The Beast Within

Winter

Christmas arrived sooner then I expected. For some reason, I had gone three months without even feeling sick like the symptoms of transforming are. I assumed the cure had worked and the first transformation was just an anomaly and I was finally able to sleep without worrying about turning. I woke up to Ava shaking me.

"Whaddyawan'" I mumbled, trying to bat her away.

"It's Christmas! Get up!" She exclaimed. I sat up. She ran out of the dorm. We were the only two in our year in Hufflepuff still at school. I got changed into a warm jumper and some jeans and walked into the common room. "Armin came back. Sarah thanked you for the music box you made in transfiguration and sent a gift and your uncle sent an owl with a present and said thanks for the model Antipodean Opaleye dragon." She said.

"You really need to stop reading my mail." I chuckled. I walked over to the tree Ava was sitting under. A hand grabbed my shoulder. I jumped, only to turn and see Brendon laughing at me.

"Ha ha, very funny Brendon." He sat down next to the tree and I sat beside him.

"Everyone else has already left so these are all ours." Ava explained. I opened the gift from Sarah first. It was a locket with a phoenix engraved on it. I opened it. A small note fell out and revealed  a photo of me, Brendon, mum and dad. I smiled as they waved at me. I picked the note up.

I managed to find your uncle, Lorcan and I asked him for a photo of your parents, he gave me this one and I decided to give it to you for Christmas so you had a reminder that your parents are always with you. I hope you like it.

Sarah

I put it around my neck and continued to open the presents. Remus and his parents had sent me some chocolate frogs which I immediately hid from Brendon. I opened Lorcan's present. It was a mood ring. Not like a stupid muggle one, but an actual enchanted ring which changes colour depending on the wearers mood. I put it on. It looked expensive. I watched as it turned a warm yellow. Finally, I came to the last present. It was a weird shape and looked pretty big. I picked it up and began to unwrap it. A broom fell out. It was a Firebolt 360, the newest Firebolt model.

"What!" Brendon cried. "Your not even supposed to have brooms!" I picked up a note which was stuck to the wrapping.

"You're not even on the team!" Brendon added.

"Actually I am."

"What, no your not."

"Yup, say hello to the Hufflepuff seeker!" I chirped, giving him the note.

"Well it's real, it's been signed by Professor Weasely." He said, still in disbelief. "He had to get permission from Professor Holmes." After we had all unwrapped out presents, we ran out into the courtyard. I mounted the broom and soared into the air. I could hear Brendon cheering from below me.

"You're actually pretty good!" He said as I landed. "By the way, I stole your Dumbledore card."

"That's fine I already have him. I have Harry, Dumbledore, Artemisia, Bertie Bott and Lord Stoddard Withers." Suddenly, I got hit in the face with a snowball. Spinning around to look at where it had come from, I saw a boy shrink behind a pillar. I knelt down, scooping up some snow I made a snowball and gestured for Brendon and Ava to do the same. We waited for him to peer back around. At the first sign of movement, we pelted them with snowballs. However, the person we hit, wasn't a boy. They weren't even a student. It was Professor Banks, the strict transfiguration teacher. We ran. Looking behind me, I saw the boy. He had tried to sneak behind us and the teacher had thought it was him who threw the snowballs. We laughed and high fived each other as the boy shrunk back. The man who led us to the castle, Hagrid, was dragging a large fir tree behind him, taking it into the great hall. We followed him and watched as Flitwick used magic and decorated it.

Soon it was lunch and, as it was Christmas, we had a feast with turkey and pigs in blankets and every dessert you could ever imagine.  Before we ate, however, we pulled crackers. I got three white mice which I soon lost as they were chased by someone's cat and ran into a hole in the wall. We ate our food, hungrily. The rest of thee day flew by and before we even knew it, Christmas was over.

It was the last day of the holidays and at 8pm people had just arrived back. I was sitting in the common room at 11 still waiting for Remus, everyone else including Ava had gone to bed. I had been waiting for hours I didn't realise until now how much I missed him. Remus walked in.

"Hi. Sorry I'm late, had a bit of trouble with a Slytherin on the way up. She confronted me, said I'm mixing with the wrong type of people. I said that she was the wrong type of person and she didn't take it very well. She threatened to jinx me. I think she was going to but she got told off by a teacher for trying to use her wand out of classes." He explained. I looked at him. At first, I didn't recognise him. It wasn't just because he'd changed his hair or eyes though. He looked different. He was taller and more handsome. His reddish-brown hair contrasted with his deep, sapphire blue eyes. Freckles still covered his face but he looked a lot  more mature. I stood up and ran over to him, kissing him on the cheek. He blushed, furiously. He sat down on the sofa and we talked about the holidays and about our presents for hours until we both fell asleep on the sofa.