Christmas was on its way. One morning in mid-December, Hogwarts was suddenly covered in several feet of snow, contrary to the small snowfalls it had experienced so far. The lake froze solid, much to Calysta's delight, and the Wesley twins were punished for bewitching several snowballs so that they followed Quirrell around, bouncing off the back of his turban. The few owls that managed to battle their way through the stormy sky to deliver mail had to be nursed back to health by Hagrid before they could fly off again.

Calysta, Jeff, Regulus, Felix and Raymond along with the Weasley twins were the only ones who seemed elated at the prospect that Hogwarts was half buried in snow. Every minute of her free time was spent outdoors with her friends, playing with her friends and learning how to ice-skate on the frozen Black Lake.

They five of them used to finish their homework the first thing, so the rest of their afternoon was occupied with playing in the snow, and their evening was spent devising wicked plans to get back at Peeves, who had found it funny to put slugs in all their shoes.

No one could wait for the holidays to start. All the students became restless during the classes, eager to get closer and closer to the upcoming Christmas break. While the Gryffindor common room and the Great Hall had roaring fires, the drafty corridors had become icy and a bitter wind rattled the windows in the classrooms. Worst of all were Professor Snape's classes down in the dungeons, where their breath rose in a mist before them and they kept as close as possible to their hot cauldrons.

Unfortunately, Snape had partnered her up with Troll Number Two, also known as Goyle. The fat lump did nothing but sneak sweets into his mouth from his pocket, stare dumbly at Calysta as she did all the work. After the first half an hour, she had enough and demanded a change in partners, only for Snape to say that it was a choice between Malfoy and Goyle.

So she stuck with Goyle.

The next potions class, Calysta was partnered up with Harry, much to her delight. The twins worked well together, Calysta showed him how to brew, and Harry helped her chop and get the ingredients they needed. The potions lesson was one of the most enjoyable, and the only drawback was that Malfoy was sitting right behind her.

"I do feel sorry," Draco was saying loudly, as he added his unicorn hair to the potion, "for all those people who have to stay at Hogwarts for Christmas just because they are not wanted at home."

He was looking straight at Calysta and Harry when he said this. Crabbe and Goyle chuckled. 

Calysta as usual, had a usual retort prepared for him. "And still I'll have a better Christmas than yours," she said nonchalantly.

Harry, who was measuring out powdered spine of lionfish, ignored them. 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 Harry as Seeker next. Then he'd realized that nobody found this funny, because they were all so impressed at the way Harry had managed to stay on his bucking broomstick. 

Then he tried to taunt Calysta in front of everyone, about how the other chasers were more talented than she was, but nobody cared because she was the youngest chaser that had ever set foot in Hogwarts and had managed to score two goals in her first match.

So Malfoy, jealous and angry, had gone back to taunting Harry and Calysta about having no proper family. 

It was true that neither of the Potter twins were going to Privet Drive for Christmas. Professor McGonagall had come around making a list of students who were staying at Hogwarts for the Christmas break, and Harry and Calysta had signed up at once. Calysta was asked by Uncle Edward if she wanted to spent Christmas with Jeff, but she said she wanted to spend her Christmas with Harry. Neither of the twins felt sorry about their decisions, since they were absolutely sure it would be their best Christmas yet. 

Ron and his brothers were staying too, since Ron's parents would be visiting his brother Charlie in Romania. Felix was going with his parents on a trip to Albania, Jeff was going home and Raymond was going home as well. Only Regulus was staying at Hogwarts, because the Goldsteins were traveling to Australia, and he didn't want to go. But Calysta knew he was staying to give her company, and although she felt guilty about him staying, she was still eternally grateful that she had friends like him.

When they left the dungeons at the end of Potions, they found a large firtree blocking the corridor ahead. Two enormous feet sticking out at the bottom and a loud puffing sound told them that Hagrid was behind it.

"Hi, Hagrid, want any help?" Ron asked, sticking his head through the branches.

"Yeah, we can help," Calysta chimed in.

"Nah, I'm all right, thanks, Ron, thanks Calysta."

 "Would you mind moving out of the way?" came Malfoy's cold drawl from behind them. "Are you trying to earn some extra money, Weasley? Hoping to be gamekeeper yourself when you leave Hogwarts, I suppose —that hut of Hagrid's must seem like a palace compared to what your family's used to."

Ron dived at Malfoy just as Snape came up the stairs.

"WEASLEY!"

Ron let go of Malfoy's robes.

"He was provoked, Professor Snape," said Hagrid, sticking up his huge, hairy face out from behind the tree. "Malfoy was insultin' his family."

"But that as it may, fighting is against Hogwarts rules, Hagrid," said Snape silkily. "Five points from Gryffindor, Weasley, and be grateful it isn't more. Now move along, all of you."

