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**Alex’s POV**
“Merry Christmas!”
“I cannot wait for the day that you two don’t wake me up,” Angelina complains as Scarlett and Carma jump from bed to bed.
“Oh, come on!” Scarlett laughs, “Christmas isn’t a time for sleep!”
She lands on her own bed and tears into her presents. I stretch and reach down to my pile of presents.
“I’m going to wake the boys up,” Scarlett announces, spring to her feet halfway through opening her first present.
“Me too,” I call, dropping my box from my grandmother. We run downstairs and then up into the boys’ dormitory.
“MERRY CHRISTMAS!” Scarlett yells, jumping on George. He groans but pulls her into a tight hug. I lean over Fred and give him a kiss.
“I like your method of waking me up more than hers,” he says sleepily. Scarlett laughs from where she’s sitting on George’s stomach.
“Come on, boys, up time!” she says.
“Scarlett, get out,” Henry groans.
“Henry, it’s Christmas!” Scarlett yells, bouncing onto his bed, “get up!”
“George, if you don’t get your girlfriend out of here right now-!”
George groans and gets out of bed.
“Come on,” he says, gathering his presents, “what’s gotten you all excited?”
“Are you coming?” I ask Fred. He nods wrapping his dressing gown around his shoulders and picking up his presents. We walk downstairs hand in hand to find all the other girls lying around in the middle of crumbled wrapping paper. Scarlett and George are sitting in front of the fire, opening theirs.
“I’ll be right back,” I tell Fred, dashing upstairs to get my presents.
Back in the common room I sit down near the fire with the others and start opening presents.
“I am so excited for the ball tonight,” Angelina says, “I can’t wait to get all dressed up.”
“Says you,” I sigh, “my grandmother got me the highest heels in the world. It’s like walking on stilts!”
“My mother wouldn’t let me get heels,” Angelina sighs, “she said they ruin your posture.”
“Lucky you, I’d kill to have flats,” I tell her.
“Maybe we can swap,” Angelina suggests.
“My shoes are the same colour as my dress,” I tell her, “they probably wouldn’t match yours.”
“Let’s see,” she says eagerly, jumping up, “come on!”
I grab my presents and run upstairs with Angelina. The other girls follow, chattering excitedly.
“I can’t believe I haven’t seen any of your dresses,” Felicity says, “everyone get them out!”
I open my trunk and pick up the parcel that holds my dress. I unwrap it carefully and shake the dress out.
“I like that colour,” Angelina says, “it’ll go great with your skin.”
“It looks better on,” I say, “when I first saw it I thought it was the ugliest thing ever.”
I look around at the other girls’ dresses. Alicia has a simple red dress with lace around the top. Angelina’s dress is red satin with silver embroidery and an open back. Carma’s sort of looks like something a Disney princess would wear. It’s floor length and pale green with white flowers on the bodice and skirt. Felicity’s is, of course, pink. Even though I’m not a pink fan I have to say it’s very pretty. It’s pale pink with a band of silver around the ribs and roses around the waist. Lauretta’s is a dark purple with a soft overlay and a band of lighter purple at her waist. The top has silver embroidery around it. Scarlett’s dress is a strapless medium blue at the top and fades to white. Sophina’s is a silver halter neck with sequins around the top.
“Well, I’m impressed, girls,” Felicity says, “these are some of the prettiest dresses I’ve seen. Scarlett, Carma, how did you afford yours? I thought your mum was out of a job?”
“She is,” Scarlett says, “our… father… paid for them.”
“Do either of you look like your father?” I ask, “I mean, I know Carma sort of looks like your mum…”
“No, neither of us look like him,” Scarlett scowls, “stupid good-for-nothing…”
“He can’t be that much of a good-for-nothing,” Sophina says, examining the flowers on Carma’s gown, “these are beautiful.”
“What does he do?” Lauretta asks.
“He works with the ministry,” Scarlett says, “anyway, shall we do a pamper day? Facial masks, pedicures, manicures-”
“Leg shaving,” Felicity adds, “mine are so gross.”
“Mine too,” Sophina agrees, “I don’t bother much in winter since I wear pants all the time.”
“The whole package, then,” Scarlett grins, “I’ll nip down to the kitchens, you lot go and wash your hair and exfoliate.”
Standing under the hot water feels so good, but I dread stepping out into the icy bathroom. After delaying it for as long as I can I turn the water off and step out.
It’s surprisingly warm. I dry myself and wrap my dressing gown around me. When I step into the main part of the bathroom I realise why it’s so warm. Scarlett has put jars with fire in them all around the room. I walk into the bedroom and rub my hair with my towel, making it stick up everywhere. Lauretta is standing in front of the mirror plucking her eyebrows and Scarlett is rubbing her feet with pumice stone. Carma, Sophina and Felicity are lying on their beds with green masks on and potato under their eyes.
“The mask is on the drawers,” Scarlett says, “put it on thickly and lie on the bed for fifteen minutes.”
I slop the mask on my face. It’s cold and smells lemony. I lie down on my bed with my towel under my hair and close my eyes. I feel someone put cold slices of potato under my eyes. It’s nice lying here in the warm room. I wish I had someone rubbing my head, hands and feet though…
“Ange, Alicia, the mask is on the drawers. Put it on thickly and lie on your beds for fifteen minutes. Carma, Sophina, you can peel it off now.”
“Ouch!”
“Ow!”
“That hurt, but my skin feels so good!”
“Mmm, I smell like lemon!”
I try not to laugh at Carma in case the mask cracks. Someone taps on my foot.
“Peel it off,” Scarlett’s voice says. I remove the potato from my eyes and sit up. I begin peeling the mask off and it feels like I’m waxing my face, but slowly and agonisingly.
“Why does this hurt so much?” I ask through gritted teeth.
“It removes all the hair on your face,” Scarlett replies from where Lauretta is plucking her eyebrows for her, “makes your skin really smooth so it’s easier to apply foundation.”
“Ouch…”
I finish removing the mask and throw it in the fire. I look in the mirror and sigh. I have really bad acne on my forehead and it still looks bad.
“What’s wrong?” Scarlett asks, inspecting her eyebrows.
“My forehead,” I sigh, “it looks awful.”
“I could give you a fringe to hide it if you want,” she offers, “I do Carma’s hair all the time.”
“Giving her bangs will make it worse,” Lauretta says, coming over, “it looks painful. I know a spell that my sister used to use, if you trust me.”
“Might as well give it a go,” I shrug. Lauretta runs her wand across my forehead, muttering. I wince as hot, dry air hits my forehead.
“That looks much better,” Scarlett says. I turn to look in the mirror. My forehead is still red, but it’s no longer bumpy.
“Now just keep your hair and hands away from it and it should clear up in no time,” Lauretta says, “and other than tonight, no make-up. At all.”
“And drink lots of water,” Scarlett says, “and don’t use body soap on your face. Now, let’s do your toenails. I’m going to give everyone a French pedicure.”
“Oh, if you do French manicures too, I have little diamantes to go on our nails,” Felicity says, “they look so pretty with French nails.”
“Great idea,” Scarlett says, “if we can get nails done by lunch we’ll just need to do hair and make-up after.”