An American Professor

Instead of letting herself feel despair at Sirius’ departure, Erin forced herself to be caught up in the mood at Hogwarts. Christmastime was approaching, and excitement filled the castle. Erin found herself enjoying the season in spite of herself. She hadn’t heard from Sirius, yet, and Snape was back to his old grouchy self, but somehow Erin managed to get into the Christmas season.

She used the weekends to go into Hogsmeade to buy Christmas presents. Erin found a book at Mr. Wickley’s shop describing the Muggle scientist Madam Curie’s discovery of the element Radium, and also several of her other experiments in chemistry. Erin had thought of Severus as soon as she’d seen the book. Figuring it might be interesting to him to read about chemicals Muggles mix together to create new substances, she’d bought it for him. At the very least she thought he’d use it for a good laugh.

Also at the bookstore, she’d found an old copy of Pete’s Dragon. Erin knew Hagrid couldn’t read very well, but she thought Charlie might like it. She decided it was impersonal enough to not give him the wrong impression. Erin didn’t want him to feel as though she was chasing him. After all, men were the furthest thing from her mind, sort of.

For Sirius, she dragged Ron to the town’s shoe shop. Sirius was badly in need of some new boots. As she didn’t know his exact shoe size, Erin rationalized that Ron’s feet were about the same size as Sirius’. Erin knew she could trust Ron, as he knew the truth about ‘Snuffles’. Ron grumbled about being a dressing dummy the whole time that they were at the shoe shop, but Erin knew he really didn’t mind helping out.

Flitwick and Dumbledore were easy to shop for. Erin bought Dumbledore a few pairs of warm woolen socks at Gladrags. Harry told her one evening about his encounter with the Mirror of Erised, and what Dumbledore had said in regards to his own deepest desire. Erin decided that rather than determine if he had been joking or not she would buy him socks and figure it out later.

She settled on Chocolate Frogs for Flitwick. He was always so tickled with the spell on the frog. For Hagrid she bought Bertie Bott’s newest invention, ‘Surprise-filled chocolates.’ They used the normal fillings of nougat, caramel, and marshmallow fluff, but also included cottage cheese, yogurt, and cold cream. Erin feared the fillings might even be worse, but she dismissed the thought with a laugh deciding Hagrid would get a kick out of them.

Filling up her bags with more candy and sweets for her fellow Gryffindors, she felt satisfied. As a finishing touch she went back to the shop where she’d bought Dumbledore’s socks and picked out six more socks. She planned on filling them with the candy and leaving them in the Gryffindor common room on Christmas morning. Impulsively, she picked up five more socks at Gladrags, none that matched, and planned to wrap them up for Dobby. The clerk peered at her oddly as she purchased the eleven mismatched socks. Erin smiled politely and left the store feeling rather proud of her purchases.

At the end of this week, the students would be leaving for the holidays and she’d be taking her 2nd year exams. As she made her way back to the school, Erin thought about her impending exams, but was distracted with the thought that she was rather grateful that it hadn’t snowed yet. Everyone commented about how unusual this occurrence was, as it usually had snowed at least once by the beginning of December.

The next day, excitement was practically dripping at the school. The students, and most of the professors had caught the holiday spirit. Some jokester, everyone suspected that it was one of the Weasley twins, had hung mistletoe at the entrance to the Great Hall before breakfast.

Erin had good reason to suspect Fred and George as they caught her under the mistletoe first thing.

“I can’t kiss you George, you’re a student.”

“But it’s tradition.”

“So is being fired.” He looked so pathetic she’d given in and planted a quick kiss on his cheek before Fred shoved him through the doorway.

“Me next.”

“Oh, for heaven’s sake,” she muttered kissing Fred’s cheek quickly and then hurrying to her seat. She continued to watch the doorway as unsuspecting students passed underneath and were taunted into kissing.

