Jade perched on the foot of her bed in a meditative state, her golden
egg resting in front of her. She was seated in lotus position, her
curls pulled away from her face with a strip of green fabric. She was
clothed in soft flannel pajamas with little blossoms of fire decorating
them, and her feet were bare. Her hands were pressed together, holding
her chin up. Her breaths were measured, and she was trying to locate her
center of focus. The silence was perfect, and she opened her mind to
answers-

The door slammed open all the way, hitting the wall with a
bang. Alana, Mallory, and Hannah all barged into the dorm room,
giggling and shouting. Jade opened her eyes and threw her hands up into
the air.
"Can't a girl get one second of peace around here?"

Alana
laughed, flinging her scarf over her shoulder. "Nope! We were having so
much fun having a snowball fight outside." Her cheeks were flushed, and
there were melting flakes in her hair and floating on her eyelashes. "I
hit Hannah seven times!"

"I was tying my shoe!" Hannah looked
playfully indignant, her blonde pigtails disheveled. "And anyway, it's
not whether you win or lose-"

"Yes, it is." Mallory interrupted.
Her wild mane of hair was tangled and sticking straight up into the air.
"Winning may not be important to you, but I don't like to lose." She
removed her hand from inside of her cloak and nailed Alana in the back
of the head with a snowball.

Jade giggled at Alana's
indignant expression before returning to the task at hand. "Will you
guys please stop? I'm trying to concentrate."

"On what?" Alana
hopped onto the end of Jade's bed, the egg went flying. It was about to
hit the floor when Alana, with the reflexes of a Quidditch player,
scooped it up just inches from the carpet.

"On what you just almost broke, maybe? I need to figure this out for the next challenge!" Jade's face flushed.

Mallory flipped her hair. "Come on, relax a little. It's Christmas Eve! Wrap presents, throw snow. Get ready for the feast tonight. Daydream about the ball tomorrow. Anything at all."

Jade was done with holiday shopping months ago. For Alana, she had purchased four tickets to the International Quidditch Showcase later this year. For West, she had bought a plant called a Butterfly Bush. It was actually a Muggle object, but when planted it would attract butterflies of every color and size to land on its leaves. She figured West would love seeing them out her window. She bought miniature Puffskeins for Mallory and Hannah, and had gotten Hannah to teach her to knit. As a result, there were cute knitted scarves for all of her other friends.

But what about Draco? She had nothing for him yet. She had bought a present for Jack months ago, when they were still together. It was a metal bookmark, silver, and engraved with the words, 'Think of me when you read'. It had a royal blue ribbon on it, and a Merdock crest charm. It had been expensive, and after their fallout she had owled her mother and begged to get it returned.

Jack liked to read, sure, so that would have been a good gift for him. But she didn't know much about Draco, not at all.  He seemed to know exactly what she would like at any given moment, but she didn't want to stoop so low as to ask one of his friends or something similar. She needed to make something beautiful, something perfect and expressive and romantic-ish. He wasn't a girl, she couldn't just buy him some jewelry or clothes. He didn't really wear much outside of the school uniform (thank goodness that Eaglesclaw didn't employ uniforms). What did he like...

"HELLO? Earth to Jade," Alana crowed, poking Jade in the arm. "You've been spacing out for the past ten minutes."

"Sorry." Jade opened her eyes and laughed. "I was distracted. Now help me get it open."

The two girls pried apart the sides of the egg. As soon as it was opened, a screechy and unwelcoming sound filled the room. While Jade, Hannah, and Mallory covered their ears, Alana listened patiently and then closed the egg.

"It's alright, the noise is over," Mallory reported. "What did you do that for, Alana?"

Alana grinned. "I know what they're saying, Jade."

"They?" Jade's confusion must have been evident on her face.

"Those were merpeople, Jade. They were singing a song...in Mermish."

"And you understood it? How?" Hannah was curious.

"Don't question it...but I did." Alana looked mysterious and obviously proud of herself. "They said, let's see-" Her face took on an eerie expression, and she began to sing, her voice high and lilting.

"Come seek us where our voices sound,
We cannot speak above the ground.
And while you're searching, ponder this:
We've taken what you'll surely miss.
An hour long you'll have to look,
And to recover what we took.
But past an hour-----the prospect's black,
Too late, it's gone, it won't come back."

She turned to Jade. "They're going to take something you prize- and they're in the lake."

A pained expression crossed Jade's face. "What are they going to take?" Not her owl, not Tater Tot! Or maybe...Alana or West! That had to be it. "I won't let them take you," she said under her breath, and then stood up and began to pace, plotting exactly how she would save her best friends.