never been a Muggleborn Sorted into Slytherin, at least not in the past century."

Franziska hums. It does make a kind of sense, she decides. The Slytherins in Muggle Studies rarely speak up, and after their Quidditch performance in November she can definitely believe that they'd be the sort to judge people based on how they were born. Anyone who thinks intentionally hospitalizing a kid is a legitimate sports strategy isn't a very nice person.

"Enough about this old news." Leona declares. "What grand adventures will we have during break? Ooh, can we go into Hogsmeade?" She looks at Franziska curiously, and Franziska realizes that she'd never actually considered that question before.

"I... think so?" She replies uncertainly. "I never have, Nabila, Fitz-" She hopes they don't notice the slight hesitation before she says her ex's name, "Brandon and I always stay in the castle during Christmas. We can ask Professor Sprout."

"Mum and dad say we are." Tonks adds her own two cents. "Though they graduated ages ago so who knows if the rules are the same?"

The other girls laugh, and Franziska makes sure to join them despite the clenching in her chest. She thinks break ups might be the worst thing in the world. If this is what dating leads to, she thinks she might be done with it for now.

They continue chatting about their break plans as they get ready for bed that night, and despite the lingering feeling that things will be... odd, for lack of a better word, without Brandon, Franziska does feel quite excited. Not sleeping alone in the dorm for two weeks will certainly be an improvement, if nothing else is.

They don't accompany Kiera, Henry, and Aidan to the platform the next day, not wanting to have to go both ways through the heavy snow.

"So what do we do during Christmas at Hogwarts?" Tonks asks excitedly at lunch, her voice uncomfortably loud in the much quieter than normal Great Hall.

"Study I hope." Jemma points out. "That's why we're all staying, right?"

"I mean, yeah. On paper that's the reason." Tonks grins. "But what's the point of being at school without classes if you don't cause a bit of chaos?"

Franziska is pretty sure the expression of trepidation on Jemma's face is mirrored on her own. "Generally we just hang out and play football." She speaks up. "Nothing crazy. And Jemma is right, we do need to study."

"Of course you'd say that." Tonks sighs dramatically. "Tyler, Leona, you guys are with me right?"

"Not us?" Donaghan asks with clear amusement.

Leona snorts. "You'd agree with anything Jemma says and Cian just follows you." She points out. Donaghan turns bright red, smile dropping as he glances nervously at Jemma.

Franziska is honestly surprised - she'd thought Donaghan's crush on Jemma would have abated when she started dating Drake, but apparently that wasn't the case.

Jemma is blushing too. "Leona, you need to stop doing that." She scolds sharply.

"I don't just follow him. He's just usually less insane that you lot." Cian grumbles, successfully breaking the start of the rising tension at the table, though Franziska isn't sure if it's intentional. "Though in this case exploring the castle does sound more interesting than studying in the library. I've been doing that enough the past two weeks."

Leona looks absolutely thrilled. "Congratulations Cian, you just managed to surprise me." She grins. "Well then, you three losers have fun studying. We're off!"

Franziska watches the group run off, laughing and shouting and drawing quite a bit of attention from the few other people in the Great Hall with them.

"What was all that about?"

Franziska perks up at Nabila's familiar voice. "They're off to lose House points." She explains with a sigh. "We're planning to do some studying. Maybe practical stuff?" She asks, and both Jemma and Donaghan nod at the suggestion.

Nabila tilts her head. "We'll come with." She decides, and Franziska finally realizes her friend hadn't come alone. With Nabila is Fiona, and Franziska smiles at her in greeting.

"The more the merrier!" Jemma says happily. "Are Drake and Evera around? They should come as well!"

"I don't think they'll be interested. They're with Remi playing in the snow." Fiona says with a laugh.

Jemma's smile wilts slightly, but she shrugs. "Well I'll see them later then. We're probably spoiled for empty classrooms to practice in now."

Franziska starts to nod, then suddenly remembers that they still haven't invited everyone. "Hang on, let me ask Fitz and Evie if they wants to come with us!" She grins and turns to the Ravenclaw table, where her friends are sitting with three other Ravenclaws who Franziska is a bit ashamed to admit she recognizes from class but doesn't know the names of. She bounds over regardless, refusing to feel embarrassed.

