Hogwarts castle was not any cozier with most of the student body and many of the staff members gone. It had seemed colder, and footfalls echoed louder, and nearly running into someone when turning a corner was so unexpected that it could leave a girl jittery for a week. Annie had spent the break wisely, and she was quite content with how it had gone, despite missing the Christmas celebration at home. There had been no getting up early, wrapping herself in a fuzzy robe and sitting by the fire until her parents decided to wake up and permit the opening of presents. Christmas hadn't been her favorite holiday for a long time – not since her brother was still living at home and there was another enthusiastic Enright sibling to open gifts with. This Christmas had been different, but it definitely hadn't been bad, and it wasn't much lonelier than Christmas normally was. She'd still received gifts, her food had still been lovingly prepared by a house elf, and she'd given herself permission to spend the entire day loafing. And there had been letters! She'd received letters from Waverly who, it would seem, actually liked her, even after the Yule Ball. That was a Christmas miracle in itself! She was glad the rest of the students were back, however, and that her penpal had shown interest in meeting up with her in person.

It was with an unusually lighthearted saunter that Annie entered the great hall that afternoon, her camel-colored pouch under her arm. She was of two minds when it came to whether or not she wanted to show the Slytherin girl what she was keeping in there. She figured it couldn't hurt to bring it along, and if she chickened out and had to ignore it the whole time then so be it. During exam time such a conundrum might have sent her into a panic, but today she was the new and improved Annie Enright, feeling revitalized after some good practice, and with some new, decidedly cool pieces added to her secret muggle wardrobe. A new pair of jeans was enough to make anyone feel like a vault full of galleons. They were starchy and smelled of blue dye and they made her feel fresh, even if it wasn't anything the average onlooker might notice. The Annie Enright of 2010 was going to meet a friend in the great hall! The Annie Enright of 2010 was not going to trip over her own feet! The Annie Enright of 2010 had arrived!

She sat down across from her friend, setting her pouch down on the bench beside herself. “I feel like you were gone forever!” she explained, “Well, not just you. Everyone! It was really, really weird.” She was used to houses being big and empty, but not schools. Hogwarts hadn't even felt like the same place without the hustle and bustle. “Did you have a nice New Year? And... and Christmas and everything? I mean, I know you wrote me about it a little bit, but... you're just supposed to ask,” she stammered, with a small, strained smile.  Although the Annie Enright of 2010 was here, it was worth pointing out that, only three days ago she'd still been the Annie Enright of 2009. She was - clearly - a work in progress.

Waverly couldn't help but look excited when Annie finally walked through the doors. Break felt like it had been forever, and prior to that they'd spent big chunks of each day together (even more if you counted all the lessons they had together). Then there had been the Yule Ball, which Roh could never actually decide if Annie had had fun at or not. They had at one point hid under one of the tables drinking champagne. Roh'd bumped her head at least twice and her knees were scrunched up to her chin even after she'd taken off her heels; but she'd gotten Annie to dance a bit too so overall she was counting it as a win towards getting the other girl out of her neurotic little shell for a bit.

It actually took all of the leggy Slytherin's restraint to not leap up from her seat and hug the other girl. She refrained, remembering that Annie didn't particularly like touching. Actually, she had the distinct feeling that Annie hated people being in her personal space so she just smiled at the other girl and drummed her hands on the table top, "It was good. I mena MaZora and I had a couple of spats; but that's nothing new. I bring home an E in Defense and instead of being wow'd by it - because Storm does not just give out E's; she asks after my Charm's grade. I think I may technically be grounded over Easter break because I ignored curfew and stayed out all night dancing with Erin Harper but whatever, totally worth it".

If it seemed as though she was hurrying through the topic of home it's because she was. Break had been nice but she was glad to be back at Hogwarts; because all the juicy gossip about Raine's party and her hexing a squib wouldn't make much sense of difference to Annie. Also, she had bigger better things to talk about, "I did hear from the Headmistress. She's going to help me with my Animagus training. I'm so excited. I managed a couple times without my wand even! Of course I did also unravel half a sweater Mama has been working on for two months. I just can't help it, even when I'm not in cat form I see a string I want to pull it," her laugh was good nature'd as she reached into her back and produced two neatly wrapped packages[1], "Happy late Christmas. I was going to owl them but I was worried it might break".

