chapter ten christmas at hogwarts

♡

THE YULE BALL was nearing. Christmas had arrived much too quickly for Lucy to properly comprehend, and she couldn't quite believe the end of the year was so soon.

Lucy had never experienced Christmas away from home, before — not even at Beauxbatons. Every year she had always gone home to her mum, and the two would spend the holidays shopping for gifts for other family members and taking part in their same old tradition of wrapping presents whilst going through a tin of muggles' Quality Street, a mix of both muggle and wizard Christmas songs blasting in the background.

Lucy secretly always preferred the muggle Christmas songs — they for some reason always felt so much more nostalgic.

And, whilst she was missing her mum this year, Lucy was also excited about spending Christmas with her best friends. Snow had fallen over the Hogwarts grounds, which Lucy did not always have every year where she lived — the snowball fights were immense. Even Verity was getting involved. And Madame Maxine had even let her students put up Christmas trees in their shared rooms — so the four girls had spent one particular Saturday afternoon putting decorations on their own tree, the room soon drowning in tinsel and glitter that had fallen off baubles during the process.

Luckily for Lucy, her friends also shared the same love for muggle Christmas songs after she had drilled them into their heads on the last few weeks of term the previous couple of years — and so she was in extremely high spirits with golden tinsel wrapped around her like a scarf whilst Step Into Christmas filled the room on Lucy's record player in the corner. Fleur sang along with her, the two girls standing on beds on the opposite sides of the room as they attempted to hang an extremely long piece of silver and gold tinsel from the ceiling, whilst Misty and Verity argued over which baubles were to go where on the tree.

Students from all three schools were starting to warm to each other, now — it was almost like the tournament was on pause, just for Christmas, and everyone had forgotten they were meant to be competing against each other.

Lucy and Cedric were bumping into each other at lot more often, now that lessons for every school had finished. One time had been through some weird, intense snowball fight that had started as an innocent little scuffle between Lucy and Misty, who had been charming snowballs to hit each other in the back of the head. Fleur and Verity had found it very amusing — especially when other Beauxbatons students decided to join in. And then, one thing led to another, and Lucy found herself in a battle with a bunch of Hogwarts, Durmstrang and Beauxbatons students — some of which, she had no idea who they were.

She'd recognised Viktor, as well as Lee, the boy who asked Misty to the ball. Other than those two, she was sending snowballs straight into the faces of people of whom she could not put any names to. She's sure she could've remembered one or two names from the Hogwarts girls... Kiera, maybe? And Taylor? She wasn't entirely certain, but they'd eventually dragged Cedric and his friends into the brawl and Lucy's stomach was aching with laughter after teaming up with a random girl and pelting so many snowballs at Hogwarts' golden boy he fell straight onto his back.

She saw Cedric again soon after, in the nearby village where she was Christmas shopping with Fleur. Fleur had gone to the shop across the road to buy some shoes for the Yule Ball (after changing her mind once again about the heels and flats she already had in her room), and Lucy was currently browsing through a shelf of Christmas cards to send to her mum and uncle.

"There is a bruise the size of a boulder on my back," Cedric had said, a sly smile tugging on his lips as he referred back to the unexpected brawl in the snow the other day.

Lucy laughed. "Oh, get a grip, it was only snow,"

"That final hit was not snow!" Cedric retorted. "You picked up some ice, and you can't convince me otherwise,"

"Ice from where? We were right in the middle of the grounds, Cedric. Just admit you couldn't take it,"

Cedric was fully grinning, now, his own eyes scanning over the shelf of Christmas cards.

"How's the shopping going?" He asked.

"I haven't started, I overslept,"

"Who do you need to buy for?"

"Everyone I know!"

The boy chuckled. "My family's quite small, so I don't have to worry too much. Dad always wants roughly the same, so he's easy to buy for. Get him a work diary for the new year or something similar and some Firewhisky and he's sorted. Mum's a bit harder — I know she's into makeup, and perfume, and all that, but I don't know specifically what it is she likes. I know she'll be pleased, regardless of what I get her, but I still want to get something that she'll properly enjoy, you know? And I have absolutely no idea what to get my grandmothers..."

Lucy nods, picking up a card from the self for her uncle. "It's only me and my mum in my house, so I've only ever had to buy for her, really — well, and my dog!"

"You've got a dog?" Cedric's face lit up, as though he'd just received some incredible news. "What breed?"

"A doberman!" Lucy grinned. "I got him for my sixteenth birthday."

