Astrid had always been a particular girl, different from everyone else. She was in her own world, a world in which the most important things were her friends, her classes, her brother, and adventure. Everything else just… didn’t matter. In her mind, it probably didn’t even exist.

When her roommates started talking about the Christmas holidays approaching, she was tempted to tune them out, like every other time. She couldn’t say why, but she felt compelled to listen instead, just this once.

“So, are you leaving for the holidays?” Rowan asked one of the girls. If Astrid remembered correctly, her name was Sarah.

“Yes… just like last year, my parents are taking me to Italy. Visiting Venice was fantastic, even though I believe it would be better in spring”.

“What about you, Rowan?” another girl, Anne, asked.

“I’m staying. I really miss home, but… you know…”

Astrid lowered her eyes. She knew Rowan was staying because of her, and she felt more than a little guilty for it.

“It’s because of the freak, isn’t it?”

Freak. She was used to people calling her that, by now. The Jacob situation had made it all harder for her - everyone already knew who she was, and not in a good way at all.

But what absolutely pissed her off, was that Anne was talking about her like that, almost forgetting that she was right there.

“Don’t call her that. I’m staying because I want to spend Christmas with my friends. I have been going home every Christmas in the past years, I want a change this time”.

Astrid smiled softly. Rowan was amazing, and she couldn’t wait for the day in which Anne would leave.

After a few days, in the haze of the Cursed Vaults adventures, Astrid had completely forgotten about the Christmas holidays approaching. She was rather surprised when, on the morning of the 23rd of December, she saw three of the five beds in her dorm empty.

“Good morning, Astrid!” Rowan exclaimed from her bed, where she was sitting, still in her pyjamas, reading a big tome.

“Good morning” she replied with a small smile. It took her a few moments, which she spent gazing in the void with her mouth open, to realize the Christmas holidays had started.

The Gryffindor Common Room had never been this brightly lit, this wildly decorated, this incredibly happy. Every corner had some fairy lights, some holly, or some fir branches adorning it. And something else, too - mistletoe, many people’s favourite Christmas plant, was hanging from several spots of the ceiling.

Astrid looked at it all with a wide smile. This Christmas, maybe, was going to be good for once.

She looked down to her arms then, where a small leather-bound notebook was cradled close to her chest. She had been writing notes about the Cursed Vaults, finding Jacob, making friends, basically her whole life at Hogwarts. She knew madness would have overtaken her hadn’t she decided to note some of it down, and get it out of her head. The past three Christmases had been just her, locked in her empty dorm, rereading her notes, maybe crying.

She hated it all. She just wanted it to be over.

But it wouldn’t be over until she found her brother, or discovered he was gone forever. So, at the very least, she could forget about it, for just a few days. She would get back at it in the new year.

So she removed her eyes from the notebook, and brought them up, and to her left, and to her right, and behind her, and in front. Observing the amazing job students and House Elves had done.

This is how Christmas should always be, right?, she found herself thinking.

The fireplace had holly all around it, its usual boring brick red replaced by a mixture of red, green and gold. The ceiling was covered in green and white mistletoe, and on the walls were floating lanterns and sparkly ribbons. A small tree had been set up in a corner, next to a window - its lights gave the room an even more magical look than usual.

With one last look around the Common Room, Astrid left it, adamant to look for her friends.

“Astrid! You’re finally here!” Penny exclaimed as soon as she saw her friend walk through the doors of the Great Hall, “We thought you were never going to come down. Rowan is still reading, isn’t she?” she added with a soft smile.

“Of course she is” Astrid shrugged her shoulders, sitting down next to Bill.

“Only two days left before Christmas!” Barnaby exclaimed then, his voice ringing across the hall. Everyone winced slightly, then laughed.

“You definitely don’t need a Sonorus charm to shout loud, Barnaby” Tulip stated, raising an eyebrow.

“What’s a Sonorus charm?”

“Never mind. You’ll know” she replied, raising an eyebrow, then chuckling.

“Bill, where has Charlie disappeared to?” Tonks asked all of a sudden, earning the attention of the oldest member of the group.

“Oh, probably looking for dragons somewhere. You know him”.

