Chapter Text
"Pepa, perhaps you can tell me now, what are the transfigurative properties of lapis philosophorum?” McGonagall called out, towards the end of their lesson one day. She gave her a very pointed look, as the last time she’d asked her a question in front of the class she had shrugged and looked away.
“Well” Pepa frowned, thinking hard., “Well, it turns the stuff into gold no? If you use it right… and Cleopatra the Alchemist used it to turn lead into silver, I think.”
“That’s correct.” McGonagall sounded quite pleased. “Five points to Gryffindor. And another five for making the connection to Cleopatra the Alchemist – she’s not mentioned in Transfiguration for Beginners, did you read that in your history text?”
Pepa nodded, aware that everyone was looking at her.
“Well, that’s great. Some of my fourth-year students are incapable of cross-referencing their studies like that. I'm pleased to see you taking such an interest.” She addressed the class, “And we will begin discussing alchemy after Christmas. Which reminds me – with the holidays approaching, I’d like to ask any students planning to remain at Hogwarts over the break to let me know by the end of next week. Thank you, you’re dismissed.”
The class stood up to leave. A few people cheered for Pepa before they left the class. Points were still points after all.
“Madrigal, if you have a moment?” McGonagall said, just as she was passing her desk. His stomach dropped. What was it now? She had a clean record for a week now, and she wasn’t keen on breaking it any time soon. She stood still, shoving her hands deep in her pockets and staring at her feet as the rest of the class filtered out.
Finally, the classroom empty, she walked over and shut the door shut to a waiting Felix, and turned back to her.
“Well done today, Pepa,” McGonagall said, kindly, “You’ve really been doing well lately.”
Pepa shrugged and smiled shyly. Mcgonagall only laughed.
“Don’t look so surprised! I’m very impressed. Professor Slughorn and Professor Flitwick have said the same. I wanted a quick word with you about Christmas. I’ve spoken with your mother—“
Pepa’s stomach churned once more
“Really?...What’d…she say?”
“Quite. As you know, the full moon will occur twice in December – the second,” which was the following week.“and the thirty-first. New Year’s Eve. Your mother seems to be of the opinion that you would be better off remaining at Hogwarts over Christmas for this reason. I hope you aren’t too disappointed.”
Pepa shrugged once more, although a small part of her couldn’t be disappointed on how her mother kept her away from the family home. It wasn’t that she had wanted to be there, but the fact that her werewolf problem had caused…a bad reputation in their family only made Pepa feel worse.
“I’ll be fine either way. I’ve…got nothing better to do this hols.”
Professor McGonagall nodded, very seriously.
“I shall add your name to the list, then. I’ll see you next week, Pepa.”
Agustin had invited the rest of the group to visit him and Juliana over the break, knowing that neither Felix nor Pepa were facing a particularly merry Christmas otherwise. Pepa was forced to decline, even if she hadn’t been incredibly shy about visiting Agustin’s home and meeting his parents, she was pretty sure that her mother would be furious at the late notice, only considering Agustin’s not so pureblood status. She didn’t want to leave Julieta alone either, but she had to go home. Alma personally requested that she’d be back for the holidays. Pepa didn’t say anything then, but Julieta had made sure she’d be alright.
Felix, who would have loved the opportunity to spend two weeks fooling around with Agustin, racing their brooms and eating chocolate, also had to refuse. His family had made it quite clear that they did not approve of him visiting them under any circumstances.
“I’m honestly pissed at anyone feeding my parents this information” He explained, darkly, “Apparently, I’ve disgraced them enough already. If I go to yours then it’ll only get worse. Sorry, mate.” Felix huffed, waving them off. Pepa had known of Felix’s strict…parents, but it wasn’t till recently she knew how bad it was. Looked like Felix’s family disapproved of his involvement in the magical world.
Pepa went to the edge of the grounds with the marauders all to wave them off on the last day of term.
“We’ll send you owls!” Juliana and Agustin promised, “Keep plotting against Bruno for us!” Agustin said.
“Yeah- Keep our embers burning!” Elora added, wiping fake tears away.
Pepa grinned and promised she would try. She hoped that the letters they sent would not be too long. She was the only Gryffindor first year staying behind for the break, and trudged a lonely path back up to the castle.
The next day she enjoyed lying in, something she was never allowed to do at home. She slept until ten o’clock, when a prefect poked his head around the door,
“Come on Madrigal, you’ll miss breakfast at this rate!”
Pepa liked Andre, he had a kind, friendly face and an easy-going manner. He seemed dependable, like an older brother. He understood that Pepa was used to being an outsider, and tried to include her wherever possible without pushing too hard.
After breakfast Andre disappeared to the owlery and Pepa sat glumly in the common room, feeling the next two weeks stretch before him, empty and lonely. She considered a walk around the grounds, but it had started to rain heavily. She played a few of Elora’s records and flipped through a stack of magazines some fourth years had left behind, just looking at the pictures. They were mostly pretty, glamorous witches and handsome wizards – nothing she wasn’t accustomed to at home.