"Evie, Fitz, we're going to do some practical practice. Want to come with?" She smiles.

Evie immediately beams back. "Heck yeah! We were just talking about doing that actually, great timing!" She turns back to the table. "Guys, this is Frannie, but you probably know her. She's great."

Franziska laughs slightly, shifting uncomfortably under the attention suddenly directed at her.

The dark-skinned boy sitting directly across from Evie smiles at her warmly. "If you don't mind us joining that sounds like an excellent idea."

The dark-haired girl with braids sitting next to him gives him a weird look, but then she nods.

"I need to practice. My midterm performance was sub-par."

"Oh please you probably got all Os again Ana." Evie says teasingly. "Okay, we're going now?"

Franziska returns to Fiona, Nabila, Jemma, and Donaghan with the entirety of the Ravenclaws from the table following her.

"Okay, that's everyone now." She says with a slightly sheepish grin.

Jemma looks pleased at the increased number of people. "Great! If I remember right there's a pretty big classroom on the seventh floor that should fit all of us!"

She starts chatting with the dark-skinned boy as they walk, and Franziska realizes quickly that he's one of the Ravenclaw prefects.

Franziska is happy to walk between Evie and Fitzwilliam and listen as Evie goes on about how well her exams had gone. She shoots an amused grin to Fitzwilliam, who gets a bit flustered.

Franziska is used to him being awkward, and for a moment she goes to brush off the reaction as she always does - but then she remembers her father's words again (and the event that made her remember them in the first place) and she wonders if Fitzwilliam is being affected by her Veela heritage as well.

But, she reasons to herself, he'd always been jittery, even before she started puberty. So it's likely just how he is.

Still, it puts a bit of a damper on her mood. It only gets worse when they get to the room and she realizes that Shaun - the prefect - keeps trying to talk to her and pair up with her to practice. The girl with braids keeps giving her suspicious glances and Franziska wishes she could tell the girl that she's not doing anything and that she can't help it, but she doesn't want to call attention to the situation.

So she does her best to politely keep Shaun at arm's length and works mostly with Nabila, Fiona, and Evie. She wonders if guys have always been like this around her and she just didn't notice because she was dating. Or maybe her new status as single is causing whatever weird attraction thing she has to go into overdrive.

She should probably research Veelas sometime now that she's thinking about it.

The practice ends up being less effective than usual due to her distraction, but it's better than nothing.

Jemma engages her in a conversation about ideas for the study sessions the blonde runs for the younger years when they finish and the others start heading out to do their own things before dinner that night. As soon as they're alone in the room though Jemma stops mid-sentence and pulls over two of the chairs.

She gestures for Franziska to sit down, and once she does Jemma takes the other chair.

"Are you okay? You seemed a bit down today." Jemma's question is delivered very gently, but Franziska still feels a bit attacked.

"I just broke up from a nearly two year relationship." She grumbles. "I'm not allowed to be a little down?"

Jemma holds up her hands placatingly. "No pressure to talk if you don't want to. But today it seemed like more than that - I can tell when you're thinking about Brandon and there was something more to it today."

"So now you're a Leglimens?" But Franziska knows she's going to end up talking eventually. Jemma is good at saying just the right things to make people spill their guts. Better to just get it over with quickly.

"My dad is half Veela, so I'm a quarter. Apparently that causes some guys to be, like, supernaturally attracted to me I guess?"

Jemma looks genuinely surprised. "I... did notice that you get a lot of admirers, but you're really pretty and sweet so it never seemed odd to me." She says after a moment.

Franziska rolls her eyes, but she smiles despite herself. "I'm not quite you, but thanks." 

Jemma flushes slightly. "Stop it, no changing the subject. So you avoided the guys today because of that?"

Franziska sighs and nods.

The blonde hums thoughtfully. "I think you're right about Shaun. But Fitzwilliam... I don't think you need to worry about it with him. Or Donaghan for that matter, though he'd probably be really polite and not be so pushy even if he does like you."

Franziska snorts. "He doesn't like me, no, and you know that thanks to Leona and her big mouth." Jemma blushes again, and Franziska decides to push her advantage. No reason she has to be the only one baring her soul here.

"What's up with that reaction anyway? Aren't you happy with Drake?"