1.

Presents!

Annie looked over at her friend, her eyebrows darting upward in a mix of shock and reverent awe, which made her eyes seem to grow wider and more doe-like than ever. If Annie ever got into a fight with her mother she could not imagine being allowed to go out and do anything afterward. She'd be scolded for disrespecting her and then sent to go face her father and his whims, and then she'd most likely have to spend the rest of her life in her bedroom, where she'd have to take all of her meals in liquid form by sucking them through a straw positioned under the crack under the door. Causing trouble at home just wasn't worth it. When Annie's grades came in, there was no conversation about it – not one that Annie got to really take part in, anyway - so there was no trouble. Besides, Annie didn't have a curfew to break. She really didn't go out. There were definitely places she could have gone, if it had been something she was permitted to do, but she'd never been out dancing, or clubbing, or partying, or whatever they called it, and she never imagined she would. Sometimes, if she was lucky, she was allowed to have a sleepover. That was about it.

“How'd you do in charms? I get punished when I do badly, so maybe... was it bad?” Annie asked, clearly more comfortable discussing the grades portion of this issue than the breaking the rules part, which she had no experience with. “My parents didn't say anything this time, though, so I guess... well... they must have gotten my grades by now, right? I know it's far away, but they would have said something by now, right? I wonder if... um... I guess they were just okay? I don't know,” she rambled. Factoring in the extra distance a bird had to travel to move even the smallest bit of post from Europe to North America made things far more challenging. Luckily, Roh seemed to know when to change the subject. Annie didn't even have enough time to panic properly.

“Oh, I am so, so jealous!” she gushed sincerely as Waverly spoke about her animagus training. Annie hadn't even realized becoming an animagus was a possibility for someone as young as they were until she'd found out that it had been one of the Hogwarts champion's animagus ability that had helped her duo to complete the second task in the tournament. It had given Annie a major complex, and causing her to wonder, as she often did, if she was even in the same league as these people. Sure, she took transfiguration, but she wouldn't have even known where to start! Knowledge of Waverly's fledgling animagus ability had only served to elevate her even higher in Annie's esteem... if that were even possible. Waverly Roh-Ballentyne was the coolest. Person. Ever. She was too busy being obsessed with her to be properly jealous, though. “I'd like to learn one day, only I think my father would say it was a waste. He's very... he doesn't like me to... he's picky. You know.” Annie shrugged. Such was life.

”Happy late Christmas. I was going to owl them but I was worried it might break.”

“Oh my gosh!” Annie exclaimed, looking like she'd just found a murdered puppy. “But I didn't... oh... oh my gosh. Two?” She was completely flabbergasted, not to mention slightly humiliated that she'd been caught without a pretty wrapped gift for her friend.  The guilt was scrunching up her features, making her appear all pinched and distraught.“Well, I sort of have something for you. Sort of. Well, sort of two things, I guess? Not as good as... not wrapped or anything, but...” she paused, taking a deep breath before she completely lost it. She reached over to draw her pouch onto her lap, taking that moment to exhale and regroup.

“Thank you,” she finally managed, fumbling with her zipper. “Let me just... actually, no. Let me open them first.” She was glad she'd brought her pouch along now. Waverly had needed to coach Annie into opening the little bundles – she'd had to agonize over which to open first, how to open them without damaging the paper, and how to accept them without feeling like a horrible, inferior friend - but eventually both gifts were unwrapped and the brunette took her time admiring them. There was a huge grin on her face by then. It was nice to be thought of by someone who wasn't obligated to think of her. “How do I... what should I... I like them!” she managed with her regular nervous little giggle. She clearly needed some further instructions, however.

"It wasn't bad, I did really well on the Midterm. She made some stupid joke about whether or not I'd made Prefect and forgotten to mention that too and it just..." Waverly trailed off before shaking her head, "she just makes me mad. It's like Here is this great news about Storm giving me an E, and McGongagall is going to tutor me and she's reminding me that oh-my-gosh, there is another title I should have tried for because if I'm not a prefect then my shot at becoming head girl next year are even slimmer. It's like she doesn't know how to say 'Congratulations my darling daughter who is exceeding expectations of people left and right', she just focuses on what it is I can't do or am not doing. Mama tried to smooth things over with us but, you know, I'm a teenager. I have to angst over something," Waverly rolled her eyes a little and shook her head. Althea didn't baby her, when she was wrong Waverly was told, but her other mother also understood that her wife sometimes didn't have a clue how to deal with a sixteen year old girl who, despite her loud claims otherwise, needed reassurance sometimes.

