ghost stories - h. potter

Sixteen

Thursday, December the twenty-third, came quicker than expected. Both Pansy and Belle, who had been putting off their Christmas shopping, needed to visit the stores before they sold out of items that they were hoping to get for their friends and family. They decided that that evening was better than never and forced themselves out of the warm house into the cool, Hogsmeade air. As Pansy only had a day and a half left at the Frenche residence, she was determined to make the most of her time with Belle, Clarice, Collette and the family of creatures that had grown on her before she left to her girlfriend, Ebony's house for the final week of the break.

The sky was a deep, silvery-grey and snow fell heavily down on top of them, lining every outside surface with a blanket of pure white. Dressed in comfortable - and warm - clothes, Belle and Pansy stood outside the Three Broomsticks in Hogsmeade, having just met up from doing their part of the shopping in the village.

Hogsmeade, seeing as it was nearly Christmas, was surprisingly busy. The street that she and Pansy stood on looked like an unfinished painting. The ground was a blank, perfect canvas, simply waiting for someone to appear and paint it with footprints and snow-angels. The air was of course cold, causing Belle to bury down deeper in her warm sweater. 

The sweet scent of freshly baked Christmas cake lingered in the air, coming from a nearby bakery in the streets of Hogsmeade. Belle had made a mental note to visit the bakery first as Pansy would probably have her head if she didn't end up going. She was secretly excited to see the pasteries, shaped to look like magical creatures with all sorts of hidden surprises that donned the glass display cases. 

A Christmas tree had been erected in the middle of the village, adorned with glistening ornaments and glowing fairy lights draped around it. Younger children threw snowballs at each other in front of the green branches, causing laughter and joy to echo in the air around them. Parents stood nearby, with bags on their arms and smiles on their faces as they watched their children play in the snow around the tree. Belle smiled slightly as she watched witches and wizards and everyone in between, swarming in and out of the bustling stores like packs of bees. Honeydukes was full and bursting with people, all waiting to get a taste of the magnificent sweets that lined the shelves of the store. Zonko's, though considerably quieter since Weasley's Wizard Wheezes had come into play, was still filled with people, laughing and yelping at the magical jokes that were played on them. The jingling sound of bells filled the air and a group of Christmas carollers stood off to one side of the street, singing happily at the passing folks. 

The amber light of magical street-lamps spilled onto the stone-paved, snow-covered streets. In turn, the elegantly decorated stores, bubbling with light and joy slowly revealed the wonder that was Hogsmeade in the evening - bright colours, a happy sense in the air and a joy that spilled from the sky, faster than snow. 

The festively designed stores, illuminated with blinking Christmas lights, vibrant ornaments and brightly colored signs, were lined up along either side of the street. Windows were thrown open, despite the cold, and allowed the scent of sugar, butterbeer and Christmas cake to linger in the air. Tasty treats, hand-crafted presents and moving greeting cards occupied the passing customers, oohing and aahing and each new wonder they came across. 

The warm smiles of the people working in the stores as they tossed freshly roasted, golden brown chestnuts into paper cones or carefully poured creamy hot chocolate into mugs and added generous layers of whipped cream, was returned by the beaming grins of the children who were eagerly waiting to get their mug. The energetic youngsters giggling at their creamy chocolate mustaches were followed soon after. The loud, spirited laughter of adults could be heard over the continuous chatter surrounding the vivacious atmosphere.

Belle couldn't help but allow the corner of her lips to turn up in a smile, as she surveyed the scene. After the war, she had believed that the world would never go back to the way it was. She was right of course, there was no way that any of them would every properly recover from the events of what had happened, but standing in front of the Three Broomsticks, Belle admired the resilience of all the witches and wizards around them, that allowed them to continue on in their lives and enjoy the holiday, even if not all of them celebrated Christmas. There were large parts of Hogsmeade that had been dedicated to other holidays that were just as important as Christmas, such as Hannukkah and Kwanzaa. Belle smiled at the amount of people that were gathered around the areas dedicated to those particular holidays.