The Chosen

Chapter 7: Happy Christmas

"I can't believe we lost that one!" Frank exclaimed as he and the rest of the Gryffindors walked solemnly back from the Quidditch pitch.

"Actually, it's not that hard to believe, our seeker can't fly," said one of the older students angrily.

"We fought bravely, though," Jean said, ignoring the other students, a few of which laughed at her.

"That means a lot coming from you doesn't it, Jean?" Robby the prefect said with a laugh. He prodded his friend Clarissa in the ribs with his elbow and nodded to Jean.

"Our little Ravenclaw has grown fond of us Gryffindors, I see," she said smiling at Jean. Some of the other older students began to laugh hysterically and Jean's cheeks turned a bright shade of pink.

"Ignore them," Frank whispered, putting his arm around her shoulder.

"What's this?" Arabella asked, running up to the two of them and leaving Fiona and Lily talking far behind.

"Nothing," Frank and Jean both said at once jumping apart from each other. Arabella laughed at them while muttering something to the extent of "the looks on your faces!"

"Okay, who agrees with me on this," Fiona asked as she and Lily had finally forced their way to went the others were. "We have the worst Quidditch team in the history of Hogwarts?"

"Hear, hear!" said some students as they walked by.

Jean looked like she was going to say something, probably to mention a much worse team from the 1800's or something, but Arabella interrupted. "Well, at least we have a very good looking team," she said gazing at Roger King and some of the others, who were standing around, looking dejected. "He's adorable isn't he?"

Fiona nodded enthusiastically in agreement, which seemed a bit odd for her, she tended not to agree or disagree with anyone about anything. Lily and Jean both rolled their eyes at the two of them. "He isn't really that good looking," Lily said, causing both Arabella and Fiona to look at her as though she had just denounced every single world religion. "Well, he really isn't." Then suddenly a fit of laughter overtook all five of them and they continued their journey to Gryffindor Tower in hysterics.

*****

December was extremely harsh that winter. A cold, biting wind was coming through all the cracks in the castle walls, and someone would have to be missing something upstairs to even attempt to venture outside. Because of this, many classes normally held outdoors were held in the great hall. Everyone was starting get extremely restless for the holidays, especially Arabella, but she had been restless for quite some time now. One morning, just before the holidays officially began, Jean received a rather interesting letter from her mother. "Hey, Lily!" Jean shouted to her friend as soon as she had opened it, "Look at this!"

Lily leaned over and read the letter over her friend's shoulder.

Jean,

Hello darling, I have just received the most wonderful news and since Grace has informed me that her husband no longer has a problem with letting anyone know about it, I felt that it would be best to pass the information to you and Lily.

"Mum really sounds like I'm one of her business colleagues at the Ministry, doesn't she?" Jean asked, looking a bit put off by the tone in which her mother wrote. Lily nodded and then continued to read the rest of the letter.

Would you believe that Grace is going to have another child? The baby is due in some time in May. I'm amazed, to say the very least. I never thought that after Lily and Petunia were born only eleven months apart she would never have another child. Well, the holidays are coming up, dear, and Lily will be able to see for herself. It's frighteningly obvious, sad, really, considering when she had Lily she hardly showed at all. Well, I just thought I'd pass long the information. See you very soon.

Love,

Mother

"What?" Lily asked Jean, a little bit of panic in her voice. "I'm going to have another sibling. I can barely handle the one I've got now."

Jean, however, was more worried about her own mother's tact. "She has to discuss such personal things. Why must she do that?"

"I don't know," Lily said hurriedly. "I can't believe this." She didn't know whether she should be happy or distraught.

"I'd kill for a sibling, so don't sound so unhappy," Jean said with a somewhat annoyed tone of voice. Lily didn't respond to her friend, she just gave her a look that seemed to say 'I'm sorry'. Jean nodded and looked around before crumpling up the letter. "My mother has got to learn what to talk about and what not to talk about."

Lily smiled at her friend and turned back to the notebook that she was writing in. She had spent practically all morning writing down all the dreams that she could remember having since they had begun. She had been extremely surprised by how many of them she actually remembered and how many more came back to her even as she wrote down others. Some of the dreams had been rather cryptic and those tended to take place in some forest that Lily had decided was the Forbidden Forest. Other dreams were vivid and seemed as though they were things she had actually lived through, such as the dream about Arabella and Narcissa.

When Lily had started writing, Jean had tried to read over her shoulder, but she said that all the stuff about dreams with strange happenings and disembodied voices in forests just muddled her mind. So she tried to mind her own business for the rest of the time that Lily wrote.

