The Girl Everyone Forgot About

Chapter 15

"Catch you later kid!" Fred shouted as he left her at the door to the common room. 

"See you at dinner!" George cheered as he chased after his brother. 

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Hallie and Evie had been playing Wizards chess for the last hour, when Hallie finally took Evie's King. The two girls had been sat on their dorm room floor, as their beds were covered in the array of different Christmas outfits they were contemplating wearing for the dinner that afternoon. 

Once the game was neatly tidied away the girls decided to pick their outfits. The Christmas feast was a relaxed, casual dress code so the choices Evie had were plentiful. Grandma Hope had always made the family wear silly Christmas jumpers. Missing home, Evie decided she would wear one for the festivities at Hogwarts. She chose a grey, over sized jumper with a family of penguins wearing woolly scarves and hats as snow fell around them, paired with some dark blue jeans and her Docs. Having practiced the hair charm, she quickly magicked her hair into french plaits with green and red ribbon running through them, tied in a bow at the bottom. 

Hallie on the other hand was not accustomed to wearing festive Christmas jumpers and opted for a more subtle outfit. She wore a thick, baby-pink jumper and black jeans, coupled with a fluffy pair of dark brown boots. 

Evie had decided to take her small bag with her as she was going straight to Gryffindor common room after the feast and wanted to take a few things with her. As she walked into the great hall, she could see that the tables had name labels on them. By the look of things, the staff had organised for families to sit together while they ate their Christmas dinner, which Evie thought was a lovely touch. She had been sat next to Harry of course, while surrounded by all the Weasley's. She noticed that a bit further down the table were Hallie and Reggie, sat with their cousins in Ravenclaw. 

The feast was even more than Evie could have imagined. Plates were piled high in front of her with all sorts Christmas must-haves. There was turkey, gammon, sprouts, roast potatoes, honey roast parsnips, carrots, gravy, stuffing, and even some Yorkshire puddings - for this Evie was truly thankful (she had hoped there would be Yorkshire puddings!). Conversation flowed between the students at the table as they tucked into their feast. Evie was sure Ron had never eaten before in his life with the amount of food he had managed to inhale, already on his third helping before she had even finished her first. 

"I'm not sure I'll have enough room for pudding," Harry announced. 

Evie looked at her brother, feigning disgust "Harry, if there is one thing I know for sure it is that there is always room for pudding... Besides Pudding goes straight to the heart, not the stomach!" she winked. This gesture made those around her erupt in laughter, making Evie smile. It may not have been the Christmas she had hoped for, but spending time with Harry and her friends like this, was all she could have asked for. 

Back at Gryffindor common room, Evie was surprised to see that their common room was remarkably similar to hers. Of course it was decked out in red and gold instead of Yellow and black. Somehow, she thought each of the common rooms would have been different. As the group settled into their seats around the fireplace, with the Christmas tree twinkling in the corner of the room, Evie decided to get a few things out of her bag. 

She took out her slippers, so that she could change into them and get comfy. Then, she took out a small CD player and a selection of her favourite Christmas albums. Ron and Ginny both scrunched up their faces when she pulled this out, having no clue what it was. 

"It's my CD player, so I could play us some Christmas music," Evie shrugged. 

"Have you got the song by Shaking Stevens?" Harry asked, "It's my favourite!"

"No way! Mine too, of course I have it," Evie Beamed. 

As she set up the CD player in the middle of the room, the Weasley family were on the edge of their seats waiting for it to do something. * Snow is falling all around me, children playing having fun...* The song continued and Fred and George were merrily swaying their heads to the music. Just then, as if the two had communicated telepathically, Harry and Evie both began to sing the song together "It's the season of love and understanding, MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!" the siblings laughed at the moment they had just shared. The night was filled with laughter from that moment on. They played games, danced to the music that Evie had been playing on her CD player and had been sharing memories of Christmases gone by. 

The night was drawing in and the group were beginning to get tired. This was obvious from the comfortable silence that was now filling the common room. Evie was sat on the floor leaning up against the sofa while sat in front of the fire, drinking a hot chocolate that Ginny had made. Harry sat on the Sofa behind her, staring peacefully into the crackling fire. Evie yawned as her eyes were gently closing, she was beginning to fall asleep. Harry noticed Evie was beginning to drop off and looked at the clock above the fire place, it was 2 am. He couldn't let her walk all the way back to her common room now, but Dumbledore had said they weren't to sleep anywhere apart from their own common rooms. Surely he would make an exception... who would know? 

Harry looked to Ginny who was sat next to him, her head resting on his shoulder, she was also beginning to fall asleep herself. "Ginny" Harry whispered.

"Hmm yeah Harry?" she lifted her head from his shoulder. 

"Would you mind terribly if Evie stopped in your dorm tonight? Hermione has gone home so there is a spare bed. I just don't want her walking back to the Hufflepuff common room at this time in the morning," he continued to whisper. 

"Oh, sure! Hey Evie... EVIE!" Ginny shouted.

Evie jumped, "Jesus Ginny! Sorry" she paused. "I must've fell asleep, I'll just get my stuff and head back," she yawned.

"Don't be silly, you can stop with me tonight," Ginny grinned.

"But Dumbledore said - " Evie was interrupted.

"Don't worry about that, we can't have you walking back down there at this time," Harry stated sternly. 

Evie looked at the clock and her eyes bulged, it was rather late to be roaming the corridors. "Are you sure you don't mind Ginny?" she questioned. 

"Of course not, I have some pyjamas you can borrow too! It's our first sleep over!" Ginny exclaimed excitedly. 

Evie smiled and looked at Harry, "Thank you for a wonderful evening, I've really enjoyed myself!"

"No problem, I'm just glad we actually got to send some time together, like a proper family." Harry replied.

They hugged before heading off to bed, thankful to have each other at this time of the year.