Over the last week, it had been growing much colder. The dull, near constant rain of the last few weeks had cleared, and each morning saw a glittering frost carpeting the grounds. Some of the teachers had taken this to mean "Christmas is coming", in particular Professor Flitwick, who had decorated his classroom with tiny, glittering fairies ( Read more... )

After Monday's announcement that Hogwarts would play host to several Outsiders, the school was a hub of gossip, and the break-in of Sirius Black during the Hallowe'en Feast had almost been forgotten. Everywhere you went, there were people talking about the Outsiders in hushed voices, almost as though it was forbidden. Many of the rumours sounded ( Read more... )