The next few days passed in much the same way. Andre would get her up in the morning, she’d eat all his meals with the remaining Gryffindors in the Great Hall, but otherwise she was left to her own devices.
She was so bored at one point that she even thought about doing some of the homework she’d been set. Pepa was starting to think that she was going crazy, opting to wish to do homework instead. She flipped through a couple of her textbooks, huffing at the amount of content there was. It was making her brain hurt. She actually did try to read for a while, but after attempting a paragraph from her herbology text gave up in frustration. She copied out a few of the diagrams instead – Pepa didn’t mind drawing; she liked the freedom of it.
Every day she walked around the castle for a few hours, with her map. The other guys had long since discarded theirs, having learnt all the classroom locations after the first week or so. But Pepa hung on to her, still bothered by its incompleteness. She’d begun marking it up herself, adding points of interest, hiding places and the secret passageway she’d found.
The rest of the time she spent avoiding teachers who were concerned about her being alone. She wasn’t the only student left in the school, but most of the others were sixth and seventh years, who generally stayed in the library revising hard for exams, or working on their coursework. Slughorn was holding special extra Potions classes in the dungeons, but Pepa hadn’t been invited and probably wouldn’t have gone anyway.
She practised a few spells, and entertained herself for a good few hours trying to see how many objects in their dorm room she could levitate at once. She made a game of it, throwing various objects – books, gob stones, decks of cards – up in the air, and trying to stop them before they hit the ground. She had to stop that, eventually, when Andre knocked on the door and told her irritably to keep the noise down.
Saturday 24th December 1971
On Christmas Eve, Pepa was woken earlier than usual – it was still quite dark. Heavy rain pelted the thick glass window panes, the sound of it loud enough to echo through the empty dorm room. But that wasn’t what had disturbed him. The door was creaking open, and someone stepped inside.
Sitting up and peering through the gloom, Remus expected to see Andre telling her to get up for breakfast. But it wasn’t Andre. It was a very soggy and dishevelled looking boy, with curly hair and a haughty face.
“Felix!” Pepa leapt from the armchair, overjoyed to see her friend.
Felix pushed his wet hair out of his eyes – he’d clearly been out in the rain. He pulled off his heavy travelling cloak, dropping it in a pile on the floor.
“Alright, Madrigal?” He grinned. “Freezing, isn’t it?” He pointed his wand at the fireplace, “Incendio.”
“What are you doing here?!”
“Had enough,” He said simply, pulling off his boots, which were caked in mud. “Got into an argument with Dad, then the whole family got into it. All the usual stuff. Called me a no good magic scum, the shame of the family, et cetera, et cetera…” He flopped down on his bed. “So I left.”
“Wow.” Pepa rubbed her eyes, awestruck. “How did you get here?”
“Floo powder.” Felix shrugged, “To the pub in the village. Then I just walked up.”
“Wow.” Pepa repeated.
“I’m starving, they sent me to bed last night without dinner. Come on, get dressed! Breakfast!”
McGonagall was not as pleased to see Felix as Pepa was. The two of them attempted to take their seats at the table as if nothing was out of the ordinary, but she appeared at their side almost immediately.
“Mr Castillo.” She said, a note of warning in her voice which Pepa recognised from his detentions. “What is the meaning of this?”
“I missed you too, Professor.” He grinned up at her.
The corner of the old witch’s mouth twitched, but she kept her composure.
“You were seen walking onto the grounds from Hogsmeade at six o’clock this morning. Do you care to explain yourself further?”
Felix and Pepa shared a look, but he shook his head,
“Not really, Professor. That’s pretty much all there is to it.”
McGonagall sighed, shaking her head lightly. She had the same look of pity she usually reserved for Pepa.
“Very well, Mr Castillo. I shall have to contact your parents, of course, so that they know where you are.”
“There is no need for that.” Felix replied, nodding at the flock of owls which had just swooped into the room. The largest of these birds, a huge, stately eagle owl, dropped a thick red envelope onto Felix’s plate. He looked down at it, then up at McGonagall with a wry smile, “I think they know exactly where I am.”
He picked up the ominous envelope, and, without breaking eye contact with McGonagall, ripped it open. Almost immediately, the letter began to shriek. The voice was so loud that it filled the entire hall, causing heads to turn. McGonagall winced at the ear-splitting pitch of it. It was the voice of Felix’s mother.
“FELIX CASTILLO,” it shrieked, “HOW DARE YOU DEFY YOUR FATHER IN THIS MANNER!” Pepa covered her ears. Felix remained perfectly still, looking up at McGonagall, “CONSORTING WITH THE MAGIC WORLD! USING THE DEVILS WORK! TURNING YOUR BACK ON YOUR FAMILY! IF YOUR GRANDFATHER WAS ALIVE HE’D HAVE DISOWNED YOU THE MOMENT YOU WERE CHOSEN! YOU WILL REMAIN AT SCHOOL UNTIL THE END OF THE YEAR AND THINK ABOUT THE SHAME AND DISHONOUR YOU HAVE BROUGHT TO YOUR FAMILY! DON’T THINK WE WON’T DISINHERIT YOU! YOU ARE NOT OUR ONLY SON!”