"A doberman? Aren't those the really scary looking ones? Are they not vicious?"

The blonde laughed, now moving on from the card section as she and Cedric slowly browsed through the different aisles.

"You're thinking of when people clip their ears, and dock their tails — no, we didn't do that to my dog, we think it's cruel. And he's a big baby, anyways, he's not the slightest bit vicious. He sleeps on our beds, and everything. He's spoilt, truth be told,"

The boy smiled. "What's his name?"

"Donald,"

Cedric snorted.

"What?" Lucy grinned, trying not to laugh herself. "I just think an old man name for a dog is hilarious,"

"Yeah, but I'm trying to picture you telling him off and you're just shouting Donald!"

Lucy laughed. "That is the gist of it, really,"

"I've always wanted a dog, but mum and dad are always working so it wouldn't be fair to have one if it's going to be left alone all day. I think it's unfair they let cats into Hogwarts and not dogs," Cedric said.

"Beauxbatons are strict on pets, too," Lucy explained. "Dogs are a no. Owls are fine, because they're needed really to send letters. But cats, they're not always so lenient. Some are allowed in, if they're really well behaved — but Maxine's quite funny about it. Fair enough, really, I wouldn't want cat shit all over my school,"

Cedric laughed.

"I dunno what to get my uncle... I started buying for him, too, the last few years, but..." Lucy sighs, trailing off thoughtfully. "I guess you can't go wrong with chocolate..."

"Are you talking about Professor Lupin?"

"Yeah, we've always been really close with him. Mum's his big sister. He's always been there for her ever since she lost my dad, and he's always helped look after me, too."

She could see Cedric was burning to ask what happened to her dad, but knew it might be inappropriate to. But she didn't mind. It wasn't a big, sensitive topic to her — it was just what she'd always known.

"My dad died in the war. He was a good friend of the Potters. Tried to save them," she explained.

Cedric looked up at her sympathetically. "I'm sorry..." he began, but Lucy shook her head and smiled.

"Don't worry, it's fine. But yeah, that's why Remus is always around. Mind you, he's always been close with my mum, so he'd probably still be around as often as he is even with my dad still here,"

A short silence followed, and Lucy's attention diverted to the door, where Fleur was returning with her newly bought shoes.

"There you are!" Lucy said to her, as she strolled over to the pair. "You've been gone for ages!"

"The queue was horrendous. And then—"

Fleur came to a halt upon noticing Cedric standing alongside her best friend, bewildered at the two both suddenly talking rapidly in French. Her lips curved into a smirk, as she glanced between the two.

"And then, I bumped into Roger,"

"Roger?" Lucy repeated, now reflecting Fleur's smug expression. "And he held you up, did he?"

"You seem to have found some other company, anyways," Fleur teased, nodding to Cedric, who's brows furrowed slightly at the indication he was being talked about.

"Oh shut up," Lucy retorted. "You're the one that was gone for ages,"

"In fact — Roger asked to take me to some sort of tea shop, but I said no because I knew you were alone. But... you're not alone now..."

Lucy chuckled and rolled her eyes.

"Go on," she said. "Go and find him, I've still got to buy for my family, so,"

"Oh, yeah, of course. Perhaps Cedric can help," Fleur added, with a wink. "See you back at the carriage?"

"Enjoy!" Lucy waved, watching her friend leave with a cheeky grin.

Cedric, who was still dumbfounded, remained silent after Fleur left. Lucy turned back to him, still smiling.

"Right," Cedric said, still frowning in confusion. "What was that?"

"Oh my God, I keep forgetting you can't speak French," Lucy said with realisation, letting out a laugh. "Fleur's gone to some tea shop with her Yule Ball date. I told her to go, since I've got to finish shopping, anyway,"

"Oh..." Cedric trailed off. "That makes more sense. The only thing I could make out was the tone of voices, and that sounded like you were either teasing each other or flirting,"

"Maybe both," Lucy smiled, a mischievous glint in her eye, before she hesitated. "Hang on, where's all your friends?"

"They're at the Three Broomsticks — it's a pub," Cedric added at Lucy's confused expression. "They don't need to do any buying, they had it all sorted last week,"

"And what were you doing last week when they came here shopping, then?" Lucy asked absentmindedly, looking out of the shop window and figuring out where to go next.

"Trying to figure out that bloody egg,"

Lucy froze, her attention fully back on Cedric. She'd sort-of forgotten about the Tri-Wizard Tournament over the past few days, what with Christmas and the Yule Ball approaching.

