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"My parents invite all of you for the Christmas Holidays at MacDougal Manor, you know. And you band of ungrateful brats are declining their so generous invitation."
"Sorry, Morag." Smiled Hermione. "But my parents are dentists and they work all year, so they've arranged a holiday in Switzerland for all family."
"And my father talked to one of his diplomats' friend to find us a place in the Caribbean for Christmas." Excused himself Nigel. "If it had been only me and my grandfather..." He grimaced. "I would have accepted."
"But you have Alexandra going with you, Morag." Insisted Hermione, with the look of someone trying to escape the vengeful and legendary wrath of the Irish girl. "I'm sure she will tell us everything as soon as we come back."
"Thanks a lot, band of traitors." Growled mockingly Alexandra.
"You're welcome." Curtsied Nigel, before taking more bacon.
Alexandra laughed a bit more before returning to the breakfast. Morag had had more motives to invite them all to MacDougal Manor for the winter holidays, but alas these weren't the reasons you gave in the middle of a hall filled with students and eager for gossips. The MacDougal Heiress had confessed she would have liked for all their group of four to participate in the Yule celebrations, as they included some basic rituals which were opened to even non-initiated people like Hermione and Nigel and would have helped them get more in tune with their magic. Alas, with them having their own familial plans for the holidays, it was impossible and the opportunity might not come again. Initiation rituals were rarely done after eleven years old, and almost never under thirteen. Alexandra wasn't sure she had all understood the principles and the methods ancient wizards and witches used for their calculus, but the issue was that a child's magic grew continuously from ten to eighteen years old. Beginning rituals without any preparation in childhood could have grave consequences; some of them had become so infamous that the Ministry of Magic had used them as justifications to forbid them.
"Do you have Quidditch training on Sunday morning?" Asked Nigel, completely changing the topic of the discussion.
"Yes." Replied Alexandra. "Under the condition it doesn't snow too much." Watching the large snowfalls falling at the very moment over their heads on the Enchanted Ceiling and outside on the grounds of Hogwarts, it was far from a done-deal.
"I don't see how you can like Flying in this cold." Affirmed Hermione, who had still a very negative reaction to anything which related to broomsticks.
"The cold isn't that bad. It's the rain and the snow that are the hardest to cope with at full speed on a broomstick." Alexandra rolled her shoulders. "It's not like Davies has given us the choice. With the defeat of Slytherin, our dear Captain wants us to double our efforts to conserve the Cup sitting in Flitwick's office."
Contrary to the fears of their little group many in the school nicknamed "the Exiled", there had been no attack during, before or after the Quidditch match between Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw at the end of November. In a weather windless and sunny, a rare occasion for Scotland in the middle of winter, the two Quidditch teams had played a normal match. Okay, as normal as it was possible when one spoke about the noble sport of Quidditch. The Bludgers were still as painful as ever, the Golden Snitch was as elusive as ever, and the combinations between the players were still dolorous when something didn't work as expected. Apart from these minor details, the match had indeed been relatively uneventful. Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff were not the Slytherins or the Gryffindors, who relied on brutality and insane tactics to take the advantage no matter the weather or the opposition.
That was not to say there was no talent in these teams. The trio of Ravenclaw Chasers formed by Davies, Burrow and Stretton functioned well, and their Hufflepuff counterparts had been in difficulty for the entire length of the match, conceding twenty-six goals in two hours and a half. The only reason why the score wasn't higher was the presence of a new talent among the Hufflepuff. Formerly Chaser, now Seeker, fourth-year Cedric Diggory had impressed more than one League recruiter in the stadium. Unlike the three other titular Seekers at Hogwarts, Diggory was not thin and light-build. The Hufflepuff was an athlete with brown hair, grey eyes and powerful musculature, one Alexandra heard made a lot of girls following him after classes in the hope of becoming his girlfriend. One might think it would have been a drawback when the weathers conditions were clement, as his physic would make the 'normal' acrobatics more time-consuming and difficult to execute. One would have been wrong. Cedric Diggory, with his fair-play, his respect and his obsolete Cleansweep 6, had so much outclassed Cho Chang many of the most fanatic Hogwarts analysts on the subject doubted the chances of Neville Longbottom to equal him. According to the Hogwarts rumour mill, the recruiter of the Wimbourne Wasps had invited Cedric to their traditional summer camp for young talents. Only Oliver Wood, Keeper and Captain of the Gryffindor Team had received the same offer in the last two years.
In the end, Ravenclaw had won 260-210. Not so bad a performance for both teams, which given that the Slytherin seven players weren't so undefeatable, let them a good chance to write their name on the Quidditch Cup at the end of the year. The only bad moment for the female population in the stands had been when Diggory had consoled Cho Chang, holding her in his powerful arms and generating an intense movement of jealousy from half of the stadium. The beautiful Asian girl had a lot of rivals on her tail now it had been shown she wasn't averse to cry in the Hufflepuff Seeker's embrace.
"Well, that and Ravenclaw victory at the Quidditch Cup is giving us a good advance for the House Cup this year." Said Morag in a satisfied tone, grabbing two biscuits and swallowing one immediately.
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