1. Harry Potter (Panda's version) -Featuring Janet Hayden - Chapter 38

     December came not too long after the Quidditch match between Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw. During Charms, Professor Flitwick held them back after class to get the names of the students who will be staying for the holidays. The class started chattering excitedly about their holiday plans.

     “We are going to Paris for Christmas. We hardly stay around London during Christmas.” Mandy announced loudly.

     “Who is she talking to?” Terry smirked, “With only one follower left does not make her a princess anymore.”
     “Don’t say that, Terry.” Su stopped Terry.

     “It’s the truth,” Terry defended. “Glad you came around, Su. Glad that you came and joined us. We lead a more practical life than someone who lives in her bubble of imagination.” Terry sneered at Mandy.

     Mandy’s response towards Terry was interrupted by Professor Flitwick, “Since every one of you will be heading home for the holidays, I wish all of you happy holidays and be prepared for exams.” Professor Flitwick chirped.

     Flitwick’s words flushed the Ravenclaw’s holiday mood like a huge pail of water putting out the Ravenclaw’s fire of excitement. He realized most of the Ravenclaws’ faces changed from excited to anxious, “No need to panic. I believe my Ravenclaws are going to do just fine.” He chirped, “Now, hop over to your next class.”

     “What will you be doing during Christmas holidays, Su? “ Janet asked while shoving all her quills and parchment into her bag.

     “Oh, my family actually hardly celebrates Christmas back in China but we will be in London this year and maybe just follow what everybody does,” Su replied excitedly, this is her first Christmas in London.

     “You know what; you can come over to my house during Christmas,” Lisa suggested, “And you too, Janet. Christmas at my place would usually be just the four of us celebrating; it would be great if I can have my friends to celebrate together. Since Lee (Leon Turpin) might not be joining us due to his shift at St. Mungo’s. How’s that?”

     “That sounds like fun,” Janet replied, “I will have to ask my parents first though but it should be fine.”

     “Me too. I have never celebrated Christmas with friends before.” Su replied happily too forgetting that she almost had a nervous breakdown when Professor Flitwick mentioned about exams ten minutes ago. Although she has appeared to be more comfortable with the English language but she is still lack of confindence.

     It was not long before mid-December has arrived and Janet was already happily back at home helping her mother get ready for Christmas.

     “We will be going to the Macmillan’s for dinner on Christmas eve. That was what we used to do when we were in contact with the wizarding world,” Emily told Janet while decorating the fireplace with colourful Christmas stockings.

     “That sounds great! That means we are going to Ernie’s house?” Janet squealed while hanging ornaments on their Christmas tree. “I have never been to a fully magical household before.”

     “So when would you like to go visit Anna? Are you going to spend the day with her during Christmas like how you used to?” David asked as he came into the house after hanging the Christmas lights. Although David and Emily had their wands back, they were still used to the muggle way of Christmas decoration, which is using electricity instead of the lighting charm since David has been quite good in handling wires after years of practice and accidentally shocking himself, “We did mention to her that you will be coming home for Christmas. I assume that you will be spending it with her like how you usually would?”

     “Oh, no,” Janet moaned.

     “What’s wrong?” David asked.

     “I forgot that I have promised Lisa that I will be going to her place for Christmas, I can’t be at two places at once and I don’t want to miss either one.”

     “Oh dear! I forgot about that too,” David exclaimed, smacking his forehead. 

     “We will work something out. There are two more weeks till Christmas.” Emily said to comfort Janet.

     “But I have to go see Anna or else she might think that I have forgotten about her and chose my new friends over her but I can’t break my promise with Lisa.” Janet whined.

     “You don’t have to spend the whole day at one place. There are 24 hours on Christmas day. You want some biscuits?” Emily tried distracting her daughter, “I just baked some for a taste test. If it is good, I shall bake more for Christmas.

     “But…”

     “No buts, I am sure that we will be able to work something out,” Emily cuts her daughter off, “Besides, Christmas is the time of joy. Who knows, things might just fall into place nicely on that day.” 

