Julia smiled, thankful the house elf was able to help. She looked over, noticing Caelum was lost in thought. She looked over around the large tree, seeing food appear on the tables,"I don't think it does every year. I think it just depends on the number of students and teachers staying st the castle for the holidays. This year it's a small amount that have stayed so doing it this way must be much easier for everyone."

Caelum stepped off the carriage that brought the two to Hogsmeade and offered a hand to help Julia get down. He took only one look at the small picturesque village to understand that the holidays in a purely wizarding village had its perks. Enchanted candles - which were clearly non-existent a few days prior - hung from the trees whose branches glistened with crystalline frost. A few wizards and witches went their ways around the village on enchanted skates that moved seamlessly over the cobbled ground. And the, as the muggles say, 'icing on the cake' was the gigantic tree adorned with glass bells, silver ribbons and crystal snowflakes that were enchanted to let out a soft radiance of prismatic light. But what Caelum appreciated the most about spending Christmas Eve in the village was the total lack of Hogwarts students filling the area.

He automatically moved to take Julia's hand and started walking through the village streets and taking the sights in. He turned to look at Madame Puddifoot's but scowled at the gaudy interiors he could see from the storefront window. "Tasteless, garish, and overly frilly. If not for the interiors, I would have brought us in for a cup of tea." He looked to the other end of the street and saw a familiar wooden sign. "If only there was a more suitable place, but compared to the Hog's Head and Madame Frills, I think the Three Broomsticks would cater to us well enough." He turned to Julia with a charming smirk. "What do you say to a few pints of butterbeer, not that I don't trust you near firewhisky, but still."

Julia carefully stepped off with him and smiled, looking around the town in wonder,"Wow! It's just beautiful." She smiled. She and Caelum where the only students taking advantage of the trip and she looked forward to spending time with him away from their magical school.

As they walked down the street, she listened as he spoke, agreeing with him,"I think the Three Broomsticks is the perfect place to go." She said with a smile,"Some butterbeer will do me more good than any firewhisky would. I wouldn't touch the stuff though, it's absolutely nasty to me."

Upon entering the establishment, Caelum nudged Julia towards the corner of the shop to a small table with two chairs and asked her to sit and wait for him to return with the butterbeer. He promptly made his way towards the counter and returned with two full pints of everyone's beloved sweet and slightly alcoholic drink.

"This is all new to me." He started, taking a sip of the frothy drink before he looked out of the window. "I've never really spent the holidays away from family. It's usually spent at home or some awful tourist spot filled with obnoxious muggles shoving cameras in your face." He shrugged as he rested his chin on his palm, eyelashes fluttering as he blinked away the dryness of his eyes from the cold wind of winter. He then turned languidly to face Julia and studied her for a while before a small smile displayed itself on his lips. "Would you like to visit next Christmas? Frank and Aren usually do. They'd floo into the house uninvited with fully-packed trunks shrunken in their pockets and spend the whole break there muttering things about staying with grumpy Malfoys is better than staying with relatives visiting them for the holidays."

Julia had nodded, sitting down and waiting for him to return. Once he sat down with her and spoke, she listened to his words,"I know what you mean." She said, sipping her butterbeer,"But it is a nice change." She blinked when he invited her to visit next Christmas, "I would love to...But I'm not sure it's a good idea." She looked at him sadly,"I don't think your parents would like having me there...I'm pretty sure they still have animosity against my family, even after all these years..." She looked down quietly, wishing it could be different.

"I doubt that." Caelum shrugged, drinking another sip. "There's a painting of a Swedish Shirt-Snout at home proudly hung in the west wing signed by my mother and a certain Olivia Bones. And if that book on the Genealogy of Noble Houses that I ... borrowed from the restricted section is nothing but true - take note that it is charmed to update itself, I found my name on page fourteen - then I am sure that miss Olivia Bones is now the one and only missus Potter."

A small smirk made itself known as he continued. "Our fathers may not currently be in good terms, but if the way my mother stares nostalgically at that painting is anything to go for, then I am led to believe that they were friends once. I think that's enough of a chance for them to let you visit over the holidays."

Julia thought for a minute,"Olivia Bones?" She said softly,"Is that the right name...?" Her eyes widened,"That's my mother!" She looked sad,"I wonder if they aren't friends anymore because she married my dad...." She couldn't help but be sad about the thought and hoped with all her heart it wasn't because of that.

"I could ask mother about the painting. Maybe she'd tell me about her time in Hogwarts and what exactly happened between her and your mum." Caelum answered and continued, "She's never really talked much about her time as a student. Everything I've learned about Hogwarts before attending the school itself was from father and Hogwarts: A History."

Julia nodded,"Please do." She said, taking another sip of her drink,"I'll ask my mother the same. I know she had mentioned something about a falling out with her best friend before...Now that I think about it, she mentioned a painting like the one your talking about...I wonder if there is a way to make our moms friends again..." She looked over at him,"You know, my father speaks kindly of your father... I wonder if there was a misunderstanding there too... If anything it would be nice to be able to drop the Malfoy-hates-Potter, Potter-hates-Malfoy crap."

"Then shall we settle this over the summer?" Caelum smirked as he took one last sip before all the butterbeer disappeared from his mug. He looked out the window once again and noticed the hues of pink, purple, and orange painting the sky. It was going to getting dark and the last carriages heading to Hogwarts will soon leave. He sighed, reluctant to leave the picturesque village, but knew that they had to go. "If we don't leave now, we'll have to wait until next morning for the carriages, that is, if any would come." He stood up and fixed his scarf before offering a hand to Julia. "Shall we?"