Montague the gargoyle just huffed and laid a wing over sharp, pointed ears on either side of his head.
"It really was a great catch, Harry," Eir smiled at him with a laugh towards the sulky gargoyle.
"Ginny and Michael broke up!" Colin exclaimed as he and Dennis ran into the room. Everyone groaned, even Harry who had gotten used to Colin's regular updates on his, hopefully, mate.
Matthew very dramatically sighed and banged his head on the table he was sitting at with Brook and David. Brook patted him on the head. "Don't worry, you'll be fine," she reassured him.
"What's the countdown now?" Aurelius, the half-werewolf, asked as he laid down a card nonchalantly in his game of Exploding Snap with Aceline, Aurora, and Kara.
"One week and six days," Draco answered for Matthew. "Right before he gets back to Hogwarts, though I doubt he'll find his mate before returning."
"She's not going to like me," Matthew groaned into the table, everyone was completely ignoring Colin at this point who was still vibrating with excitement from the door.
Snape billowed into the room at that moment in a dark cloud of an imposing aura and physically moved the Creevey brothers out of his way. "Colin, sit down and plan how to ask her out after the holidays. Matthew, your mate will like you, you're a veela; it's almost guaranteed. Graham, stop sulking and turn back. And everyone, eat the snacks so I can leave and start my teenager-free holiday," he sneered at the room before claiming his normal armchair.
A huge spread appeared on the long table in the front of the classroom, courtesy of the house elves. Deciding to hang back and observe what people took to help him guess what species they might be, Harry stood in a corner. Draco rushed over to a beautiful platter of sushi that the house elves must have spared no expense in making. "Ah! No!" Brook immediately swatted his hand away, causing the blond to glare at her. "Naiads get first run at the seafood," she smirked as Draco rolled his eyes and made a dramatic bowing gesture to the platter. "I'll try to leave you a few pieces."
Harry nodded. So, Brook was a Naiad, and she was dating David, a Drus or Dryad. If he remembered correctly, the species were actually fairly similar, one was just connected to the land and one the water. He wondered at Snape's comment from the first meeting that their species were not supposed to like each other. That sounded like a soap opera if he'd ever heard of one, and he made a mental note to sit with them and talk later.
Most of the other food was fairly normal with biscuits, cakes, finger sandwiches, and crisps. There was a large bowl of what looked like crickets and earthworms off to the side though. He watched Hestia scoop some up on her plate beside a piece of cake as well as Luna who put some on a piece of bread. He wrinkled his nose at that, but assumed it probably wasn't any stranger than him eating people's emotions. The normal pitcher of blood was visited by Snape, of course, as well as the third year Ravenclaw, Bartholomew. Harry marked him as a maybe vampire in his head.
That was all he was able to get from the food before Luna pulled him over to sit with Neville, Draco, David, and Brook. She pushed a plate of cake and biscuits into his hands. "Treat Jamie a bit," she quietly ordered him as he just shook his head and laughed.
"What are you all doing for the holidays?" Luna asked the group as she bit into her cricket sandwich with a crunch.
"Normal Christmas with my Gran, and visit my parents at St. Mungo's," Neville said. Harry almost choked on a piece of biscuit as Draco put an arm around Neville comfortingly at his last statement. He had a vague idea about what happened to Neville's parents from comments made by Mad-Eye Moody, but knew better than to ask for more details.
"I'll be staying in my room and trying to avoid any visitors we might have at the manor," Draco drawled with a disgusted wrinkle of his nose.
Harry tilted his head and observed the Slytherin better. "I thought you would be excited to see any visitors that may come to your manor from what you've said in the past?" He asked mildly with a raise of an eyebrow.
"Po—Harry," the blond sighed and Neville gave his hand a bit of a squeeze. "I do what I must. I'm not a creature with any helpful, offensive skills, unlike Graham and a few others in here. Neither of my parents inherited a creature trait, and they both think me weak, which I admit I probably am. If I do what they ask of me, they won't tell our visitor what I am, and that's the most I can ask from life at this time. So, don't judge what you don't understand."
Harry nodded slowly. After talking with Graham earlier in the term, he realized there was more going on in the creatures' lives in this club than he would ever have imagined. Secrecy and survival seemed to be the driving factor behind everything they did outside of this one classroom. It was no way to live in his opinion, but as he'd only been a magical creature for a little over four months, he figured he had no room to speak. "I'll be spending the holidays with my godfather," he said slowly, looking at Draco meaningfully. "I'm sure that he could help me locate a certain pureblood manor if there was a reason someone might need help."
Draco sneered at him. "I don't need your help, Potter, and I never will."
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