It is hard to get a drop on someone who can see you coming from floors away. Ben had wanted to get his hands on The Marauder's Map for a long time now, but doing it without drawing too much attention was hard and he didn't want to bet on his luck too much.

Although he could keep an eye on a few people at a time with [Clairvoyance], the map was capable of keeping track of the whole castle. With the map in hand, Ben felt a lot more confident about his plans.

With all his preparations complete, all Ben had to do now was wait for the holidays.

The final week before the Christmas break saw the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry filled with great excitement and anticipation. Students were excited about the holidays and Hogwarts felt a lot more lively.

This week also saw an increase in rule-breaking, and the holiday spirit seemed to be at play. Monday morning saw a huge dung bomb explosion in the dungeons, making the whole place smell like elephant dung. Fred and George had been trying to get the map back from Snape.

When fifth-floor bathrooms were swarmed with tadpoles and the whole floor with frogs the next day, Ben realised that the soap that the twins carried was the frog spawn soap. The first years were seen Hiccupping around the castle after eating sweets given by Fred and George.

While the twins were causing mayhem in the castle, Ben was busy trying to uncover the Map's secrets. He had already tried every single secret passage out of Hogwarts except for the one below the Whomping Willow.

The day before the winter break started, Ben saw the friendly Hogwarts half-giant dragging a huge fir tree through the corridors, towards the Great Hall. The portraits lining the walls were already humming Christmas tunes and Hogwarts ghosts were singing songs while floating through the walls.

When Ben got close to the giant, he saw Ron Weasley jump at a smug-looking Draco Malfoy.

"WEASLEY!" Snape called out from behind Ben, startling him.

'Where the fuck did he pop out from,' he thought looking at Snape, who crossed him to confront the Weasley.

Ron let go of Malfoy's robes, still staring daggers at the blond.

"He was provoked, Professor Snape," said Hagrid, Ben could hardly see his face in his snow-covered beard. "Malfoy was insultin' his family."

"Be that as it may, fighting is against Hogwarts rules, Hagrid,"

"Five points from Gryffindor." Snape was still as biased as ever, ignoring the wicked smile on Malfoy's face, who was not standing beside him.

Ben could not help but hit Malfoy with a [Fury] spell,  just to keep up with the holiday spirit and give Malfoy an early Christmas present.

Malfoy's face quickly turned red and he tackled the poor Weasley to the ground.

"MALFOY! Let go of him this instant." Snape said as he pulled Draco by the yoke of his shirt, trying to prevent Malfoy from scratching Weasley's face off.'

Ben's mastery of Illusion allowed him to somewhat control the effect of his spells now. Malfoy got out of his frenzy before he could pull Weasley's eyeballs off his ugly mug.

"You are coming with me boy," said Snape as he dragged Malfoy by his neck towards the Dungeons.

"But sir-"

"QUIET!" screamed Snape, tugging harder at his collar.

"Ahm, ten points ought to do it, professor, fighting is against school rules after all," said Ben as Snape passed him.

"Step aside, Brown," he said continuing to drag Malfoy behind him.

Ben got out of his way and went over towards the Golden Trio.

"Woah, looks like Malfoy gave you a hickey, Weasley," Ben said, looking at Ron's bruised neck.

"I could have taken him, he just got the drop on me you know, that snake," said Ron taking Harry's hand to get up.

"I'm sure you think so," Ben commented.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Nothing." He said as he made his way to the Great Hall.

"Come on, cheer up, it's nearly Christmas," said Hagrid. "Tell yeh what, come with me an' see the Great Hall, looks a treat." "Then we'll take you to see Madam Pomfrey," he said as he dragged the tree towards the great hall.

"Is Brown on our side or Malfoy's?" Ron asked Harry.

"I think he just enjoys watching everyone in misery." Hermione gave her two cents.

"I heard Fred and George say that he was behind the Pumpkins," Harry said in a hushed voice.

"I don't believe it, I heard he's just as bad at magic as Seamus," Ron protested.

"Where have you been sleeping the whole year, he's great at Transfiguration, I've seen him practising near the lake," Hermione said as they reached the Great hall.

The room look spectacular with all the Christmas decorations, Hagrid had already handed the new tree to professor Flitwick who was now decorating the twelfth tree with golden balls.

Ben was helping the dwarf and had already turned several branches into refractive crystals. Since he could not transfigure anything heavier than himself, he had to sever the branches before transfiguring them into crystals and then mending them together afterwards.

Watching Ben perform transfiguration well above their level, the golden trio could not help but stare. Ron watched Ben with a scowl on his face as his inferiority complex kicked in, until now he thought that Brown was just Ravenclaw's Seamus.

They say that the first impression is the last impression, Ben seemed to have been suffering his first impression of blowing things up in many students' minds.

"Excellent work Mr Brown, five points to Ravenclaw for your mastery over transformations charm," said the dwarf, taking the opportunity to add points to his own house.

"Thank you, professor, it's all thanks to your help," Ben said, trying to butter up his Housemaster.

"Merlin's beard, Hermione. I think we should forget about this Nicolas Flamel and learn how to do that instead," said Ron.

"Keep dreaming Ronald, your nails still look like matchsticks."

"Let's get you checked by Madam Pomfrey, your face looks terrible."

A/N: He always looked terrible.