"I'm sure it's fine. Besides, I thought you were going to go 'round and get a copy of each of your grades before everyone headed home? You know how you did so I'm sure you're good," Waverly wasn't dismissing the other girl's worry, she was just pointing out that they had already had this panic attack before Christmas. She was happy when Annie latched onto the idea of her training and felt the same giddy excitement she had when opening the owl. She had bounced and danced around the kitchen for a good twenty minutes after opening the owl. There had been much squealing and yelling and running around the house making a gleeful show of it for Althea. Obviously her conversation with Zora had been far more subdued and not particularly happy; but looking at the awe on Annie's face made Waverly feel that giddy glee again. "Maybe you could come with me to one of my lessons; I mean after I'm better at it. I'd rather not completely humiliate myself," her tone was bright and chipper, like she didn't really think that was a possibility (even though she knew it totally was because while she could do the transformations they were uncomfortable and she was not as fluid as she'd like, and she still needed to hold her wand to feel secure enough to do it).

She watched as the other girl agonized over the presents and mildly regretted wrapping them, only not. She regretted it because Annie was obviously the type the was precious with the paper (Waverly was not), and she seemed to feel a particular level of guilt (which Waverly didn't understand because she liked giving gifts and never did so with the idea in mind that she'd get something in return), on the other hand, the sort of awe inspired joy on her face made it all worth it for the Slytherin. Of course Waverly just grinned at the other girl's confusion before coming around to the other side of the table and taking the red beads and slipping them over Annie's wrist, "It's a Mala bracelet, it's used in meditation. The Buddha talks about making a "garland of beads" as a way to quell anxiety and worry. He said that when such feelings arise you can use your thumb and forefinger to go through each bead while you recite I take refuge in the Buddha, the Dharma, and the Sangha. I know you're not Buddhist but everyone can use a little meditation help," carefully she re-sized the bracelet, her tone calm and soothing as she did, glancing up at Annie's face for a moment, lips twitching with a grin, "I chose the red agate because it signifies intelligence, will power, wisdom and eloquence of speech. If you're going to be a Champion I thought it might bring you a little luck; besides just being pretty".

She gave Annie's fingers a little squeeze before releasing her hand and turning her attention to the perfume bottle, "This, my mama helped me with. She's brilliant with plants and scents, and I was thinking about how anxious you get before tests or particular lessons. So this is a particular perfume that is very long lasting, it's not overly strong. but if you put it on your pulse points - so your wrists or behind your ears, when your heart rate picks up your skin gets a little warmer and it sort of makes the scent stronger? It's supposed to be really calming - but also I just thought it smelled really pretty," she gave a one shoulder shrug, gently loosening the cork and sniffing before offering it to Annie for a smell. Waverly probably sounded like a crazy person; but things like homeopathy and the power of certain stones had always interested her. They lived in a magical world; so she had no real idea what it was like for muggles (and Annie probably didn't either) but she'd heard about the butchers they went to called Doctors (which she assumed was like a really bad Healer). If nothing else Annie had a lovely new bracelet and perfume that smelled really nice (fresh and clean, not heavy or overpowering), and maybe the idea they could help her would be enough to mellow the anxious teen slightly.

Annie was trying to find some way to relate to what Waverly was saying about her mother and her grades, but she didn't think that anything she had to say would make her feel any better. Annie didn't have the casual sort of relationship with her parents that her friend was describing. If her parents were unhappy with one of her marks then they wouldn't make jokes about it. They'd tell her how they felt, possibly ask for an explanation, and then punish her, case closed. Wasn't it a parent's job to tell you if you were meeting their expectations? She didn't want to upset her friend, but she just wasn't entirely sure what the big deal was. She settled for uttering a sympathetic “Yeah,” and chose to keep her mouth shut. She had her own grades and parental reactions to worry about... and worry she did, at least for a little while. Roh could be very distracting when she wanted to be, however, and was quick to assist Annie in transitioning from panic mode to jealousy mode.

