Diggory Is Still A Loser (book 2)

17- Winter Thrills

Although Celia had a great time with Benjamin, the Gryffindor's weren't so lucky during the Quidditch match.
They may have beaten Slytherin, but it came with a cost.
Harry, Fred and George had been given a life-long bang from Quidditch, and Umbridge had confiscated their brooms, just because they had beaten up Draco after the match, for insulting their families.
On top of that, Umbridge had been officially placed in charge of all punishments at Hogwarts, and could overrule any teacher, since she had Fudge behind her.
This meant that Celia had to try extra hard to toe the line, as she didn't want to give Umbridge a chance to punish her further, since she didn't have protection from the other teachers anymore.

To improve her mood, Celia started spending more time with the Weasley twins, because they were usually very upbeat, when they weren't thinking about Umbridge.
Since Fred and George were no longer allowed to play Quidditch, they had more free time to be with her.
And as Celia was going to be spending Christmas with their family, she wanted to make sure that she was close to all of them, before spending 3 weeks in their house.
She even started helping the twins with their joke shop goal, by aiding with their Skiving Snackboxes. Although, Fred and George refused to let her try any experimental sweets, as they didn't want to put her at risk, like they did with the first year Gryffindor's that they usually coerced into helping them.

One afternoon the three of them were having a snowball fight outside, enjoying their time together.
Harry and Ron were stuck in the Gryffindor common room, since they had both left all of their homework to the last minute. And Hermione was off with Hagrid, trying to convince him not to show any dangerous creatures, as Umbridge wanted to fire him.
"Watch this" grinned George, as he pointed his wand at the snowball he had just made.
The snowball then pelted towards the Gryffindor tower and smashed against the window.
"Alright, my turn" said Fred eagerly, before doing the same as George.

"How long until you piss Ron off?" Asked Celia.
"I guess we'll find out" replied Fred.
Several snowballs letter, and Ron opened the window to see who was throwing them.
"Oi! I am a Prefect, and if one more snowball hits the window-" started Ron.
Fred and George both sent snowballs at him at the same time, hitting him in the face and covering him in snow.
"Ouch! Gits!" Shouted Ron, before closing the window.
George high-fived Fred.
"Nice one" grinned George.

Celia chuckled, "You better be careful, or he'll put you both in detention".
"Na, he'd never do that" replied Fred.
"No, he wouldn't... I'm glad that like us, you have your priorities in the right place though, and didn't end up a silly Prefect like Ron" admitted George.
"I would've liked to have been made a Prefect, but I'm not sure I would want the attention that came with it. Besides, no one would have made me a Prefect over Cho" sighed Celia.

"You're worth 10 of Cho" insisted George.
"Thanks. But she's the prettiest girl the school, and every boy has a crush on her, even Harry" reminded Celia.
"Maybe, but looks aren't everything" replied George.
"He's right. No one wants to date a boring girl, even if they are pretty" agreed Fred.
Celia smiled, but it didn't quite reach her eyes.
She placed her wet hands inside her pockets and shivered, "It's getting cold".

"I know. How about we all send one more snowball up to the tower, before heading inside and getting warm?" Suggested Fred.
"Sounds good to me" replied Celia.
The three of them bent down and placed some snow into their hands, before rolling it into a ball.
They then cast their spells, sending their snowballs towards the window.
As the snowballs hit the glass, they cheered and patted each other on the back.
"Come on, let's head inside" sighed George, as him and Fred threw their arms around Celia's shoulders and the three of them made their way towards the castle.

****
As Celia entered the Room of Requirement on the DA's last meeting, she saw Christmas decorations hanging from the ceiling.
"They're interesting" grinned Celia, as she looked closer and saw Harry's face on the baubles.
"Dobby the house-elf put them up" blushed Harry.
He was stood on a ladder, in the process of taking down the baubles.
"You should leave them up" replied Celia.
"And get laughed at by everyone, no thank you" said Harry.
Celia chuckled and began to help Harry take them down.

Once they had finished, the rest of the DA started to arrive.
"Well, we've finally replaced you" sighed Angelina, who walked in looking very cold, beside Alicia and Katie.
"Replaced me?" Frowned Harry.
"Yes, you, Fred and George. We've got a new Seeker" revealed Angelina.
"Who?"
"Ginny".
Harry's jaw dropped, "Ginny Weasley".
"Yep, she's actually quite good. Not as good as you, but since I couldn't have you, I've had to make do with what I've got" replied Angelina, throwing Harry a cold look.

"Hey, you know that Harry would do anything to get back on the team. He didn't mean to get himself banned for life" reminded Celia, as she jumped to Harry's defence.
"Yeah, I know" sighed Angelina.
"Who are the new Beaters?" Asked Harry curiously.
"Andrew Kirke and Jack Sloper. Neither of them are brilliant, but they are better than the rest of the idiots who turned up" admitted Alicia.
Harry was saved from losing his temper, because the rest of the DA had arrived.

"O.K, I think this evening we should just go over the things we've done so far, because this is the last meeting before the holidays, and there's no point starting anything new before a three week break" informed Harry.
"We're not doing anything new? If I'd known that, I wouldn't have come" grumbled Zacharius.
"We're all really sorry Harry didn't tell you then" mocked Fred.
"Yeah, what a shame it would have been for everyone, if you hadn't turned up" Celia said sarcastically.
Fred winked at Celia, and she had to hold back a grin.

"We can practice in pairs. Let's start with the Impediment Jinx for 10 minutes, then we'll get the crash mats out and try Stunning again" announced Harry.
Celia said goodbye to the twins, and made her way over to Luna, who had become her usual partner for DA meetings.
With Harry's coaching they had both improved tremendously, and Celia was finally getting good at magic again.

At the end of the session, Harry blew his whistle, and everyone crowded around him.
"You're all getting really good. When we get back from the holidays, we can start doing some more advanced stuff, maybe even Patronus's" revealed Harry.
There was a murmer of excitement around at the room, at the prospect of learning how to conjure a Patronus.
Everyone then began heading towards the door, so that they could make their way back to their dormitories.
Celia noticed that Cho didn't join the rest of the Ravenclaw's, instead she made her way over to Harry, who was stood in the corner of the room.
Harry blushed as Cho approached him, making Celia roll her eyes, and exit the room as quickly as possible, so that she didn't have to see what happened next.