I abruptly awoke on Christmas morning to our bedroom door being slammed open by an excited Ana followed in by a sleepy-eyed Gisele. Jacqueline was nowhere to be seen.
"Why are you four still sleeping in? It's present time!" Ana exclaimed through a bundle of presents she carried in her arms. She promptly walked to my bed and dumped them on my feet before taking a seat beside her bounty.
"I didn't know we were doing a group present opening," Marie mumbled sleepily as she stretched lazily in her bed. Rosalie was grinning from her pillow, surrounded by an array of curlers pinned to her head while Mila cozied on closer to Rosalie, keeping her eyes stubbornly shut.
"Oh don't be so lazy! It's Christmas! How many times can we honestly admit to spending Christmas day together?" Ana asked eagerly, as Gisele slowly lowered herself onto Marie's bed with her presents placed neatly beside her. She turned and gave Marie's leg half-revealed in tangled blankets a shake, making her Dutch friend grin lazily.
I tossed my sleeping mask from my hair and promptly sat up in bed, as a jolt of excitement hit me, though not because of what Ana was babbling about.
Tonight, was the Yule Ball. And I was going to be dressed to the nines in that beautiful ball gown that has been lying in wait in my dresser all semester.
"What time is it? It seems far too early to be doing this," Mila mumbled through closed eyes. Rosalie made a disgusted face, as she was hit with Mila's morning breath, prompting her to sit up and push her friend to the edge of the bed.
"You need a mint, ASAP," was all Rosalie had to say to cause the group of us to snicker while Mila abruptly cupped her hand over her mouth self-consciously.
My presents were situated at the foot of my bed, all wrapped with care, except for Marie's who stood out with her "creative" wrapping style.
"Stroopwafels! I love these," I said as I undid Marie's present to reveal a motherlode of waffle and syrup cookies with the familiar Dutch stamp. "You didn't need to buy me so many," I chided my friend as she went to untie my present for her.
"My mother insisted," Marie explained before holding up a box set of red lipsticks for blondes on the label.
"Oooh I want one of those," Mila said, eyeing the gift from under a complicated Korean face mask.
"Go look for your gift," I urged before sharing a comedic look with Gisele.
I had opened half my gifts before Jacqueline showed up, carrying unwrapped presents for everyone while subsequently balancing a hot cup of café au lait in her other hand.
"Where have you been?" Gisele demanded eyeing her friend's steaming cup of coffee. "You were gone when we woke up this morning!"
"Well you see," Jacqueline began as she placed her coffee cup on Rosalie's dresser, along with the various items in her arms. "I woke up at five, realizing that I had yet to get anyone any gifts-"
"Oh merlin, Jacqueline you didn't," I said through a mouth full of stroopwafel. Ana reached over and took one of my cookies, before waving Jacqueline along.
"Okay so where did you go? I doubt many stores would be open on Christmas day."
"I walked over to Hogsmead and banged on the doors until they let me in. No real problem," She said causally before turning to the mass of present. "I shall now distribute them as I see fit. Drum roll!" Jacqueline said with her usual flare as Gisele face palmed.
"Jelly slugs for Mila," she began, tossing a carton of the sweets to her unexpected friend, causing her face mask to go flying. "Ahh-"
"A nice set of ear muffs for Rosalie, as you are always complaining about being cold," Jacqueline went on, tossing golden furred muffs her way. Rosalie accepted them gratefully before placing them on top of her curlers, like a crown.
"A weird variety of teas for Ana, because... you like drinking from leaves," Jacqueline said with a questionable brow as she tossed a pink parcel of intricate silver boxes Ana's way. Ana immediately undid the parcel to look at the teas better, tossing the last of the massive stroopwafel in her mouth.
"How charming," I said in an undertone as I watched stroopwafel crumbs drop on my duvet.
"A set of fancy quills for Gisele because she's boring," Jacqueline went on, tossing a black box with a cursive maker on the front. Gisele blew a kiss her friend's way before turning back to the quills.
