Ravenclaw's Shadow

Chapter 36

I wake up on Christmas morning and stretch. This is the first Christmas I've spent at Hogwarts. The other girls are stirring and beginning to open their presents, but I pull on my dressing gown and take my presents to open with George.

"Fairy lights!"

I climb through the portrait hole and head up to the boys' dormitory. The three boys are still fast asleep, so I put my presents next to George's and wake him with a kiss. He grins at me and throws his pillow hard at Fred.

"Oi, you two!" he shouts, "Merry Christmas!"

I pass George his presents, then curl up on the end of his bed to open mine. After presents we head down to breakfast where we meet Angelina and Alicia. Harry, Ron and Hermione join us soon after. Someone suggests going out to play in the snow, so we all rush upstairs to bundle up before running out into the snow.

We play for a couple of hours before Hermione says she needs to go and start getting ready.

"Us too!" Alicia says.

"You've got hours!" Ron exclaims. Alicia shrugs and grabs my arm.

"Come on!" she says, marching me into the castle.

Angelina tells me to get my dress robes, shoes and jewellery and meet them in their dormitory. Once I get there Angelina has run three deep baths in the bathroom, filled with light pink bubbles.

"Right, close your eyes while I get in," Alicia says. We take turns closing our eyes and climbing into the bath. Once we're all in, the foam covers us, so we lie back to soak and talk.

"I really wanted coloured robes," I say, "but mum made me get black."

"We could charm them," Alicia says, "I've gotten really good at the colour changing spell. I can turn them back at the end of the night, she'd never know!"

"I don't know," I say hesitantly, "I only ever wear black, I don't know what colour would look good on me."

"Dark red," Angelina says immediately, "you have a vampire-y look, very regal. I think you should play it up."

"I don't want to look like a vampire," I tell her, "what about a light blue?"

"You can't go too light," Alicia says, "you're so pale, it would wash you out."

"We can experiment," Angelina says, "but I still think dark red."

I take a deep breath and duck under the water. I open my eyes and look up at the foam from underneath. I sit back up and brush my hair back from my face.

"Okay, close your eyes, I'm getting out before I wrinkle," Alicia says. I shut my eyes and wait for her okay. She sits on a chair in her dressing gown and brushes out your hair. Angelina gets out shortly after. I could stay in the water all night, but I drag myself out and wrap myself in a towel. My hair hangs dripping down my back. I gather it over one shoulder and start combing it.

"You look so different with your hair out," Angelina says, "you should wear it out more often."

"Wear it out tonight," Alicia says, "over one shoulder, like that."

A few hours later we're ready except for putting our robes on. Alicia and Angelina as still arguing about whether my robes should be dark red or a sky blue.

"Put them on so we can see," Alicia says, thrusting my robes into my arms. I change into them and sigh. Mum has added a high collar that extends past my ears. I use my want to remove it and stuff it under my other clothes. I exit the bathroom and Alicia sets to work changing my robes a medium blue.