It was Christmas. The dinner this year was much better than last year, as I sat between Blaise and Alex. We were allowed to sit wherever we wanted this time, so, for some reason, we were at the Ravenclaw table. I think Alex convinced Anja easily enough.

There was holly and mistletoe – which I avoided at all costs – all over the walls and ceiling.

We were closer to the Gryffindor table now, so we could see Hermione talking to Harry and Ron.

She held up two chocolate cakes to them. Her expression looked slightly grim.

Maybe she had made cakes for them…but then why did I see the phrase ‘Sleeping Draught’ on her lips?

What was Hermione doing?

I was suddenly reminded of the potion in the cubicle in Myrtle’s bathroom.

Did this have something to do with it?

But I wasn’t exactly about to go up to them and ask them what they thought they were doing.

After dinner, I went back to the Common Room.

Most of the older students were away, so there were only about 10 people in the Common Room, not including our year.

Draco sat down on one of the chairs near the fire while Anja, Blaise and I talked.

Pansy, Millicent and Evangeline had gone home for the holidays and Crabbe and Goyle were nowhere to be seen.

Finally, Draco got up, looking irritated, and left. Probably going to find Crabbe and Goyle.

“So, I hope the Heir – the other Heir, I mean,” Anja added hastily, “doesn’t try to kill someone on Christmas. I mean, nobody wants to be at school anyway, with what’s going on, it would be even worse if someone got attacked.”

I sighed and looked up at the ceiling moodily. “Yeah.”

Blaise sighed. “D’you want to go down to the lake?”

I considered, then shook my head.

Anja, however, rose to her feet. “Alex might be there…”

“Of course, you want to see Alex! And there will be plenty of mistletoe by the lake…” Blaise teased.

Anja blushed. “Hey, what’s wrong with mistletoe?”

“Yeah, Blaise,” I agreed. “There’s nothing wrong with a plant that forces you to kiss your true love!”

“No, I didn’t mean it like that!” she defended herself.

“Okay,” I said calmly. “You can go down to the lake to meet Alex, and we’ll stay here so you have privacy. Happy?”

She sighed. “No…”

But she got up and left anyway.

Blaise and I exchanged looks of glee. “They’ll ‘accidentally’ get caught under mistletoe, I just know it,” Blaise commented, making me smirk at the thought of them.

Right then, Draco walked in the door, followed by Crabbe and Goyle, who were looking a bit uncomfortable.

They had a discussion quietly during which Crabbe and Goyle acted even more idiotic than usual.

Draco told the two of them that he had a secret chamber under the drawing-room floor.

“Ho!’ Crabbe exclaimed. Suddenly I realised that his hair was turning orange.

Essentially, he was turning into Ronald Weasley. Meanwhile, Goyle was turning into Harry Potter.

They ran out of the Common Room.

“What just happened?” I asked, when I regained my voice.

Draco shrugged, looking furious. “Crabbe and Goyle just turned into Potter and Weasley!”

I suddenly understood what the potion on the toilet had been.

“Polyjuice Potion,” I whispered.

“Excuse me?” Blaise asked.

“Polyjuice Potion,” I repeated. “It allows the drinker to transform into any form they choose, though human transformations are best, so long as they have a bit of the person they are changing into. So…Harry and Ron, along with Hermione, I guess, made the potion together. And those cakes Hermione had had Sleeping Draught in them, which I guess they used to knock out Crabbe and Goyle before taking some of their hair, or something like that. So, Draco, Crabbe and Goyle have probably been knocked out, but I suspect they’ll be coming to soon. You’d best go find them.”

Draco nodded and left the Common Room.

Blaise stared at me in shock. “Wow, Jade, I never knew you could work things out like that…that’s amazing! You’re really smart.”

I smiled. “Thanks. Do you want to go down to the lake to see what Anja and Alex are up to?”

Blaise smirked. “Sure.”

Together, we walked down to the lake. Normally, we would have to leave here at 7:00 to get back to our Common Rooms, but today the limits had been relaxed and we were allowed out until 9:00.

As we drew closer, we could see Alex and Anja talking easily.

There was a small bit of mistletoe hung over a tree about a yard away from them.

By some unspoken agreement, Blaise and I separated and crept off in opposite directions.

I ended up behind Alex and pushed him a little towards Anja and the mistletoe.

He turned around and jumped. “Jade! I didn’t see you there!”

I slapped him on the back and he stumbled forward a little. “Hey, what was that for? You never slap people on the back!”

I shrugged. “It’s Christmas. I start doing new things.”

Blaise stepped forward so he was next to Anja. He then put his hand on her shoulder with a very solemn expression and pushed her over in the snow.

She glared at him as she stood up. She was now standing directly beneath the mistletoe, but both she and Alex were apparently oblivious to this fact.

Alex was about half a yard away from Anja. I then stepped behind him and put both my hands on his shoulders.

I wasn’t trying for stealth anymore. I just pushed him as hard as I could and he fell forward. Luckily, Anja caught him.

So, he was now in her arms underneath the mistletoe.

How romantic.

Blaise smirked. “Have you noticed the shade above your heads? It’s quite…shall we say romantic?”

In unison, Anja and Alex looked up. They looked at each other in horror, but I thought I detected a very small smile on both of their faces.

“Tradition is tradition, you two. You know this is probably enchanted anyway, so you’ll get –”

But Anja and Alex never got to hear me tell them exactly what would happen to them if they failed to kiss each other.

They wouldn’t have had to worry anyway.

Because as soon as I uttered the word ‘get’, Alex put his arms around Anja – the opposite was already true – and kissed her.

Anja’s eyes widened visibly for a moment and then she returned the kiss.

Blaise looked at me with raised eyebrows, as if asking, what are we meant to do now?

I mouthed back, embarrass them.

Finally, after about half an hour, they broke apart.

Alex and Anja’s faces were flushed – from the cold and the kiss.

Anja glared at me. “Thanks, Jade. And Blaise.”

Alex grinned shyly. “Was it really that bad?”

Anja gave no response, only turning back to him and looking him straight in the eye.

“They’re flirting,” Blaise whispered to me under his breath.

“I heard that!” Anja announced, then made a snowball and threw it at Blaise’s face.

After that, a snowball fight ensued.

 I discovered that she had very good aim after I was hit in the face by another snowball.

Not long afterwards, Blaise came over to me and murmured in my ear, “Let’s leave them alone. I’m sure they won’t miss us. When I count to three, we run. THREE –”

With a mischievous grin on my face, I ran back to the castle, Blaise not far behind me.

Blaise was right – admittedly, the other two did glare at us, but made no move to follow.

We rounded a corner where Anja and Alex couldn’t see us. I peeked around to see what was going on.

They had clearly given up on the snowball fight as they were now deep in conversation.

Of course, we couldn’t hear what they were saying but from what we could see of their faces, it was a very serious discussion.

When we got back to the Common Room, Blaise and I just sat there, laughing and laughing for ages.

The other Slytherins gave us very strange looks, I must admit.

But it was worth it.

At about 8:45, Anja came back into the Common Room and her face was flushed again.

She refused to tell us what she and Alex had been talking about.

But for that day, I could pretend everything was alright again, the Chamber of Secrets was firmly closed and there was no chance of anyone getting Petrified by a basilisk.

It wasn’t true, of course.

But it was good to dream.