Monsoon Wings

Christmas was coming. When Juno woke up that morning, there was a mass of packages on the floor beside her bed. Hermione had gone down, and Olivia was in the same state of sleepiness as Juno was.

‘Merry Christmas,’ Olivia greeted, looking blearily at her presents, which, of course, were an enormous pile.

‘Same to you,’ Juno said, sitting on the floor, unwrapping packages. Harry had given her a small notebook with noisy chirping sounds and colorful pages. Ron, of course, presented her a packet of Chocolate Frogs; Hermione gave her a nice astonishing quill; Olivia gave her a nice pair of woolen gloves; and another blue sweater from Jayden (oh my god!). Her father did not fail to award her a queer little rat-shaped toy (knowing him, what else?) which screeches every time its tail is faced in a certain direction. Not to mention chocolate pudding and tart plus the usual sweater from Mr and Mrs Weasley.

‘Look at what Dad got me,’ Juno complained out loud as the rat screeched again with no reason at all.

Olivia was busy unwrapping as well. There were a big lot of anonymous presents, mainly teddy bears, wrapped along with personal love notes. There was one, wrapped in lips-patterned paper. She rolled her eyes and opened the presents from her relatives and friends first.

Juno was deeply touched by the blue sweater. She hugged it close, inhaled the scent, then put it on without taking into account that she had not showered and was still in her pajamas. She didn’t care. She missed Jayden. She craved for him. She had to say sorry.

It was at this time that Juno saw a small package, lying timidly alone near the big parcels. It was not wrapped, to be honest. Just an ugly plain little package. She took it and opened it.

Inside was a small shining necklace, its chain thin and fragile. The chain held a small cute bell—like the one in Jingle Bell. And the special thing was, it does jingle.

There was a tiny grumpy note attached.

Hi, happy Christmas. You can hang this necklace near the window if you want to. If it jingles, that means I miss you.

Draco Malfoy

Juno blushed, and then grinned. She stood up and hanged the necklace near the window railing.

Despite his spiteful and bad nature, Draco Malfoy had actually given her a Christmas present, and she was touched by it. For the first time ever, he had made her heart flowery.

But what had he said? Juno thought. He misses me? Is that even possible? She bit her lip. Something was definitely fishy. Yeah. It was not Draco Malfoy to do that. He was the egotistical scoundrel who used to walk all over her, and spit on her clothes.

Oh!

He did that because he wants something from me. But I don’t know. Maybe I should ask Olivia. No, not Olivia. She is never good in advising. Maybe I’ll ask Hermione.

‘What is that?’ Olivia asked, glinting at the necklace.

‘Malfoy gave it to me,’ Juno said, shrugging. ‘Now I have a problem: I have not prepared anything for him.’

‘Oh,’ Olivia said simply, and turned to her pile again. Malfoy did not give her any Christmas present.

I thought he liked me? She wondered.

This is what happens with guys. One day the fall in love and the next day they forgot.

‘Now I need to get ready. Then, you know the next thing I intend to do after shower?’ Juno said, grabbing jeans and a T-shirt, as well as the blue sweater from Jayden. She started towards the bathroom. ‘Go speak to Jayden.’

*

Jayden was stretching in the common room and chatting with Fred and George. Juno neared him and smiled. Jayden, looking at the blue sweater Juno was wearing and smiled back.

‘Thanks for your sweater. I will take good care of it,’ she said. There was a rustle of movements: Hermione and Olivia had left the dormitory and was now joining them.

‘No problem. Listen—I’m sorry about last time. I shouldn’t have—’

‘No, I should be the one to say sorry,’ she sighed. ‘I don’t know. I can’t help it. I know you don’t like Malfoy, but I have to spend my time with him, I have no choice.’

Jayden nodded. He completely yielded to the fact that she had become entwined with Malfoy by the Unbreakable Vow.

Wow, it didn’t take long for them to retain their relationship.

‘Good morning and merry Christmas,’ greeted Fred and George identically, grinning. They were already wearing the sweater their Mom had given them. Fred was wearing a deep purple one with a large “F” and George a murky brown color with a loopy “G”.

‘Merry Christmas,’ Hermione yawned.

‘Merry Christmas to you too!’ Juno hugged each of them happily. She just felt relieved now that she and Jayden were okay. Then the twins excused themselves out of the common room for their usual confidential evil bidding.

‘Going anywhere?’ Jayden asked Juno after the twins had left. They had the common room to themselves by now.

‘Um, yeah.’

‘Fine then, see you,’ he said huskily. A second later Harry and Ron appeared, both already wearing their “H” and “R” sweater. Ron was munching chocolate pie.

‘Merry Christmas,’ everyone greeted each other.

‘Nice one, eh?’ commented Ron, swallowing. ‘We would have been very happy already if Harry doesn’t have to worry about his second task. The hell with that egg.’

They all moved to the Fat Lady, going for breakfast, chatting hotly about the second task (Hermione, in particular). It was scheduled on the twenty fourth of February, which still proved a long time. Though so, Harry’s zero skill in solving the egg puzzle acted like a magnification glass which made the time loom faster.

Once they had reached the lifeless Great Hall, Juno headed to the Slytherin table. There were only a few groups of kids eating breakfast. There were actually more students staying at Hogwarts than the ones present in the Great Hall—most of them utilize the holiday by waking up an hour before lunch.

Draco Malfoy was not yet there, and Juno felt annoyed. True, he had allowed her to come by herself and freed her from the waiting-for-him-near-the-dungeon-staircase routine for the holidays. Juno took her usual seat, picked up a slice of bread and applied cherry jam on it, constantly glancing at the doors. Even after she finished two slices, Malfoy did not appear.

Hermione waved her hand like a fan and caught Juno’s attention. ‘Just come eat with us!’

Juno waved her arm back, shaking her head. ‘No, I’m done. I gotta go,’ she grinned, and quickly left the Great Hall. Once outside the grin faded from her face, and she traced her way down to the dungeons. In dungeon number 5, she encountered someone familiar walking in the far end of the corridor. The torches weren’t lit, so it was a bit hard accommodating the silhouette. But growing up for years together had its own accord.

‘Jayden! How come you’re here so fast? Weren’t you in the Great Hall with the others?’ Juno shouted, though it was not necessary—the echoing walls had helped a lot.

Jayden jumped at her voice, gasped hardly and ran away like a terrified kitten.

Juno knitted her brow, confused at what just happened.