By Maxim Trevelyan
“What are you planning?” Gary narrowed his eyes as he accepted the mug of deep, rich hot chocolate. He sniffed it lightly before taking a drink. It smelled and tasted normal, so he hoped his friend had put nothing in it.
Maxim gave a mock sigh, coupled with an offended look. “I am deeply hurt by your insinuations,” he murmured and took a deep gulp of the drink, wincing slightly at the temperature. It seemed that he misjudged the hotness.
“You’re always planning something,” Gary pointed out. He grabbed the mug tightly and stared at the fireplace and the wood crackling inside it.
“Well…” Maxim trailed off. “You’re not wrong,” he shrugged. “But I decided to keep to a Christmas Holidays truce so to speak. No pranks. No weird plans. Just…peace and tranquility,” he smiled, looking out the window at the falling snow. A shiver ran through his body and Maxim snuggled deeper into his blanket.
Gary lifted his eyebrows in incredulity, but kept silent. The holidays were peaceful so far, but he thought that it was just Maxim creating a false sense of security until the big finale. Deciding to enjoy the peace while it lasts, he just took another sip of hot chocolate and resumed watching the crackling logs.
By Sky Alton
Sky was sitting by the fire, trying to re-read her charms notes. Snow was drifting down outside the window and someone’s cat had gone to sleep on her knee. It ought to have been the perfect study set up. However, her attention kept being drawn by some excited whispering going on in the nearest corner. She could feel herself beginning to smile. First years always seemed to underestimate her ears (and nose) for plotting.
She turned a page, biding her time. She didn’t ever like being a wet blanket.
“Are you sure about this, Nat?” one of them was saying.
Sky was pretty sure the girl’s name was Liz and she had her down as ‘easily lead but with a little bit of common sense’.
“It’s a silly rule,” Nat informed Liz, “Anyone can see the ice is like 3 feet thick. We’ll be fine.”
Sky sighed. The time had finally come. She put her notes down and swivelled herself to face the two first year girls. They went silent and wide eyed when they realised the head girl was looking at them.
“Do you want to hear a story?” she asked.
Nat’s apprehension swiftly turned to lofty eleven year old scorn. Sky could feel her straining not to roll her eyes and it nearly made her laugh. Liz smiled politely but was equally bemused.
“It’s the story of why the school banned ice skating,” Sky told them and their faces fell again. “You see, around twenty years ago, two Ravenclaw second years decided that they weren’t just going to ice skate over the lake, they were going to sledge the entire way across like muggle explorers. The ice was at least 3 feet thick, they thought. It would be fine.”
Nat was pretending not to be interested, while Liz was watching Sky enthralled.
“They waited until a lot of the professors were busy decorating the great hall, then they got all their friends to come and watch the attempt. It started off well, they managed to get up a great turn of speed.”
“And then what?” Nat asked, still trying to act disinterested.
“They vanished,” Sky said.
“Did the giant squid eat them?” Liz asked, eyes as wide as galleons.
“That’s what people thought at first,” Sky said, “Until there was a huge fountain of water and the sledge and its riders were thrown back out.” She stroked the cat on her lap. “The sledge had gone through a thinner patch of ice, straight into the water. If the squid hadn’t been awake to toss them back up…”
“But they were okay, weren’t they?” Nat asked.
“They were soaking wet and freezing,” Sky shook her head, “But the real kicker was that they were now terrified that the ice would give way again if they tried to walk back. They had to wait, shivering until they could be rescued by broomstick. It took a while for them to live that one down.”
“That was long before your time, right?” Liz asked.
Sky nodded, “And we’re still talking about it. What does that tell you?”
“That it was a very stupid thing to do…?” Nat hazarded in a tone that suggested she thought she could do infinitely better.
“Well, there is that too,” Sky grinned and picked up her notes.
She had plenty more stories about students attempts to make ice-rinks (all of which had ended in trips to the hospital wing for them or for unsuspecting onlookers). She’d save those for another day though. She was starting to think that all she’d managed to do this time was present Nat with a challenge. One she was sure the little first year was itching to meet. She was going to have to keep an extra special eye on these two until the weather thawed out a bit. So much for a quiet life.