Hogwarts: Era of Darkness

By the time noon came, the three of us were off, heading to the edge of the town, where some snow-covered hills provided the best sledding experience one could wish for. It was not hard to convince Neville to come and let some of his guardians step in and operate the booth. It was close to Christmas anyway, we ought to have some fun!

"Squeaky!" I said, and she appeared right on cue, bringing a big sled along with her. "Thanks!" I chuckled, taking it from her tiny hands, "You can go; it is cold outside!"

"T-thank you, Master!" She nodded her small head, shivering, looking at us thankfully before disappearing once more.

"Are we going to go down… at once?" Neville asked me, watching the lone, long sled, realizing we all could easily fit on it.

"Duh!" I grinned, "That way, it will be even faster!"

"Cool!" Quincy giggled, already heading up the steep slope.

"It will be fine!" I slapped Neville's back.

"You said that the last time too… And then I broke my arm." He groaned but still followed us.

"What happened?" Quincy asked, looking at us curiously over her shoulder, almost slipping and falling.

"Lent him my broom!" I chuckled, remembering it. "He saw me riding it, practicing, and I saw he wanted to try it out!"

"Well… it did look fun." He admitted quietly, trying not to look at us.

"So I came down, gave it to him, and he was a natural, I say! He flew right up as soon as he sat on it!"

"And then I crashed."

"No, you fell off." I grinned teasingly, elbowing him, "He let go out of panic, and I never saw someone leave behind a mushroom cloud after catching the ground!"

"It hurt."

"But you were back together by the evening!" I said with a shrug, pulling the sled behind me as we slowly arrived at the top of the hill. "If not for magic, your muggle caretakers would have to wait months until you could help out once again!"

"I bet they were not happy!" Quincy smirked, watching us catch up to her.

"No, they were not." Neville shrugged, remembering it. "They were extremely angry for some reason!"

"Probably because they couldn't blame me," I added, looking at him apologetically.

"I… I don't think so." He added, his voice sounding…ashamed? Weird. "Sorry…"

"What?" I flinched as he murmured something at the end, but I barely caught it. Was he… saying sorry? What for?

"Nothing!" He smiled sheepishly at us before looking down from the top of the hill.

"In the summer, we should have a trip on brooms," Quincy murmured, now interested in the idea.

"I'm in!" I replied at once, "For sure! It is a pain riding in the winter, but when the heat kicks in? It is the best!"

"This… this looks higher than from below!" Neville interjected suddenly with a panicked voice.

"Don't chicken out now!" I pushed him, making Neville scream, but I pulled him back before he would fell and roll down. "Ahahaha! Don't be a chicken! Snow is soft; I would easily cruise down by myself!"

"Really now?" Quincy said, coming up to me and giving me a push. The next moment, I heard Neville's panicked scream and her loud laugh, and I saw the scenery rolling up and down as I was rolling down the slope like a human snowball.

"Ugh…" I moaned after stopping, trying to stand up, but the whole world was swimming around me. "I'm fine! You witch!" I shouted to them, taking a step, kicking out my leg, and landing face flat in the snow.

I knew Quincy had just shouted something back, but I couldn't make it out with my face buried in the snow. As I managed to climb back to my feet, I saw the sled coming down like a comet; I heard Neville scream and Quincy laugh as the two of them were heading straight for me. I had no time to scream or shout, jumping out of the way at the last moment before they ran me over. Neville tried to break, putting his feet down, but that only resulted in the sled being flipped over as they crashed it.

"You are a maniac!" I yelled, scrambling back up, watching Quincy giggling, climbing out under the wreckage.

"Tell me it was not fun!" She heaved, trying to stop herself from laughing.

"It wasn't! It was terrifying!" Neville groaned, holding his sides, limping a little, "We broke it…." He added, watching the wooden sled that was split apart.

"And?" Quincy and I asked, and she picked her wand out, pointed at it, and after uttering 'Reparo,' it was good as new.

"Ah…" Neville watched, going red in the face.

"You always forget about magic!

"What do you expect…?" He said with a lowered, somewhat angry, and ashamed voice, "I am always being told I can't cast spell only when it is safe… and when I am hidden!"

