The room was silent after my grandpa's respectful diatribe.

Mr. Poisonwood took a sharp inhale. All eyes fell on him, but he looked unphased. "I'll parent my child how I see fit, thank you very much. I'm afraid Daphne must understand the consequences for such ill-fitting behavior, and this is the way I've decided to do it, and you know why that is?" The question went unanswered, marinating in everyone's minds as he paused. "It's so she never does it again."

"Well, you didn't have to be so passive-aggressive about it." My grandpa scoffed. "You should have just announced it at the table before dinner started, 'Hey, my daughter got detention, let's shame her,' and no, I will not indulge you. And, by the way, my grandson is NOT a bad influence. He's a good kid, and you haven't taken the time to know him. Ask any of his professors. They'll give nothing but glowing remarks about Rollie because they told me themselves."

"Doesn't mean it isn't a facade." Mr. Poisonwood continued eating as if the argument wasn't happening.

Daphne shot up from her seat and stormed out of the dining room. Edna chased after her, then Bran and I followed. In the background, I heard my grandpa say, "I certainly hope all of your parties don't go like this."

We pursued Daphne through the halls, arriving all the way upstairs to the top floor. We could hear her horrible sobbing echoing as we tailed her. Daphne ran into a room and slammed the door shut.

Bran, Edna, and I were left on the outside, staring at each other with uncertainty.

"This has never happened before." Edna knocked on the door, but there was no reply. "Daphne, it's us, your friends. We're sorry about what happened. Let us inside, we'll do what we can to cheer you right up."

"I just need some time alone!" Daphne shouted, her voice muffled by the door.

We stared at each other, dumbfounded. Waiting for another minute with our ears held up to the door, Daphne yelled, "I'm sorry, but just please, leave me alone!"

The three of us sighed and moped back downstairs. On our way to the dining room, an older gentleman with gray hair crossed our path. He didn't look familiar.

"Oh, hello, excuse me, I'm terribly sorry to interrupt your Christmas gala, but I'm looking for Daphne." His tone was gentle and painfully polite. "My name is Raymond, I'm the front gate worker."

"Well, she's not opening her door for anyone at the moment. Perhaps we can help?" Edna asked.

"It's just a letter I'm delivering. Her professor from Hogwarts just came by to drop this off. Mr. Hawthorne, I believe, was his name." He pulled out an envelope.

"We'll make sure she gets it." Edna held out her hand.

"Okay, I'm trusting you a lot here, this has to go to her, or I could get in a lot of trouble," he said, about to place it in Edna's hand but hesitated.

"We know what's inside the letter. We know how important it is."

Raymond gave the envelope to Edna and hobbled down another corridor. "Thank you, Merry Christmas!" He waved.

Going back up to Daphne's room, we knocked on the door, but she shouted back again, "I'm sorry, but I just want to be left alone!"

"Apologies," Edna said. "We don't mean to bother you, Daphne, but we just received the letter from Hogwarts you were waiting for."

There was a pause. I was hoping she would come out to greet us.

"Slide it under the door!"

With a shrug, Edna followed her directions, and we went downstairs again to the dining room. A mental weight was lifted off my shoulders. I was so worried about seeing Professor Hawthorne that I was slightly on edge right before dinner started, now that stress was gone.

Back at the dinner table, everyone carried on as if nothing abnormal was happening. My grandpa talked to Bran and Edna's parents, and Mr. Poisonwood carried on a casual discussion with his wife and family.

During a break in the conversation, I whispered to my grandpa, "I understand if you don't want to stay, and I'll go with you if that's the case."

"Nonsense, Rollie, unless you want to leave?"

"Not really. I want to make sure Daphne is okay, but I'm also worried about you being uncomfortable."

"Nah, I'm not uncomfortable at all. You have to remember, your grandfather is a tough guy." He flexed his muscle and grinned. "It's amazing to be here at the castle built by Practical Potions. So who cares if Mr. Poisonwood is a daft arse-hole? I expected just as much. Not to mention, I've met worse people in my day. I think it's best if we stay because you're right, we should make sure Daphne is okay."

