“It calms me down right away, the quietness and the proud look of it; nothing very bad could happen to you there, not with those kind men in their nice suits, and that lovely smell of silver and alligator wallets. If I could find a real-life place that made me feel like Tiffany’s, then I’d buy some furniture and give the cat a name.”
Snow was swirling against the icy windows once more; Christmas was approaching fast. Hagrid had already singlehandedly delivered the usual twelve Christmas trees to the Great Hall; garlands of holly and tinsel had been twisted around the banisters of the stairs; everlasting candles glowed from inside the helmets of suits of armour and great bunches of mistletoe had been hung at intervals along the corridors.
I’m not enough, she thought. That was the
terrible echo shouting up at her: Fraud,
fraud, fraud. She got drunk and talked too much and danced on tables. She
had a temper and a sharp tongue, and she often blurted out things she instantly
regretted. Worst of all, she suspected that was who she truly was—not so much a
bright young thing as a messy young thing.