Jemma's face falls, and Franziska immediately feels like a horrible human being for bringing it up. "Hey, look, sorry. You don't-"

"We were better as friends. The whole dating thing... he asked me and I thought it would be like the storybooks, you know?" Jemma interrupts her, staring at her feet and tracing the toe of her boot through the light layer of dust on the floor. "Best friends turned lovers or... but yeah, it's not... I just feel like we're leaving Evera out. But I still want to be friends!" She sighs and slumps slightly back in her chair.

Franziska mimics her posture. "I know what you mean." She gives Jemma a sympathetic smile, which is returned.

After a moment, the blonde stands up. "Well, no good ever came of moping around. Let's go see if anyone is still out in this storm - I heard something about a snowball fight?"

Franziska grins and follows Jemma out of the room. The talk didn't really fix anything, but somehow she stills feels better.

Break will definitely be better with more people.

Staying at school over break is possibly the best thing to happen to Rajani in her short life - aside from discovering make-out sessions at least.

She has the spark of inspiration when asking her parents for permission to add in that prefects who stay over break have a higher chance of becoming head girl. She's pretty sure that's nonsense - though the head girl and boy are required to remain at school during break so maybe there is something there. Either way, she'll get to stay at school every year until graduation.

She celebrates by kicking Ed's roommates out of their dorm and having some private time until they have to get up to do their nightly patrols.

Her enthusiasm is slightly dulled by the intensity of midterm exams, but once they're past and everyone has left for the holidays she's right back in the very pleasant headspace that is not being at home.

"You're aware we probably should actually get some studying done." Ed observes with grin. The two of them have sequestered themselves away into one of the many empty rooms lining the Hogwarts corridors and Rajani has been perfectly happy to ignore her Charms notes in favor of studying her boyfriend.

She groans. "Fine. Buzz kill." He laughs and pokes her just below the ribs, earning himself a hard smack to the shoulder in revenge. "I suppose I do have to go through basically all of Transfiguration, and I suppose you ought to study for NEWTs."

"Ought to, yeah." Ed laughs. "I mean, I could always just become a homeless beggar, but that's Plan B. I'd like to actually try for Plan A."

Rajani hums. "Speaking of Plan A, have you told your family yet?"

Ed shrugs. "I mean, Leona probably knows, she knows everything. And she can't keep any of it to herself for very long so I figure she'll tell them at some point."

Rajani snorts. "That seems like a terrible plan but okay, suit yourself." She pulls out her wand and gets off of Ed's lap so she can rummage through her bag to find her Transfiguration notes. "How are your grades looking for that by the way? I imagine Wizengamot doesn't hire just anyone."

Ed hums as he gets his own wand out. "They don't, but I've been talking to Willow during patrols. She's aiming for the same post, so we help each other out where we can. I think I'm on track to at least get an entry level job by the fall."

Rajani gives him a genuine smile. "That's fantastic! You really should tell your parents, I'm sure they'll be pleased."

Ed shakes his head with a wry smile. "Oh they will. They'll make a huge fuss of it and cause a scene. I'm going to save that for when I'm home and my friends can't see."

They continue chatting and ribbing each other as they each start in on their studies. Rajani can't say she focuses very well, but she supposes something is better than nothing.

Ed has patrol that evening - they're short on prefects because of the break so they're patrolling solo for the time being, until Willow and Bill "think of a better solution." Rajani thinks that if there is a better solution to be had that someone would have thought of it by now.

Either way, Rajani doesn't have her boyfriend for the evening, so she hunts down Queenie and Eugene who are cuddled up together in the common room reading.

"Precious, I wish I had a camera." Rajani teases as she enters.

Queenie grins unapologetically. "We are pretty adorable." She agrees. "I assume Ed is busy if you've decided to grace us with your presence."

Rajani drops next to them with a joking huff. "Unlike you, I don't have class with my boyfriend so I'm taking advantage of being able to actually see him during the day." She replies petulantly, but both her and Queenie are grinning.

"Still, do make some time for us, will you? I'd like to actually see my best friend who is the one who convinced me to stay over break in the first place." Queenie nudges Rajani with her foot, and Rajani finally laughs.

"Alright, fair enough. We really were just studying, you two should join us next time. Heck, we could probably get everyone together - most of us are here after all."

"No Clary though. Still not sure why she wouldn't stay - she needs to study more than most of us." Eugene observes.

