Pavo hooted in his cage, rattling the bars until I fed him a treat to calm him down. I set him down on the seat of the train besides me and then put my feet up to bar Holly from getting by. She plowed through, shoving my legs to the side, and then sat on top of me, making me squeal.

When I had pushed her off, laughing, Holly grinned and fluffed up her curly hair, using her reflection in the window as a mirror. "I'm so excited for the holidays!" she said. "I'm spending it at Grandma's this year and she always makes the best homemade butterbeer and the most delicious food imaginable."

"We're well aware, Holls," said Sawyer. "This is only the thousandth time you've said."

Holly stuck her tongue out at him. "None of Gran's special fruit cake for you, then."

"More for me," I said, happily.

"What about you, Essie?" Sawyer asked. We were pulling out of the station now, Hogsmeade disappearing into the foggy winter day as the train picked up speed. I watched it go with a mixture of excitement and sadness.

"Well, I'll be back in the land of Muggles, so it's not all great," I said. Every year, though I loved my own presents and knew it was stupid, I felt jealous of the gifts Sawyer and Holly would present to me on the train back to Hogwarts. They'd get books with moving pictures, wizard sweets, and toys from Weasley's Wizard Wheezes. Though they'd often pity me and swap Cadbury's for chocolate frogs, as well as buying me thoroughly magic gifts, I was jealous of their permanent position in the wizarding world more than the gifts themselves.

"We'll send all letters to Ms. Thompson, don't worry," said Sawyer, breaking me out of my thoughts. "You have to be glad to see your parents, at least."

"I am," I said.

"Bring us Muggle souvenirs," said Holly. "I can use them for extra credit or something in Muggle studies."

I laughed. "Sure. I'll see what I can find."

"My Christmas is looking good, too, guys. Thanks for asking," Sawyer said. "What I'm not excited for is my dads finding out how I did last semester in some of my classes."

"Not as good as you'd hoped?" I asked.

"Oh, don't talk to me about that," said Holly, flipping her hair in that overdramatic way of hers.

Sawyer rolled his eyes but obliged her. "How did you do then? You're a Ravenclaw, so you can't really complain."

"Not true," said Holly. "My laziness is actually detrimental this year. Apparently if I continue on my current trajectory, I'm going to get an A in Potions and Charms."

"That's good in the Muggle world," I told her, "and still a N.E.W.T."

"No, you don't understand. Supposedly those will be the only N.E.W.T.s I get, and they're not even Es, let alone an O! I'm a Ravenclaw, from a long line of them! So you can complain about your dads finding about your mediocre grades, Sawyer, but know that their reaction won't be anywhere near as terrible as my own family's."

"Gosh, Holls," I said. "Of course you're not going to only get two N.E.W.T.s. You'll get a whole bunch, but you might need to put a little more effort into it."

Holly slumped against the window, pouting. "I don't want to."

"Then fail," said Sawyer, bluntly.

"You're a great help," Holly said.

"You'll do fine," I told her. "You just need to quit your procrastinating and learn some better study skills. Sawyer and I could help you. I'll return the favor, as though I've still only got an A, Professor Venables did say that I was improving at my Defense Against the Dark Arts skills."