"A new set of stationary for Ava because she's also boring," Jacqueline continued, tossing me a brown paper bag filled with white parchment with lavender ribbons on the front. It was rather pretty stationary. Who knew Jacqueline would have such an eye.
"And lastly, for Titia Marie," Jacqueline emphasized dramatically as Marie sat up on her bed expectantly, "a nice big box of fudge. Voilà, I am done!"
"Fudge? And I thought you were going to give me golden gloves or something," Marie said, eyeing the tiffany blue box of maple fudge hazily.
"If you don't want it, I'll gladly take it back," Jacqueline offered as she went on to sit on top of both Rosalie and Mila's legs, causing them to squirm like children.
"How are you so.damn.heavy?" Mila exclaimed through gasps as she tried in vain to get her legs out from under her friend while also trying to balance the defeated face mask clinging to her face by a thread.
"It's from all of these Hogwarts meals," Jacqueline said diplomatically as she reached for her coffee. "What did Fleur say the other day about Hogwarts's food?" She asked, turning to Mila expectantly.
"It is too 'eavy, all zis 'Ogwarts food," Ana quoted dramatically in English causing everyone, including Mila to snicker at the presentation.
"Merlin, what would we do without our delicate little flower of a classmate?" Marie asked with a laugh before going for one of the maple fudge samples.
"Be a normal student body," Rosalie said under her breath to all of our surprise, making the lot of us laugh.
We spent most the day enjoying the lazy Christmas that Hogwarts had supplied, with its fluffy snow as a backdrop to the sunny day. I saw my brother at breakfast where he, in his usual fashion made sure to scuffle up my hair from its original pretty curls that I had worked on an hour ago into a rat's nest. Since most of the younger Hogwarts students were away for break, there was enough room at the Ravenclaw table for my brother to join us unceremonially, to all my friends delight as was mine.
"I see your date has done his homework," my brother said, eyeing the white rose corsage on my left wrist. Jasper had caught me right before I entered the Great Hall and gave me the corsage in his usual awkward yet gentle fashion.
"I thought that since you can't be at a dance at home, having at least one of the customs done right here would make you happy," He went on as I gapped at the corsage in the box. I had no idea where he would have found a wizarding shop willing to make a corsage, let alone one in the UK. To say I was flabbergasted was an understatement.
"It was really cute of him," Mila said happily. "He looked so awkward and shy about it!"
"No, I think it was Ava that made the whole ordeal awkward. She gave him an awkward hug," Jacqueline informed my brother who in turn glanced at my reddening face.
"Thanks Jacqueline."
"What would mother say?" He quipped jokingly, cueing my eye roll.
"I'd like to see how Mamen would react to whoever your date is," I shot back expectantly. I watched as Theo's family blue eyes sharpened for a moment before turning back to his French toast absently.
"Well?" I demanded, watching his hunched profile carefully.
"You wouldn't know her."
"Oh really? I'm pretty sure I know almost everyone here except for the first and second years. And I know you're not that much of a pervert to go for one of them."
"Is it Sam?" Marie asked eagerly, making me sit bolt upright and turn around quickly to the Slytherin table. Low and behold, there sat Sam with her two sisters eagerly enjoying breakfast.
Why were they all there and not at home? Sam always liked to go home for holiday break.
I turned back to my brother glowing.
"I swear to Merlin, if you had the audacity-"
"Cool your horses, your drama queen," he said flatly before flicking me in the temple. I jumped, causing the tableware to shake and Ana's glass of milk to go right down her front.
"Thanks for that," she said coldly to my brother and I as Gisele quickly started dabbing her friend's shirt with her napkin.
"I'm not going with Sam. You should know by now that I don't talk to her. It's your fault, actually," he added coolly, as he glanced my way. "I'm going in a group. A few of my friends and girl friends didn't find dates. So, we're going together."
"Oh that's nice," Rosalie said kindly but Jacqueline and Marie only scoffed.
