CHAPTER SIX
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     SHE HAD RECEIVED her first letter from home for the year later that week and was eager to hear from her parents. Her fingers fiddled around the wax seal and opened it gently, unfolding the slightly crumpled parchment carefully.

     Dear Winnie,

     All is good here at home. Your father has had a great time at work lately even though they seem to be cutting down his hours at the Ministry. I'm doing well. How's the term been so far?

     Love,
     Mum and Dad

Smiling at the letter, she set it on her desk and picked up her quill and placed a blank piece of parchment in front of her. It was always funny to her that even though her mother typically did most of the letter writing, she still signed it from both of them.

The tip of the quill hovered over the piece of paper as she pondered what to write. She only got as far as the heading when a thunder of footsteps crashed up the stairs to her dormitory.

It didn't particularly phase her, the roommates she had were always fairly noisy and had plenty of drama she preferred to stay out of.

"Seriously! Uncool, Connie!" one of them shouted venomously at the girl who was still stomping up the stairs.

"It's not my fault, Donna!" Connie shouted at the girl, who was now pacing next to her bed angrily.

"That's a lie!" Donna spat. "You knew exactly what you were doing and didn't care! You're officially not my best friend anymore!"

Winnie could hear a sharp gasp being drawn from Connie, who seemed shocked at Donna's words. She attempted to tune out the girls out and continued to scribble out a reply to her parents. Their arguing became background noise and just as she was signing the letter to a close, her name being shouted shrilly snapped her out of her focus.

"Well?" Donna demanded as Winnie turned around to look at her.

"Sorry, what was that?" Winnie asked for clarification, feeling a little guilty that she had completely missed what the girl had said to her.

"She snogged Leila's boyfriend! They caught her in the act! Leila's our best friend!" Donna explained, gesturing to Connie violently.

"That's only what Leila told you! She's always had it out for me, I swear!" Connie screeched, tears now running down the girl's face. Winnie glanced between the two, her mouth slightly ajar at the scene that was playing out before her.

"So what do you think about that, Winnie?" Donna snapped, not even looking at Connie.

"Well, er, snogging other people's boyfriends is bad," she began, Connie making an ugly screeching sound at her words. "If you happened to do that. And also getting the full story is important."

An eruption of screams and arguments burst forward at her input, the two diving head first back into their fight. Winnie quickly folded up her letter and shoved it into an envelope, sliding out of the dormitory and into the common room.

Donna and Connie's shouts could still be heard from there, other students who were there were either trying to ignore them or looking in that direction with a puzzled look.

She made sure that she got out of there as quickly as possible, letting out a sigh of relief when the overall quietness of the corridor hit her on her way to the Owlery.

Her soft footsteps echoed against the stone and soon enough she had reached the steps that led to the Owlery. She herself did not possess an owl of her own. The opportunity to get one had never presented itself and she didn't feel a great need for one with the school owls and her family owl being easily accessible.

Picking a brown tawny owl, she attached the letter to its leg and muttered the directions and watched as it took off in flight towards the horizon. Its effortless way of soaring against the wind was something she found graceful, beautiful in its own way.

A small, chilly breeze blew through the building and she looked out at the sky, which had become an increasingly permanent gray. She was ready to welcome the winter with open arms, that being the time of year she preferred to the summer time not only because of the weather, but because that meant she was at Hogwarts.

Her sweater wasn't thick enough for her to stay in the tall tower, and she cursed herself for not wearing a warmer piece of clothing. Wrapping her arms around herself, she exited the Owlery and took her time in descending the steps.

The inner castle was comfortably warm, the charms put on it when the weather got colder doing the job quite well. She didn't want to imagine how cold it would be with only torches being the source of warmth for the castle.

When she re-entered the common room, all of the turmoil she had left it in seemed to have disappeared. No shouts were heard from anywhere in the place and she let out a breath of relief.

"What happened? Are they done?" she asked a calm looking fifth year who sat near the dormitory.

"Well if you count hexing each other into the hospital wing as done, then yes," he grinned and Winnie almost laughed. But then she felt bad about it because of the hexing bit.

But then she thought perhaps since the situation had gone so far that time, it wouldn't go that far in the future. Or at least she hoped that it wouldn't happen in the future. She began to climb the steps to her dorm, which she could only assume would be absolutely trashed.