#also yes orion absolutely sled-surfs we all know it

[carewyncromwell]

Happy holidays, everybody! 🎄

I bet you all are kind of squinting at this because wait -- is that Carewyn and Merula...NOT hating each other?? What witchcraft is this?! Well, this art is based around events from the Very Weasley Christmas sidequest -- so let’s talk about how this whole thing went down in Carewyn’s canon, complete with some gameplay screenshots! 💚

One difference between the game sidequest’s events and how Christmas in third year unraveled in Carewyn’s canon is that Christmastime was usually a big deal in the Cromwell household, even (and one could argue especially) after Jacob’s disappearance. Family Christmases were a must for Lane and her children. Unfortunately, in Carewyn’s third year, Lane -- a Magical Historian who’d always struggled to make ends meet as a single mother -- had been commissioned by the Ministry of Magic itself to travel abroad and do historical research that would help the Department of the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures in drafting future legislation regarding house elf rights...and much to Lane’s dismay, the assignment ended up being far more complex than the Ministry had envisioned (unsurprising, considering how ignorant so many wizards were about house elf culture and history). This meant that to complete the assignment by the deadline the Ministry had demanded, Lane would be forced to travel abroad for the entire month of December -- therefore not being home in time for Christmas. Despite how very, very upset both Lane and Carewyn were, though, Carewyn -- true to form -- insisted that her mother not back out on the assignment: the reputation and money that she’d earn for completing such a high-profile assignment for the Ministry was exactly the break Lane had needed for so long, and there was no way Carewyn was going to let Lane pass it up. There were always other Christmases -- a chance like this likely would never come again. So, hiding her unhappiness and longing to see her mother down as deep as she could, Carewyn told Lane that she’d just stay at Hogwarts that holiday break. They’d still be able to spend some more quality time together that summer, like always...

Carewyn’s friends weren’t happy, hearing that she’d be staying at Hogwarts over the holiday break. Rowan, Penny, and Ben hated the thought of not riding back home on the Hogwarts Express for the holidays with Carewyn and of her being stuck at school alone. And they weren’t the only ones who weren’t thrilled about it. When Merula Snyde, the only other Slytherin student in Carewyn’s year who was planning to stay at school for the holidays, heard that she wouldn’t be the only person in their dorm that Christmas, she reacted with predictable sarcasm. 

The person who was the most upset about Carewyn staying at school, though, was Bill. The Weasleys always saw the holidays as a time for warmth, family, giving, and togetherness, and Bill couldn’t stand the thought that Carewyn wouldn’t even get to spend time with her mother that year. Bill knew how close Carewyn was with her mother -- if nothing else than because he’d heard from Rowan that prior to school, Carewyn had always chosen to spend time with her mother at home rather than trying to make any friends -- and well, after losing her brother, it had to be even harder, being separated from her only remaining family member. Bill thought Carewyn had to be so disappointed, not being able to spend the holidays with her mother. Carewyn, however, put on a brave face and tried to make the most of it. 

“I won’t be all alone,” she reassured her friends. “Plenty of people stay at Hogwarts for the holidays -- Hagrid and all of the teachers...I even heard Orion and some other members of the Slytherin team are staying here over break. And well...Christmas is all about the feelings, isn’t it? Being generous and kind and grateful for what you have. As long as you have that, no matter where you are, it can still be special.”

For all of Carewyn’s reassurances, though, Bill had his misgivings. Perhaps it was his “big brother” senses tingling...but he couldn’t help but think that Carewyn was putting on a brave face, rather than admit she was hurting -- kind of like how her dormmate Merula kept acting like she just wanted to be left alone that Christmas break, and yet kept staring off into space and covertly glancing over at her classmates at the other house tables talking about their upcoming holiday plans. 

So, when he learned that the professors wanted some extra help getting the castle decorated for Christmas, Bill eagerly volunteered to stay for the first few days of the holiday break at Hogwarts to help. Even though the Floo Network would be down the week of Christmas, he could always catch a slightly later train from Hogwarts to Platform Nine and Three Quarters, after making sure Carewyn was doing okay. And that first week of winter break was actually pretty fun -- many students and teachers took great cheer in Hogwarts’s infamous “Cursebreaker” and Gryffindor’s newest prefect singing carols in the halls as they helped Professor Flitwick and Hagrid hang garlands and decorate the mile-high fir trees. At one point Bill even noticed Merula sitting at the Slytherin table nearby as the two of them worked, unable to keep herself from smiling to herself. Carewyn also had a special project in mind, to give everyone else at school some extra holiday cheer. 