"How many of these friends are girls, exactly?" Jacqueline asked smoothly. Theo's mischievous smirk reappeared on his face as he stuffed his face with French toast while I looked from my two friends to my brother apprehensively.
"Five."
"Out of?" Marie asked.
"Seven."
If it wasn't for Professor McGonagall walking right past us to the teacher's table I would have flung my coffee on his head. But alas, teachers.
After being pried from my brother, kicking and screaming, my friends and I ran into Hermione and Ginny on our way out for a walk of fresh air. To my displeasure I learned that Ginny had missed the mark in being asked to the yule ball by Harry.
"I can't dump Neville for Harry. It's wouldn't be right!" She explained, agitated.
"You did the right thing," Hermione said calmly before turning to me. "Are you still free to meet at five tonight? Third floor girl's lavatory should do the trick. I already have some of my things up there."
"I'll tell my friends. I think we should all make it a fun pregame party and get ready together. What do you say, Ginny? Want in?" Ginny seemed more than happy to join so I left to join my French friends after a quick wave to the Gryffindors.
"Are you saying I have to carry my dress, heels, makeup and hair products through the snow and up three flights of stairs just to help this random Hogwarts girl that I barely know?" Mila questioned dramatically. Ana rolled her eyes at Mila before trudging on through the snow toward the lake. The Durmstrang ship had moored in the only part of the water that wasn't ice. A bunch of boys were swimming in the freezing water by their ship as if it was sunny and warm.
"It would be better than running to the ball in our dresses through snow," I quipped back, looking hopefully to Marie who stood watching the Durmstrang boys pensively.
"If I'm not mistaken, doesn't that third flights of steps bring us right to the entrance hall for everyone to look at?" Gisele asked me curiously.
"Oh so, like a dramatic entrance," Jacqueline said unnerved
"More like a fairytale entrance that all Disney princesses experience," I explained excitedly.
"Disney princesses? What?" Ana asked confused, but the rest of the girls seemed to catch my drift.
"Yeah I like this plan, let's do it. What say you, Marie?" Marie looked back to the group and shrugged.
"Oh, why the hell not. It's not like we will get to experience something like this again."
At a quarter to five, my friends and I, all decked out in hair curlers and bags with our dressed hanging over our backs braved the snow storm that had decided to drop on the school at the worst possible moment. Students of various schools watched from the sidelines of their games of snowball fights, walks and snowmen crafting as the group of us in a huddle moved with such a velocity that we created a blur of color and sparkles in our wake.
What a sight.
Hermione was there when we arrived and Ginny came in with her dress of putter blue and salmon pink a few minutes later, looking like a disheveled mess.
"Nobody thought to ask any ghosts to the ball! How I would love to go..." Moaning Myrtle whined from her toilet as she watched the group of us set up stations of hair products, hang our dresses and line up our shoes for inspection. Mirrors were split with half for hair and half for makeup.
Gisele was the best with hair so she immediately started on Hermione's mane while the rest of us started to work on each other's plats and undoes.
"Does every bathroom at Hogwarts have a ghost like that?" Mila asked me in a hushed tone as we both turned to watch Myrtle resurrect from her toilet and watch the busy work going on by the mirrors.
"No, only this one. She was murdered here by this monster about fifty years ago," I explained as I began to pin one of the loose curls out of Mila's face. Sensing her name, Myrtle rushed up to us, expectantly, making Mila jump back in fright.
"Oh I see," Myrtle began in a high pitched voice. "You're judging me because I'm dead! Well not everyone can choose what they die in! If only I had chosen to wear earring that day, I wouldn't be half as ugly!"
"I don't think you look ugly," Hermione said before wincing as Gisele tried to run a brush through some unruly hair. "You look quite nice actually. Very pretty."
Myrtle stuck her nose up in the air as if the compliment was beneath her.
"Don't think I haven't forgotten what you said about me at the last death day party!"
"Death day party?" I asked curiously to no one in particular.
"Two years ago when you were here," Hermione explained through another wince, as her hands raced up to hair, protectively. "It was during the Halloween feast. Wouldn't recommend."
