Ben's reluctance to return home for the holidays was palpable. However, the reason as to why was significantly different than the one in his first year. Luckily, the fear of encountering his parents had lessened, thanks to the lie he had told them during summer, but a different concern now took centre stage. While a slight worry lingered about Draco's potential promise-breaking, his primary concern was parting from Harry.

Although he knew that being with Ron and Hermione would offer Harry protection, he couldn't help but feel uneasy at the thought of being separated from them for an entire week.

Having said goodbye to his friends, he left early for the train, hoping to secure a seat on the train. Upon his arrival, he stumbled upon Thomas and Leah Adams, who were entering an empty compartment.

"Hey!" he called out. The boy turned first, responding with an infectious grin.

"Hello!" he chimed.

Leah, momentarily not seeing him, eventually locked eyes with Ben. Her initial curiosity transformed into a welcoming smile. "Hi," she greeted warmly. "Do you want to sit with us?"

"Oh, yes, I would love to," he answered at once. The girl gestured him to join them inside the compartment, so he did. "Thanks."

Both Leah and Thomas sat down, and Ben did the same, choosing the seat beside the boy's. He couldn't quite put his finger on the reason, but a sense of nervousness had settled in him.

"Do you have any plans for this Christmas?" he asked, as casually as he could.

Leah responded, "My family and I are off to Switzerland for a skiing trip."

"Didn't you go to Switzerland last year, too?" wondered Thomas.

The girl nodded, her braids dancing with the movement. "We've been going there every year since I was seven, when my older sister Zahra moved there."

"How old is your sister?" asked Ben.

"She's turning twenty-seven next week."

"Oh, wow, you never told me you and your sister are so many years apart," gasped Thomas, looking deeply surprised.

"Yeah, well, my older brother is thirty," she added. "I'm pretty sure I wasn't planned. Zahra used to call me an accident when I was a toddler."

"Older siblings are always so sweet," commented Ben, with an obvious sarcastic tone. "I have an older sister, too, her name's Audrey."

"Ugh, I wish I didn't have any siblings," complained Leah, letting herself fall against the back of her seat.

"I wish I had siblings," retorted Thomas, as the train began moving. "I hate being an only child, it's the most boring thing ever! My parents don't enjoy inviting people over, and my house's always so silent."

Ben's heart gave a jolt. If Thomas's parents didn't like inviting people over to their house, why would they decide to host a Christmas Eve dinner with the Malfoys and the Walkers? What if it wasn't true, and it was just some sort of trap to make him go back home? He couldn't come up with any reason as to why they'd want that, though. So perhaps he was just being paranoid.

"That's why it confuses me that, all of a sudden, my father decided to invite the Malfoys and your family," he looked at Ben as he pronounced the last two words. "But I was really happy when I found out that it wasn't just the Malfoys. My father told me your mother was hesitant about bringing you or not."

"I wonder why," said Ben sarcastically.

Thomas chuckled. "But he then told me she'd decided to bring you, too, and I'm really glad she did. It would've been the most boring thing ever."

———————————————

The Stonem Manor was considerably smaller than the Walker's, that was an undeniable fact. But it was the most beautiful house Ben had ever seen. The fence that surrounded it was of a reddish but pale wood, and it gleamed as if it had just been carefully varnished only a few hours before. The door opened on its own before Katherine Walker could lay her hand on the doorknob, and they walked into the garden.

Ben's jaw dropped as he took in the beauty of it. It was all covered by a thick layer of pearly white snow that looked so soft and pure he felt a need to throw himself on top of it, but you could still see there was a big variety of flowers under it. There was a space in the snow, giving way to a stone path that led to the front door.

The Walkers followed it in silence, wearing their best clothes, and Sébastien extended his arm, his hand in a fist, to knock on the door. A loud, female laugh was heard from the other side of it, and footsteps approached. The door was opened by a young-looking woman.

"Good afternoon!" she greeted with a charming smile. Her hair was curly and it fell over her shoulders like a jet-black waterfall. Ben assumed she was Thomas's mother, Eleanor Stonem. "Come inside, the Malfoys are already here."