Neville and Ginny were caught soon after Erin had taken her seat. Ginny quickly pecked his cheek causing him to turn a brilliant shade. Harry came through next by himself, and when he realized the joke, he appeared quite thankful. Ron and Hermione were not so lucky. They had been following Harry bickering as usual. They passed through the doorway and as they realized the joke both turned scarlet. As they tried to move away from one another the crowd began to taunt them. They kissed quickly on the lips, while Erin caught Harry’s eye and winked. Harry laughed and Erin wondered if he would impart a little knowledge onto Ron about how to tell when a girl likes you.

Erin finished breakfast and carefully timed her exit so as not to be caught again. Unfortunately, as she was rushing out, Snape was rushing in. Silently cursing him for always being late, Erin stopped and glared at him, and he looked at her confused. She pointed upwards, and he followed her gesture to the indicated plant. Gasps and a chorus of ‘eeews’ ensued from the crowd. No one chanted for the two of them to kiss.

“Oh, this is rubbish,” Erin snapped.

Snape looked up at the plant again and smiled, “No, it’s tradition.” He pulled Erin to him and pressed his lips to hers firmly while bending her back. Erin’s arms were flailing and she was muttering with a closed mouth trying to escape the kiss.

When he returned her to standing, he was smiling dumbly. Erin was enraged, ignoring his foolish grin, she stomped on his foot, turned and stormed out of the Hall. After that incident, the mistletoe disappeared. Snape apologized to her later that day, but Erin couldn’t help but feel uncomfortable at how he had jumped at the chance to kiss her.

The students left for holidays later that Friday afternoon. On Saturday morning, Erin awoke feeling refreshed. She showered quickly and used a drying charm on her hair. Feeling rather cold, she pulled on several layers, and planning a walk later, her winter cloak.

Having reached the landing before the foyer and castle entrance, Erin stopped abruptly. It was snowing! The crystalline landscape was enchanting, as the ground had been blanketed in the pure whiteness. It was more beautiful than she imagined it would be.

“What’s wrong with you, Erin?”

She turned slightly and saw the Weasley twins standing to her right. “It’s snowing!” she exclaimed.

“Yes, and?”

“And, I’ve never seen it before,” she breathed. “It’s beautiful.”

“Never?” Erin shook her head and continued on her way to the Great Hall. “Erin?”

“Yes?”

“After breakfast, do you want to go outside?”

She grinned happily, the child inside coming to the surface, “Definitely!” Hurrying to eat, Erin dashed back to her rooms for some gloves. She met the twins in the castle foyer. Harry, Ron, Ginny, and Hermione joined them. They all seemed to be grinning at her excitedly.

Erin looked at them suspiciously, “You guys look suspicious!”

“Us? Never!” Ron smiled.

“Let’s go!” Harry called out laughing.

The group trooped outside and immediately began to launch snowballs at Erin. “Hey! Not fair.” She tried desperately to defend herself, but there were too many of them. Fred began to chase her around while the other pelted her. “I thought I was one of your favorite teachers!” she shouted.

“You are!” Ginny shouted back laughing.

“You’ve got a funny way of showing it!” Erin shrieked as ice slipped down her back.

“Are yeh all gangin’ up on Erin? That’s not fair!” Hagrid had stumbled upon their snowball fight. He began to help Erin battle the others, but there were still too many of them.

Flitwick also stumbled upon the fight, and joined in. He charmed snowballs to fly through the air on their own.

“Hey, no fair using magic!” George protested as a snowball smacked him in the back of the head.

“All’s fair in love and war!” Erin shouted.

After a while the snowball fight became every man or woman for himself or herself. Hagrid grabbed Erin and smashed a snowball onto her head. Erin chased down Fred to repay him for the earlier offense.

She also observed Ron and Hermione pelting one another as well as Ginny chasing down Harry and tackling him into the snow. Definite sparks, she noted before calling a truce. The group trooped back into the Great Hall sopping wet and shivering for lunch. Erin loved the snow, she loved having a break from work and school, and in some ways, life.