“I’ve heard a lot of people talking about their favorite Christmas traditions,” she told him. “And well, most of them have to do with snow. Felix Rosier and Angelica Cole always have at least one snowball fight. When the weather’s right, Professor Kettleburn loans the Hogwarts thestrals and carriages to Madame Rosmerta, so she can arrange a special holiday sleighride. Orion, Skye, and the Slytherin team go sledding over by the Black Lake. Even Professor Snape likes sitting by the fire and watching the snowfall outside. I saw Merula casting a Snowflake Charm in the courtyard the other day, so I looked up how to do it myself, and I think I’ve just about got it now -- so I’m hoping to use it to make a proper snowfall, just in time for Christmas Eve!”

Bill was curious to see how it would turn out, since he didn’t think a Snowflake-Making Spell would have enough reach to make it snow around the whole castle, but Carewyn had sounded so confident and determined that he didn’t question it. When the day before Christmas Eve started with a freakishly bad snowstorm, however, the eldest Weasley found himself thinking he probably should have -- and yeah, sure enough, Carewyn had tried modifying the Snowflake-Making Charm to make it cover more ground, only for it to also make the snow come down way harder than she’d intended -- so much so that all train travel had been halted in Hogsmeade station and everyone was forced to shelter in place. 

Bill found Carewyn in the Great Hall looking both close to frozen and close to tears. She’d tried everything she could to try to undo the spell -- every Finite Incantantum and Reverte possible -- but nothing she tried had made the snow stop. And now, thanks to her, Bill wouldn’t be able to take the train home to his family...and after how much he’d worried about her, for not being able to spend Christmas with her family! Carewyn seemed absolutely convinced that Bill would hate her. 

Despite Carewyn’s intense shame and guilt about having messed up so badly, Bill was supportive. She’d only wanted to do something nice for everyone else staying at school, to make their holiday that little bit better -- sure, maybe she should’ve asked for help with what she’d had in mind from the start, but her intentions were nothing if not kind. With some encouragement and reassurance, Carewyn decided to go to Professor Flitwick for help. Flitwick was definitely disappointed in Carewyn experimenting with Charms on her own without proper oversight, but he was just as understanding of the situation as Bill had been and, because Carewyn had been so insistent in helping him fix what she’d done, the professor decided against punishing Carewyn for her faulty judgment. 

“These things are easy enough to put right,” he’d said. “And truly, what is the Christmas season if not a time to both give and forgive?”

And as fate would have it, just as the blizzard began to clear, out of the sky soared a strange, light blue shape, about the size of a car -- wait -- was it really a car? A flying car?

Why yes, it was -- a flying blue Ford Anglia, to be precise. It belonged to and had been enchanted by Arthur Weasley...and behind the wheel of it was Charlie. Upon hearing that Bill was snowed in at Hogwarts, the second-youngest Weasley had gotten it in his head to drive his dad’s flying car through the snowy air in order to pick up both his brother and Carewyn for Christmas -- because apparently Molly Weasley was just as upset that Carewyn wasn’t able to spend the holidays with her family as Bill had been. 

“Mum thought it was ‘disgraceful,’ that the Ministry wouldn’t give your mother an extension so she could take some time off for Christmas,” Charlie told Carewyn. “We all do -- even Bill. I was bullying him over owl post to kidnap you and drag you back home with him, if it came down to it...”

Carewyn turned to gawk at Bill, whose face flushed such a dark red it was clear that Charlie really wasn’t exaggerating that much. But it turned out Bill hadn’t just been writing home about how much he hated Carewyn being left behind -- he (and by extension Molly Weasley) had expressed concern for someone else too: Merula Snyde. 

Bill had sensed that, like Carewyn, Merula didn’t have any family to celebrate with and wasn’t happy about the thought of spending Christmas alone, however much she tried to hide it. And when he went out of his way to invite Merula to come back with him, Charlie, and Carewyn to the Burrow, her thoroughly surprised, yet touched reaction seemed to confirm his suspicion. Charlie and Carewyn were a little less enthused about the prospect -- Charlie was dormmates with Ben Copper, who Merula Snyde had viciously bullied ever since their first day on the Hogwarts Express for his blood ancestry, and Carewyn of course got along as well with Merula as she reckoned she would with an Acromantula...but in the spirit of the season, the two of them echoed Bill’s invitation. After all, as Flitwick had said...this was a season for both giving and forgiving. So the four piled into the flying car, with Carewyn in the passenger seat next to Charlie behind the wheel, and they soared off into the air toward the Burrow. 

The four flew over the whole of Scotland and into the southwest of England, specifically the tiny little village of Ottery St. Catchpole. It was a very long drive over both Carewyn’s hometown of Liverpool and Merula’s hometown of Hoghton and it went on through the rest of the day and into the wee hours of the morning. When they arrived, Bill, Merula, and Carewyn helped Charlie sneakily park the Ford Angelia back in Mr. Weasley’s shed, before both Weasley brothers smuggled Merula and Carewyn into the house. 