"So we're just supposed to stand there and continue letting him insult us and then he gets to get away with it?" Calysta asked loudly. "Really, Professor, that's injustice!"

Harry and Jeff both nudged her to stop talking but it was too late; the damage had been done. Professor Snape looked positively livid.

"You're coming with me, Miss Potter," he hissed, his eyes narrowing. "The rest of you, scat!"

Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle smirked as they purposefully bumped shoulders with Harry and Ron as they passed, going down to the Slytherin common room.

Calysta gulped as she followed Snape down to the dungeons, practically jogging to keep up with his lengthy strides. His black cape billowed behind him as he walked briskly, before leading Calysta straight into his office and shutting the door behind him. 

Calysta looked around as Snape made her sit on a chair opposite his desk. It was much colder in here than the rest of the castle. She pressed her thighs closer, and pulled her cloak around her, trying to keep herself warmer.

The shadowy walls are lined with large, glass jars containing various creatures of different colors and sizes, which floated in a manner that was quite revolting. The fireplace was dark, and empty, which only made the room feel more desolate and lacking in warmth.

And then Snape turned to speak to her.

"Miss Potter," he drawled, an expression of distaste visible on his face.

"Professor," she mumbled, looking down. It wasn't right of her to speak that way, but it also wasn't right of Malfoy to get away with saying whatever the hell he wanted about anyone. Before Snape could finish talking, she realized she didn't want to get into further trouble, especially with Dumbledore. Who knew, if any other Professor heard her speak in that manner to Professor Snape, she could be expelled. "I'm sorry, Sir," she mumbled.

Snape's expression visibly softened, but not by much. "Do not speak to me in this manner next time," he told her.

She nodded, looking at her hands in her lap. "I apologize," she said again. "It's just... Malfoy gets on my nerves, Sir."

"Yes, I heard what he said about Mr. Weasley."

"But Professor, why did you defend Malfoy if you heard what he said? It will only make him insult us more, if he thinks he can get away with it."

"I am aware of that, Miss Potter," Snape raised his voice. "However, there are certain things even I cannot control. Now, listen here very carefully, I don't want to repeat myself. Mister Malfoy's father, is one of the board members of Hogwarts, and should Malfoy complain even the slightest bit, I would lose my job."

Calysta's mouth stayed open. She hadn't thought of that. Of course, that's why Professor Snape was so nice to Malfoy. "Yes Professor," she mumbled. "I'm sorry."

"You may leave," Snape dismissed her.

"Uh, Professor, one more question," Calysta stood up.

Snape said nothing, gesturing with his hand for her to continue. 

"Does that mean that I can put Malfoy in his place instead?" she questioned, her eyes glimmering with mischief.

Snape sighed, his black eyes boring into hers. "Provided I don't catch you in the process."

Calysta's smile stretched so wide her cheeks hurt. "Thank you, Professor. Happy Christmas."

"Impossible!" exclaimed Regulus, as he piled spoonfuls of Shepherd's pie on his plate.

"You're kidding," Jeff interjected, his eyes as wide as saucers.

"I'm not joking," Calysta grinned wickedly. "He actually said that!"

"I always knew Snape favored you," Felix teased enviously, biting into a bread roll.

"He doesn't exactly favor me," Calysta shrugged. "He just hates me less than the other Gryffindors."

"So, this practically means we can prank Malfoy, doesn't it?" asked Raymond.

"Yes, but we just don't know where the Slytherin common room is," pointed out Calysta.

"So I'm a sack of potatoes?" Raymond asked sarcastically. "You forgot where I spent the first two months of Hogwarts..."

"Oh, wait, I know!" Jeff said excitedly. "Let's give Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle a Christmas present!"

"Ugh," Regulus scoffed. "How can you think of giving them a Christmas present after all they've done?"

"Who said the Christmas present had to be nice?" Jeff raised a brow, a roguish glint in his eyes.

"The holidays start tomorrow," said Felix, "I'm sure if the five of us come up with a plan, we can manage to prank them at breakfast tomorrow, right before they leave for the holidays."

"That's a splendid idea," grinned Raymond. 

They gulped down their lunch, before quickly heading to the boys' dormitory, their headquarters for devious planning and sabotage.

The five of them pored over a piece of parchment. Felix held a quill in his hand, the tip hovering over their drawn plans. 

"So if the entrance to the Slytherin common room is here, one of us will need to wait at the entrance, ready to warn the others should anyone come," Felix said, drawing a stick figure by the rough sketch of the common room entrance.

"I'll do it," Jeff said enthusiastically. "I could even distract them."

"Ray knows the way to the Slytherin common room from the secret passage," suggested Regulus. "It would be safer this way, instead of leaving through the Fat Lady's portrait."

"Cal, Felix, is the potion ready yet?" asked Jeff, pointing to the Cauldron in the far corner of the room.