Arabella, however, wasn't as good of a sport. She tended to comment on every single one of the dreams. "Me and...and that Slytherin girl, friends?" She had said loudly and obnoxiously, as usual, when she read Lily's description of that particular dream. "If that ever happens I'll...er...marry the Bloody Baron."

"It's just a dream, Arabella. Most dreams never actually happen," Lily said, a little annoyed.

"It better not." Arabella said, simply because she had to get that last word in.

Jean rolled her eyes at Arabella and looked around at the other students that were there. They were all excited about the approaching holidays. There had been a lot of talk in the common room last night among the first years about what kinds of gifts they wanted to receive.

Everything was reaching an extreme intensity, and Jean could tell that Lily was starting to feel left out again. "I know!" Jean shouted suddenly, causing several people to turn and look at her, most of whom she hadn't intended to speak to. "We should have a big party at my family's house for Christmas," she said to Lily, who responded with a smile. "I'm sure your mum would love it and we could invite the Snapes and anyone else my mum can think of. It'll be fun don't you think?"

"Of course," Lily said, half-smiling. She had been feeling a mixture of emotions for the upcoming holiday. She was looking forward to seeing her family again, but something in her felt a little bit uncomfortable about leaving Hogwarts. She was certain that once she left she'd realize that it was all a dream and not be able to come back. She wanted to be able to come back, if it was all real.

*****

"Welcome home, Lily darling," Lily's father said as soon as the two of them reached their home. Lily looked around at the familiar surroundings that had served her so well for the past eleven years. Her mother was sitting on the couch in the front room, anxiously awaiting her daughter's arrival. She had a glow about her that would have told anyone she was expecting a child; you didn't have to notice her exceptionally rounded stomach.

"Mum!" Lily cried, rushing over to her mother.

Mrs. Evans smiled at her daughter, hesitant to say anything for a few seconds, and then suddenly, the questions just came. "So what is magic school like, Lily?"

"It's great, mum, absolutely wonderful."

"Now, who are your friends?" Mrs. Evans asked, motioning for Lily to sit down next to her. Lily began talking excitedly, describing every single person that she had met at Hogwarts, from Remus and Arabella to those Ravenclaw girls, and Narcissa and Evan and she even mentioned Gretchen once or twice, but tried to gloss over her existence.

She also talked at great length about the classes and the different subjects that were taught. This fascinated her mother, but her father wasn't as happy about it. "Don't they teach something normal, like history or chemistry there?" He asked.

"Well, in a way they do. Potions is kind of like chemistry, and there is a history class, but it's dreadfully boring."

"History is always dreadfully boring," Mrs. Evans said, "I had this horrible history teacher when I went to Greenwood as a little girl, and he was so..."

"Mum, we've heard that story about three million times," said a voice from the doorway, it was Petunia. How long she had been standing there, no one could tell. "All I can say is that I hope he doesn't still teach history or I think I'll have to resort to something drastic."

"Maybe you won't have to go to Greenwood either," Mrs. Evans suggested, something hopeful in her voice. An awkward silence followed that statement. Petunia just looked at the ground, knowing very well what her mother meant, but pretending not to. She had already resolved to be the perfect Greenwood girl and make her mother as happy as possible. For some reason, that didn't seem like it would work anymore.

"Of course, you'll still love it if you do," Mr. Evans said finally, giving his wife a look that told her that was not the best thing to say.

Mrs. Evans looked a little embarrassed, but she shrugged it off and looked at her two daughters, "Mrs. Caldwell has already asked me if our family would like to attend a party at their house on Christmas Eve. What do you girls say?"

Lily nodded eagerly and Petunia nodded as well, but definitely not as happily. "Alright, I'll go over and tell her. Oh, this is going to be a wonderful holiday, isn't it?" Both girls giggled silently to themselves, their mother said that every year.

*****

The Caldwell house was decorated beautifully for Christmas. There was a large fir tree in their living room and a small refreshments table was set up next to it. Most of the adults were standing around in the living room, drinking and talking by the fireplace. Practically all of the families at the party were complete strangers to Lily, and Jean had been spending most the time introducing her friend to people whose names she kept forgetting or getting mixed up with someone else. "This is Mr. and Mrs. Dermoth," Jean said, introducing the couple to Lily. Both of them had harsh grim-looking faces and seemed very unhappy, as though they would have rather been at a Christmas party in Hell than at the Caldwell house. "Mr. and Mrs. Dermoth, this is my best friend, Lily Evans."