The Burrow was a slightly cramped, but amazingly cozy little cottage. It was made of very modest materials and decorated with a lot of homemade or second-hand pieces, but it only served to give the place a wonderful sense of whimsy and warmth. The house’s dishes and brooms were charmed to clean the space for its owners, who were preoccupied elsewhere in the house preparing for the holiday -- Charlie had mentioned on the drive up that all of his and Bill’s younger siblings, from Percy all the way down to little Ginny, had managed to catch a bad case of the flu and were being quarantined upstairs while Mrs. Weasley tended to them. (His mother being so laser-focused on his brothers and sister was actually what had allowed Charlie to dodge her attention long enough to sneak out of the house and get to the garage to snatch the flying car in the first place.) 

When Mr. and Mrs. Weasley discovered Bill, Carewyn, and Merula downstairs, Mrs. Weasley immediately descended upon the two girls, enveloping them both in the biggest possible hug. She did very briefly mutter suspiciously in Bill and Charlie’s direction, wondering how in the world they managed to make it home when the train had cancelled all trips, but Mr. Weasley was able to divert her from asking too many questions. After all, it was just wonderful that they’d all made it in time for Christmas Eve! And what a Christmas Eve it was -- with Bill home and Carewyn and Merula now also with them, Mr. and Mrs. Weasley finally felt comfortable with finishing the decorating. Merula, it turned out, wasn’t just good at the Snowflake-Making Spell -- she was also able to conjure pretty poinsettia flowers up in the rafters and along the windowsills. 

The night of Christmas Eve, Merula was lent the couch to sleep on, while Carewyn ended up sleeping on the floor on a makeshift cot made of transfigured pillows and cushions. Although there wasn’t much privacy in the set-up, Carewyn didn’t mind in the least bit. Instead she fell asleep beside the twinkling fairy lights of the Christmas tree, her dreams bringing her back to that time so long ago when she and Jacob sat on their stomachs together under their own tree back at home, while Jacob read aloud from the new book of fairy tales Carewyn had received that Christmas. And although the memory would make Carewyn’s heart ache with longing recalling it when she was awake, while she was asleep, Carewyn could completely forget for just a short while that that time was long since gone. 

Christmas Day at the Burrow was spent enjoying Mrs. Weasley’s absolutely scrumptious cooking and exchanging presents. Carewyn and Merula had both received sweaters from Mrs. Weasley, while Carewyn had saved up specially to buy Charlie some black fingerless gloves for him to wear while flying and Bill a record by a Muggle named Billy Joel. Then Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, Bill, Charlie, Merula, and Carewyn all gathered in front of the fireplace together with hot chocolate to listen to WWN’s Christmas broadcast, hosted by the Singing Sorceress herself, Celestina Warbeck. It was a tradition that Mrs. Weasley cherished -- and, as fate would have it, one that Merula herself also enjoyed every year. The supposed “Most Powerful Witch at Hogwarts” knew the song line-up so well that she sang every word by heart. And to Carewyn’s surprise, she sang those songs really well too -- her Soprano voice was both very well-trained and oddly sweet, for how distinctly “un-sweet” Merula was in personality. Carewyn wasn’t the only one who ended up surprised, though...for at the very end of the broadcast, as she did every year, Celestina Warbeck sang her dynamic rendition of a song called “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas.” Little did Merula realize that that song was not written by Celestina, or even by any witch or wizard at all -- it was a classic from the Muggle world, originally written for a Christmas movie and then covered multiple times by recording artists like Frank Sinatra, Bing Crosby, Ella Fitzgerald, and James Taylor. And so Carewyn immediately recognized it -- and after hearing Merula sing the first line, she soon was singing a warm Alto harmony alongside the familiar melody. 

Those two minutes in which Merula Snyde and Carewyn Cromwell sang together in beautiful harmony were the first time the two Slytherin witches had ever been in sync in anything -- and the power in that was remarkable, in all who heard their voices melding together with apparent ease. 

The ripple effects of those two minutes were in some ways just as striking. Learning the song from the Christmas broadcast she responded so strongly to for so many years was written by a Muggle made Merula not turn up her nose when Carewyn sang other Muggle carols for the Weasleys that day, like Once in Royal David’s City, which Carewyn didn’t admit in front of Merula was a song Jacob always used to sing a solo in when she and her family went caroling. Remembering how much Merula clearly loved singing, to the point that she’d even sing with someone she hated, was what made it easier for Carewyn to sacrifice her place on the Frog Choir to her. And both of them remembering that one moment where, despite their animosity toward each other, they were still able to come together and find something in common, however bizarre it was...made it that bit easier for them to come together again and find more bizarre pieces of common ground in the future.

Carewyn and Merula would never be friends -- there was much too much baggage between them for that. But, even so, over time they realized that they could sit, sing, and live side by side in respect, rather than contempt.