Three hours.

That was how long Polly Pucey had been home before she'd wished she had remained at Hogwarts for the holidays. She had known, of course, that they would be strange without Papa, but had been eager to see her mother, her aunt, the Abercrombies. What she had not anticipated was her uncle. Oh, seeing Uncle Bernie straight on had been fine; she had always recognized which man was her father and which his twin. It was the glimpse out of the corner of her eye that had done her in, had cut a fresh wound into her heart, and left her particularly dour for the duration of the Christmas holidays.

But she was back, now, at Hogwarts, away from the unexpected reminders and, as an added bonus, able to ignore Juno for long stretches of time once again. Plus, Hesper was here, and she always felt bad for leaving her friend at Hogwarts for the holidays.

Polly had almost given up waiting to surprise Hesper and gone in search of the other girl, but the dormatory door opened just in time, revealing her favourite prefect. With a bright smile she popped off of her bed, upon which she had been perched, and bounded over to embrace her friend.

"Oh you needn't look so dour as all that," she dismissed lightly, as though she herself hadn't been carrying around the weight of her father's passing since the tragic event had taken place. "Christmas was quite lovely, even if you were here—I hope you weren't too dreadfully bored?" By now, the Slytherin had a hand on each of her friend's shoulders, a symapthetic pout on her lips.