"I remember you," Myrtle said, catching sight of me in full. I looked up to her expectantly.
"You came here with Harry and his friend to kill the monster! Oh, that's right," she giggled as if in on her own little joke. "You couldn't make it past the tunnel." My gaze flattened at that memory before I looked up at Moaning Myrtle again.
"Of course. How could I forget. Thanks to Peeves your screeching made me run away from Snape."
"Almost," she said eerily, surprisingly unfazed by the memory of Peeves tossing a trophy through her head. "It's not everyday a professor has to stun a student for misbehaving. I would have thought you were kicked out of Hogwarts! Not back with these.. visitors."
She said visitors with such spite that even Jacqueline, the resident non-English speaker couldn't help but glare up at the ghost accusingly.
"Snape stunned you?" Hermione asked, forgetting about the pain in her hair. I looked from the toilet stall where Myrtle had rushed to before nodding slowly.
"I always assumed as much before now. My parents kept denying that ever happened. Who knew I'd know the truth from Myrtle."
"The least you could do is say thank you!" the ghost complained from her toilet but no exchange was given.
At a quarter to eight, the girls and I were finishing tying up our dresses, fixing the last bits of makeup and glancing at one another in the mirror.
I had put on the powdered lavender gown and let my hair fall to my back with only an intricate crown of braids at the top. Ginny looked darling in her tea length gown, with her hair simply tied half up. After some pushing on my end, I was able to get her to wear my tear drop earrings that completed the dress.
Mila wore a lemon yellow halter top dress that just reached the floor. It clashed well with her dark amber hair that she let stay on her shoulder with a few curls tied back to open her face.
Jacqueline marveled in a black and white dress that screamed noir fashion. She wore pearl earrings that matched well with Rosalie's ballet pink tea length dress with long sleeves covered in dusty pearls. Rosalie's red hair was tied up in a complicated updo similar to what my mother would wear, showing off her long neck.
Ana wore a sea-blue dress that went to the floor in different layers, manipulating one to believe she was wearing a body of water. The colors went well with her short white blonde hair that she wore naturally but with a pop of color in makeup.
Gisele neared the back of the room with Hermione, to touch up on one last piece of hair. Gisele wore an emerald green dress that crisscrossed in the back and circled back to her collarbone in the front. She wore her hair up in a fashionable updo that showcased the wonderfully colored costume jewelry she borrowed from Rosalie.
Hermione stood center stage amongst us in a light blue dress made of light fabric that highlighted her shape elegantly and moved with every light breeze that followed her. Her hair was long and sleek thanks to Gisele's hard word and her smile, was brighter than ever.
"It's almost eight, we have to rush!" Mila squeaked out excitedly as she led the girls to the door.
"Let's hope we can eat soon. I'm starving!" Ana exclaimed as I followed behind. I heard Marie called me to wait so I turned in her direction.
"You can't forget this," She said, rushing to me in a scarlet gown that resembled though wasn't the original trumpet dress we talked about in the library. Golden thread encircled the bottom of her dress as well as the v-line sleeves. Golden curls circled her heart-shaped face and a similar shade of lipstick from the box I gave her earlier today colored her lips perfectly. I was taken away by the sight but was jolted back to reality when she thrust the white rose corsage my way.
"Oh merlin, I can't believe I almost forgot that. Thank you," I said as I clicked it back on my left arm. She gave me a judgmental look before I looped my arm in hers and together we left the bathroom with Myrtles tears sounding out behind us.
All that was left was the Yule ball. Feeling like a million bucks, all I could think of was what could go wrong when I was feeling so invincible?
-
Hello there!
Next chapter is the Yule Ball. Can't wait to post it. I have been pushing to get to this chapter for awhile and had certain parts playing in my head since I first started this series. I just hope I can get it down right on paper.
Also, happy September 1st (the first day of classes at Hogwarts!) I thought it would be fitting to post on this day, so here we are. I'll see you on friday!
Until then.
Love,
-WG-