"And have you?" she asked, attempting to sound casual and not trying to pry (she wasn't trying to get any information from Cedric — but she knows how it sounds, her asking).

Cedric raised an eyebrow.

"No, I'm gonna try and have a look at it again, tonight,"

"If it makes you feel any better, I haven't figured it out yet, either," Lucy said. "Does yours scream when you open it, too?"

Cedric nodded. "Like hell,"

Lucy nodded in agreement, before sighing. "Well, I don't think there's anything else in here I can buy, so... I might go to Honeydukes to get my uncle something. And then have a browse through different shops for my mum..."

"Hold on, I'll come with you," Cedric said, quickly. "I need to buy for my mum, too — you can help me, you're probably better at knowing what's a good present for mums and what's not. You know yours well,"

Lucy hesitated for a moment, glancing out of the window once again, before looking back at the brunette boy and smiling.

"Go on then," she said. "And we can slowly walk past the tea shop Fleur's meant to be going to and see if we can catch a glimpse of her little date,"

"Deal," Cedric grinned. "I bet I know exactly the one Roger's taking her to, as well..."

♡

Shopping with Cedric had in fact been successful — and Lucy had managed to convince him to buy his mother a perfume similar to the one she ended up buying her own. She'd also grabbed a huge variety box of chocolates for her uncle, and a new toy for her dog (which she knew would be ripped up in about a day — but it's the thought that counts).

Cedric had also managed to finish his Christmas shopping in the same trip, and was extremely pleased with the gifts he'd bought — especially with Lucy helping him out with buying his mother and two grandmas. Lucy had lost her grandmother quite a few years ago, so it was nice to help Cedric buy for his own. It had reminded her of when her own mother used to browse the shops with her, picking out some sort of bath hamper.

It was now the night before Christmas, and the four Beauxbatons girls were currently sitting on their beds, all buzzing with excitement and were even more merry than usual due to the bottles of British wizard beverages they'd found in Hogsmeade a few days prior. Lucy wasn't familiar with many, but she had remembered trying Firewhisky with her mum the previous summer. Drinking it again with her friends in their dormitory reminded her just how much she enjoyed the little fizzy kick it always gave the back of her tongue. And the warmth it created in her chest afterwards.

Hung up in a line on the large wardrobe was all four of the girls dresses, and they had to try their very best not to go and try them on yet again - all of them were so pretty, they were obsessed.

Meanwhile, they were currently in a state where they found everything funny, and were caught in many fits of laughter — and, not to mention, Misty being the lightweight that she was, was already on the verge of becoming 'off-her-head' drunk. Lucy also found herself getting on quite well with Verity, at this moment, as the girl seemed to be behaving herself and wasn't saying anything to piss her off (it must be Christmas.). It was nice, though, just to have a laugh for a change without any snarky side comments.

"Guys!" Fleur choked out in between giggles. "Guys we can't get too drunk, Christmas is tomorrow,"

"Fleur's right," Lucy said, one hundred percent denying to herself that she felt quite a bit tipsy. "We can get properly drunk tomorrow — or on New Year's Eve, I dunno, but not the night before the fucking Yule Ball,"

"Yeah, or we'll turn up looking like we've just fought those dragons,"

Misty paused, and opened her mouth to say something, however she must've had some kind of malfunction because she froze and nothing came out. Everyone else found this absolutely hilarious, and all four burst into a fit of giggles yet again.

However they all did agree that being hungover on Christmas wasn't a nice thought, and decided to put away their bottles of beverages, perhaps to save them for tomorrow or New Year's.

Lucy lay down next to Fleur, who was still sitting up, and stared at the ceiling.

"What are you all gonna do for hair tomorrow night? And makeup?" she asked.

"I'm gonna tie mine up in a bun," Fleur replied. "And then just some neutrals on my face — can't really go all out on colourful makeup, it wouldn't match my dress,"

"I might do some yellow eyeshadow in like the corners of my eyes, so it'll match my dress," said Misty.

"You'd look gorg, M," Lucy said with a grin, and the other two girls agreed. "That Lee will swoon!"

"I can do your makeup, if you want," Fleur offered.

"Yeah, Fleur is the most skilled at makeup out of us all, to be fair," said Verity. "I'm not sure if I want to wear too much of it, though..."