Christmas was upon them soon enough. Erin had placed her presents to the Gryffindors under the tree in their common room. She spent the night in the girl’s dorm and joined her fellow Gryffindors around the tree Christmas morning.

The Weasley’s and Harry all received the knitted sweater from Molly Weasley. Surprisingly, there was also one for Erin in a deep plum. When she looked at the other Weasley’s curiously they just shrugged. After exchanging sweets, there were four more packages for Erin under the tree. One was from Snape, a delicate silver bangle bracelet with a beautiful blue stone upon it.

“Erin, it matches your eyes perfectly,” Ginny noted.

“Why’s he giving you a present?” Ron asked sourly.

“It was that kiss beneath the mistletoe,” George added dryly exchanging a look with his twin.

“Stop it guys, we’re friends, It was nice of him.” She looked up into Harry’s scowling face and was rather startled. Deciding to change the subject quickly she asked, “Ok, next?”

The next one was a book on dragons from Charlie. “Looks very interesting,” she said with a smile for the others, and completely non-committal, she added silently. Sirius’ present was next. It was a small Hematite ring. It fit soundly on her pinky.

“Who’s that from?” Fred demanded.

“Oh, a friend from the States,” she lied with a wink to Harry. Before they could ask any more questions Erin reached for the final package. She unwrapped it quickly and gasped. It was a radio! “Oh my gosh! A radio! I can listen to music! Will this work here?”

“Yes,” Hermione explained, “because it’s not a radio. It’s a Wizard Wireless. It operates the same as a Muggle radio, but you can’t pick up Muggle stations, only the Wizarding world ones.”

“Oh, well, still, what a wonderful present. I wonder who sent it. The parchment with it said only ‘Enjoy’.

The group huddled around the parchment that came with it. “It’s not writing I recognize.” She compared it to the tag on the chocolates from Dumbledore, and those from Flitwick, they didn’t match. It wasn’t Hagrid’s block writing, nor Charlie’s scrawl. It didn’t match up with Snape’s precise lettering, nor with Sirius’ script. Erin shrugged it off and turned the wireless on. Music came blaring from it.

“Hey! That’s the Weird Sisters!” Ron exclaimed.

The group sat enjoying each other’s company and fiddling with the Wireless and their other Christmas gifts before heading down to the Christmas feast. There were several Christmas trees decorated with lights, bows, and tinsel, along with garlands of evergreen and holly draped along the walls.

The staff sat with the students at one of the house tables (it was the only table in the hall) and Erin took her seat between Snape and Flitwick. Everyone had a marvelous time at the feast. Erin especially enjoyed pulling apart the Christmas Crackers, once she got used to the loud bang accompanying it. She’d received a crown of white ice flowers, which she placed on her head, a box of Bertie Bott’s Every Flavor Beans, and a key. No one knew what the key was for, so she pocketed it.

This was by far the best Christmas she’d ever had. She’d spent Christmases with friends before, but somehow this seemed different. Erin sighed deeply and looked around the Great Hall. This place felt more and more like home everyday.

Professor Flitwick disappeared for a moment, but came bounding up to her with a sprig of mistletoe. He stood on the chair next to her and held it over her head. “I never got my kiss.”

“You’re drunk,” Erin noted flatly.

“Doesn’t take much.” Snape sneered into her ear and Erin chuckled with him.

Pouting, Flitwick seemed determined to stay there until he received his kiss, so Erin leaned over and kissed his cheek quickly. He promptly fell off of the chair. Snape leaned over behind Erin and righted the little man, “Alright there, Filius?”

“Most definitely,” he twittered and fled the room.

The room laughed jovially and they finished their feast. Erin was so stuffed she couldn’t help yawning. She went with the others back to the Gryffindor common room to collect her packages. After wishing them a Merry Christmas she headed back to her rooms.

Unloading the packages from her arms carefully, she flopped into an armchair to rest by the fire. Her eyelids became heavier and heavier until she was fast asleep.