November came and went and before everyone knew it, it was Christmas time at Hogwarts. The tree in the Great Hall was beautifully decorated and there were decorations throughout the corridors of the castle. Danielle and Lily had both signed up to stay on campus for Christmas; it pained Danielle not to be home with her friends and family, but Storybrooke was too far for Danielle to be able to travel for only a few days. At least all of her new Hogwarts friends plus Mal and Lilly would be with her for Christmas/birthday. Finally, December 25th arrived and Danielle was up bright and early. Lily and she were the only two first year Gryffindor girls who had stayed behind for the holiday; everyone else had gone home to their families. Lily stirred and opened her eyes. She smiled when she realized what day it was, "Happy Christmas and happy birthday, Danielle!" she smiled and hugged her.

"Merry Christmas to you too. And thank you," Danielle giggled.

Lily glanced down at the end of the beds and said, "Looks like we have some presents."

The girls went to sort through the gifts, determining which presents belonged to which witch. Danielle had a few extra presents that had birthday wrapping paper. Lily picked up a package and handed it to Danielle, "That'll be a sweater."

Danielle took a look at the label and asked, "How do you know?"

"It's from Grandma. She gives us sweaters every Christmas," explained Lily. Danielle tore off the wrapping paper and sure enough, it was a sweater from Molly Weasley. After they had finished opening the rest of their presents: some clothes and a few Taylor Swift CDs for Danielle and a wizard version of a CD of some wizard singer Danielle had never heard of for Lily, Danielle found one more note under the tree. She carefully opened the envelope and read the scrawl, "Dear Danielle, Happy birthday n Happy Christmas. Sorry I couldn't bring yer gift up ter ya, but it's a little big ter get there. Would ye cum by me cottage later tonight?"- Hagrid.

Danielle showed Lily the note and she smiled, "Well, I guess we'll be making a visit to Hagrid's cottage this evening."

The girls got dressed and went to the Great Hall where the great Christmas feast was just beginning, though there weren't many students there. In addition to Danielle and Lily, there were James, Hugo, Rose, and a few other Gryffindors, a handful of Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs combined, and Albus was sitting at the Gryffindor table since there was literally no one else from Slytherin present at the moment. Everyone smiled once Danielle and Lily approached, "Happy Christmas and happy birthday mate!" James shouted, excitedly throwing his arms around Danielle, "Happy Christmas, Sis," he hugged Lily as well.

"Happy Christmas, James," she sat down in between Danielle and Rose and the group happily dug into the plethora of food on the table. Everyone enjoyed conversing about the gifts they had received and Molly Weasley had indeed knitted a sweater for everyone at the table.

"Guess you're officially part of the family now," smiled Rose to Danielle.

"Guess so," she smiled back. Once the feast was over, McGonagall clapped her hands to clear the tables and dismissed the few students in the Great Hall. Everyone spent the rest of the day playing wizard chess and introduced Danielle to various other games before Danielle realized she had completely forgotten about Hagrid's gift, "Oh goodness, I just forgot! Hagrid said he had a present for me."

"I'll go with you," said Lily standing, "If we're not back by midnight, send out a search party."

The two girls slowly made their way over to Hagrid's hut when another thought hit Danielle. She glanced over at Lily and hesitated before she asked, "Aunt Zelena and Mr. Malfoy, did they ever find out whether they were the Dark Mark creators at that Quidditch match?"

Lily sighed, but shook her head, "No. Aunt Hermione investigated and she was also led to believe it wasn't them. Even if it was, there wasn't enough evidence to build a case. The Ministry has been investigating, but they can't find out anything about the Dementors or the troll or the Dark Mark."

They reached the hut and Danielle knocked on the door. They heard some grumbling before Hagrid answered, "Ah. Danielle, Lily, Happy Christmas to ye both!"

"Merry Christmas, Hagrid," exclaimed Danielle happily as Hagrid wrapped his giant arms around her body, making her feel like an elf or a small troll.

"And a very happy birthday, Danielle," smiled Hagrid. He led the girls over a small, fluffy owl and smiled, "And here's why I couldn't leave yer present in yer room."

"Hey there, little fellow," cooed Danielle.

"It's a girl," said Hagrid.

"What's her name?" asked Lily. She knew she would eventually get an owl for her thirteenth birthday, just like James and Albus had, so she had a few years to go yet.

"I figured I'd let Danielle pick out a name fer her," answered Hagrid.

"Well, Hedwig is taken and forever immortalized," joked Danielle and Lily chuckled, "Snowball? No that's just too weird with Snow. Fluffy?"

"Don't use that one," said Hagrid quickly.

"How about Duchess?" asked Danielle. The owl perked her head up and turned towards her, "You like that name? Alright, Duchess it is," Danielle turned toward Hagrid and asked, "You do realize that back home, I live in the pristine mayor's mansion?"