Astrid felt something jump inside her at the mention of Charlie. It had been a while since she had started feeling this way, all funny whenever he was around, jumping when he was mentioned, feeling anger when he was insulted, feeling the utmost happiness at seeing him smile. When people mentioned this kind of feelings they always talked about love. Maybe she was in love too.

“So, what are we doing this Christmas?” Ben asked, “Please no Cursed Vaults or anything scary. Please”.

“Christmas, for once, has nothing to do with scary or dangerous stuff, Ben, so don’t worry about it” Penny reassured him.

“I want to trick Filch. Just because” Tonks smirked, already working out a plan.

“I can join in, right?” Tulip asked, a wicked grin appearing on her face as well.

“Of course”.

“Just kiss already!” Astrid jokes, and Tonks raised an eyebrow and pursed her lips together, making the funniest face anyone had ever seen.

“Have you forgotten about the mistletoe growing around since the end of November? I’m going mad about it. Three girls have tried to push me under some and kiss me so far, and the problem is that they were all so horrible!” Bill complained loudly.

Astrid’s heart jumped again at the mention of mistletoe and kissing. If only that could happen with Charlie… wait, it could.

She wasn’t exactly sure she wanted that, though.

Christmas Eve had finally arrived. Only eight hours, by then, separated them all from Christmas.

Astrid was walking down a wide corridor, alone, trying to clear her head and relax, finally. All of a sudden, she heard another pair of footsteps, matching her own almost perfectly, and immediately she knew, and her heart did a backflip.

Only one person in the world could match her steps so perfectly.

Charlie Weasley.

When a redhead and a freckled face appeared in front of her, she couldn’t suppress the spontaneous, wide smile that lit up her face.

“Astrid! I haven’t seen you in a while. Happy Christmas Eve!”

“Happy Christmas Eve to you too, Charlie. Hunting for dragons again?”

“No, just relaxing a bit. I needed to get away from Bill, annoying older brother and all that” he chuckled, then bit his lip when he realised what he’d said. Astrid smiled slightly, fishing for something to change the subject, and yet, failing terribly.

Suddenly her eye was caught by long, green branches growing above her head, and she realised what was happening in the span of a second.

“Mistletoe…” she muttered, and Charlie raised his gaze, following hers. She wasn’t ready for this. She couldn’t… No, it was not the case. No.

Run, was all her mind could scream, run as fast as you can.

And she did. She ran, turning her back to Charlie, who was left alone in the middle of a wide, suffocatingly silent corridor, mistletoe slowly wilting above his head.

On Christmas morning, Astrid woke up curled up on one of the couches of the Common Room, her cursed leather-bound notebook in her arms, and a quill on the ground where it had fallen when she had fallen asleep, the ink on its tip smeared and dry on the wooden floor.

Her eyes slowly adjusted to the light filtering from the windows - she imagined it was around eleven - as she winced, then she rolled onto her back, looking up at the ceiling. The mistletoe she hated was still up there. God knows how many young couples had kissed in that room throughout the days.

Astrid sat up as soon as she heard footsteps coming from her left, where the stairs to the dorms were. When she turned her head, her eyes widened and her heart threatened to jump right out of her chest.

“Merry Christmas, Astrid,” Charlie said with a small smile. She scanned him, taking note of his unruly hair, how the sunlight kissed his skin, how his eyes regarded her.

And he, at the same time, scanned her. How she had bitten her lip, how she had widened her eyes, how her face had flushed, how her hands were holding the notebook tightly against her chest. And he smiled. He smiled because he knew what was troubling her, and it was the same thing that was troubling him.

When she moved to run once again, he caught her by the wrist, stopping her in her tracks. She looked into his eyes, biting her lip again, fear evident in her eyes.

“You’re afraid,” Charlie stated.

“Terribly”.

“Don’t be”.

“It’s not so easy”.

“Maybe it is”.

Charlie pulled her to him, kissing her softly, shyly, and when she responded, he finally relaxed.

Astrid pulled away only when she thought she would suffocate otherwise. Refusing to look into his eyes, she threw her arms at his neck, laying her head on his shoulder.

“Merry Christmas” he whispered.

“Merry Christmas indeed”.