Holly opened her mouth, probably to make a remark about how it wasn't her that was helping improve my Defense grades anymore, but I cut her off with a warning look and she closed her mouth again. Sawyer, picking at a stray thread on his sweater, didn't notice.

~~~

When the train arrived at King's Cross Station, Holly, Sawyer, and I fought our way through the crowds of students returning home for the holidays. We crossed through the barrier one after the other and then pushed our trunks down to the clump of families waiting expectantly at the end of the platform. There were oddly dressed couples in pointy hats and robes mingled in with muggle born parents who looked ill at ease off to one side. My own parents were among those, though when they spotted me, my mother moved forward to meet me while my father hung back.

"Esther!" I was wrapped up in an awkward side hug before I could let go of my trolley. "How are you, sweetheart?"

"I'm good, Mum," I said. "Good to see you again."

I detached myself from Mum and she instead turned to Holly and Sawyer, who were scanning the area for their own parents. She smiled. "How was your term?"

"Eh, I could've done better. If we're not discussing grades, than it was perfectly fine," said Sawyer. He turned to Holly. "That wasn't a segway for you to rant about your own grades again. We had enough of that on the train, thanks."

"Esther is going to have to tell you all about how she became Hufflepuff's most celebrated student," Holly told Mum. "Or did she tell you about her Quidditch victory already?"

My mother turned to me, surprised, and I grinned. "I was waiting to tell you in person," I said.

"Oh, I see my parents," said Sawyer. "Happy holidays everybody!" He gave Holly and I one last hug and then disappeared into the crowds. Holly left soon after him, and then my mum took over my cart, pushing it towards my dad, who hadn't moved from his spot safely by the wall, away from the chaos of young wizards and witches rejoining their families for Christmas.

Mum stopped me before we got to him, though, and looked around furtively. "Where's this boy you wrote to me about? Scorpius, was it?"

I rolled my eyes but did look around for him. "I don't know. We said goodbye back at Hogwarts, because of Sawyer's problem with him. He's going to send me a letter, though."

My mum raised her eyebrows.

"Stop it," I said. "It's not like that."

"Did you get him a gift too?"

"Yeah. I bought all my gifts at Hogsmeade. I bought you and Dad the least magical things I could find, though of course I have some wizarding books for you, as well."

We had reached my dad by this point and, like my mother had, he gave me a big hug, though he eyed the wizards suspiciously as he did so.

"Hi, Dad."

"Esther," said my dad, nodding. He ruffled my hair. "How was your term?"

"It went pretty well. Things picked up towards the end of it, I have to say."

My mum looked over Pavo's cage to look at Dad as we headed towards the car. "She's become a bit of a school celebrity, I hear."

I blushed, pulling my plain muggle coat around me as we stepped outside. "Well, not exactly. More of a house celebrity. I succeeded at embarrassing Slytherins and surprising the other two houses. Only in Hufflepuff am I really praised."

"Don't be so modest," said my mum. "Sawyer and Holly weren't exaggerating, were they?"

"Not really," I admitted.

My dad unlocked the car and helped me with my trunk, looking between the two of us with confusion. "What exactly did Esther do? There weren't any dangerous wizard tournaments, were there? Your world has dragons."

"There were no dragons involved," I said. The fact that he called the wizarding world your world made me happy. I belonged to it. I picked up my broomstick and patted it before passing it to Dad, who put it in the trunk. "My minor celebrity has only to do with that trusty piece of wood there."

"Quidditch," my mum said. The sport fascinated her, and I'd promised to one day take her to a match, as her knowledge of the sport only extended to what I told her and the rare Daily Prophet clipping from Mrs. Thompson.

"Oh," said my dad. "That wizard sport."

"Yeah," I said, buckling my seatbelt. "I'm team captain and although putting a team together was tough at first, everybody is really improving. We lost a lot but we did win the last game we played. I hope we can succeed in the next half of the year." I could sense the discomfort in the car and changed the subject. "Enough about me. What have you been doing?"

I twisted in my seat and watched Kings Cross disappear. And, just like that, is was as though I wasn't a witch at all.

~~~

Back at home, it was nice to see my room again, my cat Duchess curled up on the bed waiting for me. I petted her and said hello until Pavo screeched in jealousy, causing Duchess to hiss at him and run out the door. I left my bag by the window, still packed, and headed back downstairs to the living room, where I could hear the clinking of glasses and opening of cupboards as my mum made a cup of tea.

My parents had a modestly sized Christmas tree, as our house didn't have very high ceilings, but it was strung with plain white lights and nice ornaments, some of which I had made as a little kid. The living room had an embarrassing number of photos of me at all ages; me as a baby, as a toddler, even the awkward prepubescent Esther with braces and pig tails was represented, much to my embarrassment when we had guests.