”Maybe you could come with me to one of my lessons; I mean after I'm better at it. I'd rather not completely humiliate myself.”

“Really?” Annie asked, looking perfectly thrilled at the prospect. “That would be really, really cool.” She thought maybe if she observed a proper lesson then she could wrap her head around on how transfiguration at that level of complexity was done. Even as a strong transfiguration student, the level of difficulty involved in full human to animal transfiguration sort of baffled her. “I bet you're good at it already, though. You are, right? Because... because the headmistress of your entire school wouldn't want to teach you privately unless you were really good.” Annie couldn't imagine what she'd do if that happened to her – not that she was particularly craving LeBeau's attention. The recognition would be nice, though. Plus, if you were going to get recognized for anything, being able to turn yourself into an animal was pretty much the coolest thing ever! “Maybe I could try it sometime? Just to see... to see if I could? Is that allowed? I just... it just seems so cool,” she explained, looking like her desire for to posses Waverly's ability might kill her if it went unmet forever.

She couldn't die yet, though! She had to figure out what these presents were for first. Luckily for Annie, Roh was very forthcoming with her explanations, and Annie listened reverently. She looked down at the bracelet on her wrist as her friend tightened it for her and smiled. Her mother wouldn't like it, but she definitely did, and she was even fonder of its purpose. She doubted she'd actually be chanting whatever it was Waverly was saying, but she could chant something – more than likely something along the lines of 'you're not going to fail, you're not going to fail, you're not going to fail.' It could even be used for studying! What if each bead represented a complex upperlevel incantation and she used it to memorize them? Or if each bead represented a note card? Frankly, it was very possible that Roh was just enabling the neurotic little Salemite. The last thing Annie really needed was a new self sabotaging study ritual with no beneficial purpose besides driving her mad. At least it was pretty! “I really like it,” she informed her, looking down at her newly bedazzled wrist, her words emerging soft and genuine. It actually meant something. That made it better than half the gifts she normally opened. And it wasn't even the only gift!

She leaned in to sniff the scent, and found that it was quite pleasant. She didn't wear any sort of perfume, as a rule – she had a locket with the perfume in it, but the thing rarely saw the light of day. It wouldn't have been the first thing she'd thought of if she were buying a gift for herself, but Waverly had clearly put some thought into it, and that was enough to convince her. “Have you ever used any?” she asked, “Do you think it... works? For real?” Roh obviously wasn't a huge wreck, so the chances that she'd needed anything like this were slim. She was clearly more knowledgeable about these things than Annie, though. “I don't mean that I think it won't... I just... I was wondering. But wait, wait a second,” she instructed.

She reached into her lap for her pouch again and unzipped it, trying to be discrete as she poked around inside of the magically enlarged carrying case, which held all of her most valuable art materials. She plucked out her sketch diary, cream colored and with a little bit of gold gilding, and after shutting the zipper with one hand, clutched the book toward her chest. “Okay, so. Okay. I have something for you. Well, sort of. It's not... I did my best. It was... I did it as a joke at first. Not... not a funny joke. I don't think you're a joke or anything. Just, since... since, you know, we were talking about how nice you'd be to draw? Well, I was. But you weren't actually here so I just sort of, um, I sort of made some choices? And your nose is definitely wrong, okay? So if you hate it just... I can fix it. I promise,” she explained quite seriously. Her face was a scrunched up, creased vision of concern. A drawing was a rather atypical gift, especially since it wasn't even supposed to be a gift, and she was feeling very conscious of that. Even so, she took the book in her hands, placed an index finger between the signatures, and flipped through the pages of sketches until she reached the right one. With a shuddery sigh she held out the book with the page opened to the improvised portrait of her friend, done in pencil. She winced in anticipation of its reception. “It's... my people are okay, but I'm better at horses.”

Really?...I  bet you're good at it already, though. You are, right? Because... because the headmistress of your entire school wouldn't want to teach you privately unless you were really good.