Queenie leans back onto him, getting comfortable. "True. Being an Auror is tough and Clary's never had the best grades."

"She does well when she has a goal." A new voice breaks in, and both Eugene and Queenie jump guiltily. Lenox just grins at them as he walks over, seemingly unconcerned at their comments about his girlfriend. "And her grades have been improving since last year. She just had to find a study method that worked for her."

"You helped with that I assume?" Queenie raises an eyebrow and Lenox doesn't even bother with faking modesty.

"Yep. She went home specifically to make sure she's able to focus on studying. Since basically everyone is staying this year she knew she'd get distracted." He continues casually, but there's a slightly wicked curve to his grin.

Queenie and Eugene look slightly chastened.

"We were just worried about her is all. And it'll be weird with her not being around." Queenie explains, and Lenox laughs.

"I know, I'm messing with you guys. Anyone up for a game of Exploding Snap?"

Rajani passes on playing but she and Queenie are happy to cheer on Eugene as he takes up the challenge.

Nia and Elspeth join them shortly after, and even Alasdair and Cadfael appear from their room part way into the second game to look on. Alasdair eventually gets sick of watching Eugene losing and subs in, claiming that he'll destroy Lenox.

Even Cadfael snorts when Alasdair promptly gets his arse handed to him. Frowning, he demands a rematch and the game gets quiet heated.

The other students even start taking notice, and eventually one of the fourth years demands a turn to try and unseat Lenox as the undefeated champion.

When Ed arrives back from his patrol nearly two hours later, the entirety of the Slytherin students who have stayed for break are gathered around Lenox and his most recent challenger, placing bets and trying to heckle the player they're rooting against.

Rajani has switched onto team Lenox by this time, preferring to root for the winning side. She hasn't taken a turn herself, but she has engaged in a bit of the gambling. She could use some more pocket money and Lenox is making her a small fortune.

Ed somehow manages to elbow his way next to her. "Technically it's pat curfew." He notes with no small amount of amusement.

"You turned me into a rebel, you can't call me out on it now." Rajani responds with a grin. He kisses her in response.

"Fair enough. Who are we rooting for?"

"Me I hope." A new challenger steps forward, and Rajani is surprised that she hadn't noticed Gabi before - the girl usually stands out being one of the only colored students in their House.

Lenox shoots her a cocky grin. "Good luck."

Gabi returns the look with an equally confident one of her own. "Keep it, you're the one who's going to need it."

Lenox looks rather pleased by the confidence, and Gabi sits across from him with a sly little grin.

The game takes a solid twenty minutes and by the end Rajani can't even see the images on the cards they're shuffling so rapidly. Both Gabi and Lenox are breathing hard, their wands gripped as they continuously tap pairs. The crowd around them is silent, watching with rapture.

Finally the last match is made - the first game to completely empty the deck. Both competitors count out their cards, and a moment later Lenox laughs.

"I guess you were right." He holds up his cards. "Twenty-five pairs."

Gabi grins. "Twenty-six. Great match though, we'll have to rematch at some point."

The room erupts, a mix of shouts of joy at Lenox finally losing and cries of irritation from those who had lost money on the match.

Gabi stands up and flicks her wand, a loud crack quickly quieting everyone down.

"Now that that's over, it's well past curfew. Go to bed."

Everyone immediately scrambles to comply, and Ed laughs.

"That's the whole reason you came out isn't it?" He teases, and Gabi grins.

"You know me too well. Goodnight." She follows the women into their dorms, and Rajani hurries after her after stealing one last goodnight kiss.

There are twenty two Slytherins total who are staying over the break and they all end up getting to know each other decently well, especially after the Exploding Snap game that first night.

Rajani even finds herself one day sitting next to Cadfael Ashburner at lunch and chatting with him and a giddy second year named Terence Higgs about the Quidditch season. Terence, as it turns out, is the new reserve Seeker for the team and Rajani thinks it's kind of cute how willing he is to listen to every bit of advice she can give as a former reserves player herself. It's much more comfortable sitting with Cadfael than Rajani would have thought, and she thinks she might see about making it a more common occurrence in the future.

Talking with Cadfael does give her a spark of inspiration, and she manages to catch Melissa Tatum, the Quidditch Captain, later that evening.