The Walkers did as she said, and stepped inside the house. There wasn't an entrance hall; you directly entered the corridor. Its walls were painted in a very light, almost white, shade of green, and decorated with beautiful moving paintings of flowers, sunsets and landscapes.

The first door on the right opened, and Thomas's grinning head poked out. Ben's lips curved into a gentle smile as he waved at him.

———————————————

Ben was surprised to find out it had been Mr. and Mrs. Stonem, with the help of their son, who had cooked dinner. At the Walker's, it was the elves who were in charge of preparing the family's meals, sometimes with Ebony's help.

"Your parents are amazing at cooking," he told Thomas, who was sitting right beside him at the dining table as they enjoyed the delicious food. Malfoy was in front of them, next to Alycia and Audrey, shooting Ben a continuous dirty look.

"I know," he replied. "My mum always loved cooking, even when she was a child. I don't know if I've ever told you, but she owns a quite famous pastry shop in Diagon Alley. My parents met each other there."

"Really?"

"Yeah, my dad loves pastries, and went there with his friends when they were around twenty, and he immediately fell in love with my mum."

"That's actually really cute," commented Ben, making Thomas smile.

Eleanor Stonem seemed like a ray of sunshine, while her husband, Richard, always had a frown on his face, and seemed to be constantly angry with the universe. Thomas said he was quite grumpy, but his heart was golden, and wanted the best for everyone.

"Thomas," called his mother from the front of the table. "Remember what we've been talking about."

"What?" frowned the boy, sounding genuinely confused.

"Sit up straight," she replied kindly.

Thomas let out a really low, muffled chuckle, but did as his mother had told him to, ignoring a very disgusted look from Draco.

"I have heard that you got your arm hurt this year, Draco," commented Katherine. "What happened?"

Draco put on his most exaggerated face of pain and suffering before replying. "I got attacked by some monster at Care of Magical Creatures, when I was carefully trying to approach it to learn more about it."

"It was a Hippogriff, not a monster," stressed Ben. "And his name's Buckbeak."

"I couldn't care less about what that huge chicken's called," snarled Draco, and gave him a burning look. Ben readjusted himself uncomfortably in his seat, holding back the anger Malfoy produced in him by just being there.

"It was all Hagrid's fault," began Lucius Malfoy. "He clearly isn't fit to be a teacher."

"He is not even able to speak properly," commented Narcissa Malfoy, bright blue eyes wide open.

"I really don't understand why Albus hired a brute like him, especially knowing our children are getting closer to having to take their O.W.L.s, therefore they should be receiving the best education possible."

The conversation went on for what seemed like an eternity, and it was becoming nearly unbearable for Ben to keep his cool after hearing them say such awful things about his friend. But he managed to do so, and he behaved better than ever. 

———————————————

On Christmas morning, Ben woke up with three different packages on the ledge of his window. His heart raced as he realised they were from his friends, both because of the excitement, and because of the fear of his parents seeing who they were from.

He walked back to his bed, carrying them with him carefully, sitting on top of the cover, and placing the packages beside him. The first one he took was from Hermione. Ben removed the dark brown wrapping, revealing a thick book without a cover. He opened the book to look inside, and to discover what it was about. He felt how his lips tightened in a smile when he realised that it was a guide to drawing techniques that he didn't know yet, but that seemed very interesting. He couldn't wait to try them out.

The next package was sent jointly by Ron and his family, the Weasleys. It was the biggest one of them. Once he had opened it, his jaw dropped as he felt a calming yet burning warmth on his chest. Not believing it, he unfolded the light blue knitted jumper, his sparkling eyes fixed on the silver "B" on the front. He didn't hesitate before putting it on carefully, not caring at all if his parents entered the room and found him wearing it. All of a sudden, he felt extremely happy, and comforted. Its texture was soft, and touching it felt like receiving a warm hug.