The conversation dragged out a little longer, until Lucy could feel her eyelids starting to become more heavy — and she was filled with relief when Fleur suggested they get some sleep. She wasn't sure how much longer she could've stayed awake.

"Goodnight, lovelies!" was the last thing she said before completely burying herself under the covers, being completely consumed by the warmth of her bed.

Lucy loved going to bed during the winter. Just the idea of the fact that it was freezing cold outside whilst she's all tucked up warm inside was so satisfying to her. It might've been one of her favourite things.

Time ticked on, and Lucy's excitement prevented her from falling asleep, straight away. She sat up a few times and could just make out her friends' figures in the dark. Fleur and Verity were both lying very still, but she did see Misty give her a small wave from across the room. Lucy waved back and blew her a kiss, before lying back down again.

She wondered if Cedric had fallen asleep, yet. It was all a bit weird, actually, the Cedric situation. If you could even call it that.

Lucy supposed she'd never really thought too deeply about the fact that Cedric asked her to be his date — oh shit. It just clocked in her head that technically she's his date. Obviously she knew they were going together, but that was all it was in her head — like, 'Me and Cedric are going together to the Yule Ball' not 'I'm Cedric's date'. Lucy knew it was the same thing, really, but the word date to her sounded so much more... weird. Like she was starting to understand how her friends were seeing it.

That was another thing — Lucy has always trusted her friends and their point of view has always mattered to her, which was why she was so confused about Cedric. She'd gotten the impression that they were just going to the ball together because they were good friends who never really got the chance to see each other outside the tournament, who also didn't have dates. But then Fleur had that look on her face and it was like Lucy could read her mind. In fact, Lucy often wondered if both her and Fleur had some magic ability to be able to read each other's minds — but anyway, back to the point. Her friends all seemed to see her and Cedric being each other's dates as something much more. And their little shopping trip the other day was something to add. Had that been a date, to Cedric? Was she just, completely oblivious?

Lucy didn't know whether she was being stupid or if her friends were just wrong, this time around.

And if it were the case, if she was being really stupid and Cedric did like her — how did she feel? Did she like him? Lucy wasn't sure. She wasn't sure if she should like him — one, he was the enemy, she was supposed to be competing against him. But then again, she was already going to the ball with him, so that's kind of thrown that out of the window. And two, he lived in the UK and she lived in France. There was just no way it would work, even if she did like him.

But aside from that? If she forgot all of those things that were in the way and just thought about her and Cedric? Lucy still didn't know. He made her laugh, and she found him easy to talk to. She did get a bit jealous, when Verity was all over him, but who wouldn't? He was supposed to be her new friend, not Verity's. And Lucy had been so used to being pushed back to make way for the girl and all the attention she desired, it was no wonder it was starting to piss her off.

Lucy's head was a bit scrambled. She was never very good at admitting her feelings, not even to herself — so, it was a mystery as to whether or not she saw Cedric in that light. Even to her.

But she shouldn't get ahead of herself. Lucy could be right in thinking he just asked her to go as friends.

Would she be disappointed, if she was right, though? That was one to think about.

But the girl didn't spend much more time thinking, for her tiredness was beginning to overcome the girl's active mind — and before she could figure out anything else surrounding Cedric Diggory, she drifted into a deep sleep.

♡

LUCY AND MISTY were the first to wake up on Christmas Day, and however much they were desperate to wake their friends, Lucy knew how much Fleur loved her sleep (yes, even on Christmas) and so decided to give it to her. Verity? Lucy supposed she liked sleeping, too. But the truth was she didn't really care enough to wake her. Not before Fleur, anyway.

Misty was already unwrapping her gifts and cards when Lucy awoke, and so the blonde sat up in bed, wished her a very excited, 'Merry Christmas!' and then decided to do the same.

Her first gift was from her mother (obviously). Lucy received a cute Christmas card with a robin on it, with a long, soppy message inside where Ella Lunette took the opportunity to wish her daughter a Happy Christmas and tell her, again, how proud she is for her achievements in the Tri-Wizard Tournament. Lucy would hardly call last place an achievement, but she knew she had the time and skill to get back on top. As proud as her Mum already was (even with her in last place), Lucy would absolutely love to see the look on her face if she won.

As well as the extremely affectionate Christmas card, Lucy received a number of new clothes as well as a brand new perfume that she was one-hundred percent going to wear to the Yule Ball that night.

