“Do they always do that?” Andon asked wonderingly.
Mariya looked indulgently at her friend before replying, “Well, yes, it’s a Christmas tradition. My little brothers are so excited that soon they will be able to go around for food like that. Ivan used to, before he got married.”
“Oh.” Andon pondered for a moment. “Everyone seems to have so much fun for Christmas.”
The Mitkovas in earshot began to laugh, and Mariya pulled him away before he could embarrass himself further. “That’s the point, silly!” she gasped as they sat down in the parlor, away from everyone else.
“What about you, are you having fun?” she asked, suddenly serious.
“Yes!” Andon replied enthusiastically. “I’ve never had such an enjoyable time! Your family is wonderful, and you “ ” he stopped suddenly in embarrassment, looking away from Mariya’s dark, inquisitive eyes.
“What? What, Andon?” Mariya touched his hand to get him to respond, and she was shocked when it turned palm-up and grabbed hers tightly.
“Mariya, I . . .” he cleared his throat, “I’ve never seen you so happy and radiant as you are here at home. It’s made me wonder . . . why did you come to Durmstrang in the first place, where you knew that you wouldn’t be welcomed?”
She raised her eyebrows at him. “For the magic. What else? Besides, I always have time at home to make me happy, and . . . well, since you became my friend, things have been better. Infinitely better. In fact . . .” It was her turn to trail to a diffident stop as she looked appraisingly at a spot somewhere above Andon’s head.
“Come with me!” she commanded suddenly, pulling him to a doorway where hung a peculiar-looking ball of ribbons, evergreen, and strange white berries. “This,” she said, pointing, “is mistletoe. My grandmother brought it over from England. Have you ever heard of it?”
Andon shook his head, bewildered at the sudden change of topic. Mariya’s eyes lit up even more as she regarded the peculiar mass.
“Do you know what else?” she whispered conspiratorially, pulling him slightly closer and moving back herself so that she was directly underneath the mistletoe. “I was looking through her papers this morning, and she mentioned a school she used to go to. It was Hogwarts.”
Andon looked down at her radiant, smiling face, stunned. Mariya wasn’t a Muggleborn after all! Magic apparently ran in the family, at least a little bit. She looked so beautiful right then, all aglow like that, that before Andon knew it he had kissed her.
She pulled away softly, looking if possible even more beautiful and radiant. “You know, Andon, I was afraid I was going to have to tell you straight out what the mistletoe was for.”
Andon couldn’t help but laugh at the strange custom“kissing under a ball of berries? Only the English would fabricate a notion so outrageous. However, he noticed that Mariya was still conveniently under the mistletoe, so he moved in for another mandatory token of affection, and she gladly complied.
All too soon Christmas break was over and Mariya and Andon headed back to Durmstrang. Andon still couldn’t believe the turn his life had taken “ his friend Mariya had become more than a friend, and on top of that, she wasn’t purely Muggleborn, so there was a chance that his father would welcome him “ welcome them “ back into the family.
“Hey, Emil,” Andon said jovially as his dormmate walked in with his luggage. “How was your break?”
“All right,” he replied casually. “Yours? Stay at the school like usual?”
Andon laughed happily. “No, I stayed with a friend.”
Emil’s eyes narrowed. “Not that Mudblood Mariya?”
“Well, yes, but turns out she’s not a Mudblood after all. She had some magical blood in her all along.”
Emil shrugged, obviously not finding the revelation as wonderful as Andon did. “Well, that’s nice for her, I suppose.”
Andon grinned at his nonchalance and went to go find his brother Gavril. If he would talk to him, maybe he had a chance to reconcile with his father.
“Hey! Gavril!”
But his brother recognized his voice and quickly bolted out of sight. Andon sighed in frustration before bounding after him. Just like always, he was able to catch Gavril and corner him. This time, though, instead of one brother departing with still-bruised feelings and another with a bruised skull, both emerged with smiles on their faces and arms around each other.
Unfortunately, Andon’s father was not so easily won back. In fact, he refused to speak to Andon at all, but consented to using Gavril as a go-between while he yelled and ranted at the ruination of his reputation and his nonexistent oldest son. Gavril, Andon could tell, felt rather useless because anything Andon relayed to him to tell Father was cut short on the delivery by more yelling.
“I’m sorry, Gavril,” Andon said after their father had finally lost patience and gone. “You didn’t deserve to be subjected to such treatment.”
Gavril’s eyes were tearful as he replied, “No, I’m sorry for you, Andon. Your future is no longer certain “ if Father doesn’t let you take over the business, which at this point I’m sure he won’t, what will you do?”
“I suppose you mean other than Quidditch. I’m not worried, Gavril. As long as I have Mariya, everything is fine. You’ve always been such a crybaby, little bro!”
“Hey!” A brief tussling match ensued, after which Gavril said in a more subdued tone, “Do you love her?”
“Mariya?” Andon thought for a brief moment about her shining eyes, her dark hair, her bright laughter, and then replied, “Yes.”
“I can tell. I hope that someday I can find someone like her. Well, not exactly like her “ Father doesn’t deserve to lose both of us.”
“No. Hey, I’ve got a study group to get to, gotta run.”
“Study group. Uh-huh.”
Andon grinned as he raced away to the unused classroom he’d learned so well last term. Mariya was uncharacteristically late, so Andon sat down to wait. Bored, he conjured a bunch of red roses one at a time until she finally showed up.
“Andon.” She raced over to him and put her arms around him. “How did it go?”
“Not well. But you’re not going to thank me for the flowers?”
“Flowers?” Mariya looked down at the desk where approximately fifteen roses lay, unconcernedly losing petals. “Oh, Andon, they’re lovely. I’m glad to see you’re finally picking up on Conjuring.”
“I had excellent help,” he replied, standing up and kissing her tenderly. “Father’s still upset, but Gavril believes in me. And I have you. That’s worth taking over for my father in business.”
She blushed “ Andon was amazed at her capabilities to turn red at almost any time. He told her so, just to make her blush some more, and he wasn’t disappointed “ she even laughed, which had been his secondary objective.
“Oh, I do love you,” he smiled, chucking her under the chin.
“I know,” she replied matter-of-factly. “I love you too.”
And as she gave him one last kiss before they turned to their studies, and as that last kiss turned into several, Andon couldn’t help but think that his Transformation homework had been the best thing that had ever happened to him “ that, and finding a good tutor.