And the last one was Harry's. He had decided to open his last, since he was oddly nervous regarding finding out what it was. It was another book, surprisingly thicker than the one given by Hermione and rather old-looking. Decorating the cover was the most breathtaking drawing he had ever seen; a big, majestic phoenix with its wings wide open, flying around a shy-looking unicorn, its horn lifted up into the air, pointed towards the phoenix.

On the center of the right side, was a round gem, with a pristine and brilliant surface, of the same silver tone as the ink used for the drawing. He brushed it with his fingertips and, upon contact with the gem, it was illuminated with an intense golden light. Just a second later, the silhouettes of both magical creatures copied the gem, and began to move, as if they were in the middle of a dance. The phoenix's extended wings went up and down as it hovered in circles around the unicorn, whose eyes followed it while jumping, trying to approach the beautiful bird.

He opened the book carefully, and his heart raced out of curiosity. It was a book with information about every single existing magical creature, and it contained a section exclusively about uncommon and extinct ones. He was surprised he had never heard of it, but was glad he now had something else to read, and he was completely sure he would enjoy it.

Feeling a rush of happiness and excitement, he got up from his bed and gave small jumps up and down his bedroom before sitting on his desk, and taking out a small notebook. When he opened it, and saw something written in a handwriting different to his, he instantly knew his friends had received his gift.

'For Ben:

Merry Christmas, Ben! Ron and I want to thank you for your gift, and we hope you liked ours. This notebook reminds me a bit of Tom Riddle's diary from last year, but I can tell it's going to be very useful. It solves the problem of my uncle and my aunt getting mad over mail, and your parents won't find out you're talking to us, so it's great! -Harry.'

Ben took a fascinating tool made by muggles that Mrs. Burbage had given her students the previous week. If he wasn't mistaken, it was called a ben, something he found very funny, given his name was Ben. Its purpose was exactly the same as a quill's, but it was apparently easier to use. Their teacher had instructed them to try to figure out how a ben worked during the Christmas Break, and she'd then explain it to them.

So, well, Ben took the ben, and began writing, finding it slightly difficult to maintain his usually neat handwriting.

'For Harry:

Merry Christmas to you, too! I loved your gifts, honestly, thank you so much for them, you're the best. I'm wearing the Weasley jumper right now, and I wish I could wear it forever, but I guess I'll have to take it off to have breakfast with my family. And, Harry, that book is awesome! The cover is so beautiful it took me a truly long while to force myself to stop staring at it. The drawings inside are incredible, too, and I just can't wait to read it all! I don't know if Hermione's with you right now, but please tell her that I loved her gift, too. I would write her a note, too, but I'm kind of lazy, and my hand aches a bit from trying to not have an ugly handwriting with this thing. Why is it so hard to write with a ben? -Ben.'

He waited for a couple of minutes, watching as the ink gradually turned darker, and then sparkled for a split instant, telling him that Harry had received his message, before going back to being black.

Harry's handwriting slowly became more and more visible on the page.

'For Ben:

Hermione is not here with us. Ron and I aren't especially happy with her. You see, this morning, I got a Firebolt! In case you don't know, it's a brilliant broom, one of the newest, and very expensive. I don't know who gave it to me, but I was so happy to have it. Hermione said maybe it was dangerous, because she thinks Sirius Black, or some psycopath, sent it to me to kill me. Ron and I didn't think it made sense, so she told McGonagall about it, and she took my broom. So we're not talking to her until she apologises.

By the way, it's "pen", not "ben", but it was really funny to read that (not trying to be rude!). -Harry'

The sound of a door closing came from his parents' room, and he instinctively jumped up from the chair, taking off his jumper as quickly as he could. He left it, along with the notebook, on his bed, covering it with the sheets, and then sat on the bed, ready to pretend he had just woken up.

The handle of his door lowered, and Sébastien Walker appeared behind it. "Good morning, Benjamin."

"Good morning, father," he replied, forcing a smile, and covered a fake yawn with his left hand. "Merry Christmas."

"Merry Christmas," he repeated, not sounding especially merry. "Go downstairs when you get changed, breakfast is almost ready."

And he left.

A/N: this chapter is a bit shitty to be honest, so I apologise for that. i hope you enjoyed, though.