"There should be no Inquisitors here!" Quincy added, trying to cheer him up, looking at me and asking for help.

"Yeah, and we are not being tracked! Even if the area is, we can pass it as any spell you can cast could also be used by Quincy or Me!"

"Still… The others would be very… very angry with me if I did! And I don't have a wand on me!"

"Man up, Neville!" I walked up to him, shaking his shoulders, "You are a wizard, and Father said that you are a really good one! I have never known him to be wrong! Hell… I would be much happier if you were also attending school with us!"

"T-thanks… But even if I could, I don't think my Uncles and Aunts would let me."

"Muggles… what do they know?" I snorted while Quincy also nodded her head, agreeing, but from the corner of my eye, I saw that Neville looked extremely troubled. As if he almost blurted something out that he caught at the last moment, gulping it back and burying it just in time.

"Hey!" Quincy interjected, looking so excited that I never saw her glowing as intensely as now. "Let's leave it at that and go another round!"

"Sure! But this time, I want to go down on the sled and not like some kind of discarded racing tire!" I moaned, looking at her, but she just laughed, and we dragged the sled back up to have another go... and many more.

…
….
……

"Whew!" Quincy moaned as she plopped down right beside me in the big living room, wearing a thick, fluffy, violet robe with the coat of arms of my family, her hair held up in a big bun. "Thank you, Squeaky!" She said as the elf presented her with a mug of hot chocolate, the same thing I was holding, leaning back on the oversized leather couch, enjoying the blaze dancing in the fireplace before us.

It was already past eight, and we only got back at seven, in the midst of a snowstorm that came crashing down on us from nowhere. After a refreshing, hot bath that we, of course, took separately, it was fun to just relax and do nothing. I could barely feel my legs anyway.

"That was fun! I never had such a great day before! Thanks for inviting me!" She said, beaming from both her eyes and face, looking at me, and I couldn't help but feel my face blushing as I tried to hide it by slurping my own portion of hot chocolate.

"Anytime!" I answered after gathering my thoughts. "You were wild, you know that? I never seen you like this!"

"Because I felt relaxed!" She said, swinging her legs, and I was surprised to see her having so much energy after all that happened. "I… simply decided I won't worry about anything for one day! It was… liberating!"

"You even hit it off with Neville, and I never saw him get relaxed so quickly! It took me days to make him loosen around me, yet I have known him since I could remember!"

"He is a nice guy. He is a bit dull… but he could be a good friend; I can see why you are on such good terms with him! But why do you say that? The other kids are not? Or he doesn't have other friends?"

"There are no other kids in the town:" I answered simply, finding no problems with it, unlike Quincy.

"Only him?" She sat up straight, looking at me with surprise.

"Um… I think yes. I never met with any other kid." I tilted my head.

"Conrad… that is not normal. Muggles or not, hidden squibs and mudbloods, it does not matter… one kid in the whole town? That is everything but normal!"

"I…" Now, thinking about it… yeah… she was right. "I grew up here... It was always like this. I… never thought about it…"

"Haah… then start doing it! But…” She fell silent, thinking, raising her mug, biting the edge of it, sipping on its content very slowly. I could see the gears moving inside her head, behind her shining eyes, which were reflecting the flames waltzing inside the fireplace. It made her whole face shine in an otherworldy hue... it was beautiful. No... She was. "I won't bring it up anymore. It is your family's business… but it is not normal, Conrad."

"I guess…" I averted my eyes, feeling nervous for some reason. "But… It shouldn't be something weird or too important… I think." I added hurriedly, and I think she thought I was shy because of being stupid... and not because I was looking at her like being under a charm or something.

"As I said, I won't ask; I will forget it!" She shook her head, returning to her satisfied, joyful mood. "I think I will sleep very well tonight!"

"I second that!" I answered, leaning back, relaxing, and almost falling asleep immediately. "You know, I could get used to this!"

"Just what I wanted to say…" She whispered, her eyes closed as we just sat there, listening to the snowstorm outside and to the orange flames crackling inside the fireplace.