Calysta stood up, going to check on it. Stirring it briefly, she shook her head, glancing at the potion book. "Should be ready in a few minutes. It's still a bit opaque."

"I have a better idea," proposed Regulus. "What if Ray asks for Malfoy at the common room entrance? They're supposed to be friends, right? He could easily complain about the rest of us or something, pretending he wants to hang around with Malfoy..."

"I like what you're thinking," Calysta grinned. "The rest of us could easily slip inside, find their dormitory and smear the potion all over their beds, while Felix casts the spell."

"And then we can sneak out once we're done, hide in the left hand side corridor outside the common room, and signal to Ray that we're done!" continued Regulus.

"You guys are genius!" exclaimed Jeff.

Felix was drawing and writing all of this in the piece of parchment, before showing it to the others. "Operation Christmas Gift, Stage One Complete!" Felix exclaimed. "The potion is ready."

Raymond looked at the complex diagram. "We seriously need a map!" he groaned. "Honestly, remembering all these passages is going to be a nightmare."

"Yes, but where are we going to get a map from, Smarty-pants?" remarked Jeff, biting his nail as he lounged sideways in an armchair.

"I'm sure the library has one," suggested Calysta, pouring the ready potion into four glass vials.

"Or we could just draw one," Felix suggested. "That way we can understand it better."

"Good idea!" 

"Why didn't we think of that before?"

"Do you know how hard it is for me to even draw a straight line?" Calysta groaned.

"You're forgetting we've got an artist here," exclaimed Jeff, clapping Raymond of his back. "And Reg's pretty decent at drawing."

"Phew," sighed Calysta. 

"So you two can start working on the rough sketch of the map then," Felix proposed. "During Christmas break."

"Sounds like a plan," Calysta hummed. "We don't have anything better to do anyway."

Calysta and Regulus fist-bumped each other.

"Now, y'all start thinking up names for our gang," Jeff put forward. "Personally I was aiming for Jeff and his ducklings..."

"NO!" shouted the other four.

"Okay, what about Jeff and friends?"

"Absolutely not," scoffed Calysta. 

"What about — "

"NO!" 

"It's official, whatever you do, do not let Jeff pick the name," Regulus shook his head.

"What about Griffin-kings?" suggested Regulus

"Ahem," Calysta cleared her throat, sending him a glare.

"And queen," added Regulus hastily.

"Don't think about it too much," Felix shrugged. "It'll just come to us naturally, on its own."

That evening, Calysta, Jeff, Regulus, Felix and Raymond carefully sneaked down the secret passage in their dorm, following Ray's lead, as he directed them down to the Slytherin common room.

"This way leads us straight to the dungeons," Raymond whispered. "Only a corridor away from the Slytherin common room. It leads us right next to one of the empty classrooms near our potions room."

They stopped at a wall. Raymond took Calysta's lit-up wand and flashed it right at what looked to be a dead end. 

"Stand back," he whispered.

There was one missing brick in the stone wall, and Raymond poked his own wand into the hole. The bricks shifted and shuffled, and before Calysta knew it, she was looking at an archway covered with a tapestry.

Raymond moved the tapestry aside, and the familiar feeling of cool air hit their faces as the emerged into the potions corridor. Letting the tapestry fall back, it was practically impossible to even tell there was a passage behind the tapestry.

"This way," Raymond whispered. It was freezing cold down here in the dungeons. Calysta was glad she'd worn her furry slippers and a sweater over her pajamas.

It was still ten minutes to curfew. Provided everything went according to plan, they would be back in the passage to the Gryffindor tower before curfew. 

Calysta, Jeff, Regulus and Felix hid right behind a wide pillar outside the Slytherin common room, completely obscured from view.

"Remember, Malfoy's dorm is the on the third floor, on the left," Raymond advised, before knocking on the door of the Slytherin common room. 

About a minute later, a tall fifth-year girl opened it. She clicked her tongue, looking at Raymond. "What do you want?"

"Can I.. speak to Malfoy?" asked Raymond, rather intimidated by the girl, who was noticeably wearing a prefect badge on her robes.

"I'll get him."

After two minutes of waiting, Malfoy came out through the door, with Crabbe and Goyle by his side. "What do you want?" he scoffed, looking at Avery's Gryffindor robes with disgust. 

Raymond locked eyes with Calysta, non-verbally urging her to go.

And then the four of them sneaked into the Slytherin common room. It was green and black, and full of snake emblazonments everywhere. It lacked the warmth of the Gryffindor common room, and the fire burned with green flames instead of crimson.

They crawled behind the couch, hiding from the fifth years and seventh years that studied. It was unusually quiet.

Slowly sneaking to the stairs, they climbed up to the third floor, before stopping at the entrance to Malfoy's dormitory.

"What if there's someone inside?" Felix whispered.