During the time Lucy had opened her gifts, Verity had awoken and wished her a Merry Christmas, however Fleur was still deep in her slumber. The three girls that were awake decided that they should wait to give each other their gifts from one another — as they had done what they usually do every Christmas, and that was to put all of their money together to get each other one gift that was more expensive and meaningful, as opposed to three separate gifts each.

So, in the meantime, Lucy decided to dig out the golden egg and once again try to figure out what exactly it's deal was.

"I'm getting some water," Misty exclaimed. "The aftertaste of Firewhisky in the morning makes me want to vomit,"

"No, you're just hungover," Lucy said with a playful grin, causing the girl to shake her head.

"I am not!"

Verity and Lucy exchanged glances and began to laugh as Misty left the room.

Lucy's focus turned back to the golden egg, as she delicately traced it's hinge on the top of which she had to turn to open. The last time she'd opened it, it had let out an awful, shrill screech that didn't stop until it was closed — which was hardly a clue.

Unless the screeching meant something? Like a banshee...

Or perhaps Lucy wasn't thinking properly. Maybe she needed to open it again, just to make sure.

"Uh, quick warning," she said, turning to Verity who looked up from reading a Christmas card. "I'm gonna open the egg again, just to try and figure out what this screaming is,"

Verity grumbled. "I could barely cope with it the first time," she said. "Make it quick, please, at least,"

Lucy let out a soft chuckle, before bringing her hand to the hinge and hesitating slightly, knowing exactly the kind of noise that would erupt into the Beauxbatons Carriage.

"Hey, I was thinking, what time should we—?"

Misty re-entered the room just as Lucy opened the egg — the same, ear piercing wail drowning out whatever it was she was going to say. The girl jumped with a fright, letting go of the glass of water in her hand sending it across the room.

Lucy leapt back to avoid being drenched with water, and the sound of glass smashing soon followed as it hit the floor.

"Christ, Luce! Could've given me a warning—!" Misty began.

"What is all the noise?!" Fleur awoke with a start, sitting up and quickly scanning her surrounding, before her eyes landed on Lucy. "That goddamn egg, I swear—"

But she trailed off, for Lucy wasn't listening. She was focused on the supposed 'clue' in front of her.

A sudden change had happened to the egg, once the water had splashed the inside of it. The screams were quieter, more distorted, and there was something else, too...

Lucy tilted her head to the side, and listened carefully. Behind the dimmed screeches there seemed to be a humming... some kind of singing, but not enough for it to be clear.

The blonde looked back up at her friend who had frozen and exclaimed, "Misty, you are the best!"

She excitedly leaped from her bed and gave a confused Misty a tight squeeze, before picking up the golden egg and carrying it to the bathroom. She placed it in the sink and turned on the tap.

As the water trickled over the egg, the screeches grew more and more faint, and the humming became clearer.

But still not clear enough to understand what was being sung.

Fleur and Misty had followed Lucy into the bathroom and peered over both her shoulders, eyeing the egg with interest.

"Maybe it needs to be like, fully submerged underwater," Misty suggested.

Lucy nodded. "I think you're right," she said, filling with excitement. She might soon have this next task figured out!

The girl looked around eagerly to try and find something that the egg would fit in, in order for it to be fully submerged. But, they only had a shower in their shared en-suite, and the sink was far too small. The egg was rather large, actually — and so Lucy needed to find somewhere that would fit it without making it too obvious (she couldn't let the other champions in on this clue — this was still a competition.)

There had to be somewhere that wasn't too noticeable in Hogwarts... right?

"Who's up for getting breakfast in the castle?" Lucy suggested.

Fleur and Misty exchanged glances, before small smiles began to creep up on their faces.

"All I'm saying is we better sit near the brioche, this time," Misty said, heading out of the bathroom and gathering together an outfit to change into.

A/N: hi!! some of you are probably reading this and thinking wtf is this book I do not remember this because I haven't updated this for TWO YEARS like what I am so sorry 😭😭😭

but to any of you that do remember and are still here to read, thank you sm! and don't worry, I know I haven't updated this for ages but I now have a plan to get this book back up and running and I'm honestly very excited to write out what I've got planned out for ced and luce!!

other than that, I hope you guys enjoyed this christmassy little chapter, can't wait for the yule ball next!!

(side note I'm also very pleased with myself that I managed to write christmas chapters during christmas season it feels GREAT)

but anyways, I hope you guys enjoyed! let me know what you thought <33

and I'M SORRY again for not updating for two years I do not know what came over me but love you miss you missed writing luce and ced so I'm glad we're back!!