"Oh, so you're an Evans girl?" Mrs. Dermoth asked, clearly approving of this. For some reason Lily felt quite certain that this approval wouldn't last long. "I have a daughter, Alexia, she's about a year younger than you. She'll be joining you at Greenwood this fall." Lily frowned, they had approved of her because all Evans girls go to Greenwood, well, almost all Evans girls.

"Mrs. Dermoth," Jean said nervously, "Lily doesn't go Greenwood, she goes the same music school that I go to."

"Oh, that's a shame. I never thought that you were musically inclined, Miss Caldwell. I'll see soon, won't I?" She took her husband by the arm and led him away from the girls.

"Muggles," Jean explained to her extremely confused friend, "and very snotty ones too, especially Alexia."

"I bet she makes a perfect Greenwood girl then," Lily said with a smile. Both girls laughed.

"What's so funny?" Asked a voice from the hall. Lily and Jean looked over to see Severus Snape. He was looking perfectly dejected as he always seemed to and that sucked the laughter right out of them.

"Oh, just some snobbish people," Jean said coldly. Lily sighed; here she was confused, again by one of her friend's actions. Jean hadn't been the most confusing person Lily had met, but she certainly came close, with her prefect obsession and somewhat sudden mood swings. Jean Caldwell had gone from giggly little girl to a snobbish, clique-minded teenage in a matter of seconds.

"It would actually be more funny if you'd heard it," Lily said, shooting a glance at Jean to if she would step over another unseen boundary by being nice.

"Well, I couldn't help but notice how stuffy it is in here," Severus said, nodding towards the Dermoths and some others who were standing with them. The group of them were glaring in his general direction and that probably had something to do with the fact that he hadn't made a single effort to blend in. He was still wearing black robes and looked very much like someone those particular people would like to avoid at all costs.

"Did you absolutely have to wear robes?" Jean asked, there was still that harsh edge to her voice.

"Well, I didn't know you were inviting the whole town. Mother said that it would be just us three, not everyone."

The others were starting to eye the three children even more suspiciously as they argued than before and it was making Lily a bit nervous. "Why don't we go for a walk or something?" She suggested trying to get away the evil glares of the Dermoths and another woman who had a hand firmly on a young boys shoulder. She seemed to be holding him back from moving out of fear that he would go up to the strange boy in black robes.

When Jean followed Lily's glance and saw this she frowned. "Poor Philip," was all she said before nodding at the stairs in the hall. Jean hurried up the stairs and Lily and Severus followed as quickly as they could. They all went into her room and sat down on the floor. "Happy Christmas," Jean said once the door was closed.

"Happy Christmas," Lily and Severus both said in reply, at the same time.

"So, I haven't had time to ask before, how's everyone liking Hogwarts?" Jean asked with a businesslike air. Jean often reminded Lily of Mrs. Caldwell, no matter how much Jean would deny it if she knew.

"It still seems like a dream," Lily said sadly. She wondered a great deal if it would always feel that way. "But a very vivid and confusing dream." This, of course, wasn't unlike the actual dreams that she was having, very vivid and confusing.

"You've made friends though?" Jean asked nervously. She sounded a bit guilty that she hadn't been around much at the beginning of the year to help her friend adjust. She had been slightly pre-occupied with the prefects.

"Sure I have, but that doesn't make it any less confusing."

"If it makes you feel any better, it's confusing to me and I grew up with it all," Severus said, looking glumly around the room.

Jean and Lily both looked at him in a startled way. "How so?" Jean asked and at the same time Lily also asked, "What do you mean?"

"Everyone at school is scared of me, even my own house," Severus said, frowning. Lily and Jean exchanged guilty glances. They hadn't exactly been good friends with Severus during the first time, but it wasn't like they had much of an opportunity. They were in two different houses, but they still felt a few pangs of guilt. "Not that it matters anyway because they're all very strange people."

Jean and Lily both asked "How so?" and "What do you mean?" at the same time again.

"They're just strange. Not all of them, but most of them. Ryan for example."

"Lestrange?" Lily asked, remembering what she and Arabella had heard Professor Pearson and Lucius Malfoy saying about him.

"Yeah, Ryan Lestrange, he's one of the strangest." Jean sniggered a bit at this, thinking that Lestrange being strange was just a weird way to word things. "He goes around asking weird questions, stuff like, 'You lot don't really want those mudbloods around do you?' and 'I'm sure that some of you have people that you'd like to kill, don't you?' and things like that. I'd assume it's just normal Slytherin behavior, but it's just strange. My parents never acted like that."

