Chapter 13: Christmas

''Hello Mr. Raon,

We have received your letter, and we are honestly very surprised.

The theories you have proposed although backed by proof are really dangerous, both to you and to the magical world in general. Your findings, and in particular the ones regarding the thing you call Genes, are really interesting and we would love to know more since they are the factual proof of what I have been personally thinking since the fallout with the Black family.

You mentioned wanting to meet us to mend the relationship between family and we would be delighted to have you here during your winter break for a dinner, how about the day before your departure to Hogwarts?

Andromeda Tonks.''(A/N mc will explain the latter in detail late)

A smile naturally forms on my face, it seems the letter made a good impression on them and I got myself a nice dinner. I wonder if I will be able to see everyone's favorite Nymphadora Tonks...

Oh well doesn't matter, today is the day I go home for Christmas and I plan to finish the damn book on rituals on the carriage.

A ritual is composed of a magic circle which till this day, even after extensive research in the forbidden section of the library, I am unable to understand in-depth, and a series of 'sacrifices' you place on certain parts of the magic circle. Everything is activated through mana and intent via a special incantation that helps in strengthening the intent itself.

A ritual is in short, for what I can understand now, a more potent spell requiring materials (always called sacrifices) to actually work because of its power. In theory, it should be possible to create a ritual for the strongest Lumos ever, but the meaning of the incantation, and how to create a functioning magic circle is to me alien...

I was alone in my compartment reading, waiting for the train to depart when someone knocks on the door dividing the room from the narrow corridor

''Hey Raon, umh.. could I sit here? It seems most of the compartments are occupied'' she asks with a bit of her usual tone not hiding, however, a bit of embarrassment about being alone with me in the room 'weird' I think ' why is she never embarrassed when it is about studying together in the library? is it because it is a new thing?' I sigh in my mind; If all my years passed studying human behaviour thought me something is that women are hard to understand... You can more or less predict their behaviour but... never exactly what happens in their head. Yet again I'm faced with the reality that this is no fictional world, a character like Hermione which is explained so well in the books gave me more surprises than most girls in the world I came from... I could use Legilimens not I will never rape someone's mind just for my curiosity, I'm not Professor Xavier and neither Dumbledore.

''Sure, sit anywhere'' I say with a smile while unconsciously making room beside me like I was sure she would sit there and not in front of me.. And she does exactly that

We start having small talk about Christmas and stuff talking literally about the first thing that comes to our mind, the conversation flows as natural as a river, till we naturally stop and we open a book to read for the rest of the ride.

I did not notice however Theo, Pansy and Daph passing in front of our compartment they all sported bitter faces looking at us, they thought about joining us in but dismissed the idea

-Gang PoV-

''What is he thinking! How can he chat so casually with a muggle-born like that... Doesn't he know? He needs to marry a pureblood to strengthen the bloodline!'' Said a never before seen angry Pansy, she was biting her nails with a frown, an expression she has never shown Raon

''Calm down Pansy, I already asked him about that... There is no changing his mind... I tried to, trust me, but he completely annihilated my attempts to do so: one time I couldn't even start telling him anything he already gained us 10 points...'' said a dejected Theo with a sigh

''Heh... I heard he even spends most of his afternoons in the library with her studying... I even overheard professor McGonagall praising him with other professors with a smile on her face... A SMILE! On that McGonagall!!!'' says Daph with visible confusion on her face ''What else now? Hufflepuff are gonna win the cup?''

''HE WHAT?'' suddenly screams Pansy with wide-open eyes ''Why did you never tell me about it! You knew and never said anything Daph?'' she continues almost ready to murder

''Pansy why are you so worked up about it... It is almost as if-'' Tried saying Theo immediately stopped by Daph covering his mouth

''I'm sorry Pansy I did not know...'' says a pleading Daph to her friend, sounding extremely apologetic

''I need to take some hair, later.'' Pansy then gets up and exits the room

''What just happened...'' asks a bewildered Theo to Daphne

''You dunderhead! How dense can you be, she was obviously jealous! And you were gonna ask that to her face?'' says Daphne with a scolding look

Theo being your neighbourhood idiot instead of thinking to Daphne's words he started losing himself in those eyes he thought beautiful being so close to them... he simply replied with a frown

Daphne rolls her eyes and says ''She likes him, you idiot!''