My mother and I cooked Christmas dinner together all day on Christmas Eve, as was our tradition, and my grandparents arrived that evening to spend the next few days with us, and to see me before I went back to school.

On Christmas day, as the sole child, I was watched eagerly by four adults who had showered me with gifts as they did every year. New clothes, a watch, and some books from my grandparents. My father approved of the gift I got him: a sweater and the most innocuous candy I could find in Honeydukes. In five minutes Mum and I stole to ourselves, I gave some story books I had found, complete with moving pictures. During lunch, I ate too much and popped Christmas crackers with them, laughing at how my dad looked in his silly, green paper hat. It was an ordinary, muggle Christmas but it was a good one nonetheless.

I was bringing some of my new gifts up to my room after lunchtime when my dad called out from downstairs. "Esther?"

"Yes?"

"You should come down."

I took the stairs two at a time, jumping the last four and shaking the entire landing. My dad stood by the window in the kitchen, which smelled of red cabbage and turkey. I could hear my mom talking loudly with my grandmother, obviously trying to distract them from something or other.

"What is it?" I asked my dad.

He gestured at the window and I moved to get a better look, pushing hair out of my face. An owl I recognized was on the other side of the glass, staring expectantly inside with its large eyes. When it saw me, it pecked loudly at the glass.

"Atalanta," I said. I must have forgotten to tell Scorpius that all of my mail had to go to Ms. Thompson, not to my house itself. To my dad, I said, "Don't worry. It's not bad news."

"No," he said. "The bad news is that it crashed into the window. What if your grandparents had seen it?"

"Sorry, Dad. I'll take care of her."

I moved past him and opened up the window, letting Atalanta through. She landed on my arm and held out her leg, which held a scroll of parchment and a package. She screeched but before she could get it all the way out, I clamped a hand over her beak. She bit me and cut my finger, making me cry out, but Atalanta didn't stop screeching.

"Why did you let her in?" my dad cried.

"I'm taking her upstairs. I can give her some of Pavo's treats," I said. "Make sure Nanny and Grandpa don't come through until I've closed the door up there."

Before he could say anything, I was in the hallway and rushing up the stairs. Although it had been a close call with my grandparents in the house, too, I was excited to see what Scorpius had sent me.

Safely in my room, Pavo and Atlanta looked ready to start hooting at one another but I put a finger to my lips and gestured downstairs and they seemed to get the message. I took my gift and letter from Atalanta and gave her some treats, tossing some to Pavo for good measure. Then I sat on my bed and opened the letter.

Dear Esther,

Look, I do actually own proper sheets of parchment!

Merry Christmas, my new friend. I'm very glad we're growing closer, and that I can help you improve in Defense Against the Dark Arts. I'll spend the holiday nursing all my bruises so I'm prepared for you to give me more when we start up again next term.

I hope you like your present. I'm not very good at choosing them. Please know that its a little bit of a joke, but also slightly serious. If that makes much sense at all.

Have a good time in the Muggle world, Esther, and a merry Christmas.

S.M.

I turned to the package next, which was wrapped in brown paper and tied with a string. I undid the string neatly, by pulling on one end of the bow, and then simply ripped through the paper. Inside was a hardcover book, probably purchased in the bookstore in Hogsmeade. I read the title and laughed. How To Manage a Quidditch Team. The bottom of the book boasted that it was a Limited edition with bonus chapters: How Much Training is too Much? and How to Deal with a Troublesome Seeker.

I laughed. I was certainly dealing with a troublesome seeker.

Because I wasn't allowed to let Pavo out of the house, I gave my own letter and Scorpius's gift to Atalanta to bring to him. With one last pet of her feathers and one last treat, I opened my own window and let Atalanta go.

My mum called from downstairs. "Esther? We're going to light the pudding!"

I hid the book under my pillow and headed down the stairs once more.