"He's not the only one is he?" Lily asked, referring to the overheard conversation.

"Of course, Pearson is the worst." He saw Lily nod and gave her a strange look but ignored it.

"I'll bet," Jean said thinking about Potions class.

There was a slightly disturbing silence for a few moments before Mrs. Caldwell's voice called from downstairs, "Jean, darling, it's time to eat!" The three of them got up and hurried downstairs to eat their feast and hopefully exchange a few presents.

*****

The next morning, Petunia and Lily woke up early to the sound of a great ruckus going on downstairs. They were both young enough to get excited about Christmas morning, but old enough to wait before bothering their parents. This year it seemed that their parents were already awake. It also seemed that some one else was awake as well. "Be quiet Aunt Violet!" Mrs. Evans shouted, "you'll wake the girls."

"If your shouting hasn't already ready awoken them, Grace, I doubt they are still alive up there," said their father, perhaps a little louder than he had expected.

"Don't talk like that!" Mrs. Evans screamed in alarm.

Lily and Petunia met on the staircase. They looked at each other and rolled their eyes. Without words, they had just stated, "Our parents are out of their minds." The two sisters walked down the stairs and into the kitchen where they heard the shouting coming from. In the kitchen, they saw the table set for five and eggs frying on the stove. Why their mother was cooking eggs now, when they weren't due to get up for another couple of hours, was beyond them. "Mum? Dad?" Both girls asked at once.

"Oh girls, come in and sit down," Mrs. Evans said. Both girls looked suspiciously at another woman who was standing in the corner, but took their regular seats at the table without saying a word. The other woman was a plump older woman with graying auburn hair. She had eyes like Lily's, so the girls gathered that is was some sort of relative. "This is your great-aunt Violet," their mother said waving her hand at the older woman.

"Hi, Aunt Violet," Both girls said at once again, they were actually quite good at this, despite the rift. It's somewhat of a sister thing.

"Delightful," Aunt Violet said, smiling brightly. "Let me guess. The pretty little blonde is Petunia?" Petunia nodded and smiled brightly. "And the one who looks just like me as a little first year would be Lily, am I right?"

"On both counts," Mrs. Evans said, a much happier tone in her voice. She put an egg on each plate and they all sat down to eat.

"Violet?" Mr. Evans asked as the others ate. "Why have you come to visit us for Christmas this year?"

"It's not that we mind," Mrs. Evans said, smiling at her Aunt, "but you haven't come to see us since mother died and that was a long time ago."

"Yes, I know, and I do feel terrible about that, but after Rose died I needed to take some time for myself and consider my own life. You see, I had been told a great number of things by someone I thought was a friend, and when Rose passed on I thought that it all had come to pass just as I had been told. Only recently have I realized how wrong I was to have believed it."

"What were you told Aunt Violet?" Petunia asked sweetly.

"That doesn't matter right now, darling," Aunt Violet said. She then turned to Mrs. Evans with huge smile on her face. "The eggs are delicious, Grace, absolutely delicious."

"Thank you Aunt Violet," Mrs. Evans said, grinning from the compliment.

"Now girls, I have some presents for you," Aunt Violet said, smiling at the two girls as she began searching through a large embroidered bag. "And there might be something in here for you and Mitchell as well, Grace." She produced two small packages, a little green box for Lily and a larger white box for Petunia.

Petunia opened her gift first, quickly tearing into the package. Inside there was a bracelet; silver inset with topaz stones. "It was my mother's," Aunt Violet said as she watched Petunia turn the bracelet around in her hand and gaze at the stones.

Lily then opened her package. She took out a necklace, a blood red stone on a silver chain. "It's beautiful," Lily said, putting it around her neck, "is it a garnet, or a ruby?"

"Genuine garnet, dear. I understand it's your birthstone?" Lily nodded at her aunt, and looked at the stone and how it appeared to black at time and red at others.

"You should have given them such expensive gifts," Mr. Evans said anxiously, "they're just little girls."

"Nonsense, Mitchell. They're both eleven years old, now, and Lily will be twelve in a month." Mr. Evans didn't say anything more, but he didn't really agree with giving family heirlooms to eleven year olds.

"Now girls, what do you say?" Mrs. Evans asked her daughters.

"Thank you!" both girls said happily.