     After dinner, Janet stayed in her room staring at her computer screen, focusing on her online messenger’s contact list which shows that Anna is online and available. However, Janet could not gather enough courage to nudge her for a conversation because she was still worried that Anna might not respond how Janet hoped she’d respond since Anna did not react positively when she told her the truth about herself. Judging by that incident which she walked out on Janet, there might still be a chance that she was still mad at Janet for not going to Queen Anne's with her.

 

1. Harry Potter (Panda's version) -Featuring Janet Hayden - Chapter 37

     Saturday morning arrived with the first Quidditch match of the season, Gryffindor versus Slytherin. The Great Hall was filled with the tempting smell of fried sausages and the cheerful chatter of students looking forward to a good Quidditch match to start the season.

     “Wow, sausages!” Terry exclaimed hungrily while piling his plate with sausages and ketchup.

     “I wonder how it would be like.” Su muttered. “My first time seeing a Quidditch competition.”

     Janet almost responded, “Me too.” But, she managed to stop herself before the words escaped her mouth and took a huge bite of sausage to hide it.

     “Looks like Harry Potter is really playing for Gryffindor,” Terry said between mouthfuls of sausages.

     Janet, Lisa and Su turned towards the Gryffindor table at the same time.

     “Which position will he be playing as?” Lisa asked still looking at Harry who is looking pale and unmotivated. It seems that he was the only one who is not looking forward to the match.

     “He’s the Seeker.” Michael answered.

     “Oh,” Lisa responded switching her attention back to her sausages.

     The Great Hall emptied as the time of the match approaches, everybody was moving out to the stands around the Quidditch pitch.

     Janet was heading out to the Quidditch pitch when someone tapped her on her shoulder. She turned and saw Ernie. She stopped to see what he wanted and gestured Lisa and Su to go on, she will catch up with them later. It turns out that Ernie did not notify her parents about the detention because they did not mention anything about it in their recent letters. Anyhow, Janet’s anger towards Ernie has long disappeared after she ignored him during dinner that day, she  however did not initiate any contact with Ernie because he seems to be avoiding her too due to his guilt, but Janet thought he was offended by her ignoring him.

     “Hey.” He greeted.

     “Hi,” Janet greeted back. “You’re going to watch Quidditch too?”

     “Yeah,” Ernie nodded.

     “So, where are Justin and Hannah?” Janet asked further. She was hoping that her eagerness to be friends again was conveyed through her initiative of stirring up a conversation.

     “They are out in the stands,” Ernie answered nervously. His hands were clutching hard on a pair of gloves he was holding.

     “Oh, you’re not joining them?” Janet sensed that Ernie was acting a bit strange. “Are you alright there?” She asked with concern.

     “Oh, I’m fine. It’s cold out there, isn’t it?” Ernie blurted out randomly.

     “Ah?” Janet was quite taken aback by Ernie’s sudden comment about the weather.

     “Your gloves don’t look warm enough. Take mine!” Ernie snatched Janet’s gloves from her hands and pushed his pair of gloves into her hands. “Ok, see you.” Ernie said hastily and ran off.

     “Wha?” Janet looked at Ernie’s gloves in her hands as Ernie disappeared before she could respond. Shrugging, she put on Ernie’s gloves since it was indeed cold outside and her hands were already stiff from the cold. As her fingers touched the faux fur inside Ernie’s gloves, pleasant warmth spread into her fingers to her whole hand. Fascinated by what Ernie has done to the gloves, Janet smiled to herself. She understood that this was Ernie’s way of making up to her.

     Soon enough, Ernie and Janet were talking to each other again. They watched the Ravenclaw versus Hufflepuff match together despite they were opposing teams in the match. In the end, Hufflepuff lost the game to Ravenclaw because Kieffer Jerrick, the Ravenclaw seeker caught the snitch before the Hufflepuff team seeker, Cedric Diggory.

     After the game, Ernie suggested that they lingered at the Quidditch pitch since he wanted to talk to Cedric. Janet agreed, Lisa and Su followed suit while Justin and Hannah would usually follow Ernie around.

