Friends and Food are Better Than Family Matters.

Grabbing another package from under your bed you make your way downstairs to the Great Hall. Trying to put the anxiety of your family package behind you, you weft and wind into the great Hall, and you find yourself standing in the entrance completely shocked.

The Great Hall is immaculately decorated. The Hall is lined with tall evergreens covered in lights. The four rows of have been removed and replaced with one large long table. This table is struggling under the weight of a feast that puts all previous school feasts to shame. Moving through the Hall you see the Faculty Festively dressed at the head table.

Sweeping the table you spot Ron Weasley sitting next to Harry Potter. Thankfully there is a free seat to his right, and you squeeze in next to him. Harry fixes you with a puzzled look, but Ron turns to you and smiles wide.

"Hey Marvolo Merry Christmas!" Ron beams at you. You return the greeting and hand him the parcel from under your arm. "What's this then?" he asks excitedly.

"I, uhh, managed to scrounge up a gift for you, I would have taken them to your Common Room, but uh" you explain "I don't know where it is." Ron laughs, and unwraps the present. It was a box of custom Wizard Chess Pieces, and Ron looks to you with a big smile on his face. "I know you already have a family set, but now you have one that is ... y'know... yours."

"Thanks!" Ron says as if genuinely moved. "You want to break them in?" he fixes you with a devilish grin.

"I dunno..." you begin.

"C'mon, you don't want to sit alone in the Ravenclaw Common Room, do you?" Ron teases. "Unless you are afraid I'll beat you again."

"Again?" asks Harry, bewildered.

"Yeah," says Ron "What do you think I do when you are in Quidditch practice? I am in the Chess Club."

Harry seems momentarily dumbfounded, before grinning. "Do you want to head back to the Common Room, and then we can break in Ron's new pieces, and my new board!" The Boy Who Lived gestures with a box that he had with him.

Feeling a little bit of the Christmas spirit you cram a few treats into your pockets, scoff down some food and follow Ron and Harry back to their common room. It is in its own tower, behind the portrait of a heavy woman. She took a single password instead of a riddle, which frankly seemed convenient- if boring.

You sit down to play with Ron, as Harry starts in on a few of his miscellaneous gifts. Ron sets up his new pieces, and laughs. "Wait, why does the king have red hair?" Ron laughs.

"Ah," you grin. "I had them custom made, I couldn't afford the whole set. So I just figured this way you would know which sets were yours, rather than your family's."

"It seems a little... much." says Ron, but he seems happy to have something that is distinctly his. "I always preferred the knight. Having a king piece look like yourself- it feels like something Percy would do, and he's rubbish at Wizard Chess."

You and Ron play a game, and it goes frustratingly quickly. Ron's new pieces take to his commands quickly, and despite your best efforts he wins quickly. You and Ron talk for a little while, when Percy Weasely, the Griffyndor prefect approaches, chessboard in hand. You see Ron groan inwardly, and realize that he is probably sick of playing his older brother, and decide that you could lend a hand.

"Percy, sir." you say feigning enthusiasm. "Would you be interested in playing a game?" Percy looks like he is about to object. "I like your sweater! P for Prefect?" you ask.

Percy looks like you've touched a nerve and is about to retort, when Harry sits down across from Ron. Percy sighs, turns to you and says, "Sure. Let's play a game."

You talk a little with Percy through the game, learning a little bit of the Weasley family's internal politics. Ron was right, Percy wasn't a particularly good player. You try to drag out the game until Harry loses to Ron, it seems like Ron is likewise pulling punches for Harry. Percy for his part does not see that you are going "easy" on him, and seems to enjoy the game.

Before too long you manage to Checkmate Percy, and excuse yourself. The hour was late and you were eager to return to your room. As you go to leave the Common Room you overhear Harry saying "Nicholas Flamel has got to have something to do with what the three-headed dog is guarding."

You freeze, and when Harry glances over at you, you stumble out of the Gryffindor Room and bustle towards Ravenclaw tower. Nicholas Flamel, why was that name familiar, how does he fit into the puzzle?

You make it back to the Common Room, and sit down on your bed, scribbling it down in your Reference Book.