Random did not go home for Christmas either. Even in the bitter winter, Centaurs did not wear clothes to keep warm, nor did they migrate somewhere warmer like reindeer. They needed strong bodies all the more to withstand Scotland's cold winters.
The elderly and young children could stay in relatively warm caves, while the adolescents who considered themselves "adults" ran through the forest with the grown-ups. All Random had to do was keep up with them.
The Centaur youths mocked Random, but they did not leave him too far behind. Even without spiders and Werewolves, the Forbidden Forest was very dangerous in winter.
Unlike Severus, who pursued fighting techniques for taking on many opponents at once, Random had chosen endurance. Even in the frigid winter, Random ran until sweat covered his head, and the white vapor from his mouth resembled a steam train.
Yet after a brief rest, he began running again. As a Hufflepuff, living near the kitchens tended to give one a rounder figure. But Random had visibly lost a great deal of weight, and his cheeks had taken on lines as hard as rock.
Pomona had once read someone write that human will had two layers. The first was fragile and changeable, like loose soil; the second was solid as rock. If one wished to build a house, it was best to dig away the easily loosened layer of earth. Only the latter determined whether the foundation was firm and what slope the land had.
Even though Random's grades were not particularly good, and he did not, like Severus, know in his first year many spells that even seventh-years knew, Pomona still liked him very much.
Someone willing to challenge himself was worthy of admiration, even if he was still a child.
"What are you looking at?"