Theo widens his eyes ''oh...Fuck'' was all he could say at that moment

-Hermione PoV-

I sneak glances at him.. He is just reading with a happy smile

I like this feeling when we read close each other, I feel relaxed and fulfilled for some reason... the thought immediately makes me blush a bit

--Her deep inner thoughts: But the question is, should I ask him that? Would he be disappointed in me that I do not know about it? I don't want to..... disappoint him. He is the only one I cant talk with about the stuff I learn..... I don't want to... be alone again. I don't want to..... lose him.--

While my scattered thoughts were making me gloomier by the second he suddenly talks to me.

'' Mione is everything all right? You look a bit down..'' He says with a very concerned look that makes me feel a bit warm but I would never admit it

''mhh... yes just thinking about something'' I say while he looks at me still concerned but nods his head at my answer before returning to the book

''say can I ask you something?'' I tentatively ask trying to mask my hesitation with my usual bossy tone I found out did not really bother him making me sigh in relief knowing that he did not mind about that part of me I really did not like and that probably prevented me to make friends

''sure, ask away''

''umh...'' after a bit of hesitation I say it ''do you know who Nicholas Flamel is?''

-end PoV-

''Nicholas Flamel you say?'' I pretend to think about it for a second with a hand on my chin '' He is the greatest alchemist alive, in fact, he created the legendary Philosopher's stone capable of turning metals into pure gold. The stone can also produce the elixir of long life capable of prolonging your life as long as you can produce it. Truly a legend upon wizards... Does that answer your question?''

I could see a look of realization on Hermione's face before turning to me and asks with extreme seriousness ''can I trust you?''

I just smile to her and say '' that will be your decision to make, think you can you trust me?''

she looks at me seriously before thinking about. After a while she looks at me, comes close, faces almost touching, closes my book and while holding both my hands as if trying to stop me from opening the book again she says ''promise me not to tell anyone''

I smile at her before replying ''I can do that but... are you planning on coming closer? not that I mind really'' I end while still smiling

She immediately turns beet red after realizing the position she is in, pushes herself back from me before looking at me angrily

''ahem one of us was trying to be serious here! ahem.. well so...'' she stutters a bit before recomposing herself and says ''here is the thing.....''

she explains all her findings and her new theory

''so at the match, Harry was jinxed... and by Snape?'' I fake being surprised

''Yes! I know a jinx when I see one he was not breaking eye contact and kept muttering something'' she says concerned

''It cannot be Snape, believe me, he is a bit rude to everyone not from Slytherin but he would never hurt a student, remember that Dumbledore trusts him!'' I say admonishingly

''But then... What was he doing during the match... How do you explain that?!'' she asks me a bit angry I don't believe her

I smile at her trying to appease her ''Well maybe a counter-jinx? To counter a verbal jinx you have to do the same right? You cannot rule out that possibility as well'' my voice always calm as if hinting that I'm not going to go against her and I'm simply stating the facts, and that I value her opinion as well.

''Why did the jinxing end when I set Snape's robe on fire then, isn't that too coincidental?'' she asks nicely this time probably noticing my calm and collected behaviour while listening to everything she says seriously 'i fear this girl suffers a bit of fear of not being listened to, or people dismissing her opinions just because; would not be surprised if people actually did that just to make the i-know-it-all girl angry'

''mmh'' I fake thinking about it before answering ''what if the caster of the jinx was also distracted by the fire making him lose focus? I actually believe that someone was counterjinxing Harry's broom... think about it: if Snape was the one conjuring Harry would have fallen without 30 seconds even passing, so in any case, whether you believe Snape did it or not you have to admit that to last this long someone must have been counterjinxing'' I say resolutely placing another valid theory on the table

I see her looking down while frowning thinking of ways to disprove my theory without actually not being able to

As the great negotiator I am, I propose a common ground we can agree on ''If you think this option is reasonable we need to find this second party whether he conjured the jinx or counterjinxed, we might be able to get to the bottom then''

she looks at me, thinks for a bit and then says ''ok then, we will try to do that, we will think about a possible plan to go about it and then talk to Ron and Harry''

''actually, do not tell Harry and Ron I'm involved in this just say everything like it is your own idea, I do not want troubles... Do not worry though I will help you if you need it '' I end before making a big smile

We then start reading again in silence shoulders almost touching in this spacious compartment making jokes here and there and genuinely enjoying the moment

-Christmas overview-

For Christmas father just gave me money since he knows I would much prefer seeing gold coins rolling in my account than some useless broom or whatever so I was pretty happy, while Draco gave me nothing... cheap bastard. To Draco, I actually bought him a cool snake-green magical artifact with wings that can follow him around and can carry small objects like feathers, parchments and stuff. It cost a lot but he really liked it and thanked me with a smile apologizing (crazy right? I guess everyone is kinder to family) saying that he will gift me something good as well, not expecting I would actually gift him a present this year...