"I know what to do," whispered Calysta. She looked at Regulus. Sorry, Reg," she whispered, before pointing her wand at his clothes, closing her eyes tight.

She could do this. Although they hadn't been learning advanced transfiguration, Calysta was brilliant at transfiguration, and could change color if she concentrated hard enough.

His plain black robes suddenly changed to Slytherin robes. Calysta beamed. "It worked!" she whispered. "Go inside, and tell whoever's inside that Malfoy's looking for them."

Regulus went inside, while Calysta, Felix and Jeff hid under the stairs. He emerged a second later, two boys quickly going down. 

"Gosh, you were brilliant!" whooped Calysta, fist-bumping him. 

The four of them hurried into the dormitory, and spread the colorless, odorless, potion all over Crabbe, Goyle and Malfoy's beds, while Felix pointed his wand at each of the beds in turn, muttering a very carefully executed spell.

Once done, the four of them scuttled out of the dormitory, sneaked out, and his behind the couches of the Slytherin common room, crawling out to the door. 

Once they were out into the corridor they high-fived each other and glanced at Raymond and Malfoy, who were still conversing about something. Calysta sent Raymond a thumbs up, before leading the rest of her friends back to the tapestry.

Raymond followed them two minutes later. "Did you do it?" he asked excitedly.

The others nodded, entering the passage behind the tapestry. Raymond sealed the passageway with his wand, before leading the rest of his friends back into the Gryffindor dormitory. Just as they reached, the clock sounded out loudly, indicating that it was past curfew.

"Yes!" cheered Felix, "We did it!"

"Oh, I hope it works out properly," Jeff crossed his fingers.

"It was quite hard," Calysta sighed. "I've never transfigured something so difficult!"

"You did perfectly, it worked in the end, McGonagall would have been pleased," said Regulus.

Calysta's cheeks flushed red as she mumbled a 'thanks'.

"We can start on the map now, right?" asked Regulus, changing the subject.

"Yeah, I suppose we can," added Jeff. 

"Let's start with the Great Hall."

Ink flooded through a clean piece of parchment as the five Gryffindors began drawing their map.

The next morning dawned bright and cheerful with the excited chatter of students, who were very much looking forward to the holidays. Calysta had fallen asleep in the boys' dormitory again, on the spare bed, and was woken up to the smell of Felix's strong perfume.

Coughing, she sat up, her light brown hair frizzed up comedically. "Ugh, Felix, that thing stinks!" she retched.

"Tell me about it," Jeff mumbled from his bed, lifelessly. "We wake up to that stink every day."

"It's not that bad," Raymond remarked. "It smells like a mixture of mint, apples, spinach and green tea."

"Ugh, how would you know the smell of spinach?" asked Regulus, just coming out of the bathroom.

Ray shrugged. "The gardener grows spinach in our garden."

As the five Gryffindors headed down for breakfast, they sat in their usual places, and dug into the last meal together, before the holidays. Calysta was starving, and looking forward to the prospect of seeing if their prank was effective.

No doubt, halfway through her meal, she noticed a huge crowd of students gathered around the Slytherin table, and whoever looked at Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle burst out into peals of endless laughter.

When the throng of students finally cleared, Calysta, Jeff, Regulus, Felix and Raymond caught a glimpse of Draco, Crabbe and Goyle, and couldn't stop laughing.

Instead of their usual appearance, they now had long, white beards, and silver tufts of hair emerging from their nose as well. 

"Whoa, their beards are even better than Santa's!" exclaimed Jeff, grinning.

Felix had tears pouring out from his eyes as he laughed, and even Raymond couldn't hide his smile. Regulus and Calysta were openly laughing loudly, the former coughing as he choked on his food.

Felix and Calysta had brewed a rapid hair-growth potion, and smeared it all over their beds, while Felix had muttered a spell that the potion would only grow them beards. The final result was rather splendid, and there was no doubt that Calysta and her friends would use this trick again.

Draco, Crabbe and Goyle were making such a huge fuss about their beards ("Wait till my father hears about this!"), until Dumbledore had to stand up from his place at the high table and require the attention on himself.

"Mister Malfoy, Mister Crabbe, and Mister Goyle!" he said, "Although those beards are mighty enough to rival mine, I would please ask the Slytherin prefects to escort you to the Hospital Wing so Madam Pomfrey can heal you back. Though it's such a shame to lose those fine beards," Calysta heard Dumbledore mutter. She could have sworn he sent her a wink, and she grinned back in response.

The five Gryffindors high-fived each other and fist-bumped, clinking their glasses of pumpkin juice together.

"Cheers y'all!" Jeff said in his American accent. "And happy holidays!"

{ hey guys,, apologies for the slower updates. i will update this twice a week, fowl once a week, blindfolded once a week and fireproof once a week. i hope that's alright.}