*****

The rest of the holiday was rather uneventful for Lily. She spent most of the time in her room, reading her books for school, while Petunia ran around the house with her new friend Alexia Dermoth, who she had met at the Caldwell's Christmas party. Alexia had found a new favorite hobby, and that was annoying Lily as much as possible, which was another reason why she shut herself in her room. Only a few days before the holidays were about to end, she was very happy to receive a few letters, by owl. To her this seemed to say, 'No, you haven't been dreaming all along, we're all as real as you are.'

There was one from Arabella saying that she was feeling a bit depressed and she thought her mother had lost her mind because she was talking to her father, who wasn't there. There was another from Narcissa describing her Christmas dinner; it seemed to Lily like she was extremely rich. Anyone would have to be to have half the things that she had. And then the final one was something she didn't even expect at all, even though Narcissa had hinted at it.

Lillian,

I was thinking over the holidays and I don't care whether you're muggle-born or not. You're right, it shouldn't matter. Well, anyway, I was hoping to talk to you when we get back to school. Narcissa's suggestion for handling this seemed just a bit immature, like something a little Hufflepuff would do...not that there's anything wrong with Hufflepuff of course. They're people too right? Well, I'll talk to you at school. Have a good holiday.

Evan

Lily looked over the letter, profoundly confused. She was having a few issues with understanding just about anything at the moment. She hoped that somehow, all of this would pass and things about the wizarding world would just start coming naturally to her. Surprisingly enough, the hardest thing to deal with wasn't the fact that all the magic destroyed all logic she had ever learned, but the code of conduct was so strange. There were things she wasn't supposed to do that she didn't know she wasn't supposed to do. It was very easy to break rules when you didn't know what they were.

Suddenly a pounding on her bedroom door broke her thoughts. She opened it and saw Petunia standing there. "One of your friends is here," she said.

"Who is it?" Lily asked.

"I don't know, but he looks like someone from a spy movie."

"He?"

"Yes, he; Alexia's down there with him now. She says you have to watch his type so they don't steal anything." Lily noticed that there was something strange about her sister when she said this, but she tried to ignore it. She shoved Evan's letter in her pocket as she headed down the stairs.

Severus Snape and Alexia Dermoth were both in the front room eyeing each other suspiciously. When Lily walked in she could feel the tension between the two of them. "Jean's not home, she and her mother went shopping," Severus said quickly.

"It's good that they're doing stuff together," Lily said, wondering to herself why someone would bother coming over to tell her this.

"Well, I wanted to get together, all three of us and go do something before school starts again. But since she's gone, I guess we could go."

Lily was about to say something when she heard her sister whispering to Alexia. "He doesn't seem that bad, are you sure about what you said?"

"Trust me Petunia, they look innocent on the outside, but inside..."

"Will you two be quiet?" Lily asked, somewhat angry over this discussion they were having, and obviously expecting the others not to hear. They looked up at her, a startled look on Petunia's face and an angry one on Alexia's.

The tension level in the room reached new heights before Lily grabbed her coat and stepped outside. The wind was harsh and cold and the instant she did this Lily knew it wasn't such a good idea. "Okay, so this wasn't so bright," Severus said. He wasn't shivering, but he had heavy robes on and was still a bit cold.

Lily turned back to the front door and tried to get back inside, but it wouldn't budge. It seemed that someone had locked the door, most likely Petunia and Alexia considering they were the only ones home. Lily sat down on the steps and trying to think of something other than the biting cold reminded her of the letter from Evan. "Evan Rosier's in Slytherin, do you know him?" Lily asked looking at Severus.

"Yes, I know him," he said

"Okay, maybe you can make sense of this." Lily took the letter from her pocket and handed it to Severus, who read it over a few times.

He handed it back and shrugged. "I have no idea what he's talking about. Narcissa would, it seems. Maybe you should ask her."

"I should, but I was hoping to make sense of it."

"Evan Rosier doesn't make sense, at least, not in that letter."

Lily frowned at him and got up to try the door again. She looked behind her gratefully to see her mother coming up the walk. Just then a bucket full of cold water was emptied from the upstairs window unto Lily, and a small Alexia-sounding voice asked, very loudly, "So, did she melt?"

"Who did that?" Mrs. Evans screamed, holding her now soaked and shivering daughter to her as she tugged at the door. A few moments later the door was opened and an extremely guilty looking Petunia and Alexia were standing there. A great deal of angry mutterings fell from Mrs. Evans lips. Things such as 'What were you thinking?', 'If I hadn't been there', and 'frostbite' where the only understandable words. Lily sighed and hoped for the next couple of days to pass, so she could get back to Hogwarts and her friends.