Blood is Thicker Than Water (REWRITTEN)

CHAPTER SIXTEEN: It's Christmas

Aliah was amazed by how fast two months had passed. Now, Christmas was only a week away. The castle was decorated beautifully. There were at least six trees alone, in the Great Hall with more being dragged in for other parts of the castle. 

The hallways were covered in lights and other Christmas decor brought the holiday spirit to the school. Though she was saddened by the thought of spending Christmas alone, Aliah was glad that she was spending it such a magical place. 

The castle was busy as students rushed to pack or say goodbye to their friends. Aliah had to dodge students of all ages as many sprinted down the corridors. This frosty morning, the Gryffindor decided to sit in the warmth of the library, memorising her potions. 

Severus Snape had offered extra classes through the holidays since he too was not leaving Hogwarts. Aliah agreed mostly to interrogate him. She had no luck with finding any new information on the history of her surname and her mother's maiden name. 

She was shocked, to say the least when Draco had offered to help her with the research. For weeks the pair had spent countless hours in the library searching family trees from years back. However, there was nothing on Holt nor any missing child in 1981. As much as she hated the thought of it, Aliah knew she had hit a dead end.

Or maybe she was being paranoid the whole time.

That her parents who had raised her were indeed her biological parents. Aliah groaned in annoyance as she once again lost her place in her book. She lifted her eyes to the top of the page to read again but was saved by her best friend's voice. 

"Aliah there you are I've been looking everywhere for you!" Ginny exclaimed. She collapsed in the chair next to Aliah with a grin on her face. 

"Hey Ginny, aren't you leaving soon?"

"Yes, but before I do I wanted to give you this," Ginny handed Aliah a parcel wrapped in brown paper. Aliah gratefully took the parcel and carefully peeled back the brown paper. She smiled when saw it was a book. The cover was a dark pink leather, with a black floral pattern on it.  "I know you like songwriting so I thought you may need another one. This one has a magical lock on it, just whisper a password to it,"

"Thank you, Ginny, I love it. Here is yours by the way," Aliah handed her friend a tiny box. The box was green and was no bigger than Ginny's palm. The red-head quickly unwrapped the gift an pulled the lid off from the box. She gasped at the beautiful anklet. 

The anklet was a gold chain with a gold horse charm. On every few links, a green crystal dangled, catching the lamplight on the desk. Aliah shifted forward and pointed to the charm,  "The horse represents your patronus. The stones are peridots, your birthstone. The stone symbolises compassion and healing,"

"I love it! Thank you Aliah!" Ginny gave Aliah a hug. "Are you sure you don't want to come with me? We have plenty of room,"

"Thank you for the offer, but no. I need to study and hopefully extract more information from Snape or McGonagall,"

"Aliah you sound like you are going to torture them," Ginny laughed.

"If I have to I will," Aliah chipped in.  "If I am, to be honest, I really just want to be alone this Christmas,"

Ginny was about to reply when a male voice called out to Aliah.

"Come with me?' Draco Malfoy said in more of a command rather than a question. He stood behind Aliah in a dark suit. His hair was spiked up with gel and Aliah saw the nervousness in his eyes. 

Aliah silently asked Ginny if she could go. Ginny answered with a nod and a wink. Waving a goodbye, Aliah took Draco's hand and rested her head on his shoulder as they walked through the grounds.