With that, the letter burst into flames, curling and shrivelling into a pile of chalk white ash. The silence that followed was deafening. Everyone was staring.
Felix reached for some toast, put it on his plate, then began ladling scrambled egg onto it, nonchalantly. He glanced up at McGonagall again,
“You can send mother an owl if you like, Professor, but I doubt she’ll read it.”
“Very well, Felix,” McGonagall nodded, “Just… try to keep out of trouble, will you?” With that, she walked stiffly back to the teachers table at the far end of the hall.
Felix ate his breakfast in silence. Years later, Pepa would always remember thinking in that moment that Felix Castillo must be the bravest boy in the world.
Christmas day at Casita was usually an extremely noisy affair. Back when the triplets were younger, they used to get up excitedly - dressed themselves faster than Pepa could say Diagon Alley, and then go look at the christmas tree. After they got their magic though, it was clear they’d be ‘earning’ gifts now. Julieta had always gotten the most amount, but Pepa didn’t hate her for that, she’d always share. What’s hers is Pepa’s and what is Pepa’s is Julieta’s. Bruno used to be fun too, but then he’d get whisked away to their uncle and then Pepa rarely saw him for Christmas anymore.
Christmas morning at Hogwarts was a good deal more pleasant. Pepa was almost touched to find that Julieta had not forgotten her– the post had arrived overnight and at the end of her bed she found a card from her, as well as a nicely wrapped package, with an album poster, some of Pepa’s favourite sweets, and a new bracelet. Pepa grinned reading the letter from her. Mama had been talking Julieta’s ear off all holiday. Julieta had to smuggle that poster in, she’d been so scared when Alma had asked what she was up to. She had just said she was wrapping a gift for Pepa, and then she wasn’t disturbed. To her amazement, Agustin and Juliana had also sent a present – her very own set of gob stones. Elora had even sent a box of chocolate frogs.
“Merry Christmas,” Felix yawned, opening his own gifts in the common room. He had nothing from his parents, as far as Pepa would see, she didn’t have one either. but didn’t mention it. Agusin had sent him an annual of his favourite quidditch team, the South End Scorchers, and he had a box of frogs from Elora, Juliana, and Julieta too.
“Merry Christmas,” Pepa returned, “I didn’t get anyone any presents,” She admitted guiltily. “I didn’t know they would…”
“Don’t worry about it,” Felix replied, on his way to the bathroom, “No one expected you to.”
This troubled Pepa, but she tried not to think about it. While Felix was in the loo, another owl flew in the window and dropped a large, flat, square package on his bed. When Felix came out and saw it, his eyes lit up and he ripped it open, eagerly,
“It’s from my cousin!” He explained, pulling the record out, showing it to Pepa, who hurried over excitedly.
It was another muggle album. The cover was black, printed with the silhouetted image of a man standing in front of a huge amplifier, playing a guitar. He had long, wildly curly hair, stood with his legs apart in a power stance, outlined in gold. Electric Warrior, the title blared, T-Rex.
“Ohh, T-Rex, I think I’ve heard of them,” Pepa said, as Felix flipped it over to read the track listing.
“Stick it on!” Pepa encouraged, impatient. Who cared what the cover said?
Felix did, sliding out the slick black disc and settling it onto his turntable. The record began to turn, and the room filled with music – a smooth, sliding throb.
They sat and listened entranced, stopping only to flip to the B-side. Once it was over, Felix wordlessly turned it over and began at the beginning again. They alternated between sitting on the bed, swaying slightly to the melody, or nodding their heads as the beats quickened. They shared grins with each other at the catchiest riffs, and lay down to stare at the ceiling for the slower, dreamier tracks.
Eventually, halfway through the second listen, Andre came in,
“Merry Christmas guys– come on, breakfast!”
They dressed quickly and went down to the dining hall. The Great Hall had been decorated garishly by the teachers – glittering ropes of tinsel in red, green and gold sparkle from every rafter, hanging down like festive jungle vines. Twelve enormous trees twinkled with lights in every colour imaginable, and baubles the size of footballs hung from every branch.
After breakfast, the two ran back upstairs to listen to the album again.
“It’s the coolest thing I’ve ever heard.” Pepa declared. Felix nodded, solemnly.
For the rest of the day they played music in the common room, ate their way through the chocolate frogs, nuts and biscuits, and played rowdy games of exploding snap. Meals at Hogwarts were always spectacular, and Christmas dinner was no different. By the time night had fallen, Pepa had eaten so much she thought she might never be hungry again.
Though she didn’t say it to Felix (who, after all, had been forced to run away from home for the first – if not the last – time), it was Pepa’s best Christmas ever.