Staying at Hogwarts for the Winter Holidays hadn’t been the plan, but circumstances left you there all the same. You didn’t mind. The thought of two weeks of quiet felt like exactly what you needed.

On the first night, the castle felt too still, so you wrapped yourself in a cloak and wandered. Hogwarts at Christmas had its own kind of magic—garlands twinkled faintly in the halls, and distant carols hummed through the stone. The cold air nipped at your face as you crossed the grounds, drawn by the peaceful quiet.

Near the Quidditch pitch, that quiet was broken by bursts of laughter and music.

“Why are you dragging me out here in the snow?” Tom’s voice, unmistakably irritated, echoed in the night.

“Because it’s fun!” Mattheo’s response was light and teasing. You smirked. If Mattheo was there, the others—Theo, Blaise, and Enzo—were sure to be nearby.

Curiosity pulled you closer, but before you could slip away unnoticed—

THWACK.

A snowball exploded against your cheek, freezing and sudden.

“Caught you,” Enzo grinned from a few feet away, already packing another snowball.

You wiped the snow from your face, glaring playfully. “Seriously?”

“Don’t lurk in the shadows if you don’t want to get hit,” he called back with a wink. Behind him, Mattheo waved you over, smirking like he’d expected you to get caught.

As you trudged over, brushing snow off your cloak, Draco appeared at your side, silent as ever. Without a word, he held out a thermos.

You raised an eyebrow. “What’s this?”

“Hot chocolate,” he replied, his tone cool but not unkind. “You’ll freeze out here otherwise.”

You took the thermos, warmth seeping into your hands. “Thanks, Draco.”

Tom sat on a bench, one arm draped over the back as he scowled at the snow like it had done him a personal injustice. Despite his obvious disdain for the cold, he sipped steadily from a thermos of hot chocolate.

You settled beside him, cradling your own thermos as you watched the others hurl snow at each other with reckless abandon. Feeling at peace.