I also gifted presents to all my friends Theo: a self-writing pen similar to the one I use since he has shown interest in mine multiple times (best purchase I have ever made, easy homeworks) Daphne: since she has shown interest in fighting magic I decided to write her a book simplifying curses and spells for her to learn easier than the normal books, some of them being only accessible in the forbidden section (although they are there, I carefully selected the less dangerous ones that can be stopped by protego or by anti-curse protego (a strong protego working only against curses but difficult to learn, still I was not able to learn it since my curse mastery is low and how can one understand anti curse without understanding curses?) Pansy: I gifted her a cool magical statue of a Griffin that when infused with mana takes flight and does stuff, obviously I bought the biggest version possible with the Griffin being half the size of an adult human; cost a lot but worth it, she really likes magical beasts and she loved the present

They all gifted me presents as well

I also notice a gift from Hermione, which made me very happy, I did not even need to open it, to me the thought was already more than enough. She knows I come from a rich family and I'm probably a really difficult nut to crack. I laugh thinking about the suffering of others.

I open the box and inside I find a book about the origin of rituals I actually did not read up until now...Huu this is surprisingly helpful, did not think she would actually pay that much attention to what I have been reading... you always surprise me Hermione

What I gifted her is actually a cute handbag with an extension charm that can also change size making it easy to carry wherever... did not cost as much as you would think since I know the owner of the shop but would prove extremely useful to miss I need to carry thousands of books

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Soon came the day of my dinner with the Tonks

I prepped myself for the night sporting A red shirt (dark red obviously) and black suit from Kingsman, my long silver hair neatly going behind my back (like Lucius in the movies), shirt opened to the second button as always with no pin this time, only my favorite ruby ring slotted on my ring finger of the left hand. I also had a wand cane designed and made like my dad's which I always thought was dope using thornwood for the sheat. Father after knowing about this had me also attach the same handle he had to the wand ecstatic to even pay for it himself saying that the Malfoys need to be recognized at first glance and other bs... well good for me anyways...

I left the house without telling anyone and only leaving a note in case someone entered my room saying I did not need to eat and to not disturb me. I had Dobby teleport me out of the mansion and I hoped that none would find out.

tok tok i knock with my cane

A woman with light brown hair and brown eyes opens the door looking very stunning

''Good Evening miss Tonks, I'm Raon, hope I'm not too late'' I say with a smile

She answers with a polite smile opening the door further ( it seems she does not use elves huu)

''Not at all, right on time, it is a pleasure meeting you Mr. Raon I'm Andromeda Tonks, please make yourself at home'' she says escorting me inside

''Ah Mr. Raon you are here it is a pleasure meeting you, I'm Ted Tonks'' says a man with blonde hair and a neat outfit showing a probing gaze trying to see my reaction to him

without losing my smile even one bit I answer '' Mr. Tonks, we finally meet it is a pleasure for me as well''

I then see a girl with light brown short hair, dark eyes and pale skin, sporting her original look stood there Nymphadora Tonks

''Hello, I'm Raon and you are?'' I ask extending my hand with my everpresent smile for pleasantries

''Nymphadora, Nymphadora Tonks'' she answers looking at me with a slight from which I fake to not notice

...

the dinner starts great we talk about random stuff about the current state of the magical world, Ted was relieved to see I had no problem talking to him while Andromeda was happy I found her cooking good; Nympha instead stays relatively quiet looking at me from time to time probably trying to study me. Then we enter the real juice of the dinner: blood purity

I explain to them my views as I did in the letter i sent them talking in detail about the theory of dominant and recessive alleles and how inbreeding will make it easier for recessive alleles to show up on the offsprings making the bloodline actually weaker than stronger...

These theories left a big impression and I could see the strangely quiet Nympha also very interested in the topic

In the end we leave our conversation on a good note since we found ourselves agreeing on many topics; I could see Andromeda very happy to be able to talk to someone from her family again, while Ted definitely relaxed with me seeing that I did not have anything against him. I wish Nympha good luck on her road to Auror since she is not one at the moment which surprised her a bit, seems like a friendly Slytherin was really out of her scope...

Well then better go sleep, will need to wake up early tomorrow...

A/N

Yea.... Finally out, don't have much time to proofread, hope you enjoyed