"What can I do for you Raj?" The curvy brunette asks with a grin that puts Rajani somewhat on edge. It's the sort of smile she thinks someone would have right before burning down a building, and being the recipient of it isn't the most comfortable feeling.

"I was thinking we have enough people for a pickup Quidditch game. It's supposed to stop snowing in the next few days so-"

"We should start planning it now! Brilliant." Melissa finishes the thought eagerly. "Leave it all to me Raj, we'll get enough players easy. I assume you'll be playing yourself?"

"I do miss flying." Rajani confirms with a smile. "Let me know the details when you have them."

Melissa slinks off with that unsettling grin fixed to her face, and Rajani heads in the opposite direction feeling both slimy and excited, which is a rather odd combination.

She mentions the pickup game to Eugene while a group of them are doing some practical studying in one of the empty classrooms the next day.

"That sounds awesome! I'll definitely be happy to play beater for one of the teams." He says, blocking a stunning spell gone awry.

"Sorry!" Nia waves at them before going back to her own practicing. Eugene shrugs off the near miss and turns back to Rajani.

"Did Melissa say when the game will be?"

Rajani shakes her head and flicks her wand. "Engorgio. Nothing solid, but we were thinking probably in two or three days when the snow stops." She looks down at the smoldering stool she'd been trying to enlarge. "I think I might have the wrong wand movement." She declares, and Queenie snorts from where she's seated on her own perfectly transfigured lounge chair.

"You think?" She teases. "Anyway, I think a pickup game would be quite fun. Even if someone isn't playing they can cheer on the side. It's a full-House activity."

Rajani nods. "And the best part is that we don't have to worry about finding Seekers since both Lenox and Terence stayed over the break."

"No Keepers though. That can be another tough spot to fill." Eugene points out with a slight frown. Queenie takes the chance to magically clean Rajani's toasted stool and show off a bit more.

Rajani sticks her tongue out very quickly at her friend. Queenie still notices and giggles.

"Very mature Raj. Here, I can show you the movement for the Growing Charm. You're not far off, really." Queenie finally gets up and un-Transfigures her chair back into a stool. "Arm up, show me the movement and I'll correct it."

The study session goes much better than the one she'd had with Ed a few days prior, and she thinks that maybe her boyfriend is a bigger distraction than she'd realized. She also thinks she still plans on studying with him since it's quite fun, and the school year is almost half over so she wants to monopolize the time they have left.

She hears back from Melissa about the game two days later when the Quidditch Captain stands on top of one of the tables and shouts loud enough about the game that Rajani is pretty sure she can be heard through the solid stone walls and into the dungeon corridor beyond.

The sign up sheet she posts to recruit players is very quickly filled, though the Keeper positions are last, as Eugene has suspected. Melissa then reserves the Quidditch pitch for the next day and the players divide themselves into two teams.

Unsurprisingly Eugene, Lenox, and Rajani all opt to be on the same team together, and Rajani ends up voted the leader when Melissa decides to head the opposing team.

She's a bit nervous, especially as most of the people on her team - other than James Taylor, one of the actual Chasers for the team, and Lenox - haven't really played in an actual game before. She runs them through a few basic maneuvers and then privately hopes for the best as they take off to face down Melissa's team, which has a lot more players that Rajani recognizes from her time on reserves.

Her teams surprises her in the end, holding up decently well against the more experienced players. It helps that her and Taylor both know Mayra's silent system of indicating plays, so they're able to play off each other rather effectively. The third chaser, a stout third year, holds his own as well, taking several blows from the bludgers with barely a blink.

In fact, her team manages to win, with Lenox beating Terence to the snitch by a mile. The second year isn't upset though, which Rajani finds rather impressive. Instead he starts begging Lenox for tips as soon as both Seekers have landed.

Melissa laughs at the sight. "That kid will be great one day, I'm calling it now. Anyway, good game. As the winning captain you shouldn't have any trouble getting the balls back, right?" Her feral grin is accompanied by a cackle as the actual captain swoops off.

Rajani sighs and begins looking around for where the bludgers have gotten to.

"Hey captain, need some help?"

She grins over at Eugene as he flies over to her, closely followed by Lenox and Terence.

"I wouldn't say no to that." She agrees, and they manage to turn the chore into something like a game. Rajani thinks that she should have found a reason to stay over break years ago.