I smiled at him and continued eating the meal, but I couldn't stop worrying about Daphne. It didn't feel right to not have her at the table. I couldn't engage in any dialogue at that moment. Instead, I thought about other students at Hogwarts and how their Christmas was going. What's happening with Magdalene and Oliver? Were they happy at this moment? Or were they planning on spending time apart and couldn't handle the emotional distress of not seeing their families? And what about those bullies in Slytherin? Or the curious case of Leon, what was he up to?

***

Leon sat in his bedroom, reading a textbook on potion-making before the door swung open, and he shoved the book under his covers.

"You can't knock?" Leon blurted.

His older sister and two older brothers stormed in and slammed the door behind them. The three of them grinned.

"What?" Leon barked.

"You're not happy to see us? It's been a while, brother! Merry Christmas to you too." His sister Chelsea sneered.

"I just expect a little privacy is all, you caught me by surprise. Just knock next time."

"Ooooh, what were you doing?" His older brother Jonas smirked like a demon and ran over to Leon's bed to wrestle him.

"Cut it out, Jonas!"

Jonas wrangled Leon off the bed and slammed him onto the ground, back first. The covers flipped off, and the book went flying across the room.

"Get off me!" Leon hurled Jonas off of him.

"What do we have here?" His oldest brother Donny picked up the book. "A fifth-year potion-making text. Blech. Why were you reading this? Wait, I know, you failed and have to make it up next semester." The three of them howled.

"I'm just bored as all hell in this house, that's all," Leon grumbled.

"Where's mum?" Chelsea asked.

"Where do you think, Chels?" Jonas cut in. "She's an Auror. They have to work Christmas shifts sometimes."

"So she won't be here at all?" Chelsea said.

"Didn't you get her letter, you dunce?" Donny snickered, and Jonas did too.

"No, I didn't get her mail, but can I just say, thank goodness she won't be here?" Chelsea cackled. "How could you work for the Ministry? That's so insufferable. Then again, so is she."

"At least Dad is more on our side these days," Jonas said.

"Yeah, he barely yelled at you, Leon, when you pulled off that troll stunt. That was incredible." Donny chuckled.

"So what're you planning on doing this year? That troll prank is going to be hard to top," Chelsea said.

"Yeah, it might be. I've been thinking about doing something special, don't worry." Leon smirked.

"Ahhhh, can you give us a hint?" Jonas asked.

"Or have you been behind the brilliance of that land curse?" Donny asked.

"Maybe? Maybe not. We'll just have to see."

"Bullshit, he's not the mastermind of that land curse." Chelsea waved, but Leon didn't flinch.

"Guess we won't know until the end of the year." Leon shrugged, flashing a sadistic grin.

"That's our boy," Jonas said, smacking his shoulder a few times.

"Well, we're going back downstairs to help father with dinner. Are you coming, or are you going to laze-out like an ungrateful rat?" Donny asked.

"Of course, I'll help. I'll be down in just a moment. I was in the middle of reading before all of you interrupted me."

"We're happy to see you too," Chelsea mocked, and Leon's three siblings exited the room.

Leon picked up the book that Donny dropped on the floor, and he went back to his bed. By his nightstand, he opened the drawer and pulled out a framed picture. It was taken during the holiday season in Diagon Alley years ago. His mother was holding a younger Leon and beaming. She stood next to his dad, who was smiling as he had his arms around his three siblings. His brothers and sister were poking and prodding each other, stifling laughter to try and pose for the photo. Leon put the image back in the drawer. Shoving his head into his pillow, he took a deep breath, and tears poured down his cheek.

***

For the rest of the night, Daphne never left her room. After dinner and dessert wrapped up, Mr. Poisonwood offered some tea and eggnog in the living room. Unsure of what to do, I looked to Bran and Edna for guidance.

They shrugged.