Waverly gave that idea some consideration for a moment before shrugging it off; it was best not to get a big head about this ability. Also, the first rule of "cool" was to seem as nonplussed as possible whenever possible even about really amazing things. Not that Waverly worried much about being cool; but if she had that was for sure the first rule. "Well, I mean I can do it; the spellwork is pretty straightforward. It's the doing it without my wand that I worry about. I just get, well I guess nervous is the word but it's not really the right word," she paused before shaking her head, corkscrew curls bouncing with the movement. She was excited though, even if her mother had kind of put a damper on everything by being less-than-enthused, or at least not enthused in the way Waverly had wanted.

The questions about the gifts came in quick succession after that, and Roh found herself just grinning at the other girl. At least she seemed to like them rather than being offended by the overture. "Well, I think they work. My Mum Althea has a very distinctive perfume and smelling it has always made me feel calm and safe. Of course there are people who would argue that it's the belief in the thing as much as the thing itself that makes it work. Like if you believe in something's power strongly enough then your mind makes it work; but I was reading last semester that even muggles believe in aromatherapy so there must be so truth to it," she tried not to sound too know-it-all-y but probably failed.

Watching Annie carefully as she presented the sketch, and the subsequent preface and down playing on the other girl's part on her supposed talent Waverly found herself looking at, well, herself. It was good, much better than anything she could have ever done. It was obviously a lot of time and effort had gone into the gift even if Annie was already apologizing for it. Shifting her green eyes up she shook her head at the Salemite, "Annie, it's... perfect. I love it. I knew you were into art but I had no idea," well she'd had a little bit of an idea. She was a little flabbergasted actually, it was flattering but she wasn't sure how to react to it. Roh had never been particularly interested in whether or not people found her pretty or, as Annie had told her the first day they met, draw-able. It was strange being confronted with another person's interpolation of her "beauty". It wasn't uncomfortable it was just...new. She was a little overcome with emotion and despite knowing how uncomfortable it made the other girl she found herself wrapping Annie in a warm hug, "You're really really talented, I adore it".

”Annie, it's... perfect. I love it. I knew you were into art but I had no idea.”

“It's not perfect. The nose is, like, really, really wrong, but I'll definitely fix it and you can have it then, okay?” Annie blurted out quickly, being sure to disagree with her friend with as much haste as she could manage because, Merlin forbid she allow a compliment to hit home when it wasn't 100%, without a doubt, perfectly well deserved! Generally, Annie knew she was talented and was usually willing to admit that drawing was a strength of hers, but she was a nitpicker, and - at least when it came to her own work - she'd always be a nitpicker, so there was little use trying to convince her that her improvised, spur-of-the-moment nose was accurate. She was thrilled with the drawing's reception, though, and that became obvious when she allowed a nervous, twisty little grin to peek through. She wouldn't look right at Waverly, though – at least not for the moment. If she'd drawn Roh a horse, or a landscape, then it wouldn't have been any trouble to look her in the eye, but there was something inherently awkward about presenting someone with a portrait of themselves... and she wasn't quite over it just yet.

You're really really talented, I adore it.”

She should have known it would only get more awkward. Before she had time to wipe the pleased little smile off of her lips she was being embraced, and she'd be lying if she said she didn't really expect it from the moment she saw the Slytherin pitching toward her. Hugs were Roh's signature move. Annie endured the hug, making a scrunched, half-pained face over the other girl's shoulder, where she couldn't see the reaction. She was giggling nervously, though, always a bit overcome by her friend's touchy-feely ways.

“I still want to fix it, though,” she insisted, worming her way out of the hug and wiggling toward freedom, her face showing no trace of the agitation from a moment before. “It should be pretty easy, now that I'm looking at you in person. I think... I just... when I'm drawing just random people, I draw a sort of generic nose? And I had no reference, so it's just... it's really just a placeholder.” As she spoke, Annie's eyes traveled to Roh's hand, where she was still holding the sketch diary. It always unnerved her just the slightest bit when other people had her things – especially her super neat, pale cream-colored things with several weeks worth of obsessive sketches inside. Yes, it was true she'd been the one to hand it to her in the first place, but she was already experiencing separation anxiety.  It would have taken a lot more self control than Annie had at her disposal to keep from cringing. It was subdued for a cringe – just a little tightness in the lip area, and a wrinkle of her brow – but it was a cringe all the same. “Can I just... can I see it again?”