     “Hey, Ced! Great game.” Ernie called out to Cedric who was sitting at the corner of the pitch straightening the twigs of his broom tail.

     Cedric looked up when he heard Ernie, “Oh, hi Ernie!” He smiled at Justin and Hannah, then he spotted Janet, “Hi, Janet and… friends.” He nodded at Lisa and Su.

     “Hi, Cedric. Meet Lisa and Su.” Janet introduced her friends to Cedric.

     “Such a pity you didn’t get that snitch, Ced. You were so close.” Ernie said with a sigh.

     Well, Jerrick was indeed faster and more experienced seeker than I am. The Ravenclaws won fair and square,” Cedric said while patting Ernie on his head comforting him instead for Hufflepuff’s lost when he was the one playing in the losing team. “Anyway, it was my first game, there are a lot more for me to learn as a Quidditch player. Besides, I am just a substitute for Peyton. He should be fit enough for the next game.”

     “No, you did great. Jerrick is a seventh year, he is much taller than you and his arms were longer,” Ernie said. “That’s how he caught the snitch before you.”

     Cedric laughed, “Oh, Ernie. That’s not really why they won and you are lucky that the Ravenclaws here are your friends or you would have just landed yourself in big trouble.” Everyone laughed while Ernie turned red.

1. Harry Potter (Panda's version) -Featuring Janet Hayden - Chapter 36

     Cedric and Ernie headed off to the Hufflepuff common room which was situated near the kitchens. They stopped at a pile of barrels that were stacked in a shadowy stone recess on the right corridor. Cedric tapped a rhythm on the barrel two from the bottom, middle the second row and it opened revealing the Hufflepuff common room.

     The Hufflepuff common room is much different from the Ravenclaw common room. It is quite a cosy and welcoming place that gives you a warm-and-fuzzy like sunny feeling. Ernie and Cedric settled on a plush, cosy yellow and black patterned sofa near the fireplace of the large earthy, round room with low ceilings.

     Ernie laid the chicken pies he packed on a small round table in front of their sofa and pushed a few towards Cedric.

     “Er, no thanks. I already had dinner, those were for you,” Cedric declined. “You obviously have not eaten much just now, have you? Since your attention was never on dinner.” He added after seeing Ernie’s puzzled look.

     “So, what was the reason why Janet is ignoring me?” Ernie asked while munching his pie.

     “She had detention, didn’t she?”

     “Yeah.”

     “She obviously did not like you bringing it up especially in front of other people. Detention is not really a good thing to be talked about, especially in public,” Cedric explained and waved at his friends who just walked into the common room from dinner.

     “If she didn’t like it, why didn’t she tell me?” Ernie asked innocently, looking at Cedric’s friends enter through the big round door in the wall of the common room that connects to their dormitory.

     “Well Ernie, having known you for seven years, I can say that I don’t think you gave her a chance to express that.” Cedric chuckled.

     “How did you know?”

     “Because, when you are determined to get to the bottom of something, you will never stop until you reach the bottom. That’s good but it sometimes might be bad, Ernie.” Cedric saw Ernie looking dejected and quickly continued, “But, I have an idea to make things right.”

     Ernie’s face lit up immediately.

     “You like her, don’t you?”

     “What? Me? No, not really. Just, dad told me to take care of her. I can’t do that if she is angry at me.” Ernie quickly denied.

     Cedric raised his eyebrows and smirked, “Oh well, you are still too young anyway. Ok then.” He shrugged.

     “You said you have an idea,” Ernie reminded.

     “Oh, that. Have you heard of a warming charm?”

     “Er. I don’t remember Professor Flitwick taught us that yet. Why? “

     “That friend of yours, Janet, her hands was extremely cold when she shook mine this afternoon. Did you notice that?’

     “She does keep her hands in her pocket constantly.”

     “A warming spell in her gloves could warm her up a little and it might even warm things up between the two of you.”

     “Really? Teach me!” Ernie said eagerly like a little boy asking for a toy.

     “Ok, bring me your gloves.”