We ended up drinking eggnog by the fireplace in the living room. Once Bran, Edna, and I gulped down our glasses, the adults continued chatting amongst themselves in the same dynamic as dinner while we went back upstairs in the gaming room to see if Daphne may have been in there, but she wasn't.

"I would say let's knock on her door, but I don't want to be a bother." Edna hung her head.

"I think it's best we continue to respect her wishes on being alone. In the meantime, I guess we can hang out up here and play games," I said, and the twins agreed. We took turns playing Wizard's chess, and Bran destroyed me, but his sister Edna put up a much better fight than I did. In the end, Bran took pride in being the winner between the three of us. Then we started playing a three-person rendition of the card game Wizards and Jesters, which was fun but nowhere near as exciting as it would be if Daphne had played with us. We did this until midnight, and towards the end, we were chuckling nonstop in a slap-happy haze of exhaustion. Meandering back into the living room, the adults were still drinking tea and conversing amongst themselves, but the plates with cookie crumbs and the empty cups told us they were heading off to bed.

We said our goodnights and exchanged a carousel of "Merry Christmas" before going to our bedrooms for the rest of the night. Even though I smiled through all of it, it wasn't genuine. I couldn't stop thinking about Daphne as I retired to my room.

I sat on my bed, ready to fall asleep when my closet doors opened up. My heart sped up, and I reached for my wand in the nightstand, but I heard a voice whisper, "Lumos."

Daphne was at the center of my room, holding up her wand with light shining from the top.

"What are you doing in here? You scared me half to death!" I whispered, sitting upright at the center of my bed.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to frighten you... I just really wanted to talk to you."

"Oh, uh… Of course."

"Can I lie down next to you?"

"Uh, sure. By all means." I scooted over, and Daphne lay on her back, staring up at the ceiling. I thought my heart would be pumping a million miles a minute, but everything was normal. I wasn't nervous in the slightest. We just lay there, side-by-side.

"Rollie, I'm so sorry your first year celebrating Christmas with us ended like this. It's all my fault," Daphne broke.

"No, that's not true. It's not your fault—no need to apologize. I just wish you were feeling better. Besides, Christmas just started a few minutes ago! There's still all day to make it a good one when we wake up."

A moment of silence passed by, I thought Daphne may have been crying, but I couldn't tell.

"Can you put your arm around me?" she asked.

"Uh sure."

She rotated on her side, and I rested my arm over her abdomen.

"Sorry. I just want to be cuddled for a moment. I hope I'm not bothering you."

"Not in the slightest."

"I really appreciate what your grandpa did earlier. Please tell him I said that."

"You know, you could tell him. He'd love it. He'd probably invite you over for new year's eve. But if you'd rather I do it, I'd be happy to relay the message."

Daphne turned around. She caressed the side of my face with her soft hand. "Rollie, you're so sweet to me."

"Uh, just treating you how I treat everyone else I respect." No, you idiot, that's not what you say.

"I know. You're a sweetheart."

Nevermind, perhaps I did say the right thing. Well-done, Rollie.

There was a pause. Her eyes twinkled from the little bit of moonlight that spilled into the room. My heart rate sped up. The only thing in the world that mattered was Daphne and me. I had tunnel vision.

"Could I kiss you right now?" she asked.

"Su-sure."

We leaned our heads in until our lips touched for a moment. And they continued touching until it built up with more passion and tighter clutching with our arms.

Then it came to a sudden stop.

"I'm sorry, Rollie, I have to stop. I'm so sorry I got carried away. Now is not the time yet." She gave my hand a squeeze. "But don't wait for me. You can talk to other girls and date if you'd like. I have to keep my focus on school."

"I understand, there's no need to apologize," I said. It was challenging for part of me to say that, but it felt like the right thing. I knew my time with Daphne wasn't now, and maybe not ever, and that was okay because, "You're one of my closest friends, and I don't want things to be weird. So we can forget this happened."

"I won't forget, but I understand what you're saying." She stood up out of bed. "Merry Christmas, Rollie."