Speak Up - Female Deaf Harry Potter AU

Christmas

Christmas was coming. One morning in mid-December, Hogwarts woke to find itself covered in several feet of snow. The lake froze solid and the Weasley twins were punished for bewitching several snowballs so that they followed Quirrell around, bouncing off the back of his turban. Hari had been with them at the time, and the fact that she hadn't been punished only made the fact she couldn't do magic even more obvious. She'd helped them with several pranks, mostly just helping with the theory, as she couldn't due the execution. The best thing that they'd planned so far was that the moment the students stepped into the great hall for breakfast on the day they left, everything they wore for 24 hours would turn bright pink, even if they changed their outfit. This had been Hari's idea, and she was very proud of it.

"I do feel so sorry," said Draco Malfoy, the last potions class before they left, "for all those people who have to stay at Hogwarts for Christmas because they're not wanted at home." He looked pointedly at Hari. Malfoy had been even more unpleasant than usual since the Quidditch match. Disgusted that the Slytherins had lost, he had tried to get everyone laughing at how a wide-mouthed tree frog would be replacing Hari as Seeker next. Then he'd realized that nobody found this funny, because they were all so impressed at the way Hari had managed to stay on her bucking broomstick. So Malfoy, jealous and angry, had gone back to taunting Hari about having no proper family. At least he had said nothing about being deaf, dumb, and unable to do magic, she thanked him mentally for that.

It was true that Hari wasn't going back to Privet Drive for Christmas. Professor McGonagall had come around the week before, making a list of students who would be staying for the holidays, and Hari had signed up at once. She didn't feel sorry for herself at all; this would probably be the best Christmas she'd ever had. Ron, the twins, and Percy were staying, too, because Mr. and Mrs. Weasley were going to Romania to visit Charlie. At least she wouldn't be alone.... again.

The hall looked spectacular on the last day. Everyone would be leaving tomorrow. Festoons of holly and mistletoe hung all around the walls, and no less than twelve towering Christmas trees stood around the room, some sparkling with tiny icicles, some glittering with hundreds of candles. They had dinner, then read through some books that they'd gotten from the library, in the common room. 

They had been searching books for Flamel's name ever since Hagrid had let it slip, because how else were they going to find out what Snape was trying to steal? The trouble was, it was very hard to know where to begin, not knowing what Flamel might have done to get himself into a book. He wasn't in Great Wizards of the Twentieth Century, or Notable Magical Names of Our Time ; he was missing, too, from Important Modern Magical Discoveries, and A Study of Recent Developments in Wizardry. And then, of course, there was the sheer size of the library; tens of thousands of books; thousands of shelves; hundreds of narrow rows.

The next morning Fred, George and Hari woke early in order to be the first ones into the hall. They were, and Hari shivered as she felt the magic that was waiting just inside the door. At the beginning of the year she noticed that she was able to sense magic, and since then it had only grown stronger.

They stepped through the door and their robes turned bright pink. The twins dragged her over to the table, and they watched as everyone filed in, turning pink as they came. The looks on their faces were hilarious. Snape looked ridiculous, if looks could kill, the twins would be dead by now with the way he was glaring at them. However he had no proof it had been them, as they were also pink, so could do nothing.

Even funnier was the hopeful look and people's faces as the first few left the great hall, and how it disappeared when they realized they were still pink.

Once the holidays had started, the common room was far emptier than usual, so Hari, Ron and the twins were able to get the good armchairs by the fire. They sat by the hour eating anything they could spear on a toasting fork -- bread, English muffins, marshmallows... ect. Fred even tried to toast an enchanted cake that he'd gotten from somewhere, but was greatly disappointed when it exploded, covering him and Hari, who had been leaning in to see, with frosting.