"Don't worry, I cleared it with yer Mum n Dad," affirmed Hagrid.

"Well, this beats my brothers' pet goldfish," smirked Danielle.

"You want sum cake?" asked Hagrid. It had a 'Happy Birthday Danielle' message scrawled.

The girls nodded politely, though they didn't know how edible it was going to be. They discussed their first semester at Hogwarts with Hagrid before Danielle hesitantly turned to Lily. Lily nodded her head in encouragement and Danielle's breath shook as she heaved a sigh, "Hagrid?"

"Yeah?" he asked.

"I was…I was wondering…" Danielle's voice quivered with apprehension, "I was wondering if you could answer a few questions for me?"

"Depends on what ye ask me?" answered Hagrid.

"It's…it's about Aunt Zelena," Danielle began.

Danielle could see Hagrid freeze a little before he sighed and said, "So ye figured it out, huh?" Danielle nodded, "Does she know ye know?"

Danielle nodded again, "Yes. She explained everything to me and Mom recently. Even about…"

"What she did while she was here?" questioned Hagrid. Danielle nodded her head in confirmation, "But you want more information, don't ye?"

Danielle rubbed her hands together, "Well…just with one aspect," she admitted honestly, "It involves Mr. Malfoy."

Hagrid went to the fire place when the tea kettle started to whistle and he poured three mugs for everyone, "I'm assumin ye mean Draco Malfoy?" Danielle stayed quiet but Hagrid knew he was correct in his assumption, "Well, those two definitely hit it off right away. The Malfoy family has been 'round fer centuries with a lot of influence. Not so much now, but back in the days yer aunt attended Hogwarts, fer sure. Nobody really understood their friendship, not even some of Draco's closest friends, just that he seemed drawn to her right away. Maybe it was because she had no experience with the wizarding world so he had finally found a friend who liked him fer him, not his money or his name."

"Is all the talk of them actually dating true or just exaggerated?" asked Danielle, taking a sip of tea but then coughing it up again.

"Well, fer the first few years, I wouldn't 'ave called it dating, but they certainly did spend a lot of time together even durin breaks n such," said Hagrid.

Danielle gave him a confused look, "Where?"

"At Malfoy Manor," answered Hagrid and then his eyes widened, "Sorry, shouldn't 'ave told ye that."

"Really?" asked Lily, "As in with Mr. and Mrs. Malfoy?" she nudged gently.

"Oh yeah. Lucius and Narcissa loved that girl. Doted on her n treated her like was the daughter they never had. She would spend Christmas and summer holidays there. She was an honorary Malfoy in their minds."

Danielle's eyes widened. Draco Malfoy's parents actually LIKED Zelena at one point, "So what happened?"

"Well, yer aunt wanted to know her blood-status, so Dumbledore n McGonagall went searching their fourth year and told her at the end of the year. I believe she told Draco that summer, but not anyone else. Well, then You-Know-Who came back in their fifth year, but Lucius and Narcissa found out that she was a 'alf-blood witch. Not as bad as a Muggle-born, but still not up to their standards for a future wife fer Draco."

"Did Mr. Malfoy tell them?" asked Danielle.

Hagrid shook his head, "No. Rumor says it was Pansy Parkinson who told Lucius and squealed on them."

"Who?" asked Danielle.

"The one that Mr. Malfoy supposedly dated in the books," explained Lily quickly.

"But why?" asked Danielle.

"Well, she was always jealous of those two. Everyone at Hogwarts could see it. She had a huge crush on Draco but Draco never felt the same way 'bout her; only ever saw her as a friend. Well, somehow Pansy found out about Zelena and immediately told Draco's parents. And boy was Lucius not happy. Made Draco break-up with Zelena n cut off all contact with her. Stopped the invites, stopped the presents, stopped everything. Poor girl was heart-broken. Didn't really understand why."

"That I know," interrupted Danielle.

"Well, Pansy thought she might have had a better chance but with all that went on their last two years, I don't know if they ever got out of the friend zone. Well, I think yer aunt really missed them n 'aving that family she never had, so that's why she joined You-Know-Who's side. To try to make em proud. But Lucius Malfoy knew she never really believed in You-Know-Who's cause. Well, then Astoria Greengrass came into the picture and even though she wadn't their favorite, she was at least a pure-blood. And they 'aven't talked since."

Danielle didn't want to mention that her aunt and Draco indeed had been in contact recently. But she had finally gotten pretty much all the information she needed. Danielle stood and motioned to Lily that it was time to head back to the dorms. She grabbed the handle on Duchess's cage and smiled, "Thank you for the gift, Hagrid. Merry Christmas."

"Yeah, Happy Christmas, Hagrid," waved Lily.

Hagrid smiled and waved back, "Happy Christmas girls n happy birthday Danielle."